It was still hard for the Iron Vulture crew to believe that they were all behind bars now. Robbed of their pride by the Bruinwald family. Not only that, but Mad Dog had been sent to another prison, leaving them minus one man.

Sad really.

It was now April 15th, and unknown to Captain Don Karnage, his crew was going to throw him a surprise birthday party, but they had a few little problems they had to take care of first. In other words...they had no idea what to get him.

"I don't know what the captain will do if he isn't happy with this party we set up for him," Switchblade said as he blew up some balloons. "I mean, Mad Dog would know what to do for him. He has been with the captain since he was sixteen."

The other sky pirates nodded in agreement. They had to make this go right for their own sake, after all, letting the captain down was a very bad idea. That's when Hacksaw started to jump up and down.

"I know what I can do for the captain, I can break out of here and blow up one of Khan's big cargo ships," he said pulling out a thing of explosives. How he had the explosives with him was a shocker to the rest of the crew.

"How in the hell did you hide those explosives, Hacksaw?" Hal asked, as his jaw hung open.

"I didn't hide them." Hacksaw smiled. "I bribed the guard to get me some."

"But how did you bribe him?" Switchblade said scratching his head. "You don't have anything on you."

Hacksaw suddenly turned pale, as a cold sweat ran down his back. "You don't want to know," he whispered.

"If you had the explosives with you, then why are we still here!" Will snapped, slapping Hacksaw on the back of the head. Then another idea popped into his head. "Maybe, we could break him out and take him to a strip club."

"Hacksaw, I think that is the dumbest, most craziest, not to mention the most cheapest idea of a birthday gift, I have ever heard," Ratchet said pushing him to the floor. "Why don't we just give Karnage the explosives and break out of this prison."

Soon all the pirates were making plans to get the explosives to their captain. The only one who was not making plans was Dumptruck, he was thinking of his friend Mad Dog. The Great Dane missed his friend, very much. He could only hope that he was doing better then he was. As Dumptruck sat quietly, hunched over in his chair, the radio beside him hummed to life.

Inside the Captain's jail cell, Don Karnage was busy going over all his old escape plans—still trying to find away out of this hell hole they called a prison.

"So many of most brilliant ideas... plans..." Karnage sighed in disappointment, "and all of them for naught... if I had some of that wonderful C4, I would blow this wall down and escape!" he shouted, throwing a bunch of papers into the trash and started knocking things over in a fit of rage.

After Karnage trashed his cell, he then took a deep breath and laid down on his bed, but then something caught his eye. There on the floor was a photo of when he first became the captain of the Iron Vulture and there on either side of him was his first seven crew members. Dumptruck, Mad Dog, Gibber, Ratchet, Hal, Hacksaw and Will.

As he looked at the photo, Karnage began to drift off to sleep, and in his dreams he began to remember something of his past—and it wasn't something he wanted to remember.

Twenty five year ago...

A young Donovan Karnage felt the morning rays of the sun creep through his window and warm him. At six years old, he was already sleeping in his own room. His life wasn't perfect, but it was good, or so he thought. The sound of his mother and father shouting caused him to frown. Donovan knew they were fighting again, they would do this for a few more minutes before going off in their own direction.

Young Donovan got out of bed and headed for the kitchen. His mother was at the sink, trying hard to hold back her tears. This was completely new to him—father had hit mother—and Donovan hated the look of the bruise on her cheek.

"Mommy?" he asked coming up to her. His mother turned and looked at her young son. "Why did daddy hit you?"

"I fell down," she lied. He knew it wasn't true. His father had indeed hit her.

She tried to avoid her son, but young Donovan followed her around like a puppy. And as Donovan sat down at the table for lunch, he asked, "Mommy, if daddy hits you again, do I call cops to come and take daddy away?" His mother put a plate of eggs and toast in front of him.

"No!" she said. "I don't want that."

"Why?"

With a sigh. The stressed out mother sat down beside her son. "Donovan, if your father was to be taken, who would be there to take care of me?" That part caught him there. Putting down the fork that still had eggs on it, Donovan smiled. "I'll take care of you, mommy."

He smiled as a smile grew on her face. It was a warm and gentle smile, one that her son loved to see. "I love you, son," she said and kissed him on the head.

"I love you, too," he replied.

The next day while Mrs. Karnage was out shopping, Donovan was coming inside after playing with his friends. There, lying on the floor was his father briefcase. He couldn't help but wonder why his daddy came home early from work. That was when he heard it.

"Yes, harder, I want it harder, Pete!" It sounded like moaning coming form his mother and father's bedroom. Donovan decided to investigate the moaning. The door to the bedroom was open just wide enough for someone to peek through. If Donovan had known what he was about to see, he would have just stayed outside.

There, lying down beside his father was a very lovely lady panther. They were kissing. What really shocked young Donovan was when his father had her ride him like a horse. It was so wrong of his daddy to do this.

"DADDY!" He shouted busting into the room. Both his father and the lady panther stopped and looked at him. "I'm going to tell mommy on you!"

"See you later, Pete," the panther said jumping off the bed. She quickly grabbed her cloths and ran out the door, leaving only a very angry father and son alone.

When Mrs. Karnage returned, a terrible sight was waiting for her. There, sitting on the couch was her son, covered in bruises. She was already running over to her hurt child. "Who hit you?!" she growled, to upset and angry to cry.

"Daddy," was all Donovan could say.

Things got worse between the Karnage family. Mrs. Karnage had been seeing her husband with other girls, some of them not even over sixteen yet, and when she tried to confront Pete, he would hit her. There were some nights when Donovan would hear his father getting it on with another woman. Then that would be followed by his mother shouting, screaming, etc.

Sometimes when Donovan was alone, his father would run his hands around his son's body. If he tried to take a shower or a bath his father would spy on him and taught him with sick sexual jokes. It was even getting to a point where is father would beat him just for not smiling at his sick jokes.

Donovan's life was turning into a living hell.

Four years later...

A ten year old Donovan Karnage sat on his bed. Looking at the pistol he had stolen from his father's bedroom. Fresh cuts and bruises were visible on his arms and legs.

"Why does father do this to me?" he shouted loudly, tears ran down his cheeks. Karnage looked back down at the gun. His father never loved him, only his mother. The sounds of his mother's screams were heard again. Karnage knew what his father was doing to her right now. He covered his ears and began to cry.

"Daddy, please stop hurting Mommy!"

His bedroom door swung open and in stepped his father. Drunk and very angry. "You little rat," he growled, dragging his wife in and threw her on their son's bed.

Karnage looked at his mother, she was crying. "Son, don't look." Her husband then grabbed her and hit so hard that it knocked her out cold. But Karnage did look, and he jumped on his father's back. He bit him. He kicked him. But it was nothing to his abusive father.

"You will learn not to fight against me!" his father shouted before throwing Karnage onto the bed, then began beating him. But beating him wasn't enough anymore, so, Karnage's father tore of his son's clothes off, then his own. Karnage felt his father get on top of him and he screamed as his father held him down.

This wasn't happening to him. Karnage's own father was trying to rape him.

"You will learn why I am in charge and you are just a bit player," his father smiled. He leaned down and began biting his son on the neck. Every bite was freezing cold and more tears ran down Karnage's cheeks. His father then spread his legs and smiled, "Just relax, and fill in for your mother. I'm sure to enjoy your tight little butt."

Karnage opened his mouth to scream, but his father then slapped him. "Shut up!" he shouted and then began running his claws down his son neck, over his cheeks and a few on his chest. Then as his father began to take him... something in Karnage snapped.

And everything turned white.

Karnage's eyes shot wide open as he awoke in a cold sweat. The captain quickly inspected his body. There were no cuts or bruises on him. So far so good. "A dream," he panted, "It was all a dream."

With a smile of relief, Don Karnage picked up the photo of his crew. He frowned at Mad Dog who was on his right and smiling at him. "You betrayed us. You betrayed me, and for what? A silly little girl?"

"She was a pretty one at that too," a guard said taking a seat in front of Karnage's cell. "But what I want to know is how did you manage to find those jerks you call pirates."

The jail guard and the captain both locked eyes. Karnage cracked a smile.

"Well, I'll tell you."