shocked.
Karnage looked at him square in the eye. “And I suppose it was not you who once recommended replacing me with a new captain, yourself as one of the candidates? And as I recall, you even once preferred having a wench as your prisoner instead of rescuing me, the time when my brilliant mind was switched with that Rebecca Cunningham woman?”
Dumptruck looked uneasy. “Well, we were… We were having an off day.” He looked hopefully to his captain.
“Go jump out an airlock!” Karnage ordered, and then looked straight to the Genie. “Genie!” he cried out, making the Genie jump slightly in mid-air. “I make my first wish! I wish to be… “
“Cap’n?” Dumptruck interrupted him quickly. “I’s not so sure you should be doing tis?”
Karnage looked at him sharply. “You dare to question my orders, and my own plans?”
“No, sir,” Dumptruck assured him. “It’s just that… “ He whispered to him. “Well, I used to hear a lot of stories about Genies when I was a nipper, yah. They weren’t the trustworthiest of creatures, and were notorious with their wish-granting. I once heard a story about a man who wished for eternal youth, and he… “
“I do not care about your silly childish tales,” Karnage waved his hand at him. “We have no other way to recover the information we require. This Genie is offering us a solution, and I intend to take it.”
“You should listen to him,” the Genie’s voice said suddenly, right behind them.
Karnage and Dumptruck jumped, as the Genie was floating right next to them.
“What do you mean by that exactly?” Karnage said, breathing a little heavily to get his heart to slow down.
The Genie shrugged. “It’s not really my own fault. But it’s like your buddy here said, wishes can sometimes go 'gah gah'.”
“Gah gah?” Karnage asked, blinking.
“Yeah,” the Genie replied. “Weird, out of this world, stark raving loony… “
“I know what ‘gah gah’ means!” Karnage snapped.
“Well, just remember this,” the Genie tried again. “A wish can go either way. The trick is to be specific. Make sure you nail out all the kinks. Be sure that you have every detail sorted out, from where exactly you want to go, to… “
“Yes, whatever!” Karnage said hurriedly, eager to start gem-hunting. He thought for a moment, and then said. “I wish… I wish to be invisible!”
“Invisible?” the Genie asked, curiously.
“Yes,” Karnage said exasperated. “You know, transparent, see through, no one being able to… “
“I know,” the Genie said. “I mean, are you sure you want that wish?”
“Of course. What better way to go unnoticed, than to not be noticeable at all?”
The Genie sighed, but nodded at his master’s logic. “O-kay, if that’s what you want? I assume you wanna be transported to this Baloo’s place also?”
“Yes, of course, where else would I want to be?!” Karnage snorted.
“All right then!” The Genie cracked his knuckles. “Badda bing, badda boom! To Baloo’s place you go, as invisible as a… zoom!”
The pirates looked at him weirdly, at his rhyming, to which the Genie simply shrugged.
There was a bright flash, followed by a huge puff of purple smoke, and before Karnage knew it, he found himself standing on the pier near the doors to ‘Higher for Hire’…
At first, Karnage grew fearful and wanted to find someplace to hide before anyone saw him and notified the police, but then… as he looked down on himself, he saw to his wonder that he could not see his hands.
“Ah, so the Genie’s spell worked,” Karnage said gleefully, realising what must have happened. “A-ha, so now all I have to do is listen in and learn all I can.” Karnage rubbed his transparent hands together, and then tiptoed his way up to the front door.
He listened in closely, and heard voices coming from inside. One of them sounded angry, a woman’s voice, no doubt that buffoon Baloo’s employer, the one who shouted a lot. Karnage listened in closer. He heard something like a pounding, coming closer…
[SLAM]
Karnage flew backwards, as the door banged open and sent him soaring through the air. He landed heavily on his back, the air knocked out of him.
“OOF!” Karnage wheezed.
“When I’m done with the Sea Duck, I’ll see to your door, too, Miss Cunningham,” Wildcat said, as he walked out the door. “It sounds like it could need some oil on its hinges.”
Karnage saw stars for a moment, as his vision came back into focus. He slowly lifted his head up… only for it to be pushed back down again.
Wildcat walked forward, first putting his foot onto Karnage’s stomach, and then onto his face.
By Nicholas Killpack
“Hmmm,” Wildcat stopped briefly, his feet still on Karnage’s face and stomach. “These planks have gotten a lot cushier since an hour ago.” He lifted each of his feet in turn, and stamped them onto the floor. “Must have gotten a new paint job.” He walked forward finally, but stopped as he heard a low keen groaning sound. “Sounds like the planks need an oiling, too,” Wildcat guessed, and then went to look at the Sea Duck’s engine.
Karnage groaned, as he slowly got up, clutching his stomach. A large print of Wildcat’s foot was imprinted on his face, if you could see his face that is, as he felt the world twirl around him.
“Did anyone get the number of that bus?” Karnage asked out loud, seeing nothing but stars and tiny Wildcats with wings flying around his head.
The door suddenly banged open again.
“Bye, Baloo, Miss Cunningham!” the young Kit Cloudkicker called out, as he raced through the door, and unknowingly kicked Don Karnage right between his legs.
Poor Karnage could do nothing except lie there for a few minutes, his face, which if it was visible, was set in a mask of utter pain. “Ma-ma,” he cried silently, his eyes watering fiercely.
A few minutes later, the strength came back to his legs, and he crawled up to his knees, and a few more minutes later he reached his feet.
“All right!” Karnage said intimidating. “No more mister nice pirate! I’m going in!” Karnage marched up to the door, but this time kept close to the side, in case anyone else came barging through it.
After making sure that no one was coming near the door, Karnage silently opened it, inching it open a small millimetre at a time. Luckily, no one appeared to notice.
As Karnage looked in, he saw his enormous beer-bellied foe sitting in a chair, while his female employer, Rebecca Cunningham, sat at her desk shifting through papers.
Karnage snorted under his breath. ‘This Baloo is even more pitiful than I took him for. Taking orders from a woman, and in the very same building that was once his. What kind of a man is he to let such a thing happen?’
“Baloo, why haven’t you left a gap in the flight schedule?!” Rebecca asked sharply. “I told you to leave that open because of the emeralds shipping!”
Karnage’s ears pricked up.
Baloo shrugged. “Aw, come on, Becky,” he said, his arms folded behind his head. “Ain’t no delivery that I can’t do in one hour flat.”
Rebecca snorted at him. “Yeah, so long as Louie’s isn’t on your flight plan. I’m taking no chances this time, Baloo. We’re getting an awful lot of money for this delivery, and I don’t want you to muck it up!”
“Aw, quit worrying, Becky. It’s only… “
Karnage tiptoed closer into the room, when his foot creaked down on a loose floorboard.
“Huh?” Baloo looked up, hearing the noise. Rebecca did, too.
They both noticed the open door, but saw no one in sight.
“Baloo!” Rebecca said annoyingly. “Didn’t I tell you to remember to shut the door after you come in?”
“Hey, don’t look at me,” Baloo said defensively. “Wildcat and Kit were the last ones out, not me.”
Rebecca sighed and went back to shuffling through her papers. “Well?” she asked.
“Well what?” Baloo asked back.
Rebecca gave him a hard look.
“Oh, yeah, right,” Baloo got up and went to close the door. Karnage easily stepped past him, staying well out of his way.
‘Ha!’ he laughed in his mind. ‘As always, my plan has succeeded… I amaze even myself sometimes… So, Baloo is transporting the emeralds some time in the near future, eh? The only question is, exactly what day and
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