Humanity's Stand

Meeting Madness

Soft splashes and drips filled the early morning quiet as gentle rain fell upon the exposed landing pads of the Shatterdome. The sky above was clouded and grey, casting a smooth parlour over everything in sight. Crews and maintenance workers were moving back and forth amongst the aircraft on the pads, a leisurely air amongst them, as they were unaware of their top bosses hanging out nearby. And once again Pentecost and his fellow members of the GDF council found themselves waiting for some important visitors, though it was an open question of which group of visitors would arrive first.

"A gorgeous morning don't you think gentleman?" Tachibana remarked, a faint smile on his face as he stood in the open without an umbrella, letting the rain strike him freely.

Gordon huffed at him, even though he also wasn't covering himself from the elements. "Gray, dreary, and cold. Yep, perfect morning in my opinion. Remind me again why we had to settle our headquarters in Asian Seattle?"

"Location," Pentecost answered. "We're in a port city on the edge of the Pacific, which is where the vast majority of kaiju live and attacks occur. Singapore is only a few hours flight from Japan as well, which seems to get a disproportionate amount of attention from the kaiju. An American base would have been seen as favoritism, and Hawaii is too exposed and unstable to use anyway, given it's a still active volcano and a fair few monsters have no problem living in lava tubes."

Another huff of annoyance was Gordon's response, though he did seem a bit mollified by Stacker's words.

"What I want to know is why my country is always the one hit first," Ozaki good-naturedly complained. "Did the original Godzilla's attack on Tokyo mark the country as 'good kaiju territory' or something?"

They all laughed, throwing off the dismal memories that accompanied the statement. For several minutes they all stood together in the rain, allowing themselves this moment to relax from their perennially busy lives. Gordon gave a rumble and shuffled under his coat. "I could use a smoke."

Ozaki rolled his eyes at him and asked, "Run out of your precious Cuban brand there, Gordon?"

"Hardly." Gordon withdrew such a brown tube of tobacco from one of his pockets, shielding it from the rain with his hand. "I'm just afraid that if I strike a match for 'em it might ignite the atmosphere." Gordon's look shifted to stare at the Marshall from the corner of his vision, his heavy brows narrowed at him. The other Council members also looked to Stacker as well, realizing the sharp point Gordon was jabbing at him.

"I'm sure you won't need to worry too much about that," the Marshall answered diplomatically, keeping his own gaze firmly locked out on the bay.

"Oh really? Wasn't so sure anymore after that meeting you had last week. Seemed to me that lighting up the atmosphere suddenly became possible again after every scientist in the world said no back in the fifties. Unless you're saying you know better than physics somehow."

Pentecost sighed, his stiff stature weakening for an instant. "If you have a point Gordon, I suggest you make it."

"Why lie?" Tachibana asked. "I didn't realize it at the time myself, but you obviously know that saying Godzilla and Xenilla igniting the atmosphere with their fight was impossible, so why did you say it at all? Why make the situation seem worse than it was?"

Stacker turned to look at his fellows, his face reflecting the downcast clouds above them. "The situation was that bad, but not in the way that everyone thinks it was. Tell me, Admiral, do you recall how eager much of the UN council was to launch the Dimension Tide, regardless of the fact that our erstwhile allies would likely be caught in the crossfire? How many political groups were vocally demanding that we break ties with all kaiju and treat every monster as the enemy, regardless of their history?" Pentecost's eyes grew dark as he leveled his gaze directly at Tachibana's face. "That you yourself voted yes on the order when pressed."

The Admiral paled at the accusation and looked away. "I… yes. I recall that much. And I can't say that I'm proud of it. But I've seen the kind of devastation that kaiju can cause close hand Marshall. And a chance to be permanently rid of two kaiju who have personally ordered or caused much of that damage was too much to pass up. Even with the risks involved. Besides, that doesn't answer the question. Why lie?"

"Because if I didn't, our war with the kaiju would likely have extended past the Mutations and onto the Defenders and Neutrals as well. You all know as well as I do that the people are restless and eager to be done with their fears, even if it costs them dearly to remove them. Xenilla's endless directed raids have kept the world on the knife's edge of panic for too long, and humanity is sick of it. If you had asked the regular person on the street what they thought of kaiju, they'd likely say they all need to be killed. That they're too big a threat to be trusted. If that view had continued then war with all kaiju would have been inevitable."

Ozaki folded his arms over his chest. "That's all well and bad, Stacker, but that only explains why we were willing to launch the DT, not why you would lie about the stakes to them. Nor for that matter does it explain why you hid its true nature as a wormhole launcher from us."

"I hid the Dimension Tide's power for the simple reason that I hoped it would never be used, as well as the fact that I was sure it wouldn't matter if the kaiju survived going through. There would be no way for them to return, so the outcome would be the same as if they died. The only change would be the slightly lesser weight on my conscience of knowing they may still have lived."

"But the rest of the world didn't know that," Stacker continued. "Just as none of you did. All they saw was one of humanity's weapons killing some of the most faithful and heroic kaiju our planet has ever seen just because we didn't trust them enough to do their job themselves. And I don't need to remind you of the backlash we got from that, now do I?"

The other Council members showed varying levels of annoyance at the memories of the prior week's unending news reports, blog posts, video rants, and reams upon reams of letters and emails inundating the GDF's public relations department. Whatever reaction they had been expecting beforehand, none of them had been prepared for the vitriol and sheer outrage people had vocally thrown at them. Especially Gordon, who most seemed to tag as the main perpetrator for some reason.

"From the way they were acting you'd think I was there personally stabbing Godzilla in the back," Gordon grumbled while stomping his foot on the steel ground.

"Precisely," Pentecost said. "The people realized just what they were asking for and got, and suddenly they learned that the situation wasn't as black and white as they thought. Suddenly, humanity were the bad guys. Not only that, but then the rest of the Defenders continued to fight on our behalf during the Mutant rampage, showing they were still loyal despite our betrayal. How many human countries would have done the same in their position?"

Tachibana poked at his chin thoughtfully. "So that's why you approved the launch. You were hoping to prove that the Defenders weren't actually a threat and make people give them a chance."

"That was a hell of a gamble then," Gordon said. "If Gamera or any of the others had known it was us that launched the DT at the time, they might not have fought the Mutants or even have outright turned on us."

"It was a risk, yes, but it was the only option I had at the time. If I had refused the launch, then it was very likely that several of our backing nations would withdraw their support and jaegers from the GDF, or even pursue their own avenues of defense. Humanity cannot afford to be divided at a time like this, not with the Coalition still looming in the distance and the Mutants at large."

"And the 'atmosphere exploding' thing?" Ozaki asked. "Why bother upping the stakes of the fight that much?"

"So those who continue saying we shouldn't have fired at all will be mollified enough to keep trusting the GDF to do its job. I wanted people to realize the mistake of demonizing all kaiju, not end up demonizing ourselves. By saying it was necessary the public will think that it was wrong but an unavoidable event and move on to try and fix the mistake, rather than ask why it happened in the first place. Simple lies are often the easiest to make. Just replace the atomic bomb tests with 'Godzilla' and 'Xenilla' and you have the word needed. Besides," Stacker affected a smirk, "they were all too busy talking about the kaiju being turned into ponies to care much about one odd but obscure scientific statement on my part. "

The council all groaned in unison as they recalled that particular tidbit. Gordon chuckled then clapped Pentecost on the shoulder. "Remind me never to play chess with you, eh?"

They all shared another laugh, settling back into a pleasant atmosphere even as the rain continued to lightly tap down upon them. After several minutes of relative quiet in the distance they could see a tilt jet moving towards them, the Monarch insignia branded on its side.

"Any idea what Serizawa's sitcom arch-rival has in store for us here Stacker?" Tachibana asked.

"None whatsoever," Pentecost answered, though the way he said it suggested otherwise. The other Council members decided to allow him his secret and focused on the jet landing in front of them. From out the rear door walked three people, at their head the final member of the Council. Stacker stepped forward with his hand outstretched, saying, "Pleasure to see you again Ishiro."

The well dressed Japanese man took the hand warmly. "I feel the same Marshall. It has been far too long since I've been back here. Flying around the world every week becomes stressful after enough time."

"I'm sure. Any new developments for Monarch recently?"

Serizawa nodded then waved back to the other two passengers who had disembarked with him, one a diminutive pale blonde haired woman wringing her hands endlessly, the other a very tall younger woman with stark white hair and curious red eyes. "Miss Johnson's team have made some progress as of late on a new energy material based on the Alien Coalition's power plants, though they tell me they have made improvements based on things they have discovered here on Earth. The exact details are a bit unclear to me, but the potential of the material is astounding."

"More power is always good," Gordon said. "Even better if we can shove it into our current stuff."

"That would be the hope." Serizawa turned to the pair and said, "Miss Johnson, would you and your assistant please gather your materials so we can discuss everything inside."

"We're coming, Ishi!" Joanne smiled weakly, stopping her hand wringing and attempting to lift up a rather large, heavy-looking metal suitcase. And tried again. And again. "Dang lead lining," they could hear her curse. She tried a fourth time, before her assistant finally got tired of the attempts, lifting the case effortlessly in one hand.

"Thanks, Lady Darkveil." Joanne smiled at her, letting out a slight squeak as the suit-clad woman grabbed the smaller doctor and hoisted her onto her shoulder, steel stiletto heels clacking loudly as she walked down the plane's ramp.

The Council all looked at the sight with bemusement, Ozaki asking Serizawa, "Is it entirely necessary for her to be carried like that or is it just some joke between them?"

Serizawa sighed. "Joanne is a brilliant scientist, one of the best in her field in my opinion, but her sense of direction leaves many things to be desired."

"And she can't just follow us because?"

The older Japanese man smiled. "I have been told that she often has trouble navigating around her team's ship. A ship she helped to design and watched being built. There have been times when she was on the Discovery that she lost track of me on the way from the landing deck to my office. Which is in the tower island. On a carrier."

"Way to rub it in, Ishi," Joanne sighed, clinging to her assistant's face. "C'mon, Sal, you can put me down now, I'm not gonna wander off out here. Honest. Pinkie swear."

The assistant gave her boss a flat-faced look with one eyebrow raised ever so slightly.

"Yes, I mean it this time. Really, I'll keep my eyes on you and everything. No wandering off, I promise."

The two looked at each other a moment more before the assistant finally put Joanne down with practiced ease. The Council was about to follow them off the helipad and back inside when one of the lookouts called out.

"Kaiju waves spotted. They're almost here!"

People all around the pad moved to the edge to catch a glimpse of the coming waves, while the Council and their visitors gathered for their own look.

"They're early," Tachibana said. "They weren't supposed to be here for another few hours."

Gordon shrugged. "Means we can get it out of the way early. Better for us."

"I wonder what this new kaiju is like," Ozaki said with closed eyes. "Gamera's statements on their assistor were rather vague."

"Oh I'll tell you what they are," Joanne mumbled darkly. "They are so, so grounded."

Serizawa patted Joanne's shoulder. "Easy, Miss Johnson. She was doing what she thought was right."

"And went against her mother's orders to do it! I explicitly told her absolutely no fighting until she was ready, but then she just barrels off to God knows where without telling anyone. She could have been hurt, or killed, or… or…" Joanne held her face in her hands, breathing deeply with controlled shutters.

Sal ruffled the small doctor's hair to help calm her down, smiling at the annoyed glare being leveled at her.

"Sal, don't do that! You know I don't like people messing with my hair. Still… thanks. I'm… better now." The doctor's gaze turned back to the oncoming waves and her angry look returned. "I'm still mad at her though."

The Council watched the small drama unfold with varying degrees of awkwardness, trying their hardest to keep focus on the kaijus' arrival. "Hold on… did you say mother?" Ozaki asked.

Joanne and Serizawa shared a look while the doc gave a weak chuckle. "Eh heh. Funny you should mention that…"

The conversation was cut off as a torrent of water exploded over the edge of the pad, drenching everyone nearby in an impromptu shower of salty spray. While the humans were all trying to clear the bad taste from their mouths a trio of large shapes loomed over the pad. Zilla and Titano were the first to appear, climbing up the rock face near the pad and taking a seat on the open ground. Both seemed much the worse for wear, covered in burns and scratches that were only barely healed. One of Zilla's arms was twisted in the wrong direction while Titano was missing a large amount of her fins. Despite that, both seemed to be in a good mood, as far as the humans on the pad could tell.

Ozaki closed his eyes again and held still for a moment before breaking out laughing. "She, ha ha… She actually did that?"

"Did what?" Pentecost asked, the rest of the council seeming just as interested.

"Heh heh, you'll see. She's just about to show herself." Ozaki pointed over the edge of the pad. Though hesitant at first, the Council, and indeed everyone else, leaned over once again. Sitting just below the lip of the pad was a third kaiju, smaller than Zilla and Titano. In fact, it looked like a younger Titano with slight odd changes here and there. A shorter muzzle, larger eyes, five fingered hands. Almost… humanish features. Then everyone stumbled back as they heard a voice in their head.

Ow. Jeez that hurt. How did I not see the wall right in front of me? Stupid Zilla distracting me with his joke. Gah, I hope no one notices I did that. The female voice paused as the kaiju happened to look upward and see all the human faces staring down at her. Oh. Crap.

"Tytanna!" Joanne yelled out, waving her hands wildly. "Are you alright dear? You're not hurt are you?"

Mom? The kaiju startled and stared at the blonde in what was obviously shock. What are you doing here? I thought you were still on the Langoud?

Joanne planted her hands on her hips and glared down at the kaiju, everyone else staring on with equal shock to the monster below. "If you thought you could escape me just by hiding out with the GDF you have another thing coming missy. You deliberately disobeyed me by leaving, even if it was for a good cause."

But… but mom I needed to go. The entire dang world is fighting right now. I can't sit it out just because it would be dangerous.

"That's not an excuse for leaving without telling me!" Joanne shouted back.

Serizawa tapped on the doctor's shoulders and said with surprising politeness, "Miss Johnson, perhaps it would be a good idea for you to have this conversation in private. Away from prying eyes?"

Joanne paused for a moment and saw that everyone on the pad was staring directly at her, expressions ranging from amusement to bewilderment to plain scared. She blinked for a moment at the attention then wilted back into her prior meek stance. "Um… perhaps you're right, Ishiro. We'll, uh, we'll finish this talk later sweetie," she said over the side. "Just, um… just hang out with Zilla and Titano until we get back."

"I'm afraid that won't be possible Miss Johnson." The doctor jumped at Pentecost's deep voice, his gaze narrowed intently upon her. "Zilla is required elsewhere at this time, though he will have to hang back somewhat until his injuries can be healed. As for Titano…" The Marshall turned to Ozaki and inclined his head toward the two kaiju on the hill. "Mind translating for us?"

"Sure thing sir."

The Council all felt the familiar touch of the telepath's mind in their own, hearing the tail end of a different conversation coming from the giants behind them.

… not like I meant her to hit the wall. I thought she was paying attention.

And that makes it all better how, exactly?

Oh come on, it's not like the hit would hurt her. She could probably headbutt the steel until it breaks if she wanted to.

It's the principle of the thing, Z. You shouldn't have let her just smack into the wall like that.

Seriously, how is that my fault?

"He has a point you know," Gordon said aloud, his words channeled through Ozaki to the kaijus' heads. "It's her own fault if she wasn't paying attention."

I was distracted! Zilla and Titano shuffled around a bit to make room for Tytanna, who was crawling up onto the rock with them. I just met my second mom earlier today and was preparing to meet the GDF. You know, the guys who basically run the planet. Of course I'm going to be distracted.

Tachibana chuckled. "I wouldn't say we run the world, Miss Tytanna, so much as make sure everyone works together properly. Beyond that, your assistance of our forces in the South Pacific more than proves your allegiance and skills, so I'm sure you have no reason to worry."

Pentecost stepped forward from the group and cleared his throat. "Miss Titano, while you are here I feel the need to apologize for the GDF's prior history with you. It was never our intention to use telepathy to control kaiju in the manner that you were afflicted with, nor would we ever wish to treat any creature, especially one of our allies, in such a manner. I understand if you still feel betrayed by what occurred, so I ask only that you understand that those were the actions of one disturbed man, never humanity as a whole."

The aquatic dino was silent for some time, many of the pad workers growing nervous under her intense glare.

Your apology doesn't make up for what happened… but I still accept it. I'll admit, I may have acted much worse to you all than you probably deserved, and the fact that you were still willing to help Ob in spite of it… That means a lot to me. She sat back against the mountain side, arms folded over her chest. I still won't fight for your GDF or humans, but I will help you if you need it. Besides, she said with a smile while patting Tytanna on the head, I have one of my own to take care of as well.

D'awww, c'mon! Tytanna leaned into the larger kaiju and gave her a one armed hug.

A sigh come from among the group and the Council turned to see Joanne smiling up at the two of them. "I always hoped we could get those two together, but with the way Titano felt about humans before, it just never seemed possible."

Salindra smiled and patted her boss on the head, letting off a light giggle as Doctor Johnson attempted to swat her hands away. "You just stay right there, Tya. Once I'm done talking with the Council we've got a lot to discuss you and I." Joanne shouted.

Tytanna appeared mollified for a moment, then brightened and said, Wait up Mom, I'll come with you! Giving Titano one last squeeze Tytanna left the hug and crawled over the rock towards the pad. The various crewmembers startled in panic and ran off, leaving their forgotten tasks behind immediately. Before the Council could do more than stare in horror at the kaiju bearing down on them Tytanna started to slide down the rock towards them. As she slid she began to shift, seeming to get smaller and smaller with every foot she fell. It took longer than expected for her to reach the bottom of the hundred-foot slide, by which time she had shrunk down to just under thirty feet tall. She then walked over to them, continuing to decrease in size.

When Tytanna finally arrived in front of them the formerly two hundred foot tall kaiju instead stood a bare few meters high, more than small enough to fit through the doors. Her form had seemed to grow slight denser than it was before, but remained long and lanky like Titano, the arms and legs stretching beyond human proportions. Aside from the still present tail, red hued skin and scales, added fins and a squarish muzzle, Tytanna had completely gone from saurian to near humanoid. "Ready to go when you all are!" She said aloud in the same tone as her mental voice.

The Council stood there for a full minute in silence, alternatively gaping, stone faced, head tilted and just bewildered. Meanwhile Serizawa and Joanne both smacked their faces with their palms as Sal reached out and handed the kaiju turned kaijin an oversized robe, colored in blazing pink with red hearts emblemized all over it.

"My favorite robe! Thanks for bringing it Sal." Tytanna slipped the robe on, doing a little ballet pirouette, showing herself off for the crew, helping calm down a fair few of them. The council, however, has a different opinion of the act.

Each one turned immediately to Joanne, Pentecost voicing their thoughts together in one word. "What."

Joanne looked back at each face staring at her, tittering and poking her fingers together. "Well, gentlemen, it seems I have a lot of explaining to do..."

Pentecost sighed, waving the Doctor and her… daughter into the base, trying to ignore the sight of the humanoid kaiju hugging the much smaller Sal to her and purring like a kitten. "This is gonna be a long day," the Marshall muttered under his breath.

Miki and Taiyou sat back against the wall of the small conference room, passively watching the other members of the newly organized 'Red Dawn counter group' scramble around various phones and computers, with Gondo trying to keep everyone on task. The last few hours had been one string of chaotic communication lines after the other, and frankly both telepaths were starting to get irritated at the lack of progress.

"Why is this taking so long?" Taiyou growled, clenching her fist and willing it not to reflect onto some poor hapless machine or person in the room. "The longer we wait to strike the more likely it is that the cells will move before we can hit them."

"We do need to know where they are first Taiyou," Miki responded reasonably. "And to do that we need to track them down."

The former terrorist rolled her eyes. "Yes, I understand that, but I thought that was her job." She pointed over to a bob of blue hair sitting at a hardened military laptop arguing with Gondo over some unknown issue.

Miki shrugged. "Miss Cassidy is just our contact with the IBI on the matter. We still have to direct their agents to the right place to look, and that means redirecting the information Chou is giving us on the Dawn's likely suppliers to them."

"And he couldn't just give them the data directly because why?" Taiyou asked, twirling a random coin she'd found to amuse herself. The coin had been twisted out of shape several times and then reformed to normal until its faces were completely unrecognizable.

"Because he's an international arms dealer and not all of his work is strictly what the IBI would consider… legal. Chou's agreement states that we get his info on the competitors so long as it doesn't negatively effect his own dealings." She waved her arm around the maelstrom of noise and paperwork. "Hence all of the legal runarounds."

Taiyou's coin flipped around several times before she balled it in her fists. "It's bullshit."

"It's politics." Miki smiled. "So, pretty much the same thing really. Not everyone can be bought or bullied into submission. Sometimes you have to actually work with people to get what you want."

"A waste of time," Taiyou muttered. "If people just did what they were told we wouldn't have ruined the environment. Gotten millions of humans killed in wars that ended up being pointless and wiped out whole species of innocent animals." She rested her head against the wall. "The Red Dawn may be serving an evil monster, but some of their ideals I still agree with."

Miki nodded sadly. "That's the unfortunate thing about ideals. They can sometimes push people to far worse actions than simple apathy and greed would motivate. I understand what you mean Taiyou, and I agree that the human race has made a lot of mistakes that we can't just shrug off and ignore. Once this war is over there will need to be a lot of changes to the way society works to fix the damage we and the kaiju have done." Miki rubbed her arm. "Mostly us though."

"That's assuming the aliens don't come in and stomp us into the ground again," the other telepath joked.

Miki cleared her throat. "Them too. Still, there's hope for the future. One thing humanity will always have is the hope of improving. Compared to how society was even a hundred years ago things have greatly changed for even the poorest person. We may make a lot of mistakes, but with enough time and effort we can learn from our errors and achieve our full potential. The only way we can lose is if we stop trying."

Taiyou screwed her eyes shut and smacked her palm against her face repeatedly. "God you're so optimistic it practically hurts! I'm gonna get diabetes from you if you keep that crap up."

Giggling, Miki gave Taiyou an overly beatific smile and in a very flowery tone said, "I'm just trying to help you see the light Taiyou. With true friendship and love there is nothing we can't accomplish."

Taiyou gagged and pretended to vomit into a nearby bucket. "Someone save me from this idealist idiot before she brainwashes me into one of her little happiness drones."

Miki kept up her smile and leaned over to Taiyou smugly. "Too late for that. I've already influenced you to be nicer."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Taiyou asked while directing a confused glare up at the other woman.

Growing serious Miki stared back at Taiyou and said, "When you interrogated Laoshu, invading his mind to get the info we needed. You didn't hurt him as much as you could have."

It hadn't been fun to watch, especially for Miki as she had to observe Taiyou's work to make sure nothing was missed. The man's mind had been as dark and polluted as Miki had expected given his actions, and she had seen Taiyou hesitating several times as some of the most horrific things had come to light. But even when she saw the worst of Laoshu's acts Taiyou had simply extracted the memories and copied them, nothing more.

"So I didn't take extra time tear apart the guy's brain." Taiyou shrugged dismissively. "What of it?"

"You could have. Very easily in fact. A weak willed man like him could have been ruined for life if you wanted. Forced to be comatose or revisit his worst nightmares over and over again. But you didn't. You just took the information you needed and left. That hurts, but much less than many of the things you could have done."

Taiyou scoffed and turned away, armed folded over her chest and coin waving erratically around her. "The guy wasn't worth the effort. Besides, Chou was going to have his own way with the guy, so I didn't need to do anything to make him suffer."

Miki nodded with the reasoning but forged onward. "Be that as it may, it still shows you've changed somewhat. The Taiyou I met during the terrorist attack would have tortured him without a care, but as you are now you did not."

A hand slammed against the wall as Taiyou shoved her face next to Miki's, eyes blazing. "So I showed some piece of scum a bit of fucking decency. So that fuck what? You think that suddenly makes me a good guy or something? Well guess what princess? It's not that fucking easy! You don't just get to take back a lifetime of terrorism and murder just because you help some old lady across the street. It takes a little bit more effort than that. So stop trying to say I'm a good person alright?"

Miki did not flinch a wit under the rant, merely staring back at the black haired woman with a serene and graceful smile. "I never said you were good. I merely said that you were starting to try." She reached out and softly planted a hand on Taiyou's shoulder, a hand which didn't get pushed away like every touch before it. "And that's all it takes to get on the right path."

Neither telepath spoke for several moments, not noticing the person stalking towards them from the other side of the room. "Everything alright over here?" Gondo asked, one hand resting on his pistol holster at his hip.

Miki nodded and removed her hand from Taiyou's shoulder, the other telepath trying distinctly to keep her face emotionless. "Fine Captain. Just having a heart to heart talk. You know, girl stuff. Any progress on finding the Dawn's hideouts?"

Gondo smiled and said, "Finally yeah. Took long e-freaking-nough. We've located something like twelve bases all over the damn place, most of them well off the beaten path or hidden in shit holes like Afghanistan. This is a lot bigger than we first realized. We're gonna need to call on local forces to handle a lot of this, and we gotta hit them quick before the others can get word of what's going down."

"Nothing is ever simple is it?" Miki sighed. "Oh well. C'est la vie."

Taiyou laughed and put on a cruel smile. "Oh yes. How horrible that it is going to be difficult to wipe out the terrorist group that has been digging its claws into the dark for more than a decade. If only our enemies made it easy for us by standing out in the open and holding signs. There's a reason the Dawn managed to survive when many others like it were torn apart years before. You're just lucky they made the mistake of letting me live long enough for you to 'break' me to your side." She stalked off to the other end of the room, her coin floating around her head in an unstable orbit.

"She has a point, I suppose," Miki said. "A group as well organized as this should not be simple to take down."

"True enough, but the part that bothers me is that she still seems proud about it." The Captain shrugged and went back to his work, saying over his shoulder, "That woman is one piece of work, I'll tell you that."

Miki blinked and looked back at Taiyou, who was busy pestering Pat and Sarah over something, moving her coin around them and in their faces as they spoke. The telepath sighed and made her way over to join them. "Give it time Captain. Just have to give it time."

The Council and their guests all sat together in silence in the Council's personal meeting room, a bare place save for the fancy circular table and plush seats surrounding in. Pentecost and his fellows were all arrayed along one side of the circle, their gazes fixed on the trio sitting opposite them.

In the middle seat of the other side Joanne sat twiddling her thumbs, smiling nervously at the Council and sneaking glances to her right every few seconds. On the left Salindra was leaning back in her chair without any apparent concern at all, her feet propped up on the table and red eyes piercing back at any of the Council who happened to look her way.

Few of them actually did though, as all of their attention was focused on the dangerously creaking seat to Joanne's right. The seat was facing back to the table and squeaking like a crushed cat every time its occupant attempted to find a more comfortable stance. Tytanna was smiling in much the same way as her mother, trying not to metaphorically sweat at all from the myriad stares she was getting. Trying to hide behind her mother or bodyguard only made it worse, emphasizing her sheer height and girth compared to the two smaller women.

"Mom… they're staring." She mewled and tried to duck below her mother's head, a difficult feat considering her mother was diminutive even compared to normal humans.

Joanne looked up to her daughter, coming face to face with her chest. "Just relax dear. I'm sure they're just… curious about you." The smaller woman reached up and gave a sharp yank, tightening the robe across the kaijin's chest. "You are rather unusual even for them."

"Understatement, thy name is Joanne," Serizawa muttered under his breath, prompting a glare from the doctor.

For several more uncomfortable seconds neither side spoke, until finally Pentecost sighed and said, "Unless you feel you can find a more comfortable way to sit down Miss Tytanna, perhaps we should just begin."

"Or you could stand up," Gordon mumbled.

"Oh, I know! Lemme try something!" Tytanna shouted, standing up and taking in a deep breath. After a moment of concentration, her body began to distort again, rapidly shrinking, condensing and reducing even further. Several seconds later she was done. Now shorter even than her mother, her form had shifted to an almost completely human physique, only altered by her unusual bone structure. Her tail had shrunk to no thicker than her arm, her back and arm fins were gone, and her scales had changed become almost snake-like in their smoothness.

Joanne worked quickly, pulling Tytanna's robe nice and snug to hide anything unsavory from the Council's gaze.

"Why bother mom? You know I don't actually have-"

"It's the principal of the thing dear. Still, good idea. Should be much easier for you sit like this."

"Honestly I only cooked this form up to listen to Sammy rant and rave about how impossible it is, but it does have its uses." She giggled, wiggling back and forth to relish her freedom of movement before reseating herself in a more normal and comfortable position.

All the while the Council looked on with flat expressions, as if they had already reached the limits of what they could disbelieve and just ignored any new strange events they saw.

"So…" Pentecost said.

Joanne nodded. "So…"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Sal and Gordon both struck the table with their fists at the same time, the later shouting, "Get on with it already!"

"Flawless timing, Sal." Tytanna smiled at the grinning woman, who winked back at her.

"ALRIGHTY!" Joanne shouted desperately. "Who wants to hear some craziness and see some cool stuff?"

"I do if it means we stop wasting time." Gordon growled, "Well? Let's get this circus started."

Pentecost turned to his left, where Serizawa had his face buried in his hands. "Perhaps you'd like to start the introduction of this special project division to the others Ishiro?"

"Must I?" he begged. When Pentecost nodded Serizawa weakly nodded his accent. "Very well. Alright. As I'm sure the rest of you know, my division of the Global Defense Force, Monarch, is meant to gather together the best scientific and engineering minds in the world together to solve any technology issues the world has. Most of Monarch's work is publicly available and documented, and the developments we produce are immediately put into circulation either for general consumption or with GDF approved forces as needed. However, after the events of Final Wars it was determined that some of our work should be kept hidden from prying eyes, both human and alien, so that we can have an advantage in the worst situations."

He waved his hand at Joanne and continued. "This is where Doctor Johnson's team comes in. After we had some… disagreements on how certain projects should be developed and which areas required more focus, Pentecost had the doctor's team split into a separate group who would work without either public oversight… or mine, so that they were free to study any ideas they thought had merit. Though I still disagree with the idea in spirit, I cannot deny its success at creating items of merit."

At Serizawa's nod, Joanne stood up and spoke. "Thanks Ishiro. So… what we've done." Joanne tittered and lifted up her hands in a shrug. "It would be easier to list what we haven't done honestly. Over the past half decade our team has developed numerous technologies that the GDF as a whole already extensively uses. From the Drift technology, to the improved actuators and gravity reducers used by the newer Jaegers, the fusion batteries that power so many war machines, the improved and improving armor for mechs, jets, and tanks, to the improved guidance systems used for everything from lasers to missiles. We've discovered ways of locating weak points in a kaiju's natural armor and protecting similar weak spots in our own Jaegers. We've pioneered new techniques that improve the mental strength and stability of Jaeger pilots and psychics. Our team was the one that gave you the reverse engineered alien Titan Alloy, or 'Space Titanium' as so many call it. Those DNA-based supercomputers that operate Kiryu and A.I. that have helped assist the teams of operators in Moguera and Super MechaGodzilla, the new armors and weapons our ground troops have available to them?"

Joanne gave a proud smile. "All of that came from us." She sent a look Serizawa's way but kept her tone even. "And none of it would have happened had we been kept restrained. Even now we have new, far improved developments coming down the pipeline. Some you've heard of, and others you probably haven't, but all may well change the face of the globe as a whole for the better." She gave a bow and re-took her seat.

Tachibana gave a few polite claps while Ozaki nodded. Gordon remained quiet but some of his stern look seemed to have faded slightly, saying, "Nice speech lady. Practice saying that one on the ride here, or did you make it up as you went?"

"Honestly? I kinda winged it. Tried to practice but didn't wanna go for three hours to explain everything."

"It was fine, Miss Johnson," Pentecost said with his solemn reassurance. "Now that we have a general grasp of your group's achievements, perhaps you can tell us about your…" He trailed off and looked to Tya, who childishly waved back at him. "Your immediately present project."

"Um..." She blushed and said to her daughter, "Well Tya, care to show off?"

"Bad choice of wording, mom, but sure!" The humanoid hopped out of her chair and climbed onto the table and began to remove her robe.

"What? Tya, no!" Joanne shouted, "No striptease! Bad nephilim, bad!"

"But that's what you told me to do," Tya said playful. Sal sat back in her seat with a huge grin on her face, enjoying the show with a small bag of popcorn she had gathered from somewhere. Tytanna let out a giggle and tossed the robe onto Sal's face and showed herself off, taking a few teasing poses, at least until Joanne reached up and belted out a quick spanking.

"Stop that, you're scaring them!" She turned back to the Council, saying, "I'm sorry, she's just… exceedingly confident."

Had any of the Council's been standing next to a statue judging contest, most of the judges would have claimed the entrant artworks were fakes because they were clearly not as stationary and stone faced as the men sitting opposite the distressed doctor. The only one to show any sort of emotion was Serizawa, who looked to be halfway between passing out from sheer shock and jumping out of his seat and waving it around in a blind fury.

Several long and silent seconds passed as both Tytanna and Joanne wilted under the Council's stares, until finally Pentecost spoke up. "While I do find it… heartening that you both seem to have such a strong familial relationship, and that you, Tya, are proud of your personal looks, I must ask that you act with the proper sense of decorum while we are working. I know well that people need a chance to relax and would never deny them the opportunity to be who they are. I would be a horrible tyrant if I tried. However, there are times when focus, attention, and discipline are needed. The reports the sub captains sent me of your performance in the Anteverse battle show that you are quite capable of being focused and steady when needed. All I ask is that you maintain the same level of dedication to your time here at the GDF if you wish to work with us. By all means, be as goofy and playful as you wish when a break comes up. But until then…"

No sooner had Pentecost's voice faded than Tya took to his advice. The kaijin's face lost its smile and turned grim, small points of her fangs pointing out of her mouth no longer looking cute but menacing instead. The eyes almost seemed to shift in color from cheerful blue to a much fiercer red. Her arms were placed down in her lap and she straightened up in her chair. The turnaround was almost staggering in its suddenness. "I understand sir. Serious time. No more goofy right now."

"Your eyes are glowing." Ozaki remarked.

Sure enough there was a faint red haze being emitted from Tytanna's pupils, so thin that it was hard to notice over the natural red scales around it.

"Tya, hon, I don't think he meant to be THAT extreme about it." Joanne scratched her daughter behind her ear, the reptilian woman struggling to maintain her serious expression even as she purred under her breath. "Yeah, sometimes they do that. We're not sure if it's something to do with her being a Titanosaur or if it's mana based. Could be either or to be honest."

"A Titanosaur you say?" Tachibana asked.

"Yes, though with a few other things mixed in. Myself mainly. See, Tya here was the result of a long shot project that my team came up with… jeez, how many years ago was it now?"

"Well I'm about, what? Eight years old now?" Tya responded.

Sal held up both hands and counted out six fingers.

"Oh right, it was 2006," Joanne said. "Thanks Sal. So yeah, back then I thought to myself, 'What if we could find a kaiju that was on our side for sure?' So I started talking with the rest of the team to figure out a way to make that happen. Some ideas were simple, like just finding a kaiju egg somewhere and raising it like Azuza Gojo did for Godzilla Junior. Only, there kinda weren't any eggs to find, to that plan was a bust. We couldn't count on getting lucky like we did with Zilla more than once. Another suggestion was that we bribe a kaiju somehow, like with a special food that they like or something they couldn't find on their own. That one sounded just like a way to improve relations with the Defenders more than anything, so we shipped it over to Ishiro and let him do what he wanted with it. I'm told it somewhat worked with the male M.U.T.O. in Hawaii."

Serizawa nodded at that and said, "It was more difficult than we have expected with the efforts on Solgell Island and the rest of the Mu islands, but it was an excellent step in diplomacy between us and the Defenders."

"Anyway, we figured that we were thinking too small. We needed to do something big. Find a way to make a kaiju really want to work with us. Then I thought, 'Heck, why not just make a kaiju?' And by some bizarre miracle I actually got approval to pursue the idea."

"That would be my doing," Pentecost said. "Ishiro mentioned the idea to me over the phone and I told him to get on it. After seeing all the good work Zilla was doing as our troubleshooter amongst the Defenders, I thought it would be a excellent idea to have more such kaiju on our side."

Serizawa gave a reluctant nod of agreement. "Indeed. I could find no reason why the idea should be denied, give the obvious success and benefits of the idea and relatively low cost of the research."

"Monetary cost maybe," Joanne scoffed. "Here's the thing, it's easy to say, 'Let's make a kaiju.' It's another thing entirely to actually make the idea work. I spent MONTHS trying every combination of kaiju DNA we had on record but absolutely nothing would work! Defenders, Mutants, Neutrals. Heck, I even tried Ghidorah DNA at one point, but none of it would ever stick. Eventually I got the idea to add in human DNA to the mix, see if that somehow stabilized the samples, but if anything it just made them worse! Only a few of the samples would actually bond with human DNA, and of those only a few would have even survived, and of those TWELVE that would have survived, they'd have been suffering some pretty horrifying mutations! I'm sorry but I just couldn't handle having that on my conscience..." Doctor Johnson stopped to breathe.

"But then we heard some information that was, frankly, very unusual, even by our standards." She smiled. "In the Yucatan peninsula a survey team managed to locate a never before seen specimen of kaiju. One with a DNA pattern similar to that of the Guardian monsters, only far, far older. A 'Genetic Glue', essentially. This specimen, which the survey team dubbed 'Leviathan', was the key. It was the literal missing link!" The Doctor began to become giddy, as if she wasn't already. "We managed to secure the location of Leviathan's body for future study and immediately went to test it all. Tytanna being a Titanosaurus was simply the random choice at the time, but the use of Leviathan's DNA as genetic glue to bind human and kaiju DNA worked. Her embryo was open to allow safe genetic modification and tweaking throughout her embryonic state and we've taken the best care to ensure she's in peak physical and mental condition at all times. Even in this almost-human state she'd outshine any Olympiad in the physical efforts and she's been taught and trained by ALL of us in every field of education imaginable."

"Long story short? I'm part kaiju, part human, part 'angel', all designer baby." Tytanna smiled, feeling a touch of pride at being literally custom made to be the finest warrior in the world.

"Sweetie? Your ego is showing." Joanne's comment prompted a light 'eep' from her daughter, Tytanna blushing and shrinking away.

"Sorry."

While mom and daughter were having their moment the Council all shared some looks and unspoken conversation. Pentecost opened for them, saying, "As you can imagine, we have some questions to ask."

"Question one," Gordon said, "Why the hell are you able to shrink?"

"A good question, but one that… doesn't really have a solid answer. I still haven't actually located the mechanism that controls Tya's ability to shrink and grow, through repeated experimentation shows it operates much the same as Jet Jaguar. If I had to guess it's probably some sort of mana ability. Close looks at Leviathan's DNA show near identical sequences between it and the Guardians, all of whom have some magical ability. Tya shows the same radiation 'signature' that other mana creatures have, but to a much smaller degree, so she isn't actively harmful to humans just by standing near them, even as at kaiju size."

"That figures, since you don't seem to be afraid of touching her," Ozaki said. "Here's my question then. What sort of combat abilities do you have? Just physical training, or are there any special powers you might have?"

"Me?" Tya said, "Well, I've been trained in pugilism, savate, sword-fighting both with two-handed swords and sword and shield, marksmanship training, and I'm pretty good at computer games. I can shout really loud too. They tested it once and the math said I'd actually be able to level a city block with it if I kept it up. My punches and kicks hit like a Mantis shrimp and umm… That's about it, really. I mean I have some dancing skills but I sincerely doubt tango, salsa, breakdancing, or ballet is ever gonna be useful in a fight."

"Sword fighting?"

"Computer games?"

"Dancing?"

Tya chuckled and Joanne said, "Not all of her training was strictly, well, important. We just called her leisure activities 'training' as well so it would be covered under research expenses."

Serizawa glared at Joanne while the others just rolled with it. There were all sorts of stories of similar things going on in their own departments, many of them far closer to actual corruption than this.

"Fair enough I suppose." Ozaki smirked and asked, "Have you ever fought a hybrid soldier? Someone with similar strength and speed to yourself?"

"Honestly? There is one gal who taught me all of my melee fighting skills." An exaggerated head tilt was thrown in Sal's direction. "She could probably put a hybrid on the ropes but I wouldn't mind seeing if I can handle it."

Ozaki glanced Sal's way as well and caught her look back, both testing each other in an unseen contest. Finally Ozaki gave an approving nod, which Sal returned, one corner of her mouth upturned in a grin. "I'll see what I can arrange later. There's always room for more fighters around here, human or not."

"My turn then," Tachibana said. "I'd like to know a little more about this Leviathan you spoke of. I believe I recall reading the report that the survey team sent to the GDF about their discovery, and I noticed that it bears several similarities to other reports speaking of ancient ruins found on the numerous risen islands that appeared in the Pacific alongside Solgell. In many places around the globe we have either unearthed or found through underground radars signs of large and advanced cities that were violently destroyed in ways that look like modern day kaiju battlefields. You said Leviathan had DNA markers it shares with the Guardian monsters, all of whom have said they were created for a specific task, though for what and by whom, they have never said. Do you think you could shed some light on all of this based on your own observations?"

"Actually, that's the scary thing." Joanne said, "From what we were able to gather Leviathan actually predates the Guardians by literally millions of years. She was found at the center of the Yucatan crater. By that I mean all evidence we've found is that she was riding in the meteor that killed off the dinosaurs."

Tachibana blinked a few times then said, "Well… that's distinctly unhelpful then. And here I thought we'd found an actual link between this supposed ancient civilization and the Guardians. Damn."

"I do know what you mean though," Joanne said. "My team has run into loads of examples of this ancient people - we call them the Civ - and what looks like their very advanced technology. In all likelihood they were the ones who made the Guardians, which suggests they also had a great mastery of magic on top of the science needed to genetically engineer such creatures. The why though… that has me stumped too."

"Well, mom." Tya spoke up, "I'm pretty sure you at least got something interesting from them to show off, yeah?"

"Oh! I forgot!" Joanne started searching around saying, "Where's my briefcase?" Sal responded by tapping the heavy steel case right beside Joanne. "Oh. Right."

Joanne heaved the briefcase onto the table, a heavy 'thunk' resounding in the meeting room.

"You boys wanna know what we've been up too lately?" She smiled, popping open a panel on the case, revealing a bright rainbow of glowing colors. "Check out these beauties!" Through an inch thick wall of heavy glass shone a large collection of-

"Gemstones?" Gordon said, trying to wrap his mind around what he was seeing. "You've brought us gemstones?"

"Not just gemstones, General Gordon. Much better than that." Joanne gave a smug grin. "I'm sure you're all familiar with the Coalition's fuel supply? The mysterious super element known as Elerium-115. Tends to be lethally radioactive, much more so than even the purest samples of plutonium we can make ourselves. Well, as it turns out that's basically exactly what it is. A purer, more radioactive element the Coalition uses to fuel their mini reactors. The stuff is efficient enough to provide a dozen fold increase in power over our best fusion generators, but stable enough to be handled in relative safety by our engineers with normal radiation protection. Truly a miraculous element that our guys have been trying for ages to mimic. Thing is, we were actually looking in the wrong place."

The doctor tapped the panel on the case, a proud smirk on her face. "It took us years of searching the most remote places on the planet for radiation signatures, but we found a variant of the same material here on our planet. It's not just a super plutonium though. Oh it is much more than that. Close studies have shown distinct similarities between the emissions given off by these materials and the energy reading we receive whenever a mana wielding Kaiju lets off a blast. Short version: this stuff is basically solidified magic in the form of a crystal."

The Council murmured to each other at the announcement.

"You mean to tell us that the highly advanced technology of the Coalition has the same power source as magic native to Earth?" Tachibana asked.

Joanne nodded. "Precisely. Ever heard of Clarke's Third Law? 'Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic'. Turns out that was way truer than he ever could have realized. There's also the corollary, 'Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science'. The only difference between the two is… one makes sense and the other doesn't." She shrugged. "Powered by the same thing or not, magic still doesn't follow the best logical paths. Regardless, this material, which my team has dubbed 'magicite', is functionally identical to the Coalition's Elerium, but from what we can tell it's even more powerful. And thus, radioactive."

Serizawa gave his subordinate a stern look as he said, "You brought highly radioactive materials into the Shatterdome?"

"Oh calm down, Mordred, they're behind hardened glass! Do you really think I'm stupid enough to go and bring radioactive material with me and open them while I'm RIGHT here?" Joanne shook her head, tapping the lead-lined crystal glass. The gemstones inside looked to be coming in all kinds of shapes and sizes, some tiny ones clustered in what looked like a white stone, others seemed larger and more refined, covered in needle-like spines, hexagonal pillars, and even near-flawless spheres. But the oddest of the lot was a bottle. A wine bottle, to be precise, with a faded label written in an incomprehensible language. Every gemstone glowed with a soft, beautiful light that seemed to pulse with life, even the wine bottle emitting small motes of light, floating lazily through the alcoholic beverage.

"Doctor Johnson," Stacker interrupted, "As interesting as all these developments are, I'll like to get to the important question. Namely, how are we supposed to use this material? None of the reactors we have are capable of starting fission with recovered samples of Elerium. How is this 'Magicite' supposed to be any different if it is indeed stronger than the Elerium?"

"An excellent question sir," Joanne replied calmly. "And one I think we have the answer to. Hopefully. Maybe. The data is still pending."

"Meaning?" Ozaki said.

"Meaning we are currently in the process of testing a custom build reactor designed to use magicite as the power source. The initial tests were… kinda scary, honestly. Promising, but scary." She tapped the open panel again. "See, while the Elerium is efficient enough that it eclipses current reactors by a factor of 12 or more, projections of magicite power suggest that, at max capacity, it would be full orders of magnitude more powerful. Like, it's the difference between a spark plug and a bomb. Our head engineer and his team of specialists made a 'test' reactor that outputs one and a half GIGAWATTS of power per hour and has a projected lifespan measured in years. And it's the size of a can of soda. To put that in perspective, our current most powerful plutonium reactor is several miles across, requires concrete walls several feet thick to stop the radiation, and just barely manages to meet that level of power output. All I can say is 'Thank god that the Titan alloy is an ideal radiation shielding'."

"How strong is the radiation output?" Gordon asked.

"Strong enough to make plutonium look like a mild sunburn. This stuff is absolutely lethal if biological material is exposed to it." Joanne shuddered, "It's bizarre, though. It reacts to other mana sources, like plant life or humans, by trying to grow and, through that, gets stronger. Likewise, it 'propagates' the empowerment of those sources. Plants grow abnormally fast under its influence, for example. But that means that, for us humans, rather than, say, 'aging fast', we wind up getting other, much more severe problems such as cancer. Likewise there are other problems documented that don't match up to normal radiation sickness. We're still researching it but the best way I can describe it is, essentially, the horrible side effects of far too much of a good thing coming in all at once."

"So treat it with the same degree of caution and protection as current nuclear generators then?" Tachibana asked.

"Yeah, basically. Thing is, we're still testing a safe way to actually capture the energy the magicite puts out. It being so small actually is a bit of a double-edged sword in that regard. We don't have cables both small and strong enough to draw from it safely. That said, study of it has enabled us to figure out a technique that allows us to finally use Elerium in our nuclear generators, albeit with a few modifications needed. Such upgrades have already been applied to every one of the Dragoons and every Jaeger currently down for repair or maintenance, and it will be easy to complete for the rest once they return to their bases."

"Yes," Serizawa said. "As soon as Joanne's team gave me the data I sent the word out to every base I could. We are swiftly running through our stockpiles of Elerium, but what we have should be enough to convert every major component, even the Battle Platforms."

"We also have found one of the few Civ artifacts that is still intact and, given time and care, could even be brought back to its full old glory. Maybe. And through that? We may just be able to replicate the logic behind it for a whole new BREED of technology. Theodore, our head engineer, likes to call it 'Magitek'. Tytanna, darling, could you show the gentlemen your newest toy?"

The monster-woman reached underneath her previously discarded robe and pulled out an old, badly damaged sword that looked like it had been left in the rain for a month.

"As we said, gentlemen, the speculated ancient Civ seemed to use magic and technology in concert, something we haven't found any reasonable way to do ourselves. Heck, a lot of the time excessive mana use turns our tech off or even damages it, yet somehow this lost people were able to meld the two together. Now, from what my team has learned from in-depth research, almost all of their technology was destroyed in an unknown event around the time of the Toba eruption. We think the eruption might be related to the disaster somehow, but the important thing to note here is that, so far as we can tell, any technology with magic directly integrated to it was destroyed. Completely turned to dust. What little did manage survive is totally non-functional. Magicite? That's why. Or rather, its lack is the why. For the surviving items magicite served as the fuel source rather than being directly integrated with it. Magic dies? The magicite takes the fall along with it, while the tech itself remains behind. Undamaged, but powerless."

She gestured to the ruined sword. "So tell me, gentlemen. Do any of you recognize the name 'Caledfwlch'?"

At the group's confused stares, she continued. "What about 'Caladbolg'?" Gordon's eyebrow perked up, but the rest remained confused, and Serizawa was growing annoyed.

"How about it's most famous name?" She gestured to Tytanna, who lifted up the blade, revealing numerous cracked, blackened gemstones set into blade and hilt alike. "Gentlemen, let me introduce you to none other than Excalibur." Joanne held her arms outstretched to the blade with supreme pomp and grandeur, as if the weapon was shining more brightly than the Sun itself.

"Excalibur?" Tachibana asked. "What's that?"

Joanne's arms fell flat to her sides as turned to the Admiral gaping like a fish. "What… you don't… I mean… But how could you not? It's Excalibur! One of the most famous weapons in all of history!"

"Western history," Pentecost amended.

"I don't know about that Stacker," Ozaki said. "Even I've heard of it before, and I only took one history class at university."

"What's so famous about it?" Tachibana said, looking more and more embarrassed at his fellow's bemused stares.

"What isn't famous about it?" Joanne cried.

"May I, mom?" Tya asked, gesturing to the sword. "Explain, that is."

"Ugh, fine." Joanne laid her head on the table, resting her head to watch Tytanna at work.

"OK, gents, watch closely as I can only do this once without passing out." Tytanna held up the blade into the air, where the cracked, blackened gems could easily be seen. Anyone sensitive to mana or such energies would be able to guess what she was up to. "When we went searching for a possible Civ city, we sought the 'key' to it, a sword of legend. It was known across history be many names." One of the gems began to five a faint red light. "In France, they called it 'Durendal'. The Unyielding Blade, weapon of the Hero of Charlemagne, Roland." Several more began to give a faint glow, blue and green. Tytanna was beginning to sweat.

"In England, they called it 'Excalibur', the Sword of Promised Victory, only to be wielded by the Once and Future King." Several more lit up. Cyan, white, purple, yellow. "And in Ireland, it is called 'Caledfwlch', a Sword of Holy Fire that strikes with the force of a comet." Four more lights; dark blue, indigo, lime, and orange. "Scotland? It is Caladbolg, The Weapon of the Gods, Blade of the King of Kings, who formed a rainbow with each slash and could cleave three hills in twain." The final gem, pitch black, gave off an unearthly glow.

"That," she panted, "is this... sword." For a brief moment, they could see a spark of its old glory, a sword of holy light that could warp reality with every swing. An ancient super weapon stronger than many of their most advanced technologies of the modern day. Tytanna dropped the blade down, and even in its weakened state, they could see the holy flame flicker to life, watch the rainbow wave, and backed away just in time as the thick table was sliced in half with just a tap. A second later Tytanna collapsed to the floor in a faint, spent from the sheer willpower of trying to bring the legendary blade back from the dead.

"TYA!" Joanne shouted, grabbing her daughter and balancing her over her shoulder. The blade, now rusted and dead again, dropped to the ground harmlessly.

The Council all jumped out of their seats as well, though their attention was focused on the destroyed table (which had Pentecost a bit miffed, as it was a custom table) and on the fallen blade, once again appearing to be a rusted piece of metal destined for the scrap yard.

"Stacker," Gordon said, his hand wrapped around the pommel of his katana. "Can I just say that I hate magic?"

The others nodded in response and called out together, "Ditto."

Walking down this corridor was always a nightmare.

There was nothing weird or wrong about it, no hint of malice or terror in its unadorned walls and smooth tile floors. It looked the exact same as any other office-building hallway. But it was all a deception. A ruse to hide the fear that leaked out of every panel, every stretch of wall and floor. For while the hall itself was normal, what lay at the end of it was anything but.

The rumor mill had much to say about this place, though never in earshot of anyone who would listen for the wrong reasons. Some said that people who failed the Dawn had their souls etched into the walls, forever locked away to know the depths of their failure. Others claimed that a special trapdoor had been built just outside the door, which lead the victim to a custom built furnace hidden underneath the building. Still others said that people quite simply disappeared when they passed through the door, never to be seen again by still living eyes. No one suggestion could ever be agreed upon, but one thing was certain across all the stories.

Anyone who brought bad news to the room beyond the door often did not live to tell the tale.

Even with all the mental fortitude training that befitted a soldier of the Red Dawn, young Edrick Werner could not help but shudder as he grew ever closer to his destination. As well as the one who waited inside. In what seemed to be far too few seconds in his mind, Edrick reached the fabled door. He stood staring at it for a moment, trying and failing to compose himself. "It… it'll be fine. Just go in there and tell her. No big deal, just the facts as they are. She… she has no reason to blame me. It's fine. Everything's fine. It's all fi-"

"Enter."

Edrick jolted in place as the voice carried out to him, it's electric tone shocking his nerves into a state of hyperactivity. "F… fine," he said one last time before opening the door and stepping within.

No sooner had he cleared the entranceway than the door swung shut behind him, seemingly of its own accord. When it closed he was left in a state of near twilight, only faint rays of pale sunlight sneaking in around the corners of the blackout blinds. Only the barest outline of a desk was visible several feet in front of him, a shadow darker than the abyss behind it slowly rocking back and forth.

Edrick gulped then gave the form a shaky bow. "G-good afternoon Lady Adeline. I ap-pologize for interrupting you but I have some important information that has come in from Hong Kong."

"Is that so?" the voice hissed. Knife-like clacks came from the desk, which Edrick belatedly realized were the Lady's fingernails rapping on the hardwood. "Does that mean Laoshu and his associates were retrieved then?"

"Ah," Edrick temporalized. He shuffled the papers he had under his arm, aware that the tale they told was the exact opposite of his Lady's expectations. "Not… exactly, my Lady. Here is the report of the local cell leader. He… wasn't available for comment when he tried to reach back out to him." Slowly, as if passing out meat to a lioness Edrick placed the papers on the desk and retreated, hands firmly pressed to his side.

A hand skittered out onto the papers and drew them back, dark black gloves covering the skin except to the ends, allowing the inch long razor filed nails to scratch on the table gratingly. Edrick stood stock still as he listened to the Lady reading the report, pages flipping one by one without any vocals from the Lady herself. Bead of sweat rolled down his forehead as he waited, wincing every time he heard a sound or saw a flash of movement in the dark. After what felt like an eternity, but was probably only a few minutes, the Lady hmmed and the clacking started up again.

"So…" she said, allowing the s to carry on for several seconds. "They failed to capture him then. And what's worse, they lost him to the GDF. These are rather… upsetting events."

"I understand my Lady," Edrick said without tripping up, a major achievement. "Though not all the news is bad. It seems that the cell commander was able to reach Laoshu's home and wipe out his hard drives before the GDF could retrieve them. As well, it would appear he and the remainders of his command have evacuated the area, as our connection to them has been cutoff for the moment. I… I'm sure that nothing of actual value was lost, save for some of our warriors giving themselves to the cause at last."

"It would seem that way wouldn't it? That this failure is only a minor botch up to the untrained eye. But fortunately, my vision is not blocked by the fog of ignorance."

"My Lady?" Edrick asked, feeling a prickle go up his spine.

"Laoshu's connections with our cell may have been severed, but he had plenty of his own in his little cobweb. Fellow rats and insects who feed us the guns and ammunition we require to fuel our righteous flames. And should the enemy start to go after them…"

The unspoken train of thought continued in Edrick's head, though he latched onto what few rays of hope he could see. "That is a potential problem, my Lady, but I'm sure the other contractors can escape easy detection. After all, we have supplied them with all the knowledge and software they need to hide from the IBI's searches, both physical and electronic. I'm c-certain that even if Laoshu betrays us, it won't lead to any important discoveries on the part of the enemy."

For a brief instant, Edrick felt a sense of calm and accomplishment fill him. So what if this one incompetent group failed in their job? It would not set back the cause for any of the other loyal followers, so in the end it was a minor setback right?

That short hope was dashed as he felt more than heard a sharp cackle come from across the desk to stab into his ears. "Fool. Do you seek to deceive me, or are you just that naive?"

"M-my Lady?"

"Had Laoshu merely been captured by the GDF, it would be as you say. They would wring him dry of anything he knew and send their bloodhounds hunting for our tracks, only to find that the foxes are smarter than they. And that would be the end of it. But that isn't the full story." The Lady's hand tapped on some keys on her desk and produced a red colored hologram in the center of the room. A video played through the mist, showing the dreaded Marshall Pentecost shaking hands with a man in an oversized coat with dark tinted sunglasses. "The wolf joined them as well, for precious little Laoshu attempted to take his own petty revenge on a much larger beast then himself. He ended up paying the price, but that won't be enough to satisfy Chou, not when he knows just who gave Laoshu the resources to make his play. Soon enough our foxes will be revealed, and the war hounds will come growling at our gates."

"I… then we shall be ready for them my Lady," Edrick said with more confidence than he felt. "There are few better deaths for a loyal servant than to strike back at the symbol of humanity's tyranny."

The Lady's growl sounded like that of a hungry bear as she lurched forward from the shadows to grasp Edrick's throat. Air refused to enter the man's lungs as the Lady's hands crushed inward with inhuman strength. "Now I know what you are, little worm. You are an idiot, for believing that such a mistake can rectified by mere 'belief'. Faith alone will not take down the giant mechanical monsters. Strength of heart is nothing before strength of arms and armor. And no amount of motivation will be enough to bring the corrupt humanity to its knees without planning and intelligence." Her grip tightened a bit more, Edrick's hands flying to his throat to try and pry the obstruction from his throat without success. "Intelligence you clearly lack."

Then, just as Edrick felt he was going to black out, the hold on his throat disappeared and he fell to the floor gasping and wheezing.

"Still, you are right on one thing. Our people are loyal, and they will fight to the end, no matter what, or who, stands in their way. Isn't that right, Edrick?"

Slowly, Edrick rose to his feet, rubbing at the bruised skin on his neck while nodding profusely at the Lady. "Y-yes ma'am. We will fight… and die, however and whenever you command."

"Oh Edrick," Adeline crooned, sickly sweet. She circled around the desk to him, finally revealing her full looks to his sight. Her hair was cut short and ruffled, a simple brown color that appeared earthen and dirty. The face was tall but smooth, an almost motherly smile gracing her feature as she pulled Edrick close to her and patted his head. He realised that she stood a whole head taller than him, despite normally towering over most other members of the Dawn. As well he noticed idly that her body was thin, disturbingly so, with arms and legs as long as his torso. "Fear not little Eddie. You did nothing wrong. Your ignorance is not your fault, the mistake not by your hand. You are faithful and loyal, enough to shoulder the burden of another servant's errors upon yourself. That is the mark of a true follower of the true Terra. You should be proud."

"Thank you my Lady," Edrick said woodenly, his earlier terror and panic now washing away under a tide of contentment. He returned the embrace for a second before remembering his place and stepping out and placing his hand over his heart with the palm in, the standard Dawn salute. "I serve true Terra, and you as its representative of the Divine will."

Adeline smiled, her gleaming white teeth arranged in a perfect half-moon shape. "Indeed you do, young Edrick. And serve you will, in the most important manner possible."

"I am at your service, my Lady," Edrick replied without thought. "What would you wish of me?"

Adeline's smile broadened, crossing the line from happy to haunting. "Simple. Just stand there for a moment and look at me. From there, the rest is easy."

Edrick did as instructed, watching the Lady with intent focus and stillness. He ignored the strange dimness descending on his mind, the dulled warning bells clanging incessantly in warning. By the time he heeded their relentless concern he realized it was far too late.

The Lady stood over him, never ceasing her Cheshire grin, as one of her hands reached out to him again. But it was not flesh and bone that approached his chest with fingers outstretched. The skin had disappeared from the long digits, revealing dark black metal edged with needle shape corners. His legs frozen in place, Edrick could only watch Adeline's eyes flash red for a brief instant as the machine hand landed on his breast.

"Now Edrick, I want you to feel. Feel your terror. Feel your horror." The end of the fingers dug into Edrick's skin, easily tearing through both cloth and flesh. "Feel your fear… and give it to me."

A wordless howl echo through his mind as his senses were overloaded with pain, lightning jumping through the sensitive nerves until they burned themselves out. He could think of nothing; not memory, not escape, not resistance. Time did not exist, nor space. Only the agony, and the emotion that accompanied it. Eventually, even those meager feelings left him without any sense of relief, for beyond was only an all-encompassing dark too thick to be pierced.

Adeline watched as the body fell bonelessly to the floor, licking her lips as the last traces of the near invisible green mist faded into her. "So sweet little Edrick. A little too sweet for us perhaps, but satisfying nonetheless. Your service has been appreciated."

She casually pushed his legs out of her way as she traipsed back to her desk, the dark enveloping her form again so that shadows were all she was. "My poor, foolish, ignorant little sheep, constantly bumbling even when given the most simple of instructions." She tapped the keys on her desk again, watching as image after image of the GDF's movements appeared before her. Mechs and Jaegers deploying from their bases around the world, soldiers arming themselves with their precious guns, jets lifting off to see where the kaiju were and keep them from disappearing into the unknown. "Whatever will I do with them?"

A few more taps gave her a view of the Shatterdome's outer pads, replaying once again the video she had been sent earlier that day. She smiled as she watched her target go through her little magic act once more, a smirk twisting her lips out of shape. "Oh well. I'm sure they'll prove to have their uses still. At least for a while longer."

A satellite view was the next image to appear, showing a bird's eye view of a collection of kaiju on Solgell. Adeline's eyes trained in on the green mass sitting far from the others, her eyes picking up even through the electronic view the thick verde haze that surrounded the beast. "Soon, they'll give me what I need, and I will finally have my chance at revenge."

The kaiju looked up directly at the camera and squinted, as if it could sense something was watching it from afar. "And then… you will get what you deserve."

"Traitor."

Welcome back everyone! Boy this is a long one isn't it? If I'm not careful I might end up with actual Bridge length chapters. (Just kidding Tarb, I enjoy longer stuff). Anyway, lots going on in this one. If you have any questions, feel free to ask in a review or in the chapter thread on the Fimfiction chapter announcement blog (which I will do with every chapter from now on so the regular Bridge readers will be aware). Next time, we have the first of the official war missions featuring one of the Guardian monsters. Til then, adios!

(2017 edit: Surprisingly not as much as I had expected. Just a few minor changes to fit the characters better.)