the pre-ignition catalyzer, pressed the ‘start’ button and...

Vroom!

The engine purred to life. The prop wash ruffled his hair as well as his new red bandana. He could feel the plane’s vibration coursing through his body.

A big smile spread across his face. This was the most fun he had had in a long time.

Then the smile slid from his face when he remembered the pirates.

His eyes fixed on the open beak, Kit waited with baited breath. He was sure that someone would have heard the engine’s roar echoing in the cavernous hangar. However, when no one appeared, he decided that it wouldn’t hurt to just taxi around the hangar. He scooted to the edge of seat in order to reach the foot pedal. When he pressed the pedal down with the tip of his toes, the plane lurched forward.

“Whoa!” he cried, removing his foot from the pedal as quickly as if he had stepped on a nail.

Learning from his mistake, this time, he gently tapped the pedal.

“Ah-ha!” he shouted exultantly as the CT-37 glided forward slowly. Holding the control yoke with one hand, he reached over to the machine gun. “Enemy fighters at four o’clock. Fire! Fire!”

Caught up in the excitement of his imaginary game, Kit’s hands accidentally gripped the trigger of the machine gun too tightly, causing a burst of rapid gunfire to pour from the gun and...

KA-BOOM!

When Kit dared to open his eyes, he saw a mass of flaming wreckage of what had once been three CT-37s.

“Oh...no!” he squeaked. He quickly turned off the engine and scrambled down from the cockpit just as he heard the sounds of running feet pounding towards the Iron Vulture.

“What is it?” Mad Dog whined from the edge of the open beak.

“It looks like der bonfire,” Dumptruck said.

Coughing a little from the smoke, Hal added, “Aw, I forgot the marshmallows.”

“Shut up, you idiots, and put that fire out before we all go boom-boom!”

The other pirates hurried off to find buckets.

Seeing Kit trying to sneak past him, Karnage shouted, “You! Boy!”

Knees trembling, Kit spun around. If he hadn’t have already been scared, the look of concentrated fury on the captain’s face would have made him scared. Despite his fear, he squared his shoulders, donned his habitual tough expression, and forced himself to walk calmly towards Karnage. “You called?”

“Did you create this messy messiness?”

Defiantly, Kit retorted, “So what if I did?”

Don Karnage backhanded Kit across the face. “Do not use that tone-age with me!” Slap! “And always...” Slap!“call me...” Slap! “Captain!” Slap!

Kit’s cheeks stung and his pride pricked with resentment. The other pirates’ snickering only fueled his anger. Sullenly, he muttered, “Yes...Captain.”

Karnage glared down at Kit. “This time you made the wrong mistake. We must find an appropriately appalling punishment for you.”

Later...

Karnage ushered Kit, who was carrying a mop and a bucket of soapy water, into the Iron Vulture’skitchen. “As punishment for your estupidestupidness, I want you to pick up every scrap of garbage, then mop the entire Iron Vulturefrom top to bottomouses. Make it span and spick, got it?”

Drearily, Kit said, “Got it, Captain.”

The kitchen was filthy. Garbage was strewn all over the floor and there was crusty food splattered on the walls from countless food fights.

“I want this floor clean enough to eat off of. No more of this dirt and stickery.”

“Yes, Captain.”

After Karnage left, Kit started picking up garbage. “Why are pirates such slobs?”

Two Hours Later

Kit walked out of the kitchen with a full trash can. It had taken him two whole hours just to pick up the trash and scrape the food off the walls. After he disposed of the trash, finallyhe could mop and move to the next room.

As he struggled with the putrid-smelling, cumbersome trash can, who should come strolling down the hallway but Mad Dog and Dumptruck.

“There’s the little protege, picking up garbage.” Mad Dog smirked.

Dumptruck snickered. “Do you like your new job?”

“Maybe we should help out.”

“Right.”

They both took hold of the trash can and dumped it over Kit’s head, burying him in a mound of trash.

“Thanks a lot, guys!” Kit gasped, pushing his way up through the used paper products, rancid rinds, and an unidentifiable greyish brown glop.

Between guffaws, the pirates said, “Don’t mention it.”

“Our pleasure.”

“See ya,” Mad Dog sneered. “Wouldn’t wanna be ya.”

Chuckling, Dumptruck added, “Yeah.”

As they continued down the hallway, they lustily sang, “Old MacDonald had a farm...”

Kit glared after them. “I’ll Old MacDonald you,” he muttered. With a sigh, he turned the trash can upright and started to pile the trash back into it.

Iron Vulture
3:30 AM

Kit, exhausted, aching, and angry, carried the mop and the bucket of water into the radio room. After he had cleaned this room, he could sleep. He was so tired that he knew that he could even sleep through his roommates’ snoring.

But before he started mopping, he decided to take a little rest.

He sank into the leather chair. Before him was the radio. He had seen it used, so he knew how it worked. He donned the headphones and flipped the switch to turn it on, but all he heard was static.

He turned the knob to a different frequency.

More static.

Guess there’s nobody up at this time of night.

Despite his fading hopes, he continued to turn the knob slowly. He was desperate to hear a friendly voice, even if it was the voice of a stranger.

Finally, he heard a man say, “...your position? Over.”

“Flying above the NoSmokey Mountains. Will reach Cape Suzette by 0430 hours. Over.”

“Cargo onboard? Over.”

“Cargo is onboard and secure. You know, this is one pretty stone. Bigger than any ruby my grandmother has. Over.”

“You shouldn’t be talking about the stone, Duane. Over.”

“Relax, Carl. No one’s listening this time of night. Over.”

“You’d better hope not. That thing is worth a fortune and if it falls into the wrong hands, the big boss will be steamed. Over.”

“Gosh! I mean gosh,” Kit whispered to himself. He had stumbled onto something both interesting andvaluable. He pressed the headphones closer to his ears, eagerly listening for more information.

“What Shere Khan doesn’t know won’t hurt him. Over.”

Static ripped through the headphones, causing Kit to wince.

“...was that, Duane? Over.”

“...storm. Nothing...about. Over.”

“...know what’ll happen if you...by lightning. Over.”

An intense burst of static made Kit’s ears tingle. As he removed the headphones, his mind was awhirl.

A jewel worth a fortune? That was exactly what he needed to break free from the pirates once and for all and buy a plane of his own.

But how to get it?

After accidentally blowing up three CT-37s, he knew Karnage would keep closer tabs on him. He couldn’t fly and he definitely couldn’t swim from Pirate Island.

Slowly, an idea came to him. Maybe if I can get Karnage to steal it for me.

BANG! went the radio room’s door as it slammed shut behind someone.

Kit spun in the chair, his heart leaping into his throat. In the doorway stood Don Karnage, clad in his purple monogrammed bathrobe. He held a sandwich and had a book - Do It Yourself Electronics -tucked under one arm.

“What are you doing sitting down, you juvenile delinkity-wink? Get back to work!”

“Whatever you say, Captain.” Kit shrugged. His mind was working overtime as he hopped out of the chair and plunged the mop into the bucket. “Guess you don’t want to hear about something that can make you the richest man in the world.”

“What do you know that I don’t know yet?”

As he mopped, he said airily, “Oh...it’s not thatimportant. Just a jewel. You’ve stolen tons of jewels before.”

Karnage dropped his sandwich and book, grabbed Kit by the front of his shirt, and lifted the boy so that they were face to face. “Spill the baked beans.”

“Well, I was listening to the radio...” Kit said slowly. He knew that the more he prolonged the suspense, the more Karnage would be interested.

“The jewel!” The captain tightened his grasp on the boy’s sweater. “What about it?”

“A giant ruby...worth a fortune,” Kit gasped out. “Best part of it is that it belongs to...”

“Who, who, who?”

“Shere Khan.”

Karnage shook Kit roughly until his head felt like a maraca. “Anything else?”

“That’s all I heard,” Kit said, truthfully enough.

Karnage dropped Kit like a hot potato. After putting on the headphones to hear about the jewel for himself, he glared at Kit. “What are you lying there for, boy?”

“The mopping...?” Kit began, pointing towards the mop and bucket.

“You are done. Finito.Go. Leave me in pieces.”

Biting his lip to keep from smiling, Kit slowly got to his feet and gathered the mop and bucket, all the while intently watching Karnage.

The pirate captain was muttering, “I don’t care a hooting owl about Aunt Milly’s gallstones. Tell me about the jewel. The jewel!”

Suddenly, Karnage seemed extremely interested in something that he had heard. He scooped up Do It

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