The Atlantis Expedition

Chapter Eleven: Impossible

Airheart had to hand it to Metalbeard and his new crew; they sure knew how to trash a place. Oh, she knew they'd solved the puzzle of the crumbling island temple, she could hear the water pump running, but they'd really done a thorough job of making it difficult for her to follow. They would have to rebuild the puzzle, and figure out the solution all over again. Curious, though, that they'd left a single torch burning. Was it meant to be a taunt? She wouldn't put it past them, even if she didn't understand what it meant.

She would have preferred to stay and study the place, but that option was no longer available to her. The race was on. She set a crew member to taking photographs of the place for later perusal, and set about putting the plumbing back together. Some clever jerk had even gone the extra mile to change how some of it connected and switched a few extra toggles, forcing her to take it apart and backtrack in some places, wasting even more time. Flea slowly backed away from her as she started to snarl in frustration. Oh, they would get it for this.

It took some hours, but finally the massive locks on the door opened, allowing her entry. The sight that greeted her was nothing short of amazing. "Oh my," she gasped, looking around in wonder. "Flea..."

"I'm seein' it, Cap'," he said, wrapping an arm around her for support when her knees threatened to give out. "Stevenson, get in here with that camera!"

"Yessir!"

"Man Upstairs, Flea, if this is just what the first temple is like...!" She moved away from him, pacing the room excitedly. "Atlantis will be more beautiful than anyone could ever imagine. Stevenson, don't you dare miss a single symbol, there may be important clues for the next temple." She approached the section of the wall that held something other than what was clearly script, tapping her lip as she puzzled it out.

"Those look kinda like map symbols, don't you think?" Flea commented, and her eyes went wide.

"Flea, I could kiss you. That's exactly what those are." She smirked. "It shows the location of the next temple. We'll be able to catch up with them!"

~* *~

Bad Cop was rather expecting Metalbeard to check on Benny the next morning, but the captain, circumspect as always, didn't breathe a word of it, simply took in Benny's general state of energy and cheer and nodded to himself, apparently satisfied that all was well again. It was almost scary, how normal everyone was acting; he would have thought Benny's screaming the night before would have woken at least one other person, but apparently not.

It was amusing to see Business utterly absorbed in his notes during breakfast that morning, a sight he hadn't seen in many years. It was nice, to see a bit of the old Sirius peeking through again, though he still wasn't ready to forgive his former employer. He probably wouldn't until Good Cop was back, and maybe not even then.

Benny had made his way up to the crow's nest after breakfast, eagerly keeping an eye out for the first sign of land. Bad Cop climbed up at one point to shove a canteen of water at him- if he was going to insist on wearing that space suit in the heat, Bad Cop would darn well make sure his friend at least stayed hydrated. "What's this for?" the astronaut questioned.

"It's hot, Ben. How you're not sweltering in that suit is beyond me." Benny simply shrugged, but accepted the canteen anyway. He was just putting it to his lips to take a drink when he froze. "Ben?"

"LAND!!" the astronaut practically screamed, hanging over the side of the crow's nest to point. Bad Cop had to physically stop himself from grabbing Benny to keep him from going over; even knowing Benny could float wasn't enough to stop reflex. Below them, Metalbeard howled with laughter as the rest of the crew ran to the railing to look in the direction Benny was pointing, eager for their first sight of solid ground in days.