At the command center, rain continues pouring as two helicopters flew by.
"Here at the command center in New Jersey there is no new information to report, because the military has clamped a total media blackout on whatever is going on out there." Caiman reported as Audrey appeared and turned around. "Officials are not saying anything about their attempts to contain or control this creature."
Audrey walks off as then two military Humvees appeared.
"And, now, I can see back from their expedition to Manhattan-" Caiman continued.
"Okay, no, the situation is under control." O'Neal said as reporters gathered. "It's under control. We have containment."
Among the crowd, Audrey noticed Nick climbing out of a Humvee.
"Don't wait for me." Nick said. "I'm okay."
Shouting and chattering fills the air from the crowd as Audrey watches him walking off trying to think of the best way to approach him after being apart for so long. Nick got to the entrance of a store and closed his umbrella and opens the door entering inside as a door chime jingles.
"Can I help you, young man?" The manager asked.
"Yes, uh - Do you have any at-home pregnancy tests, especially ones that look for gonadotropic hormones or clomiphene citrate?" Nick asked.
"I don't know." She said and looks around the shelves as Audrey appeared outside. "This - This - This is all we've got." She place several boxes of the counter.
"I'll take all of them." Nick said as the door bell jingled.
"Okay." The manager said lightly chuckling.
"Wow." Audrey said. "You must have quite some harem."
Nick turns to her and soon recognized her.
"Audrey?" Nick said stunned. Oh, my God - Audr - is that you? What are you doing here? Ha- Hi. Hello. Wow. How much is that?" He turned back to the manager.
"46 dollars." She said placing the tests in a bag.
"God, you- you look- Wow. How've you been?" Nick asked.
"It's good to see you, Nick." Audrey smiled.
"So, you made it." Nick said noticing her badge.
"What?" Audrey frowned.
"You're a reporter, huh?" Nick said paying the tests.
Audrey glanced down as Caiman's badge had her image taped over his image as she placed her hand over it nervously.
"No. That's good." Nick said. "That's what you always wanted. I'm-I'm happy for ya. Really. I am." The manager hands him the bag. "Thank you."
Audrey tucks the bade behind her coat, and they head outside as the door bell jingled.
"You're still mad at me?" Audrey asked.
"Well, you left without a phone call, a letter, text, nothing." Nick said sounding a little hurt still. "All this time - yeah. Yeah. I guess I am still a little mad."
"That was eight years ago." Audrey mentioned. "Some people change."
"Most people don't." Nick retorted.
Audrey sighed. "Well, I'm sorry you feel that way." She said and walks off.
Nick then felt bad. "Audrey."
Audrey turns back to him.
"You're right." Nick said. "Eight years is a long time. Can I make ya a cup of tea?"
Audrey then smiled.
"Sure." She said. "That'd be nice."
Later, they were at Nick's tent as Audrey was using a beaker with tea over a furnace swirling it around. And the Wild Kratts were going over some images they got on their reptilian colossus friend while having a Taco Bell dinner.
"I still can't believe it." Audrey said and pours the tea in a cup. "How does a guy go from an antinuke activist to working for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission?"
"Yeah, how?" Jimmy asked taking a bite of his grilled cheese burrito.
"Well, when Audrey and I went to rallies together in college, we helped to create awareness." Nick explained working on his experiment. "But now, from the inside, I'm able to effect real change."
"Interesting." Martin said.
"And exactly what changes are you trying to effect?" Audrey asked.
"I'm preparing a census for government." Nick said as a device beeped. "I'm cataloging new species that have been created as a direct result of nuclear contamination." He swirls around a beaker with urine.
"Ooh, is that what you think created this thing?" Audrey asked.
"Yeah." Nick said. "I found a blood sample earlier this evening."
"How close did you get to the thing?" Audrey asked.
Nick was momentarily silently is encounter.
"Uh..." Chris stuttered.
"We got pretty close." Nick said.
"Like almost... touching range." Aviva said.
Audrey was silent from the thought.
"And what else did you find out?" Audrey asked.
"Well, the DNA testing from the blood seems to show that our big friend is some form of iguana." Koki said.
"Yeah, it made more sense since then." Chris said. "Iguanas are both great swimmers and diggers."
"Yep." Nick said. "Well, we know he eats tons of fish. He's amphibious. He's a burrower." He extracts a droplet from the beaker.
"Yeah, you should've seen the subway tunnel her dug through." Martin said.
"And..." Nick said placing a drop on the pregnancy test and then frowned. "...he's pregnant."
The Wild Kratts were then dead-silent hearing that.
"I'm sorry, what did you just say?" Chris asked.
Audrey frowned from that as well. "He is?" She and the Wild Kratts hovered over Nick seeing the test.
"He - A very unusual he." Nick said.
"But-But... How can that be?" Jimmy said bewildered.
"Uh, I mean, obviously, these tests weren't designed for this, but fundamentally, they look for the same hormonal patterns to indicate pregnancy."
"Oh, wait. I don't get it." Audrey said all confused. "If he's the first of his kind, how can he be pregnant? Doesn't he need a mate?"
"Not if he reproduces asexually." Nick concluded.
"What?" Aviva frowned.
"Some lizards like monitor lizards can reproduce without a mate sometimes." Martin explained. "Komodo Dragons as well."
"Where's the fun in that?" Audrey asked.
Nick got up grabbing a few things. "I kept thinking, why would he travel so far?" He placed items in a case. "But it makes perfect sense. Lots of animals travel great distances for reproduction."
"Yeah, sea turtles can travel hundreds, even thousands of miles just to return to same beaches to lay their eggs." Chris said.
"Gray Whales make the longest migration of any mammal." Martin added. "A 12,000 mile roundtrip each year from feeding ground in northern Alaska, to Baja California where they breed and have calves."
"That's what he's doing in New York." Nick concluded. "He's nesting."
"Nesting?" Audrey frowned.
"As in... Eggs?" Aviva said.
"Yes." Nick said. "Do you realize that a lizard can lay up to 12 eggs at a time? Think of it."
"Well, I-I didn't know that." Audrey admitted.
"That's nothing." Chris said. "Some iguana species can lay as many as 20 to 70 eggs in a clutch."
"Imagine how big a hatchling would be." Martin said.
"That would scary." Jimmy shuddered at the thought.
"Forgive me." Nick said. "I have to- I have to get this to the lab, see if I can confirm all this." He then heads outside and turns back to her. "I'll be right back."
"Hey, wait up." Chris said as the others followed him.
Their footsteps retreated to silence as Audrey was left alone in the tent, and she looks around his desk seeing his work. And a few photos of them together back in their college days. Audrey looks through them including one of her riding on Nick's back, and she smiled at that as well from the memories they had together. A man's voice on a radio was heard indistinctly and she looks around and then notice a Sony VHS tape labeled, "First Sighting Top Secret".
Audrey grabs the case and then placed the tape in the TV, and the video starts as and shows a doctor holding a device over the sole survivor as it clicks.
"Gojira. Gojira." He said. "Gojira."
The footage shows Panama where the creature made landfall as a massive footprint was left and a helicopter whirs overhead. Audrey remained silent from the village's damage and the video ends and she removes the tape from the TV and placed back in the case where she found it.
But then she was in thought of something though reluctant, she then grabs the case and leaves the tent.
Meanwhile, over Manhattan, whirring fills the sky as a team of Apaches were searching for the monster reptile.
Sirens wailed out as they flew over the building as pilots kept a close eye on their radar screens.
"Raven Flight, maintain search pattern-"
In the tunnel, he dug, a team of soldiers looked around as well.
Two soldiers were at another as one heard something.
"Come on, Joey." One soldier said softly. "There's nothin' down here."
"I'm tellin' you, man." Joey said. "I heard... somethin'."
"You heard nothin'." The soldier said. "It's a dead end."
Joey went further down as he saw a dead end wall as he looked at it as electricity crackled.
"Anything?" The soldier asked.
"Nah." Joey said. "Nothin' down here. Nothin' at all."
He turns and leaves as the wall suddenly moved and a large eye opened as a nictitating membrane moves aside as the creature stares at the soldier. And it's head soon lifts up.
Meanwhile, Audrey was with Animal and another news man named Ed as they were going over a news report that she made.
"This is why, in this case, all the king's horses and all the king's men may not be able to put the Big Apple together again." Audrey reported. "Audrey Timmonds, WIDF News."
"Yes!" Audrey said.
"That's it." Ed said. "You owe me a beer."
"You like it?" Audrey beamed.
"Yeah, great." Ed said.
"Oh, I should have wore my hair back." Audrey said.
"No. It looks great." Ed assured.
"You like it?" Audrey said. "Good, good, good."
"Can I ask you something?" Animal asked.
"Hey, what?" Audrey said.
"How the hell you get a hold of this material?" Animal asked.
"Well, you know, it's like you said." Audrey said getting her coat on. "Nice guys finish last, right?"
Ed then held out the tape.
"Thank you." Audrey said and kissed Ed's cheek. "I love you."
"Ah, yeah, sure." Ed said as she heads off.
"What?" Animal frowned.
Ed turns to him.
Outside, Audrey wanders through the crowd looking for someone.
"We got to have something to go live with." Caiman said. "Right."
"Murray. Murray!" Audrey called out. "Come here for a second."
"Now, when-" Caiman said.
"Hold on a second, alright?" Murray said and went over to Audrey. "Wha-Wha-What is it?"
"I've got exclusive footage or other places this thing has attacked." Audrey said.
"You do?" Murray frowned as it got Caiman's attention.
"Yeah!" Audrey said.
"Whose story is that?" Murray asked.
"Mine." Audrey declared showing the tape.
At the command center, military members rushed around.
At their hotel base, Roache's co-worker, Jean Pierre looks through binoculars seeing Nick rushing through the rain with the Wild Kratts behind him.
"There's a lot of movement down there." He said in French. "Military, police..."
He then grabs a strip of bacon from Roaché's breakfast.
"Oh, oh, oh!" Roache said stopping him.
"Quoi?" Jean Pierre frowned.
"It's my breakfast." Roaché said in French.
"I'm hungry." Jean Pierre said in French.
"We were unable to effectively deploy our weapons,"
Jean Claude then shushed. "Quiet..."
"-but if we can lure him into a more-"
"-open area, such as this portion of Central Park, I think we should be able to take him down." Hicks said going over a new plan.
"Last time, you didn't even scratch it." Ebert said.
"That's not true." Hicks said. "My worm guy- I mean- Dr. Tatopoulos here has found blood."
"Yes, yes, I did." Nick informed.
"It's not a lot to harm him, but it was more like several bee stings to him from earlier." Martin said.
"The only thing we need to do is get him out into open terrain and use weapons that don't rely on heat-seeking technology-" Hicks said.
"Uh, excuse me, sir." Nick said. "I think the situation has become more complicated than that. The blood that I collected revealed that the creature is either about to lay eggs or already has."
"Are you trying to tell us there's another one of those things out there?" A governor said.
"No, no, Governor." Nick said. "I don't believe so."
"Wait a minute. Wait, wait. "Ebert said all confused. "Then, how can it be pregnant? What is this, the Virgin Lizard?"
Gene then laughed as well as Craven as even Jimmy snickered but stopped while Koki glared at him.
"No, no. It reproduces asexually." Nick explained.
"50 species of lizards are known for this ability, including monitor lizards." Chris added.
"That's why we need to find the nest as soon as possible." Nick said. "Otherwise, up to a dozen are gonna be born. Each one capable of laying eggs on its own. Very quickly, we could be looking at enormous population."
"So after we kill the creature, then we'll search for the nest." Hicks said.
"No, I think it might be too late by then." Nick said. "Those eggs are going to hatch very quickly."
"At the very less, those eggs may have an incubation period of hours." Martin said. "Or a couple days at most."
"How could you possibly know that?" Craven asked.
"The fish - The fish that we found on the subway." Nick said. "He's not collecting all this food just for himself. He's preparing to feed his young."
Everyone remained silent from the thought.
"Do we have something on this guy?" Roaché asked in French.
"Quais." Jean Philippe said looking through files and went over to him. "Professor Nick Ta...Ta...Tato... they call him "the worm guy.'"
Roaché grabs the files from him and looks through them showing Nick, and a few others showing the Wild Kratts.
"Stay tuned for our special report." A reporter said.
At a diner, Audrey looks around trying to find Animal.
"Yo!" Animal called out. "Would you excuse us, please? Where you been?" Audrey went over to him. "They just promo ed your spot. It's after this."
"Oh, good." Audrey said sitting down. "Could you turn it up, please?"
"Yo!" Animal called. "Could you turn it up, please? The TV."
"If Dr. Tatopoulous is right, we have to act quickly before this problem escalates." Hicks said.
"You want to divide our efforts based solely on some wild theory?" An Admiral said.
"Sir, Nick's come through for us before, and if he feels strongly about-" Hicks said.
"Come through for you?" The Admiral said. "Colonel, your campaign's a disaster. You weren't even able to keep this thing from coming to Manhattan."
"Stay tuned for a special report."
"Excuse me, gentlemen, I think we should see this." The Governor said.
They then turn to the TV.
"'The Origin of the Species" An in-depth look at the methods and motivations of Manhattan's most unwanted pest."
The screen then showed the lone survivor of the first attack.
"Gojira. Gojira." The man said.
"Gond-zilla." Caiman said.
"That's what Japanese sailors called him in song." He explained as Audrey was beyond shock as Caiman somehow got her report and altered it with his case. "A mythological sea dragon who filled their hearts with fear."
"Oh, my God." Audrey said in disbelief. "He stole my report!"
"Yeah, I know." Animal said.
"Has become reality, our modern-day terror."
"I don't believe it!" Audrey said.
"Who is this Godzilla?" Caiman said. "Where did he come from? Why is he here?"
"And it's Gojira, you moron!" Audrey stating the creature's name correctly.
"Find out in this special report."
The TV showed the near 7,300 mile route "Godzilla" took from French Polynesia to Manhattan.
"A direct path can be traced from Manhattan to French Polynesia, where nuclear tests have been going on for over two decades." Caiman continued as Nick and the Wild Kratts got uneasy like Elementary school kids sent to the Principal's office. "Research team member, Dr. Niko Papadopoulus, and expert team Wild Krafts, believes the creature may be nesting, using Manhattan as Ground Zero to cultivate the species." Everyone then turns to them. "This despite the fact that the combined might of the United States military has been unable to subdue-"
"You went to the press with this?" The Admiral said not believing this.
"No! No, I haven't talked to anyone." Nick said.
"They mentioned you by name!" The Admiral said.
"Yeah. Yeah!" Nick said.
"But we were hear the entire time." Chris said. "We've gone nowhere else."
"You gave them the tape?" Hicks said in disbelief.
"No, I didn't- No, I didn't give them the tape." Nick said. "No, it's in my tent right now. Oh, my God." The realization came to him. "Oh, my God. She took it."
"She didn't." Martin said.
"Pack your stuff, you six." The Admiral firmly said. "You're officially off this project as of now!"
"Yes, sir." Aviva said.
Nick got up grabbing his things and leaves as the Wild Kratts followed.
Roaché and his men were also watching the report.
"What's going on?" Jean-Luc asked in French.
"May already have or may be about to lay as many as a dozen eggs." Caiman continued his report. "One dozen Godzillas."
"We're leaving." Roaché said and got up.
Back at the military base, members wandered around as Elise rushed to Nick's tent.
"You guys get those trucks moving!" A man said.
Elise panted catching her breath. "I'm so sorry about all this." She said.
Nick and the Wild Kratts already had their things packed as he went up to her.
"Make sure Hicks finds that nest before it's too late." Nick said.
"I'll try." Elise promised.
Nick and the Wild Kratts soon walked out of the tent. And Elise watched them leave as two soldiers followed them.
"What do you mean he's not there?" Audrey said on the phone in a phonebooth trying to reach Nick. "A second ago, you told me he was on the other line. Please, it's urgent. I really need to talk to him. Yes, Nick Tatopoulos." She sighed.
She then saw Nick and the Wild Kratts being escorted to a mini bus as they loaded their things in and she hangs up the phone and went over to them.
"You're leaving? Why?" Audrey asked. "Is it 'cause of me? Cause of the story?"
"No, because of global warming." Koki bluntly said. "Of course it's you and your stunt!"
"We just got kicked out because of you." Aviva glared at her. "What were you thinking?"
"Well, what did you think was gonna happen?" Nick questioned loading his things in the trunk.
"You never said it was off the record." Audrey said in her defense.
"Because the military was keeping this quiet, Audrey." Martin said. "But of course, you reporters think it's best for the truth to be out."
"I shouldn't have to, Audrey." Nick said. "You were supposed to be my friend. I trusted you."
Audrey felt bad and nearby Animal came out of the diner and saw them.
"Nick, there's something I have to tell you." Audrey said having a confession. "Look, I-I lied to you. I'm not a reporter."
Nick turns to her.
"What are you talking about?" Chris asked.
"When we broke up and I first came out to New York, I was so sure I'd make it." Audrey explained. "But I haven't. That's why I needed the story so bad."
Nick closed the trunk.
"I just couldn't tell you I'm a failure." Audrey said.
Nick sighed as the Wild Kratts climbed into the bus. "And you thought that made it okay to steal my tapes?" He questioned.
"No. It was a terrible thing to do." Audrey admitted. "I never should've done that."
"Good luck with your new career." Nick bluntly said. "I really think you have what it takes."
The bus' engine then starts as Nick climbed in.
"Newark Airport." Nick said.
The bus then drives off as Audrey watches it go.
"Sorry." Audrey said.
"Oh- Hey- Yo- Huh- Come on." Animal said as the bus drove by. "Give her a break, will ya?"
Animal then got to his van and then drives off following the bus.
In the bus, Nick and the Wild Kratts remained silent as the bus drove along as Animal's van followed them.
In the bus, Nick noticed they were turning left instead right towards the airport.
"Hmm? This isn't the way to the airport." Martin frowned.
"Uh-Uh-Hey-Uh-Ex-Excuse me is this the best way to the airport?" Nick asked.
In his van, Animal noticed the strange route as well and continues following them.
"Sir, where are you going?" Nick asked as they got to a harbor. "Hey!" He said and taps on the window. "Hello!"
Then the side door locks.
"Okay, stop." He demanded and pounds the window. "Stop the car right now!"
The minibus then stops.
"All right." Nick said. "Now, let me out of here!"
"I'm afraid I can't do that." The driver turn to him revealing to be Roaché.
"Hey, I know you, don't I?" Nick said recognizing him. "Yeah, yeah, you're that insurance guy."
Martin recognized him as well. "Hey. You're that French guy back in Jamaica. Who are you?"
"Agent Philippe Roaché, D.G.S.E." He properly introduced himself. "Direction Generale des Services Exterieurs." He reached in his jacket.
"Sounds big." Nick said.
"The French Secret Service." Philippe brought out his badge.
Nick and the Wild Kratts looked at it.
"Oh." Nick said.
"I thought you might like to know that your American friends have decided not to look for the creature's nest." Philippe informed.
"What?" Nick said shocked. "Are you sure? How do you know that?"
"We know." Philippe said. "Trust me."
"Trust you?" Nick questioned. "You hijack us and expect us to trust you?" He hands Philippe's badge back.
"You expect us to trust you like that?" Chris inquired.
"Yes." Philippe said.
"And why should we do that?" Nick questioned.
"Because you are the only one who wants to find the nest as much as I do." Philippe said.
He then drives off and turns left as Animal stepped out of his van and was all confused.
The minibus drives into a warehouse where there was an entire team busy, and they got out as they had military weapons, vehicles and other things.
"Whoa." Chris said. "You guys been busy."
"How did you get all this stuff into the country?" Nick asked.
"This is America." Philippe said. "You can buy anything?"
"I guess it's true when you put it that way." Martin said.
"Why all the secrecy?" Nick asked as they followed him. "Why aren't you guys working with the U.S. military?"
"You could give a little extra help." Aviva said.
"I'm not permitted to speak such things." Philippe said.
"Hey. Hey." Nick said. You said you needed our trust. Well, then, we need yours."
Philippe was momentarily silent knowing he was right.
"I am a patriot." Philippe said. "I love my country, you understand that?"
"Sure." Nick said.
"It is my job to protect my country. Sometimes I must even protect it from itself, from mistakes we've made, mistakes we don't want the world to know about."
"Talking about the nuclear tests in the Pacific?" Nick said.
"Yes. This testing done my country left a terrible mess. We're here to clean it up." He then turns to some of his Jean-Pierre. "Y A du nouveau?"
"Ben. Non. Rien d'important." Jean-Pierre said going over a map.
Outside, Animal found a ladder and climbs up it and peaks through a gape of a broken window seeing them.
"They are setting the next fish trap at 8:30." Jean-Pierre said.
"We know how to get into the city." Philippe said. "We just don't know where to start looking."
Nick joins them by the map and looks at it along with Chris and Martin.
"Um- Here. This is the 23rd Street subway station." Nick gestured a spot on the map. "That's where we first found the fish. That'd be a good place to start looking."
"Those tunnels he dug are likely all connected to a den site wherever it is." Chris said. "Follow one, it should lead to the nest."
"So, you're in?" Philippe inquired.
Jean-Claude and Jean-Pierre turn to them.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm in. "Nick said.
"Tres bien." Philippe said and laughed.
"I always wanted to join the French Foregin Legion. "Nick said.
Jean-Pierre chuckled. "Bravo."
"Bienvenue." Jean-Claude said.
Author's Note:
Okay, there is truly no excuse of me ignoring everyone's reviews. I'm truly sorry. I'll try to do better.
I also have something planning for future stories. A sequel story of Avatar: The Dawn of a New Era, and a Legend of Korra story in the same verse. I'm hoping it'll be out sometime during the summer as long as I'm not too busy with other stories.
And I'll my best to do better on interactions in crossovers.
Lastly, I hoped everyone had a great Mother's Day yesterday.