As Mad Dog woke up, the first thing he came to realize was that he was in his bedroom aboard the Iron Vulture. His back felt sore because the bed felt like rock, but at least he was alone. But a he heard a chuckle coming from his left. Mad Dog turned and saw Dumptruck reading his Bible.
"I don't know how you can read this, Mad Dog," Dumptruck sighed, clearly not impressed with what he was reading. So he closed it and put it on the dresser beside him.
Mad Dog frowned. "Dumptruck. I would like to know why you think reading the Bible is a waste of time."
Dumptruck smiled and walked up to him, then put a hand on his shoulder. "Well, if God could have his people walk across the Red Sea, then why are we just a bunch of bums who can't get even some sexy girls on board?" Mad Dog felt outraged by his friend's disrespect toward God and his book. So he had to give him a good talking to.
"You watch what you say, because Jesus said this: Blaspheme against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven." This caused Dumptruck to laugh. "Really? He said that?"
"Yes, he did." he replied.
"Well, I don't care, because, I think the Bible is just a load of-" But he stopped when he saw the way Mad Dog was glaring at him. "Never mind," he concluded.
"Dumptruck, you have no idea what I learned in prison while I was doing my time," Mad Dog said softly, his angry glare now turned to sadness. He was sad because Dumptruck had never had any education, and all he knew was how to be a pirate. However, that didn't mean he couldn't learn, so maybe that was all Dumptruck needed. A good lesson in math, reading, and writing.
"I want to teach you the things that I was taught," Mad Dog said, but what Dumptruck said next drew the line.
"Oh, I get it," he laughed, "You want to teach me how to be a looser who can't seem to stay out of jail." Suddenly, he was tackled to floor by Mad Dog, who then started to punch him in the face.
"You-you jerk!" he shouted, delivering another punch to Dumptruck's face. Dumptruck was so caught off guard that didn't know what was happening. All he knew was that his face was hurting, and he could taste blood. So he opened his eyes and fought back. Soon he and Mad Dog were wrestling on the floor, biting, kicking and punching one another. There fighting drew the attention of many passing by.
No one wanted to go in, but it was Ratchet who worked up the courage to go in and break up the fight. As he burst into the room, he quickly pulled Mad Dog off of Dumptruck, giving Hal and Will enough time to keep them apart.
Will looked at Mad Dog. "What is the matter with you?!" he shouted. Mad Dog stood up straight and looked his captain's second mate meanly.
"He started it!" he shouted pointing at Dumptruck.
"No I didn't," Dumptruck shouted back.
This went on for a few minutes before Mad Dog and Dumptruck agreed that it was nobodies fault. Will breathed a sigh of relief and shook his head with a smile.
"Good," the second mate said, but still had Hal and Ratchet stay between the two. He turned to Mad Dog. "The captain is throwing a party for your safe return." At first Mad Dog thought his hearing was bad or maybe Will-being the jokester-was only saying this to make fun of him. But the way he kept looking at him said otherwise.
"You mean it?" Mad Dog asked.
"No lie," was Will's response.
In two hours, the Iron Vulture landed at the small port of Marvel Pass. It was a small island, only a little bit bigger then Louie's, but this island was way different then some came to believe. Why was it different? Well, because this island was run by some of the worst crime families. They had nothing but casinos, drug dealers, and more prostitutes then you could count.
Matthew hated to be on an island of sort, but in order for him to help bring down Karnage, he had to go where he went. Now in order for him to get his captain to drop his guard he had to act like a pirate again. All he needed to was find an easy target to rip off. Just then...
"Hey, big boy," a sexy weasel said walking up to Matthew. Her body was slim, and the dress she wore was very relieving. Many of Don Karnage's crew grew jealous of Mad Dog, he was going to get to screw around with a very hot woman. "I think you could use some good old TLC."
This was already working out so well, so Matthew played along. "Can you help me?" he asked, the prostitute nodded. "Will you show me the best place to spend some money around here?"
The prostitute then reached down and pulled up her dress, giving Matthew a good idea "where" to spend his money. "Do you like what you see?" she asked. Matthew felt his blood rush to his head. He felt very hot. "Are you going to answer me?" she frowned, putting her dress back down.
Matthew quickly snapped out of it and said, "I'm not looking to spend my money on you."
"Really? I'll give you a very good time if you want," she offered with a smile, but something about that smile bothered him. Matthew could remember seeing a smile like that when he was baby, but there was no way this whore could be who he thought it was.
"Um... I-I would like that," he stuttered. "What's your name?"
The prostitute looked at him. "Janet," she said, "Janet Dogsdon."
The minute Matthew heard her say her name, his jaw dropped to the ground. Clearly, Janet had no idea why he suddenly became so quiet, so she grabbed him and shook him. "What is the matter with you?" she asked, starting to lose interest in him.
"Do you know who I am?" he asked, almost whispering to the point were she couldn't hear him. Janet smiled and said, "I know who you are," she answered. "You're my next client for the night."
"No," Matthew replied sadly. "I am your son-Matthew Dogsdon."
Stunned, Janet stared with disbelief at Matthew and then pulled away at his revelation. The two of them stared at one another, mother and son.
"No, no! You can't be my son..." Janet said, refusing to believe what she had just heard. "That's impossible. My son died in a fire twenty five years ago."
"Mom, please believe me," he pleaded, "you know in your heart that I am your son." Just then, Janet's pimp/boyfriend walked up. He wasn't happy because she was talking with this weasel instead of trying to get him into the sack, but he didn't know that Matthew was her long lost son.
"JANET!" he shouted loudly. Matthew and Janet turned and saw how mad he was. "You stupid whore! I told you to make me some money not talk with a guy who runs with Don Karnage." Janet turned back to Matthew.
"You're a pirate?" she asked, but when her back was turned to her pimp/boyfriend, he grabbed her hair and threw her to the ground. Matthew felt Mad Dog waking up inside of him. "You will not treat my mom like this," he said.
"Matthew, you shouldn't try and stand up to Dolan. He is-"
"The son of Jack Daniel Harrison, who runs all guns on this island," Matthew said, trying to keep Mad Dog from coming out.
The tension in the air was thick now that it would have been easier to have a fight break out than to to do nothing. The crew members that came here with Matthew decided to sit back and watch what would unfold here.
It took Dolan a minute to take in the fact that Janet's son was standing before him. "I guess this will be the last time you will see your mother, Matthew," he sneered, then looked at Janet. "Get back to the house-NOW!" Dolan's voice was increasing in volume.
"Don't talk to my mother like that," Mad Dog said, his voice was as cold as ice.
Dolan smirked. "Or what? I run this area." Intent on proving it, he called out, "Put your sights Janet "the whore" Dogsdon! If Matthew "Mad Dog" Dogsdon so much as takes a step, blow her brains out."
Karnage had been watching the whole thing. "This is good-Mad Dog is going to learn that being good only leads to bad things." he laughed. The rest of the crew nodded in agreement.
Mad Dog looked at the gun men on the roofs, then back at Dolan as if he was the only one standing there. "Call my mother a whore again," he said, "it will be the last thing you ever say."
Dolan laughed once. "You ain't in no position to make threats, boy. You're just one weasel." He glanced over to a muscled up Texas longhorn, nodded and smiled at Mad Dog. "Put him down, Tex."
Mad Dog, with barely enough time to react as a fist the size of football came at his face. It hit him hard.
He staggered and fell flat on his back. The ground was as hard as Tex's fist.
Karnage showed a big toothy smile as he saw Mad Dog glance his way. "Need a little help here," he said to the other pirates.
Dumptruck didn't like this at all, and gave Karnage the most fed-up look Mad Dog had ever seen. "I think he needs help now."
Karnage shook his head, his smile still there with spiteful amusement. "He's doing good by himself. Yes? No?"
"Please, stop it, Dolan!" Janet cried, but he laughed at her. "For a whore-you need to know your place," he said making a slow pace toward her, but stopped when Mad Dog grabbed his leg.
"Stay away from my MOM!" he shouted, spitting out some blood on Dolan's white pants. Now that was over the line. Dolan reached down and pulled Mad Dog to his feet, then punched him in the face.
"These weren't cheap. So I going to ask you this one question-" Dolan said, making Mad Dog look up, "How would you like your remains displayed?"
Tex caught Mad Dog by the arm and pulled him up to his knees. Mad Dog glared at Dolan, his hand tightened into a fist.
"...you first..." he mumbled.
"What's that?" Dolan shook him, refusing to let him fade away now.
"You are going to die first..." Mad Dog gasped, forcing his battered mouth to form the words clearly. "...because when I get up-you die."
Dolan tsked at him, like he was a stubborn child. Tex let go of him, and he collapsed in the dirt again. Dolan then pulled Mad Dog to his feet by the hem of his vest, then smiled, "What are you going to do now?" he asked. Well... he shouldn't have asked that.
Mad Dog's eyes shot open as he grabbed Dolan's arms and then sank his teeth into the side of Dolan's neck. Dolan, or his gang didn't know what happened until they saw Mad Dog pull away with a good bit of flesh in his mouth.
"I told you I would kill you when I got up," Mad Dog choked, as he spit the chunk of flesh on to the ground. Dolan's boys did nothing as their boss died before their very eyes. Now the gang could have drawn their weapons, but then the other crime families would come and start shooting as well, and that would be very bad for business.
Karnage was impressed by Mad Dog's sudden quick kill on Dolan, but he quickly sent a warning to Jack Daniel Harrison not to mess with them. The crime boss took the warning quite well. So Harrison told them to never set foot on his part of the island again.
One hour later...
Matthew could not stand to be around his mother anymore. He was happy he had found her, but it felt like a ton of bricks had landed on him. It was hard for him to accept that she was broken woman. Janet had been taking drugs and seemed to be very sick, so Matthew gave two small bags of gold and told her to leave and start over in Cape Suzette. As Matthew watched his mother fly away, a single tear ran down his cheek.
Saying goodby is sometimes the hardest thing there is.
"Goodby, mom," he sniffled.
Janet watched sadly as Marvel Pass dissapeared out of view. "Goodby, Matthew," she sobbed.