Hanabata sat in his seat waiting. The restaurant he was in was upscale, but not too much. The kind of place where men like him could invite people and come across as sophisticated without seeming like a showoff. The great food acted as further incentive for the people invited to come..
After only a few minutes, Hanabata saw an older man walking toward him. He sat across from Hanabata with a guarded expression.
Hanabata gave his guest a polite smile and said, "General, an honor to meet you."
"Thank you, Hanabata," General Mashira replied, his tone polite but not friendly. "I have heard much about you. I must admit though, I was surprised at your invitation. What is this about?" His tone was guarded, but curious. Exactly as Hanabata expected.
General Mashira was a high-ranking official in the JSDF with three useful qualities. One, he was more of a politician than a commander. Two, he was a stooge who got where he was due to connections, not talent. Three, he was too arrogant to realize any of this. With a little luck Hanabata would have him dancing to whatever tune he wanted and the General would think it was his idea.
"I understand your confusion General. I've rarely even spoken about the military," said Hanabata. "But I found something that concerns me. A group to be exact."
"What group?" said Mashira, his fingers twitching with irritation. "I have important things to do and don't like my time wasted."
More like important friends to cozy up to. Hanabata put on his "politician smile", letting the general think this was a regular game of politics and said, "It's not part of the major branches, yet receives an extraordinary amount of funding. The "Anti-Megalosaurus Force" I believe?"
The general's expression became contemptuous. "Them? They're just a bunch of undisciplined mavericks, pretending to be military while acting as a glorified dog catchers. The only good thing come out of them is their R&D. Why would you care about them?"
"That's just it," said Hanabata. "Why do they even exist? Heroes have been dealing with quirked animals for years, like ten years ago when a cat possessed a bus and was stopped by Ingenium and a nearby good Samaritan. If one of these animals was too strong for Heroes and their quirks, surely the military could bring it down with its massive arsenal? So why have this completely separate group doing it?"
The General huffed. "That's what I've been saying for years. The AMF may have been useful once, but those days are long past. They've even started to treat some of their targets like they were gods or something! It's ridiculous! They should have been disbanded a long time ago."
The hack was right where Hanabata wanted him.
"Funny you should say that," said Hanabata. "I've heard of a problem within the AMF, something about an animal getting loose? If a major population center were threatened, I plan on supporting the HPSC taking the case. Perhaps I could support you acting as backup?"
Mashira's eyes narrowed. Hanabata could see the gears turning in his head. He was strongly considering it, but not sold. "And why would I agree to that?"
Hanabata gave him a devious smirk. For once, it was genuine. "Because then the AMF gets proven superfluous and you get a potential shot at glory. Also I'd like some of their funds for my own constituents, but I don't need all of them. Perhaps if you help me, I could help you get a cut?"
A smile began to stretch over the General's lips. "Hanabata, I think you've made yourself a friend."
Since sending his findings to Kenji, Izuku's transport had been redirected to Scaris. Captain Haruo Sakaki was given command of the potential land operation, which would include Izuku's maser team. The day before they were to arrive, the officers met to discuss strategy and logistics.
"There's a mildly populated civilian center here," Captain Sakaki said pointing at the map. "If that bastard goes through there I want to drive him here," he pointed again. "Toward the mountains."
Izuku frowned. "Captain?"
Sakaki turned his ever-present glare at Izuku. "Yes Midoriya?"
"There's a school there, and the neighborhoods are pretty populated too. I think it'd be easier to drive him here," he pointed, "Toward the farm fields."
"We'd have less cover that way, especially in the fields." said Sakaki. "It could easily become a slaughter."
"But if we don't, there might be high civilian casualties," said Izuku. "Our mission is to protect the civilians. Better us than them."
Around the table, some other officers looked amongst themselves, considering his point.
"Besides, Izuku continued. "If we hide infantry in the neighborhood and fields and place masers in the trees on the far side we can still fire at him without losing cover. It's past optimal range, but should still work. That way we can lead him through the less populated neighborhoods without leaving ourselves open. Difficult but doable."
Sakaki's glare lessened. He nodded. "Very well, we'll lead him to the fields. We'll use the usual tactics. If he lands in day, infantry fires on his feet while the masers fire over his head." He glared at Izuku. "And I mean over his head! You don't provoke him any more than you have to!"
Izuku nodded, biting back the urge to point out Sakaki hypocrisy here, given his own history with Godzilla (especially that time he dropped a landslide on him).
Sakaki continued. "After that, we lead him to the coastline. The fleet can handle the rest. With any luck, they'll get him back across the border."
Sakaki turned at the assembled officers. "Are there any questions?
They looked among themselves. Nobody asked anything.
"Very well, dismissed."
The officers began milling out. Izuku grabbed a spare map of the island to study in his spare time and headed to the mess hall. He got his lunch and found his team apparently having an arm wrestling competition. At the moment, Hayama was facing Akiba, and Akiba was winning.
Izuku sat next to them. "Hi guys, how are you doing?" he said putting his food down.
"Good," said Akiba in a strained voice. "Just showing this rookie who's boss."
"You're joined a month ahead of me, asshole!" said Hayama.
"That's a month less experience for you!" Akiba said as he began to push Hayama's arm down. "Come on, is that all you got? My mother's tougher than that!"
Hayama pushed back, forcing Akiba's arm back up. "The apple must have fallen…far from the tree!"
Akiba strained as Hayama started to push his arm down. "Oh yeah?…You little…" Akiba's arm slammed against the table. "Shit!"
Yashiro clapped Hayama on the shoulder, while he gave Akiba his smuggest grin and said. "Not bad for a rookie, huh?"
Akiba glared. "You only won because I'd already worked out today."
"Sure," said Hayama.
"It's true!"
"I said I'm sure."
"But you didn't mean it!"
"So?"
"Hey Izuku," said Zeni, "How was the meeting?"
Izuku shrugged. "Fine, just a regular strategy meeting. I did suggest a minor change to the plan but Sakaki agreed to it fairly easily."
"Nice. Not many people can change that guy's mind."
"Actually, he's usually willing to alter his plan when someone else has a good idea," said Izuku. "He just gets…heated when he disagrees with people."
"Understatement," said one of them.
"The Emerald Madman and the Raging Demon fighting together," said Akiba. "This could be a very memorable mission.
"Which of you has more experience?" said Asuza.
"In general? He does. He joined slightly before me," said Izuku. "Against Godzilla? I do." A fact Izuku was quite proud of.
Yashiro looked pensive, then she said. "What would you two do if you killed him?"
Izuku tilted his head. "Excuse me?"
"You've both spent more time than anyone chasing Godzilla," said Yashiro. "Neither of you want to leave. So, what would you do if the AMF won? If we finally killed him?"
Izuku looked at his tray. "I don't know," he said. The thought had occasionally crossed his mind, but he never thought about it for long. It felt…empty. "I'm sure I could find something. Ochako would help. To be honest it's hard to imagine this fight ending after two hundred years. Haven't thought much of what I'd do if it did. Though if we did win this fight, I would prefer Godzilla be contained than killed."
"Bullshit."
Captain Sakaki walked past with his own tray in hand. "The only way this war ends Midoriya, is if Godzilla dies," he said with barely contained hatred. "That bastard doesn't deserve to live. The world's better off without him."
Izuku glared. "He's just an animal. An intelligent and powerful one yes, but an animal nonetheless. Holding a grudge against him is useless."
For several seconds, Sakaki held Izuku's gaze. He huffed. "Naïve idiot." He stalked away, going to a table in the corner of the room, where a brown-haired woman (Tani?) was waiting for him.
When Izuku looked at his team again, they were all glaring at Sakaki.
"Asshole," said Hayama.
Izuku didn't disagree. Haruo Sakaki was known for many things, but a friendly disposition wasn't one of them. His nickname of the "Raging Demon" was only partly for how he was on the battlefield.
Rando Yaguchi had long disdained the bureaucratic red tape miring any and everything in government. Checks and balances were one thing, but a never-ending deluge of pointless procedures was another. He could play the game, but he didn't like it.
This led to his notoriously high tolerance of outsiders, lone wolves, and overall troublemakers so long as they got results. This made him the ideal man to put up with the AMF, a group often seen as useful but unruly. It was a role he'd always felt honored to have.
Until today.
Since Godzilla had broken through, things had been getting bleaker and bleaker. Each meeting with Commander Tachibana ended the same. No news of Godzilla, even as the AMF stretched itself thinner and thinner.
The one time they did get news, it was that the monster had gotten much deeper than expected. Suffice to say, Rando wasn't looking forward to what he'd hear this time.
"Our analysts believe he may have moved near Scaris Island," Tachibana said, his tone as weary as his posture. "We have a battle group heading there now."
Rando nodded. Scaris. Populated, but not heavily so. It was the beginning of tourist season, so they'd better resolve it fast. "Do you believe they'll find him?" he said.
"I don't know, but it's the best guess we have right now. Forgive me."
Rando waved off the apology and said, "Can you evacuate the island?"
"Currently no. We'd need absolute proof he's there first."
"I see," said Rando. They'd need to find out quickly. "Are there any plans to kill him?"
Tachibana shook his head. "No sir. Since our last attempt, we've been unable to find anything viable."
Rando nodded again. The AMF had long abandoned trying to kill Godzilla in every battle. Now they mostly just led him away from civilian populations, and only tried killing him when they had a specific plan to do so. Such plans had become rarer and rarer.
"Do you have any special weapons?"
"We have the masers in their various forms, ULT lasers, and the Alphas. None of them can beat him. The only one that stood a chance was the Super X."
"The most advanced weapon ever built," said Rando." Developed using a generous grant due to its many technological innovations. Completed two years ago. Then…"
"Mothballed due to its operation costs," said Tachibana.
"And" Rando said as he fidgeted with a pen, "if that was no longer an issue, could it fight?"
"Of course!" said Tachibana. With a hint of pride he continued, "We kept in prime condition so it could be used the next time we tried killing him. It could probably be prepared in under a week." His face fell. "But getting it authorized is another story. It would take weeks to achieve. There's no way to get it approved in time."
We'll see about that, thought Rando. Paperwork and approval processes are my expertise. I may not like the game, but I'm a hell of a player. He was about to say as much when an out of breath aid burst into the room.
"Commander!"
Tachibana got to his feet. "Yes?"
"A US nuclear submarine is missing!"
Tachibana's eyes became steel. "Where?"
"About ten kilometers off Scaris Island, sir."
I created Scaris to be similar to Nabu, but in a better location for the story than where Nabu is implied to be, naming it after a Star Wars location for consistencies sake. Only now have I realized how cool it would have been to use Odo Island!
What do you think? I'm honestly thinking of changing it and would love some feedback.
That said, hope you enjoyed! Reviews bring me joy!
