As the sun rose over Cape Suzette the next day, Kit awoke to find his mother picking up some of his books, but then she stopped and frowned. Kit knew what she found and he didn't need to know what she was going to say to him.
"Christopher Baloo Cloudkicker von Bruinwald! What is this?!" Rebecca fumed, as she held up a book. On the cover was a topless man and woman holding a blood covered knife. It was entitled, Stories of Love, sex & murder.
Kit cleared his throat. "It's a book I found in the streets," he said looking rather ashamed of himself. "I only just started reading it." Now that wasn't all true. Kit had indeed found it in the streets, but he had already made it to chapter six.
Wanting to know what her son was reading, Rebecca opened the book and briefly skimmed through random chapters:
Chapter one was about a single father. He was a good man who did his best to raise a rebellious college-aged son. Things took a dark turn when the father discovered that his son had considered doing drugs. He confronted his son, and he confessed. He explained that he thought it was exciting, but then the father killed his son in a fit of rage.
The story left Rebecca feeling extremely uncomfortable. She knew plenty of single fathers. The thought of them killing their own kids was very disturbing, and heartbreaking.
She flipped to another random chapter:
This chapter was a story was about a lonely widow who were planning to find a new boyfriend. One night she goes to the lake at midnight and swims naked. A young man, about sixteen, sees her and she pulls him into a snare of lust. After having sex with the young man, she kills him and herself.
Rebecca slammed the book shut and looked at Kit. She was angry at him for reading such junk. "Kit, I don't want to see this kind of stuff in the house again," she said sternly, and just to make her point clear, Rebecca add, "because if I find any more books like this, I'm going to make sure you that you will be grounded for two weeks. Am I understood?"
Kit nodded. "Yes mom."
"Good, now get dressed and get ready for today's chores," she replied throwing the book away.
That day Kit was to help paint the Sea Duck, inside and out, but he was to finish before noon. His mom and dad had informed about a banker coming to inspect the plane. As Baloo walked onto the pier, he couldn't help but admire his son's handy work.
"The boy is doing me proud," Baloo smiled and decided to see how the inside was coming.
"Hey Kit, how's the painting coming along?" he asked stepping in to find the ceiling only partly done. Kit turned to his father. He looked a little tired.
"Pretty good dad..." he panted trying hard to reach the ceiling with his brush. "Until I started on the ceiling..." Kit was able to get some paint on now. "I'm just... unngh... not tall enough to reach it."
Now this was the time for Baloo to use his head. He thought for a minute and... "Well, son, I got an idea that might just help." he said.
A few minutes later. "Thanks, dad," Kit said as he neared the end of his job. "I'm almost done." Baloo smiled as he flew the Sea Duck upside down. "Good, just let me know when your finished and I'll turn her back over," he laughed.
When they landed, Baloo and Kit got hungry and headed for Jack's burgers, one of the best fast food joints there was in the city. But along the way, Kit began to wonder about his friend Mad Dog.
What was he doing right now?
In the Middle-Eastern Kingdom of Macadamia, the Iron Vulture, hidden by the darkness of the night, slowly made its way across the dessert, the massive airship came to an complete stop. On the command deck sat Don Karnage. Behind him was Mad Dog, Dump truck and Gibber. Each pirate stood very quiet as they awaited to hear their Captain's plans.
Karnage just looked out the command deck window, observing his surroundings. It was a typical night: hundreds of stars flashed in the night sky and a soft wind blew across the bow of the ship. Slowly he got to his feet, turned, and smiled at his men.
A fowl feeling of fear washed over Matthew, as the Captain looked at him. His eyes were soulless, but he wouldn't remove his gaze from Mad Dog. So, with that smile still on his face, Karnage laid out his plans.
"Mad Dog, what do you about Prince Neverhasbeenbroke?" Karnage asked. Mad Dog opened his mouth to speak, but was silenced with a wave of the Captain's hand. "Don't answer my question for me. We are going to capture him into our hands and hold him for ransom." he laughed.
"Great, when do we start?" Dumptruck asked.
"As soon as he meets up with the lovely Princess Lotta Lamour and her father, King Amuck. That way we can have three times the ransom," Karnage said pulling his saber from its sheath. He pointed it at Gibber. "Go and ready the men," he said.
As Mad Dog and Dumptruck left the command deck, Mad Dog made his way to the radio room. Taking a seat by the radio, he reached out and switched it on. Static was heard as he began to relay the first coded message. With any luck, the message would reach Cape Suzette within the hour. Maybe Khan's pilots could intercept the Iron Vulture before it could reach Pirate Island.
In the Capt Suzette police HQ, a lone officer sat at his radio station, asleep, and dreaming of becoming a hero. He was suddenly awoken by Mad Dog's coded message. "Chief Logain, we got our first decoded message from our spy, Mad Dog," the officer cried.
After going over it, the police chief shook his head sadly. There would be no way Khans men could stop the Iron Vulture without putting the royals in danger. Mad Dog would have to go alone on this one.
Under the hot sun, Mad Dog could not stand the heat of the sand. It burned and caused him much pain, but if he showed any signs of pain in front of Karnage, then the captain would sure make him wish he was back in jail.
The pirates all knew about their captain's plan to capture the three royals, and they were eager to follow through with the mission. Mad Dog stood next to Dumptruck who was sweating badly. Thinking that a conversation would pass the time, Mad Dog brought up and old memory.
"Hey, do you remember when we robbed that whore house in Ghaphia?" Mad Dog asked, as he shouldered his BAR. Dumptruck smiled and nodded.
"Yeah," he said wiping the sweat from his head. "We got to really enjoy their money as much as we enjoyed them."
"Hard to believe I was only eighteen when I had sax for the first time in my life, but now..." Mad Dog seemed rather sad all of a sudden.
"But what?" Dumptruck asked looking over at his friend. Mad Dog looked at him then, and finished his sentence. "But now I hate knowing that what I did that day was wrong. Just like joining Karnage in the first place."
"Quiet!" Karnage snapped, as he ordered their silence. He looked over the sand dune and saw Princess Lotta, Prince Neverhasbeenbroke, and King Amuck approaching the ambush site. "Now I will go out and meet them, then you fools will fire at them and kill all the guards."
I can't go through with this. Mad Dog said to himself. He couldn't bring himself to take any more lives, but he had to go through with the plan in order to finally rid the skies of Don Karnage; and he really wanted him gone. So, he readied his BAR and took aim, and waited for his Captain's signal.
Prince Neverhasbeenbroke walked slowly over to Princess Lotta, who held out her hand to him. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Princess Lotta," he said in a charming voice as he kissed her hand. Lotta giggled. Prince Neverhasbeenbroke was very polite, and she bowed her head to him.
"And it also a pleasure to meet you, Prince Neverhasbeenbroke," she replied, just then her attention was drawn to her left to see Don Karnage walking up to them, but no one knew he was a pirate.
"Greetings my friends," he said walking up to them. One of King Amuck's guards began to walk over to him. "I need your help with something." the Captain said, causing the guard to halt.
Now Prince Neverhasbeenbroke had a big heart and wanted to help him out. So he hurried over to Karnage. He smiled at the Captain, who only smiled at him. "How can I help you, my poor friend?" the Prince asked. And before you could say "Open fire", Mad Dog, Dumptruck, Gibber, and the rest of the air Pirates opened fire on the guards. Lotta and her father quickly threw themselves onto the ground as their guards were killed. When the shooting was over, the pirates hurried over to join Don Karnage.
Prince Neverhasbeenbroke looked horrified as he stared at his dead guards. But one guard began to show signs of life, but Karnage saw it to. The pirates watched as Karnage stood over the wounded guard. He leaned down and picked up rock before beating the guard to death.
"Stop! Please!" Lotta begged, but Karnage continued his brutal bashing of the guard's head. When he stopped at last, there was nothing left but a mangled face that no one could recognize. Karnage looked over at his crew who held the royals at gun point. "Never waste a bullet," he simply said, then gestured to all the dead around him. "Gather what goods they have, and lets get our prisoners with us."
"Yes, sir, Captain Karnage, sir," Hacksaw said as he picked up a guard's sword.
"Who are you?" King Amuck said. Karnage looked almost as if the question offended him, but he just smiled a big toothy grin, and said, "I am that panic provoking pirate, Don Kanrage. And you three are my now prisoners, yes-no?"
Things were already falling into Karange's plan. Next he would hold them and then make his demands. Nothing could go wrong.