Nick and the other members of HEAT stood on the bridge of the HEAT Seeker as Monique steered the ship towards the massive, luminous portal. Following behind them were three frigates specially fitted with weapons designed to neutralize the escaped monsters. Each was equipped with a three pronged harpoon gun that shoot electrified spears, a sonic cannon designed to send out noise at a disorienting frequency and an infrared imaging device. Together, they towed two massive pontoons designed to restrain and transport any monsters they captured. And behind them, Godzilla lurked in silence, its head barely breaking through the water's surface while it followed the ships.
As the portal drew closer, Mendel looked towards everyone with a worried expression.
"Are we sure this is safe?" he asked.
"Come on, you heard Hicks. Those guys went through and back no problem. Besides, we've got the G-man backing us up, those monsters don't stand a chance," Randy reassured while patting him on the shoulder.
"Yeah but that was one test, we don't know if there are any docks or even land nearby! Maybe the portal will dump us somewhere different or…" Mendel nervously rattled off a list of other possibilities.
"Aww come on Mendel, where's your sense of adventure? Who knows, maybe we'll find some hot alien babes on the other side," Randy joked.
"Yeah but…" Mendel started.
"Well it's either go through a strange portal or wait on an island full of dangerous monsters," Elsie pointed out.
"Fine," Mendel said with a sigh.
And soon enough, the ships reached the colossal glowing white portal and began pushing through it.
"Here we go," Monique said stoically as they moved forward.
The ships and their follower passed through the gate with little more than an odd sensation rushing down the crews' spines. However, once inside the ships found themselves in a long tunnel with their world behind them and the new one ahead of them while their ships drifted along as if they were floating through space. This "tunnel" was surrounded by immense conglomerations of glowing spheres comprised of various bright and wild colors constantly shifting across their surface while the orbs themselves warped and flew about.
While the ships drifted silently towards their destination, the crew of the HEAT Seeker couldn't help, but stare at the immense scene surrounding them. None of them spoke a word as the creeping sensation that these shifting orbs were somehow watching them, as if a billion eyes were passively watching them move through the void. This was followed by a sensation of smallness, that whatever was watching them was so immense that to it, they were nothing more than ants crossing over it.
After an eternity of crossing this plane, the group of ships soon found itself in the middle of a vast ocean with the opposing end of the glowing portal just behind them.
"What…what was that?" Elsie stuttered.
"I have no idea…" Mendel said as he quickly looked back at the portal.
"It looked like...it was…it reminds me of…" Randy fished for someway to describe what they had seen but he drew a complete blank.
"We'll worry about…that later… but for now we should focus on finding those monsters," Nick said while everyone nodded.
A moment later, the gargantuan reptilian beast known as Godzilla emerged from the depths and broke through the ocean's surface, before letting out a roar. The soldiers on the frigates were all taken aback by the creature's sudden appearance and wasted no time rushing to the harpoon guns. Nick noticed the soldiers taking up arms and quickly rushed back to the bridge and turned on the intercom.
"Stop! Don't shoot! He's with us!" he shouted as Godzilla turned to the HEAT Seeker upon hearing the familiar voice.
The soldiers stopped what they were doing and backed away from their weapons, though some looked slightly confused while others didn't know how else to respond.
"What the hell is that monster doing here?" a soldier spoke up in reply.
"He's here to help us recapture the monsters and the reason Hicks brought us in," Nick explained with a hint of frustration.
"And how do you plan on keeping him under control?" he countered.
"He… listens to me and as long as you don't shoot at him, he won't bother you," Nick replied sternly.
"This is nuts but…fine…how do you plan on finding these monsters?" He wondered.
"Just follow my lead," Nick said before heading back out onto the deck.
"Mendel, do you have the tracking device?" Nick asked.
"Yes but do we really have to shove it in a fish?" Mendel asked as he surrendered the small, disc shaped objected covered in wires and circuits.
"It's either that or try to put it somewhere where it won't get knocked off," Nick pointed out.
"Fair enough," Mendel said with a sigh.
Nick rushed back below the deck of the ship and took out a fresh fish from a small fridge before stuffing the device into its mouth and returning.
"Godzilla!" Nick shouted after he returned, Godzilla moved closer to the HEAT Seeker before, sniffing the air for the fish, which Nick then threw at him. The massive reptile quickly snapped up before watching to see what he would do next.
"You know what to do Dr. Kraven," Nick said as he headed back to the bridge while Mendel went below deck and back to NIGEL.
Nick turned on the intercom once more.
"Godzilla!" Godzilla looked at the speakers "Go, find land. Find land," Nick ordered before Godzilla dived back beneath the waves, leaving behind a large splash and a small wave, which rocked the nearby boats.
"Yo, why do you think those guys were so eager to shoot the G-man? Did Hicks forget to give them the memo?" Randy wondered, his voice heavy with indignation.
"They're probably on edge, after all that happened back there, would you be able to stay calm when another one came around?" Elsie said.
"Yeah, but I mean come on, he's the one that put those monsters there! Why not give him a little credit, you know?" Randy replied with a shrug.
"It's not like they don't have a reason to be afraid of him," Monique interjected before heading back to the bridge.
Meanwhile, Nick headed below deck to find Mendel typing on his pocket computer.
"Is it working?" Nick asked.
"Yeah, I've got a lock on him, although there's a bit of interference that I can't quite trace the source of. Maybe it's a sun spot or something," Mendel replied.
"Do you at least know which way he's going?" Nick wondered.
"Yes, he seems to be heading west," Mendel stated bluntly.
"Hardware, aisle twelve. Shop smart: shop S-Mart!" NIGEL blurted out followed by a few clicks.
Mendel sighed as Nick headed back up to the bridge where Monique was already at the helm ready to go. Nick picked up the mic and turned on the intercom once more.
"Everyone, we're heading west and be careful, your instruments may experience some interference" he announced and in response, Monique nodded and began turning the HEAT Seeker while the other ships followed suit.
Asuka smiled as she felt the gentle vibrations of Unit-02 being launched towards the surface. She gripped the controls tightly while she watched for the first rays of sunlight. "Time to prove once again why I'm the best," she thought, her heart racing with anticipation.
Finally, Unit-02 reached the surface and Asuka powered it forward, the red behemoth dashing towards its intended target near the coast.
"Remember Asuka, try to subdue it and bring it in alive," the communication screen came on allowing Ritsuko's to come into view.
"Yeah, yeah, I heard ya the first time," she could feel the ground shake from Unit-02's giant feet. "I bet I'll get before Shinji gets that bat thing," Asuka chuckled, her target soon coming within sight.
The yellow creature still stood near the shore, smashing warehouses and fish markets before searching the ruins and letting out its unearthly roar when it could not find what it was searching for. The creature was beginning to move inland when it saw the red giant bolting towards it. It let out another roar, before shooting a ball of thick black goo out of its mouth, striking Unit-02 in the shoulder. Asuka stopped Unit-02 just a short distance from the monster as she examined the substance.
"Eww! What is this stuff?" she cringed, while trying to shake it off, only to find it was sticking to the EVA's hand and stretching against it.
The creature upchucked another ball of black goo in an attempt to immobilize the suit, but this time Asuka ducked, causing the black goo sailing over her unit before she charged forward. Unit-02 managed to rip its hand away from the goo just as it tackled the monster and pinned it to the ground by both of its legs.
"Got you, you stupid squid!" she declared while the creature writhed and roared beneath her.
However, the yellow creature threw up another ball of goo, which struck Unit-02 in the face. Instinctively, Asuka moved one of her unit's arms to get it off. "Ugh I can't see!" only for the EVA's hand became stuck to its face. The creature didn't waste any time using its freed leg to smack Unit-02 in the head and force it off.
The creature roared once more while it and Unit-02 stood up once more however it quickly slammed Unit-02 into the ocean before diving in after it.
"Damnit! Why won't this stuff come off?!" she shouted while her other hand blindly groped for her progressive knife.
However, before she could reach it, her EVA's arms were restrained by the creature's tentacles while two more tentacles wrapped around her EVA's throat. Asuka screamed while the tentacles pulled on her EVA's arms and strangled her, the full pain resonating through her as she gasped for air while her arms felt as though they were being torn from their sockets.
Misato, Ritsuko and the staff of NERV could only watch the empty shore shown on the screen as Misato attempted to contact Unit-02.
"Asuka! Asuka!" she only received static "Damnit!" she yelled.
"Unit-02 is suffering minor structural damage however the pilot's breathing and heart rate is rapidly increasing," Maya called out.
Misato quickly redirected communications to Unit-01 "Shinji, you need to get to Sagami Bay right now," she ordered.
"What? Why? What about the angel?" Shinji replied.
"Ignore for now, dodge anything it throws at you. Asuka was fighting another one of those things and she's in trouble, now move!"
"Right!" Shinji responded, the cameras switching to show Unit-01 running off towards the bay while in a camera in the corner showed the bat preparing to take off again.
Unit-01 took long strides as it made its way towards Sagami Bay, the ground quaking beneath it with every step. Meanwhile, the bat had taken flight and loomed in the air for a moment before diving towards Unit-01 with its claws outstretched. Unit-01 turned before ducking, the bat soaring over it and just barely missing it. The bat's dive was followed by a powerful gust, which easily knocked over nearby cars and debris, but barely affected the EVA.
Shinji made Unit-01 stand and take out its progressive knife before turning to facing the bat. The creature it circled around for a moment, before coming came back down to take another swipe at Unit-01. It let out another piercing shriek, but Unit-01 did not react even as sound dug into Shinji's ears and one of the view screens shattered. The bat reached out to claw at Unit-01's face, but it blocked and sliced the bat's right wing off, creating a small shower of blood as it spiraled out and crashed onto the ground.
Shinji panted as he put his knife away and took a moment to sit, his ears rung with agony, before the sounds of the world and he continued his journey with his left side blind. As he ventured forward, he could hear com-link hissing to life.
"Shinj are you alright?" Misato asked.
"Yeah, I can still move, I'll get Asuka," he replied.
"Good but you need to hurry, she doesn't have long!" Misato warned, her voice cracking with concern before the com-link cut.
"Right," Shinji said solemnly, before Unit-01 began running towards the bay once more.
Below the waves of the bay, Asuka continued her struggle as she clenched her teeth and fought to move her EVA's arms, but the creature's strength combined with her throat slowly being crushed made it nearly impossible for her to put up a fight. All she could see was the creature's beady black eyes starring her down while the sunlight behind it grew dimmer.
"Hurensohn! Move! Move! I'm not going to die here!" Asuka thought even as her vision blurred and her concentration faded.
Suddenly, Asuka felt the pull on her arm relax as the creature's mouth opened and a stream of blood gushed between them before she managed to punch it in the face with her EVA's free hand, causing its grasp to loosen further. The creature responded by letting out another glob of goo only this time it spread through the water, creating a black mist that obscured Asuka's vision.
"What the hell?!" she shouted while she frantically looked for her target, but could see nothing through the blackness.
It was then that something grabbed her arm once more and pulled her up though this one lacked the force of the creature. She found herself and Unit-02 emerging on the surface with Unit-01 holding Unit-02's wrist with one hand and the side of a pier with the other.
Shinji's face came on her com screen. "Asuka! Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine…" she grumbled as though she wanted to say. "Why'd it have to be stupid Shinji?"
Misato came on the come as well. "Are you okay Asuka?"
"I'm alright, I was just caught by surprise is all," Asuka replied.
"Can you keep going?" Misato followed up.
"Yeah, I can still fight," Asuka spoke with a hint of confidence.
"Good, where's the creature?" Misato asked.
"I don't know. It threw up some kind of ink, I didn't see where it went." she admitted.
"Damn it, we'll have to look for it later. Get back onto shore and chase down that bat, same to you Shinji," Misato ordered before ending the communication.
"Right." Asuka said.
Asuka pushed forward on Unit-02's controls to make it lift its hands to the pier and pull itself out of the ocean. Once on land, a severed tentacle slid off its wrist and smacked into the ground before wriggling like a fish.
"Ewwww! What is that?!" Asuka shouted.
Unit-01 pulled itself onto land behind her. "It must've been the tentacle I cut off to free you, we should leave it for Ritsuko." Shinji said
"Yuck, why does it have to move like that?" her unit kicked the tentacle to the side. "So…where's this bat?" Asuka asked while she tried not to look at the tendril.
Shinji looked around, having Unit-01 physically turn its body to compensate for the broken viewing screen.
"I'm not sure, I didn't see where it flew off when I went after you," he conceded.
"Vollpfosten, I guess we'll have to search for it then." She said.
"We should be careful, Ritsuko doesn't want us to hurt it too badly," he reminded.
"Yeah, yeah," She said in a dismissive tone as she waved her hand before Unit-02 walked off into the city.
Nick stood on the bridge of the HEAT Seeker, watching the seemingly endless ocean move by as Monique steered them on course. Occasionally, he would get out a pair of binoculars to check the horizon, though of course this proved fruitless. Below deck, Mendel kept a watchful eye on his computer to make sure that they were still following Godzilla and that they had not lost the signal. Meanwhile, Elsie occupied herself with a book, while Randy seemed to be trying to think of a new way to distract himself.
Three hours had passed since they arrived in this new world and so far, all that they had seen were the waves of the ocean stretched before them with little sign of land or the monsters. The sea itself had been relatively calm with no harsh tides or storms.
Nick set down the binoculars and sighed.
"Still no sign of land…or the monsters." He said.
"Anything unusual?" Monique asked.
"Nothing, it's almost peaceful really." He replied with an awkward assurance.
"Do you think they might ambush us?" she immediately followed up.
"If they did, we would know by now." He said.
Monique's stoic expression didn't seem to change.
"I'm going to check our course," he said.
Monique nodded before he left the bridge, heading below deck and walking up to Mendel.
"Is the device still working?" Nick asked.
"Yeah, it's still working fine, though I'm not sure how sturdy it will be once the fish is gone. Any sign of land yet?" Mendel said.
Nick shook his head.
"Do you think that portal might've dumped us in the middle of open water?" Mendel wondered.
"It's possible, but I doubt that's all that's out here," Nick said.
"Yeah besides, the Big G hasn't changed course, has he?" Randy interjected.
"Not since we started tracking him," Mendel replied.
"See? That means he hasn't found any of the monsters yet and if the monsters aren't here, where else could they be?" Randy pointed out.
"I guess so," Mendel conceded But could he take on all of them at once? And who knows what else might be out here he thought..
"I'm sure we'll find land soon, just make sure we don't lose Godzilla," Nick assured before heading back up to the bridge.
Another hour passed by, before Nick once more scanned the horizon with the binoculars and saw a mountain range in the distance. Nick took a moment to check his binoculars before looking again, leaning over a bit to make sure he was seeing it.
"Land hoe!" he shouted with a tremble of excitement, picking up the intercom and repeating himself.
Randy and Elsie rushed up to the bridge.
"Finally, do you see any of the mutants?" Elsie asked.
Nick adjusted the binoculars as he examined the landscape and the skies above for any signs of them. "No, they might not be here yet or they've already started to move inland."
"Darn and I was hoping we could get to the monster bash sooner," Randy joked though nobody really acknowledged it.
"Do you think there are any people there?" Elsie wondered.
"I'm not-" Nick started but was interrupted by the radio springing to life.
"未確認の船に注意してください！ あなたはアクティブな天使の攻撃に近づいています。近くの安全な港または待機を求めてください。 繰り返しますが、あなたはアクティブな天使の攻撃に近づいています！" the radio said through the voice barely being able to pass through the static.
"Er what is that?" Randy asked.
"It's Japanese," Monique bluntly answered.
"Oh, I uhh, knew that," Randy said with an awkward chuckle.
"What are they saying?" Nick asked.
"It's a warning, apparently there's an attack going on they say it's… an angel?" Monique stated.
"Never heard of a bat being mistaken for an angel," Randy commented.
"Maybe it's the hummingbird?" Elise suggested.
"Either way it's probably the mutants we're looking for. Monique, tell them who we are and why we're here, maybe we can talk to somebody in charge," Nick commanded.
Monique nodded and picked up the speaker for the radio. "私たちはH.E.A.Tです。 米国軍との共同ミッションで、封じ込めを免れた非常に危険な突然変異体群を回収しています。 我々は、これらの突然変異体の1つが、あなたが参照している「天使」かもしれないと信じています。 私たちは、ドッキングして、できるだけ早く上司と会う必要があります。
Several moments of silence followed before the voice responded. "私たちはあなたに会いたいです。 あなたは近くにあなたの船をドッキングすることができます..." and rattling off a series of coordinates.
"ありがとうございました" Monique replied.
"So, what did they say?" Nick asked.
"They said they would meet us at the coordinates they gave me," Monique replied.
"Good, tell the other ships and we'll head there." Nick said.
Monique nodded and started contacting the other ships.
"So that… thing teleported us a few thousand miles?" Elise wondered.
"At least we're in familiar territory, maybe we could find Dr. Ifukube and ask for her help." Randy interjected.
"So it would seem, but I can't help but feel something is…off…" Nick said as he looked to the northeast and saw a dark wall of clouds with flashes of lightning off in the distance.
"We have confirmation that the vessels are heading for the rendezvous point, our escorts are on their way!" Makoto announced.
"Good, have them brought to the Command Center as soon as they get here." Misato ordered.
"Do you really think they know anything about what's going on?" Ritsuko asked.
"They seem to have at least some idea although we'll see how much they actually know. You ever heard of an organization called HEAT?" Misato replied.
"Hmmm doesn't ring any bells although don't you find it odd that they showed up with the US military and that they said these things escaped 'containment'?" Ritsuko said.
"It is a bit… unusual but at this point I'd like at least some idea of what these things are." Misato said.
Suddenly, another alert flashed on the main screen.
"What now?!" Misato shouted.
"Ma'am, we've detected another Angel coming in from the bay, blood type: orange." Maya informed.
"Is it the same one Shinji just rescued Asuka from?" Misato asked.
"No, this one's signature is different." Maya replied.
"Damn it, get Shinji and Asuka on." Misato ordered.
Maya nodded as Shinji and Asuka's faces appeared in opposite corners of the screen.
"Shinji, Asuka, you two are going to have to go back to the bay." Misato said.
"What?! Why?" Asuka shouted.
"Because there's another Angel emerging, and I want you two to be there to take it down before it gets to the city." Misato explained.
"Another one?! Ugh well at least give us something more to fight it with." Asuka said.
"We'll send you each a pallet rifle to help, try to keep it contained in the bay." Misato said.
"So uhh… what about the bat?" Shinji asked.
Misato looked back at Rei whom had been standing back silently the entire time before looking back at them.
"What's the current status on the first Angel?" Misato asked.
The large screen shifted to various cameras before stopping on one showing the bat in the middle of a road, still lying on the ground as its wound oozed with red blood but was already halfway closed.
"The first Angel is still injured but healing rapidly, ma'am," Maya announced.
"Good, then we're going to send Rei to retrieve it while you two deal with the new one," Misato said.
"Right," Shinji and Asuka said before their communications were turned off.
Misato turned back to Rei and walked up to her.
"Now Rei, I want you to get ready for launch. As soon as you've done so, go to the first Angel and use your progressive knife to disable its wings then bring it back to the launch pad." Misato ordered.
"Understood," Rei said in her usual quiet whisp before she walked off.
Unit-01 and Unit-02 quickly grabbed their pallet rifles before sprinting back to the bay. The two lumbering giants coming to a sudden stop at the shore of Sagami Bay as they aimed their rifles and watched for any movement. Although for the moment, the bay seemed calm even as the tides crashed towards the shore.
"Are we sure it's here?" Shinji asked.
Misato appeared on the com "Yes, it should be here." She assured.
Shinji nodded as he continued to look towards the sea, his eyes scanning the horizon for anything out of the ordinary. His hands gripped the controls tightly and prepared to open fire once the Angel emerged. Asuka was similarly tensed and ready to fire, her hands still tight with anger and a bit of fear.
I'm not going to be dragged down again, this time I'm going to beat it! She thought.
It was then that the water began to bubble and expand before bursting in a white torrent, which quickly cleared to reveal the monster below it emerging. The creature was an enormous reptilian beast, its body resembled that of an iguana except it was more upright with arms and hands; its back protruded with spines and it gazed upon them with glowing golden eyes. Shinji and Asuka could only stare at it in a moment of awe as the new "Angel" before them let out a high-pitched roar.