The Atlantis Expedition

Chapter Seven: Ancient World

It took a lot of cajoling, pushing, and pulling to even get Bad Cop to set foot inside his former place of employment, let alone all the way up to the conference room. Metalbeard finally stomped over and hauled him over his shoulder, carrying him the rest of the way. Bad Cop was very vocal about his displeasure at being manhandled; the others simply couldn't help but laugh at his indignant rage. "Some friends you are!" he snarled back at them, to which Benny and Unikitty only laughed harder.

Bad Cop was only deposited back onto his feet once they reached the conference room door, and was roughly pushed through it. As he gripped the doorframe to make the world stop spinning, Emmet slipped past him and made straight for where Business was pacing at the other end of the room, speaking to him in soft tones. Benny stepped up and pressed a hand to his back. "You okay?"

"I'm not a rag doll you lot can just pick up and throw wherever you want," Bad Cop grumped. "...It's passing."

Metalbeard looked alarmed at the exchange, and somewhat apologetic. "If ye still be havin' problems, lad, what are ye doin' out of the hospital?"

"No real point in staying when there's nothing they can do for me."

"Is that seriously a rock?" Lucy interrupted, and Business let out a hysterical little giggle.

"That be the first thing he said too," Metalbeard huffed, gesturing to the former President. "Honestly, I thought we already learned not to be judgin' things by first impressions."

"It has some sort of foreign script on it," Business finally spoke up. "It's not just a rock, it's a piece of something." He glanced up at the captain for confirmation, and Metalbeard nodded.

"Aye, I found it in the ruins of a temple." Unikitty nudged her way forward for a closer look, her expression one of concentration. "It be a miracle the place is still standin'."

"Not quite," Unikitty said, pressing a paw to the stone. "It's fading, because it's no longer near the source, but I can feel magic here." She looked back up at her pirate friend. "How did you find this place??"

Metalbeard sighed. "At the gatherin', Caesar gave me the notes."

Benny let out an annoyed groan. "Oh stars, Caesar. What's the catch?"

"The catch be that he's pitted a crew of sky pirates against us," Metalbeard growled. "Sky pirates! Tis unnatural!"

"Who's Caesar?" Emmet asked, ducking as the cyborg flailed in irritation.

"A right pain in the bum," Metalbeard complained.

"He has a bad habit of making up stories about lost treasure and getting everyone excited about going out to find it," Benny explained, rolling his eyes. "Goes over real well with the other pirate captains, as I'm sure you can imagine."

"Which is why I'm surprised this particular tall tale actually produced evidence," Unikitty added. "What did you do to actually get him to tell you the truth?"

"Told him the truth," the cyborg said with a shrug. "That it be for helpin' a friend in need." Bad Cop shifted at that, looking embarrassed. "I were skeptical at first, the coordinates in his notes didn't show land on any of me maps, but it was actually there."

Unikitty grinned. "And people say my curiosity is bad," she teased. "Can I see the notes?"

Metalbeard stiffened at that. "I don't have them."

"What?"

"Did ye miss the bit about Caesar sendin' sky pirates after me?" the cyborg growled. "I don't have 'em, cause they stole them."