{"id":325,"date":"2014-12-30T05:51:36","date_gmt":"2014-12-30T05:51:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dreamers-sanctuary.com\/00carter\/?page_id=325"},"modified":"2021-11-29T20:48:11","modified_gmt":"2021-11-30T02:48:11","slug":"part7","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/00carter\/episodes\/episode7\/part7\/","title":{"rendered":"Part 7"},"content":{"rendered":"

Episode 7: \u00a0Here Ye Be Pirates<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Part 7<\/strong><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nick groaned when he recognized the four letters painted on the side of the helicopters. They were the same letters that had been stamped on the top-secret file he\u2019d stolen in Antarctica.<\/p>\n

\u201cShitballs,\u201d he muttered to himself, casting a wary eye at Drums, who slumped against the mast, looking ready to slide off his perch at any moment. He had managed to wrap his gushing stump in his shirt, one-handed, and was cradling it to his chest. Blood had soaked through the makeshift tourniquet. Drums\u2019s whole body trembled violently as he wept and moaned in agony. His complexion was the color of fireplace ashes.<\/p>\n

Nick knew he could finish Drums off once and for all, right here, right now, before any more of his FANS cronies arrived in the helicopters to rescue him. A mere tap would be enough to topple him off the yard. The fall would kill him instantly, and retribution for Shazam\u2019s death (ironically, also from a fall) would be served.<\/p>\n

But he couldn\u2019t do it. Staring at his former ally with a mix of pity, guilt, and revulsion, Nick knew that he could not kill Drums. Not today, at least. He\u2019d done enough already. The way the stump was bleeding, he might have killed him already and just didn\u2019t know it yet.<\/p>\n

He looked up and saw the helicopters looming closer, beginning to lose altitude and circle the ship. While he would not kill Drums, he would also not stay to be captured himself. Nick watched as the first helicopter dropped a ladder into the ocean and rose moments later with Dr. Rough clinging to the bottom, and he had an idea.<\/p>\n

With his sword, he slashed one of the thick ropes tying the sails to the mast. He sheathed his blade, looked once more at Drums, then grabbed the rope and jumped. Down he swung, out and over the deck, while the helicopters descended upon Drums.<\/p>\n

It was a hard landing, the swinging momentum carrying him forward even once his feet touched the deck. He would have fallen flat on his face, had someone else not been in his way. As it was, he crashed face-first into another man, their foreheads knocked together, and Nick ricocheted back to land on his ass.<\/p>\n

\u201cOw!\u201d moaned Nick, his ass throbbing.<\/p>\n

\u201cOw!\u201d complained the other, rubbing his forehead.<\/p>\n

They looked at each other, and Nick found his eyes locked with a pair of bright, blue eyes that seemed out of place in a dark-complexioned face framed by shaggy, black hair. \u201cYou!\u201d he cried with surprise, intuiting the identity of the man he knew only by their shared surname, Mendez. \u201cYou\u2019re Aly\u2019s brother.\u201d<\/p>\n

The dark features were instantly guarded. \u201cHow do you know Aly?\u201d he asked suspiciously.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoesn\u2019t matter. What does is that-\u201d<\/p>\n

Before Nick could finish, the sound of his name interrupted him. \u201cCarter! Hey! 00Carter!\u201d He turned and saw Emerald running right through pirate pandemonium to get to him. By the time she reached him, she was out of breath. \u201cWe gotta go. Now,\u201d she panted, grabbing him roughly by the arm. \u201cJay\u2019s waiting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat? Well, wait, what about\u2026 I mean, don\u2019t we wanna\u2026 you know\u2026 take some for questioning?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cQuestioning?\u201d Mendez asked cagily. \u201cWhoa, who are you, the cops?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHeh, you wish,\u201d snickered Emerald. \u201cThe cops couldn\u2019t get away with what we\u2019re about to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nick stared at her. \u201cWhat are we about to do?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re about to blow this joint. Literally.\u201d Emerald giggled. \u201cLet\u2019s go, Carter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nick looked at Mendez, who seemed poised to run, but not quite ready to commit to it yet. \u201cYou\u2019re comin\u2019 with us, you got that?\u201d he said roughly. He reached towards his waist, where his pistol was stowed next to his pirate sword, not above threatening to get the man to comply.<\/p>\n

Mendez nodded, and he followed Emerald as she led them to the ship\u2019s port side, Nick covering them from behind. Nick looked over the rail, and there, bobbing in the water, was Jay in their inflatable raft. Emerald swiftly climbed over the rail.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey, what happened to your dress, Avril?\u201d Nick asked, finally noticing that her boy shorts peeked from beneath her tattered green dress. \u201cTrying to go for a more \u2018punk\u2019 pirate look?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, just wait. You\u2019ll see,\u201d Emerald replied with a serene smile. The smile was a mask, disguising some sort of hidden lunacy that left him mystified. She hoisted herself over the side of the ship and disappeared, dropping gracefully into the raft beside Jay.<\/p>\n

Nick turned to Mendez. \u201cYou\u2019re gonna get into the raft with us,\u201d he said, slowly but firmly, making sure the other man understood. \u201cThey\u2019re going to think we\u2019re detaining you. When they\u2019re not looking, I\u2019ll slip you another raft, deflated. You can inflate it instantly when the time is right. I dunno what Emerald\u2019s planning, but it sounds like something big, and when it happens, I want you to treat it like a diversion and bail. You got that? Bail. Jump out of the raft and disappear. Wait \u2018til you\u2019re alone, \u2018til you\u2019re out of sight, and then blow up the raft and get the hell out of here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat? Are you serious, man?\u201d Mendez stared at him as if he\u2019d just grown a second head.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am, but no one is to ever know, you got that? I promised your sister I\u2019d keep you out of harm\u2019s way, and that\u2019s a promise I\u2019d like to keep. So do what I say, and don\u2019t ask questions. When you get out of here, go back to the States and get a job. A real, honest job. Don\u2019t keep dragging Aly into this shit. Don\u2019t make her worry about you. You understand?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mendez nodded, then shook his head. \u201cNo, but\u2026 yeah. I\u2026 I dunno who you are or why you\u2019re doing this, but yeah, man, I\u2019ll go with it, alright?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou do that. Now go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nick gave him a push, and Aly\u2019s brother followed Emerald off the ship. A few seconds later, Nick splashed into the raft with them, and Jay started paddling.<\/p>\n

\u201cHurry,\u201d said Emerald, helping him. \u201cWe don\u2019t have much time.\u201d<\/p>\n

They rowed away from the ship as, on the starboard side, something green and sinister slithered toward it.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

From his perch in the doorway of the chopper, Dr. Rough oversaw the other helicopters as they dropped lines down to The Jolly Twitches. While Joey tended to Drums, he watched his minions fight off pirates as they climbed the ladders, abandoning the great ship. He hated to surrender, but they had not been able to overtake the pirates or their mechanical sea monster, and the fight was not worth losing all the minions in the organization he had built from the ground up.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, something in the water caught his eye. From his vantage point high above the ocean, it looked like an animal bobbing among the waves. He narrowed his eyes. It was green, with a long tail that floated in the water. He could see the whites of its large eyes, perched cunningly atop its head.<\/p>\n

Watching it make its way toward The Jolly Twitches, he had a sudden flash of a similar creature, gliding sinisterly through the water toward another pirate ship, forewarning those on board of its presence with its tick, tock, tick tock\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Dr. Rough began to hum then, a melody<\/a> he hadn\u2019t heard since childhood. \u201cDa-da-dum, dum, dum\u2026 da-da-dum, dum, dum\u2026 da-da-dum, dum, da-da-da-da-dum, dum, dum\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

He bolted upright as the melody solidified in his mind, nearly launching himself out of the helicopter. \u201cMinions!\u201d he cried. \u201cMiiiiinions! Climb from the ship! Climb from the ship!\u201d<\/p>\n

Abs, halfway up the nearest ladder, cocked his head in confusion, and Dr. Rough pointed frantically. \u201cThe croc! The croc!\u201d<\/p>\n

The crocodile had nearly reached The Jolly Twitches, and Dr. Rough knew what was about to happen a split second before it did. He clapped his hand over his face, and as he did, he both heard and felt the colossal explosion. Peeking down through his fingers, he shuddered as he watched his beautiful pirate ship ignite and heard the screams of the men still on board.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Nick and Jay stared at Emerald in astonishment as they watched the FANS ship go up in flames that quickly engulfed the nearby kraken, resulting in a second blast. The two men ducked instinctively, but Emerald had made sure they were safely out of range of the flying shrapnel coming from the kraken. She sat primly in the raft in her ragged dress, with that half-crazed, pleased smile on her face again.<\/p>\n

\u201cA bomb?\u201d Nick finally managed to ask.<\/p>\n

Emerald nodded proudly. \u201cI got the idea from our Disney mission\u2026 from Peter Pan<\/em>. You know the crocodile, with the clock inside? Yeah, well\u2026 this ticking clock was a bit more deadly.\u201d She snickered.<\/p>\n

Nick blinked. \u201cAnd your dress?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I had to make it look like a crocodile somehow!\u201d She held up a scrap of her dress, running the green material through her fingers. \u201cPurely for effect, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nick and Jay merely stared at her. Emerald continued to smile as the two pirate vessels went down in flames in the distance.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey,\u201d she said after a moment, looking around. \u201cWhere\u2019d our felon go?\u201d<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Dr. Rough wept as his ship went down. It was worse than the end of Titanic<\/em>. His only consolation was that he had greater plans ahead. This was the end of his brief foray into piracy, but not the end of FANS\u2019 reign of terror upon the world. Oh, no. Not even close to it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you ready to head back to the mainland, Dr. Rough?\u201d Joey\u2019s voice asked in his ears.<\/p>\n

\u201cI suppose,\u201d Dr. Rough replied glumly, watching the surviving minions climb into the last of the helicopters. \u201cHow\u2019s Drums?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot good, but I think he\u2019ll make it if we get him back soon. He\u2019s lost a lot of blood.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks to that wretched 00Carter,\u201d grumbled Dr. Rough. \u201cHe shall pay for what he\u2019s done to Drums. For what he\u2019s done to us all. He\u2019s foiled our plans for the last time!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll get \u2018im, boss,\u201d Joey agreed.<\/p>\n

Dr. Rough nodded, scooting back into the confines of the helicopter. But as he moved, something in the water caught his eye. It was not the crocodile, who was long gone; it had been a bomb, just as he\u2019d suspected, and he had a feeling the HimTak agents were behind it.<\/p>\n

Sure enough, there they were. They had gotten away, and as the helicopter started to move, he looked down on the three of them, bobbing along in a small life raft. His eyes narrowed. His nostrils flared. His eye twitched.<\/p>\n

Leaning out of the chopper door, with tears of fury stinging his eyes, Dr. Rough bellowed, \u201cI\u2019LL GET YOU NEXT TIME, CARTER! NEXT TIME!\u201d<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll miss you too, Dr. Rough!\u201d Nick shouted back towards the chopper as it faded into the skyline. Dr. Rough leaned out of it, clearly yelling, though none of his words could be heard by the HimTak agents as they sailed across the waves.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsn\u2019t this a tranquil vision?\u201d Emerald sighed. Nick\u2019s eyes drifted towards the chaotic view.<\/p>\n

\u201cExploding ships accompanied by shrieks of wannabe pirates and some freaky minions?\u201d Nick questioned sarcastically. \u201cVery soothing indeed. Perfect for a Sunday afternoon.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSpeaking of wannabe pirates, where\u2019s our felon?\u201d Emerald darted her eyes from her masterpiece and scanned the choppy waters. \u201cCouldn\u2019t keep an eye on only one hostage, 008?\u201d<\/p>\n

Nick cringed at the snide comment. It was hard to keep his mouth shut while Emerald mocked him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess I couldn\u2019t,\u201d he said through clenched teeth. Though millions of answers that he could have possibly used as a comeback ran through his mind, he tried to keep his calm and remind himself that he did it for a friend, for a good cause.<\/p>\n

He clenched his fists tightly and darted his eyes towards the remaining pieces of the pirate ship, avoiding making contact with Emerald\u2019s baffled stare. Was it for a good cause, really?<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t locate the boat.\u201d Jay\u2019s distressed voice drew Nick\u2019s attention away from his conscience for a moment. He watched him typing vigorously on his PDA. Every button Jay pressed resulted in an annoying beep sound.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s up with that?\u201d Emerald piped up anxiously. \u201cThe boat\u2019s gotta be around here somewhere, doesn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt should already be in our sight since I\u2019ve sent out our coordinates to its tracking system–\u201d Jay started.<\/p>\n

\u201cMAGIC TURTLES!\u201d Nick poked Emerald in the ribs roughly, pointing out three rock-like shapes approaching them in the water. He got up on his feet in the raft, a little quicker than he\u2019d intended to, which caused it to wobble dangerously. \u201cI love Pearl, seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhoa, easy there!\u201d Emerald held on to the sides of the raft tightly. \u201cThis ain\u2019t a fucking trampoline! And what the heck is a magic turtle, anyway?!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA magic turtle is\u2026\u201d Jay stood and examined the three sea turtle-shaped devices that sailed on the calm ocean right next to the raft. \u201c\u2026a type of vehicle that is controlled via satellite. It — or in this case, they — follow us on our missions on the sea. When the ship is out of order, usually meaning it either goes down or blows up, the system sends out a message to their software that activates them and directly connects them to the device that\u2019s been delineated prior to the mission. In this case, to my PDA. I was hoping we wouldn\u2019t need to use these, but it looks like someone saw the boat and decided to abrogate it so we\u2019d be stranded out in this mess.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSomeone who knew we were here.\u201d Nick eyed the direction that Dr. Rough\u2019s helicopter had gone furiously. \u201cFANS.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou sound like a huge dork, alright?\u201d Emerald looked at Jay incredulously. Just when she thought she knew him inside out, he\u2019d emerged with a totally different side. She chuckled. \u201cLet\u2019s cut to the chase and just go home. And more importantly, how are these funny sea turtles supposed to be any kind of a ride anyway?\u201d<\/p>\n

Folding his arms across his chest, Nick smiled proudly. \u201cShow your magic, Jay.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWith pleasure.\u201d Jay engrossed his attention back to his PDA and typed some more.<\/p>\n

In less than a couple of minutes, Emerald watched three sea turtles morph into three jet skis in front of her eyes, all fully set and ready to be ridden.<\/p>\n

\u201cPearl is one hell of a genius bitch,\u201d she spoke, bewildered.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndeed.\u201d Jay nodded and moved forward to get on to the first one. \u201cLet\u2019s get the hell outta here, people.\u201d<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Part 8<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Episode 7: \u00a0Here Ye Be Pirates Part 7   Nick groaned when he recognized the four letters painted on the side of the helicopters. They were the same letters that had been stamped on the top-secret file he\u2019d stolen in Antarctica. \u201cShitballs,\u201d he muttered to himself, casting a wary eye\u2026<\/p>\n

Read more<\/span><\/i><\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":134,"menu_order":7,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"templates\/template-onecolumn.php","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-325","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P5xaHX-5f","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/00carter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/00carter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/00carter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/00carter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/00carter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/00carter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/325\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":905,"href":"https:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/00carter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/325\/revisions\/905"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/00carter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/00carter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}