Disclaimer: Godzilla is property of Toho Inc. and H.E.A.T. is property of Columbia Tristar. (I think) Other stuff that's not from the show like the Ring of Fire and its agents are property of me so HA! Oh yeah, Phong is property of Mainframe Entertainment

Comments: First fic, I know it sucks, oh well

Category: Drama

Rating: PG-13, may turn R later

Bête Noire du Avenir

"The future is not determined by a throw of the dice. It is determined by the conscious decisions of you and me." - Phong

By dragonchic

Intro: It is ten years since we last left off with the H.E.A.T. After the apparent demise of Godzilla the team had unraveled and gone their separate ways. They never kept in touch; each of the members considered H.E.A.T. a closed chapter of their lives. Though the mutations seemed to have been kept under control on Monster Island, they have broken out and begun multiplying. Whether they like it or not, the former teammates paths will cross, and they will be working together once more.

PART ONE

Chapter One

A dejected looking woman with fiery red hair walked into the 401 diner and slumped into a booth. Yet another failed experiment. She looked around the diner where people were laughing, fooling around, and having a good time. "Stupid fools" she thought. They had no clue about what was going on on the other side of the world. Mutants were multiplying and thriving. The age of the monsters was on the horizon. The military had asked her to lead a research team. Five years ago she would've said yes without a second thought, but now her self-esteem had plummeted. Her failed genetics research was loosing all its sponsors; she barely had enough money for a new microscope. I'd just screw this up too she thought. She sighed and stared out the window, sinking further in her self-pity.

The gym was a hustle and bustle of activity. People were trying desperately to get in shape for summer. A tall, heavily built black man smiled to himself, he was probably the only one there just to keep improving. He set the bench press down and looked down at the brochure he had. He was on a guest pass, he didn't live in New York but he came here often so he got a guest membership. This gym offered him a free trial so he decided to try it instead of his usual one. He looked at his watch. 4:30. He might as well take a shower and head over to the 401 diner for a quick bite to eat. As he was passing by he saw a quick glance of a familiar face. The man had long blond hair tied in a ponytail. 'Mendel' he thought. Naw, it couldn't be, could it? He dismissed the thought and headed over to the showers.

The entire unit was lined up in ready positions. They were getting somewhat bored, this was their first time in America and they couldn't even go sightseeing in New York. Their leader, a stealthy dark haired woman, sighed. They were getting bored from being on the lookout for so long. But this was important; they had to be ready at all times. They were tracking the Ring of Fire, the most famous, richest, and dangerous circle of assassins in the world. She sighed, they were only here because of rumors of a member being here. Her troops were wondering why they would just pack up and leave France on some hunch. She normally wouldn't, but she was on an extremely important assignment. The rumors weren't of just any member, they said the Shadow Dragon was here. The S.D. was, arguably, the most dangerous and successful assassin in the ring. No one who was once his "target" had ever survived. She closed her eyes. But this was NOT where she wanted to be. She wanted to be on her self-assigned assignment, looking for Phillipe's and her husband, Jean's killer. And she tried to argue that, but they refused to let her continue. They feared that the fact that Jean had been her husband Phillipe had been so close to her would cloud her judgement and make her make decisions she would later regret. Of course she knew they were right, but that didn't help at all. Her heart wasn't in this case and therefore she doubted she would ever close it.

A hulky blonde man stepped out of the showers. He got dressed and went out to meet NIGEL. Not a person mind you, but a robot. The little guy had come a long way since H.E.A.T. It was the high-techest robot out there with three personal satellites, a radio to space stations, and a counterpart on the bottom of the ocean. The reason he was bringing NIGEL along was because of the robotics convention the next day. He was nominated for an award and needed NIGEL there to demonstrate some things in his display. And someone had already tried to sabatoge him by stealing NIGEL. Luckily, he got NIGEL back, but he wasn't going to take any chances. NIGEL was going to be his shadow until the convention was over.

The man had come a long way too. What was once a chubby, dweeby, wimp was now a muscular, brave, bodybuilder. He smiled to himself. His close friends, though, sometimes did see glimpses of the old him in him sometimes.

It was 5:33 in New York. Traffic was backed up with people trying to get home from work. A dark figure hid in the shadows of the back alley. It was too bright out, he'd have to wait until later. He had protested when assigned to New York, but a job was a job. He didn't want to come back here, ever. Too many memories. Many good, but all to many more recent ones horrible. He had let the team fall apart. If he had been half the leader he should've been they would still be together. But nothing seemed to work. He had tried, he had tried so hard to keep them together. But eventually, he had no choice but to disband. It was a choice he should have never had to make.

The diner was packed. People had comes there early to beat the dinner rush. Good idea, except that everyone else seemed to have the same one. The black man was lost in the crowd when he heard a waitress announce "Excuse me. Due to the overcrowding today we have gotten some volunteers who are already seated at tables who are willing to share tables with someone else. Is anyone interested?"

"Why not?" he thought. "Might even meet someone."

The redhead looked over her shoulder and saw a waitress leading a man towards her table. "Oh goody, someone to feel awkward and make small talk with." She didn't even look up as he sat down, not caring how rude she seemed. The man just picked up a menu and seemed engrossed in it. She looked up and her heart stopped. In a small voice she asked "Randy?"

He looked up. How did she know my na- then stopped as soon as he saw her. "Elsie?" Elsie just said "ohmygodohmygodmohygodohmygod oh my GOD! It really is you!" Randy got up and wrapped her in a hug. Until he heard an "oomph, happy to see me kiddo?"

"Sorry Else", he said sheepishly. She smiled. "Wow you look, damn…" she trailed off. "Been hitting the gym?"

Now it was Randy's turn to smile. "Yeah, a little how could you tell?" They sat down again ready to catch up on ten years worth of story telling.

The troops had been given a break; their morale was too low to do anything if the S.D. did show up. So here she was, strolling the streets of Manhattan like she did ten years ago. It was getting dark. She'd have to recalibrate soon, he was likely to show up. This would be a lot easier if they knew who his target was. She hadn't a clue, he might not even be in New York. She was lost in thought when a yellow whiz crashed into her. She crashed into the ground, face first. A little blood trickled off her cheek. She looked up disgustedly as she heard a high voice saying "Oh God Oh God I'm Sorry I'm sorry I'm so-Monique?!"

She froze when she saw who it was. Mendel. A very different Mendel, but definitely Mendel. A mixture of emotions flooded her. She was slightly happy, but felt awkward. She and Mendel had always been rather distant, the team the only thing connecting them. She had been a French spy while he was a well, how do Americans say it, a geek. But this guy was comparable to the Incredible Hulk. She got up and tried to think of something, ANYTHING, to say. Mendel made the first move by saying, "Hi"

"Hi." They just stared in silence for a while. Then Monique said "How you been doing."

"Great, just great"

"Great."

"Great."

More silence. She spotted a diner nearby. "Can I buy you a drink?"

Randy and Elsie had been talking for hours. They had so much to say to each other. The pair never realized how much they missed each other until they were reunited. Ironic, isn't it? Anyway, it was getting late and the diner was closing up. They got up to leave. "Wanna head to a bar?" Randy asked.

"Sure" she replied. They were on their way out when something caught Elsie's eye. "Randy…"

"Yeah?"

"Is that…NIGEL?!"

Randy whipped his head around. "Oh my god it is!"

"Well, you know, where there's a NIGEL there's a-"

"MENDEL!"

"Yeah exactly" Elsie began.

"No, over there, it's Mendel!" Randy cried.

She turned around and yelped "And French Fry too!"

They started to run over, then thought about the situation. How should they introduce themselves after ten years. They didn't have to because Mendel turned around and exclaimed "Randy?!Elsie?!"

They just smiled. "Good to see you Dr. C"

By now Monique had gotten up too. Before they knew it they were engaged in a group hug outside the diner. All of them chattering at once, they headed to the nearest bar.

10:01. The city was far from inactive, but it was dark enough to start moving. He knew there were some French espionage troops on his tail here, so he stayed put until now. He had no clue why they would follow him across an ocean. Or maybe he did. He was an assassin now anyway. But still, the Ring had plenty of agents in France. Why did they come here? As he thought about France his mind drifted back to something he tried to forget. Phillipe. He would never forget the day when news was out within the ring that they had killed him at last. He was the only one that wasn't celebrating that day. Instead he had gone up to his room and kinda stared off into space. How could this happen. He had always assumed Phillipe would be able to outsmart and outrun the Ring, he never thought they would actually catch him. But he realized that was a very stupid thought, no one could outrun the Ring of Fire forever. It was like running from your past, you could never get away from it. That was why he had joined the Ring of Fire in the first place. To get away from the failure, the shame of disbanding H.E.A.T. He was young and naïve then, he thought it would last forever. "Stupid" he chided himself. Nothing lasted forever. He was ashamed of how he couldn't cut it, so he ran. The Ring of Fire picked him up on the streets and before he knew it he was in training. He had never meant it to go this far. He thought they would let him go, never would he be their finest member. The Shadow Dragon. A heartless killing machine. But they were wrong, he was not heartless, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. He pulled hat down over his face, so it shadowed it above his mouth. The hat, the trench coat, the all black outfit gave him the look of one of those tippers in those old detective movies. Or maybe a drug dealer. He kept walking, keeping close to the walls of the alley until he heard a sound. He tensed and pulled his gun out from his trench coat. Turning around, he saw it was just a cat. He relaxed but kept his gun handy, just in case. His weapons weren't the newest technology, but they were extremely effective. He was armed with a year 2000 machine gun, but he hardly ever carried that around. The only things he always had with him were a 1990's handgun, throwing stars like those of ancient ninjas, and a katana. Of course, he was a helluva fighter as well. He looked up at the house number where he had stopped. 1387 Maple Leaf Blvd. This was it. He sighed and started to unlock the side window, wanting to get this over with as soon as possible.

Four fifths of H.E.A.T. were laughing and joking in a bar. Mostly at the metamorphosis of Mendel. "We've got a family reunion here, all we need is …"

"Hey does anyone know what happened to him?"

"No, I never talked to him after the breakup"

"I went to his apartment but he wasn't there."

"It's like he just-"

"Disappeared"

Silence. Elsie had been pretty quiet the whole time. Everyone else had been so successful. Randy was a government agent, who hacked into enemy computers and decoded messages. Monique was leading the top team of French espionage agents. Mendel, was, well look at the guy. She didn't know what the hell it was that he did but he sure improved since she last saw him. Now look at her. Here she was, a depressed, formerly anorexic, twice divorced, failure scientist. She sighed, her life was going downhill. Monique looked over at Elsie, why was she being so quiet? She stared for awhile then looked up at the TV "And just 5 minutes ago, Theo Drekins, the leading geneticist in the country was found dead in his home at 1387 Maple Leaf Blvd. Police are investigating and say they know who the killer is, it's just that finding him will be hard."

"Oh no, Dr. Drekins was murdered?" Elsie said. Monique didn't hear her, just paying careful attention to the screen. "And here's police chief Sayers, what can you tell us?"

"Well we found this symbol burned into the side of the victim." Monique's heart stopped as she saw the all too familiar circle with a black dragon in it. "Monique, earth to Monique come in French Fry."

"Take me there"

"Where?"

"1387 Maple Leaf Blvd."

"Why?"

"I will explain on the way."

The Shadow Dragon knelt in the gravel, washing the blood off his hands, while at the same time trying to cleanse his mind of his latest kill as well. A tear fell down into the water. Why had his life gone so wrong? He hated killing people, but he had dug himself into a hole and forgot to put stairs to climb back out. He knew the police were on his tail, but so what. He had never been caught in his life and he wasn't going to start with some sorry police force that couldn't even catch a cold. No one, except his victims, had even seen his face. He will never forget the looks of shock on their faces when he lifts his hat up and they see a young, handsome looking man with baby blue eyes that seemed like they could never belong to a killer. He looked much younger than his 37 years. But this was never a big deal since they were long gone before they could even scream. What he'd never forget was the look on anyone he had ever known's face just before the killing. There was the shock of recognition, than a look of pain and sadness that seemed to ask "Why?" He had to turn away as he brought the katana down. Those memories could never leave, he would never be cleansed. He was truly the Shadow Dragon, a child of Darkness.

"Monique, why are we going here?" Randy complained. Monique abruptly stopped outside a back alley. He was close, she could feel it. "Are all of you armed?"

"I'm not," Elsie said. Mendel threw her a pistol. Monique then motioned for them to sit down. "I am here on assignment, on the trail of the Shadow Dragon."

Randy's eyes widened. "THE Shadow Dragon?"

"Who's the Shadow Dragon?" Elsie asked.

"Don't you watch the news." Mendel asked. Elsie didn't reply. He gave an exasperated sigh and began. "Well see there's this thing called the Ring of Fire, the most dangerous group of assassins in the world. And the Shadow Dragon is the most dangerous agent of the Ring."

"He's on the ten most wanted list internationally." Randy supplied. "And no one's ever even seen his face."

"This guy sounds pretty dangerous French Fry, sure you can't take another case?" Elsie asked, sounding concerned.

"No, I can't. I tried to. But my superiors insisted I take this case. And I need to close this as soon as possible so I can get back to my case on Nemesis." She lowered her voice. "He killed my husband and Phillipe."

Everyone was quiet for awhile. "We're sorry Monique." Mendel apologized.

"Yeah, don't worry we'll help you get this guy, so you can get back to work on Nemesis," Randy reassured her. Monique could only manage a weak smile at their encouragement.

The darkness of the night cloaked him in shadows as he knelt in the ground looking over what he had acquired. This mission did not need anything for the ring; they just wanted him dead. But this guy had an impressive arsenal himself and he decided to keep a few goodies for himself. Two daggers, with specially designed handles for a good grip. He'd only need one, so he'd keep one at the Ring of Fire HQ where he was stationed. If he had a choice he would never go there again. But it's not like he had one. It was still painful for him to kill, but by now it was only a mild guilt, like that of telling a small lie to your parents when you're a kid. They were effecting him less and less. Pretty soon, he would be a heartless killing machine. He suddenly tensed. Someone was here. He glanced over his shoulder and saw four figures crouched in a dark corner. He frowned. They were experienced, they knew most assassins wouldn't see them there. But then again he wasn't like most assassins. He reached in his trench coat, slowly standing up, and drew out a throwing star…

There he is. Monique was so close to victory she could taste it. Randy took this time to check him out. He was about 6'2", taller than anyone else there. But he had an athletic build, didn't look too strong. "Don't worry Monique, Mendel and I can take care of this ourselves." Monique looked at Mendel, who nodded. She had heard stories about how whole squadrons couldn't take him down, but didn't they always exaggerate? She gave them the go ahead. Randy and Mendel slowly crept forward. "Man this guy isn't so tough, the newspapers just lie" Mendel thought. Suddenly, the Shadow Dragon turned around and two throwing stars came flying towards them, knocking the guns out of their hands. Monique and Elsie then shot and two more throwing stars aimed with expert ease knocked their bullets off course. "Damn…" was all Randy could manage. The Shadow Dragon then drew out his katana and expertly blocked the rest of their shots before knocking their guns away too. He started to run.
"Follow him!" Monique yelled. She then whispered, "Mendel, use NIGEL to cut him off" They then started to run after him. In the few seconds lead he had, he had gained an incredible distance. Randy jumped on an abandoned skateboard and had soon caught up to him. He then pounced on him. Then, to everyone else's amazement, the Shadow Dragon lifted the larger man up and slammed him into the ground. Monique and Mendel came next and with perfect aim he soon had Monique pinned to a wall by throwing stars and Mendel grimacing in pain from a shot that obviously wasn't meant to kill him, but still hit his arm. Elsie sighed and thought to herself, "Looks like it's up to me." At that moment NIGEL came around the corner. The Shadow Dragon stopped and just stared at the robot. "Now's my chance." She ran up behind him and tackled him to the ground. NIGEL fired a binding rope and before she knew it Elsie was tied to the most dangerous killer in the world. "Oh God" The others were coming back to their senses, but would they get to her soon enough? Elsie looked down at the assassin, whose hat had fell over his face and was struggling to get out of the rope. Using her teeth she pulled his hat off- and just froze in shock.

He was definitely different, he was more heavily built, faster, and a much better fighter. His face was different too, his bangs had grown longer and now fell lightly over his eyes. That was about the only difference. At first she couldn't believe it, she didn't want to believe it. But it was definitely him. After they had stared at each other for a while she barely squeaked out "Nick?"

On the other side of the world

Tony Hicks crouched in the grass. Like his father, Anthony Hicks Sr., he was the Pentagon's point man on mutations. He had been called down to help control the breakout on these islands. He frowned. The research team he had assembled was less than outstanding. He had hoped Elsie Chapman would volunteer to lead it, but she refused. Having her would have been great; she had gained all that experience from H.E.A.T. Actually, he was hoping to get Dr. Niko Tatopoulos to be the team leader. Who would be better than the leader of the world's finest mutation fighters? But he couldn't find him. He called all the former members, family, friends, even ex-girlfriends, in hopes of finding him. But there weren't even any government records past the disbanding of the team on him. He just disappeared. He was snapped out of his reverie by a giant foot crashing down next to him. He looked up and saw a huge, mutated bird screeching and flying high above the troops. He sighed. Coffee breaks over, time to go back to work.

Ring of Fire HQ, Richmond, Virginia

Miss Lei, as she was called, frowned. The Shadow Dragon was not at the designated pick-up area. He had to be transported to his next assignment. Mario wasn't going to like this. But what could he do. Mario, even though he was the boss, would have to follow the ring's ancient code for settling major disputes. The Circle of Death, an all out match between members. Two members were enclosed in a ring of fire to engage in a fight to the death battle. There was no running out, for you would be scorched in the flames. This custom was what gave the ring its name. Mario was a good fighter, but he couldn't compare to Nick. She smiled. Fighting wasn't the only thing he couldn't compare to Nick in. She was Mario's personal assistant and a friend of Nick's. Over the years she had got to know both of them rather intimately. What man would be able to resist the voluptuous Asian beauty? She walked over to Mario's office, ready for the spewing anger that would occur when he heard the news.

New York, New York

Nick could just stare. "Else?"

Elsie sucked in her breath. OH MY GOD. Randy and Mendel came running, over guns ready, followed by Monique. "See you in Hell Ring scum" Monique hissed.

"Stop!" Elsie cried.

"Why?" asked a confused Randy. "This guy is the most wanted man in the world."

"He's the most dangerous killer in the Ring of Fire." Mendel supplied.

"I just need this over with so I can back to my other case," Monique growled.

"What we're saying is he's taken so many lives, it's time we returned the favor," Randy concluded.

"Really?" Elsie said. "Well what if he was an old friend of ours?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Yeah Elsie, the stress of being a failed scientist is messing with your head. Who could this possibly be that we know?" Mendel added.

She cast a fierce glare his way. "Well why don't you see for yourselves," she said undoing the ropes and pulling herself and the Shadow Dragon up. The others got a good look at him and just stared in shock.

"Jefe?" Randy timidly ventured.

"Hey guys, it's been awhile huh?" Nick quietly said.

"Monique, you must have the wrong guy, this is Nick! He's not the Shadow Dragon!" Mendel cried.

Monique started to say something, but Nick interrupted her. "No, she's right."

There was a small stifled gasp from Mendel and he fainted right on the ground. heehee same Mendel

End Chapter One