Chapter 5: Back To The Stone Age

Date: May 20, 2014

Time: 1900

Location: Janjira, Japan

The plant trembled and groaned under the pressure of what had just struck it. Another pulse, almost immediately following the previous erupted from the strange object outside the control room window where Drs. Serizawa and Graham watched it take place. The structure looked like a giant hook and pulsed with light along the orange dotted lines across its length and as it sent out another pulse the control room's lights flickered. It was tied down with numerous cables all wired to send hundreds of thousands of volts of electricity into it.

Meanwhile, behind the glass, Joe Brody was frowning intensely.

"You see? That is not an earthquake that is an electromagnetic pulse! It's happening the same as it did fifteen years ago!"

Dr. Serizawa turned and watched Joe behind the glass in a questioning manner, wondering just how much he truly understood about the situation.

"You have no idea what's coming… And it is gonna send us back to the stone age!"

Another pulse fried most of the control room's circuits, and the men watching the instruments began to panic saying that the equipment was not going to hold for much longer. Dr. Serizawa looked from Joe to the structure. The pulses began to intensify, and everyone in the room was beginning to panic.

"It's done feeding," Serizawa remarked.

The others tried to salvage the equipment as another pulse struck home, and the lights nearly went out. The doctor watched in horror and sadness as he made a difficult decision.

"… Kill it," he said quietly.

One of the men working the board pressed a button and the wires began sending electric currents through the structure. The electricity hissed and crackled in the night and then came to a stop shortly after a piece of the structure broke off and fell away to the ground below. The men beneath dove away to escape injury, but one unfortunate worker was unable to escape the debris and was crushed to death while his associates looked on in horror. One of the other workmen on a rise a short distance away looked into the area where the structure had collapsed.

Inside was a gooey, slimy, disgusting looking fleshy bundle that seemed to be alive. He shone his flashlight on it, and after a few moments the structure began exploding from the inside. Waves of debris flew out in all directions as the workmen nearby scattered. From within the structure came a guttural, high pitched call. The sheer magnitude of the sound generated by it was enough to cause another mild disturbance in the electrical network, causing a flicker of lights before it roared again. The creature within had an avian shaped face with a hook-like upper jaw and a flat lower jaw with six teeth lining it. Two large canine type teeth and four smaller teeth lining the inside. Its head was long and flat, and where the eyes would be were a series of glowing red bioluminescent patches.

The creature managed to shake off all of the outer cocoon it had created, and demonstrated its ferocity with its four inner arms as they began trying to tear away at the wires and walls surrounding it. Soldiers began approaching and started firing upon it, and out of irritation the creature lifted up its two front arms and slammed them down to the ground. The bioluminescent streaks along its limbs lit and pulsed before touching down, and as it did so it sent out a powerful electromagnetic pulse which shut down the entire plant all in not but a moment.

Joe was sitting quietly in his 'cell,' waiting for someone to set him free when the lights went out and the mechanical latch holding his door shut opened. The door slid open slightly, and he stood up and walked out cautiously. He checked to make sure there weren't any guards about, but with a monster running loose outside which he could now see through the window… Not likely to be guards worried about him.

Meanwhile, in the van which brought them here, Ford was still handcuffed to the inside. He had to stretch, which was uncomfortable with cuffs around his right wrist, to see out of the window. He saw the shape of the monster inside the pit moving about and the guards running around outside. He kicked at the door, trying to force it open but to no avail.

"Hey! Hey, let me out!" He shouted.

Outside, the men were running everywhere trying to get to positions to destroy this creature that was rampaging inside the pit. However, after a period of aggression, everything calmed after another emp was let loose. The monster stopped moving, until at last its two largest arms with hooks on the end rose up and out of the pit. Slowly, the soldiers watched as they then wrapped on the wires and started pulling them down. One by one they began to snap and split across the space above the pit, and several soldiers and workmen caught in the wrong places fell victim to the breaking of metal and flailing wire. One unlucky soldier was nearly cleaved in two by one such wire snapping at him as it broke free from the tension.

Joe had made it outside, and watched in horror as the monster continued to pull the wires apart in an attempt to free itself. One such wire was attached to an overpass leading to the pit which snapped under the pressure of the breaking wire and fell towards the van which held Ford. He braced himself in the vehicle by planting his body against the sides, but when the metal slammed into the van it was flipped end over end several times.

"FORD!" Joe shouted.

Inside the Van, Ford shook off the sudden shock and found that his handcuffs had been pulled free of the Van, but as a consequence his wrist was dislocated. He stood up and popped his wrist back into place, but upon looking up he saw his father on another overpass a little over one hundred feet away. The overpass bent beneath Joe's feet, and both father and son looked at one another as it gave way under the pressure.

"DAD!" Ford screamed as he ran towards his fallen father.

He was stopped by two things. The first was more metal and debris falling into his path, and the second was the sound of the monster roaring once more. Ford turned around slowly, gritting his teeth in anger as he saw the massive claw rise up and slam to the ground. The monster was free, and it hauled itself out of the pit and stomped its way out towards Ford. He ran away from it as best he could, but the monster's steps were simply too fast. He dove out of harm's way at the last moment before ducking for cover behind some debris near a fallen wall. The monster roared once more and opened its wings. With a few flaps, it was up and in the air before flying away.

The plant was left in ruins.

Upon the morning light, Dr. Serizawa and Dr. Graham wandered the wreckage helping the rescue effort for those trapped and wounded. One soldier then approached him, followed by others.

"Dr. Serizawa?"

He nodded.

"It's good to meet you, sir. I've been informed that MONARCH put you in charge here. As of now, the military is taking command of this operation from MONARCH. Sir, I will ask that you please come with me. Are there any further personnel that you need to bring with you?"

The Dr. looked around, trying to spot two particular faces. Once his eyes landed on Ford, who was helping his wounded father into an ambulance, Dr. Serizawa pointed at them. He looked back to the soldier.

"Them," he stated.

A short time later, both Ford and Joe were on a helicopter with Joe being monitored by medical personnel. He had suffered a severe back injury, as well as several broken ribs. However, after a thorough examination it was determined he would be all right. Ford sat by him with a hand on Joe's as Joe was given his treatment and pain killers.

"Ford?" Joe said weakly.

"Hey. Hey, dad. I'm right here."

Joe smiled, nodding at Ford.

"Just sit tight okay? You're gone be fine," Ford reassured him.

Joe chuckled a bit, but coughed a few times as a result putting him in a lot of pain. One of the medics came over and gently placed a hand on Joe's shoulder.

"Please try to remain still sir."

Joe nodded.

Dr. Serizawa and Dr. Graham watched in silence, both whispering to one another as they looked out the window and saw they were approaching the USS Saratoga of the US Navy. The aircraft carrier was massive, even from the air, and as they landed the two doctors were rushed to the command room where Admiral Stenz was giving a prepared speech about the monster which appeared at the plant the night before.

"This is our needle in a haystack people. M.U.T.O… "Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism." Although, as you can see it is no longer "terrestrial," it is airborne. The MUTO emitted enough emp to disrupt our radar and satellite tracking capabilities, limiting us for the moment to a strictly visual search. I emphasize "for the moment," because we will get on our game. And we will find this thing. It is imperative that we do so."

He looked to the captain of the vessel, nodding to him.

"Captain I want every available course of action on this table A.S.A.P."

"Yes, sir," the captain responded.

It was then that Dr. Serizawa walked in and the admiral greeted him.

"Dr. Serizawa. Admiral William Stenz, thank you for coming."

The doctor nodded to him.

"Nice to meet you," Serizawa responded.

After a brief exchange, Serizawa was called by Dr. Graham. He excused himself and walked over to speak to her. He was informed that Joe Brody's health had taken a positive turn, and that they were cleared to speak with him now. Together the doctors made their way to the meeting room where Joe's medical bed had been moved so he could speak with Serizawa. Ford was by his side, and looked up as the doctors walked in.

Serizawa gave a bow to the two men as he welcomed them aboard.

"Mr. Brody. I am told you used to work for Janjira plant. Is that true?" He asked.

Joe nodded.

"Ye-Yes. I did. Fifteen years ago."

"Is there anything you can tell me about what happened the day the plant collapsed?" Serizawa asked.

Joe nodded, taking a breather.

"In the days leading up to the incident, we were receiving strange readings. Seismic tremors which we originally thought were a series of quakes. But we soon discovered a pattern."

Dr. Serizawa nodded, listening intently as Dr. Graham noted what Joe was saying.

"They were predictable, right down to the minute. They increased in strength too. My superiors tried to play it off as a malfunction of the sensors, but I knew there was nothing wrong with them. That's why I…"

Joe paused, taking a breath as his eyes started to water. Ford hung his head slightly and put his hand on his father's shoulder.

"He sent mom down to investigate the sensors. It was supposed to be easy but…"

Dr. Serizawa immediately understood, as he remembered Joe saying that his wife had died at the plant.

"I'm sorry for your loss, sir. Please, continue," Serizawa asked.

Joe nodded, taking a moment to breath.

"I sent her down to inspect the sensors, and that's when the strongest tremors we'd felt yet struck the plant. The equipment started to malfunction, and now I know it was because of the emp it was letting off."

"And how about these?" Dr. Graham asked, holding up Joe's disks.

"Those hold all of the data I gathered up until that day. They should still have copies of the first tremors and scans we ran. Other than that, some of them just hold the usual nuclear plant day to day records."

Dr. Graham nodded, sifting through the disks and setting them down on the table.

"Mr. Brody. Is there anything else you can tell me about the analysis of the tremors and your research into this matter over the last fifteen years?" Dr. Serizawa asked.

"Yeah… It was talking. That thing. It was talking."

The doctor squinted in confusion.

"Talking?" He asked.

"Yes. It was talking. I think those pulses it sent out were calls of some kind. I've been studying bioacoustics, and the interruptions which were resulting held similar qualities to the emp attack it let off at the plant."

Dr. Serizawa nodded, thinking for a few moments before turning to Dr. Graham.

"If it was trying to communicate with something, then…"

"Sensei?" She asked.

"Check the data gain. Analyze everything before the final emp. Something may have responded."

"Yes sensei," Dr. Graham responded.

They rushed to the other end of the room as Joe's eyes followed them. Ford kept his eyes on them as well, wondering what they were expecting to find. They turned their attention to a large screen and ran through the emp's one by one until they found another one with a secondary pulse directly after it.

"There… Something responded," Serizawa stated.

"But what?" Dr. Graham asked.

"… The other spore," Serizawa responded.

"The other what?" Joe then asked.

Serizawa and Graham turned to him, and told him the story of the skeleton they found in the caves beneath the mine. They described the way the spores were latched onto the creature's corpse, and how they likely were awakened by the plant's radioactivity. The first creature, which was now being referred to as MUTO, tunneled away from the caves and made its way to the plant where it began feeding off of the radiation until it gestated.

"So, where's the other pod then?" Joe asked.

"We had it taken away. It was determined that it was dormant. So it was moved," Graham said.

"But moved to where?" Ford asked.

"Where we put all nuclear waste," Serizawa answered as the realization struck him.