Lost Pirates 3 - Ch 3

Frank looked around the corner as the four men banged on the door. One had started kicking it. They wore mostly leather, but had metal armor on their shoulders, knees, and shins. 

“Soldiers with Emperor?”

One of them had a metal arm with gears along the side and back, and was using it to pound the door. 

“Actually, no,” Temra said. She hesitated, then held up a hand for Frank and Other Esmerelda to stay put as she took a step toward them.

“We’re not letting you go out there alone!” Other Esmerelda hissed, and Frank glanced around for a place to set down the tacos. 

“Protect the gordies,” Temra said with a grin, then stepped out into the walkway, heading for the men. “Hey!”

All four stopped, turning to face her. They even took a step back from the door. 

“Here to help?” one asked. 

“Excuse me?” She frowned, hands on her hips. “What’s going on?”

“Liran went around back to try and find another way in,” the one who had spoken proclaimed. “We have reason to believe outsiders have infiltrated that—”

A shot sounded. Then shouting. 

“Dammit!” Temra moved past them to the door, quickly working the combination. Before the last bit though, it opened from the inside. An old man stood there, frowning with arms crossed. 

“I leave the house for two days to come back to this?”

“Honestly, I can explain.” Temra motioned to Frank, but then shook her head. “Except, you know what? I don’t have to. Not out here, anyway. In the house, before anyone sees you and me together.”

“But—” one of the men outside started. 

“Inside!” Temra turned back to where Frank and Other Esmerelda were still standing, staring in confusion. “That includes everyone. Move it.”

Frank shared an intrigued look with Other Esmerelda, who laughed and nodded for him to lead the way, both carrying their tacos. 

Not only was everyone awake inside, but they were gathered around Shadow, who had been shot. Frank nearly dropped the tacos at seeing the man in a chair, blood on a cloth that Rose was handing to Keisha while taking another to hold against the wound. 

One of the guards stood in his way, but Temra nudged the man aside as she took the tacos and put them on the counter. 

“What’s going on here?” the man Frank had to assume was Liran asked. He was eyeing Temra with curiosity, holding a pistol but with two swords at his throat—one held by Mary, the other by Esmerelda. Milly had a pistol and cutlass out, eyeing the other four guards. It was getting damn crowded in there. 

Frank knelt at his grandpa’s side, mind rushing with thoughts of having recovered the man only to lose him like this. “Is it bad?”

“Don’t worry,” Keisha said. 

Rose nodded. “He’ll live. He’s too damn strong not to.”

“That,” Shadow added, “and the shot barely grazed my side, here. The blood… sucks, but as long as we can stop the bleeding, I’ll be fine.”

“Shit,” Temra said, hand on Frank’s shoulder. He reached up to put a hand on hers, then turned on the man with the pistol. 

“Why is the shooter still alive?” 

“I was asking myself the same question,” Mary said with a grin, inching her sword forward. 

“Everyone, please,” Temra took a step over, putting herself between the stranger and Keisha. “I can explain.”

“Please do,” Esmerelda said, but at least her sword lowered slightly. 

“Liran, I didn’t know the safe house was operational or I would have left a message. This was, I’m sorry to say,” she turned to Shadow and cringed, “my fault.” 

“They’re with you. All of them?” Liran lowered his pistol finally. The other soldiers were still tense, but seemed to relax slightly. “This… could have gone better.”

“No shit?” Shadow growled, but then held up a hand. “Sorry.”

“Honey, the man shot you,” Rose interjected. “You have every right to lose your temper.”

He laughed, but then grunted in pain and held his side, over Rose’s hand and the cloth pressed there. 

“And the… gordies?” one of the soldiers asked. 

Temra laughed. “Right, that. My version of Esmerelda went with Frank and me to grab breakfast. Ta-da!”

Suddenly the whole room was much more interested in the tacos than anything else going on there. Even Rose took a moment, saying she would grab one for Shadow.

“Mmm, tacos for breakfast,” she said. 

“Gordies,” Frank explained, glad to see Shadow was well enough to be able to stand, taking one of the gordies for himself and holding the wound with the other hand. “The local version.”

A sudden thought hit him that he would love to find out how the rest of the world was in this dimension. Would Japan and all the other countries have looks like this? How would the steampunk version of technology have affected them, or had countries like Mexico found some other way to advance and move ahead of the United States. Of course, the “United States” might not have even been united in this world. 

Not that any of that mattered much. The main point was that the messing with time needed to come to an end. They didn’t know if all versions of Rick the Dick, AKA the Pirate King, were gone for good or not, but it seemed so. Most likely, it was the boy Merin that they needed to focus on. The figure in the fourth-dimension room had specified him, after all. 

“These are amazing,” Frank said, biting into a gordie and watching Temra and the others, waiting for an explanation. 

Finally swallowing her last bite and then going for more coffee, Temra turned to address the group. “Here it is, everyone. You’re familiar with Frank, but this… this is another Frank, form another dimension or world of sorts. It’s complicated,” she held up a hand to one of the soldiers who looked like he was about to ask a question, “and right now I’ll just say that I was in one of these other dimensions, and that’s where Shadow is from. Yes, the man you shot. And…” She frowned, looking over Keisha and the others. “Long story short, they’re with us.”

“And us is…?” Milly asked, standing tall in and in the corner, apparently not much of a breakfast person that day. 

“These are members of the Rising Storm,” Temra replied.

“I got this one,” Frank chimed in, hoping it would all come smoother from him. “Basically, like the Resistance or First Order in Star Wars.” He frowned, then laughed. “Or, since none of you get that, I guess it’s more like—”

“We fight the good fight,” Liran interjected. 

Temra nodded, eyeing Frank to ensure he wasn’t offended at getting cut off. He gave her a subtle shake of his head. Clearly, he hadn’t been doing the best job of it. 

“So basically our allies,” Esmerelda noted. “Good. As long as you don’t shoot anymore of our people.”

“That would be appreciated,” Shadow said with a pained chuckle. 

“Again, sorry about that.” Larin looked down at his gordie, holding it out to Shadow. “Forgive me?”

Shadow waved off the gordie. “Of course. I’m sure you will make it up to me by saving my life along the way.”

“Deal.” He turned to Temra. “Only, rumor has it Rick is out of the picture, yes?”

She nodded. “He’s been dealt with.”

Frank was relieved to hear that there weren’t other versions of Rick here. Although, he had liked the idea of knowing exactly who his enemy was. 

“What do you know of a boy named Marin?” Frank asked. 

Larin considered the question, but then shook his head. “Sorry, doesn’t ring a bell.”

Damn. Frank eyed the group, hoping someone would come up with a solution. When nobody spoke up, he turned to Other Esmerelda. “And this emperor? Maybe the boy’s in the same area?”

“It makes sense,” Rose agreed. “If there’s a seat of power, he’d be nearby I would think.”

“Agreed,” Temra said. “I don’t know much about it, though. You?”

Other Esmerelda shook her head. “The emperor never comes down here. Only time I’ve seen anyone close was when a couple of the high-level ships participated in an assault on the Rising Storm, but even that’s rare, and I didn’t get a chance to see the captains.”

“Figures, they’re too scared,” Temra added. “Knowing I’d have shot them from afar.”

“What sort of emperor hides from the people?” Rose asked, shaking her head. 

“Exactly.” Temra eyed Frank, then chuckled. “That’s where the boy will be, I’d bet on it. So that’ll be our target.”

“At least we have one,” Frank replied. “And I hope you’re right.”

“In that case, I want everyone in tip-top shape,” Shadow grunted, holding the cloth over his wound. “Temra, match Frnak up with one of Larin’s men. The others as well, taking turns until everyone’s had a shot. Sparring, live steel, but with caution.”

“Right now?” Frank asked, incredulous. 

“You don’t know if these people fight differently here,” Shadow countered. “And besides, you need to always be practicing to get better. So hop to it.”

Frank grumbled, but moved to it as others set down coffee and food for now, partnering up for practice. 

“This here is Ridon,” Temra said to Frank guiding him over to one of the soldiers. The man had a wisp of a mustache, but a strong nose and intense stare that gave him a similar look to Liam Neeson. Even the man’s voice was deep. 

“It’s my pleasure,” Ridon said, moving with the other two to a corner where they would have room to spar with swords.

Frank drew his blade cautiously, eyeing Temra and then Ridon. “Isn’t this dangerous?”

“Not if we’re all as good as we think we are,” Ridon replied, leveling his blade. 

The two started slowly, but soon were moving around each other like a dance. Frank felt the surge of excitement that came with such moments, the thrill of the fight. More than once he had to pull back to avoid striking as he would in an actual fight, and he was relieved to see his opponent do the same. 

A strike paused next to his neck, and he chuckled. Shadow called out, “Frank, you’re not pulling on your training enough. Don’t forget the other memories.”

Part of Frank hated relying on that training of the other self. It took him to that next level in his abilities, but was a reminder of the chaos of multiple worlds. At first he begrudgingly tried to reach into that side of him, but another strike landed—this time one that would have gutted him. 

“Frank, focus,” Temra said. “Shadow is right. You’ll need to pull on that training in even the darkest times.”

Frank held up a hand, taking a moment. He breathed deep, cleared his mind, and found the ninja within coming through. When he lifted his sword again, it wasn’t as merely a pirate or college kid who had trained with a light saber. And Ridon saw it, pushed back, grinning the first two times the would-be lethal blows came. When the third froze at the edge of his neck, he was frowning. 

“Thank you for the lesson,” he said with a nod, and sheathed his sword. “I’d best take a break before my ego completely collapses.”

“We all know you can handle yourself,” Temra assured the man with a clap on his back.

He nodded his appreciation at the words of encouragement, but headed over to check on his comrades. 

“That was outstanding,” Temra said. “You can call on that when needed?”

“Let’s hope so,” Frank replied, sheathing his sword. He and Temra turned to see Esmerelda and Other Esmerelda with swords going strike for strike. Quite the sight, that. And neither seemed to be better than the other, in spite of their styles being quite different. It made sense, one being trained at a time of pirates, the other in this weird steampunk world. 

The others were finishing up sparring, too, when Frank heard Shadow say, “If the emperor is protecting Merin, we’ll take down this whole system.”

“Yes, but our main fight is with the issues that threaten time,” Frank cut in. 

“Nobody’s arguing that,” Shadow replied. “If we can help end evil in the process, I for one wouldn’t have any problems with that.”

Frank nodded, noting the eyes of the soldiers on him. He had to remember that the old version of himself, who some apparently didn’t know was dead yet, had been in a position of leadership. 

“Enjoy the food, have some coffee,” Temra said, motioning to the percolator where more was brewing. “If anyone wants to clean up, I can show you the way.” 

Frank had turned away from the rest of the group, though, to find a dark corner and pull out his compass. He looked over the holomap, thinking this was sounding serious. They had spotted several good crafting locations on their arrival. If the action was going to get as hot as they were making it sound, he needed to ensure he and his team were stocked up.