For
Better or For Worse
Part
4
Shere Khan's Office
Kit clicked off the microphone and stepped back from the desk.
"Bravo, young man," Khan said approvingly, inciting big grins from the cubs.
"You were great, big brother!" Molly said enthusiastically.
"Do you think it worked?" Kit asked. He stepped over to the large window, but he couldn't see if the pirates were leaving the building. Clouds obstructed his view of the street.
"Let us investigate," Khan suggested languidly, heading for the elevator.
Molly caught Kit's hand in hers and swung it as they walked around piles of loot, saying happily, "We got rid of the icky old pirates, just like Danger Woman got rid of Mantis Lady in..."
BOOM!
An deafening explosion rocked the building. Khan remained standing. The cubs tumbled to the floor and were buried under a treasure avalanche.
"What was that?" Kit said. He stood, shook off jewelry, and helped a wide-eyed Molly to her feet.
Khan, frowning at the large window, which now had a jagged crack running diagonally from top to bottom, growled only one word: "Karnage."
One Floor Up
Shere Khan's lavish bedroom was filled with a thick haze. The pungent smell of burnt gunpowder saturated the air. Chunks of plaster fell from the ceiling. The matching mahogany furniture - king-sized bed, night stand, end tables, dressers, easy chairs - as well as the maroon carpet were speckled with white dust. Through the haze, a large hole was visible in the wall, allowing the three pirates and their two captives a panoramic view of the tranquil blue sky.
Between hacking coughs, Mad Dog choked out, "I think one stick of dynamite would have been enough, Dumptruck."
Dumptruck stood beside the hole. He was covered from head to toe in rubble and a dazed expression was on his blackened face. Twisting his pinky in his ear, he shouted, "Vhat did you say, Mad Dog?"
Don Karnage crawled out from under the bed - where it was safe. He fanned the smoky air with his hand. "You blundering blunderers! Do you want to blastify my beautiful building to bits?"
"Sorry," Mad Dog and Dumptruck mumbled contritely.
"You two had better be sorry. My favorite coat is soiled." He wiped a minuscule piece of dust off of his coat using Khan's silk robe, then barked, "Where do you think you are going, Bahloo?"
Baloo and Rebecca had been sneaking towards the elevator and to freedom.
"Uh, it's such a nice day outside," Baloo stammered. "Too nice ta stay cooped up inside. We're gonna go take a tiptoe through the tulips."
"You can tiptoe your tulips right back here," Karnage said sternly, drawing his sword from his scabbard.
Mad Dog and Dumptruck also brandished their pistols.
"Well, since ya asked so nicely..." Baloo said with a nervous chuckle. Both bears reluctantly stepped away from the elevator.
Don Karnage picked up a large, heavy suitcase. Stenciled on the side of the brown suitcase in white lettering was 'Hot Air Balloon in a Box. Guaranteed to inflate in 60 seconds flat.' "Thanks to this lovely invention that my plundering pirates found, you will be taking a trip into the upper stratosphere."
"A free trip don't sound so bad," Baloo said, his hopes rising.
"Accompaniment you will be a load of dynamite."
"That sounds bad," Baloo said, his face falling.
Karnage staggered to the hole, dragging the extremely heavy suitcase beside him. He put the suitcase on the ledge - not noticing the absence of Shere Khan - and gingerly pressed the button on the top of the case.
WHOOSH!
All shot backwards across the room as a gust of hot air blasted out of the suitcase. When they regained their senses, they could see that a hot air balloon rested on the ledge.
"Hee-hee," Karnage mumbled as he tipsily got to his feet. "It really, truly work-ded. Who knew?" He shook his head to clear it and said, "Get outside, both of you."
"Okay, Captain," Mad Dog and Dumptruck droned simultaneously.
"Not you, you yammering yo-yos!" Karnage said. He pointed his sword at the two bears. "You!"
Hand in hand, the newlyweds inched out onto the ledge with the pirates right behind them. Getting a glimpse of a few clouds below them, Baloo gulped. "Man, what a time to be without my Sea Duck."
Just off to their right was a hot air balloon. The balloon itself was a cherry red. Attached to the balloon was a brown wicker basket.
"This time I have gone to higher heights of lowness. Do you not agree?" Karnage gloated as he looked the balloon over.
Meanwhile, Mad Dog was staring at Rebecca. Or rather, he stared at the bag that she was holding. "Whattaya got in the sack, girlie? I wanna see it." He grabbed onto to the sack with both hands.
"You...can't...have...it!" Rebecca said between clenched teeth, playing tug-of-war with Mad Dog. She finally lost her grip and fell backwards with a soft "Eep!" against Baloo.
Mad Dog laughed and eagerly peeked into the sack. His face fell in disappointment. "Oh, it's just an old rag."
Rebecca bristled, ready for a fight. "It is not an old rag! It's..."
Don Karnage interrupted with, "Enough of this pretty bickering. Get in the basket, Bahloo." He poked the tip of his sword at Baloo's back.
"All right, all right, but stop stickin' me with that thing. I ain't a pincushion, ya know."
"Dumptruck. Mad Dog. Tie the future victims up."
Dumptruck procured a coil of rope from his jacket pocket, and he and Mad Dog strapped Baloo's and Rebecca's wrists together. They then took a second piece of rope and wound it around and around their waists. The two bears were now securely tied back to back.
"Tight enough?" Dumptruck asked, sharply yanking on the ropes for spite.
"Ouch!" Rebecca squeaked, tears of pain springing to her eyes.
"Yeowcha-magoucha!" Baloo yelped as the ropes cut into his mid-section. "I hate girdles."
"Good," Karnage said with a pleased, but not pleasant, smile. "Wouldn't want you falling out of the balloon when it is very, very high up. That would be a nasty drop, yes-no?"
"You won't get away with this, Karny. Ouch!" Baloo winced, because he had bonked his head on the burner.
"Oh, but I already have, silly Bahloo-type-of-person," Karnage sneered. "I finally get to finish off some unfinished business that has been bothering me for a long time - you and the annoying business lady."
"Becky's my wife, not the annoying business lady," Baloo interjected emphatically, returning Karnage's sneer. "We were married this mornin'."
"So..." amused understanding dawned on Karnage's face as his gaze flitted from Baloo to Rebecca and back to Baloo; "that means the best day of your life is also your worst day. Ha! And double ha! I am loving this! The dynamite, if you please, Dumptruck."
Dumptruck pulled handfuls of dynamite out of his pockets and dumped it into the basket.
"Are you crazy?" Rebecca asked, her eyes growing larger as the stack of dynamite did. There were enough explosives to blow up an entire city block and then some.
Mouth quivering with rage, Karnage said, "Never, EVER call me that word!"
Looking up at the sky, Baloo murmured casually, "Crazy."
"Argggghhhh!"
The Pink Piranha
"Aaaaaaah! Pull up! Pull down! Pull over an' let me out!" Louie screamed as four CT-37s hurtled right towards them. Neither the Pink Piranha nor its gutsy pilot showed any intention of deviating from its flight path.
At the last second, the pirates' planes veered to the right or left.
"This game of air chicken is getting oldier and moldier than last week's pea soup. We need a new game. I know! Let's play follow-the-leader, boys!" Aunt Louise said over the microphone. "The old over and under. Last one to fly under Clapton Bridge is a plucked bird."
"Let me off here, Aunt Louise," Louie begged as the downtown skyscrapers loomed closer. "Why, oh, why did I get out of bed this mornin'?"
Khan Towers
While the three air pirates were intent on carrying out their murderous scheme, Shere Khan and the children emerged from the elevator. They cautiously tiptoed through the living room to the bedroom, the plush carpeting muffling their footfalls. Kit and Molly stayed in the doorway while Khan ventured in.
The tiger businessman's face darkened at the ruin that his bedroom had become, but he said nothing. He merely pressed his hands together, wishing that Karnage's neck was between them.
"What are they up to?" Kit whispered. He shared a perplexed look with Molly. Both wondered why Mad Dog and Dumptruck were piling dynamite into the basket and why Baloo and Rebecca weren't defending themselves.
"Piratical mayhem," Khan said quietly. "But not for long."
When Karnage proclaimed, "I hope you enjoy your big explosive honeymoon pie in my little hot air balloon, Mr. and Mrs. Bahloo," Kit's alarm intensified.
The pirates moved to one side, allowing him to see that Baloo and Rebecca were tied up and that there was dynamite sticking out over the top of the basket. His pulse began to throb in his ears. "Oh, jeepers!" he whispered sotto voce.
Molly was thinking the same thing. She pressed closer to Kit, hanging onto his shirttail.
"Can I use your radio, Mr. Khan?" Kit said, a glimmer of an idea spinning in his head. It was a long shot, but it was the best that he could devise. "I need to contact a friend. Please?"
Following a long, tension-filled pause, during which Shere Khan glared at the pirates' backs, he said, "Mmm...yes. Right this way."
The threesome returned to the elevator.
Out on the Ledge
"Don't forget your old rag. Catch!" Mad Dog tossed the sack. It ricocheted off Rebecca's stomach and fell on top of the dynamite that was packed to the basket's brim.
"Wear it in good health," Dumptruck added.
The air pirates chortled as angry tears filled the bearess's eyes.
Clasping his hands together and batting his eyes, Karnage said mockingly, "It'll be so romantic - floating through the blue sky, up through the clouds, getting blown into a million pieces. Pow! Boom-boom! Bye-bye!"
Rebecca shivered with the thought of it.
Baloo turned his head to look at the pirate captain. "C'mon, Karny, be a sport. Let Becky go. She ain't done nothin' to ya."
"Did you call her nothing?"
"Huh? No, I..."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Don't you know it's not polite to talk about people behind their backs?" Karnage giggled with self-satisfaction. "I make a joke. As for letting her go..." nose to nose with the big bear, he barked, "NO!" causing Baloo to flinch. "This way I get rid of both of you nasty nuances at the same time."
Mad Dog brandished a matchbook. "Can I light it, Captain? Can I? Please, oh, please, can I?"
Magnanimously, Karnage replied, "For any other electrocution, I would let you perform the honors, Mad Dog, but this is an extra-special occasion, isn't it, Bahloo?" He shot an ugly leer at the two bears. "We will use a timer this time."
"But ve don't have a timer," Dumptruck pointed out.
"But, yes, we do, Dumptruck," Karnage replied. He procured an alarm clock attached to a small bomb from his pocket. As he wound up and set the clock, he said, "You have exactitutely ten minutes until you will spend eternity together, but that's what you wanted, isn't it?" He put the ticking clock into the basket. "This is the beginning of the end of your pathetic lives." Whipping out his sword, Karnage severed the balloon's restraining rope with one savage slash. "Enjoy your up-close and personal view of the fireworks!"
However, the balloon didn't move. Baloo's bulk and the dynamite weighted it down.
Karnage repeatedly kicked the basket, but didn't gain anything except stubbed toes. "Float! Go up! Fly away, you estupid balloon! Don't just stand there, you eediots! Push this balloon off!"
Dumptruck and Mad Dog put all of their combined might against the basket. Finally, it slid off of the ledge with a loud scraping sound.
The balloon dipped down, then began its slow ascent. Dumptruck and Mad Dog hung from the basket by their fingertips, yelping.
"Let go of that balloon, you dangling dolts," Karnage ordered.
They immediately did as they were told. They were suspended in mid-air for a second with distressed looks on their faces before falling with twin 'thumps' onto the ledge below.
"Bon voyage-y, Bahloo, and don't come back!" Karnage called out cheerfully as he waved his sword.
"Hey, Captain?" Mad Dog whined, rubbing his sore backside.
"Yes, yes, yes, is there something that you inquiring minds want to know?" Karnage snapped, peering over the ledge. He kicked chunks of plaster down onto them.
"How do ve get back inside?" Dumptruck asked.
"I don't know, and I don't care. You have dynamite. Blast your way in," Karnage replied unconcernedly.
"Oh, yeah, dynamite. Ve'll blast it good." Dumptruck pulled out his last stick and propped it against the large window.
Mad Dog struck a match and held it to the fuse. When the flame started towards the TNT, they ducked behind a gargoyle.
"But don't you dare singe or put a single scratch in my beautiful plane of glass!" Don Karnage warned.
"Yumpin' yimminy!" Dumptruck quickly extinguished the flame by pinching it between his fingers. Then, he caught sight of the long crack that was already etched in the window. He pointed it out to his colleague.
"We're gonna get blamed for that, aren't we?" Mad Dog said dismally.
Dumptruck nodded sadly.
The Pink Piranha
"You boys are slowpokes!" Aunt Louise shouted to the two CT-37s on her tail as she wove in and out of the downtown skyscrapers. "Snails with broken legs could out race you! Whoo-hoo! Ain't this a laugh, Louis?"
Louie, a pale shade of green, gasped out, "Oh, yeah, Auntie. More laughs than a barrel of monkeys. Watch out for that building!" He shielded his face with his hands and waited for his life to pass before his eyes.
She yanked the stick back at the last possible second. The airplane's landing gear drove across the building's surface. "You mean this building? Whee-hee-hee!"
One of the CT-37s wasn't so lucky. It slammed into the building right beneath them.
Watching the pirate pilot deploy his parachute, Louie said, "Shoot! We don't have parachutes."
"Parachutes?" she laughed. "What do you need a parachute for? Don't you have any faith in your auntie's flying?"
"Faith? Sure I got lots of faith." He squeezed his eyes shut and hastily murmured a prayer for safety.
Kit's urgent voice came over the radio. "Come in, Pink Piranha. This is Kit Cloudkicker. Over."
"Well, darn my socks," Aunt Louise said, leveling out the plane. "If it ain' that dapper little best man." She picked up the microphone. "Whatcha need, cutie-pie?"
"Baloo and Rebecca are in real trouble."
"We ain't doin' so hot ourselves," said Louie, covering his eyes as they did a roll. "Oh, man, that just ain't right. Tummy rollin' with the plane."
Kit blurted out, "Karnage tied them to a hot air balloon."
"With lots and lots of dynamite!" Molly added.
"Molly, give that back!" There was scuffling and bumping as the microphone changed hands. "I don't know how long they have until it explodes, but knowing Karnage, it won't be long."
"You gotta help 'em!" Molly added, panicking.
"I dig you loud an' clear. Don't worry, kids. Louise L' Amour's got everything under control." She banked right, steering the plane towards Khan Towers.
"Which is more than I can say for my stomach. Whoa!" Louie screamed as the Pink Piranha went into a pretzel twist. "I want a refund from this five-cent tour!"
Back to the Hot Air Balloon
Carried along by gentle winds, the balloon drifted up, up, up through the brilliant blue sky. As it ascended, the air became cooler and thinner; but the two bears aboard the balloon didn't notice the air quality. They - tied back to back in a basket filled to the brim with dynamite, not to mention a bomb that was set to go off in a few minutes - had more urgent matters to tend to.
"Becky, honey, I gotta tell ya somethin'," Baloo said as he fumbled with the knot that restrained their hands. He kept a sharp eye on the alarm clock that sat on the pile of dynamite right in front of him. Only seven minutes left.
Rebecca turned her head towards the sound of his voice. "Yes, darling?"
"I wish...I wish...dang this stupid knot!"
"Yes?" she said expectantly.
"I wish we coulda eaten that cake."
Rebecca rolled her eyes. "Oh, Baloo, get over the cake already! I'll make you another cake." Staring at the waist-high dynamite, she added tremulously, "If we ever get out of this."
"We'll get out of this," he said with as much confidence as he could muster up.
"How? There's a ticking time bomb rigged up to a ton of TNT in this basket."
"Yeah," Baloo said admiringly. "Karny really did his homework this time."
A sudden heartening thought made Rebecca's eyes lose their listless look. "Time! That's it!"
"What's it?"
"Don't you see, Baloo?"
"How can I see ya when we're tied back to back?"
"If we can only turn the hands of that clock back, it would give us more time to think of a way to escape."
"That ain't a bad idea, Beckers. I'm surprised I didn't think of it myself." He lifted his foot to reach the clock. However, because he moved, the dynamite shifted, causing the clock to slip between the sticks of dynamite and disappear from sight. "Uh-oh."
"What's 'uh-oh'?"
"I, uh...sorta lost the clock."
"What do you mean, you lost the clock?"
"Just what I said - I lost it."
"I swear, Baloo, if your head wasn't screwed on you'd lose that, too. How could you lose a clock in this little basket?"
"It kinda, accidentally did a disappearin' Whodini act into the pile of dynamite. It's buried like one of Karny's treasure chests."
"Oh, great!" she exclaimed sarcastically. It looked like this truly was the end for both of them. They were trapped with no hope. And only one hour ago, she had been so happy. Her chin began to quiver. Big tears welled up in her eyes, trickled down her cheeks, and splashed onto the dynamite.
Hearing her sobbing and not being able to hold her in his arms was agonizing to Baloo. Instead, he did the next best thing - he caressed her fingertips and tried to comfort her with words. "When we said 'til death do us part, I didn't think it'd be so soon. Aw, easy, Becky, eaaaasy. Don't cry, sweetheart."
"I'm not crying!" Rebecca sniffed, her voice quavering. She hastily blinked tears from her eyes. "I...I just have dust in my eye. It's not fair!"
"Yeah," Baloo agreed quietly. He glanced up at the balloon and then down at the basket for something to help them escape, but he found nothing. "Blast that dang Karny, or more like he's gonna blast us."
"He always invades Cape Suzette at the worst times. On our wedding day of all days!"
"When would be a good time?" Baloo asked with a wan chuckle. He returned to unraveling the knots that constrained their wrists.
"Never!" Rebecca's tears were forgotten. She was hopping mad now. "Why does Karnage always have to invade Cape Suzette? Why not some other city for a change?"
"We could move," Baloo suggested.
"We just moved yesterday, and we shouldn't have to leave our home because of some pirates. Besides, Cape Suzette is a prime location for an air cargo business. Do you know what we'd have to do to have what we have now, Baloo? We'd have to find a city with a seaside or lakeside location. A new house, a new office - meaning moving expenses. Establishing a new clientele. Do you know how long it took for Higher for Hire to become profitable?"
"Nuh-huh," Baloo murmured, tongue protruding in concentration as his cramped fingers fumbled with the ropes. He wished that he had his pocket knife. He wished that Kit was there to help. He wished that he had an Orange Fizzie; his mouth was parched.
"It took months! Then, there's uprooting the kids. They would have to go to different schools, make new friends, and..." She inquired irately, "Don't you have that knot untied yet?"
"Uh, there's only one hitch, Beckers. I think this knot's the Killick Hitch, an' I'm not good at those."
"Oh, let me try! We do not have time to mess around with knots," Rebecca snapped impatiently. She began fiddling with the ropes, her heart in her throat.
The faint ticking of the alarm clock reminded them of their impending doom.
The Pink Piranha
"I spy with my little eyes a big red balloon," Aunt Louise said as the airplane flew, full throttle, towards the hot air balloon that was several thousand feet above the city.
Seeing help coming, Baloo's and Rebecca's faces brightened.
"Mind if we join the party?" Aunt Louise shouted to the two bears. The Pink Piranha circled clockwise around the balloon.
Louie leapt into the basket and landed on the dynamite. "Whoa-ho! Get a load of all these candles. There must be at least a hundred here. Is it your birthday already, cuz?"
"Lay off the jokes, cuz," Baloo said, annoyed. "Just get us outta here."
"Your wish is my command." Louie began working at the knots. "What's that tickin' noise? You wearin' a watch, Baloo?"
"Baloo - wear a watch?" Rebecca snorted.
"Nah, that's just Karnage's friendly little bomb tick-talkin' to us."
Louie gave a final yank on the knot, releasing the newlyweds from their bonds. He blinked once, twice as that fact sunk in. "A bomb? As in whammy-ka-blammy?"
"Did ya think the dynamite was just filler?" Baloo said. He waded through the sticks of TNT to the side of the basket. "Karnage wanted to blow us sky-high."
"Sky-high in the sky, no less. Man, we gotta blow this balloon before that bomb blows a chunk out of us! Last one in the Pink Piranha is a cooked goose." When the airplane swooped close to the basket, he jumped into its cockpit.
Baloo pulled Rebecca out of the dynamite. "You next, Becky."
"Okay," she said nervously.
When the plane buzzed around that side of the basket, Baloo tossed Rebecca into the plane. She landed neatly on Louie's lap.
Extremely pleased, the orangutan joked, "Now, this is what I call a bridal shower."
Baloo, still in the basket, murmured to himself as he watched the airplane fly closer, "One for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, an' four to GO!" At the word 'go', he made a mad leap for the fuselage while Rebecca jumped back into the balloon's basket.
Baloo landed in front of the cockpit with an "Oof!" and slid back against the windshield. Aunt Louise had to stick her neck out to the left to see where she was going.
"That's the biggest, hairiest bug I've ever seen," Louie commented.
Baloo turned around to glare at his friend. "Keep your criticisms to yourself. Hey, where's Rebecca?"
Louie pointed to the balloon.
Alarmed, Baloo hollered, "Becky, you're s'posed ta be over here!"
"I have to get my dress!" She snatched up the sack containing her dress and shook off a few sticks of dynamite that were clinging to the rough burlap.
"You got it. Haul your tail section over here pronto!" Baloo said frantically; he could hear the alarm clock's ticking. Who knew how long they had left?
She threw the sack as hard as she could at the airplane. It landed on Baloo's head.
"Thanks a heap," he said dryly, plucking the sack from his pate and handing it back to Louie. "Now, c'mon, honey!"
If things weren't bad enough, the last remaining CT-37 swooped down over the balloon, machine guns blazing.
"This is no time for fun and games," Aunt Louise said huffily.
"You're having fun?" Louie said incredulously. He and Louise ducked as bullets flew over the cockpit, dangerously close to where their heads had been a second earlier. "If one of those bullets hits that dynamite, we might as well say bye-bye to breathin'."
"Just hold her steady," Baloo yelled, lying face down across the fuselage. "An' try to get as close to the basket as ya can."
Seeing the CT-37 headed right towards her, Rebecca yelped, "Baloo!" and held her hands out over the side of the basket as far as she could without falling out.
Baloo caught them in his as the airplane zipped by.
One second later, the hot air balloon exploded into a thousand flaming fragments.
Khan Towers
Don Karnage, seeing the demise of his arch-enemy, grinned from ear to ear, saying, "Good riddance to annoying rubbish."
Ignoring Mad Dog's and Dumptruck's persistent pleas for help, he turned on his heel and went into the building.
Khan's Office
Kit, with his arm protectively around Molly's shoulders, peered out the window at the big black ball of rolling smoke far above them. There wasn't any sign of the Pink Piranha, not to mention Baloo, Rebecca, Louie, or Aunt Louise.
Then they saw it - the Pink Piranha hurtling across the sky like a shooting star. The plane, propelled forward by the force of the blast, was speeding out of control towards the ground.
"What's happening, Kit? Are they gonna crash?" Molly asked quietly, her eyes riveted to the plane.
Kit also watched the plane's rapid downward progress with trepidation. Not wanting to scare Molly more than she already was, he tightened his arm around her and mumbled with forced conviction, "I'm sure they'll be fine. Aunt Louise is a good pilot, almost as good as Baloo."
Pink Piranha
The airplane dove sharply towards the ground, accelerating by the second. Baloo, his legs wrapped around the fuselage, was stuck to windshield with the immense G-forces. He and Rebecca - who sat on his lap - clung to each other for dear life. Their eyes watered with the wind blowing into them.
"Man, for a second there, Becky, I thought I was gonna suffer from separation anxiety," Baloo said with a weak smile.
Rebecca brushed her palm across her eyes. "You weren't the one that was almost blown up."
"Don't go blamin' me for that. That was your fault. You an' that silly dress."
"Silly dress? That's not what you said this morning when you saw me in it, Baloo."
Their argument was curtailed by Louie shouting, "Get the nose up, Aunt Louise!" He grabbed onto the stick and pulled back with all his might.
"I'm tryin', Louis, but we got too much of a load," Aunt Louise said from between clenched teeth.
Seemingly from out of nowhere, the CT-37 appeared. Its pilot was still intent on shooting down the Pink Piranha.
"Man, I wish that pirate would find somebody else to pester," Baloo said, cringing when the CT-37 swooped upon them.
Over the wind noise and the ack-ack-ack of the CT-37's guns, Aunt Louise yelled, "Baloo, when we get low enough you and Rebecca gotta jump. It's the only way."
"The only way?" Baloo echoed in disbelief.
"We'll do it, Louise," Rebecca said determinedly.
"W...we will?" stammered the big bear.
Rebecca frowned at him. "We will."
After a long pause, Baloo nodded and pointed out, "Okay, but it's gonna be a rough landin'."
"Here. Use this for a pillow," Louie said, handing the burlap sack to them.
Rebecca took one look at the sack and said indignantly, "Oh, no! I'm not using my dress to break our fall."
"Do you want to spend our honeymoon in the hospital? Traction ain't fun. Believe me, I know."
She sighed in defeat. "Fine, but if anything happens to my dress..."
Baloo eyed the rapidly approaching pavement. "I'm more worried 'bout somethin' happenin' to us!"
When the Pink Piranha was a half a mile from the street, Baloo said, "Brace yourself, Beckers."
Rebecca nodded and wrapped her arms more tightly around his neck.
"Don't strangle me!" he gasped out.
She loosened her grip. "Sorry."
"Ready?"
"Ready as I'll ever be," she added with a whisper, "I guess."
"Happy landin'," Louie said cheerfully - a little too cheerfully, Baloo thought.
"How'd we always get stuck in these situations, anyhoo?" Baloo, holding Rebecca closely to him. He nervously clenched and unclenched his fist around the sack as he waited for the ground to come closer.
"The next time we see Karnage, remind me to thank him," Rebecca said with a wry smile.
Baloo returned her smile. "Yeah, ditto. Well...here goes everything. Geronimo!" Taking a deep breath, he jumped.
Both bears screamed the entire fifty feet down. They landed with a jarring jolt; the only thing between their backsides and the concrete was a burlap sack and a wedding dress. Just above their heads, the Pink Piranha pulled out of its dive and gained altitude. Right on its tail was the CT-37.
"Whoo-hoo! Back to fun and games!" Aunt Louise proclaimed jauntily. "Let's try a little zigging and zagging to ditch this piratical pursuer."
The Pink Piranha zipped around a skyscraper like it could corner on rails. However, the CT-37 wasn't so lucky - it slammed right into the side of the building and burst into flames.
"Incoming!" Baloo yelled. He shielded his and his wife's head with the burlap sack as flaming pieces of the wrecked CT-37 rained down on them.
Rebecca, her nerves raw from their recent narrow escapes, giggled uncontrollably until she started to hiccup. Between hiccups, she managed to say, "I knew my dress would come in handy somehow."
"Man, I've been in explosive situations before, but that one takes the cake," Baloo exclaimed, cautiously poking his head out from underneath the sack. The only thing floating in the sky was the pirate pilot parachuting to the ground.
Rebecca beamed up at him. "Oh, Baloo," she hiccuped, "get over the cake already."
Khan's Office
Ninety stories up and seven blocks north, the children saw the explosion. However, they were too far away to tell that it was the CT-37, not the Pink Piranha.
Molly, who had been brave all day, buried her face in Kit's shirt and started to cry quietly.
Kit swallowed a big lump in his throat. His eyes felt hot and tight. He tried to get his mind around the fact that he - so close to having parents - had once again found himself an orphan. To calm his whirling head, he tried to reason with himself. Okay, I've been an orphan before. I can be an orphan again. At least I have Molly this time - if they don't split us up. They can't split us up. They just can't! Oh, Papa Bear, Miz Cunningham... One tear, then another trickled down Kit's cheek.
Shere Khan was uncomfortable for the first time in his life. He, the tough, merciless businessman who had no qualms about crushing competitors, didn't know how to comfort two weeping children. No amount of money would fix this. When the elevator dinged, he turned, welcoming the diversion.
It was Don Karnage. "Welcome home, you truly scrumptious pirate captain," he gloated to himself.
"Uh-oh!" Kit whispered. He pulled Molly behind a pile of loot and told her to be quiet.
They listened to Karnage hum to himself as he confidently strutted through the office, picking up jewelry along the way and draping it on his person.
On the other side of the window, Mad Dog and Dumptruck were yelling at Karnage to turn around.
"What did you say, you nincompirates? I can see your mouths moving, but all I can hear is mmm-mmmm."
Dumptruck and Mad Dog continued to pound on the glass. They pointed to the chair, shouting, "Don't sit down!"
Karnage misunderstood them. "Sit down? But of course I'm going to sit down. It is my own glorious chair, yes-no?"
Before he knew it, a hand shot out from the chair and clenched his neck in a vice-like grip, lifting him from the floor.
"Someone's been sitting in my chair," Khan growled, nose to nose with the pirate. "And here he is."
Karnage, eyes bulging out, squeaked out to Mad Dog and Dumptruck for help only to see them hitching a ride on the Iron Vulture. He let out a strangled cry of defeat.
"Now, Mr. Don Karnage, you will personally make reparations for the damage that you have inflicted upon my building as well as the business time that I have lost."
Karnage choked out in a rasping whisper, "H...How am I going to do that?"
"Oh, I'm sure we can work out something, but first, as my guest," Khan tightened his grip around Karnage's neck, "I insist that you be made comfortable."
After Karnage had been tied securely to a straight-backed chair and placed next to the hungry Venus flytraps, the elevator dinged.
"Man, that was some rolly coaster of a ride!" Baloo said jauntily, stepping from the elevator.
Rebecca - with one hand holding the burlap sack, the other enfolded in her husband's hand - said wearily, "Next time you can ride the roller coaster by yourself, Baloo."
Hearing the familiar voices, Molly yelled joyfully, "Mommy! Daddy!" She tore herself away from Kit to throw herself into her mother's arms.
Likewise, Kit leaped into Baloo's arms, who looked down at the boy's tear-stained face.
Baloo fondly tousled the boy's hair, prompting an even bigger smile to crease Kit's face. "Ya didn't think you could get rid of your ol' Papa Bear that easy, now, did ya, Li'l Britches?"
Kit fought down a sob of relief; he thought that he'd never hear that nickname again. But his tears were forgotten when Baloo swept he, Rebecca, and Molly into his arms for a warm hug, which they held for a long while.
Shere Khan cleared his throat. "I'm sorry to break up this tender family moment, but we still have one loose end to tie up." He gestured to Karnage. Three Venus flytraps were salivating over him and a fourth was licking its chops.
The elevator bell dinged once again. Aunt Louise and Louie stepped out.
"The death-defyin' daring-do thing is way overrated," Louie averred. "From now on, I'll do all my stunts on the ground."
"Ground, schmound. I prefer the wide, open...oh, happy, happy day!" Aunt Louise giggled in ecstacy at the sight of Karnage. "If it isn't my little Don Juan Karnage!" She rushed to his side and showered him with unwanted attention.
"What are we going to do with you?" Khan purred. He got a feeling of satisfaction from the tortured, helpless expression on the Karnage's face as Aunt Louise stroked his hair and planted big, wet kisses all over his cheeks.
"Hurry up! Punish me!" Karnage gasped out. "Don't keep me in suspenders."
"Turnips and sandpaper," Kit suggested with a slight sly smile, recalling Karnage's own favorite torture device.
"Fingernails on a chalkboard for hours on end," Baloo added.
"Boil him in oil," Rebecca said.
"Yeah!" Molly chimed in. "Do all of 'em!"
"Hey, I got a slam-bang idea," Louie said, grinning mischievously from ear to ear. "Since he seems ta like Aunt Louise so much, I think he should go on a date with her."
"Oh, yes!" Louise shouted fervently, crushing the pirate captain in her strong embrace.
"Oh, no!" Karnage yelped. "I'll do anything! Feather and tar me! Boil me in vinegar with a little salt! Shoot me! Lock me up for the rest of my life! Anything but that!"
Aunt Louise bodily picked him up and carried him to the elevator. "We're going to have so much fun, my little pirate-y poo. I'll take you to all of my fave party spots and we'll dance, dance, dance the night away. Maybe we'll even get married at the Chapel of Love in Lost Vegas."
"I'm a confined bachelor! I can't get married, especially to you! HELLLLPPPPP!" Karnage shouted as the elevator doors shut. His agonized screams could be heard throughout Khan Towers.
Chuckling, Baloo wrapped an arm around Rebecca's waist. "Ah, love. Ya gotta love it."
Higher
for Hire
Sunset
Baloo opened the office door, saying to Louie, Rebecca, Kit, and Molly, "It sure is good to be back at home, sweet..." he broke off, chuckling. "Speakin' of sweet, lookee here."
"Wildcat!" Rebecca cried. In her astonishment, she dropped the burlap sack. "Look at this mess!"
Wildcat sat on the couch, ringed in by mounds of gooey s'mores. There was also a chocolate-y, marshmallow-y, graham cracker ring around his mouth. "These aren't called messes; these are s'mores," he said cheerfully. "You guys want one? I made plenty."
Everyone was famished after their escapade, so they all chomped into a s'more or two.
Wildcat swallowed and said, "Do you think we need more s'mores?"
"Well...maybe," Baloo mumbled around his fifth. He scooped up a s'more in each hand.
After a pointed look from Rebecca, the big bear changed his answer to 'no'.
"Is it time to open presents yet?" Molly asked.
"In all the excitement, I plum forgot about the presents," Baloo said.
"I didn't," Molly said smugly. She and Kit ran out to the car and returned with the two gifts. She handed her mother Wildcat's lumpy package.
Rebecca tore off the newspaper and pulled out something that appeared to be a mishmash of metal held together by big wads of pink bubblegum. "Why, Wildcat," she said uncertainly, "it's...it's..."
"A picture frame," the mechanic said proudly. He took the object from her and swung the two sides out, revealing an oddly beautiful silver picture frame. "I found that bubblegum's the best thing for hinges or fixing broken clinkenheimers, whichever comes first . You can put three pictures in here. Maybe three wedding pictures."
"You made that yourself, didn't ya?" Baloo smiled, clapping Wildcat on the shoulder.
"Yep." Wildcat nodded. "Out of the Sea Duck's spare parts."
"S...spare parts?" Baloo echoed uneasily.
"Thank you," Rebecca said with a half-hearted smile. "It's very...unique."
"Yeah, thanks, Wildcat," Baloo said.
Louie plopped his heavy gift on Baloo's lap, prompting a wheeze of pain from the big bear.
Baloo unwrapped the box to reveal..."Hey, dishes. Solid." He held out a plate. "Fill 'er up, Becky."
"It'll take more than one plateful to fill your bottomless pit up, flyboy." Laughing, she shoved a s'more in his mouth, causing Baloo to grin.
"Figured everyone could use a set of dishes," Louie said.
"We definitely can," Rebecca said, remembering yesterday's moving fiasco when Wildcat broke most of their dishes.
"What's all this writing on the packing paper?" Kit asked.
Louie laughed. "That's my second present to ya. It's Baloo's tab. Figured ya'd like to start married life with a clean slate, cuz."
Rebecca quickly unraveled the paper from the dishes and looked at the figure at the bottom of the tab. "Sixty-seven dollars and forty-three cents?"
Baloo shrugged and grinned. "What can I say? I'm a growin' bear."
Kit poked the pilot's stomach. "Yeah, whenever the 'Big Guy' growls, it grows," prompting Baloo to push the boy's hat down over his eyes.
"How can we ever repay you, Louie?" Rebecca asked.
Louie pointed to his cheek. "Plan a wet one right there, Rebecca."
Obligingly, Rebecca pecked him on the cheek. "Thank you for everything, Louie, and not just for the presents," she said sincerely with a warm smile.
Louie blushed and let out an embarrassed chuckle. "No problemo, Rebecca. Guess I'll be moseyin' along now." He shook Baloo's hand vigorously. "She's all yours now, fuzzy, you lucky bear. Have a blast on your honeymoon." With a wink, a wave, and a smile, he was out the door.
A Half an Hour Later
The sun was sinking in the western sky when Rebecca emerged from Higher for Hire. She had donned her wedding dress. It was a little crumpled from being wadded up in a burlap sack and sat on. Her hair was back to its everyday coiffure.
While Baloo - wearing his familiar yellow flight shirt - loaded the suitcases and a picnic basket into the Sea Duck, she gave a few last minute instructions to the cubs. "Be good, both of you. Mind Wildcat." She shot an askance look at the simple-minded mechanic, who was picking a long, sticky strand of marshmallow from his chin. She hated to think what her home would look like when she returned. "Well...just be good. We'll be back in three days."
"Tuesday!" Molly chirped.
"Yes, and the day after that..."
"Wednesday!" Molly said brightly.
"Yes, Pumpkin, Wednesday we have a very special meeting at Cape Suzette Child Services."
Coming up behind his wife, Baloo added, "Where we gotta sign tons of forms to adopt these little troublemakers." He fondly tousled Kit's hair and patted Molly's head.
"You mean save-the-dayers," Rebecca said with a smile.
"Adopted! Adopted! We're gonna be adopted, and we're gonna get new last names!" Molly sang, skipping around in a circle.
Kit smiled shyly. His eyes shone with anticipation as he looked up at his future parents. "Uh, Miz..Rebecca, I have something for you."
"What is it, sweetie?"
Kit pulled his pair of pink earmuffs from underneath his shirt with a sheepish smile. "I think you'll need these."
"Hey!" Baloo cried. "I don't snore that loud." He thoughtfully rubbed the back of his neck. "At least I don't think I do."
"How would you know?" Rebecca retorted. "You're asleep." She caught Kit in her arms for a big hug. "Thank you, Kit. I'm sure I'll get a lot of use out of them."
"I heard that, Rebecca," Baloo said, scowling.
After the newlyweds had hugged and kissed the children goodbye, Baloo asked, "Are ya ready ta fade into the wild blue yonder, Becky?"
"I'm ready," she answered with a demure smile, feeling as if she would follow him to the ends of the earth and back.
Baloo scooped Rebecca up in his arms and carried her to the Sea Duck.
Rebecca, seated on Baloo's lap, asked coyly, "Now are you going to tell me where we're going?"
Baloo resolutely shook his head, a teasing glimmer in his eyes. He went through the start-up procedure. "When will you get it through yer purdy head, Becky, that you'll see it when you see it?"
"Not even a tiny hint?"
"Nope. You're not gettin' it out of this bear." He mimed zipping his lip and throwing away the key.
She crossed her arms across her chest. "I bet you don't know where we're going."
"'Course, I do. It's the purdiest place I've ever seen, an' I've seen a lot of places." He smiled affectionately down at her. "The best part is it'll just be us."
"No pirates?"
"No pirates. Cross my heart an' hope ta fly."
They both gave one last wave to the cubs and Wildcat before the seaplane taxied into the harbor.
Rebecca relaxed against her new husband and placed a paw on his chest. She reveled in hearing his strong, steady heartbeat. She loved to feel his muscles ripple under her fingertips. Her eyes shifted from the rings on her finger - wedding and engagement - to Baloo's face. She couldn't get enough of his beloved face.
Baloo, however, wasn't paying much attention to her at the moment; he was busy guiding the Sea Duck through the cliffs.
When he finally noticed her staring at him, he asked with a lopsided smile, "What? Is my face on crooked, or somethin'?"
"I love you, Baloo," she said softly. Four very simple, very common words, but she meant it with every fiber of her being.
As the seaplane flew over the sun-kissed ocean, Baloo tenderly caressed her cheek and murmured, "I love you, too, Mrs. von Bruinwald." He bent his head to kiss her lips.
The Sea Duck disappeared into a brilliant sunset blaze of yellowish-orange, fading into pinks and purples.
The End
