Thirsty, tired, and most especially hungry the young hero trudged on to Banana Man's house while BMO was casually humming a tune while reading his book.
"BMO, what are you reading?" Finn asked rather irritated.
"It's called the Wealth of Nations," BMO said.
"I know it's Wealth of Nations but what is it about?" Finn asked in the same irritated tone.
"It's about capitalism," BMO responded.
"What's capitalism?" He asked.
"It's basically where a country's trade is controlled by private business," BMO said.
"So the government has no control over business?" Finn asked curiously.
"Well, they should have little influence and keep SOME regulations. Imagine the government as an invisible hand regulating small things" BMO responded.
"What type of regulations?" Finn asked.
"Oh, reasonable minimum wage, reasonable work hours, work leave, paid vacations, and human rights, make sure business don't jack prices up to make a quick buck. Nothing to big." BMO concluded.
"Hmm, an economic system where the government has little influence over business. Sounds like the thing that Oris talked about how the government shouldn't control people's lives but transferred over to economy like the government should keep its hands out of people's pockets. Maybe it should work the over way around as well, big businesses shouldn't bribe politicians to pass laws so that businesses could get off scot-free from government regulations" Finn thought to himself.
Finn's thoughts were broken when a smoky aroma filled the air causing his stomach to growl loudly. Picking up the pace, a white house with triangular panels soon comes into view. As he broke out of the bushes the first thing that Finn noticed was how much bigger Banana Man's house. It is no longer elevated off the ground, but now it was planted firmly into the ground. He also noticed that the house is much longer. Lastly, he saw a banana on a step up ladder in front of a grill.
"Banana Man!" Finn yelled out causing the causing the banana to turn around.
"Oh, Finn! You're just in time, food will be ready in five. Wait a minute where's BMO?" Banana Man asked.
"Right here!" BMO responded as he popped of Finn's backpack.
"Heh, heh, cute." Banana Man said softly.
"Alright, I'll get washed up before we eat," Finn said putting down his backpack.
"Go ahead Finn, the bathroom is down the hall, and it is the second to last door on your left." Banana Man said.
In response, Finn opened the door to Banana Man's house and walked straight to the bathroom not noticing the elevator at the end of the hall until he was on his way back.
"Is that an elevator?" Finn thought to himself as he walked to the double doors. As he walked closer, he could clearly see the words on the button panel.
Level 1: Living Room
Level 2: Armory
Level 3: Repair Room/ Showroom
"Dang, Banana Man's house REALLY got big," Finn thought to himself.
"Finn, you better come out now you're spare ribs are getting cold!" Banana Man yelled from outside.
"Alright, I'll be there soon!" Finn yelled back as making his to the front yard.
"Oh, my glob Banana Man that was good!" Finn exclaimed while patting his belly.
"Aww, nonsense it was just something I found in a recipe book." Banana Man said slightly blushing.
"You should really build your own restaurant" BMO stated.
"I would…" Banana Man said while rubbing his chin. " But, where I will find time for all my projects? Finding materials is already hard enough as it is since most of it is in a junkyard or at the bottom of the ocean."
"Oh yeah, that reminds me. Why did you have three levels to your house?" Finn asked as he took a sip of sweet tea.
"Oh heh, heh, about that. Ten years ago I realized I've built and repaired so many things that I have to store them and keep safe from the elements and so I paid some workers from cities to help build an underground facility to keep all the things I repaired safe from the elements and keep things from falling into the wrong hands since most of it is military equipment. And yeah that's basically it. Do you want to see?" Banana Man concluded.
"Oh heck yeah!" Finn and BMO alright exclaimed.
"Alright just wait for me in the living the room I have to clean up a bit especially the repair room." Banana Man said as they went inside.
While Banana Man went to clean things up, Finn and BMO were in the living room looking through all the books that Banana Man gave them permission to look at. Finn ran his fingers through the line of books until he noticed a thick binder sticking ever so slightly. Curious he pulled it out, opening it to the first paper.
The Constitution of the United States of America
We the people of the United States of America
We the people of the United States of America, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the General welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Prosperity, do disdain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Finn flipped through the mountain papers until something caught his eye.
Article IV: Section IV
The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government and shall protect each of them against Invasion, and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.
"You guys ready?" Banana Man asked from behind him.
"Yeah, let me put this away," Finn said as he placed back where he found them.
Level 2: Armory
As the elevator opened to the second level Finn and BMO's instantly lit up. They saw one side filled with guns and the other hand with sword and armor stand in the middle.
"You know… It's better if you see them up close" Banana Man whispered.
Instantly, with BMO in his arms, Finn walked over to the swords looking and grazing his fingers on the flat side of each sword until he found a shiny black katana with red and black laced grip and him knew…. It was love at first. Next, he walked over to the side with guns which were all nicely labeled. He took particular interest in a rifle called the M27 IAR and pistol called the M1911A1. He signaled to Banana Man if he could pick it up to which he replied with a short nod of approval. Setting BMO down he picked the heavy rifle shouldering it, getting a feel for cold metal, the textured grip, and before he could go any further, he remembered reading something about gun safety.
"Rule 1 make the weapon is on safe when not in use, Rule 2 Keep finger off the trigger until ready to fire, Rule 3 make sure the chamber is clear, and Rule 4 treat any weapon with respect," Finn thought to himself while going through his mental checklist.
Placing the rifle back he then picked the M1911A1 doing the mental checklist again.
"Want to take these babies for a spin?" Banana Man asked he walked up next to him.
"Sure," Finn said in disbelief.
"Take those and follow me," Banana Man said as he walked away.
Next, Banana Man guided Finn and BMO to a side room that was labeled Shooting Range. When they walked in Finn could see a line of dividers, and as he looked down range, he could see a target set up. Finn walked up to one of the dividers placing the guns on the table while Banana Man walked up to the shelf that was against the brick wall, picking a box and walking right to them. Inside were three goggles, three earmuffs, and six magazines (Magazines NOT clips). Three for the M27 and three for the M1911.
"Put the goggles and earmuffs first." Banana Man ordered.
Quickly Finn and BMO placed them on their heads.
"Alright, Finn from what I saw earlier you know how to be safe with guns, so I'm trusting you alright?" Banana Man with a twisted look.
"Alright," Finn responded.
"Good, load it." Banana Man said handing Finn a magazine for the M27.
Grabbing it and ramming it into the magazine well, pulling back on the charging handle waiting on Banana Man's call.
"Ok, on the beep empty the magazine, but take your time." Banana Man said he held a beeper to Finn's ear.
After hearing this Finn took the rifle off safe and aimed down sights waiting…
BEEP
Finn instantly fired a shot that gave off a "pop" that landed just outside the target. He had chills running down his spine, his brain begging for more and he delivered. Finn kept shooting until he heard a "click" from the rifle. As Finn switched the gun back on safe, he could still feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins, and he knew that he just needed more. So, he grabbed the next magazine and the next until all three of the M27's magazines were empty. Now, it was the M1911s turn, and he repeated but noticed how much more kick the pistol gave of but paid no attention to this and the only thing that was in his mind was to keep shooting.
"Oh, Glob. That was awesome!" Finn exclaimed as he looked down range.
"It sure is, but this only the first part of the tour we still got one more level to go through," Banana Man said happily.
"Heh, heh, you're right" Finn responded as they headed back out to the armory.
As the three walked out, Finn noticed a green armor that was held in place by an armor stand. Upon closer inspection, the armor consisted of, to Finn's knowledge, a colonial style field uniform with white flexible armor on the inside, green overcoat, leather boots, a gray helmet with a green eyepiece, black pants, and a black tricorn hat.
He turned around to see Banana Man putting away the guns.
"Hey Banana Man?" Finn asked.
"Yeah?" Banana Man asked.
"What's this?" Finn asked.
"Oh, it's just a side project I worked on a couple years back. I call it Minuteman Armor." Banana Man emphasized by making a line through the air with his hands.
"Cool." Finn simply stated.
"Yeah it is, but on with the tour!" Banana Man exclaimed, and off they went.
Level 3: Repair Room/ Showroom
As the elevator opened up, four vehicles came into view
"This, boy and robot…. Drumroll please" Banana Man asked and immediately Finn, and BMO started patting their thighs to a rhythm. " The M1A2 Abrams, The AH-64 Apache, The A-10 Thunderbolt II, and last and especially not least… THE F-22 Raptor!" Banana Man exclaimed going completely nuts.
"OH, MY GLOB LOOK AT THESE!" Finn exclaimed.
"I KNOW RIGHT?!" Banana Man yelled loudly.
"How did you get all of these?" Finn asked curiously.
"Like I said. at the junkyard or at the bottom of the ocean" Banana Man responded.
"Man, how long did it take you to fix all of these?" BMO asked.
"Well the tank, helicopter, the A-10 all together took six months mainly because I worked with them before. While the Raptor took a year and a half. Mainly because the material was classified information, but I found out it was just titanium composite. If you ask me, I'm surprised the tank didn't take long."
"Why?" Finn asked curiously.
"Mainly because there is depleted uranium sandwiched between two plates to add extra protection" Banana Man responded.
"Oh dang" Finn responded with his tone going down.
"Come on let me show you around" Banana Man walking towards the tank with Finn right while BMO went to the two aircraft.
"And yeah that's how I got so much Abrams and Apaches are in my showroom" Banana Man concluded.
"Man, that's awesome!" Finn exclaimed, "But, where the hell did he find to do all of this?" Finn thought to himself.
While Finn and Banana Man were talking while BMO was standing in front of the F-22 taking in all its glory, curious BMO took his proximity radar. But, something was wrong…
"Hmm, strange" BMO said out loud.
"What is it?" Finn asked.
"I can barely see this thing on the radar," BMO said pointing to the plane.
"Why is that?" Finn asked looking at Banana Man.
"It was meant to be undetected by radar until a certain range" Banana Man answered.
"And what happens when it is detected?" Finn asked.
"Well, it's too late for the enemy if they detect the plane" BM responded.
"Why?"
"Because the plane already found you, before you found the plane."
"Yikes" Finn stepped back.
"Yeah pretty impressive…"
"And scary" Finn finished.
As all three walked in what was easily the most extensive level in the facility, they passed through some more Abrams and more Apaches, but some things caught Finn's eye from time-time like the AC-130 Hercules, the M163 VADS (Vulcan Air Defense Systems), V-22 Osprey, UH-60 Black Hawk and many, many more.
"BM, where did you find time to do all of this?" Finn asked curiously as they walked back to the elevator.
"Simple I've done this a long time now."
"What? You can't can't be that old right?" Finn asked.
"You're right, I just turned forty if you consider that old, but I've built and fixed things since I was fifteen," BM responded.
"Dang, I guess this is really you're passion then?"
"It sure is, and it will be until the day I die." BM simply stated as they got in the elevator.
As the trio was standing quietly in the elevator Finn's mind went back to the contents of the binder and what it meant.
When the elevator doors opened up, they could see from a nearby window that it was pitch black outside.
"Oh man," Finn said as he facepalmed himself. "I have to walk for four hours in complete darkness?"
"Don't be silly Finn. It's way too dangerous to walk at this of night, stay the night in the guestroom" Banana Man said pointing to a nearby door.
"Are you sure?" Finn asked
"Of course, we're neighbors, and neighbors watch each other back. Come on, you can leave tomorrow after breakfast." BM said as he walked them to the guest room
"Alright here's your room" BM opened the door to reveal a king sized with blue and green sheets, a desk of to the side, a TV planted to the wall, and a full-size bathroom. "If you need anything, just call" BM concluded.
"This is more than enough. Thank you" Finn said appreciatively.
"Ok then, goodnight," BM said as he closed the door.
"Goodnight" Finn and BMO said back.