Attack of the Super Allosaurus
Chapter 6
Chiang hurried into the control room and scaled the steps to his station where Lao held temporary command. The Colonel vacated Chiang's seat.
"We've just reached the banks of the Hudson River," Lao said.
"Good." Chiang took his seat, checked his readings, and then looked up on the screen to see what the Super Allosaurus was looking at.
After three weeks, the goal was within one hour's time. The mood in the control room was electric.
While in New York City it was a panic. National Guardsmen waved cars to a halt in the Lincoln Tunnel while trying to get the traffic on the Jersey side of the Hudson to clear out of the way even if it meant getting the drivers to hop the curb and driving down the sidewalk. The Super Allosaurus loomed over the mouth of the tunnel, swinging its shadow over the people as Chiang, back at his base, manipulated the creature via telepathic control to ascertain its surroundings.
A target-rich environment, the Super Allosaurus received its orders to hold still as Chiang's gunners rained down the plasma beams from the shoulder pods. People scrambled from their cars. For most, such a move did them no good. The street became an inferno. Chiang then blasted the tunnel complex with the mouth beam, bringing down the tunnel exit in a heap of rubble.
The Super Allosaurus then slipped into the Hudson River, coming ashore on the Manhattan docks. National Guard tanks pelted the dinosaur in an exercise of futility. Forty Second Avenue stretched out before the Super Allosaurus, choked with evacuees. Plasma beams laced up and down the traffic, turning the road into a river of fire. Smoke billowed between the buildings.
Helicopters lifted people from the rooftops. Stragglers clung on to the landing skids with one here or there loosing his or her grip, plummeting to the streets below.
Cruelty knew no bounds. When Chiang saw the evacuees struggling to escape down the entire distance of Forty-Third he instructed his shoulder pod gunners to skim the sides of the buildings. Why? Because the United Nations was in plain sight at the end of the street. "Let the UN Assembly hear screams," he said. The plasma beams shattered the windows, raining glass shards on the people below.
Anguished cries wailed as the Super Allosaurus lumbered down Forty Third Street. The UN representatives, with their staff, scrambled for their vehicles. Brave cameramen were present to catch on film this pandemonium, this breakdown of civil governance.
Dr. Arnold Johnson was one of the few who remained in the UN building. He stood at one of the upper floor windows, boldly watching. He stayed in part because he was a paleontologist. He wanted to see this living fossil in the flesh. He stayed because this was his city. But mostly he stayed because he was not going to allow Chiang, a madman in hiding, make him run away in his own country.
The Super Allosaurus came face to face with Dr. Johnson. The dinosaur's roar thundered through the skyscraper's foundation. The creature opened wide to fire its mouth beam. Dr. Johnson braced for his final moment.
But the moment never came. Dr. Johnson opened his eyes only to see the dinosaur's legs kicking as the creature was lifted from view.
Mothra had grabbed the Super Allosaurus and hoisted him into the air.
She carried Chiang's wildly kicking monster several blocks then dropped him upon an evacuated building. The structure collapsed under his weight. Billowing cinder fogged the street like a ground-level cloud. When the smoke thinned, Super Allosaurus searched for the force which had airlifted it across the city. What the massive allosaurus found instead was Godzilla looking down at him.
Godzilla roared as his fins lit up in its characteristic blue glow. The Super Allosaurus rolled from Godzilla's radioactive heat ray and scrambled to its feet, counter firing with its plasma mouth beam. Godzilla fired again. They blazed back and forth, their energy beams countering each other until Super Allosaurus ran out of breath. His fiery orange plasma beam fizzled out. Godzilla exhaled his radioactive fire a good measure more, blasting Super Allosaurus dead in the face before stopping to catch his breath. The Super Allosaurus stood blinking wide-eyed, his facial scales blackened.
"I suspected the acid wouldn't be potent enough to kill Mothra in her cocoon," Chiang commented, watching the screen. "If only our backers would have permitted me the time to produce a more toxic mix, turn Mothra into a bubbling soup."
"It was a wise precaution to keep the Twin Fairies at Muka's club in Tokyo," Lao said. "If Mothra had recovered sooner she would have flown straight for us. When we're done with the United Nations I'll dispose of the one Fairy we have."
"No," Chiang countered. "I don't want an avenging Mothra pursuing us to the ends of the Earth. It's bad enough she has Godzilla as her ally. He should have been mine to control!"
Mothra bleated at Godzilla. The fight should be moved out of the city.
Godzilla didn't listen, so Mothra grabbed the Super Allosaurus by the tail and dragged it down Park Avenue. The theropod twisted side to side, crashing into buildings, trying to get free. Gaining altitude, Mothra soared high over Manhattan. She released the dinosaur over the bay. Super Allosaurus slam-dived head first into the water. The wake splashed both shores of Ellis Island and Manhattan.
The waves nearly settled when Super Allosaurus burst to the surface screaming savagely. Mothra dropped low over the surface and flapped her wings to stir up the bay. Waves that could capsize a destroyer bobbed Super Allosaurus like a tubby toy. The dinosaur submerged again.
Godzilla strode onto Battery Park on the southern tip of Manhattan.
Like a sudden geyser, the dinosaur shot out of the water, sinking its teeth in between Mothra's head and thorax. She bleated and tried to shake him off. Godzilla fired his radioactive beam across the bay, blasting the monster's flank. The Super Allosaurus released Mothra and splashed back into the water.
The massive allosaurus then resurfaced with a boulder in its jaws that it had dug out of the bottom of bay. With a twist of the neck, it flung the rock at Godzilla. Godzilla bounced the boulder off his snout, sending it hurdling back. Surprised, the dinosaur quickly caught it in its mouth and then flung it back with twice the momentum. Godzilla bunted it off his skull, doubling the velocity. Chiang's monster screeched and tried to evade. The boulder deflected off its back and crashed into the pedestal of Ellis Island. The Statue of Liberty wobbled and fell. Mothra swooped in snagging Lady Liberty before she shattered on the ground.
Back at the base, Chiang received more bad news.
"Enemy choppers closing in!"
Chiang responded quickly. "Deploy surface batteries."
For a moment MountKumotori was quiet. Only the sound of approaching choppers reverberated in the distance. Then a row of explosions rocked the eastern slope. Rolling out of the openings came twin barreled ZSU-23 anti-aircraft guns and launchers armed with SA-2 Guideline anti-aircraft missiles.
"We didn't anticipate this!" Yomo's pilot called over the comm.
"Close the distance as fast as you can," Yomo ordered.
The rockets blasted the Huey choppers out of the sky one by one. But Yomo had one ace up his sleeve: a platoon of maser tanks on standby at the foot of Mount Kumotori. They turned their massive weapons and opened fire before Chiang's men could reload their missile launchers. Built for monsters of the likes of Godzilla and Rodan, the masers easily torched Chiang's defenses.
The surviving Huey's dispensed their load of troops on Chiang's neutralized anti-aircraft platforms. Yomo ordered his chopper to swing around. "Let's find the entrance to that landing bay."
Back in New York, Godzilla waded into the bay as Super Allosaurus came ashore on Governor's Island, at the mouth of theEast River. Mothra swooped in to attack. Chiang's shoulder pod gunners slashed her with plasma beams at Mothra's wings, forcing her to veer away from the field of battle. The dinosaur screeched in supremacy.
Godzilla then came ashore on the opposite side of the island. Super Allosaurus lowered its head, barring its wicked teeth, drawing in a hiss that could turn a mortal's blood to ice. Godzilla poised himself and roared. That was one good thing about his atomic mutation. It gave him the size and bulk his ancestors didn't have to face one of these super predators head on. His racial grudge burned deep, burning back 140 million years.
Super Allosaurus had his own racial memory of Godzilla's species, and snorted derisively. How is this beast going to defeat me? The giant allosaurus thought, regarding Godzilla. He's food!
The two behemoths sized each other up. A sudden fury of plasma beams and blue fire ripped between the two ancient archosaurs. Caught in the middle, the trees burst into glowing embers, blowing in the maelstrom. Buildings burst into flames. Super Allosaurus then leapt the distance to Godzilla's side of the island, catching Godzilla's head in its maw. Godzilla staggered under the weight. The two of them splashed into the bay.
Shindo and Satin hid the bodies of Stanzi and the two guards. After contacting Tokyo, they left the technicians in the communications room, gagged and tied. They were nearly home free, out of the base, when Yomo and the army stormed the mountain, setting Chiang's staff on high alert.
Now they had to fight their way out. They fell back into the command center overlooking the underground landing bay where the Harke transport helicopter was parked out on the landing pad. Shindo secured the door while Satin went to one of the consoles.
"I can fly the helicopter," she said. "That won't be a problem. But we're going to have a fight every foot of the way down into the bay."
"Then we will take a more direct route." Shindow grabbed a swivel chair and slammed it through the bay window. "We'll climb down."
Then a suspicious sound of something heavy and metallic clamped to the door. An explosive charge! They took cover behind the consoles just as the door exploded. Live hand grenades came skidding across the floor, through the blown opening. The small bombs went off, splattering the room with shrapnel. Chiang's troops rushed through the smoke fogging the entrance and took positions behind the first line of control banks, firing their guns and throwing grenades.
"Where's that backup you radioed for?" Satin demanded hotly. She cringed when the next volley of grenades detonated dangerously close to their hiding place.
"Good question," Shindo said. "Can I pass and try question two?"
"Sure. Tell me the real reason you surrendered to me?"
Shindo didn't expect a question two. He was just trying to put off answering question one. Since she figured out he had an ulterior motive, he went ahead and showed her why he surrendered. He took hold of Satin and kissed her.
Before their lips parted, a massive explosion ripped through the roof of the bay. The bay door collapsed upon the transport helicopter with a thunderous clatter. A single Huey lowered through the smoking hole in the roof. Chiang's troops stopped shooting when a mini-gun aboard the chopper swiveled their way and let loose a murderous fusillade. The few troopers that survived retreated back into the hall.
Shindo and Satin cautiously peered out into the bay.
Behind the mini-gun was Yomo. "Shindo! There you are! I brought the backup." He jutted his thumb toward the squad of soldiers seated behind him.
"Good work!" Shindo called back. "Land that chopper and bring those men up here." He then turned to Satin. "Fancy going back after Chiang?"
In reply Satin reloaded her Heckler and Koch and pulled back the bolt.
Godzilla climbed ashore at Battery Park. His neck throbbed from the necklace of tooth marks left by Super Allosaurus. Blood oozed from the wounds.
No sooner he got back onto dry land the Super Allosaurus splashed out of the water and chomped his tail. The allosaur's razor-sharp incisors pierced deep into his flesh. Godzilla bellowed. He brewed up to exhale his radioactive beam only to have his adversary yank his tail so hard he was pulled off his feet. He crashed hard onto the ground.
Mothra swooped out the clouds, weaving between the plasma beams launching form the shoulder pods. She dropped onto the giant theropod's back. The allosaur tried to buck her off. Godzilla collared Super Allosaurus around the neck to hold him steady so Mothra could rip off the shoulder pods with her mandibles.
In Chiang's control room the images on the targeting screens for the shoulder pods turned to snow. Back in New York, Godzilla reached into the Super Allosaurus's mouth and ripped the last beam pod. Chiang's screen now snowed over.
Chiang slammed his fist on his console.
Alarms sounded. Gunfire chattered outside.
Then one of the techs yelled, "We're losing control of the dinosaur!"
"Did we have a circuit overload?" Chiang demanded.
"No! We're just not getting a signal through to the dinosaur."
Chiang checked the telepathic transmitter. Arana's headset lay on the bench, but Arana was no longer there. She was with her sister scampering toward the far end of the table.
His face red with fury, Chiang drew his pistol and fired at them. The Fairies ducked as they ran. For them the bullets were like artillery shells. One round shot out a table leg. The table collapsed. The Twin Fairies leapt from the edge for a conduit leading up toward an open duct. Arana, weak from being strapped down for so long wasn't quick enough to reach the conduit. She grabbed Lilla around the waist. The sudden tug of Arana's weight nearly caused Lilla to lose her grip.
The duct they needed to reach was eighteen inches up. But the floor was a five-foot drop down. To the Fairies such a drop would be like losing your grip from the fourth floor of a building and falling on hard pavement.
Gary's gut turned queasy when Ling had given him an AK-47. It didn't sink in that he might have to kill someone when he insisted in joining Lilla in rescuing her sister. He was in the open duct the Twin Fairies were trying to reach.
Now that the Twin Fairies were in danger, Gary lost his inhibitions. He let loose an awkward volley of rounds which ricocheted about the control room. He didn't hit Chiang, but he got the madman's attention.
Before Gary could fire a second burst Colonel Lao reached up and pulled him out of the duct and tossed him onto the floor.
"See who else is in the duct," Chiang said. Lao found Ling and pulled her out, too, pushing her and Gary to the center of the room.
Super Allosaurus shook his head in a daze after the telepathic contact with Arana had been broken. He never realized his actions had been remotely controlled. All he understood was that the pressure in his head was suddenly gone and he was in complete control of himself. He spun around, taking in New York City as if seeing it for the first time.
Godzilla and Mothra waited to see what Super Allosaurus would do. Godzilla didn't understand why the giant allosaur behaved as though he were waking from a dream. Mothra did understand. The Twin Fairies had telepathically explained how the humans controlled the dinosaur. She hoped Super Allosaurus would realize he no longer needed to fight now that he was free.
Super Allosaurus disappointed her.
Like a fresh round in a boxing match, the fight resumed. Super Allosaurus bounded down the road, crushing abandoned cars underfoot. Godzilla blasted the pavement to cut the animal's charge short. Super Allosaurus hopped back from the blast and then leapt, maw open, for Godzilla's head. In a move worthy of a jujitsu master, Godzilla caught the monster in mid air and used Super Allosaurus' momentum to slam him into the ground. The impact shattered the windows on both sides of the street.
Gary and Ling stood in the center of the room with a half a dozen guards aiming their AK's at them. Lao set Gary's AK-47 on one of the control banks. Man, Gary thought, I screwed up. I can't be afraid to hurt these cut throats if I'm going to help beat them.
Chiang stepped up to him. "So you were the one who was hiding Godzilla."
"How would you know?"
Chiang grinned, ignoring Gary's question, and stepped over to Ling. He shook his head. Ling kept her gaze steady, her hatred kindled.
"If you were going to betray me at least be smart enough not to get caught," the mad scientist chided her. Then he looked about the room. "Shobijin! I have two hostages. Two chances for you to cooperate. As you can hear from the gunfire I haven't much time, which means neither do you." Chiang waited a heartbeat for a reply. "That was your first chance." He aimed his gun at Gary's temple.
A piece of machinery dropped from the ceiling and struck Chiang's skull. He grabbed his head and cursed. Next, a power cable, crackling with electricity, swung down toward him. He sidestepped the swinging cable which hit a control panel, igniting it in a flurry of smoke and sparks.
Chiang spotted movement among the equipment mounted up in the rafters.
"Up there! The Shobijin! Get them!"
Lao and his men shouldered their weapons and scaled the walls.
Chiang turned toward Gary. "Now then..."
Before he spoke his next word, Gary belted him across the mouth, hopped over the rogue scientist as he pirouetted onto the floor, and grabbed his AK-47 from the console.
Chiang's techs rushed Gary to help their fallen leader.
"Back off!" Gary shouted.
The tech's dutifully backed off. They weren't heroes.
Gary swept his aim across the room. "No one else move! This time I won't miss, I promise you!"
Ling repeated his commands in Mandarin.
Colonel Lao, who was halfway up the service ladder, scowled at the college lad like a panther calculating the best opportunity to pounce.
"Be cool until my friends get here," Gary gnashed his teeth in a sneering grin. The glint in his eyes glared more sharply than the glint at the tip of his gun. "I'm an American. I know what you've done to my country. Don't give me another excuse to shoot you!"
Ling passed a smile to him, proud of his bravery, and translated his words.
"Gary," the Twin Fairies cried in unison, "look out!"
Chiang threw his side arm. Before Gary figured out what was going on, the pistol struck his forehead.
Lao dropped to the floor, grabbed Gary's AK with one hand and pummeled the boy with the other. Ling tried grappling the assault rifle from Lao. The Colonel grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and threw her to the floor next to Gary and aimed the rifle at them. His men quickly assumed control.
Then an explosion blew open the main door.
Shindo stormed in with Yomo and Satin covering his flanks. Japanese commandoes followed behind them, pouring into the room.
Bullets spewed, cutting down armed men on both sides. Lao quickly tried to finish the job, taking aim at Gary and Ling. Shindo clocked him across the back of the head with the butt of Stanzi's MP5K. The colonel slumped over unconscious with a grunt.
The shooting stopped. The survivors of Chiang's team surrendered.
"Where's Chiang Mi Shek?" Satin demanded in Mandarin.
Ling pointed to a side door. "He escaped through there."
Dr. Arnold Johnson continued to watch the monster battle from the UN headquarters. He was certain Super Allosaurus could not prevail against two opponents without the plasma rays.
He headed back into the Assembly Chamber to ring up Chiang on the two-way television to see if the mad scientist was still full of bluster. It took a minute before the screen came to life.
"Dr. Johnson," Chiang said, looking disheveled. "I'm surprised you're still at the UN. I figured everyone had evacuated." He appeared to be within a small aircraft. Its engines rumbled over the speaker.
"You're beaten, Chiang," Dr. Johnson said. "Do yourself a favor. Surrender. There isn't a safe haven you can fly to."
"I don't plan on landing, Doctor," Chiang leered. "In an hour we shall all die."
Dr. Johnson leaned forward with both hands on the raised platform where the two-way TV was set. His brow furrowed in a grave expression. "What are you going to do?"
"On board my plane is a device," Chiang said. "In," he glanced at the device's timer, "fifty-eight minutes it will detonate and ignite the atmosphere of the entire planet."
"What?" Dr. Johnson was incredulous.
"The atmosphere is a rather thin skin of vapor across the planet. As a paleontologist, you should be well versed in the proposed causes of mass extinction: volcanoes injecting sulfates into the atmosphere, methane released from the ocean floor. All it takes is an added ingredient to the chemical soup we breathe and then we suffocate."
Dr. Johnson phoned the Japanese Embassy in Washington DC. The embassy relayed his call to Yamashita in Tokyo. Yamashita relayed the call to Yomo's strike team camped at the base of MountKumotori with a whole division of army troops. The army had the survivors of Chiang's personnel secured in a hastily-built, barbed-wire pen.
The Colonel himself and Ling were in Yomo's command tent. So were Shindo, Satin,Gary, and the Twin Fairies.
"Shindo." Yomo lowered the mike on his headset. "The boss is on the line with a paleontologist in the UN. The guy says Chiang has a bomb that can wipe out the atmosphere across the entire world. Is that possible?"
Shindo nudged Lao with the butt of Stanzi's machine pistol. "Well?"
Lao remained poker-faced, refusing to speak.
Ling shrugged. She didn't know, either.
"It is true," spoke the Twin Fairies. "We read Chiang's mind. He realizes he will be a condemned man. So, as far as he is concerned, if he cannot survive, no one will."
The mood turned tense within the command tent.
"Chief," Yomo radioed back to Yamashita, "the Fairies say it's true!"
Yamashita relayed the news to the UN. "Then we're beaten," Dr. Johnson said.
While Yamashita in Tokyo debated with his superiors if it was worth warning the public what was about to happen, the Twin Fairies stepped out of the tent at Mount Kumotori. They raised their arms and sang to Mothra, beckoning her to seek out Chiang.
In New York City, Dr. Johnson noticed a change in the monster battle. "Wait!" he cried into the phone. "Mothra is lifting off! She's heading west, toward Japan!"
"But will she reach Chiang in time, Dr. Johnson?" Yamashita asked.
"She should. Mothra is nearly as fast as Rodan."
In Japan, Shindo and his companions watched the sky, while Gary waited by the Fairies as they sang, adding their spiritual strength to Mothra's.
In the Assembly room at the UN, Dr. Johnson watched Chiang grinning on the screen of the two-way TV. The grin slowly faded as Chiang's gaze turned toward the airplane windows.
Mothra found him!
The mad scientist sprang from view. In the plane, Chaing was heading for his device to hit the detonator switch. His plane suddenly disappeared in a crunch of Mothra's bite. A single wing of Chiang's Leer jet spun in the wind as Mothra soared high above the clouds.
A red light burst across the sky. It was witnessed across the whole hemisphere, from the coast of California to China. Back at the camp at Mount Kumotori everyone recoiled from the awful sight. It was as if Armageddon had burst upon them. When they realized they were still alive, still breathing, the camp cheered.
"Mothra did it!" Gary cried.
Lowering their arms, the Twin Fairies sighed. It was all over.
Nearly...
Godzilla and the Super Allosaurus grappled, throwing each other into landmark building after landmark building, toppling them like dominoes along 6th Avenue. The air turned thick with choking cinder. Godzilla hip-tossed Super Allosaurus into the Rockefeller Center. In return, Super Allosaurus donkey-kicked him into the high rises across the street.
They faced each other, bloody yet tireless, roaring insults and taunts before going at it again. Super Allosaurus leapt. Godzilla spun around and batted his mortal enemy into the Rockefeller Plaza with his tail. The super saurus crashed atop the skating rink in the center of the plaza, squealing at being outmaneuvered again.
Godzilla muscled his way into the plaza. Super Allosaurus was wedged between the buildings unable to get up. It was time to finish this. Godzilla braced one of kicked legs, gripping the knee and ankle, and then dropped.
Cartilage popped with a resounding, bloodcurdling crack.
Super Allosaurus screamed and tossed. His knee joint hung by a flap of skin.
Then Godzilla grabbed the other leg.
The cartilage in the other knee popped.
Godzilla stepped back from the writhing thing. He summoned his energy, his fins blazing, and fired a searing beam of blue fire. Super Allosaurus—Godzilla's ancestral foe—burst into flames. The fire burned through its scales, torching muscle tissue, evaporating fat and fluids. In a pyre of its own flesh, Super Allosaurus rolled over and over...
"This dinosaur here, the Super Allosaurus, is unique at the Museum of Natural History because it is not a fossil." Dr. Arnold Johnson turned to his tourists. "It's actual bone. In fact it was salvaged a few miles from here. So instead of a hundred or so million years old, these remains date back three weeks." The laughter of the tourists echoed in the far corners of the new wing of the museum. To contain the bones, the chamber rivaled a stadium in size. Dr. Johnson smiled. "And through here we come to a display of some of the Jurassic's smaller theropods."
A lone woman remained after Dr. Johnson's tour proceeded to the next exhibit. She glared at the skeleton then looked at a photo of her family. A tear trickled down her taught cheek. She wiped away the tear, put the picture into her purse, stepped up to the skeleton of the Super Allosaurus and spat on it.
Gary slept soundly in the hotel room. The singing of the Twin Fairies played in his dreams. After another midnight sigh, he realized he was not dreaming.
"Lilla!"
Mothra's Fairy stood silhouetted on the nightstand.
Gary switched on the light and gave her some space on the bed. "I was told you left already."
Lilla dropped on the bed and settled down by his pillow. "We did not get a chance to say goodbye."
"Yeah, being shuffled around all those dignitaries. That was quite a celebration party, wasn't it? At least the Japanese government provided me this room. After tonight I am on my own again."
"Where will you go from here?" she asked.
"Back to the States," Gary said. "Try to find my folks."
Lilla smiled. "I'm glad you have not given up hope."
Gary laid his head down. "I really hadn't the time to thank you for saving my life."
"So you understand what happened?"
"Yes. You kept my soul from wandering into the hereafter." Gary's memory of being together with her on the hillside was faint. In time the vague images would fade and all he would remember of their time was that it was pleasant. "But it was like a dream. It wasn't real was it?"
"What happened was real," Lilla said. "It just wasn't tangible."
Gary was confused. But when he thought about it he understood, a little.
On the roof of the hotel Arana waited. Gary came up with a robe wrapped over his PJ's. He set Lilla down. She joined her sister. Mothra circled around in the sky before the moon and descended upon the building.
"Thank you again for your help," the Twin Fairies spoke in unison.
"I am going to miss you. And if you see Godzilla tell him I'll miss him, too." Gary shrugged. "If he remembers me."
"He will not forget your kindness," the Twin Fairies said.
Mothra gripped the corner edge of the building. Even though she was on the far end of the lofty structure her massive form overshadowed them. She chirped to her Twin Fairies.
"We must be going. If you like, you may come to our island."
Gary was incredulous. "Wow, thanks! Maybe we can have some sort of a class reunion thing. Seriously though, will I ever get to see you again?"
"Of course. We will not forget you."
Gary waved goodbye. He watched them fly off into the moonlit night. Seeing them go left him melancholy. Life seemed a bit empty without a touch of beauty, and strangeness.
EPILOGUE
In the late hours of the night in a steamy alley, a woman kept a fire burning in a barrel by feeding it sheaves of paper. She appeared to be in her late twenties, classy, expensively dressed, someone who would not be found in a place like this.
Then a man approached her, carrying a portfolio. His clothes were more eccentric, black with a cape draped over his shoulders. He was lean, almost skeletal, with sunken cheeks and eyes like a gutter rat. His gray hair was thick and wavy, almost like a lion's mane.
He tucked his portfolio under his arm and held his gloved hands toward the fire. Glancing sideways, he smiled at the woman.
"Thank you, Doctor," the woman said, "for obtaining these files for me." She fed the last of them into the flames. "Now no one will be able to link my government as the financier of Chiang's work."
"Merely a goodwill offering, Madame. Now will you consider my proposal?"
"I'm not sure I will be able to interest my government into backing another mad scientist."
"Chiang Mi Shek was a ranting child, and an idealist. A volatile combination. I warned you nothing good would come from him," he said. "I, on the other hand, am more practical. To tip the balance of world power—effectively—nuclear weapons are the means, and I can get them for you quickly and cheaply."
"How?"
"Element X."
"But that mineral is buried deep in the artic," the woman said. "Not even the Americans will mine it. How would you get me Element X?"
The good Doctor opened his portfolio, showing the woman designs of a giant robot.
She studied the blue prints. "A mechanical ape?"
"Yes! He is a monster that will obey you without question, a monster that will neither desert you nor oppose you. Interested?"
The woman's eyes sparkled for a moment before she returned to her cooler, more business-like demeanor. "There's a club near here where we can talk."
"Excellent!" The rogue scientist acknowledged her wish with a bow and, flinging his cape back, he invited her to proceed with an outstretched hand.
On his hard-won island off the Japanese coast, Rodan dropped his catch on the beach and squawked in contentment. Life was good, until a boulder bobbed him in the back of the head.
Rodan let out a feral screech and spun toward the mountain. More rocks tumbled at him in a Godzilla-induced avalanche. Rodan shielded himself with his wings. Godzilla fired his atomic ray at Rodan's feet, sending the winged saurian flapping for altitude.
It was payback for the last fight.
Godzilla descended the rocky mountain slope to the beach to check out Rodan's dinner: a hearty pile of porpoises. Godzilla helped himself then roared at his arch friend. Rodan bellowed and dived at his best enemy. Godzilla traced his radioactive beam across the waves. The sea hissed as a wall of vapor rose.
Loosing sight of Godzilla, Rodan veered away rather than fly through the fog and get bushwhacked coming out the other side. However, he whipped around with such force he blew away the steam, giving Godzilla a clear shot at his rear. Godzilla took advantage of this opportunity.
Insulted, Rodan flew back with his tail smoking, squawking invectives. But his stomach grumbled. He would drive Godzilla from his territory later. First, he must eat. So he returned to the sea.
Godzilla grunted in satisfaction. Rodan couldn't admit to being second best. He roared at Rodan to hurry back. He had grown attached to having friends around.
Rodan cocked a brow. What was that all about? Since when were they friends? Mothra must have bewitched him. Any more exposure to her and she would have Godzilla doing her job, saving the world. Rodan tried concentrating on that image. No, it couldn't happen.
Or could it?
Rodan became anxious.
The End