'My Iron Lung'

Jutting out the sea, a massive cylindrical structure the size of a savannah, the dark gray metal of it extends down into the depth of the ocean, and reaches up to the height of a skyscraper.

(If this is trap then I'm finished)

With two automatic rifles in each hand and a pistol strapped to my leg, I cautiously clamber out my shop docked at the side of….

….

"Oi!

Are yuh fuckin doomb don't dock yerr ship here if your not about to take off,

Go around the other side!" barks a man from one of the other docked ships, he doesn't seem fazed by my straps,

(I hadn't even noticed the other people here,

Looks like they're about to leave….)

To the other side of large the structure I go, here it's significantly livelier, a huge harbor is built into it where many boats are parked, at the side of the structure a hole welded open into the steel, curtains drape down in front of it

(That's probably the entrance, ok, let's try this again)

…..

Stepping off my ship again I–

–KABOOM!

The ship explodes suddenly knocking me forward onto the port

"Errg.."

(What the hell just happened?)

"Oi, get up!" a voice calls followed by a soft kick to my face and an arm extended to me

Picking myself up with it, I come face to face with a strange woman I have never met before,

Her hair is dirty blonde with green highlights, she stares at me sternly with her one eye, the other is an eye patch,

"Ya know I could have self destructed that ship anytime I wanted." She speaks semi-pleasantly showing off a full set of gold teeth,

"Who are you?"

"Don't tell me you forgot ol' Harry Kage,"

"Harry?"

"Did that explosion knock your memory out?" Harry points at my skull, I notice her other hand, well what is supposed to be hand, is replaced with the barrel of gun

"You were in trench pirates, no?"

(She knows me from when I was pirate…)

"Yes, I remember that, but my memories have been a little foggy for a while now," I lie

"Oi! Somebody clean this shyite up!" Harry orders gesturing to the wreckage of my ship she just exploded

"Can you perhaps remind of who you are and what this is again…Harry?"

"Ya know I been looking for you for a while now Kage," she ignores, my question instead beckoning me to follow her into the structure

Inside is like a love construction site, we step onto a wobbly floor in which I can feel the ocean beneath,

A staircase with no walls or handrails is built into it's side next to what I can only guess is a planned elevator shaft, the floor around the stairs is also stained red,

(Most likely from people falling off the edge no doubt)

"What is this place exactly?" I ask following the woman up said stairs

"It belongs to me, my iron lung,"

"Your iron lung, you own this?"

"Ya memory really is fucked huh?

Cause ya know I hate having to explain shyt,

Because I respect and owe you Kage, I'll brief ya"

(She owes me for what?

The year I was here before I met up with Apollo,

What was I up too?)

"This is the called the iron lung, the main base of all pirate kind, I am the one in charge of these sorry bastards," Explains Harry

"And how do I know you?"

"You was with that shitty ass crew, the trench pirates, first time ya came here you caused a whole ruckus, just to get to me, killed a lot of my men,

That reminds me,

Ya got ta stop killing my pirates,

That ship you hijacked to get here, I was watching ya on it's cameras, you slaughtered the lot,"

"It was either me or them," I reply nonchalantly

"I can't really argue with that, you were always a killer,

I'm just glad I found ya, after all this time," sighs Harry

"What did I want from you?" I press on the woman to continue,

The further up the stairs we get the narrower it becomes, the floors we pass going up seemed to be unfinished as well,

"Ya wanted us to build a ship for you, in exchange ya helped us out,"

(A ship?)

As we near the end of the unfinished flight of stairs, we come to a floor that is vastly different from the wide, still in construction floors below,

This one starts us off in a hallway,

I feel the cold air-conditioning bouncing off the steel walls,

Neon blue lights illuminate from the ceiling

"This is what ya helped us out with," Harry says stepping into the hall,

Gun production.

Surveillance

Ship parts

General maintenance

Engineering lab

Unauthorized

After passing several labeled doors, Harry pushes into the door marked unauthorized,

"I helped with that?" staring across the room, behind glass barrier is what I can only say is a ball of light, It's encased in a oscillator-like machine in which many wires and cords come go into and out of it, like a spider web, the cords go into walls, ceiling and even floor

"This was actually all your doing, I dunno the schematics or what have you about it,

Oi you science guy!" Harry slaps the head of a man behind a computer, he brushes her hand away in annoyance but doesn't not fully acknowledge our presence still locked into his work

"Oi! Ya boss is talking to you, I brought the inventor of this for ya to speak with"

"….." no response

"Ya know what, wait here, I'm going to get a drink and a pistol, then we can talk," Harry says to me before pushing out of the room

(....)

"You are the inventor of this…

Incredible," the scientist says his eyes still peeled to the computer screen

"I don't know how true that statement is…" I try peering over the man's shoulder

"Don't be modest, to invent a source of energy more potent than foundation energy,

You would have to be a first-class genius," the man spins around on his chair to face me

(Wait a minute…)

"MF?"

"Kage?" the young man as equally surprised

"What are you doing with pirates?" I immediately press

(Wasn't he working for the UCA?)

"That's a long story,

But you, Kage, I thought you were missing,

Does that mean Apollo and Himari with you?" he looks to the door half expecting the pair to also reveal themselves

"No, why, did something happen?"

...

"A lot has happened Kage,"

"Enlighten me then,"

"…." MF gives me a 'nobody talks like that face' before spinning back around to face the PC

"You do know that you have been missing for six months Kage?"