Chapter 12: HALO Jump, Find The Warhead

Date: May 23, 2014

Time: 1615

Location: Military Headquarters in Oakland

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"Everyone… We have a crisis on our hands," admiral Stenz announced.

All of the soldiers and crew in the room watched him, each one carrying a face of dread.

"The nuclear warhead was successfully loaded onto one of our ships in San Francisco Bay and armed as planned before the MUTO managed to locate it and take it, sinking the ship in the process."

The others looked to each other and back to the admiral, not daring to say a single word.

"I have just received word that the warhead was armed with only ninety minutes on the timer, which leaves us with approximately seventy minutes left to find it and disarm it before San Francisco becomes a crater."

A few faces went pale, swallowing the lumps in their throats at the thought.

"Captain, what do have to work with?"

"Sir. The MUTO emp capabilities render all manner of transport useless save for one. A high altitude leap."

"A HALO jump?" Stenz asked.

"Yes, sir."

The admiral nodded, and it was at that point that Ford was brought in from his checkup with the medic.

"Admiral Stenz, this is lieutenant Ford Brody. He was the only EOD officer to survive the train incident."

The admiral shook hands with Ford.

"Glad to see you safe son, but we need your help again."

"Yes, sir," Ford responded.

The admiral looked to the captain and asked him to gather all of his men for a briefing, Ford included, and then they'd get them loaded up and in the air as soon as possible. It took all of two minutes to gather the teams, and Ford joined them outside as the admiral stood before them for the briefing.

"Gentlemen you are being sent in via HALO jump. Now I realize not all of you have hands on experience," he started.

Ford looked around for a moment at the faces of the others around him, wondering if they were really ready for what was to come.

"But frankly, none of us have ever faced a situation quite like this one before. But I would not be asking any one of you to take this leap if I did not have complete faith in your ability to succeed," the admiral continued.

Ford looked back to the admiral.

"Your courage will never be more needed than it is today."

Ford took in a breath, letting it out on a sigh through his nose as he nodded in acceptance of the plan to himself. The sooner they got in the air and made it into San Francisco, the sooner they would find the nuke and he would be that much closer to ensuring his family was safe.

"Godspeed gentlemen," the admiral said, looking to the captain.

"Alright everyone, before you leave know this: we have no extraction plan. If you don't make it out, you won't be coming back. This is a one way highway into Hell gentlemen, so good luck and stay frosty. Dismissed!"

Ford and the others all geared up as fast as they could and made their way to the nearest transport plane. Ten minutes of flight time to their required altitude, flying faster than regulation and pushing the plane to its limits, saw them to their designated altitude of thirty-thousand feet. It was well above the MUTO's sphere of influence as far as their natural emp capabilities. The back of the plane opened, and Ford stood up to fix his helmet and goggles into place as he waited for the signal to leap out of the plane with the others.

The alarm blared, and the soldiers all ran to the back of the plane and took the leap.

Within moments, the only sound in Ford's mind were those of his own breathing and the sounds of the wind blowing passed his ears. It was an eerie silence save for the wind. Falling at terminal velocity caused the air around his head to cancel all sound from being able to make it through with clarity. Ford looked down towards the clouds below him and saw occasional flashes of lightning which didn't bode well for their descent.

The fall was almost like slow motion for Ford. Every moment that ticked by tugged at his mind and his sense of anxiety to get to the ground as fast as possible and find the nuke to get it disarmed or out of the city if they couldn't disarm it. His sense of time was slightly distorted by his adrenaline, but each moment felt like a minute to Ford before he and the others finally broke through the clouds and saw the city of San Francisco had been turned into a sea of flames. It was disheartening to see so much destruction beneath them.

Their descent came with its first tragedy when a bolt of lightning struck one of the soldiers near to Ford, killing him almost instantly and making his body go limp and turn onto its back with arms and legs flailing upwards in the wind as he raced towards the ground. There was nothing they could do now. All they could do was focus forward and continue their mission. Ford looked down just in time to see the image of Godzilla fighting with the male MUTO. Ford just missed the male MUTO being thrown off and away by Godzilla as the larger monster opened its mouth to roar. Ford still heard no sound though, even at the incredible volume Godzilla was capable of producing.

Ford reached the point where he opened his chute and began descending slowly towards the ground. He guided his chute through numerous skyscrapers, some in tact and others demolished. He went forward and had to steer clear of one building which began collapsing as he approached. The site was horrifying, almost as if the descending building was aiming for him and changing its trajectory to keep pace with his descent. He narrowly avoided ripping the chute on the edge of the building roof as it passed him and fell to the ground beneath him. He let out a deep breath as he focused eyes front to keep watch on his descent point. Once his feet touched the ground, his chute was off, his weapon up, and he was ready to move.

He jogged through the streets towards the rally point, hearing the male MUTO's roar coming from behind him and seeing the shadow of Godzilla's spines to his left against another building. The sounds of the monsters roaring and fighting in the background was nothing short of terrifying. Ford was a good sized man at around 6' with a good amount of muscle, but compared to these monsters he didn't even register. He was but an ant beneath their feet not even worthy of being called a distraction.

He kept his gun up despite its total lack of efficiency against these creatures, and as he kept running forward he heard a sound he was hoping never to hear. The sound of Godzilla and the MUTO engaging in combat very close by rang out through the fiery night sky before Godzilla came smashing through a building ahead of Ford bringing the entire structure down as the monstrous creature recovered its balance in time to reach out with his left arm and shield himself from a dive bomb by the male MUTO. Godzilla grabbed it by the shoulder in his mouth and whipped it around to throw it off to the other side before stomping through another building after it.

Ford had been so close to the falling debris that he actually got struck in the back by a few stray pieces of it. Thankfully they were relatively small and only knocked him down, but still it was far too close for comfort. Ford took a moment to catch his breath before he got to his feet and climbed over the debris. It took about a minute and a half to two minutes to get over it, but once he was cleared he saw his teammates ahead and ran to catch up with them. Once he made it, they took a moment to do a headcount.

"Everyone here?" The senior officer asked.

"Everyone except for Stills, sir," another soldier responded.

"I saw Bravo team heading off to the east down those streets," another soldier added.

"Alright, where's the nuke?"

One of the others got out a device to track the radiation of the nuke, and pointed up the road.

"It's about one kilometer away sir, up this road."

"Right, move out people!"

Everyone hustled down the street, jogging at a good pace as they neared their destination. More roaring, explosions, and the decimation of buildings around them continued to toy with their fears and anxiety as a unit. Every time a roar went out, they stopped for a second to see where it was coming from. When they heard a building go down, they braced for impact as it struck the ground. They continued on for about five minutes longer before reaching their destination. However, they hit something of an issue. The female MUTO was in their way tending to her nest as she laid the last batch of eggs into the underground.

"Everyone hold position," the senior officer called as quietly as he could.

The soldiers took up positions behind cars and debris, hoping she would leave soon so they could reach the warhead.