-----Chapter 16-----

Camdyn had to admit surprise at how quickly the fight began and was over. Mina evidently knew what she was doing and it showed. She had Della pinned against the floor, in spite of the struggles from the wolfess. Mina had the advantage of weight and was using it. After a few minutes of keeping Della pinned, Mina let her up and watched as she slunk away. Camdyn let out a sigh of relief that turned into a gasp as Della turned on Mina, attacking her with some sort of knife. Mina dodged the first blow, was caught by the second and managed to catch the she-wolf's paw on the third. She gave it a sharp twist and there was a snapping sound and a yelp of pain from the wolf. This time when Della slunk away it was with her tail between her legs and her paw cradled against her. As she tried to sneak by the lowest pirates in rank took a couple of shots at her. She was now lower than the low and the bottom rank wasted no time in letting her know it.

"If she's lucky, Sophie might fix that so she can leave." Mad Dog muttered. Camdyn was surprised at how Mina could have done something like that. To distract herself, she began looking for the tigeress and saw that she had taken pity on the wolf and was helping her splint her arm.

"Come on...No sense standin' around here gawking." Mad Dog grumbled. "Time for the morning watch."

Camdyn didn't even bother answering him, just followed him to the ladder that led to the roof. She shivered in the air as she climbed out after him. The sun was just beginning to show and the sky was the color of orange sherbet mixed with vanilla ice cream. It was really quite pretty. She followed Mad Dog and sat next to him.

"So what am I supposed to do?"

"Watch the skies." Mad Dog answered.

"I think Della was lying about the Hunter. He wasn't even in Parides when I left it last night."

"I know."

"Where do you think he is?"

"Don't know."

Camdyn sighed. She sat quietly and tried to think about where the Hunter might be, but the events of the last hour kept bothering her. What would happen to her now?

"Whadda you mean?"

With slight embarrassment, Camdyn realized she'd spoken that aloud.

"Well, Mina has her own crew now...she's not going to have time to teach me what I'm supposed to do. I might as well go back to dancing and pretend this never happened."

"You can't go back. They'd arrest you. What did you think you'd do? Tell them you were just on an extended tour with the Air Pirates?"

"You all kidnapped me and were keeping me prisoner, but I escaped by singing you all into a stupor with my wonderful voice."

This story was so ridiculously possible that Mad Dog laughed, still not taking his eyes off the sky.

"What?"

"Knowing us, that would probably work."

Camdyn laughed herself at the image of the pirates all laying around in a fog after being sung to.

"Anyway, Mina's not very good at teachin' people how to be on a crew."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I think she had other plans for you. But if you still wanna learn, I might be able to convince some of the guys to help you out." Mad Dog seemed a little nervous at making this offer.

"You'd do that for me? Why?"

"Do I have to have a reason?"

"Well, in my short experience with pirates, you don't ever do something without a reason."

"Yeah, well, you remind me of someone." Mad Dog scuffed his toe on the plating. "The other guys like ya' because obviously their girls like ya'."

"What's good for the goose is good for the gander?"

Mad Dog looked at her. "Yeah, I guess so."

"I'm just curious, but who is it I remind you of?" Camdyn asked after a few minutes.

The mutt looked at her as if trying to guess if he could trust her. "My sister."

"Really?"

"Yeah. She used to come up with stuff like what you said about singing us all stupid. I don't know how she did it. Musta just been that much smarter that me."

Camdyn didn't know what to say. So she just listened as Mad Dog talked about his sister for a few minutes. She had a feeling that he didn't do this sort of thing often.

"I think I probably would have liked your sister."

"She liked everyone. Well, almost everyone. She never did like Mrs. Flanagan, she was over the orphanage. Nasty old ferret." Mad Dog mumbled. Camdyn found herself compelled to tell Mad Dog about her own family. She had no idea why, but it felt like she'd known him forever instead of being kidnapped by him the day before.

"Well, my family all live in the Fandango Islands. My mom had me and took care of me until I was about eight. Then my dad came out of no where and said he wanted to teach me how to be a society lady. Of course, I was living like a wild dog when he decided this, so after he got frustrated, he sent me to a finishing school in Cape Suzette."

"Where they finished ya."

"Yeah. They got sick of me really fast because I never did anything politely. If I wanted the salt, I'd just snatch it from someone. I can't begin to tell you how often I was punished for it. Well, I decided that I was sick of them too and ran off to become a famous actress. That's when I met all of you."

"That'd be why you get along with us." Mad Dog mumbled.

"I suppose it is."

They sat for a while watching the sky for any sign of a plane that would mean they might have to move, and fast.

"Why did you help me before?" Camdyn suddenly asked. Mad Dog glanced at her.

"Help?"

"Yeah. You told me to take the shortcut through the ducting."

"Oh, that. Well...you..-" Mad Dog scratched an ear. "You looked lost."

"I was. I think you're nicer than you look." Camdyn said.

"Nah. I ain't nice. I'm mean. I like to kick little kids and steal their ice cream."

Camdyn stared at him for a moment trying to determine whether he was serious or not. She was still confused when Mad Dog laughed suddenly.

"What? You actually think I steal from little kids?"

"Well, I never know with you guys. Who knows what you will get up to? You might just thieve some ice cream."

"Heh. Well, it all depends on how hot it is and how long it's been since we've had any. Only thing is, ya gotta make sure you beat Dumptruck or he'll eat it all."

"Seriously?"

"Yes. He ate...what was it? Three containers? Yeah."

"Jeez. He should have been born a pig. By the way, what was with you last night with Della?"

Mad Dog looked confused, then grinned. "Well, you notice how she looked so...itchy?"

"You didn't."

"I did. I gave her some of my fleas."

"You're right."

"About what?"

"Being mean."

They continued talking and Mad Dog told her about some of the pirates she hadn't met yet. There was Hacksaw who had a fascination with explosives, Gibber who was Karnage's eyes and ears. Mad Dog warned her not to say anything in front of him that she didn't want to get back to the captain. She'd noticed that most of Karnage's crew were canine and asked Mad Dog about it.

"Oh, that. Well, there aren't many antelope who'd feel comfortable hanging around us. Most of the others don't get the system."

"System?" Camdyn looked puzzled.

"Yeah. This crew is like a pack. See...wild dogs live in packs, right?"

At Camdyn's nod, Mad Dog continued.

"So you've got the leader, Karnage, then you've got the second in command, that'd be Will...on down to Scrib."

"Scrib? That's his name?"

"Yeah. He's a real wierdo. Lives for checking the fuel levels. I think he just likes doin' it 'cause it makes him 'happy', ya' get me?" Mad Dog said.

"So he's the lowest member of the crew?"

"Yep. Last one for everything."

"You're a lot smarter than you let on, you know."

"It doesn't pay to be smart in this kinda thing. You get too smart and people start tryin' to bump ya' off."

At about that moment there was a scrabbling noise and an extremely mangy chihuahua climbed onto the roof. Mad Dog glanced at him. The chihuahua payed no notice to his fellow pirate and slid himself straight over the side. Camdyn started to get up and Mad Dog grabbed her coat and pulled her back down.

"That's Scrib."

"Oh. Is he...alright?"

"As alright as he ever is." a new voice rumbled. Camdyn turned to see the gray rat there. He stared at her.

"What is she doing out here? Shouldn't you be keeping her locked up?" he asked.

"I'm just doin' my job...Captain Karnage told me not ta let her outta my sight and I can't have her locked up and be out here."

The rat blinked. "You know, I think Karnage has finally cracked. Letting a prisoner roam around...He won't even give us the freedom to go where we want."

Camdyn looked at him as she heard the sound of several large planes taking off. "What's that?"

"That's the other four captains and Della leavin'. They're gonna go look for the Hunter. Hope they find him, don't you?" The rat looked at Mad Dog as he said this.

Mad Dog didn't reply. He seemed fixated on something on the horizon. He stood up and stared for another minute, then grabbed Camdyn's wrist and took off racing into the ship.

"What's going on?"

"I saw somethin'. Come on..."

Camdyn assumed they were looking for Don Karnage, but they ended up in the hangar instead. Mad Dog was talking to himself as he trotted along the line of planes. He climbed onto the wing of his own and fished in the cockpit for something. He pulled out his rifle and jumped down. He kicked the storage compartment open on the side of the plane and pulled out a bag. He then ran back toward the roof, Camdyn following him. The rat nearly collided with Mad Dog on the stairs.

"Move, Randall..." Mad Dog shoved past him. He didn't seem to pleased by this. Camdyn followed Mad Dog out onto the roof and he was already unfastening the barrel of his rifle.

"You just let that sonnuvabitch get close enough..."

Camdyn looked out at the sky and could now pick out the plane that Mad Dog had seen coming.

"What are you doing Mad Dog?"

Randall was back, this time Karnage was with him.

Mad Dog looked up at them, but his hands didn't stop moving.

Karnage at least had the sense to scan the horizon and saw the plane coming.

"That is a pretty pidgeon, yes/no? But is it?"

"Yes."

"Hrmph. Then what are you plucking it before it is hatch-ed for?"

The mutt looked up at Karnage and some sort of communication went on between them.

"Si...si. I have always wanted to watch this..." he made a motion with one paw to go ahead. Mad Dog grinned. Randall looked more confused than Camdyn.

"Cover your ears." Mad Dog said as he loaded the gun. He'd changed the normal rifle into something much more sinister.

Camdyn complied before he'd even hoisted it to his shoulder. Mad Dog fired and her ears were ringing in spite of it. She looked out at the plane and saw black smoke coming off of it. Karnage grinned and went back down the ladder. Randall shook his head and followed. Mad Dog continued to track the progress of the plane as it came closer to the Vulture. There was only two places left for it to go. Down, or to the waiting airship.

AN: Mad Dog's sinister weapon is a shotgun that can fire anti-aircraft bullets. Yes, in real life it would probably blow up in his face or have such a kickback it'd knock him on his butt. This is a story based on a cartoon. So, in this one instance, I'm letting the cartoon physics take over.