Down in the Underworld

Chapter 28 - A fine rag-tag bunch

Arriving at Stumpie’s Major Damage, Lady wasted no time in seeking out the proprietor, who was hard at work on the Anhinga, which was suspended above them and held aloft by an ingenious force-field. The field itself had been modified to project itself out and wrap around the subs Stumpie was working on in 2-3 giant bands like a lasso. The number of bands needed depended on the size of the vessel. The field’s projection unit hung from a cathedral ceiling, suspended from a black-metal and crystal structure. It was the only one in existence and had been built by Stumpie himself. All the Underworlder’s relied on Stumpie for drydock repairs, which explained why even Demise had left his business completely unscathed.

Walking around the side of her dry-docked submarine Lady took in the details she rarely got to see. The name of the ship in giant script, with the ‘O’ of Anhinga  sitting neatly to the right of a ragged flag featuring a skull with crossbones underneath. The orange, copper-like metal detailing that ran in swirls and circles along the sides of the submarine, while green Mellion glass was woven into the black and gold metal that made up the full outer skin of the sub. It was truly beautiful if not slightly overwhelming in its size. Lady reached out her hand to run it along the sub’s underbelly as Stumpie came walking up to her in a hurry. Even though she’d seen his face a hundred times, Lady could never seem to get used to it. The man looked like a mummy without the bandages – his wrinkles went on for days. He wasn’t an overly tall man, but he had strength you would be a fool to underestimate. Lady had seen him take down men 2 or 3 times his size. But his eyes were the most arresting feature. A deep, crystal blue that Lady imagined must have broken a few hearts back in the day, and maybe still did. He was a good soul, and Lady couldn’t count the times he had gotten someone she knew out of a bad jam.

‘I’m nearly done,’ he said straight off the bat, anticipating her question before she’d had a chance to say a single word, ‘bloody hell that must have been quite a blast though, you got lucky this time,’ Stumpie continued, his voice grating like slow rolling thunder as he reached out to take Lady’s outstretched hand.

‘You don’t have to tell me that twice,’ Lady agreed, before getting straight to business, ‘OK, so how much longer do you need her for Stumps? I don’t want to put the pressure on, but Demise has got the jump on us and taken one of our crew hostage, so we need to get back out there.’

‘Krikey eh? Right, look, not much longer, maybe an hour, two max? The machines just finishing up the re-skin now and the interior is good to go, but how else can I help? I owe that stupid bastard a good slap and make no mistake,’ Stumpie asked, anger creasing his already furrowed face even further. 

‘I can work with that,’ Lady nodded deep in thought, ‘and don’t worry mate, I’ll be giving Demise more than a slap when I seem him.’