"Good luck," Shere Khan said, that was all Don Karnage could think about as he, Baloo, and Kit made their way to the lab were Rebecca was being held for re-education. As the three of them reached the doors, they could hear Rebecca crying out for help.
Baloo threw his shoulder into the door and busted into the lab. Two of the workers turned and saw Karnage run in with Kit at his side. A brief scuffle took place, but the workers were taken down with ease. Baloo then quickly undid the straps on Rebecca's hands to free her.
"Oh, Baloo!" she cried as he threw his strong arms around her. "Shere Khan raped me!"
"What did they do with Jasmine?" Don Karnage asked Rebecca.
She looked at the pirate captain, buried her face in Baloo's chest and sobbed loudly. "Shere Khan had her taken to some kind of temple."
"The temple of Dagon!" Don Karnage exclaimed.
Two hours later…
Don Karnage and Baloo stood outside a run down old house. If they were going to stop Shere Khan, then they would need help from Jasmine's step-brother, Bradly Jones. Bradly was known through the Cape Suzette underworld as the one guy who could find people who didn't want to be found.
Baloo turned to Karnage. "You got the money to pay Bradly?" he asked. Karnage nodded with an assuring smile.
"I do," he replied. Then he and Baloo entered the house. Bradly was sitting in a chair next to a crackling fire, just trying to keep warm. The sound of creaking floor boards made Bradly to look around, and there, standing behind him was Karnage and Baloo.
It didn't take Bradly long to get the info they needed to find the location of the temple. Karnage payed him and then took his leave.
Four hours later…
Karnage, Jack, Baloo and Ugly Mug were picking out weapons. "You want the shotgun?" Karnage asked Baloo, but he shook his head.
"No...I would prefer the Thompson," he said, then reached down to pick up his weapon of choice. That was when Karnage saw it, a tattoo.
"If I were to say to you, I'm a stranger traveling from the east, seeking that which is lost..." Karnage started.
"Then I would reply that I am a stranger traveling from the west. It is I whom you seek," Baloo finished. "How?"
"Then it is true. You have the sacred mark," Karnage said as he lifts Baloo's right arm.
"What, that?" Baloo asked. "No, that got slapped on me when I spent the night with a priestess I met in Ghaphia."
"That mark means you're a protector of man, a warrior for God, a Guardian."
Baloo scoffed. "Sorry. You've got the wrong guy."
As the four men entered the temple, they saw no sign of Shere Khan or Anna and Jasmine. Ugly Mug turned a corner and found some empty beer bottles, but other then that, nothing. Baloo and Jack also didn't have any luck. However that changed when Karnage checked a room.
"Baloo, Jack, Ugly Mug! Get me some water, I found Jasmine!" Karnage felt his stomach turn inside out out the sight of his beloved vixen. Jasmine was curled up in a ball in the corner of the room. Her skin had many cuts and bruises, and she wasn't breathing very well. Clearly, Shere Khan had done things to her that he shouldn't have done.
When they returned to the Iron Vulture, Karnage headed straight for the medical ward. Once inside the medical ward he placed Jasmine on an operating table and called in Stinky Boot, the ship's new medic. Stinky Boot went straight to work, stitching Jasmine's wounds, washing her down and began to administer medication.
Karnage felt really angry at seeing his girlfriend in such a state that he began taking his anger out on crates of food in the mess hall. The other crew members knew better then to try and calm their captain down, he might attack them. So, everyone kept to themselves.
But the Iron Vulture and its crew weren't the only ones in the sky. Shere Khan stared out the window of his master bedroom on his air ship, the Fire Star. With a smile on his face, the evil tiger turned and looked at Anna, who was locked in a cage that was just big enough for her.
"Are you still mad at me for beating your mother?" he asked Anna. Clearly he was mocking her.
"My daddy is going to kill you!" she shouted to Khan, before spiting on his clean business suit. Shere Khan frowned as he wiped the spit off of his nice suit.
"You little bitch," he said under his breath. Then at that minute, Harmond entered the room. She smiled and said to her boss, "He's ready now." Shere Khan looked down at the caged child and then at Harmond.
He picked up one of the bed sheets and draped it over the cage, before leaving his room. When Shere Khan and Harmond walked into the med bay of the Fire Star, the old tiger smiled as he saw his newest weapon strapped to a metal table. Two scientists stood next to the table.
"Glad you could make it, Mr. Khan," Prof. Martin Torque said as he made one final adjustment to the weapon. His partner, Dr. Zibaldo looked up at Shere Khan with smile that showed great confidence in their work. "Your weapon is done," Prof. Torque stated proudly.
Shere Khan and Harmond eyes light up with delight as both Zibaldo and Martin Torque unstrapped the weapon from the table, as a metallic android sat up. The android looked around. "You two did it," Shere Khan smiled. "You brought Hacksaw back from the dead."
Hacksaw began laughing as he breathed in the fresh air. "The smell of being reborn again. Thought I'd never see the day." But as he raised his arms and moved his hands, Hacksaw looked suddenly shocked. "I can't feel anything. It's like I'm controlling my hands from inside my body," Hacksaw said.
"Some adjustments need to be made that's all. But first, you have a job to do," Shere Khan smiled at his android dingo.
"Don Karnage and that woman Jasmine?" Hacksaw smiles.
"Yes. I have a lunch to attend, but I expect to hear the tragic news about them just before dessert."
"Dessert? I haven't had anything to eat or drink since the day Don Karnage killed me. Hadn't wanted anything," Hacksaw said as he became suspicious.
"The only hunger you should have is for power, my friend. The thirst for revenge."
Back on the Iron Vulture, Rebecca tied the belt on her robe as she walked down the hall to her room. She was running the water into her tub and planning a long luxurious soak. Baloo was busy helping some of the crew sort out some problems below deck. Rebecca was planing on useing her free time to relax and catch up on her reading. But after being raped by Shere Khan, relaxing would be hard to do.
Once she entered her bedroom, Rebecca retrieved some orange juice from the refrigerator. Rebecca sighed. She looked at her juice and decided it needed spicing up a little. Rebecca walked over to the liquor cabinet and poured some vodka into her orange juice. She mixed it a little too strong, but then it wasn't like she'd be flying anytime soon.
That will hold me. Rebecca sighed as she closed the doors and headed back into the bathroom and was just in time to stop the tub from overflowing. Rebecca drained some of the water, adding some bath salts. Looking over at the bathroom mirror, Rebecca walked over to the mirror and let her robe fall to the ground. It was her habit to examine herself before bathing.
She was so sexy still at her age. But in her eyes, she was trash. Rebecca blamed herself for being raped because she offered herself to Shere Khan to save her business and that was the first mistake. The second was that she was no doubt going to have Khan's baby, and that was to much for her to take.
As Rebecca stepped into the tub, Baloo walked into the bathroom. He turned around as not to see her nude body.
"I'm sorry Rebecca," he apologized. But it was Rebecca who began apologizing to Baloo, and he had no idea why.
"No, I'm the one who should be sorry," she sobbed. "I cheated on you, and for that, I got raped by Shere Khan."
Baloo shook his head. "You're being to hard on yourself. Khan hurt you because he wanted to, you have nothing to be sorry for."
"But I do," Rebecca replied sadly. "I at first was willingly going to to have sex with Shere Khan, but as he got more into it, I couldn't take it anymore. I tried to leave, but that was when he grabbed me and forced himself on me. So you see Baloo, I am to blame!"
Baloo looked at Rebecca sadly. She was a shattered woman, and only he could help her. Moving his hands slowly to the buttons on his flight shirt, Baloo undid them and dropped his shirt on the floor, then tossed his hat away. Rebecca began to move back against the tub as Baloo stepped into the water.
"Come here," he whispered and pulled Rebecca into a loving hug. She wrapped her arms around his neck and began to cry into his chest fur. And for the rest of the night, Baloo and stayed with Rebecca.
