Lost Pirates 2 - Chapter 7

The guards stormed in. Frank was about to run, but the smile on Keisha’s face and laugh from Esmerelda showed they felt differently. Actually, the team was due for a good fight. Fuck it, he might as well give them the fun they craved.

He turned to the closest guard and charged, ignoring the shouts from the man. A hand reached for a gun, but not before Keisha was there at Frank’s side, pouncing, and a shot from Esmerelda told him she and Rose were dealing with the other group. 

The first group came at them with tasers and swords, with the two at the rear pulling pistols. Esmerelda and Rose met the taser-holders with dodges and well-aimed strikes, Keisha charging with her pistol drawn and taking down one of the shooters. As she turned toward the next though, the elevator doors behind them opened to reveal four more guards, pistols at the ready. Frank cursed, realizing this wasn’t going to be quite the fun fight he’d had in mind, and provided cover fire while his ladies ran back to join him. 

Glass shattered as shots went off, Frank toppling the desk on its side to give them some cover. A shot tore through his coat sleeve, burning his forearm. Since he was still able to use the arm, he had to figure it was only a graze. He returned fire, cursing, and glanced toward the stairs. 

Two thumps of bodies hitting the floor, and the compass buzzed from Frank’s pocket. That had to be level seven! He was ecstatic about that little fact, even if he couldn’t upgrade yet. Of course, his level didn’t matter at all if he died in that place.

“We need to get out of here,” Frank said, indicating the stairs. 

“How many floors are we up here?” Rose protested. “We just climbed all that way…”

“You really think the elevator would be a better option right now?” 

She frowned, grunted, and led the way down the stairs with pistol drawn. Less than half-way down, doors burst open a few floors below and more guards were charging into the stairwell. If shots started going from above and below, they might hit each other but were equally as likely to hit Frank and his ladies. 

Instead of taking that chance, the team pulled back and burst through the nearest door. They emerged into a hallway that led to more glass, on the other side a few guards were running toward them. A glance around showed an outer ledge, so Frank shot through the glass and kicked it when it wouldn’t fully break, then shot again. 

“This way,” Keisha said when she’d realized that wasn’t working. They followed her around in the other direction, working around to where they were able to climb up onto the roof of a café. From there they were able to use a vent shaft to climb up to the ledge above, work their way back over to the glass, and get through an open window that would’ve been too high to reach otherwise. 

“Hope you have a plan here,” Rose stated, already up and sliding out. 

“There,” Frank said, joining her and then indicating a sky bridge nearby. 

“You fucking maniac.” Rose laughed. “You fit right in with the family.”

He frowned, not getting that. While yes, his grandpa had always been a bit eccentric, his dad was far from it. 

Shots were hitting the glass, sending spider webs crackling through it but not shattering it into pieces, so the group were able to run along the ledge, working their way to the sky bridge where they’d be able to get to the next building. 

“To go over what just happened,” Keisha called out as they ran. “We escaped them at the school, only to come here and find a fake compass, throwing ourselves back at their mercy?”

“And get these,” Frank said, holding up the stones. “Which I imagine are fake, too.”

“So then what was the point?” 

He laughed. “I thought you all knew Rick the Dick better than I do.”

They reached the sky bridge and started running across the top, threading their way through the crowds already crossing there. People on the ground below looked up at them through the glass, pointing and shouting. 

“Ohhh,” Keisha said, halfway across. “Lure him out?” 

“Exactly.” 

If there was one thing Frank was sure of, Rick had an ego. He had set this trap, and was damn sure going to be part of it. Meaning he’d show himself, and when he did… hopefully Frank and his team would find some way to turn the situation around, to get to him and therefore, the real compass. 

They reached the far side and saw more people shouting and pointing, only now it wasn’t at him and his team, but behind them. Frank turned just in time to see a burst of orange light and black smoke. He barely registered the surrounding explosions or the sky bridge starting to give out beneath him. The people falling to their deaths as he was rocketed back, only stopped from falling by the simple expedient of Rose grabbing hold of his wrist and pulling him up to the rooftop of the opposite building. 

Another explosion hit and the building shook, Frank falling from the ledge to hit the next one down, rolling across curved glass and coming to a stop by himself in a small, rooftop garden. His body ached and his sword-hilt was sticking into his side, but he was in one piece. 

When he finally managed to look up, there was Rick the Dick on the opposite side of the gap between buildings, with a bazooka aimed right at Frank’s face. 

“Sweet justice,” Rick shouted, his voice barely carrying across with the wind. He rocketed back as he pulled the trigger, and Frank figured this was it. 

He’d lost. 

Something moved nearby. A shadow? All black, darting. 

It was a figure, a person—and it had Frank. Strong, larger than himself. A man? Something in his hands, too. A rope, Frank realized as, with a jolt, both of them were flung through the air toward another nearby building. 

Frank shouted in confusion and fear. A hand gripped his shirt, a strong arm wrapped around his torso, and that was all that held him from falling to his likely death. 

The blast of the explosion hit, causing them to shake and his ears to ring. The figure released Frank and he fell, screaming now, only to land after a drop of less than a foot. A quick roll, and then he was up, trying to catch his breath and figure out what had just happened. The figure was dressed all in black, disappearing over the next ledge to leave Frank by himself. 

Frank ran to the edge of what he realized was the top of another building next to where he’d been. Looking over the edge, he saw the structure he’d been in just moments ago, now with its side wall missing, debris still falling as flames took hold. 

His eyes scoured the area for any sign of his ladies and grandma, but all he saw was flames and destruction. His hands were trembling, gripping for weapons that he took a moment to realize he no longer had on him. 

Everything seemed hopeless, his mind reeling with the thought that he’d royally fucked this up, when the ninja—as Frank thought of him in the brief moment that he’d appeared, seeing the black clothes, all but an eye-slit—reappeared again, Rose at his side.

“Quickly, they’re with me,” the ninja said. “They’re safe. You all are, for now.”

Frank gawked, confused, then stumbled toward the ninja and his grandma, hope rearing its beautiful head as he crested the rise of the roof and saw that, indeed, Esmerelda and Keisha were there, too. They were pressed up against a corner of the roof, pistols at the ready, looking utterly confused. 

“This way,” the ninja said, leading them around the back, directing them to a position where he had rappel ropes ready. “Down.”

None of them needed to be told twice, but Frank, as he latched himself in and watched the man snuggly helping Rose, a bit too close for comfort, growled, “Who are you?”

The ninja finished, then held up a finger for silence. “A friend.”

With that, he gave Rose a shove so that she was repelling down fast, and his eyes smiled as he followed. 

Fuck. Pirates, Vikings somehow involved… maybe… and now ninjas? 

Frank had to laugh at it all as he followed, rappelling down after them and feeling the rush as air flew past, the smell of the explosions nearby as smoke wafted their way. 

In spite of it all, the fall was exhilarating. He hadn’t managed to get his hands on Rick yet, but at least his team was safe and apparently had a new ally of sorts.