"Sam!" Caeli shouted from the deck, before dropping through to below. As soon as she landed below deck she could see why this treasure was so well renowned. Every spare space on the ship was filled with precious metals, statues, everything of value.
"Well... there's the treasure." She whispered to herself before continuing through the ship, not wanting to touch anything in case it set off another bomb or something of the like. Once she made it to the other side she saw a trap door, it was the only place they would have gone...
So she opened it.
The room was filled with heavy smoke, but one it cleared a little she could see the treasure stacked in cells and hanging from the ceiling in rope nets.
"Sam?" She asked, hoping she would get any kind of response, she walked down the stairs as the smoke continued clearing from the room. The treasure was burning... "Sam?" She asked again, hoping for a response. Through the smoke, she saw a figure move, and so she pointed her gun directly at them. There was a good chance it was someone she was working against.
"Hey, Caeli." It was Rafe, who was also pointing a gun right back at her. "Was expecting Nate to turn up in all honesty."
"Unluckily for you, you've got me instead." She replied. "Where is Sam?" She asked him, Rafe was holding his side as he coughed from the smoke. He was looking absolutely dishevelled.
"Oh, he's right there," Rafe replied, Sam was underneath a large and heavy-looking beam of wood.
"Sam?!" She yelled, but he didn't move. "Where's Cassius?" Caeli asked next, trying not to focus too much on the fact that Sam wasn't moving.
"With Nadine I imagine, won't be too far away. Sam and Cassius must have split up to search the ship quicker, hasn't worked too well for them." Rafe answered and Caeli kept her gun trained on Rafe as she slowly moved towards Sam.
"Sam." She repeated his name, hoping for any kind of response.
"Relax, he's alive," Rafe told her. "Y'know this idiot nearly got us all killed."
"That doesn't surprise me, but I'm going to get him the hell out of here," Caeli stated, still inching closer and closer to the unconscious man.
"No, you're not," Rafe said simply, walking to stand between her and Sam. His voice was far too calm... he truly was a psychopath.
"Rafe, you can have the treasure, all right? Just let me get Sam out of here." Caeli managed to say before needing to cough from the smoke.
"After everything that he's done? How noble of you, but no." Rafe never seemed to understand family, what the Drakes meant to Caeli.
"We stay here any longer and we're all dead. Is that what you want?" Caeli stated the obvious, coughing once again from the smoke.
"That's not what I said... what do you think Nadine?" Rafe asked, the woman addressed was at the trap door entry to the room, a gun pointed at Caeli as she held Cassius against her body as a hostage. "Good to see you up and about. Be a dear and relieve Caeli there of her gun."
"Hand it over." Nadine's voice rang clear to Caeli's ears, she didn't hesitate to drop the gun and kick it over to Nadine once the other woman turned the gun to Cassius' head.
"You really think you can trust him?" Caeli asked, well aware that she had no chance to win against two armed people.
"That's not your concern," Nadine replied.
"I told you your men would turn against you, look where it's got you," Caeli added quietly as Nadine walked towards her, letting Cassius go.
"Now, what are you trying to instigate, Caeli? Nadine and I are partners, I don't screw over my partners."
"Really? Because your argument five minutes ago, buying her men out from under her isn't screwing her over? Because shooting the guard that was on your side in Panama instead of giving him a cut wasn't screwing the Drakes over?!" Caeli cut the man off, beginning to shout as Cassius stood next to her.
"Now, Caeli, you weren't even there. If I remember correctly, you left... you abandoned us," Rafe stated, Caeli shook her head.
"You know that's not what happened," Caeli stated, Rafe tilted his head to the side.
"Right from the start, you all took advantage of my generosity. You tried to cut me out, and it's high time you learned-" Rafe was cut off as Nadine placed her gun against the back of his skull. Caeli would've liked to have thought that the manoeuvre would help them out, that Nadine had switched sides, but as her gut tightened she knew that wasn't the case. "...what are you doing?" Rafe asked, his eyes still locked on Caeli's.
"Now you give me your gun," Nadine instructed.
"Nadine..." Rafe was going to try and convince the woman to rethink the situation but stopped himself when he heard her take the safety off.
"I won't ask you again," Nadine stated, Caeli put her arm on Cassius' shoulder and pushed him behind her body, Rafe still had a gun pointed at them, and she wouldn't risk her son's safety. Rafe sighed before he handed the gun over his shoulder to Nadine.
"You are being..." Nadine took a step away from Rafe. "..profoundly stupid right now," Rafe told her, turning to face Nadine as she walked towards the exit.
"Look over there..." Nadine gestured to two skeletal bodies that Caeli hadn't noticed earlier. It must be the bodies of Avery and Tew.
"Stop screwing around-" Rafe was cut off as Nadine shot a bullet through the floor near his feet. "Jesus!" Rafe shouted, Caeli once again made sure Cassius was safely behind her.
"I said look," Nadine repeated her instruction from before, so Rafe did.
"Okay, it's a couple of skeletons... so what?" Rafe stated and asked.
"It's Tew and Avery, isn't it?" Cassius whispered behind Caeli.
It had to be done. To keep the treasure safe.
"I think so." She replied after that voice echoed in her ears. It was a male voice, she knew from instinct that it was Avery's.
Avery was insane with power.
And there was Tew's voice.
"I don't know as much about history as you lot, but I've got a pretty good idea as to who those two are," Nadine stated, beginning to walk back up the steps to get out of the burning room.
"Well, enlighten us," Rafe said, Caeli rolled her eyes.
"Are you profoundly stupid?" Caeli cut in, Rafe turned to her with an angered look in his eyes. "It's Tew and Avery, you imbecile." She stated, hearing Cassius' breath hitch as she insulted Rafe.
"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Cassius whispered.
"Trust me," Caeli whispered back as Rafe turned to look at Nadine again. "They killed each other," Caeli spoke louder, for Nadine and Rafe to hear her.
"Good for them, what's the point?" Rafe asked Nadine.
"Everyone obsessed with this treasure gets what they deserve," Nadine answered, walking back up the stairs and out of the room.
"So you're just going to leave us here to die?" Cassius asked, stepping to stand next to his mother.
"Oh, I'm just leaving. Whether you die or not, I don't really care." She answered, backing out and grabbing onto the trap door.
"Nadine, wait-"
"So long, Rafe." Nadine cut Rafe off as she closed the door, locking them in.
"Nadine!" Rafe shouted as he got to the door, he tried to push it back open but it didn't budge. "Nadine! You open this goddamn door right now!"
"Rafe, she's gone!" Caeli shouted, running over to Sam to try and lift the massive piece of wood off of his body. She saw his chest rise and fall slowly, he was still alive. "C'mon, give me a hand and we'll all get out of here." She added, taking off some smaller pieces and then looking at the large piece... what would be the best way to get it off of him?
"Oh no, no that won't work..." Rafe began mumbling to himself.
"Help me with Sam and I'll help you open the door." Caeli bargained as Casius was by her side getting ready to lift the piece of wood.
"No, I'm not going to be able to enjoy one of these coins knowing that you and the worthless Drake brothers are still sucking air," Rafe stated, when Caeli looked over to him she saw that he had pulled a sword from one of the skeletons. Caeli pushed Cassius to the other side of Samuel, hoping that she could keep Rafe's focus on herself. "And don't get me started on your kid."
"All right, just... just calm down. You can practice your fencing when you get outside." Caeli stated, walking away from Sam and Cassius.
"Caeli, just shut up." Rafe snapped, she curled her hands into fists. She needed that other sword...
"Seriously Rafe... this is insane, even for you." Caeli stated calmly as Rafe approached her with the sword raised. She walked backwards and tried circling the room so she could hopefully get back to Avery and Tew's skeletons, to the other sword, without Rafe realising what she was doing.
"You want to hear insane? 'Nathan Drake raced a madman and his entire army to the steps of Shambala'." Rafe took a swing at her which she dodged. " 'Nathan Drake and Caeli Porter found a lost city in the middle of the Rub' al Khali desert'." Rafe swung again, she dodged again, although this time the sword just cut through her jacket.
"God damn it, come on! We can get out of here together!" Caeli shouted, realising that she wasn't going to be able to get to the other sword anytime soon.
" 'Nathan Drake discovered the fabled El Dorado'." Rafe took another swing at her.
"C'mon Rafe, stop." Caeli pleaded as she dodged another swing from him.
" 'An occult assassin kills those who oppressed her'." Now Rafe was shifting his anger onto her. " 'Caeli Porter, able to take on an army by herself'." He swung at her once again, but she noticed that he was finally changing corners of the room. She should be able to get the other sword soon. " 'Nathan Drake is a legend.' You know I shot the man who told me that, and I also shot the one who said you were invincible."
"I get it, you don't like us very much..." Caeli stated.
"No, I don't like them very much..." He pointed to Sam with the sword before pointing it back to her. "You... I loved you... and then you turned me down for him. That's why I took your son in one the Order handed him to me, because of you, but you've made me realise something Caeli..."
"What's that?" she asked him, not taking her eyes off of his.
"You have always been my main competition, not them. They are worthless, the brothers are worth nothing, but you... you are actually worth something, you have a brain that can solve any puzzle... and yet you waste such potential by throwing in your loyalty with the Drakes. I could have given you everything and instead, you chose to throw everything back at my face. You disrespected me, you laughed at me when I had a gun pointed to your head at the auction. You think I am worthless, you think I am incapable..." Rafe explained. "That is why I have learned to hate you." He added, swinging at her once again.
This time she caught his arm, kneeing him in the stomach before headbutting him and throwing him to the wall. He pushed her back, and she ended up on the ground on her back with Rafe's sword pushing closer to her throat as she used everything she could to push back against it.
"I sacrificed everything to find Avery, and I'm not going to let a couple of two-bit thieves, a senile con-man, a washed-up journalist, an emotionally unstable assassin and her teenage son take that from me!" He shouted, pushing his weight on top of the sword. Caeli managed to keep the blade from her throat, with one last push of strength she got him off of her. She moved quickly as he rolled across the floor from the force she had given and grabbed the other sword, finally. She didn't want to use shadows, not if she could help it, her body was far too weak to handle it and that was clear from the way her hands were shaking.
"Enough!" She shouted as she pulled the sword from the skeleton and blocked another attack from Rafe.
"You care about that parade of losers so much... I'm going to make sure they join you." Rafe told her, that was enough to stop her body from shaking with exhaustion. She was suddenly switched into 'Assassin Caeli'. Her mind was focused solely on the fight at hand and throwing insults back at Rafe. She held the sword in two hands, readying herself with the training she'd had from the Order. Who knew fencing would come in handy one day?
"En garde, dickhead."