Scourge of the Super-saurs
By C. L. Werner
Part VI:
Tokyo
'The Americans are still analyzing the battle in New York,' Major Hideki reported to a dour Commander Aso. The older Japanese officer shook his head.
'I take it that they have had no luck in finding this robot that was used to drive off Titanosaurus?'
'No, the machine, they call it Mechatron, has completely vanished. MARS admits designing the thing, but deny any sort of responsibility or knowledge that the robot had actually been constructed.'
Commander Aso snorted his contempt for the claims of MARS. 'I would expect them to take such a position.'
'Without the robot itself to study, the Americans are working largely on guesswork derived from survivors who witnessed the combat. Apparently, Mechatron threw everything at Titanosaurus except the kitchen sink. They are still trying to decide what attack was most effective and what finally drove the monster off.' Major Hideki bowed to his commanding officer and turned to leave Commander Aso's UNGCC office.
'Why would MARS deny knowledge of the robot?' Commander Aso mused.
'Sir?' Major Hideki responded.
'They drove off the monster. They saved the city. Why would they try to distance themselves from receiving praise for their actions?' Commander Aso wondered. Then an idea came to the old military officer.
'What if MARS was in some way responsible for Titanosaurus attacking New York in the first place?' Commander Aso looked over to Major Hideki. 'Check the other cities Mafune's monsters have attacked. See if there were any MARS owned properties which were destroyed. I have an idea that Mafune is not targeting cities for destruction. He is targeting MARS.'
A pallor crept into major Hideki's face. 'Sir, some of the UNGCC's weapons have been designed by MARS! They have a headquarters in Tokyo!'
Leathery eyelids snapped open. Rodan lifted his head and let a deep hiss seep from his fanged beak. The giant pterosaur could sense the presence of his enemy, near yet far away. Cackling his wrath, Rodan spread his massive wings and rose into the noonday sky. The terrible beast did not circle Ogasawara Island, as was his usual pattern, but instead flew in a northward direction. The flotilla of cruisers and destroyers, both American and Japanese, that had answered Dr. Otani's plea for military aid fired upon the flying monster. The enormous shells were woefully incapable of striking the swift moving target and the cruise missiles that impacted against Rodan's scaly hide proved equally incapable of downing the monster. Unhindered by the weapons of man, Rodan flew into the distant horizon.
In the command center, deep beneath the surface of the island, Dr. Otani watched as the flying monster left. The scientist shook his head, already imagining the incredible carnage the fiend would wreck this time. Dr. Otani looked over at the young psychic, Miki Saegusa, who slumped in a nearby chair, her brow drenched in sweat. The woman had tried to reach into Rodan's mind, tried to prevent the monster from leaving the island. But she did not share the same kind of empathy with the mutant pterosaur as she did with Godzilla. Rodan's feral mind was a strange and hostile place. Despite her best efforts, the psychic had not been able to hinder Rodan in the slightest.
'He senses Anguirus,' Miki gasped, trying to regain both her strength and her composure. 'I tried, but I could not stop him.' The young psychic closed her eyes, her head dropping to her chest.
'You did what you could,' Dr. Otani said, his voice soft and soothing. Professor Kashiwagi had warned both of them that whatever hold Miki had over Godzilla was unlikely to extend to the monster's aerial 'brother', yet it had been a risk both of them felt was worth the taking. Indeed, Dr. Otani had considered Miki's talents much less of a long shot than the multi-national navy now anchored off the island. As it had turned out, both long shots had failed.
Suddenly, the napping psychic awoke, her eyes wide with alarm. 'Godzilla is moving!' she announced.
'What?' Dr. Otani exclaimed in alarm.
'He is following Rodan,' Miki explained. 'I can't stop him, the effort of trying to stop Rodan was too much. I am sorry, I don't have enough strength to hold him, to keep him from following his brother.'
Visions of destruction and death appeared in Dr. Otani's mind. When Rodan had battled Anguirus, most of Moscow had been destroyed. How much greater would the carnage be if Godzilla's awesome strength was added into the conflict? What great city would suffer this time? Hong Kong? Peking? Seoul?
'Tokyo,' two tiny voices said in unison. Dr. Otani opened his eyes to see Professor Miura standing nearby. Hovering in the air between Miura and Otani was a giant moth, the size of a falcon, its fuzzy body glowing with a soft golden light. Upon the fairy Mothra's back rode the tiny twin priestesses of the ancient goddess.
'The monsters are all converging upon Tokyo,' the Shobijin announced.
'The man with great pain has sent all of his creatures to destroy his enemy in Tokyo,' Moll said.
'Rodan and Godzilla have sensed the other monsters and have gone to fight them,' Lora declared, nodding her head.
'All six monsters are heading for Tokyo?' Professor Miura asked. Both of the Cosmos nodded their heads in unison.
'We can't even keep Godzilla and Rodan from escaping this island,' Dr. Otani's voice choked. 'How can we stop six monsters from destroying Tokyo? The defense forces can barely repel a single monster, much less a horde of them!'
The Shobijin stared at the two scientists. Their faces were as grim as those of the two men. Moll and Lora met each other's gaze. A firm resolved smile set across Moll's face.
'The enemy will try to stop the pained man's creatures, but only even greater destruction will result from it.' Moll sighed heavily. 'We will ask Mothra to help.'
'Will she?' Professor Miura asked, concern warring with excitement for control of his voice.
'She is still very weak from the battle with King Ghidorah,' commented Lora, uncertainty in her voice.
'Yes, Mothra is very weak from the battle,' Moll agreed. 'She won't be able to defeat Godzilla or Rodan. But she may be able to force them to leave the city. The other creatures, too.'
'Mothra can do this?' marveled Professor Miura.
'Oh yes,' the Cosmos said in unison. 'Mothra has many powers to affect the will of other creatures. She can very easily convince the other creatures to leave the city. But it will take much of her energy and it will take her some time to do this. If the other monsters attack her while she is trying to speak with their minds, she may not be able to do it at all.'
'It is really our only hope,' Dr. Otani decided.
'Please,' Professor Miura said, 'will you ask Mothra to help us, this one more time?'
The fleet of yachts and small fishing boats moored to the pier were hurled into the air as the water beneath them exploded. A gurgling bellow sounded across Tokyo Bay as a giant, warty-skinned beast rose from below the water. Titanosaurus roared again, his trumpeting howl drowning out the roar of the civil defense sirens, calling the people of Tokyo to seek out the dubious safety of the city's manner bunker-like shelters. Missile and shore-defense batteries fired on the huge aquatic beast, but the weapons only succeeded in annoying the giant dinosaur. Left to his own devices, Titanosaurus would have retreated from the stinging attack, but another will had imposed itself over his own. Titanosaurus loomed over the JSDF forces and let his fanged jaws open to their fullest extent. A gout of hurricane-force wind smashed into the defenders of Tokyo, blasting soldiers and cannons into the streets of the city, huge howitzers toppling end-over-end like steel tumbleweeds. Titanosaurus bellowed again and leapt from the bay and onto Tokyo's waterfront district.
Deeper in Tokyo, buildings trembled and shook, glass shattered and rained upon the fleeing hordes making their way to the subterranean shelters. One group of citizens had nearly reached the yawning cavity of the rampway leading to the shelter for their district when the street buckled and the concrete shelter rose into the air before crumbling into ruin. A bright light shone for an instant, then a deep and terrible roar which echoed from the artificial canyons of the city. A cry of terror rose from the mob of refugees and frightened people ran in all directions, heedless of those who fell in the panic, those who were trampled beneath the press of horrified bodies. All the world remembered the terrible destruction of Paris and the horrible roar of the fiend who had devoured so many innocent people.
Baragon leapt from his burrow, an armored brown shape that landed in the midst of the screaming crowd, crushing hundreds beneath his awesome weight. The huge ears on either side of his almost canine face rose as his head darted from side-to-side, yellow eyes seeking out prey. Baragon snapped at the mob of people, raising his head to swallow a mouthful of writhing, doomed bodies. Baragon's hunger was insatiable, overcoming even the urge to destroy that fought against him. Now, the people of Tokyo would learn what it was to be the bottom of the food chain.
From Baragon's massive tunnel, two other enormous reptilian shapes lumbered into the open air. The gray-and-black shape of Gorosaurus was first, the theropod's wedge-shaped head craning to either side on his powerful neck, trying to spy the target of his master's wrath. Behind the mutant theropod, the armored Anguirus scuttled into view. Anguirus let a low, howl-like bark announce his presence before scrambling through the maze-like streets, heedless of the buildings he damaged in his progress or the debris which rained down on his spiky shell. Gorosaurus lumbered after Anguirus, content to follow the horned dinosaur's lead.
In the Hachiman building, headquarters of the MARS corporation's Japanese enterprises, in a dark, windowless room, a lone man sat. Wires and cables connected the man to a massive machine. The man's eyes were closed, his posture indicating sleep or meditation.
'The monsters are here!' a tinny voice screamed from a nearby intercom. The man's eyes snapped open at once.
'Finally,' Tetsuo thought. Like his counterpart in New York, Tetsuo was eager to put the technology of MARS to the test.
As Anguirus and Gorosaurus drew closer to the towering glass-faced monolith that was the Hachiman building, a high-pitched electronic whine split the air. The massive parking building beside the corporate offices of MARS crumbled, destroyed from within, the concrete crashing to the ground, causing a cloud of dust to explode into the air. The uncanny and seemingly spontaneous destruction caused Anguirus and his companion to stop. The urge still drove the two monsters on, but it was tempered now by a cautious wariness. The two reptilian titans tried to pierce the dirty brown fog, but their vision was not equal to the task.
A fiery blue beam of light lashed out from the cloud of dust, striking Gorosaurus. The theropod roared in pain, the violence of the beam knocking the dinosaur to the ground, devastating a row of restaurants and discos. Anguirus barked at the unseen attack, scrambling forward to engage this enemy. The dust suddenly lifted, the enemy stood revealed and the mutant ankylosaurus was momentarily stunned by the awesome sight of it.
The steel titan was enormous, over 60 meters of armor plated killing machine. Massive maser beam weapons acted as the robot's arms, a screen of black metal on its chest crackled with electricity. The dull white and gray machine took a step forward, before emitting a deep electronic warble. The sound was like a machine-copied lion's roar. The deadly weapons on the robot's arms aimed toward Anguirus, and fired. The resulting explosion nearly caught the fleet-footed dinosaur. Already, the robot was correcting its aim, allowing for its prey's unexpected swiftness.
The machine was called Cybricon, the second-generation of the technology which had resulted in its 'sister' dreadnought, Mechatron. The overall shape was identical to its earlier model, though the severe angles of Mechatron had here been curved, made more streamlined. Cybricon's form suggested some horrible twenty-first century samurai, and its dull red visor of an eye seemed to glare from the midst of a shogun's helm.
Anguirus charged the awesome machine, racing toward it, beneath the second devastating salvo of maser fire. The dinosaur barreled into the robot's legs, smashing into the armored plate. Anguirus closed his jaws about Cybricon's left leg, trying to wrench the limb from its socket. The dinosaur did not understand that its enemy was not alive, did not understand the tremendous force needed to twist the machine apart. He was frustrated by the inability of his teeth to sink into the cold metal skin of the robot, but rather than give up the attack, Anguirus tried all the harder, snapping several fangs as he exerted even more pressure with his jaws.
'No, monster,' Tetsuo laughed, 'you will not make a meal of us!' A thought from the robot's controller sent a surge of electricity coursing through Cybricon's hull, shocking the dinosaur monster clamped to its leg. At the same time, Gorosaurus rose from the ground, charging toward the giant weapon. Missile batteries above and below the crackling energy plate savaged the theropod, forcing Gorosaurus to abort his attack. The gray-scaled dinosaur snarled and bellowed, even as Cybricon's heavy metal foot kicked the stunned Anguirus from its feet. The killing machine stalked forward, its expressionless face unreadable. Deep within the Hachiman building, however, a maniacal smile spread across the face of Tetsuo.
'That is right,' the robot's controller mocked the two dinosaurs, 'you cannot harm us. But we can harm you!'
The crackling field of electricity dancing across the robot's chest became even more frantic, even more frenzied in its erratic movements. The speed of the dancing light seemed to increase. Then, Cybricon released the full fury of its most potent weapon. The electro-magnetic pulse, dubbed the 'Omega Storm' by the machine's designers, quickly spread away from the robot's chest. The destructive wave of force was visible only as a slight distortion in the air, like the hazy image of heat rising from a summer highway. The havoc it wrecked was all too visible. The Omega Storm's area of effect spread, until it had ravaged an area equal to four miles in a range of roughly 180 degrees from the robot. Buildings did not crumble under the assault, they exploded, brick and concrete shattering like glass, steel warping and twisting like wax candles. Anguirus and Gorosaurus were hurled hundreds of meters by the EPM weapon. Both dinosaurs were slow to regain their feet, dark blood flowing from their mouths and noses, from the corners of their eyes and the openings of their ears. Gorosaurus trembled, struggling to free himself from the carcass of an office building. Anguirus was only slightly faster in his recovery, barking his rage at the unmoving titan. The black plate on Cybricon's chest began to glow as the dancing electricity began to gather itself for another discharge.
But the second attack never came. Suddenly, a tremendous mass struck the huge robot from behind, knocking the awesome machine to the ground. A high-pitched, gurgling roar trumpeted across Tokyo. Titanosaurus battered the fallen machine with his long, powerful tail, caving in sections of hull plate and crippling several of the masers mounted on Cybricon's arms. Soon, Titanosaurus was joined by Anguirus, the armored monster charging into the robot's head, battering it with his crown of horns like a bull savaging a matador. Gorosaurus finally joined his fellow dinosaurs, leaping high into the air to drop down onto Cybricon's back, the dinosaur's tremendous weight further warping and damaging the machine's armored body.
In the Hachiman building, Tetsuo screamed in pain. The agony Cybricon's controller felt was imaginary, entirely psychosomatic. The computer genius had considered the massive weapon an extension of himself, a body more real than the flesh and blood one which now writhed in pain. Cybricon was a machine, incapable of any manner of emotion or sensation. His frail controller, however, could experience the robot's injuries for it.
Suddenly, the three super-saurs were engulfed in a massive shock wave, the blast blowing all three away from the toppled robot. The three dinosaurs looked skyward to see a giant shape circling overhead. Rodan cackled as he flew above Dr. Mafune's monsters, a cry of challenge, a call for revenge. Rodan met the gaze of the defiant Anguirus. With another hate-ridden screech, Rodan dove downwards, plummeting from the heavens to smite his foe upon the ground.
Murakoshi descended the mobile stairway. The tropical atmosphere of Costa Rica was humid and had a peculiar smell to it. Murakoshi had only a moment to take in his surroundings before the press of the other passengers leaving the plane forced him to proceed downwards to the tarmac.
The CIA agent had told Murakoshi much about his quarry. Dr. Mafune was an unqualified genius, if any further evidence was needed beyond the four enormous monsters that were ravaging the earth. The few 'experiments' the CIA representative had discussed with the Interpol agent were incredible, and chilling. The last trace the CIA had of Mafune's whereabouts placed the mad man in Costa Rica. That had been only a year ago. It was the closest thing Murakoshi had yet to find that might be considered a recent sighting.
The Interpol agent stared across the crowd of people gathered on the tarmac, people awaiting the disembarking passengers and new passengers waiting to board. For an instant, one figure stood out in the mostly Latino and Caucasian crowd. Murakoshi thought he saw a Chinese man, garbed in black, a white silk cravat around his neck, a pair of dark sunglasses hiding the man's eyes. Murakoshi thought that he saw the man smile at him, but when he looked for the man again, he was gone.
'Sir, Tokyo is being hit harder than we could have imagined,' the tinny voice reported from the speaker in John Latos' lavish office. The CEO of MARS stared out of the penthouse window, watching the enormous efforts of the National Guard to clear away the debris from Titanosaurus' attack.
'What is worse, Cybricon was damaged in the initial attack,' the voice continued. 'The monster Rodan has also appeared, although he seems more interested in attacking Mafune's monsters than bothering the city, or us.'
'Tell Harker to ready Mechatron,' John Latos' crackling voice drawled. 'Have Mechatron sent to Tokyo to assist Cybricon. If Mafune has committed all of his creations to this attack, then this gives us our best chance to end this unpleasantness once and for all.'
Within five minutes of John Latos' decree, a huge oil tanker moored off the coast of Rio de Janeiro was a scene of frantic activity. Workers scrambled to unlock the huge doors concealed as the hatches to the ship's great oil tanks. There were no oil tanks; indeed, the old tanker had been secretly rebuilt to serve an altogether different purpose. As the huge doors parted, the dull red form of Mechatron rose from his mobile hangar. The robot's jets lifted it into the air and before any elements of the Brazilian air force could arrive to investigate the strange and enormous object on their radar, the robot was already gone, speeding across the South American continent at a velocity far beyond human endurance.
Baragon howled again as his jaws closed about the speeding train. The evacuating people inside had thought to escape the rampaging brute, but instead, their flight had led them right into the monster's jaws. The ravenous fiend's fangs punctured the steel train car, shredding the side of the train. Baragon's thick, slimy tongue probed the cavity his fangs had opened, slamming into screaming refugees, dislodging some from their desperate grips on the train's seats, hatches and windows. Those displaced slid into the monster's mouth, and continued to plummet down his throat, swallowed alive and screaming.
Baragon finally decided that there was no more food to be had within the train car. He released his grip on the savaged commuter train, letting the vehicle crash to earth some hundred feet below. Most of those who had managed to elude Baragon's probing tongue were killed in the fall. The horrible monster howled again, sniffing the air for some sign of edible life, perhaps another train, or another underground shelter which the monster could burrow into and feast upon.
A blast of silvery-blue flame slammed into Baragon. The dinosaur was sent flying by the sudden blast, crashing into a towering high rise. Baragon shook the rubble from his armored back, snarling in rage, his ears alternately rising and pressing against the sides of his head as he tried to detect some sign of his attacker. A second blast of atomic fire smashed into the ravenous brute and a terrible, malevolent shriek ravaged Baragon's ears.
Godzilla emerged from behind a row of darkened buildings. He roared again, his voice filled with wrath. Baragon stared at the much larger monster, his own roar tremulous and somehow uncertain. Godzilla's shriek removed any question. He was not one of Baragon's comrades. And Baragon would not be satisfying his fearsome hunger with the flesh of the people of Tokyo any longer.
Godzilla stomped toward Baragon. For his part, Baragon reared onto his own hind legs, his roar more brutish, the uncertainty gone. Godzilla was not another of Mafune's creations. That meant that, as far as Baragon was concerned, the black-scaled leviathan was nothing more than food. The brute's tiny brain raced with thoughts of so much flesh. Baragon grinned, his huge mouth gaping wide. He would dine upon this strange creature's meat. Then he would seek out another of the bunker-like shelters.