History Shows Again and Again
Chapter 12
May 2019
Zeek groaned as he came to, eyes slowly blinking open. He let his eyes adjust to the brightness of the day before he slowly forced himself to sit up, wincing as pain erupted from his back, and took in his surroundings. The medbay on the Argo with his clothes on the chair next to his bed. He rubbed his head, closing his eyes as he tried to remember what had happened, why was he-
He remembered a terrified scream.
He remembered the sound of ice being crunched.
He remembered how Ishiro looked as he fell to his knees.
He remembered that goddamn screech.
He slammed a hand over his mouth, his free hand gripping the blanket in his lap as he began to remember more and more. Vivienne...she wasn't here, not anymore and the full weight of that fact slammed into him.
"Damn it…" he gritted his teeth as he pulled his hand away from his mouth and slammed it on the bed. "Fuck!"
He took deep breaths, giving himself five minutes, now was not the time to mourn and wallow, that will come after everything was said and done. He slid out of the bed, detached what he needed to detach and quickly changed before heading straight to the bridge. As he walked inside, he noted that everyone was tense, seemingly expecting the worse with a beeping noise echoing through the air.
"What's going on?" he asked, causing everyone to look over at him.
"It's Emma." stated Sam. "She just shut down Outpost fifty-six's containment system."
"How much time do we have?" asked Ishiro.
"I'm not sure."
"Is Emma acting on her own or is Jonah forcing her?" Questioned Zeek.
"...the former." Ishiro answered and Zeek set his jaw before nodding.
"Oh shit" Sam suddenly spoke up.
"What?" Zeek looked at the other.
Sam looked at Zeek, then Ishiro, then Mark. "She's using the ORCA through the speakers. We don't have time. Reports coming in that containment have been breached."
Zeek, Ilene, Mark and Ishiro all looked out of the glass and, as they continued to get closer and closer. Zeek could see black smoke billowing out of the volcano as fireballs were flung outwards and lava began its slow track down the sides. On top of the volcano was really caught Zeek's attention. The creature was just...perched there, not moving in the slightest except for looking around.
"You got a catchy name for this one?" Mark asked Ilene.
"Local legends call it Rodan, the Fire Demon."
"That's comforting." Mark stated sarcastically before looking at Rodan, who was roaring.
"Uh, guys…?" Sam spoke up, causing everyone to look at him again and he was looking at the map that showed the developed storm. "You remember that tropical storm where we last lost Monster Zero? It's changing direction and, uh...guess where it's heading now."
"That's not possible." Rick stated. "No storm moves that fast."
"Unless...it's not a storm." Ilene suggested.
"It's Monster Zero." Zeek added just as the marker for the titan came up in the middle of the storm.
"Oh man…" swallowed Sam.
"We need time to finish the evacuation." Ishiro stated.
"Well, you better hurry 'cause it's closing in fast." stated Rick.
"Serizawa." Mark quickly spoke up, causing the said man, Ilene and Zeek to look at him. "It's no coincidence that the Monster Zero thing is heading here. It's reacting to Big Bird's cries. That means it's coming for food, a fight or...something more intimate."
'What do you suggest?" questioned Ishiro.
"We lead them on a crash course towards each other."
Ishiro thought for a moment before nodding over Foster, who got on her headset and began to command the jets that were flying with them. Two of the jets broke formation and sped up, heading straight to Rodan. One jet let two missiles fly towards Rodan. The titan looked at the incoming missiles before they struck his torso. He let out a screech, though it mostly sounded annoyed then pain filled. He spread out his wings, making himself appear bigger. Soon, more jets were adding their missiles to attacking Rodan, all met their mark.
"Oh, I think we got its attention." stated Mark as Rodan looked over at the Argo.
"Everyone, strap in." Foster ordered. "All ships, follow our lead."
Zeek gripped the railing as Rodan continued to look at the Argo, head tilting ever slow slightly. Then, the Argo was turning away and was going back the way it came and Zeek held onto the railing for dear life.
One glance at the map and Rodan was following. The Argo tilted upwards and they were above the clouds, Rodan following close behind.
"Argo to Gold Squadron, let's lure this turkey from the mainland straight to Monster Zero! ETA two minutes!" Rick radioed out. Zeek looked out of the front windows and he could see the dark storm clouds ahead of them, yellow lightning flashing. Then, the justs pulled ahead before going back to distract Rodan from the Argo.
Then, there was a clap of...something and Zeek figured that it was Rodan going up higher to get away from the jets and taking some out along the way. Zeek gripped the railing more, ignoring what everyone else was saying, even when Ishiro was telling him to sit and strap in.
Then, they were in the storm, dark clouds all around, rain battering the metal and yellow struck all around them. One bolt struck them, causing the Argo to shake and shudder. Zeek quickly dropped down and wrapped an arm around the railing, gritting his teeth.
Then, three sets of glowing red eyes stared at them as Monster Zero flapped its wings two...three times before righting itself upwards and flaring its wings out and it was like this thing was suspended in mid air for a moment.
With a jerk, the Argo was diving down and down before they made it out from the lower layer of the storm and the Argo was quickly made parallel to the ocean.
"Jesus, they're killing each other." stated Rick.
"Copy, Raptor one." Foster suddenly responded, making Zeek glance over at her. "What's your status?"
Foster looked over at Rick. "Lock onto their position and prepare the hangar for an emergency landing."
"Hanger doors are unresponsive."
"Manual override?"
"They're stuck!"
Mark suddenly unfastened himself and got up before turning. "All right, which way is the hangar bay?"
"I can show you." Sam walked over.
"Anybody else?"
"I know the way. I...come on!" Sam motioned him to follow before heading out of the room, Mark following.
"I hope you have a wrench." Rick called out at them.
Then, there was a beeping and Rick looked over at Ishir. "It's Admiral Stenz."
The Admiral's face came on screen and Ishiro walked over to it. "Admiral."
"Doctor Serizawa, Colonel Foster. I need you and your forces to immediately disengage and withdraw from a safe distance."
"Admiral, I don't understand?" Foster walked over to stand beside Ishiro.
"We have been developing a prototype of a new weapon. An oxygen destroyer. Designed to exterminate all life forms within a two mile radius. With any luck, it will kill these things and this nightmare will finally be over."
The rest of the conversation was lost to Zeek as those words pounded into his head. He stood up, rubbing his face before looking at Ilene, who was looking back at him and was standing up with him.
Godzilla appeared a split second later and both he and Monster Zero were thrashing in the water, though it seemed like Godzilla was winning when Mark, Sam and a few others came running in.
"We're getting outta here. Military launched a weapon. It's gonna kill them both." Rick told them.
"Well, that's not the worst idea." Mark grunted before going to the table with Ilene, Ishiro, Zeek, Sam and Foster following. They all stared at the trajectory of the weapon as it got closer and closer to the targets as Rick counted down.
The shockwave hit the Argo, causing the ship to tremble, rumble and the screens to flicker. After, everything was...quiet except for the ambience of the Argo as it turned to go back to check things.
Zeek's heart stopped when he heard the familiar screeching and he slowly looked. Monster Zero was in the air, although one of its heads was missing. Zeek just felt so defeated now.
"Doctor Stanton." Ishiro spoke up. "Can you locate Gojira?"
"Yeah, I got something." Rick replied as he held a headphone up to his ear. "His vitals are fading. Radiation levels plummeting. Come on big guy...fight it…"
After another moment, he pulled away the headphone from his ear, his voice now quiet and solemn. "He's gone."
"Looks like you got your wish, Mark." Ishiro stated as he looked at the said man before he sat down.
"Where's Monster Zero heading?" Zeek asked quietly. "Can we put it up on the screen?"
"Sure, Zeeky." There was no teasing tone in Rick's voice as he put the live feed up on the large monitor. Monster Zero had just landed on Rodan's volcano and seemed to be in pain, the two remaining heads screeching.
"...No…" Zeek braced himself on the table, a tongue poked out from the stump before a membrane like film grew and grew, forming bone, muscle, flesh and then lastly scales. When the third head was fully formed, it spread its wings and let out a loud roar. Then came Rodan who landed on the slope of his former home before bowing to Monster Zero.
And then, reports came flooding in. Titans all over the globe were waking up, freeing themselves from their outposts.
"Oh...oh fuck ."