So a while ago, the Fanfiction inspiration fairies, decided to take a holiday, then they returned and 5000 words later, which I have split up but this is finished. First part here, the next in few days. My god I enjoyed writing this. Thanks to everyone for their patience.
Chapter 14
Scars of this Past Final Chapter: Part 4
Kit had never seen an explosion before, apart from the movies, but that was always exaggerated…or so he thought. That was false, even from his sanctuary; he felt the vibrations from the explosion, a moment before he felt the bomb go off, and the fire emerging from the main propeller. Kit knew it was gone, that amount of explosives it had been incinerated, as the Iron Vulture, seemed to lurch to one side.
Quickly both Mad Dog and Kit got to their feet, as everything tipped sideways.
"Kit…for the love of god, Kit do you copy?" His Walkie talkie jumping to life, Kit grabbed it, realizing how much his body was shaking with adrenaline "Baloo, we're fine". He replied as the older bear came over. "You have to get to higher ground, something's gone wrong." Panic was etched in Baloo's voice as still in his cockpit, he was looking at the Vulture.
The idea was to plant the bomb, then they had to destroy the main propeller, another adjustment in their plans. But what no one could have known that by destroying the propeller would cause the rest to go haywire, as a second explosion rocked the soon to be stricken bird.
"Oh Jesus, what have I done." Baloo uttered as the realisation hit at what he had thrown this boy back into. He could see another propeller explode, followed by another. If Kit didn't get out of there, there was the chance he could plummet to the sea, along with everyone else, as the exploding propellers managed to catch wind on the underside of the Vulture. Yes they were metal, but metal could still become fatigued under extreme pressures and this was something like Baloo had never seen.
"What do you mean, something's gone wrong." Kit's voice was clear panic, and for a second Baloo was speechless. What could he say…get out of there, or you'll burn to death? As a second voice came in over the airwaves. "Baloo its Mad Dog…what do you see?"
Baloo quickly filled them in, on what was going on, and still on the Vulture, the ones listening in, their faces went ashen as beneath them they heard the yells of the crew, as they were trying to figure out what was happening and were trying to scramble to the decks for the safety of the planes.
"Oh my god, the armoury must have been hit too, there is thousands of pounds of guns and explosives in there...this place could go in a second", as his voice suddenly dropped "Oh hell, Sally". Mad Dog whispered as he went to get out of the rafters "Damn it, we have to get her".
"Baloo, we're going to get the child, will contact you."
Before Baloo could offer a reply, Kit clicked the device off and followed Mad Dog through the rafters. Fear pumping through both of their veins, they moved fast, even if they both knew they were following the smell of the acrid smoke, which caused Mad Dog to walk faster, cursing at himself with almost every step.
Coming to a gap in the rafters Mad Dog jumped down with no hesitation and glanced up at Kit to do the same. With Kit being the last person anyone expected to be on the ship, he stopped suddenly.
"Look Kit, like hell I'm going to take my eyes off you too. Just jump down". Mad Dog practically barked, a look in his eye of grit mixed with fear which Kit had never seen before.
Following suit, his feet falling to the deck, both of them moved quickly, Kit out of the corner of his eye could the crew as they were rushing past them, but no one seemed to notice to Kit's relief the young boy who was following the skinny weasel. But even he knew it was such a strange sight as Kit noticed the deck was becoming more smoke filled, and a heavy fear of foreboding began to settle in his stomach, as he turned the corridor and was faced with a wall of flames. The red and orange dancing over every surface.
"Kit wait here, just stand here and don't move." Advised Mad Dog as without a second glance, he dashed through the flames, leaving Kit stunned at his bravery, in the two minutes, it seemed that at least to Kit, felt like hours, as he pressed himself into a small space and didn't move, as in the now billowing darkness, the flames now taking hold across the deck. As Mad Dog appeared to burst through, the young girl securely wrapped in a soaked blanket "She's fine, lets get moving but we have to get her to one of the planes…and you too".
Mad Dog practically choked his voice raw from the smoke inhalation. As the three of them headed through the deck, Kit noticed the young girl looking up a few times, in fear and confusion, as with the ease of knowing the decks so well, they travelling through the floors in record time, all the while hearing the explosions around them, "Baloo, what the hell is going on?". Kit practically screamed into his walkie-talkie as he heard the older bear give him a report in an open panic "Kit where the hell are you? The Vultures starting to list."
"We got that Baloo, we're almost at the flight deck" stated Kit, as from his vantage point, Baloo was watching the drama unfold.
As soon as the bomb had gone off, the Pilots had almost immediately begun to abandon ship. But found their exit cutoff, as Khan's planes had dropped into view, now it was a tense standoff between the two, and Kit was drawn up into all of this.
Knowing how Kit and that little girl he had mentioned could get caught up in the crosshairs, Baloo tried to make a decision, but none of them were the right ones. As he quickly explained it to both Kit and Mad Dog, trying to find an alternative, but finding nothing, as he suggested that the flight deck may not be the best location.
On the vulture, Mad Dog took the walkie-talkie from Kit and addressed Baloo on the same level. "I know it's not the best plan, but let me get Kit and Sally to a plane and get him off…his job is done. I don't care what happens to me after this, but let me get your son off safely."
Baloo clocked off the Walkie-Talkie and just run his hand over his face, this was going to be a disasters…unless, as he dropped out of formation from the rest of the planes and begun to inch closer, in the chaos there was perhaps a chance they would spot the Seaduck which was out of place against the black planes, but Baloo didn't care.
At the same time the three on the Vulture had finally made their way to the flight deck and stepped into a world of hell.
The smoke immediately began to fill their lungs, which caused them to choke, as Kit could feel the heat beginning to rise between his toes from the fatigued metal. There was screams and chaos all round them, as men rushed past them to the other side of the deck, only to be greeted with the same sight, they were surrounded and they were screwed. Quickly Mad Dog rushed over to one of the planes and planted the bewildered little Sally in the passenger seat as Kit noticed the little girl look terrified, "Kit get in". Ordered Mad Dog, who was about to comply desperately, when the sounds of gunfire rung out above them.
"Sally get down in the seat and stay there." Mad Dog practically yelled as he slammed the cockpit door shut. "Oh god, their firing." As he practically tore the walkie-talkie from the boy "Baloo, whoever is firing bullets….there is no way we can take off like this".He explained, as he was about to say something as he heard footsteps above him, ones that Kit could recognise in a second, as Mad Dog had god to the other side of the place to try to release the docking clamps manually, not before tossing the walkie-talkie back to Kit.
As they both looked up, to see Don Karnage, standing above them all, a look of pure anger on his face as he surveyed the scene, and perhaps in a bid to gain control produced the gun from, his coat and looked to taking aim at something, something to hit, something to take control of the situation…and three seconds later his gaze fell, then widened as he saw Kit and with no hesitation after all those months since he last saw the boy, he took aim and fired.
Kit immediately ducked, and raced from the plane, unable to scream to Mad Dog at what was happening, even though he knew Sally would be safe, since she was wearing the vest, there was always a chance the plane could be hit. Ducking next to a vent, with shaking hands he opened his channel to Baloo, "Papa Bear", noticing how small his voice was, being whipped was one thing , being shot at was something new "Kit are you alright?" the relief in both their voices was obvious, and all Kit wanted to do was see his foster father again.
"I'm fine, but he's seen me and he's shooting at me, there is no way we can get off now…can you see us…why hasn't anyone landed yet?"
Baloo's voice was suddenly cut off, by the dulcet sounds of Shere Khan, "My Cloudkicker, the smoke is impairing my pilot's vision, and right now there is no way they can land safely, without possible risk to you". The tiger explained
"I'm being shot at, I think I'm already "as risk"…ok, ok let me think, I'm here, there is something I can do." And the answer hit, almost immediately.
"The flares, I've still got the flares." If I can get to higher ground, I set them off, you know where I am…and you don't land there…how does that sound". The silence of only a second seemed to be forever as Khan's voice filtered back. "That will be agreeable, do what you have to do."
"Oh yeah thanks", Kit muttered back sarcastically as he clicked the device off, and began to look around for something to scale, spotting the maintenance hanger, at least twenty-five feet away, his heart pounding in his chest, as the sound of no doubt Don Karnage, shooting all he could see even if even Kit knew that the guns didn't have that high a velocity. Scaling up the ladder, he looked around , but thankfully no one was looking at him, as he realised that he had somehow wound up near the original plane where Sally was, with no sight of Mad Dog anywhere. But he hoped that at least both of them would be safe, as his trembling feet raced across the roof. He needed a secure place, with no opportunity to fall and this wasn't perfect but it would have to do.
Glancing down, as he felt the Vulture rumbling again, indicating more rooms had gone up, as he took the flares from the bag, striked it against the roof to light it, and held it aloft in the air.
On the Sea Duck, Baloo had been trying to wait patiently, and failing his stomach turning into knots which only intensified the moment he heard that Karnage had fired at Kit. Through the smoke, it was impossible to land, he needed a point in the darkness which came a few seconds later and his face sagged with relief as the saw the glow of the blue flare.
"Baloo, can you see me?", as he caught the desperation in Kit's voice.
"Perfectly Kit, were coming into land." Reassured Baloo, desperate to see the boy again "Keep the channel open" he advised as he begin to line up his plane, as a second voice came over the air, one that filled both Kit, Baloo and in all possibility everyone who heard it, with dread.
"It's you!" screamed Don Karnage
Kit out of panic dropped the flares, but hoped it would be enough, as he turned round to see that Don Karnage had been tailing him the whole time, probably ignoring the yells of his crew beneath him.
"You pathetic reptile, you evil snake…after all I did for you!"
Kit blinked; the old Kit perhaps would have trembled in fear, but this one, the one who he now was, the one that was loved felt something snap. This was the fox who had tormented Kit's nightmares, to the point he couldn't let go, the one who had brought it all down to this.
Kit glared at the Captain "What you did for me, what you did for me, you lied to me, you beat me, and you ruined me. I thought I would never be loved…that I was useless…you made me believe, I was a nothing. I'm not a nothing!" It may have been a weak statement, but it was the true as Kit felt defiant for saying it.
"No, you're just a dead nothing." Karnage had dropped his usual bluster, his defence mechanism, and just looked pure evil, as he aimed the gun at Kit, who acting on instants immediately began to run into the opposite direction. "Get off the roof, get off the roof." He yelled to himself, as the bullets seemed to snap at his heels, but for once the Captains aim was true, as Kit almost saw it in the chaos, as the bullet ripped through his shoulder, as he came to edge of the roof as even though it was a ten foot drop he launched himself into the air and came down hard onto the metal plate.
The first thing he felt was the heat rising as he opened his eyes, and realising he was now running on anger and shock, as he saw the red of his blood seeping down his arm. Dear god it hurt, it hurt more than anything, as in the corner of his eye he saw a familiar flash of yellow, and signed with relief as the shock began to wear off. He tried to get to his feet realised that one of his legs, he wasn't sure since they both hurt was twisted, and he was unable to move.
Kit tried to drag his body away, to hide from the Don, he heard footsteps and almost cried with relief as Mad Dog was rushing to his side. "Oh, holy hell Kit." Mad Dog, instantly put his arms around him, to get him to his feet as Kit almost screamed with the pain. "We're going to get off here, we're going to get off here I promise." In the melee Kit began to notice Khan's planes beginning to land, the men holding guns to finally stop the rest of the Vulture crew from escaping, but that was at the other end, and no one had noticed Kit, As Mad Dogs he tried to find a gap in the smoke for them to rush through, as almost from out of the fire, out stepped Don Karnage.
His eyes pure malice, his normally pristine uniform was ripped and smoke stained and he knew that Kit was responsible, Kit's mouth went dry as he begun to step in front of him, and automatically Mad Dog snapped back to his Pirate self "I've got the boy Captain". He wined, trying to save face and not give the game away that he had helped in planning all this, as both of them begun to look around for the Calvary to arrive.
"You…you did all this. And you put him down". He directed the second part of that sentence to Mad Dog, who since he had a gun in his face slowly obliged. Kit's feet touched the deck, but Mad Dog never released his hold on the boy, as Kit glanced down to notice the blood still seeping from his arms and even with the heat beneath him, just felt numb.
The Captain now approaching them, neither of them could take their eyes off him, and Kit knew that Mad Dog was also trembling as much as he was. "I should have killed you a lot sooner, boy...you could have been the greatest Pirate of all time, under the tutorship of the Great Don Karnage…instead you are a nothing…who is going to die on the deck". It was clear that the Don had, had some sort of breakdown, as he advanced on the pair of them, his gun never leaving its direction on the pair. Kit even with his blood loss was openly terrified but knew there was no escape, as the bane of his existence finally reached them.
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