The Catacombs - Turtle Island
Captain Henry Avery was a fucking mad man. That was the thought running through Nathan Drake's head after first discovering the room decorated with severed hands, now nothing more than bones hanging from the ceiling, like demented trophies to ward off those who sought to steal his treasure from him. Then there were the gibbets. Then, the mummified pirates that would explode if someone wandered too close. And lastly, the hanging human rib cages. Yes, Avery had long since lost his sanity if he had been resorting to such foul actions to deter thieves. But it didn't stop Nathan or Elena as they trekked on, following after the trail that had been left by Shoreline as they tracked down Sara and Samuel.
"Think Sara is still on our side?" Nathan questioned, kneeling over a lone Shoreline flare that had been left on the cave rock floor. He hissed when his wife had smacked him upside the back of his head. "Ow!" Nathan barked, reaching a hand to rub at the injury. When he turned to face her, she towered over him, her arms crossed as she glared down at him. Elena refused to believe that her sister-in-law would ever betray Nathan, that she loved her brother too much to harm him. Nathan sighed, rising to stand. "Yeah, that was dumb…"
Elena stepped forward, cupping his face. "She'll always be on your side. I'm unsure how thrilled she is about being on Sam's side, though… " She joked, making Nathan chuckle as he nodded along. From the events that Nathan explained to her, Elena didn't doubt that in every decision Sara had to make, the woman was only thinking of her brother in the end and that Sara would continue to do so, but Sara had also proven to distrust Samuel after his lies, especially proven by the fact that Sara had assaulted Samuel for his lies before Nathan ended up getting shot.
"I just hope they're both okay…" Nathan mumbled, his own hands coming up to touch Elena's that were still on his cheeks.
Elena chuckled, a playful smirk on her lips. "Well, if she is 'with' Rafe, Sara will be safe. Sam will be an utterly different story." Nathan groaned, listening to his wife's underlying tone. He had told her multiple times that he didn't want to think about Rafe with his baby sister, yet Elena seemed to enjoy teasing him about the subject. "Come on…" Elena nudged him away from the flare. "The footprints go this way."
"Be ready for a fight." Nathan advised as he moved ahead of her, ensuring he could be the first in the line of sight if they ran into trouble.
"Oh, I always am." Elena retorted back.
Nathan faulted slightly, glancing over his shoulder. "Wait…is that in reference to me?" He questioned her, eyeing the stoic expression on her face.
"No." Elena frowned, a light scoff to her tone of voice. "Would you calm down?" She glared at the back of her husband's head as Nathan turned back to face the tunnel ahead of them and followed the footprints left behind by the Shoreline mercs. But he advised her to calm down—another small marital spat brought about by this stupid treasure hunt. The two of them trekked on through the tunnel system, dodging the hanging roots that were borrowing through the earth from the forests above, but paused when they came across a fresh corpse surrounded by the remains of an exploded mummified pirate.
"Eesh…" Nathan shuddered, peering down at the mutilated body of the Shoreline mercenary, not sure if the man died from the shock of the explosion, his head hitting the rock floor or from the severe burns that covered his body. "Guess these guys weren't paying attention." Nathan looked up, checking out the rest of the room. "There's no sign of Sam or Sara." He spoke, sounding stressed. He peered down the tunnel that continued on deeper into the catacombs, desperate to find his siblings.
"Hey…" Elena stepped up behind him, placing a gentle hand on the centre of his back and rubbing soothingly. "We'll find them." All Nathan could do was look brave and nod, following his wife's words of comfort. They each held their lit torches up high, pressing on through the cave, jumping down a small ledge and passing through a puddle of water leaking from the rocks above.
Nathan froze for a second as he heard the familiar beeping, his survival instincts in his brain quickly registering it from memory. Grenade. "Ah, Hell—! Elena, get down!" Nathan barked, dodging to the side just before the explosion rang in his ears. He looked back at the way they'd come, seeing his wife hugging the rock wall just as bullets began to speed through the opening in the wall where Nathan was leaning. "You idiots trying to bring the whole place down?!" He yelled out to the soldiers, even knowing the only response they'd give him was more bullets. Nathan reached for the rifle hanging over his back, which he had taken from a Shoreline mercenary before entering the catacombs and began to exchange fire with those who were currently standing between him and his siblings. Using the wall behind him as a cover, Nathan would poke himself out, firing off precise shots to strike down the Shoreline soldiers as effectively as possible, and Elena covered her husband with a pistol in her hands, the couple slowly fighting their way through as the followed the trail their the mercenary's had created for them.
"Oh shit—! Elena, get behind something!" Nathan barked over his shoulder when he spotted the towering individual coming towards them, a machine gun in their hands with the power to fire off enough bullets to rip everything in its path to shred. Nathan ducked behind a crate, waiting for something to give him the opportunity to keep Elena and himself alive. But he lurched when he both heard and felt the explosion and then it was the dust blurring his vision and hoking his lungs, making him cough. When everything had become silent, he rose, looking ahead to the body parts of the merc, realising the fool had set off a trap. "Well, for once, I appreciate Avery's exploding mummies." Nathan breathed, staring ahead in bewilderment.
"I don't…" Elena muttered, frowning at the massive hole that had been blown into the floor into the tunnels below, blocking off their path and hindering them from going after Sara, Samuel and Shoreline. "We can't go after them now…"
Nathan sighed. "We'll catch up." He jumped down first, landing in another room decorated in bones, this time jaw bones. The sight made Nathan frown and shudder. Behind him, Elena had moved closer to a wooden sign that had been nailed up to a wooden beam that was supporting the roof of the tunnel, and she quoted aloud, 'The mouths that spoke ill of me'. "I'd hate to see this guy's Christmas tree…" Nathan muttered, eyeing off a jawbone that hung a bit too close to his head as he went past, Elena murmuring in agreement. Faced with two exits, Nathan took one and followed the path around, coming back face-to-face with Elena. "Why…hello." He greeted her teasingly.
"Hey. So, I guess this loops around?" She responded, smiling at him.
"Guess so." Nathan paused, looking at the path that led up a set of ruined stairs, only to find it caved in. Nathan frowned, annoyed that these catacombs were more like a maze with how ruined it'd become and the traps scattered around. "Jesus…" Nathan muttered, his eyes widening when he noted two skeletons half-buried under the rubble, one with a sword protruding from their back and the other dressed in colours that showed his allegiance. Henry Avery. "This was one of Avery's guys."
"Dead men tell no tales." Elena joked, earning a look from Nathan, the man grumbling about the lameness of her joke. Heading back the way they'd come, Nathan led them down another tunnel system and up a flight of stairs, finding the remains of many skeletons scattering around with many swords sticking up from their bodies. "Looks like a fight broke out." Elena gasped, slowly stepping further into the room and manoeuvring over the dead to not step on any bones.
"Yeah, Tew's men versus Avery's…" Nathan shook his head, following Elena's lead and doing his best not to step on any bones, trying to have some respect for the dead. At the far back of the room was a large iron door with a single skeleton propped up before it. "Excuse me…" Nathan whispered, reaching for the handle and pulling it open, forcing the skeleton to collapse sideways, the skull dislodging and rolling to the side. "Whoops…" Nathan muttered, his face tight-lipped. "Hello…" He smirked, noticing a key that had dropped from the undead pirate's hand as the body moved, and Nathan was more than happy to pick it up. After all, you never knew if it would become handy or not, especially when getting out of these cursed catacombs could be hindered by a single locked door.
"Some kind of key…" Elena spoke, looking over her husband's shoulder and providing more light with her touch. "What's that note?" She asked, noticing a parchment that had been resting on the ground beside the remains.
"Oh, right," Nathan muttered, quickly pocketing the key and reaching for the paper. Standing up, Elena came to stand beside him, the two looking it over. "It's uh…it's from Tew to his men," Nathan explained, reading the letter in his head as Elena read it over his shoulder. The two of them soon realised that the key Nathan picked up was indeed the answer to their escape. "We can use the key to get out of here."
Elena breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good."
Upon finishing reading the letter, Nathan flipped it over, his brows furrowing as he studied the images. "Hmm. There are some symbols on the back."
"Well, let's go find a keyhole." Elena stated, an eagerness to her tone. Nathan could only grunt in agreement. They both wanted out of this hellish doom of Avery's catacombs. Folding up the paper, Nathan slipped it into his mother's journal for safekeeping, knowing he would need to use it as a reference later. Squeezing through the open doorway, the couple pressed on, following the winding cave tunnels, but stopped at a large room, another trap lying before them.
"Oh boy," Nathan said defeatedly, feeling his stomach drop as he eyed off the room full of mummies that lay in their path, with even Elena groaning beside him at the sight. Taking a few hesitant steps in, Nathan felt relief when the first few mummies didn't explode, a rush of confidence flooding his system and making him take further steps in, only to freeze when he heard the familiar hissing. "Ah, crap—!" Nathan rolled to the side, dodging the explosion only to set off another trap, causing Nathan to quickly manoeuvre around the room as Elena watched on in fear from the entrance. When no mummies were left in the room, Nathan finally stood, panting to catch his breath. "I'm okay!" He yelled out to his wife, alerting her that it was safe. Picking his torch back up, Nathan rounded the corner, pausing again when he spotted two more mummies. "You gonna explode now, huh? No? How 'bout you?" He barked, almost threatening them as he stepped near them, passing them by with no explosive reaction.
"This guy had some serious trust issues." Elena scoffed, glaring at the two mummies as she trailed behind her husband.
"Yeah." Nathan commented. he stopped before a hole in the floor that led to a large drop off, a 'whoa' leaving his lips as he stared down into the darkness below, the light of his torch lighting up the floor below. Jumping down, Nathan's blood froze as he once again was greeted by that cursed hissing sound. "Oh God, oh god, oh god!" He vaulted over a fallen stone pillar just in time to avoid the explosion, choking and coughing on dust as another round of mummies started to hiss, making him groan, launching himself forward and dodging another loud boom. "Okay, okay, you done?!" Nathan yelled out, starting to become overly annoyed with the predicament he and his wife was in. He ignored Elena's teasing remark of 'nice moves' as she jumped over the pillar, joining in on the other side now that it was safe again. Nathan sighed as he stepped up to another hole in the floor, this time trying to peer down into the darkness to stop any more of those fucking mummies, and smiled when he didn't. Dropping down, Nathan came face to face with three mermaid statues that looked like they had been taken from the figurehead of ships, but the middle statue was adorned with a human skull over her face, and her body adorned in clothes that had once belonged to a pirate. "Huh. Not quite as creepy as all the hanging bones." Nathan stated, stepping closer to inspect the carvings.
Elena frowned. "Still, it's a little creepy." She shuddered, finding the sight after dropping down a hole in darkness to be odd and a very step down into the decline of Captain Avery's mental state.
"Yeah, maybe three out of ten, though," Nathan spoke, raising his torch to brighten the three mermaids. His eyes flickered to Elena when she said she found it a four. "Really, four?" He enquired, a small smirk on his lips. After all, they'd encountered in their years of treasure hunting, this didn't even come close to creepy in his books. Disturbing, yes, but not creepy. Moving through the caves and descending a set of stairs and a stone archway, coming across a puzzle board similar to the one they encountered at the start of the catacombs, only this one was intact.
Elena sighed, shaking her head at the sight of it, none too thrilled about another obstacle. "Okay. It's another deathtrap."
"Yeah, no footprints to guide us," Nathan stated, observing how this one hadn't been visited by his siblings and shoreline. He pursed his lips, trying to think of how to get across when he spotted the symbols carved into the wooden posts. The idea hitting him, Nathan quickly pulled out his mother's journal and grabbed out the recently acquired letter from Tew. Flipping the note over, Nathan smirked, the same symbols on the back of the paper as the posts. "The symbols match the ones on those posts. Huh. Tew showed his men how to get past the traps." Nathan muttered, keeping the paper in hand as he made the first hesitant step, the second board from the left. Nathan released a shaky breath, stepping forward again. "Okay, we're off to a good start. Follow my lead, okay?" Nathan spoke over his shoulder to Elena, his wife carefully following him as he stepped forward another two platforms.
"Just be careful…" Elena warned, knowing that the man always had a way of getting himself into trouble.
"I'm always careful." He retorted, taking one square to the right.
Elena scoffed, laughing at his statement. "Says the guy who set off every mummy bomb in this place."
"Well, you know, not a lot of experience with the mummy bombs." Nathan tried to excuse his past encounters, giving the woman a blank stare over his shoulder. "Thank you." He took two more platforms forward, Elena muttering, 'So far, so good' behind him as they neared closer to the safety of the other side. Stepping left, right and left again, Nathan hit the cave's rock wall, dirt beneath his feet. "There! Made it! In your face, Avery!" Nathan boasted proudly, making Elena chuckle behind him at the man's antics, finding them adorable. Vaulting over another fallen pillar, Nathan spotted light up ahead, natural light, signalling that they'd finally found their way out of Avery's catacombs. "That's our way out of here." Nathan tossed his torch aside, no longer needing it, as he moved faster towards the exit. Walking into the large room as light filtered in from above, the couple spotted skeletons hanging from the rocky ceiling and more mummies up ahead.
"Ah— God, are those the rest of Tew's men?" Elena balked, eyeing the hanging skeletons, noticing that they were missing their heads and arms, hinting that these had been the leftover bodies of the pirates that Avery used to decorate his warning rooms with hand and jawbones.
"Yeah, gotta be. We know Avery likes to make an example of his enemies." Nathan muttered, slowly walking into the room, giving the mummies a wide birth and being ready to dodge if he heard a hissing sound.
Elena scoffed. "He definitely likes making exploding mummies." She frowned as she passed one, just as careful as her husband.
"Yeah. Let's, uh… tread carefully in here." Nathan agreed with the sentiment, rounding a corner and spotting the large iron door at the end of the room. A smile spread across his handsome face as he realised he'd finally be able to get him and Elena out of this torture dungeon. Reaching for the handle, he gave a sharp tug, only for the door not to budge. Frowning, Nathan eyed the door, his gaze flicking down to the keyhole. "Keyhole…Key." He smiled at Elena, fishing for the key in his pocket.
"Wait…" Elena held up both hands, stopping her husband. "It could be a trap." She advised, cautious after the multitude of toils they'd already encountered while scrounging around in the dark cave system.
Nathan swallowed, looking between her and the door. "Yeah, we really don't have much of a choice." A statement they both knew was true, making Elena sigh in defeat. "But…I have a good feeling about this. Yeah?"
"Do it." She nodded, her eyes squeezing shut as she held her breath. While Elena wanted to trust her husband's faith, she couldn't ignore the bubbling in her gut, warning her that something bad would happen. Sliding the key into the lock, Nathan listened to the sounds of metal scrapping against metal as he turned the key slowly, his eyes squeezing shut as he expected the worst, but when the door popped open, they both smiled. Nathan gave the door a hard shove, opening it further as he advised his wife to step back just in case. He laughed when he saw the true exit on the other side.
"You see?" Nathan spoke smugly, feeling like he finally had a win, but that win was quickly cut short by the fast whirring of ropes as the pair were forced chest to chest and hurled into the air by a net, swinging side to side gently as their weight and motion tried to settle against gravity. "Well, at least we didn't get blown to bits…" Nathan spoke, trying to make light of the situation. Before Elena could even retort at her husband's stupidity, a loud explosion echoed from where they'd come from. "Ah, shit…" Nathan sighed, cursing himself for jinxing them as his wife shook her head, mentally blaming him for getting them into this mess. "You didn't bang a knife by any chance, did you?" He enquired as another explosion could be heard.
"No…" Elena barked, rolling her eyes, but as she did, she noticed a lone skeleton hanging not far from them and the blade that was still attached to his decayed person. "But that guy's got a sword. Here, help me swing this thing." Working together, they used their body weight to create momentum to move the net as Nathan reached for the sword, the sounds of more explosions echoing from the ground below them as the chain reaction continued. Finally snagging the sword, Nathan got to work cutting through the top of the next, despite the sword's aged and blunt blade. After cutting through two ropes, the net gave way under their combined weight, Nathan and Elena hitting the rock floor with a hard thud, but they didn't have time to determine their injuries, the couple jumping to their feet and bolting through the opened doorway, racing through a long hallway of hissing mummies and vaulting over fallen pillars and beams, all while screaming at one another to keep moving. A large explosion had launched Nathan forward, forcing him onto his stomach as the explosions caught up behind him; Elena rushed to his side to assist him, only managing to get him to his feet before it was too late.
It hit their backs, sending them both over the edge of a cliff, rolling down through hard rocks as they held themselves close, not wanting to lose each other as the explosion sent them flying from the exit. Nathan had landed on his back, his wife's body cradled to his front as he hit the shallow puddle. But he rolled them both over. Nathan was breathing heavily, coughing out the dust and dirt from his lungs as he used his body as a shield to protect his wife from the rocks and debris that fell around them after having been thrown from the cliff above. Nathan cursed Avery and the pirate lord's twisted mind for creating exploding mummy traps to protect his treasure. He wasn't sure what caused the obvious decline in Avery's mental state to lead the man into decorating his catacombs in bodies and limbs with his poetic warnings of betrayal, but Nathan knew it wasn't normal. Coughing one last time, Nathan could stop shielding Elena when he noticed the dust having finally settled, and with a final glance upwards, he sighed, rolling away from Elena and sitting on the ground beside her. He looked at their surroundings, grateful they had made it outside alive and with all their limbs attached.
"Thanks, Captain Avery." Nathan gasped sarcastically, still trying to catch his breath as he and Elena had been running from Avery's traps for their lives. "Just like old times, huh?" He chuckled, sparing a glance down at Elena, who was still lying beside him. When Nathan didn't get a response from her, he called out to her, his head snapping in her direction to take in Elena's form as she lay in the muddy waters beneath them both. She was not moving, her head tilted away from him. Nathan moved quickly, leaning back over her body as he straddled her hips. A single hand cupped her neck, rotating her face for him to take in her closed eyes and peaceful expression, sending a newfound wave of fear straight to Nathan's gut. He'd possibly lost Sara and Samuel. He couldn't lose her, too. "Elena? Hey. Elena, c'mon. Elena!" He yelled, tapping her face gently, not wanting to harm her further but desperate to wake her.
Elena's brows furrowed slightly, a low groan leaving her lips as she struggled to speak. "My…hero…" She struggled to keep a straight face, laughing as her evil trick of tormenting her husband came to an end.
"Oh no, you didn't do that." Nathan sat up, staring down at her in disbelief. "No. That's not funny!" He scolded, rolling off of her and shoving her shoulder harshly as she continued to laugh, clearly enjoying herself having almost broken him completely with her cruel joke.
"Oh!" Elena gasped, sitting up and staring at him, her own expression of shock on her face. "You have done much worse." She lectured, remembering all the times he'd almost driven her to die of shock at his level of stupidity, a form of stupidity that Elena was quickly beginning to understand was a male Drake thing, as she couldn't recall Sara having done anything as reckless as Nathan or Samuel. Nathan sighed dramatically as he collapsed backwards, complaining how Elena had almost given him a heart attack. She rolled her eyes. "Oh…let me listen." She said, curling into his side and resting her head on his chest. "Sounds good to me." She smiled, her eyes shutting as she listened to his fast-beating heart.
"What—?" Nathan murmured, arms spread out on either side of him as his mind tried to wrap around the idea of his wife's prank. "You realise…we are now even for everything I've ever pulled, all right?" Nathan spoke firmly, only for Elena to lift her head, eyeing him. "Yeah, like ever," Nathan spoke again, trying to further enforce his point at his wife's expression.
She shook her head, clearly not agreeing with him. "No. Not by a long shot." Manoeuvring herself better onto her chest to look down at him, Elena laughed, taking in his grime-covered face. "Gosh, you've got mud everywhere." She tried to clean off his face as best she could using a single hand, wiping the dirt away, before finally cupping his jaw, their eyes meeting. Nathan brought a hand to the nape of her neck, gently rubbing between the base of her skull and shoulder.
"Anyone ever tell you….you have a…funny idea of romantic?" Nathan breathed, his voice soft as he stared at her, eyes tracing all over her face like he'd done so a hundred times before, yet still kept finding himself enamoured by her beauty, even after all these years together. Elena Fisher was truly the greatest thing in his life, maybe even greater than his siblings. While he knew Samuel would probably have issues with such a statement, Sara would call her brother a sap while smiling, proud of him for finding someone he could spend the rest of his life with who was still able to put up with his problematic shit.
"Yeah," Elena smirked, her eyes closed briefly as she nodded her head. "Yeah, I may have heard that somewhere before." As Elena leaned down towards him, Nathan arched himself up, their lips meeting in a slow and passionate kiss that seemed to wipe the slate clean between them, all lies and aggression vanishing. A light chuckle left them both as the heat between them rose, each leaning towards the other for another kiss, but a far-off explosion and gunfire caused them to freeze. Pulling apart, they both sat up, looking at the exit to the cave they were in, light pooling in and creating a shadow of what was unmistakably the ruins of a ship.
"That's going to be Sam. C'mon." Nathan chuckled, quickly moving to his feet and pulling Elena with him. If there were any reason for there to be the sounds of guns and explosives, it would be Samuel escaping from Shoreline, as Rafe wouldn't let any harm come to Sara; Nathan knew this now, even if he still didn't fully accept the coupling between his enemy and his sister. "At least the gunfire means he's still alive…for now." Nathan hissed, afraid of what would happen if they didn't arrive in time. But his head snapped to Elena when he heard her laugh. "What?" He squinted at her, curious about what she found humorous.
"Sounds like Sam is just as bad as you when it comes to getting shot at." Elena teased, crossing her arms cheekily as Nathan gaped at her, unable to come up with a retort, as deep down, it was somewhat true.
When Samuel had escaped, he'd thought he was finally winning, that he'd be able to rub it in Rafe's face and somehow have Sara falling to her knees, begging for his forgiveness and part of the treasure. What he hadn't expected was Sara being angered enough to choose to actually shoot at him and then find out that she'd been the one to order him to be killed on sight, and all because he might have eased her into a trap as a distraction to get away. Samuel had faith she'd be fine. She was a Morgan, and Morgan's were survivors. So, Samuel deemed Sara's reaction to it as overly dramatic.
So here he was, running through Avery's catacombs, using his brilliant and ingenious mind to avoid traps while fleeing a bulk of Shoreline mercenaries that had been sent straight after him with the intent to kill him, yelling how 'Ms Briggs wants him dead' as they fired off shots in his general direction, making him balk. Samuel Drake didn't think he deserved such harsh treatment from his baby sister, thinking that somehow Rafe had influenced Sara too much, deeming that the only reason why she'd want him dead, or maybe the poor woman had fallen into insanity due to grief of losing Nathan. She would never want him dead of her own free will. There was no way.
"Stop running!" A single soldier yelled out, firing off a round that hit the cave wall close to Samuel's head, making him bark a curse.
"How about you fuck off!" He yelled, not looking over his shoulder as he kept moving, zigzagging his way through the tunnels. Samuel could hear their footsteps as they chased after him, but he couldn't stop. If he did, he was a dead man, and that would mean Rafe won, and it would be a cold day in hell before Samuel let that happen. First, the prick got him out of prison to hold him captive for two years to use the elder Drake to find Avery's treasure, which the rich had no right to, and now Rafe had managed to sink his hooks into Samuel's baby sister and even deflowered the poor woman, still somewhat believing that Rafe had tricked Sara into sex. Samuel couldn't accept any of it.
Finally reaching the mouth of the cave, Samuel sprinted into the light and fresh air, tasting the freedom even as Shoreline was hot on his heels. He launched himself off a cliff, landing into the soft sand below with some skill that allowed him not to lose his footing before taking off again, heading into the shipwreck that lay in his path, hoping to use the mass of ruined ships to his advantage. It was as Samuel was creeping around, listening to gunfire, that he noticed that the bulk of the shooting wasn't aimed at him or coming from Shoreline, making the man curious. Carefully peeking out through a hole formed in one of the galleons, Samuel noticed the familiar blue of his younger brother's shirt.
"Nate!" Samuel yelled, no longer caring about stealth, as a large smile spread across his face. He found it to be a miracle that Nathan was alive, but again, he was a Morgan, and Morgans were survivors. Samuel was further shocked when he noticed a small blonde woman with Nathan, quickly registering that it was his sister-in-law, Elena. The couple were exchanging fire with the Shoreline mercenaries, fighting their way to get to Samuel through the jungle of broken ships. His slight moment of distraction cost him a bullet whizzing past and hitting the wood just inches from his head. "Shit!" He cursed, ducking and weaving his way out of the firing zone. Using the small handgun he'd be able to snag from a lone mercenary following him, Samuel tried to defend himself from the small group that had him pinned down.
"Sam!" Nathan's voice rang out, the younger Drake coming to the rescue with his wife beside him, taking out the Shoreline that stood between the two Drake siblings.
"Hey! Up here!" Samuel yelled out, his eyes glued to Nathan as the younger man moved around the broken wood and Shoreline bodies as he approached Samuel where he stood on the quarter deck of a beached ship. "Man, you're a sight for sore eyes." Samuel smiled down at his baby brother, his eyes briefly flicking to Elena as he took in the woman's appearance, who looked just as dishevelled as Nathan did, the pair covered in grime, dirt and cuts.
"How about we get off this damned beach, huh?" Nathan breathed, hands on his hips as he shook his head at his brother. "And where's Sara?"
Samuel frowned, not wanting to answer the second question, choosing to act as if he had never heard Nathan ask it. "Absolutely," He spoke, moving over to an old, rickety wooden ladder that had been rolled up and stored on the deck, something he'd done to slow down Shoreline from chasing him and pushing it over the edge to create a way for Nathan and Elena to climb up and reach him, with Nathan going first. "Did you find my lighter?" Samuel started to ask as Nathan reached the top but was cut off as an RPG hit the bow of the quarterdeck behind them. The deck beneath their feet collapsed from the hit, both men screaming as they landed on the captain's quarters below, Nathan on his back and Samuel on his front. "Shit. We're sitting ducks in here!" Samuel groaned, both men rising to their feet.
"We gotta take out that RPG!" Elena barked, jumping down to them as all three of them took cover behind the rotting wooden walls. The Shoreline mercenaries were regrouping, firing off rounds to keep them pinned down as the soldier with the rocket launcher loaded up another missile, ready to target them.
"The cliffs!" Samuel spoke, spotting the safe ground in the distance. "We can take cover there!" The trio began to move, taking cover behind anything they could while returning fire and doing their best to avoid the targeted attack from the RPG.
Nathan took a deep breath, a rifle in hand, as he peeked around a corner, spotting the soldier with the RPG. Swallowing hard, Nathan spun, aiming and fired, the mercenary falling backwards as the shot landed. "Rocket man is down!" Nathan chuckled loudly, glad that at least one obstacle was down among what seemed to be an unending wave of Shoreline. "These guys are relentless! You really ticked them off badly, huh, Sam?"
"Sara!" Samuel gritted out. "She sicked them onto me! She's gone bad, Nate!" He didn't have to see their faces to know that Nathan and Elena were in shock over the information, as it was something that he was struggling to accept after only knowing the woman for a week. "Sorry, brother!" Samuel yelled once more as they crossed a makeshift bridge between two galleons, rushing past speeding bullets. Above them, they could hear the faint sounds of Sullivan's seaplane as it circled the skies above them, but the trio was too focused on paying the plane much attention as another RPG user had joined the fight, hit the back of the current ship they were on. Amidst the gunfight, a mast from a ship on the opposite cliffs collapsed into theirs, creating a pathway to where the current Shoreline mercenaries were leading their offensive. Making precisely aimed shots, the trio was able to clear the way, quickly using the fallen mast to pass over the canyon below.
"Ah, damn it! Our friends are back!" Elena yelled out, ducking behind a wooden crate just as more Shoreline appeared. Nathan glanced around, his eyes darting around the fallen Shoreline soldiers and the ship, trying to find something to aid them when his eyes landed on the RPG lying by the dead merc, making Nathan smirk. This was going to be fun. Rushing to the weapon, he picked it up, making sure it was loaded before standing, facing the incoming array of Shoreline.
"Take those suckers out!" Samuel encouraged, smiling just as smugly as his brother as Nathan fired. They watched as the missile hit, sending the group of men flying in all directions as the explosion rattled the old ship. "We did it—oh shit!" Samuel groaned, his celebration cut short as two Shoreline trucks arrived on the cliff edge above, more men jumping out. Looking to his right, Samuel spotted a hole in the wall of what appeared to be an old stone watch tower. Signally to Elena, he boosted the petite woman above, with her quickly returning the favour and hurling him up. Nathan followed suit as he grasped tightly to his wife's hand. Despite her small size, Elena was a woman capable of lifting the two large men easily, something that impressed the brothers, especially Samuel. Inside the old tower, a ship had impressively pierced into the building, creating a somewhat defensible structure to hide them as they continued to flee, but the continuous spray of bullets burst through the side of the ship's hull, creating a hazardous space, with one large hit knocking a loose canon into Nathan's path.
"Nate?!" Elena screeched out for her husband when she noticed him not following her, spotting his body slumped against an iron chain wall through the thick cloud of dust. He waved her off, telling her to run as he got back to his feet and vaulted over the canon, running back after his brother and wife. Then that cursed RPG just had to hit the ship, knocking them all off their feet and splitting the ship down the middle, separating Nathan from them. "Nate!" Elena screamed again, watching in horror as the front of the galleon collapsed into the waters below, taking her husband with it. Samuel was fast, grabbing her arm and pulling her away out of the line of sight of the gunmen, not giving the poor woman time to process. Nathan was a Morgan, and Morgan's were survivors.
The freezing cold seawater hit Nathan's senses before he could fully realise that the galleon had landed in the water below, and it was slowly filling up with water as it continued to sink, leaving Nathan with only one option. He needed to swim out. Fast. Nathan swam through the ship's wooden hallways, only swimming to the surface when his lungs felt on fire due to needing air, but it seemed to be ongoing forever as if he was swimming from one ship to another, making his desperation grow. Yet soon, he found himself swimming through a small sea cave into a bay with only more Shoreline waiting for him at the water's edge, guns blazing as bullets whirled in his direction, forcing him to dive back under the water to where it was safe.
As soon as Nathan resurfaced, he had to bolt for cover, his legs fighting through the water and sand that tried to hinder him amongst the gunfire. With the rifle in his hands, he began to fight back, creating a safe pathway for him to reunite with his wife and brother, fearing their fates if left alone, especially with Samuel's track record. His own track record wasn't doing too well; a truck pulled up on the cliffs above the beach carrying more men more than willing to lay down some fresh fire.
"Ah, Christ, how many of these trucks did you bring, Rafe?" Nathan muttered, hitting another Shoreline mercenary in the neck and quickly running past the corpse as it bled out over the sand to hide behind a large metal crate that bore the Shoreline logo. The truck changed its position while more soldiers jumped down off the cliff, setting their sights on Nathan. "I gotta get out of here." Nathan groaned, wishing the barrage would end as he continued holding his ground, one man against a small army. "Wait, that Shoreline merc had an RPG… Where the hell is it?" He began to look around, his eyes frantically moving over each body that littered the beach surrounding him until he spotted the lone RPG. Rolling, Nathan picked up the weapon and took cover, making sure it was loaded. "All right, truck. You're going down." Nathan smirked, standing and aiming the RPG, ensuring he had a clean sight before firing. Nathan laughed as he watched the truck explode, bringing an end to his current assault, freeing him and creating a path back to his family as the truck rolled down off the cliff, colliding with a house and breaking a hole in the wall of the ruined building. "And thank you for the exit." Nathan took off running to the ruined house, not wanting to waste any more time or be a sitting duck for incoming Shoreline mercs.
Nathan paused as he reached the house; looking over his shoulder, an armoured jeep came hurling off the cliffs and drifting in the sand to face him, targeting him. "Oh, son of bitch, another one? Here we go." Nathan groaned, knowing full well what the driver intended to do as the gunman aimed the machine gun in his direction, beginning to fire off rounds as the driver slammed his foot on the excavator. Nathan had to climb, vault, jump and run fast to avoid being shot and run over through the tight roadways of the lower city of Libertalia. Nathan fell down into a dried man-made stone canal just as the jeep was upon him, but he swore as the vehicle was hit by something, jutting to a stop on the roadside above him. "Oh! Holy—!" Nathan flinched, his eyes turned upwards as he spotted an old friend staring down at him, RPG in hand. "Sully?!"
"How you doing, Nate?" Sullivan smiled down at the younger man, pleased with himself for arriving just in the nick of time to save the treasure-hunting fool.
Both men ducked as the gunfire started again. The Shoreline mercenary on the back of the jeep recovered from the shock of the missile, spraying rounds at the men. Nathan had yelled for Sullivan to throw him the RPG, something the ageing man was happy to comply with. "You got it! Finish those bastards, will ya?" Sullivan yelled out, tossing the weapon to the ground beside Nathan as the man was ducked behind a collapsed wall.
"My pleasure!" Nathan smiled, jumping up and firing at the jeep, smiling as it finally exploded in a ball of fire. "For God and liberty, asshole! Eh… that sounded better in my head." Nathan muttered, tossing the empty RPG aside. He made his way over to the short cliff, gazing up at Sullivan as the man passed along a compliment on Nathan's skill with the rocket launcher, which Nathan thanked him back for the assist. Sullivan reached down to his friend, hurling the younger male up.
"Good to see you, kid." The old man smiled, patting Nathan on the back as the two walked away from the edge. Nathan thanked him again for arriving when he did. "Yeah, well… got a little antsy waiting around to hear from you two." Sullivan shook his head, a light chuckle on his lips as he recalled just how his adventurous friends could be when left to their own devices, or more so, what happens to them when left alone.
Nathan took a few steps back, struggling to catch his breath after the last twenty minutes, having survived gunfights, being crushed underwater by a pirate ship and fucking car chase. "Yeah, no, we gotta find Sam and Elena still." He spoke, a grim look on his face. Nathan didn't know where his brother and wife were, but he needed to make sure they were okay.
"Hey!"
Nathan turned his head fast enough to get whiplash upon hearing his wife's force, a large grin spreading across his face at the sight of her. "Hey!" He called back, his arms spread wide, welcoming her embrace, their arms wrapping tightly around one another and holding each other close. Nathan tried not to chuckle as Elena began to pop off questions about his well-being, her concern for her husband unable to be hidden. Nathan answered each question as it came up, still not letting her go as he wanted to hold her for as long as he could, even when his brother appeared from the same direction Elena had. "Hey. How's that?" Nathan asked his brother, gesturing to the bandage on the man's arm, blood staining the skin. Giving Elena one last squeeze, the couple finally pulled apart so that Nathan could fuss over his brother.
"Oh." Samuel laughed, looking down at his arm, inspecting the rough patching job done by one of the Shoreline lieutenants. "Bullet grazed my shoulder. You?"
" Cliffside…grazed my face." Nathan gestured to the small cut on his forehead. "And bullet through the shoulder and patched up by the missus." He gestured to Elena, who was standing snugly to his side, the woman not wanting to leave him after the close calls the man had had today, and Nathan couldn't blame her. He didn't want to be far from her either. "Sara…?" Nathan swallowed thickly, bringing up the question he dared to ask. "And how'd you lose Rafe?"
"I…uh…led his crew right into one of Avery's traps," Samuel stated, rolling his jaw. he fidgeted slightly, bringing his good hand up to his jaw and rubbing at the skin further. "Sara…she's fully team Rafe…want's us dead Nate—"
"Horseshit." Sullivan snapped, cutting the man off; Elena let out a sound of agreement with Sullivan's comment. Neither couldn't believe that Sara would do that to her brothers, especially Nathan. She loved and idolised her brother too much.
"Horseshit?" Samuel barked, glaring hard at Sullivan. "She shot at me! Pulled out a gun and shot directly at me for running away! And then she got her good buddy Nadine to order Shoreline to shoot to kill!"
Sullivan took towering steps towards Samuel, the two men squaring off as Nathan tried to calm them both down. "My guess…Sara wants you dead. Only you. Which makes me wonder if she even knows Nate's alive." Sullivan spoke darkly, his gaze just as strong as Samuel's. Sullivan had met many individuals like Samuel over the years, men who were only in it for themselves, making Sullivan wonder just how truthful the man was. "Makes me wonder what you also did to earn my girl's ire."
"Hey!" Nathan snapped, injecting himself physically between his brother and father figure. "Let's save that for later, okay? Which way?" He turned to face Sullivan.
"On the beach, other side of this town." The old man answered. A silent conversation passed between them in regard to Sara. Both knew she would be safe with Rafe and that if they did go after her, it would only result in a gunfight and more bloodshed, and it would break the poor girl's heart—something neither man wanted. Nathan nodded, gesturing for Sullivan to lead the way.
"Good," Elena spoke curtly, her arms crossed, still not pleased with Samuel's statement about her sister-in-law, sparing a man a look from the corner of her eye. "I hope all that ruckus didn't attract any attention."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Sorry. What are we doing?" Samuel spoke loudly, his eyes on the trio as they began to leave, heading off in the direction of Sullivan's plane.
Sullivan scoffed. "What do you think we're doing? We're getting the hell off of this rock." He answered harshly, glaring at Samuel again. He didn't want to speak any further to the younger male, and when the fool suggested that they head off in another direction, a shortcut to Avery's treasure, Sullivan felt his blood beginning to boil again. "Oh, wow."
"I mean, Rafe's got to go all the way around, but we could just—" Samuel suggested, his eyes darting over the trio somewhat nervously.
"Hey, screw Rafe!" Sullivan snapped. "Maybe you should be more concerned with your sister than some pile of shiny trinkets!" He tried to take a step towards the man again, but Nathan held an arm to his chest, stopping him as Samuel tried to defend his reasoning further. "You just don't know when to quit!"
"We didn't come after the treasure, we came after you and Sara." Elena butted in, crossing her arms again as he tried to stare her brother-in-law down, despite the fact he stood a good twenty centimetres taller than her. Sullivan, Nathan and Elena stood there, listening as Samuel tried to convince them further to go after the treasure, the elder Drake believing they could beat Rafe to the treasure and get Sara back in the same go as he had found a map drawn by Avery, showing that the ship containing the treasure was hidden in a cave underneath the mountain for where the island got its namesake, the jagged mountain shaped like a snapping turtle with its mouth open, but Elena and Sullivan were both sceptical. Sure, there was the possibility that Avery's ship was hidden somewhere on the island, filled to the brim with treasure, or maybe Avery had sailed away from the island and sunk somewhere in the middle of the ocean. But Samuel made excuses for that, too, making Sullivan roll his eyes.
"How long we been chasing this thing, huh?" Samuel addressed his baby brother, their eyes meeting. "You and me. No offence to these guys…but they don't get it." Nathan sighed, a frown on his face. He retorted that they did. Nathan had known Elena and Sullivan for so long that he knew they understood and accepted the man's thoughts on Avery's treasure, but Nathan couldn't put them in danger over this. He just shook his head, making Samuel sigh in defeat. "Victor, where's that plane?" Samuel spoke, frowning at the ground.
Sullivan led them through the port town, the group stopping to admire the plan that was parked down by a ruined dock further ahead in the bay, leaving them impressed that Sullivan had managed to climb his way up to them. Elena had expressed a concern that Shoreline could be waiting for them in ambush at the plane, but Samuel stated they wouldn't be. Every Shoreline mercenary was heading to the mountain, going after the treasure. They had heard the sounds of explosions coming from the mountain, further reinforcing that Rafe and Shoreline were on the right path, no doubt encountering more of Avery's traps. When the group came across an old platform on a rail that hovered over a large gap that was too wide for the group to jump, Nathan jumped to a lower wooden platform, using his rope to pull the rail across with the others above it. Samuel stayed on it, waiting for Nathan to make his way up to him, but as Samuel had pulled his brother onto the platform, the structure gave way, causing the men to fall the grasp onto the end of the now hanging platform. Both climbing up, Nathan jumped into Sullivan's awaiting hand while Samuel jumped back to the way they came.
"Sam!" Nathan called out to his brother over the gap after having been assisted to his feet by Sullivan. "C'mon, just jump, I'll catch you. Let's go." Nathan signalled for Samuel to make the jump, standing by the edge as he gazed up at his brother on the higher ground across from him, but Nathan could see the spark of hesitancy in Samuel's eyes, and he knew what that meant. "No. No, no, don't even think about it, you hear me?"
"I'm sorry I got you into this. All of you." Samuel sighed, a weak smile on his face. his eyes passed over the trio, lingering on his brother the longest, knowing full well the pain he'd caused the man with his lies the last week. "I gotta see this thing through, Nathan."
"Sam. Hey, listen to me! If you do this, I'm not coming after you! You hear me?" Nathan barked, hoping his brother would listen to reason. but he didn't. Samuel took off, disappearing behind a mixture of ruined buildings and shrubbery, heading straight for the mountain and Avery's treasure. "Sam! Sam! Stupid, stubborn…" Nathan began to pace, frustrated at his older brother's obsession, an obsession he'd seen destroy many others, and he didn't want that fate for Samuel.
"He called your bluff…" Sullivan muttered, staring off in the direction Samuel had gone, slightly impressed.
Elena sighed, beginning to look for a way back across. "He's gonna get himself killed. C'mon." She spoke firmly. Both men knew she was right. Elena was always right. It was regrettable that they had to go after the idiot to save Samuel from himself. "Up here. Maybe we can head him off." Elena yelled over her shoulder, finding a path that led them back up into the island rather than down to the seaplane.
"I'm gonna save him…then I'm gonna punch him." Nathan grunted, making Sullivan chuckle, a sight the old man would pay to see. "What the hell is he thinking? I mean, after everything we—Wasn't this enough?" Nathan sighed, letting his frustration out, something he needed to do. "Let's just find him. Hey, we can get over that wall with this. C'mon." The three of them worked together to push a heavy cart, still full of cargo, towards a large stone wall, planning to use it to bypass the wall and get to Samuel. But with the steep incline of the land, the cart wouldn't hold, and the old brakes had rusted away. There was only one option. Two people would be needed to hold it in place while another hopped the wall, and they all knew who would be the individual to go after Samuel.
"Nate, go." Elena groaned as the three of them tried to hold the cart's weight, a struggle on their sore muscles. Nathan tried to refuse her orders, but she only yelled louder for him to go. Not waiting a second, Nathan climbed the cart and manoeuvred his way to the top of the wall, watching as Elena and Sullivan let go, the cart speeding back down the hill and crashing into a moss-covered statue of Avery.
"Look, he is not gonna leave without a fight." Sullivan explained, knowing that Nathan might have to drag his brother back down the mountain unconscious.
Nathan nodded. "Then I'll fight him if I have to. But either way, I'm bringing him back. Just get the plane as close to the mountain as you can. And be ready for a quick getaway." the statement made Sullivan sigh, having grown used to Nathan's 'quick getaways' after years of dealing with the man's death-wish lifestyle when it came to treasure hunting.
"It's not fair." Elena sobbed, frowning up at her husband, leaving him confused. "Doing the dishes? We take turns. Don't even think about not coming back." She spoke firmly, making light of their relationship to reinforce just how much she needed him, making him crack a smile.
"I love you." He spoke, jumping down off the wall and vanishing from sight.
"Same to you, cowboy." Elena said, still looking up at the wall now that Nathan was gone, her face grim. She couldn't lose him, but at the same time, she knew that Nathan would come back to her with Samuel and Sara in tow. She just knew it.