Part 3: A Kaiju Reunion

Chapter XI: Trouble With Blue Goo
Eric's older sister picked him up at the airport where she had just come in herself. Samantha too was with them, but not as excited and happy. Word had just reached her that her father had died while on a business trip in Japan. Some sort of hit-and-run accident. Eric felt awful for her, but couldn't help but contain his excitement as Jessica told him about what was going on.
"Your mom will be by to pick you up soon, Sam." Jess said back as the two teens followed her through the hallways of some large lab, its stereotype white walls and white jacketed lab technicians almost hilarious. "Until then, both of you'll just have to be dragged around. Sorry."
"Sorry, for what?" Eric snorted. "This is awesome!"
Jess looked back and grinned, although it wasn't completely real. Pain, fear, something of the sort was hidden behind it. But why, sis? What happened down there that upset you so much?
"Hey, where's Aaron anyway? You haven't even said a word about him." The two of them, although they didn't openly admit it or even express it, were so obviously in love with each other that to a point it was almost sickening. It was a rare occasion that they wouldn't be working on some project or hanging around together.
There was a small flinching in Jess's shoulders as she continued to walk down the hall in silence. "Try not to mention it." Mike whispered to him, shaking his head.
They were all silent as they ended their walk through a door that led into a room surrounded by monitors and status machines which in turn contained a glass wall encasing another, smaller lab. A tall, yet young looking doctor stepped into the first, larger room, sealed head to foot in a white biohazard suit.
"Hey, Jess! Long time no see." He grinned, striping off the gloves and tucking them under his arm.
"It's good to see you too, Lance." Jess smiled back, reaching into the small duffel bag she carried with her. "I wish I came on better terms though, I really need some help and..."
"Say no more, I am the man for the job!"
"Thanks, I knew I could count on you. Here."
Lance took the Tupperware-like container that she offered him. Eric shifted positions to get a better view of what was inside, but all he could see was some sort of metallic blue stuff.
A confused expression slowly crept up on Lance's face as he held the container up to the light and turned it, as if that would reveal what lay within. The blue substance shimmered and danced in the light, almost as if it were alive, dancing in the light. "Uh, can I ask what this is?"
"You can, but I wouldn't be here if I knew, would I?"
"Smart ass," her chuckled as he began to reglove his hands. "Okay then, since you put me up to the challenge, I accept."

Yawning, Eric reloaded the PAC-man game that he had been playing on one of the lab computers for the past almost two hours. Samantha had been picked up by her mom less then an hour before, and he had been offered a ride home. He would have accepted if he had known the stupid computer database thing would have taken this long. All the advances to computers, and you still had to wait forever for any sort of results.
Inside the glass encased lab, the blue stuff, which was now out of its Tupperware container and in various different tubes of all sorts, was hooked up to god-knows-what, all of which were somehow connected to the computer.
Every once in a while, Jesse would shake her head or tilt it curiously, where as Lance continued to shake his in disbelief. Any second now, Eric was willing to bet, it would fall off.
"This is... I don't even know!" Lance finally exclaimed in frustration. "I have no clue as to what this stuff is, and neither does the computer database. It's an organism all right, but it's almost as if its not. As if it hadn't even originated from this world!"
Jessica nodded. "Well, you're right there."
"Huh?" He asked, looking at her curiously.
"This blue stuff was found at the base of the hole where the Tsunagara rose from in Antarctica. I was just down there, and just from the past few days, its made a paradise of the hole. Strange tropical plants that have no right even existing down there are thriving as if it were Brazil. Aaron touched the stuff, and so did the Tsunagara, obviously. I'm not sure exactly what it will do to them, if anything. I'm sure it won't, but the Government obviously knows something about this, or is freaked out by this discovery as the rest of us.. They aren't giving me any answers, not even a clue as to where Aaron is, his condition or what's happening, so I think it's time we took matters into our own hands."
"Uh huh. The government. They aren't hiding anything about the Tsunagara from us. Why would they try and hide Aaron?"
"Well geez, its not exactly like they can hide the Tsunagara." Eric rolled his eyes.
Both scientists jumped at his voice, obviously forgetting that he was still with them.
"So then why hide Aaron?" Lance pondered, staring out at the substance attached to the numerous sensors. "They can't can't hide the Tsunagara, can't hide anything about it. The entire world knows as much as anyone else. So what is so important with Aaron? Why is he suddenly very special, valuable to him?"
Eric stretched, letting out a short yawn. "Maybe he can talk to it," he muttered grumpily.
Lance shook his head.
Jessica merely stared at him. "What?"
Worried about hitting a sore spot, Eric quickly apologized. "It's nothing, sorry. Just another outburst from your retarded brother."
"No, not retarded. Maybe, maybe it did do something to him."
Both Lance and Eric frowned. "What?"
Jessica wrapped her arms around herself. "Well, now that I think about it, it may not be talking with the Tsunagara as much as a telepathic connection.
"On the plane ride back to the states, Aaron seemed to be in a lot of pain, although nothing was physically being done to him. I first thought it was shock, but then he started saying things like he was being shot, and he was on fire, saying he was trying to reach a 'little one.' None of it made sense to me, so I contacted a doctor up in Upstate NY. He directed us to a hospital when we landed, and got Aaron in right away. He was still moaning and crying out.
"When we finally reached the hospital a bunch of stereotypical government types were waiting in and around the room. Freaked me out. But I know Aaron's never done anything to get himself into so much trouble the feds were involved, which suddenly hit me. Why were they there? It must have had something to do in that crater down in Antarctica.
"That's where I found this blue alien substance. It had somehow changed a harsh, frigid and void crater into a lush, tropical landscape, capable of surviving in the cold. It was... Beautiful, and impossible."
Lance and Eric sat wide eyed as Jessica completed her story. "And do the feds know you've been back to Antarctica?"
Jessica frowned. "Probably. All that stuff has to be cleared by border patrols before exiting and entering the country. The clearance codes are probably recorded at some government station somewhere. Why?"
"Who's to say they won't come after you?" Eric finally caught on, replying for Lance. "I mean, think about it! You actually have a sample of this weird crap. Obviously, Aaron touched it, just like it touched the ground in Antarctica. They're all connected by that," he pointed to the container which shimmered. "You found the missing link, Jess, and it's not going to take long before the feds come after you for it."
"Shit," Jessica smacked her forehead, pissed at her stupidity and her brothers incredible intelligent deduction. "You're right. Crap, I can't believe I didn't even think of that!"
"Great," Lance suddenly looked worried. "Jessica, this..."
"I know." She sighed, moving to pick up the Tuperware contained sample. "I'm going to leave now. Have to find someplace safe to hide this." She gestured with the container.
Lance nodded, leading them outside, Jessica hiding the container under her lightweight jacket. The group was quiet, Jessica's thoughts on Aaron and the possible trouble she had gotten herself into, Eric's on how to help his sister out. Neither could think of anything else good while they passed the same white walls and doors, the same stereotypical doctor-clad people that the had on the way inside.
"Jessica, I'm sorry about all this." Lance began to say as he opened a door. "I'll be wishing you luck, I honestly hope you can find Aaron and he's okay..."
Jessica smiled, ready to reply when she suddenly glanced at the sight outside of the double doors to the institute.
At least a dozen cars, all alike and black, sat surrounding the small parking lot. Men in nice, tidy business suits stood beside their doors, not quite the same looking as the men in the hospital, but close. These men looked more....mean, rugged. Like hired help.
The man closest to them, wearing a gray suit, unlike the others black suits, eased a gun out of a shoulder holster and pointed it at Jessica before she even thought about blinking.
"Miss. Langston, a pleasure to meet you. I believe my boss is waiting to have a word or two with you." He grinned as he said this, practically ignoring Lance and Eric.
"Oh? About what?" Jessica tried to act all nonchalant, as if having a loaded gun pointed at her wasn't anything out of the ordinary, as if these suited men were a familiar sight to her. "I'm still working on finishing my paleontology studies, I'm sure there's someone else more important your boss would rather talk to."
"No, I don't think so." The man frowned. He gestured to the open car door next to him with the gun. "If you would, please?"
Eric's mind was racing. In a way, this almost seemed like a greater danger than being in the shadows of a building right next to a nuclear-waste mutant. He didn't want his sister to eb taken, probably to wherever these people had taken Aaron. But did he really have a choice?
'But what if they don't know about the blue stuff yet?' He wondered, looking at the bulge Jess still had hidden under her jacket.
"Hey! At least give that back!" Eric quickly burst out, leaping at the bulge in her jacket.
Jessica, shocked, cried out, nearly hitting her brother. The man with the gun quickly gripped it in a stead, two handed position, swinging his aim onto Eric should he try anything. "What do you have under there, Langston?"
Eric yanked up the container, giving the man a glimpse of it before trying to shove it into his backpack. "Damn, you guys are jumpy. It's just my Jello." Still not in his bag, he wiggled it one more time infront of the guy, enough to make it jiggle and look like Jello before returning to the task of shoving it into the pack. A hard task to do when ones hands were shaking worse than wet dogs.


"I still can't believe you did that." Lance broke the silence, glancing from the road to Eric.
Eric shook his head, not really wanting to talk. "I couldn't let them have both Jessica and the ooze. Maybe we can use this to bargain with them?" He asked more than stated.
Nodding, Lance returned his full attention back to driving Eric home.
Alone.
Helpless.
He possibly held a bargaining chip in his hands, a chip to save his sister and her unofficial boyfriend Aaron. But how would he even get into contact with these people? And what if they really didn't give a damn weither or not a teenager wanted to bargain or not? They were the ones with the guns. They could just as easily shoot him and take it.
Suddenly, he wished he were back in Tokyo, Godzilla or not.