Antarctic Twilight
The sun hung low in the sky, turning the clouds a brilliant gold and fiery orange. The icy wind blew the snow across the ice sheets. Shadows of purple cast themselves upon the white desert landscape, frozen completely in Antarctica's perpetual dawn of Spring. The building fire in the sky turned the snow a shade of vermillion and russet. Soon, the Spring Dawn will give way to Summer Day. In the sky, streaks of green, blue and yellow cut through the fire and sang softly to the waning night. The Pegasus Arm of the Milky Way sparkled like a diamond band above and the Megellonic Clouds looked like little glittery broaches dangling from the belt.
The Utah Foundation Antarctic base was a set of square, concrete and glass, unappealing buildings built up from the ice sheets. Outside it was cold, but inside it was comfortably warm. The buildings circled a pit cut into the ice where a row of bony, jagged spines covered in ice cycles stuck out from the glacier. Soldiers dressed in white fatigue walked around with assault rifles and battle rifles.
Inside the larger building, the commander of the base looked over the pit, which housed a monster that has been in slumber for 545 years. Kiryuu Knight placed this monster there and it was kept secret from the governments of Earth. Kiryuu wanted to make sure that this monster did not rise up and attack the cities. At the same time though he could have easily just killed this monster to prevent any further attacks, but he spared it. Why? To put it simply it was because Kiryuu believed that this monster was his son. This monster is Godzilla, the second one. Kiryuu was the first—or rather created from the first. The commander was not sure what to believe in whether or not Kiryuu was the first Godzilla reborn as a machine because of the bones that make up his skeletal frame. Many of the guards and workers did not believe this, many of them did. However, Kiryuu was the person who signed their paychecks and as long as he kept the money coming, the commander was all too happy to watch over his 'son' in this frozen wasteland. Kiryuu was a handsomely generous employer. He made sure that no one had any grievances for working in one of the coldest places on Earth.
"Commander Haddock," said a voice behind her.
Haddock turned around: "Yes, Quincy."
"The sensors are picking up some movements around Sector 2," Quincy replied.
"Tell the guards to inspect that area," she said.
"Yes, ma'am. All security personnel near Sector 2, there's some movement detected in that area. Check it out."
"Yes, ma'am!" said the voices over the COM channel.
Out on the ice, the soldiers moved into position where the sensors picked up the strange movements. Their huskies became restless, picking up a strange scent in the air. One of the guard dogs growled furiously, its lip trembled across its sharp teeth. It hunched its back and its bushy tail lowered.
"He's got the scent," whispered a guard.
"Set them loose," said the other guard. "Let their noses be their guide."
The dogs became unleashed and they rushed forward, barking as they followed the strange scent over the ice. Whatever it was that kept itself veiled in invisibility was not prepared to deal with guard dogs hot on its scent. Then, something fired at them. Blue-white bolts of energy sprayed upon the dogs and they scattered, yelping as the bolts singed their fur.
"There!" called one of the guards. "Fire over there!"
They braced themselves and fired toward where the blue white plasma spray was coming from. Their bullets pelted a surface and shadowy figures suddenly came into view. The bullets impacted the shielding which protected the offenders, causing them to fluctuate in blue.
"The Covenant is here!" one of the guards shouted.
The intruders' invisibility finally failed and their forms were revealed. These intruders were Elites, but they did not act like the Elites that the guards heard from the newsfeeds. There were two gold armor Elites among the others. One of the gold armor Elites barked to the other gold armored Elite and the lance retreated.
"After them!" a guard shouted.
The Elites leapt over the side of the cliff leading down to the pit, which housed the monster. They slid down the slippery slope of the ice. They swiftly ran up the back of the monster and weaved between the tall spines. One of the guards raised his gun and prepared to fire on the Elites. His commanding officer put his hand on the gun.
"No," he said. "No. I don't want to risk freeing the monster."
"Yes, sir," said the soldier.
"Commander Haddock," began the officer. "We're being attacked by a lance of Covenant Elites."
"Covenant?" asked Haddock. "Follow them. If you can capture them, demand about their purpose here."
"Yes, ma'am," he said.
Their eyes followed where the Elites were heading. The officer noticed that the Elites were already starting to climb out of the pit.
"Sector 8, the Elites are heading your way," said the officer. "Cut them off."
"No problem," replied the leader of Sector 8.
0
"Dovi," said Shipmaster Cujo as they climbed up the ice. "Did you see what was in the ice?"
"Yeah," said Dovi. "I did. What was that creature? It looked as big as Kiryuu Knight."
"It has spines like Kiryuu Knight," said Cujo. "We climbed around them."
"What is it, Excellency?" asked one of Spec-Ops Officers behind Cujo.
"Looks like another Kiryuu," said Dovi.
"No, that's not another Kiryuu," said Cujo.
As they finally came to the top, Cujo reached out and pulled himself from the ice. He leaned down and helped Dovi up onto the ledge. One by one, the Sangheili warriors came up onto the edge of the icy pit. Cujo turned around and studied the creature buried in the pit. He pulled out a drone from a pouch in his armor and let it fly, taking pictures of the pit.
"If it isn't Kiryuu's clone, then what is it?" asked Dovi.
"Godzilla," said Cujo, his mind finally coming upon the answer. "The second one."
"Godzilla?" asked Dovi. "The creature that was mutated back in the late 20th Century?"
"The creature which gave the humans a reason to build Kiryuu," said Cujo. He turned to the confused expression of the Zealot Field Master. "Realizing that Kiryuu is a sentient construct, he was built for a reason. That was the reason."
"Didn't Telek say that Kiryuu destroyed the monster?" Dovi asked.
"Is it dead?" asked Cujo. "Isn't it dead? Why would Kiryuu go through all of this secrecy for a dead carcass?"
Cujo's HUD flashed with the movement of the guards coming near them. He raised his plasma rifle up. Dovi put away his rifle and ignited his plasma sword.
"Dovi," said Cujo. "We don't want to kill them."
"Slicing their arms off wouldn't be killing them," said Dovi.
The mix batch of regular and Spec-Ops Sangheili readied their weapons as the human guards approached them.
"Freeze!" said a voice as the guards rushed them. "Lower your weapons!"
Cujo barked and the Sangheili sprayed their plasma upon the guards. Dovi almost seemed to wink out of sight as he rushed the guards. With a swing and a blue flash, he sliced his way through them, their weapons pealing away and falling to the ground. He had cut the rifles in half. Cujo had to admit; Dovi was just as skilled with the sword as Telek—a true testament to the power of a Zealot. Dovi leapt unnaturally high into the air towards the remaining guards. The bullets did little damage to his nearly impervious shields. As he came down, he swung, slicing the barrels of their rifles. This was an unorthodox tactic for any Sangheili Zealot to disarm his opponent instead of killing them on sight. Though, Dovi made a promise to Telek that because the humans were now their allies, they could not kill them. Then, the Sangheili bolted off towards one of the warehouses near the pit.
"The things I do for Telek," said Cujo.
"Why are we heading over there?" Dovi asked.
"To get some interesting pictures," said Cujo. "I've already gotten some from the pit. Let's see what else our dear Mr. President is hiding."
As they came up to the door, Cujo tried to pull it open, only to find it locked.
"Wonderful," he said with a grunt.
One of the Spec-Ops Sanghieli glanced behind him: "We better do something. The guards are coming."
"I got it," said Dovi. He pressed a button on his sword emitter and the sword began to glow brighter than normal. He jabbed the blade into the steel door and pulled it around, cutting an opening through the metal. Then, he pulled away as the steel slab fell with a clang onto the floor of the warehouse.
"I wish I was allowed to carry a sword," said Cujo, regretting the fact that he was not born into the Sangheili Aristocracy like Telek and Dovi were. "Glad I brought you along, lock-picker."
Dovi grinned.
"Okay, inside," said Cujo. "Let's go, move it!"
He stepped aside as the other warriors ran into the hole in the door. Cujo followed and paused, hearing something scrape across the floor. He saw Dovi along with a few other warriors push a crate over the hole.
"That should stall them for the moment," said Dovi. "Long enough for us to do what we need to do and leave."
"The Phantom is on stand-by, sir," said a black-armored Spec Ops warrior.
"Okay," said Cujo as he let loose the drone. "Alright, my little shutter bug, do your thing."
The drone began to fly around, flashing a light as it took its pictures. Dovi walked around, looking around the warehouse. There, in the warehouse, amid the crates was a cryo-tube attached to the wall. It was operational.
"Cujo!" he said. "Come here! Look at this!"
Cujo trotted over and paused when he saw the tube. He slowly walked towards it and wiped the glass with a glove. The glass on the tube was frozen over. He could see the faint outlines of something inside the tube.
"One of their cryonic chambers," said Cujo. "Used to help the humans endure slip-space transit. Why the hell is one in Antarctica?"
"A frozen dead monster," said Dovi. "And now something else frozen. It's like Kiryuu's running a meat locker or something…"
"No kidding," said Cujo. He glanced over and found a control pad with numbers in red slowly counting down. That was when he realized that those numbers would reach zero in just a few seconds. He stepped back the moment they did and the top of the cryo-tube opened up. Mist heavily flowed out from the tube and blanketed the concrete floor. A naked form slowly rose up from the tube. Cujo and Dovi's eyes were wide when they saw whatever it was that came from the tube. Its body was shaped like a human, in a way, but at the same time, it was not human. There were gray, pebbly scales covering its body. Its hands tipped with sharp talons. Its face was a twisted mixture of reptile and human. It had shoulder length, straight, ashy brown hair.
"Oh, Telek's gonna love this…" Cujo said in hushed tones. "Kiryuu's a fucking mad scientist!"
The thing coughed for a moment, taking its first breath in a long time. Golden, cat-like eyes opened up and turned towards the Sangheili warriors. The creature's lips parted, revealing a set of sharp teeth inside. Its expression was that of shock.
"Do we shoot it?" one of the warriors whispered to Dovi.
Cujo glanced up at the drone and motioned it to fly over the strange creature. The moment it did, it started taking pictures, lighting its flash at each snapshot. The creature covered its eyes and grunted.
"Hey," it said in what sounded like a male British accent. "What the bloody hell?!"
"It knows English?" asked Dovi.
"Of course I know English," the creature said. "I'm British, you asshole! Now tell whatever the fuck that is to stop it!"
Cujo clapped his gloved hands and the drone ceased its photographing. As the creature rose up, Cujo could clearly tell it was indeed a male. He even had a long tail to go with those scales and clawed feet and hands. Cujo finally deduced that this—whatever it was—looked like a perverted cross between Kiryuu and a human or perhaps Godzilla and a human. As the creature stepped out of the tube, it shook slightly, coming to its feet for the first time in ages.
"Who the fuck are you?" the creature asked. "What the fuck are you? Some sort of new Mana mutation?"
"Mana mutation?" asked Dovi.
"Magic," said Cujo. "The strange energy that covers this planet seems to mutate some creatures." He directed his voice to the creature. "I was about to ask you the same thing. What are you?"
"An experiment gone wrong, split face," said a feminine voice from behind Cujo. He picked up the sounds of rifles loading up. Turning around, Cujo came face to face with a human female armed with an assault rifle and several other guards behind her, their weapons trained upon the Sangheili. Cujo curled his lips across his shark-like teeth.
"Don't even try it, Covenant bastard," she said. "And drop your weapons."
"We're not Covenant," said Cujo. "I am Shipmaster Cujo 'Mentatalee of the renegade Reverence-Class battle cruiser Divine Journey second in command of Telek 'Herosee's fleet. You can call up Admiral Hood and ask him about us."
"We have no affiliation with the United Nations Space Command, Shipmaster," said the female. She turned to the creature. "Mr. Alan Tyler. Good to see you up and well. We should get you some clothes."
"Who the fuck are you and what the fuck is going on here?" the creature named Alan Tyler demanded.
"I am Rosa Haddock," she replied. "Commander Haddock of the Utah-Foundation Antarctic Base."
"Antarctic Base?" asked Alan. "Kiryuu's Antarctic Base? He moved me down here? I thought it felt a little cold."
"He wanted to make sure your recovery was—undisturbed," said Haddock.
"It was disturbed," said Alan. "By those creatures."
"Actually," said Haddock. "The timer just went off. You were supposed to wake up now. We were about to come down to greet you as you awoke but these squid heads deterred us." She turned to Cujo. "Alright, move it."
One of the guards got out a blanket and wrapped Alan up in it and led him along with Cujo and the other Sangheili outside and towards the command center. Cujo noticed that Alan glanced over at the pit seeing the still frozen form of Godzilla.
"I see this hasn't change much," he said. "Is he still asleep?"
"Very much so," said Haddock.
"You mean that thing is still alive?" asked Cujo in horror.
"Why would Kiryuu kill his own son?" asked Alan.
"Son?" asked Dovi.
"So, those rumors Telek heard about were true," said Cujo, whispering to Dovi. "Kiryuu was the first Godzilla, and that monster down in the pit is in fact his son."
"Where is Kiryuu?" asked Alan.
"On his way, actually," said Haddock.
"The President is coming here?" asked Cujo. "Oh, wonderful."
"President?" Alan asked. "You mean former-President."
"Former?" asked Cujo. "Uh, no, he's the President…current President."
"How the hell can that be?" asked Alan. "His term with the UCAS ended in 2064."
"2064?" asked Dovi.
"2064!" Cujo laughed. "That was 488 years ago."
"What did you say?" asked Alan.
"The year according to Earth calendars is November 3, 2552," said Cujo. "How long were you put in cold storage?"
"Since the late 21st Century," said Haddock.
"That's a long time to freeze," said Cujo. "Kiryuu Knight is the Commander in Chief of the United Nations Space Command and well…subsequently also at times termed as the President of Earth."
They came inside the command center and entered the control room. One of the guards got Alan a set of clothes, tearing the back end of the pants to fit his tail through. The guards kept their weapons trained on the captured Sangheili. Haddock turned to the huge window seeing a Longsword land on the landing pad near the pit.
"He's here," she said as she looked back at Cujo. "You are in trouble."
"Who's here?" asked Dovi.
"Who do you think?" Haddock asked.
"Kiryuu is here?" asked Alan. "Already?"
No sooner than he said that, Kiryuu Knight came walking in followed by several Secret Service personnel. Kiryuu was dressed in a black commando sweater with a pair of urban camouflage military trousers. His feet were covered in large boots and his metallic claws were gloved in durable canvass and leather. The only parts that were exposed were his armored, long tail, the armor covered spines, which came through the specially tailored sweater and trousers. He had a black utility belt around his waist complete with ammo pouches and a pistol holstered at his side, another thing which confused Alan. Kiryuu never had to carry a weapon before because he was a weapon himself.
On his sweater was a patch of the insignia of the United Nations Space Command and the flag patch of the United Canadian-American States—the country in which he clamed his ethnic citizenship from. The flag still had 13 red and white stripes, which represented the 13 original colonies, but on the blue field were not white stars. Instead there were a mixture of white stars and white maple leaves. The maple leaves represented the Canadian provinces that unionized with the old United States to help strengthen the war-torn country and the white stars represented the States that stayed. There were also spots empty along the rows representing the messing States that defected over 400 years ago during the beginning of the Sixth World.
Alan noticed just how different Kiryuu looked. For the moment, he thought he was looking at a hologram. Though, he seemed to recall that as a hologram, Kiryuu did not cast a shadow. There was indeed a shadow being cast on the floor below Kiryuu. Kiryuu himself looked older, various worry wrinkles lined his face. Though, there was no doubt that despite his elder look, he was probably as youthfully powerful as he was during the early 21st Century. Still, Kiryuu's attire struck Alan oddly. He never recalled the biomecha ever wearing any sort of uniform when he held the Office of President during the 21st Century. This new style suggested that Kiryuu seemed more militaristic now than he ever was then. Kiryuu back then, distrusted the military for various…yet obvious reasons. Now, he seemed to be like them.
"What are you doing here?" Kiryuu demanded in a strong and gruff tone, looking over at Cujo. His brow came down and his golden eyes flashed with fury.
Cujo crossed his arms defiantly.
"Answer me, Shipmaster!" Kiryuu continued. "What are you doing here?"
"I took a wrong turn at Albuquerque," said Cujo.
"I'm not being funny. What is the meaning of this? Why are you here? Do you know what the penalty is for breaking into a top secret military base?"
"Apparently, this base isn't one of the UNSC," said Cujo. "It belongs to your company, Mr. Knight."
"Yes, it does," said Kiryuu. "And I should have Mr. Walker charge you for trespassing on Utah Foundation property!"
"But Mr. Walker didn't come here, you did," said Cujo. "Because I discovered your little secret. What would the UNSC say if they found out you didn't kill Godzilla? These guys don't seem to really answer to the Utah Foundation implicitly, they answer strictly to you. Wouldn't that be a problem if Lord Hood found out?"
"Cujo," began Kiryuu. "It is imperative that this base be kept a secret. I've managed to keep a satellite blackout on this whole area and anyone who reports this base existence is illuminated. Do you have any idea the damage you could have done if that monster were to be freed?"
Monster? Thought Alan. That doesn't sound like Kiryuu.
"Don't beat around the bush, Mechagodzilla," said Cujo. "I know that monster is your kid. That's why you're protecting this base."
"Those Marines up there fighting the Covenant aren't the only ones who are trying to protect their loved ones," said Kiryuu. "So am I. But I'm not just protecting him from the Covenant; I'm protecting him from the UNSC as well. You don't understand what Humans would do to him—what they've done to me."
"So, what are you going to do to me?" Cujo asked. "Have me killed? Do you really want that to happen? Telek would shoot you!"
"Why should I have your blood on my hands?" Kiryuu asked dismissively.
That's the Kiryuu I know, thought Alan. The manipulative bastard…that's him.
I'll deal with you in a moment, grandson, Kiryuu projected into Alan's mind. Alan's lip curled in a sneer. He always hated it when Kiryuu referred to him as "grandson."
"Oh, don't give me that garbage!" Cujo said. "Do you really want to anger someone who's helped glass 76 of your worlds?"
"I suppose at this time you have diplomatic immunity," Kiryuu said. "Very well. But I do insist upon the upmost secrecy regarding this base. Not a word. Now, why are you here? Don't tell me. Did Telek put you up to this?"
"You know I can't hide that from you," said Cujo. "You're probably poking around in my head right now, finding the answers. So, why ask a question when you already are able to answer it?"
"Because I want to hear it from you," said Kiryuu. "Did Telek put you up to this intrusion?"
"Yes, he did," said the Shipmaster.
"Why?" Kiryuu asked. "Why betray my trust like this?"
"Because he doesn't trust you. He never did."
"I trusted him," Kiryuu said. "I gave him a high clearance in ONI, anything he needed."
"Out of necessity," said Cujo. "Because you needed him. The only thing is though…what would you do once Telek's worn out his usefulness? He is, after all, a war criminal to you."
"You…he thinks that I would turn on him?" Kiryuu asked. "By the time this war is finally over, I will have no power or say on what happens to Telek. My term is over in January. I'm through, finished. Once it's over, I have no control over High Command. So, your action to blackmail me in order to protect Telek's freedom was futile. If this war continues on beyond my term's end, it would be the decision of the next President that will seal Telek's—and your fate with the UNSC. You forget, you too are a war criminal as well among us. I'm offering you sanctuary to protect you from the Covenant who would execute you for treason. And at the same time, I get your services. So, it is both out of necessity for us to be working together."
Kiryuu turned away and looked out the window to the pit that housed his sleeping son.
"But I cannot allow this intrusion to go unpunished," he said. Kiryuu pushed a metallic green, fleshy lock from his face. "There is a story among Earth folk legends of Heracles being punished by Hera. His punishment was to travel around performing 12 tasks. Each one of those tasks was much harder and more life threatening than the last. His final task was to kill the Great Hydra. We now know that the Hydra of the old Greek legends was in fact King Ghidorah—Harodihg to your people."
"The hell?" Cujo asked. "I'm not gonna go out and kill some three headed space monster that you already killed."
"King Ghidorah is not dead," said Kiryuu. "But enough of that. Don't worry, I won't let you go after King Ghidorah…well…not presumably."
"You are going to make me go after King Ghidorah," Cujo said. "Hell no!"
Kiryuu turned around and chuckled darkly: "There is a city located in the United Canadian-American States. This city is called Chicago, Illinois. My satellites have picked up a strange energy coming from that city. I believe it is a device that I had lost over 400 years ago. I want you to go in and get it for me."
"Okay, fine," said Cujo. "Sounds easy enough."
"No it isn't, mate," Alan laughed, realizing where Kiryuu was about to send Cujo. "Don't you know anything? Chicago is a containment zone, an abandoned city that's been filled with giant insects called the Invae."
"Giant bugs?" Cujo asked.
"Giant bugs," said Kiryuu. "The reason why it is a containment zone was because I and a few other Technomancers in 2055 sealed the city in a shield which keeps the city slightly out of phase with this dimension, thus protecting us from them. However, this plan was not foolproof. Sometimes, a few of the Invae will escape the shield around the city to infect other locations. We've had to bombard the area with nuclear explosions to keep the chances of anymore of the escaping slim."
"And you want me to go inside and get something that's trapped in there?" asked Cujo. "Why the fuck didn't you go get? Why wait until now?"
"Because it wasn't until a few days ago that the object had returned," said Kiryuu.
"What is this object?" asked Dovi.
"Something that disappeared in 2057," said Kiryuu. "It's blue and it's shaped like a heart. It's a crystal."
"And what does this crystal hold for you?" Cujo asked.
"Sentimental value," replied Kiryuu. "And that is all you need to know. Do this for me and I will forget this incident."
"Appears I have no choice," Cujo said in a sigh.
Kiryuu turned to Alan: "I see that the cryo-sleep did in fact work."
"Don't expect me to thank you for it," Alan said with a snort.
"Your mutation has changed you," he said. "But G-1 will not affect you anymore than giving you my kind's regenerative abilities. You shall feel at ease to know your mind will not become primitive, Alan, nor will you loose yourself to the demon inside of you."
"Good," said Alan. "Now what the hell is going on here? Who are these creatures? And why are you dressed like that?"
"You've been asleep since the late 21st Century, Alan," said Kiryuu. "Much has changed since then. In the 2100s, Earth began to expand to the stars. There were wars, some big, some small. But one war placed a ban on Technomancy and Magic. Only certain abilities can be used such as my Mass Displacement. Then, about 30 years ago, an alien ship attacked one of our cargo ships leaving the agricultural world known as Harvest. This ship belonged to the Covenant. Then, later on, we lost contact with Harvest. A battle group of ships was sent out to investigate why there was no longer any communications from the planet. They were destroyed by the Covenant. The Covenant left a message…"
"Your destruction is the will of the Gods and we are their instruments," said Cujo, interrupting Kiryuu's tale.
"Cujo and those with him are one of the species that make up the Covenant," said Kiryuu. "They are called Sangheili. There are other species, Unggoy, Mgalekgolo, Jiralhanae, San 'Shyuum…all who want the whole species of Humanity dead."
"Why?" Alan asked. He turned to Cujo. "Why?"
"I don't know," Cujo replied. "None of us do. Only the Prophets know."
"Harvest was devastated," said Kiryuu. "Glassed except for the polar regions. We began to realize that the Covenant happened upon Harvest by chance and apparently believed that the planet belonged to them because of the strange artifacts found there. Those artifacts mirrored the structures found on the ruined island of Atlantis."
"Atlantean structures on another world?" Alan asked. "Does Manda know about this?"
"This information is classified," said Kiryuu. "I only knew about it when I became President."
"You didn't hack and find out yourself?" Alan asked, completely taken back by the idea that Kiryuu for once did not sneak his way through the Matrix to figure it out himself.
"I was busy," said Kiryuu. "My company the Utah Foundation was hired by the UNSC to help in a project called the Spartan program. All biosyntech that I created was to be augmented into candidates for this program to create super soldiers. All of their muscle and nervous systems and some of their organs have been replaced with biosyntech. The war kept me to my work. I didn't have time to go feeding myself into military grids to find out what the hell was going on. When I heard that the Covenant wanted to do nothing more than to dig our graves, I kept my focus on what I could do to help the UNSC in protecting Earth and her colonies."
Alan sank back, sitting down. This was indeed a different Kiryuu than what he was used to. Though, there was still a little of that manipulative monstrosity that he knew and could care less about. But apparently, this war even straightened Kiryuu's kinks out. Alan could see a determined gleam in the biomecha's eyes when he told his story. That determination was not focused entirely upon him anymore, but upon everyone else.
"So, if these…Spaghetti…" said Alan.
"Sangheili," corrected Cujo. "Oh, hell, just call us Elites. All the other Humans do."
"If these Elites…" he said. "Are with these badassed aliens who want to blow us all to Kingdom Come, then why are they here?"
"We're defectors," said Cujo. "I'm with a group of Sangheili who do not agree with the Prophet's ruling about Humanity. So, we defected and decided to help the Humans get an edge up in the war by giving them ships and weapons of Covenant make and help them understand the technology that the Covenant use as well as battle tactics."
Kiryuu took a note that Cujo left out a part in that tale. Cujo did not mention Halo.
"Okay," said Cujo. "Now explain about him, Kiryuu! He looks like a human version of you."
"In the early 2000's," began Kiryuu. "Japan was trying to create…in a way a sort of super soldier of their own. These candidates were infused with cells from Godzilla and mutated. Many of them were failed projects and those that survived became insane later on. Alan was the only—successful test subject. However, the mutation would eventually over come him. And so, I stepped up and placed him into cryogenic sleep until the mutation settled in his system. I did not anticipate that it would take this long for the Regenerator G-1 to settle, however, I'm glad that it did so that there would be no side effects."
"Well, now that we've explained each other," began Alan. "If you don't mind, dear Grandfather…I'd like to pick up where I left off. So, just give me some supplies and I'll be on my way."
Kiryuu shook his head: "You can't expect me to just give you something without getting something in return. I'm not Santa Claus."
"Oh, fuck it…" Alan said. "Then I'll just go on my merry way without your help!"
As Alan stood to get up, Kiryuu gave a nod to his guards. They positioned themselves between Alan and the door.
"Trust me," said Alan. "I can rip through you lot like tissue paper. Now, out of my way before you regret it."
Kiryuu raised his gloved hand up and Alan slowly began to rise from the floor. Then, with a push of the mecha's hand, sending a ripple through the air, Alan was flung back against the wall. Blue energy wrapped itself around Alan, pinning him to the ground. Alan looked up and saw that the energy was coming from Kiryuu's feet.
"Since when did you become telekinetic, Kiryuu?" Alan asked, struggling against Kiryuu's mental bonds.
"I've had over 400 years to practice different arts," said Kiryuu. He waved his hand and Alan lifted up to the ceiling. Kiryuu effortlessly held him there. "488 years has gone by since I put you into that cryo-stasis tube, Alan. So, therefore, you owe me some back payment on the rent."
"Bugger off, gramps!" Alan shouted, continuing to struggle against Kiryuu's powers. "I owe you nothing!"
"If I didn't step in and help you, you would have been killed just like your partner Tetsuo," said Kiryuu. "So, I beg to differ on what is owed."
With that, Kiryuu released Alan from the ceiling. The mutant dropped to the floor face down. He groaned for a moment as he moved around on the floor, slowly rising, some of his brown locks falling into his eyes.
"Alright, what do you want me to do?" he asked.
"Go with Shipmaster Cujo 'Mentatalee," said Kiryuu. "Since you have seen what the Invae can do, you have more knowledge on them than he does."
"No," said Alan in defiance. "Absolutely not! I'm not going into Bug City with a bunch of big, ugly, Predator-headed aliens!"
"Predator?" Cujo asked. "This guy thinks we look like something Arnold Schwarzenegger would fight?"
Dovi shrugged.
"Alright, then provide me with 20.3 trillion dollars for keeping your stasis tube active and in working order," said Kiryuu. "Because that's how much the rent cost."
"Fuck you!" Alan shouted. "If I knew I had to owe you anything, Kiryuu, I would have said 'no' when you said you could help!"
Kiryuu waved his hand again and Alan once more flew up to the ceiling.
"Don't try my patience, boy," Kiryuu said, a growl rumbled through his lips. "I've got a war to fight and a planet to defend. I could just draft you into the UNSC instead and send you out to fight the Covenant."
"Alright!" Alan said. "Alright. I'll go with Cujo."
Kiryuu dropped him again: "Glad you see it my way." He paused for a moment, hearing a voice through the comlink from the Longsword. "Well, I must be off. Lord Hood has ordered that the Secretary-General and I be sent to Io for our safety. The Covenant may very well return soon. Cujo, go to the Quito Space Tether located in San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador. There, you will meet someone who can supply you with a way to get inside the shield around the Chicago Containment Center as well as any specialized weapon that can be used against the Invae."
"Okay," said Cujo.
"Alan, of course accompany him," said Kiryuu.
"Yes…Grandfather…" Alan said in disgust.
Kiryuu turned on his heels and walked out, followed by the Secret Service guards around him. Cujo looked back at Alan and motioned him to follow him as he walked behind the guards. Dovi walked behind Alan along with his Sangheili warriors. As they reached outside, Cujo ordered his ship to de-cloak and lower its gravity lift down. Alan glanced up and just stared, impressed by the shear size of the ship as its shape filled the perpetual sunrise-colored sky. Kiryuu got into the back of the Longsword.
"I wish you good luck. And don't take too long, Cujo. I need you up there among the other ships keeping an eye out for possible Covenant war ships returning."
"I won't," said Cujo. "I just hope I live through this."
"You are Sangheili," said Kiryuu. "Your people are capable of remarkable things."
"Thanks," said Cujo.
Kiryuu dipped his head and the hatch closed. Soon, the starfighter took off, banking up and arching for the sky.
"Well," said Cujo. "Up to the ship."
"How do we get up there?" asked Alan. "Fly?"
"In a way," said Cujo as he stepped into the purple, shimmering curtain of the gravity lift. Then, he kicked off and shot straight up into the bowels of the ship. Dovi grabbed Alan by the arm and ushered him to the gravity lift. The Sangheili Zealot kicked up into the air and shot up into the ship, his warriors behind him. Then, the ship disengaged its gravity lift and slowly broke for the stars.