"Is it possible to succeed without any act of betrayal?"-Jean Renoir
Where did I go wrong? Thought Don Karnage as he sat behind his desk in his private quarters on Pirate Island. The pirate leader had retired to his room as soon as the Iron Vulture had returned from his mission to steal the Sub-Electron Amplifier from Khan Industries. Everything had gone well for the most part. The plane had been boarded and its pilots had been forced to hand over the ruby-like amplifier. However, upon returning with his prize, Karnage had had his day ruined by a traitorous crew member.
"How dare that boy steal what I have stolen!" said Karnage to the empty room. Karnage banged his fist on the top of his desk and cursed. He stood up and began to pace around the room.
It was all getting to be too much for the wolf. He had finally, after many years, found someone worthy to name as a potential successor some day and now his protégé had absconded with the key to his greatest plunder.
"I had practicalaly raised that boy! How dare he do this to me! I had welcomed the boy and given him a chance to someday be a great pilot like my own wondrous self and this is how he repays me!" He screamed.
Karnage went to his rack of swords and removed one from its place on the wall. He swung it angrily and then remembered the day he had caught Kit pretending to be him. Although he'd never admit it, he had felt a tinge of fatherly instinct when he saw the boy playing with the sword. He had even taken it upon himself to show the cub how to properly use it. It was the same sort of thing that his own father had done for him when he was a young boy.
Karnage let out a sigh and said quietly, "I saw something in the boy that reminded me of myself. I say to myself, 'Don Karnage, here is someone who is fit to be your successor. A boy who can carry on your great plundering legacy,' but no I was wrong!" and with that the angry wolf swung at empty air and imagined striking the boy.
"I did everything for the boy! I take him on as a member of my noble pirates and I make him part of something great and stupendous and then his has the gall to backstab me!" Karnage screamed at the top of his lungs.
Karnage remembered the first time he had laid eyes on the boy. It had been after he had boarded a captured plane. As he and his fellow pirates had been about to drag the plane's pilot away a small bear cub had jumped up and stood his ground against him. He had been impressed by the boy, so impressed that he had given the boy the chance to join him. The boy had performed well and was a quick learner. He displayed skills and adaptability that the older veteran pirates had sorely lacked. The eager cub had insisted on being at the forefront of hijackings and had proved that he was unafraid by standing up to the bullying Hal. The boy had a bright future as an air pirate. Then something went wrong.
"What went wrong? Why did he betray me? I gave the boy the chances and opportunities he wanted! I trained him, I gave him the lead on the Queen of the Skies plunder and…" he stopped with this last sentence. Yes, it all makes sense now. He changed after the disaster on the airship. Hmmm. "Did the boy have some sort of guilt trip? Did he think that I blamed him for the disaster? It wasn't his fault. He did his part so why should he run away from me thinking that I would hold him responsible for the disaster? No, that doesn't make sense so if that's not it then what?"
Then it dawned on him! "That boy took my rightfully plundered stone to make himself rich! The little fool! He has no idea of the powers of the stone and what it was going to do for me. He thinks he'll be rich, but he has no idea where that stone can take him."
Karnage sat back down in his chair and regained his composure. Sufficiently calm he went into the next part of his tirade.
"OK my little reptile. You want to mess with me then you mess with the best! I gave you everything and every chance to succeed and now you betray me and your fellow pirates. You steal my key to untold riches to satisfy your own greed! Well now you've got something coming boy. You may have escaped me today with the help of that overweight bear in the yellow plane but mark my words boy, I will hunt you and your friends down. I will follow you to wherever you may go. You can't hide forever. I will find you and I will catch you. I will use the turnips and sandpaper on your knees until they bleed. I will then make you kneel in rubbing alcohol until you tell me where my stone is! I will drag you around by your ears until we get to where you put it! Then do you know what I, the Vengeful Don Karnage, am going to do next? I will tell you! I will take you to the edge of the Iron Vulture, break your precious little airboard-thingee, and drop you over the side! Then we will see how you like them mangos boy! Oh you have got it coming my little ball of backstabbing fur! I will have you walk down the gauntlet of my pirates as they kick you and then, oh yes, then you will take a long walk off a short plank!"
Karnage stood, relishing the thoughts of the little tortures he'd inflict on Kit and said, "I swear boy, on the souls of all of my pirate ancestors, that you will rue the day you made an enemy of the Great Don Karnage!"
