(Chapter 5: Conflict in West Virginia )
A couple of days had passed, Skylla successfully freed the G-Team from the reaches of the flames. Of course, her arrival was broadcast across the world. The fires remained a mystery but thoughts lingered on Monarch as being the ones who started it, angering the Irish folk and governments around it.
Kaiyo Hanson stood alone in the Senate Chamber, in a nice suit and his jet black hair slicked back with a nice shine to it. The jap had been called to the hearing a day prior, the G-Team general, Ford Brody, was also in Washington. He would be at a hearing almost instantly after Kaiyo's, perhaps it was fate that brought these enemies together.
The general sat patiently in a hotel room in which overlooked the roads and towns far below him within West Virginia, his ever watchful eyes occasionally peering out of the window to get a good look of the surroundings and how the weather was keeping. Kenny Anderson and Brayden Snow had tagged along for the ride, Ford had a strange feeling about this senate hearing, something fishy was in the air.
To kill some time, the general called up his wife and son to see how they were doing. Their home in Maine had been destroyed during the events of Rodan's attacks a few years ago, a new home had been built. A ranch home in North Dakota, out in a large field, completely isolated from civilization for a time of peace and quiet. Sam Brody had recently turned sixteen, he and his girlfriend were out eating at the Olive Garden for their third year anniversary of being happily in a relationship.
The phone began to buzz within the pockets of Sam Brody, he was so into speaking with his sweetheart, Destanee, that he almost didn't catch it until the last second. His girlfriend resumed eating her meal as he answered the phone, Sam wasn't expecting to hear his father on the phone. He firmly believed that Ford Brody was always alright, if his father could survive being around the MUTO'S and Godzilla's feet as they were fighting in 2014, surely he would be alright doing other activities.
"Dad! It is a pleasant surprise to hear from you again, how has it been going with you and your adventures around the world? Must be pretty rough on ya." Sam asked, curious to know how his dad had been doing ever since 2024.
"Everything is fine, all of these anti-Monarch factions and organizations can be a real PIMA sometimes, but everything his holding up to be okay. How is my Elle doing?"
"Mom's doing good, it is nice to hear that you are safe and okay as well. By the way, what does PIMA mean?"
"That's great to hear son, PIMA stands for Pain In My Ass," Ford chuckled. "How has school been coming along, are grades good?"
"Heh, yeah. Grades are doing good, just got a single C grade in one of my classes, other than that, all is good."
"I'm proud of you, makes me happy to see that you are coming along in your schooling. Has Destanee been treating you right, if she hasn't, I'll come up there and lay the smackdown on her." Ford joked with his son, Destanee overheard Ford's voice on Sam's phone. She casted a serious glare, though it came off as rather playful. Sam decided to play along with his father to mess with his girl.
"Ahh, she's been treating me right. These mood swings she goes through and periods can be a pain in the ass too." Sam joked around, Destanee playfully growled and then chuckled along with Ford and Sam.
"I've been taking care of the ranch dad, while you've been gone. Mama's been worried sick over you, when this whole ordeal is over with. You should come back and maybe see us for a bit, this work is hard stuff." Sam continued on, Ford smiled.
"Is it just because the work is hard?"
"Well," Sam said. "I also miss you, you run a risky job that could get you seriously hurt."
"I appreciate that Sam, I currently got a senate hearing to attend to in a matter of hours. It depends on how long the current one is taking. I promise you, when my hearing is over with. I'll be there."
As Ford spoke, he noticed a large dark colored van rolling down the street. The logo on the side of the van looked like the logo on the hat of the Red Bamboo, his eyes widened at the sight. Kaiyo Hanson or some informatives were in the city of Washington DC, it was time to spring into action right now. This could lead to the arrest of the crazy jap.
"I love you son, I've gotta get to work." Ford said before abruptly hanging up the phone on Sam, part of him regretting not hearing his son's voice. Every time the national hero sprung into action with his colonel squadron, it was life or death. Any moment could lead to his demise, it was something Ford Brody had to accept.
"Colonel Anderson, Colonel Snow. Red Bamboo van down in the road beneath us, I don't know what the hell is going on, but we've gotta follow it. Let's move!" Ford shouted, he was dressed in a nice suit with a bulletproof vest underneath it, so were Brayden Snow and Kenny Anderson, they followed Ford Brody into the elevator and were fast to hop into their own van that they had pulled up to the hotel in the night before.
"How are we going to stop those people, they are more than likely armed, we didn't come prepared for this, other than the fact that we only have pistols…" Kenny asked, following Brayden Snow and Ford Brody towards the Monarch van.
"In the back, Anderson!" Brayden snapped in a joking tone, Kenny rolled his eyes and hopped in the back. Ford didn't answer Kenny's question from moments ago.
"Uhh, Ford? What are pew pew guns gonna do to machine guns?" Kenny asked loudly, Ford didn't know how to respond.
"Look, we'll think of something. I have no clue what their intentions are, so how about we three focus on getting them assholes."
The Monarch van zoomed down the road after the Red Bamboo van, the riders within the RB van already knew it was Ford Brody and the gang within the vehicle in which was in hot pursuit. Ford's mind raced, he had to swerve his van in and out of traffic as he chased after the RB van.
"Fire at the tires, slow this fucker down!" Ford shouted, Brayden and Kenny rolled down their windows and leaned out with their pistols, taking aim at the RB vans tires ahead of them. They fired a shot in which missed and hit the pavement, another bullet hit the back bumper of the van.
"Ittai nani ga okotte iru no!?" The driver of the vehicle screamed, causing two gunmen within the vehicle to lean out with their uzi's and open fire towards the Monarch van. This caused Brayden Snow and Kenny Anderson to lean back into the van and duck down for cover.
"Shit!" Ford shouted as the rapid fire bullets pelted his van, some even shattering the glass. He was in danger of getting shot right in the head, the national hero couldn't allow that to happen. He swerved behind another vehicle, the driver in that respective car got shot dead and took Ford's place for joining the afterlife.
"Ford are you nuts!?" Brayden shouted, he couldn't believe that he allowed the death of an innocent person just taking an everyday stroll through the city.
"His sacrifice won't be in vain!" Ford answered as he stepped on the gas pedal hard, the van zoomed up the road with the engine roaring loudly, he was taking a gamble as the front of his van collided with the RB one. The impact jolting the two vehicles hard, rocking the drivers and passengers around.
The gunmen in the RB van was knocked back into their seats, the driver was jolted and dazed. Leaving the van vulnerable to attacks, Ford ducked his head down as the rapid fire shots from the uzis burst into his van.
A helicopter flew in from above, it wasn't aiding Ford or the RB gunmen in any way. It was a getaway vehicle for Kaiyo Hanson, his senate hearing had been concluded. Weapons of mass destruction would be given to the Red Bamboo, he had successfully manipulated the US government into lending him almighty weapons that could devastate the lives of millions.
"Fasten your fucking belts!" Ford warned as he punched it, going around the RB van and speeding down the road. He took a sharp turn into another road, losing them for now. He began to wonder how far he was from the senate building as of right now, the national hero hoped that he wouldn't be too far away.
As Ford's van slid and skidded around on the roads, frequently coming close to crashing a few times. Brayden Snow and Kenny Anderson were knocked around in the back seat, it was absolute chaos in the streets as cars were smashed into. The doors of the car were just barely hanging on, a slight nudge could get them open. All of the windows had been shattered to bits, there were several dents in the van too. These hazards could increase the factor of any of the three G-team captains getting hurt or killed.
Even more bad news was coming in for them, Red Bamboo gunmen were hiding within the shadows of this large city in West Virginia, the capitol building and a few other major government structures had been rebuilt in WV after Washington DC was destroyed by Ghidorah in 2019, the process of rebuilding DC would take too long. Ford had gotten used to hearings at the old senate building in DC but now in this brand new location, he had no idea where it was.
"Siri gave me the dumbest fucking instructions on how to find the building!" Ford screamed in frustration as he pulled into an area with tightly packed traffic, causing him to groan and roll his eyes. While he was out of the thick of it and in the thin, he would be diving right back into the action as Red Bamboo terrorists poured out of a nearby alleyway.
"Ah shit…" Kenny groaned as he saw them moving towards them, firing at the vehicle with their pistols. The doors only having so much protection after the van took a great deal of damage, he loaded up his pistol and aimed at the shattered window.
When the shots began to ring out, the citizens didn't abide to the stop sign. They pushed forward en masse, the cars shoving each other forwards and some even going off the road. Kenny took a shot into his gut due to the fact that he wore a bulletproof vest beneath his fine suit, fake blood made it appear like he was wounded, catching the RB terrorist off guard.
Just as the Monarch van was getting overwhelmed, Ford found an opening in the moving rush of cars and punched the gas again, rushing the van forwards. The force of the sudden push forwards, knocked several RB terrorists away from the vehicle. The wind swung open one of the doors and the rush was strong enough to finally knock it off the car. The door went flying back and nailed one of the RB terrorists, making him fall on his ass.
Ford's eyes darted all over the place, trying to scan the area in a quick amount of time, trying to find clues of the senate building's location. No clues as of yet, making the national hero infuriated even more than he was already.
"Where the hell is that damn building!" Ford screamed at the top of his lungs, a gut feeling guided his eyes to look to the skies, his eyes catching a glimpse of a helicopter flying above them.
"The helicopter…" Ford continued, now starting to guide the broken van after the helicopter along the ground. Kenny looked at his general with a look of concern.
"A random ass helicopter is going to take us to the building? That is a ballsy move." Kenny said, Ford shrugged his shoulders as he continued to hurriedly drive amidst the chaos.
"I don't care, it is a godsend." Ford answered as he continued to follow after the chopper, he wouldn't let this potential opportunity slip from his fingers.
Meanwhile, Kaiyo Hanson was marching down the hall with two heavy set Red Bamboo bodyguards. The jap felt his phone buzzing in his pocket, he pulled it out and was alarmed when he received the notification of a Monarch van coming for him.
"Ā, kuso!" Kaiyo screamed, causing the two bodyguards to go on high alert. The leader of the Red Bamboo had no clue of how many of the G-Team was after his ass, but he had high bets it was the colonel squadron.
"How far away is that damn helicopter. I am gonna need it outside the door as soon as possible, we've got no time for this bullshit." Kaiyo growled silently as he and the two guards approached another hallway in which would eventually take the three of them to the exit of the building.
Several minutes went on to pass, though they felt like hours to Ford, Brayden, and Kenny. The senate building was right up the road, Ford knew the helicopter would take them right to where they wanted to be. What Ford wasn't expecting, is the helicopter landing right out in the middle of the road. The hero raised an eyebrow and then he was even more shocked to see none other than Kaiyo Hanson emerging from the senate building.
"There's the son of a bitch right there." Kenny growled, gripping his pistol tightly. The crazed jap was in their grasp for a third time, the colonels and the general were over it with Kaiyo. He had to get arrested as soon as possible, and now he was right there.
"Wait a minute, who is…" Brayden went to say as he saw a figure emerging from the bend, it was a beautiful blonde woman in a red and white leather battle suit, similar to Black Widow's from the Marvel universe. It was Laura Belinsky, she was here to attack Kaiyo.
The russian jumped on top of a car and leapt towards him, performing a frontflip through the air and landing on top of the crazed jap. She wrapped her legs around his head and shifted her weight down, sending him flying for a headscissors takedown, he tumbled down the stairs and rolled into a car. Now the colonel had to deal with the two bodyguards, but the three other colonels within the car watched in awe as she dealt with them quite fast.
She was elusive and quick, sliding underneath a guard and then jumping up behind him, locking in a sleeperhold. Arms tightening around his throat, he gagged and began to stumble back. She prevented him from falling by placing her feet onto a guardrail and throwing herself over his head, using his falling momentum to force him to crash into the second bodyguard.
"Kaiyo, I've come for you!" Laura screamed, her sexy russian accent showing. She usually shows off the accent when filled with rage, showing off her warrior side within her. The crazed jap growled as he climbed on top of the car, aiming to get inside of the helicopter to make an escape. Laura marched towards him, grabbing hold of his foot to keep him from leaving.
She felt confident until she was nailed in the face by a mule kick from Kaiyo, making her stumble back. The three other colonels climbed out of the car and charged the chopper, firing their pistols at the windshield of the aerial vehicle. One of the pilots was murdered, the other pilot remained and began to open fire using the turret guns of the chopper, forcing Ford, Brayden, and Kenny to take cover in the large mass of cars that clouded the street.
Alan Haas came in for the rescue from out of nowhere, lunging into the cockpit of the chopper from the side and taking out the other pilot, he went sailing to the outside, Kaiyo the only one within the helicopter now to deal with Alan. The colonel grunted in pain when he was struck in the knee by a kick from the crazed jap and then shoved out, dropping his pistol into the floorboard.
Laura was back up on her feet, advancing towards the chopper again, only to get decked by the butt of the rifle, she was again knocked back. Ford, Brayden, and Kenny began to charge at the chopper now that they had the chance, but they instantly went prone underneath a few vehicles as they seen Kaiyo going for the turret controls once again.
Laura was relentless in going for Kaiyo, she had been knocked away a good few times, but she kept coming after the jap. The russian was determined to take this bastard out one way or another, but then Vergil Snow appeared on the stairs of the senate building. He took aim at Kaiyos head from afar, and fired.
The bullet unfortunately was blocked by Laura's arm once she went to reach for the jap, giving her a flesh wound and causing her to yank the arm away. She looked back and mistook the young colonel for a Red Bamboo terrorist, only for her eyes to widen and realize it was really Vergil Snow.
"You fucking idiot!" She screamed as the helicopter began to slowly hover up, but then Andy Williams lunged onto the ledge of the helicopter, holding on tightly as it climbed higher into the air, ten feet above the ground. Kaiyo was getting away again, the brave colonel growled as he heaved himself up and stood on the landing skids, grabbing a hold of the door to try and open it.
"Andy!" Ford cried as the chopper climbed higher into the air, now it was fifteen feet above the ground. Kaiyo looked over and seen Andy's head in the window, he growled in anger before kicking the door at full force, causing it to swing open.
Andy wasn't knocked off, he held on tight as the chopper continued to get higher and higher into the air. He was risking his life for this mission, it was an ambush on Kaiyo that only Laura and Andy knew about, Alan Haas and Vergil Snow only tagged along while Ford, Brayden, and Kenny was in the area for a senate hearing. That senate hearing wouldn't be happening now as Andy tried to shimmy on the landing skids and enter the chopper, he wasn't wearing a bulletproof vest this time, his arrogant mind believed that they would have Kaiyo this time.
A well placed shot to the gut was waiting for Andy, connecting perfectly. He howled in agony and held on with one arm, his grip beginning to slip. Kaiyo continued to control the chopper's steering with one hand as he shot another round into Andy's gut for a second time in a row. This was enough to knock the colonel off the landing skids, and making him fall seventeen feet to the ground, landing on the roof of a car, putting a large dent in it.
The brave colonel coughed out blood and moaned in anger and regret, rolling off of the roof of the car and crashing upon the pavement. Several innocent civilians were killed due to the turret gun of the chopper and Andy could be potentially another victim, and one of the first colonels to fall.
The rest of the colonels rushed over to him, Kaiyo had gotten away for the third straight time. They almost had him again, but Vergil Snow accidentally fired at just the wrong timing, screwing up the whole plan. The bastard that was Kaiyo Hanson, was heard laughing as the helicopter began to fly away from the senate building.
"Andy, are you okay?" Alan Haas asked his lifelong friend, appearing to be quite concerned for his downed brother. The only thing that came out of Andy was an agonizing groan, spurting out blood from his mouth.
"He needs medical attention fast." Ford sighed, Laura quickly dialed 9-11 for the colonel. Thankfully a hospital was nearby, the streets were clearing out at last but the cars that contained dead citizens of West Virginia, stayed in place.
Brayden Snow sat against a nearby truck in which contained a dead victim within, holding his head in his hands. He looked shocked that this was happening, Andy could be dying. A lifelong best friend, dying to one of the most hated men among the squadron. All because Vergil Snow made a mistake, he would forgive his brother for now, but it would be hard for him to forget it if Andy died.
"Andy, hang in there man, help is coming." Kenny reassured in a calming voice, getting out a wrap for his wounded comrade.
Vergil Snow approached slowly from behind, he seen Laura's flesh wound on her arm. She was gritting her teeth in a mixture of pain and anger, the eyes of Alan Haas slowly directed themselves up from Andy.
"What is your major malfunction you idiot?" Alan growled through gritted teeth, his fists balled up tightly in rage. Everyone was on Alan Hass's side as he was fired up with Vergil Snow, reasonably so.
"It was just an accident, I want you to calm dow-" Vergil couldn't finish his sentence when Alan Haas snapped on him once again.
"You don't tell me what to do you inexperienced fool!" Haas shouted, approaching the younger colonel. Vergil began to back up, intimidated by this man that was enraged at his mistake.
"Everybody makes mistakes. Calm the hell down…"
"Oh for fucks sake Vergil, Laura had that son of a bitch and you fucked it all up. Andy is probably going to die, and it wouldn't have happened if you didn't fire at Kaiyo!"
"I was only trying to end it before he could get away, perhaps if that idiot blonde hadn't gotten in my way. I could've saved us potential years of a wild goose chase for that japanese clown!"
Hearing Vergil talk bad about Laura angered Kenny, who got up to confront the younger colonel.
"You don't try to put dirt on Laura's name, I'll fuck you up right here, right now. You are the lowest in command, I advise you to know where you stand!"
"It was a mistake, are all of you hardasses like this? I guess training really turned you people into good for nothing assholes."
Vergil's words about the colonel squadron's training now angered Ford Brody, he was the one who turned these average joes into badass warriors back in the training academy alongside Jackson Barnes, who had been killed by Kaiyo not too long ago.
"YOU BETTER WATCH YOUR FUCKING MOUTH WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT MY TRAINING!" Ford roared right in the face of Vergil, making him back up and even quiver in fear. The face of the national hero was red hot with anger, the veins showing on his neck and face.
"I'm just saying…"
"And now look at you, backing up like a little pussy ass motherfucker. What happened to your training, have you always been a little runt who will fail in following our footsteps. Your brother Brayden is our friend, but you, you're just his annoying younger brother to us." Alan Haas growled coldly, no remorse behind his words, and now Brayden Snow was getting in defense mode for Vergil.
"You don't deserve to work with us, you hurt Laura and that could be received as a treacherous act. We don't like any traitors on our team, especially when Jerome Hunter stabbed us in the back, including Kaiyo Hanson himself. If you want to act like a brain dead jackass, I can fire you from G-Team right now." Ford continued, Brayden had enough with almost the entire squadron harassing his younger brother for a mistake. He fired ten rounds into the air to get their attention towards him.
"Will you fucking assholes cool it? He made a mistake, not like we all haven't made any mistakes before. Laura herself made a mistake when she couldn't save Jackson Barnes, hell, all of us made a mistake when we lowered our guard down while we had Kaiyo in custody. We all have made errors, quit acting like a bunch of baboons and get Andy Williams to safety. Save your breath for another time!" Brayden shouted as loud as he could, Kenny approached him.
"Okay, sure, it is a mistake, but that bastard Kaiyo has gotten away for a third fucking time. Our back is against the wall right now and our numbers are getting cut shorter everyday, Germaine is in rehab and now Andy Williams will probably be out for a while. Jerome Hunter has betrayed us and Kaiyo Hanson has gone rogue. That is four god-damn people out of the squad, we are having less of a chance to get that japanese bastard into custody now. I'm tired of chasing his ass, we all are. This could've been our only damn shot, but it is fucked up again."
"We will get Kaiyo at some point, don't sweat it."
"Don't sweat it? He is already on our most wanted list, we still have to catch Alan Jonah and Floyd Sanders. They've done loads of damage to Monarch and to the G-Team, and now Kaiyo is getting up there as almost as dangerous as they are. With Jerome betraying us, who's to say that he won't become just as deadly too? The government is against us, the whole world is against us. We've been struggling to stay on our feet ever since 2019, it is 2026 you psychopath."
"Listen, we've been able to survive and weather the storms for the past seven years. We've busted our asses and have gotten hurt time and time again, I remember when we were in the training academy together. You were at the bottom of the barrel, getting your ass whipped. Now you are in the colonel squadron, you've come far. You've been beaten, but you have crawled out of the hole as a stronger man."
"Yes, but our problems are worse due to the looming threat of titans around the world. Godzilla can turn on us at any time, including several of those beasts. So we have human problems and titan problems, cracks are starting to form, Brayden. If we don't do something soon, those cracks will grow until we collapse. Who will save the world from the titans then?"
Brayden stopped talking when Kenny delivered that sentence, the reality began to dawn on the 2nd in command colonel of the squadron, yet, he remained optimistic.
"We've been pushed down the mountain again, we've been knocked from the ladder. Fallen from the house, but we've gotten back up again. Defeat is only a mindset, when we all sit on our ass and accept our failure to accomplish our goal, that is when we are defeated. Losing one battle doesn't mean we haven't lost the war, we can lose a thousand battles, but as long as we don't quit, we still have a chance. We will conquer this climb, if I have to lift you all up. Including you Ford, I will." Brayden said with a stern look upon his face, the road ahead of them would be a very bumpy one…