Part 5 - Blood of the King
Chapter 90 - Phase Seven
Max and Teresa stood in the middle of a desert, staring up at the Scarlet King's supposedly ultimate form.
"I never thought I'd be staring at something the size of Godzilla." Breathed the former.
"Godzilla is very real, but that doesn't matter. Estimates put him at four-hundred metres."
"And he's just waiting? I thought you said he was going for the Crucible?"
"He was, but he's just staring at us now."
"And smiling. That's nightmare fuel, right there."
They watched the colossal seventh phase, and he watched them back.
"'Gott mit uns.'" Muttered Max.
"What?"
"'Gott mit uns'. It's Swedish for 'god with us'."
"I didn't know you were religious."
"I'm not. It's the name of a song I like that has some fitting lyrics."
"Oh?"
"'From the old world's demise, see an empire rise.'"
"Going off your winged hussars comment a while back, I'm guessing Sabaton."
"You listen to them?"
"No, I just know of them. Those are some fitting lyrics, but we aren't building an empire, and it should be plural worlds because this can only end badly."
"You've given up hope?"
"I know a lost battle when I see one. Time to do what all the militaries do in every Godzilla film: shoot at him despite the fact the previous million shots you fired did nothing but piss him off." Teresa tapped her com badge. "Open fire."
Max jumped and covered his ears as artillery guns let loose their barrage from the facility behind them. Khahrahk chuckled as they exploded all over him and did nothing.
"How is your father, Morales?" He asked Max as he began to walk towards them.
Another artillery barrage was loosed but he continued on his way.
"Yep! Not working!" Max agreed with Teresa's judgement, shouting to be heard over the booming of guns.
"We've hardly started! The next move might do something!"
A squadron of Ares jets roared overhead and the cannons ceased. The aircraft let loose missiles before breaking off to avoid a collision.
"Bunker busting ordnance." Teresa explained.
Max didn't reply; he was too busy watching Khahrahk redirect them towards the facility.
"Err...move!"
The pair ran in the Scarlet King's direction to try and get away from the resulting explosion. Teresa pulled Max down as the missiles detonated hurling debris high in the air. When the dust settled, they looked back at the damage. The artillery line was obliterated and much of the facility had caved in. Max spotted something glowing green in the rubble, but there were more pressing issues.
"Any ideas?" Teresa asked, picking herself up.
"You know that Moscow song meme?"
"There are a lot of those."
"The one with the guy standing in front of the trucks and he talks in a walkie-talkie and the trucks start firing rockets?"
"Rocket artillery is your idea? Sure, I guess. But not right now because it's not in this dimension and we're about to be trampled."
Khahrahk had picked up the pace from a slow lumber to a brisk walk. Max grabbed Teresa and fired a web at the giant, pulling them up as the place they had just been standing was crushed. He leapt down to the ground again and dropped her off, then swung back up as the Scarlet King stopped to pick up the Scarlet Crucible. Spider-Boy kicked him in the back of the head, but it had little effect; Khahrahk reacted as if he had been bitten by a mosquito, trying to swat him away. Max just dodged it, noting that despite his size, the giant's reflexes were as fast as a human's. The spider began to swing around Khahrahk's neck, trying to choke him with webs. His adversary stood up straight and reached for his throat from which he ripped the webs. Max went tumbling, having still been attached to them. A projection leapt up and caught him, snarling as they hit the ground.
"I owe you two, now."
"I don't keep tallies."
"That's zero, then."
Max jumped straight back in beside the projection that had re-appeared after Teresa's quick reply. He leapt in front of Kharahk's outstretched arm, catching one of his enormous fingers and pushing as hard as he could. The spider was all too aware the Crucible was right under his foot and he could feel it digging into him through his suit. The Scarlet King grumbled something in a strange language before grabbing Max with his other hand and trying to crush him between the palms of his hands. Thankfully, just like human hands, his palms were slightly indented and Spider-Boy just had room to breathe. He swung away as the clapping sound created a shockwave that knocked down what little remained of Site L07. The blast caught Max and he found himself, once again, in an uncontrollable tumble. He expected to owe Teresa zero again, but instead a golden wreath of flames appeared accompanied by a pair of golden wings and a ball of golden fire. Conall dropped him on the ground and flew up in Khahrahk's face. The Scarlet King narrowed his eyes.
"Loving the new horn. With all of those, you must be feeling a bit...horny."
"Really, Conall? Save the dirty jokes for later!" Gwen yelled angrily as she landed on the enormous red face.
Khahrahk snorted.
"I will take back what is mine. All reality shall burn and you cannot stop it. The Scarlet King's reign is..."
"Yeah, whatever. Learn to speak in the first person like the rest of us." Conall replied.
A gold beam of energy screamed from him, striking the King on the eyelid, which had snapped shut, and glancing off. Gwen had to jump from her somewhat tactical position to avoid it. Khahrahk smiled again as Conall ceased his attack.
"My reign is eternal."
"Well at least you perfected the first person before the cavalry arrived."
A cluster of temporal warps appeared overhead. From them emerged a fleet of dark grey warships emblazoned with the red Legion emblem. As soon as they were through, battleship sized cannons opened fire. Each shot had about as much impact as Max, but combined they began to enrage the giant. He lunged forward and grabbed one, tearing it in half and hurling each part into another before sweeping his arm across and knocking most of the survivors down in balls of fire and metal. The three remaining ship backed away, their guns blazing furiously. As Khahrahk made to destroy those, but he found himself blocked by Conall.
"Sorry, buddy. No more playing with your toys today!"
The King made to reply but ended up roaring in pain as Gwen stabbed her electrically charged katanas into one of his eyes. She jumped clear as Max swung past. He grabbed her web and slingshot her at the King's other eye. Their foe didn't react as much this time, merely letting out an angry growl. She dived clear as he made to swat her, extending her glide suit briefly before sticking onto the hull of one of the temporal battleships that was still pumping out energy pulses. She pulled off her mask, preparing to throw up as she saw what was happening to the King's face: his original two eyes had split in half to create two more. She was used to blood and gore, but this was next level disgusting. Max stuck on next to her, covering his mouth.
"If that keeps happening, it's gonna set off my trypophobia."
"I don't even suffer from it but the same might happen to me."
"But it looks like the eyes are his on weak spot."
"Yeah, but he's adapting to everything. His skin looks thicker, and he's got some sort of spikes on his neck."
"Those might be my fault. You seem happier, Mum."
"I'm in a fight. Once it's over I'll go back to being a depressed psycho."
"Adrenaline, I guess."
"I'm not a biologist." She tapped her com badge. "Can someone tell these ships to stop shooting? They're making it worse."
The ships ceased fire.
"Thanks." She turned back to her son. "Any ideas?"
"Get the Crucible out of here."
"I'm on it."
"Maybe not you."
"I'll defend it like I defend you."
"It's more you using it that worries me."
"Point taken. Venom!"
The symbiote and admiral leapt onto the ship with the spiders.
"Those eyes look very juicy."
"We won't thank you for eating them. Get the Crucible out of here." Max ordered.
"With pleasure."
The symbiote leapt, tearing down Khahrahk's leg as he fought with Conall's Ethereal punches and Teresa's projection. There was the sound of stone breaking, then a flash as Venom picked up the infamous blade, followed by a light show as he warped away. Khahrahk snarled as soon as the Crucible was gone. He punched the projection into the ground and swatted Conall away before disappearing through a titanic red crack. Max and Gwen joined the other two on the ground. Teresa was kneeling again, meaning she was either paralysed or was controlling a projection. A second later, the transparent replica appeared holding a green Plate that glowed gently. Gwen's eyes widened and she backed away. Max realised this was one of the infamous Ethereal Plates. All of the textbooks said they were lost after the civil war, although the truth was they were being contained and people's memories had been altered to make them less likely to try and find them. He stared at it in awe, knowing that without this he would not exist. The Plate of Trust governed stream seven from which both his parents, and he, were from. He slowly reached for it, but the projection snatched it away breaking his trance. Conall took the Plate from its hand and Teresa stood up, letting the projection disappear.
"Nobody other than Conall touches these. Your mother could, but her history with them hasn't exactly left her in great shape."
The former commander nodded over to where Gwen was sitting with her head between her knees, muttering to herself and rocking back and forth.
"What happened to the Crucible?" Asked Conall.
"Venom took it. We're not sure where, yet. All we know is Khahrahk doesn't have it." Max answered before going to try and comfort Gwen.
Conall threw the Plate up and caught it.
"Let's keep it that way."
"Your jokes might be repulsive enough to do it single-handedly." Said Teresa with a grin.
Edward, Robert and Lisa were waiting for the four when they returned to HQ. Gwen stayed well clear of Conall who was playing catch with the Plate.
"Where did you put the Crucible, Edward?" Asked Teresa.
"4314. I don't know why."
"We need a better plan. He adapted to everything you threw at him." Said Lisa.
"So, we need something he can't adapt to, or that kills him before he can adapt." Reasoned Robert.
"That's basically the same thing but with different words." Said Teresa.
"What about Godzilla?" Suggested Max.
He received a lot of strange looks, but Gwen nodded slowly.
"It might work. The guy is about the same size and has that atomic breath thing." She agreed.
"Any other ideas?" Asked Edward.
Nobody responded; Teresa clapped her hands together.
"Great. Now do we take the King to Zilla or Zilla to the King? I say the former; less work."
"I'm with you on that. Moving a hundred-thousand tons of walking nuclear reactor is nearly impossible." Agreed Lisa.
"Which means we need to get the Crucible and Godzilla in the same place so they meet and Godzilla goes for him."
"I'll get the Crucible and bring it to 9380. Make sure we have a lot of firepower, maybe some biothermics." Concluded Edward.
Max was a big fan of the Godzilla franchise, but seeing the real thing was not on his bucket list. Yet here he was, watching the most pissed off looking lizard in history as it stared down Khahrahk among the skyscrapers of Shanghai. Gwen looked even more frightened than him, but he didn't know why. She was sitting on a bench, muttering to herself. Teresa sighed as she spotted her.
"I'll be surprised if Godzilla doesn't take a bite out of her. The Empire created 'Protozillas' from the real thing's DNA."
"Why do you hate Mum so much?"
"I dislike her at the most, nowadays. If you wanted to see me hating her, go back in time twenty years. Oh, looks like the show is starting."
Godzilla let out its deafening roar. Khahrahk rolled his eyes.
"You are no 'god'. I destroyed those that truly held that title."
The titans charged at each other. Khahrahk brought his fist up into Godzilla's face but the lizard returned the hit with his claws. His dorsal fins began to glow blue, but the Scarlet King clenched his fist, ripping up a skyscraper with telekinesis and hurling it into his opponent's mouth and stopping the attack before grabbing the monster's throat and hurling it to the ground. Godzilla roared, but a foot silenced it. Khahrahk made to rip out one of its fins, but the oversized lizard was saved by a squadron of Ares jets that flew past, releasing bunker busting ordnance onto the Scarlet King's back. He roared in pain as a sizeable chunk of flesh was blown clean out, then clenched his fist again causing the aircraft to explode. By this time Godzilla had recovered from its daze. It reared up, knocking Khahrahk off his feet as it charged its atomic breath a second time. Khahrahk covered his face as blue flames engulfed him, but when Godzilla stopped it seemed the only damage done was to the surrounding cityscape. The Scarlet King grabbed his enemy by the throat again as he stood up. Godzilla tried to fight, but his enemy restrained the vain effort with ease; Kharahk lowered his head and rammed his spikes into the lizard's belly. When he retracted them and threw the beast away, it didn't move. Was Godzilla dead? It certainly looked like it. Max and Teresa exchanged a look before the former raised his mask and fired a web.
"No, wait!" The former commander tried to protest, but he ignored her.
Gwen came up beside her.
"Someone's got to do something."
"Get him back. We have one last trick."
"It better be good."
Gwen swung after her son and dragged him back. Khahrahk watched, amused, but said nothing. Suddenly, he whirled round only to receive a missile straight in the face from a lone Ares. The jet tore away as the device detonated; an orange bubble burst from the epicentre. Teresa had hoped the Scarlet King would turn into a pile of dust on the ground, just like any other creature which fell victim to a biothermic warhead. Sadly, there was no such luck. Khahrahk's eyes flashed and the jet, from which the warhead was fired, burst into a ball of flames. He looked around; then, satisfied there were no more jets to shoot at him, he set off towards where the Crucible was. Max shrugged Gwen's hand off and swung towards it. He reached it just before Khahrahk could pick it up and once again found himself trying to push back the biggest hand he had ever seen. Gwen swung down behind her son and grabbed the blade. She leapt onto Khahrahk's arm and sliced it across his elbow. The Scarlet King snarled as the weapon embedded itself, but it didn't kill him. It made sense now she thought about it: why would someone create a weapon so powerful that could be used against them? Then nuclear weapons came to mind but she shrugged the thought off; she was about to die: a enormous red hand fell towards her. Suddenly, a black and white blur knocked her out of the way. Venom dumped her as Max managed to web the falling hand to stop it from grabbing the Crucible. The symbiote leapt back up and tried to pull the weapon free, but it seemed firmly stuck. It and, Edward inside, became stuck as well as Khahrahk bent his arm to swat Max away like an insect. He stared at the symbiote, chuckling at his catch. He brought his no longer webbed hand down and grabbed Venom by the head. The symbiote snarled, thrashing around like a fish out of water. Gwen and a projection leapt onto Khahrahk's face, trying to attack his eyes. His other hand wiped them off before he threw Venom at the floor, ripping the Scarlet Crucible from his arm. It grew to an enormous size, fitting perfectly in his enormous hand. Edward had always thought he would be able to face death with no fear, but now he was looking straight at it fear was all he could feel.
"The Scarlet King's reign is eternal."
The Crucible plunged, certainly killing the admiral and symbiote as it embedded itself further and further in the ground. Teresa was almost certain she knew exactly what was going to happen. Gwen was picking herself up, groggily, having hit the ground hard. Max was lying, unconscious, a few metres away.
"Grab him and jump!" The former commander yelled.
Gwen glanced at Khahrahk and realised the danger too. She jumped on her son, hitting random numbers on her watch and pressing jump as soon as she had a strong grip on him. Teresa warped too as the world began to collapse, sucked into a black hole forming at the tip of the now glowing Scarlet Crucible. Energy flowed through the blade and into its wielder. Soon space itself began to warp, folding in on itself and being sucked into the void. After less than ten seconds, the Scarlet King stood in nothingness. He took a deep breath, slinging the Crucible on his back.
"I will burn every reality as I have burned this one." He spoke to whatever ghosts haunted the void.
Max was being shaken when he woke up. He found himself staring into his mother's distressed face. She relaxed when he came to.
"Oh thank god."
"Mum, where are we?"
Gwen looked at her watch.
"4045."
"Why? What happened?"
"I...think 9380 is gone."
"Did Khahrahk get the Crucible?"
"Yeah."
Max sighed.
"Crap."
Gwen still seemed upset. She stood up looked out at the vast landscape that stretched out beyond the cliff they were at the top of.
"What's wrong?"
"Edward is dead."
She closed her eyes and bowed her head, remembering everything the admiral had done for the multiverse. He had been there since she and Miles had first been dragged into the temporal wars, looking out for them. It would be a major blow to everyone who had served beside him in Sol Galactic Command and all the organisations that followed it. Max stood up slowly, feeling slightly dizzy.
"We have to get back to headquarters."
Gwen nodded.
"Yeah...headquarters."
Teresa was sitting on a bench, staring at a war memorial commemorating all those who had lost their lives in the civil war. A couple of days had passed since the battle. 9380's destruction was confirmed and the attempt to rebuild it with the Animator had failed. It had worked before to rebuild Middle Earth after its destruction by temporal missile now twenty-eight years ago, but it seemed the rules stopping people killed by the Crucible being brought back applied to dimensions as well. News of the tragedy had spread like wildfire, but Max had killed discussions of blocking the spread using amnestics as soon as the idea was conceived. Teresa watched a family place flowers by the memorial. An old lady sat down on the bench next to her.
"Did you hear about that dimension?"
Teresa nodded. She liked talking to old people; they usually had some pearls of wisdom and many of them suffered from loneliness, so it benefitted both parties.
"Trillions dead. It wasn't just Earth."
"You work for the Ethereal Legion, I see?"
Teresa glanced at the insignia on her shoulder.
"Yeah."
"Any idea what they may do to stop the thing that did it?"
"None. It adapts to everything we throw at it."
"Have you seen it?"
"I was in 9380, trying to fight it. How do you bring down something so indestructible?"
"These is always a way."
"Not always."
"I am certain that sooner or later a chance will come."
At that moment, Teresa's watch beeped. She read the message and frowned: 'SCP-999, abnormal behaviour'.
"I have to go. I wish I could talk longer."
"No worry. Things must be busy at the moment."
"More than people realise."
Crossovers in this Chapter
- SCP Foundation
- Godzilla