The Low Road

The black Landrover sped along the dark highway, heading south through the Utah countryside. It was late, after midnight, and there was not much other traffic on the road. The driver considered this a blessing, for he was in a hurry, and did not want anything to delay him. This night had been rough enough on him as it was, but he knew he had to keep going. Time waited for no man, after all.

In the Landrover were two people. The driver was Alan Tyler, a 38 year-old English photographer and professional G-chaser. His long brown hair was tied back, he wore a dark coat over a black T-shirt and blue jeans, with black boots. The most unusual things about Alan were his tendency to carry a Desert Eagle pistol and bullwhip, as he was now, and his eyes; golden, reptilian eyes with slits for pupils which most passed off as contact lenses unless they knew otherwise.

He also happened to be a blood relative of the most powerful and dangerous creature on the planet, Godzilla, but that was not something he told people generally.

The man in the passenger seat was Dr. Yuji Shinoda, a Japanese national and a self-proclaimed 'kaiju-ologist'. He had devoted much of his adult life to gathering information on Godzilla and similar monsters, but now often had to rely on G-chasers such as Alan to get the information and pictures he needed. He and Alan more often than not ended up as partners in their respective jobs.

Right now, he was sporting a bloodied, possibly broken nose, amongst other visible injuries, and he sat in the passenger seat, trying to prevent more blood from escaping. He looked a mess.

Not much more than an hour ago, the pair of them had encountered Mitsuo Katagiri, the man responsible for so much calamity in both their lives. A long-time rival of Shinoda, the one who was responsible for Alan's genetic ties to Godzilla, a madman who somehow had become the head of the Crisis Control Intelligence agency and the Japanese Minister of Defence.

At least he had been, for he was now dead. He had killed himself to escape facing justice for his crimes. As well as being wanted for hacking into a number of high-security networks (which he didn't do), he would be wanted for the manslaughter of two federal agents and kidnapping Shinoda (which he definitely did do). He had committed such atrocities in his mad pursuit for truth, and ironically he was closer to it than many other people on this earth probably ever would be.

Alan tried to keep his mind on the road, tried to ignore the words Katagiri had said to him in his madness:

"Still denying what you are, Gojira?"

That was not true, Alan kept telling himself. He was not Godzilla. He cared about Godzilla, but he was not Godzilla. He shook himself, trying to shake those voices out. His eyes narrowed as he did so.

"Don't think about him, Alan," Shinoda said, his voice sounding tired beyond measure. "That phase in our lives is over."

Alan sighed. He knew Shinoda would know what was wrong, for he didn't doubt Shinoda had also been thinking about Katagiri. The man had caused a lot of misery in Shinoda's life, had tried to use him to track down Alan and find the 'facts' he wanted. Shinoda had paid dearly for his lack of co-operation, as could be seen by his current condition.

"Just…" Shinoda said, "Let's just get to Kiryuu's base, so we can pick up Io and go home." Alan, however, felt he couldn't return home, not after all the trouble he had caused to the CCI, even though he had had more than a little help.

Ever since Kiryuu, the original Godzilla reborn as a giant machine, had entered his life, many things had happened to Alan, not many of them pleasant. He had had to pull off a 'shadowrun' into the CCI's base to discover the truth of the experiments performed on him back in 2000, he had been subjected to a number of strange, unpleasant visions, instigated either by Kiryuu or another source (not that it was the first time he had had such visions), and just now he had the misfortune of encountering Katagiri for the first time in several years.

Not that the relationship hadn't had its perks. It was because of Kiryuu that he had finally uncovered the truth behind the 'Monster Zero' cover-up, and spread the information to the world. He'd gotten a glimpse into Kiryuu's base and the sort of life he lead outside of fighting monsters. He had even had a chance to gloat at Kiryuu once, when Kiryuu's actions had attracted Katagiri's attention in the first place.

Kiryuu had even interfered in Shinoda's life a couple of times. Right now, thanks to Shinoda's old relationship with one Katsura Yugami, the chief scientist on the Mechagodzilla project, his daughter Io had been placed under Kiryuu's care, where she was safe from Katagiri. Now that Katagiri was out of their lives, they could go pick up Io and head for home, hopefully put all of this behind them.

At least that was what Shinoda wanted.

The location where Kiryuu was housed was a good distance out in the country, between Provo and Salt Lake City. Much of the journey had continued in silence. It seemed Alan and Shinoda had mutually, silently agreed not to discuss the recent events involving Katagiri and his suicide. Alan's ankle still felt sore from where Katagiri had shot him; the presence of Organiser G-1, the amino acid that gave Godzilla his extraordinary regenerative abilities, in Alan's bloodstream meant that the wound had healed rapidly, but it still felt slightly sore. Bullets were bound to do that.

Presently, the two sped past a remote office building, separated from any other places of civilisation for miles. Alan knew this place, but drove straight on past it. A few miles further on, Shinoda finally spoke up again.

"So," he said, still trying to prevent more nosebleeds, "when will we reach Kiryuu's base anyway? It feels like we've been driving forever."

Alan replied, slowly and deliberately, "We passed it five miles back."

Shinoda's eyes widened in shock.

"But… but…" Shinoda stammered, "What about Io?! What are you playing at, Alan?!"

Alan continued to stare straight ahead, his eyes locked on the road. "It's better she stay with Kiryuu's lot, where nothing can get at her. We've got things we need to do."

"Things to do?" Shinoda repeated, completely baffled. "What are you talking about?!"

"I'm talking about King Ghidorah," Alan said simply. "Monster Zero's real name," he added, figuring Shinoda wouldn't know what Alan was talking about.

King Ghidorah – the focus of the Monster Zero cover up years earlier – had recently become the bane of Alan's existence again, more than Kiryuu or even Katagiri. Alan had never forgotten how that monster had destroyed his home country, and now he knew the dragon was due to return. Worse still, he had an idea as to what new weapon King Ghidorah was going to use.

"He's coming back, you know," Alan said, his voice almost dead of emotion. "He's coming back to finish what he started in England. At some point, he'll arrive in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Kiryuu…"

Alan went silent at this point. He knew Kiryuu was somehow involved in King Ghidorah's plans, not to mention the codes to launch nuclear missiles. What he didn't understand was why King Ghidorah was so interested in that place in-particular. Kiryuu himself had said there was next to nothing there.

Alan knew all this, for in an effort to sever the mental link Alan and Godzilla shared, one of Kiryuu's associates, one Manda, had discovered a vision implanted in Alan's mind by King Ghidorah; a vision of Armageddon, and Knoxville was the staging ground.

Shinoda looked positively alarmed at the news. "But Alan," he said, "What do you plan to do? What do you think you can do?!"

"I don't know, Shinoda," Alan said, "but I plan to find out what King Ghidorah's up to. There's something in Knoxville that he wants, I'm sure of it, and I want to find out what."

"You're insane, Alan…" Shinoda said, shaking his head in disbelief. "It's this kind of attitude that got you into trouble with Kiryuu, not to mention the CCI! Can't you just let it go, let others handle this?!"

Alan gave Shinoda such a savage look, made all the more frightening by his eyes, that Shinoda fell silent.

"No, I won't!" he said, equally savagely. "King Ghidorah destroyed my home, and I don't take that sort of thing lightly! I'm tired of him fucking up my life; I want to fuck up his. As for Kiryuu…" Alan narrowed his eyes, "I'll teach him not to leave me out of these matters."

Shinoda could only shake his head, now clearly frightened by this highly unpleasant side of Alan he was witnessing. Alan was obsessed with Kiryuu and King Ghidorah, and now God alone knew what this obsession of his was driving him to do.

"I can't do it alone though," Alan said, matter-of-factly. "You, Shinoda, must help me."

There was nothing but an uncomfortable silence, as Alan drove on towards the state border, heading in the direction of Tennessee.