for the topmost floor. “We are going to have a high old time.”

End of part 3

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.

“Whatwas 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 belowthem, 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’smy 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

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