Chapter 44: Fire and Blood.
In the aftermath of the nuclear bombing, there were no signs of Godzilla. Most believed he was killed in the blast, but without finding some kind of remains, doubt would always linger in everyone's minds. The search was ongoing, but the high levels of residual radiation that covered the surrounding area made the normal method of detecting Godzilla with helicopter mounted Geiger counters impossible. If there was a corpse sitting on the bottom of the ocean floor to be found, they weren't going to find it anytime soon.
In England, the search for Hedorah was equally unproductive. HMS Albion and her task force were on the hunt but considering that their target had the ability to flatten out its body and blend in with its surroundings, there wasn't a high expectation for success. The only way they were going to find Hedorah was if the monster was foolish enough to allow the warships to get near him and also be mobile enough for sonar to detect him.
However, even if the Royal Navy pulled off that little miracle, the only thing they could realistically do is confirm that Hedorah had survived Battra's battering. While Hedorah was in the water, the monster would be virtually invulnerable to any attack they could throw at him. They could certainly blast him to pieces, but the pieces would simply find each other again over time and regenerate.
The only active monster anyone could follow at that point was Battra. He flew southward out of British airspace and then disappeared. He'd expended a great deal of energy fighting Hedorah and needed time to recuperate his strength. If Hedorah was still alive, there was little Battra could do to prosecute him while he was at the bottom of the sea. Like the British, Battra could not engage Hedorah in a meaningful way while he was in the ocean. All anyone could do was watch and wait to see if Hedorah would reappear once more.
…
Though Godzilla's death had not yet been confirmed, that didn't stop the staff at Archimedes Headquarters in San Diego from celebrating like it was. A huge party was arranged for the following evening. Politicians, members of the press, and other government officials were all invited. In part, it was a publicity stunt to gain clout for the Archimedes Organization. If the most dangerous Kaiju on the planet had indeed been dealt with, then they could be seen as achieving a high level of success. That would ensure Archimedes' operating budget moving forward was secure.
Presumptuous speeches were delivered, and a general feeling of self-satisfaction settled over the crowd at the party, even though none of the people there had so much as seen a Kaiju since the Archimedes Organization was formed. Fighting giant monsters had always been a foreign affair. A problem on the other side of the world which, for the most part, just affected Asia. Aside from a brief appearance in New York by a then immature King Kong, no Kaiju had even appeared in the United States. The people at the party were all desk jockeys. All of the real soldiers were still in the field assessing the situation. That didn't stop the champagne from flowing, nor halt the dancing at the party.
Even Admiral Malek, who typically would be the first in line to push shameless self-promotion for himself and the Archimedes Organization as a whole, would have been displeased if he had been there to see the level of hubris on display. He was a cautious enough man to realize it was never wise to count out an adversary before their demise had been proven definitively. He considered it bad luck. What had truly become of Godzilla, no one could know yet, and only time would tell.
…
In the Pacific, the USS Independence had caught up with the rest of the Navy and began aiding in their search. After a day of combing over the area, they too had come up empty. There were no meaningful sonar contacts, and no physical sightings of Godzilla. Admiral Malek didn't have the patience to sit there and wait with the rest of the fleet. He set course to get his task force back to San Diego. Other officers could waste their time persisting with the wild goose chase if they wanted, but Malek recognized the futility of it. Either Godzilla was dead, or he was long gone.
Admiral Malek's plan was to resupply in San Diego and then move on towards the Atlantic if Godzilla had not resurfaced by then. The battle between Battra and Hedorah interested him. He'd read the many reports from Dr. Orsini and Reinhart, but he wanted to see live samples of Hedorah for himself. Perhaps, like so many other things they'd encountered recently, pieces of Hedorah could be weaponized somehow. Admiral Malek was always on the lookout for the next best thing. When fighting against monsters, it was sensible to keep a versatile arsenal waiting in the wings. His ability to think outside of the box was what kept him popular with his superiors.
…
In the mess hall of the USS Independence, Marcus was sitting and enjoying a hot meal after a long scouting flight looking for Godzilla. He was happy that their task force was moving on. If Godzilla was still alive and in the area, Marcus didn't want to be around when the monster resurfaced. There was no telling what a megadose of radiation might do to Godzilla, but Marcus was certain that the massive explosion probably pissed him off.
As he sat there eating, Marcus saw his old friend Joe walking into the mess hall. It was the first time he'd seen him in months. Marcus heard that Joe had recently done another stint in the brig though. He'd gotten himself into trouble yet again. It was only the most recent case in a long line of fuckups. Marcus had been keeping tabs on Joe, and he'd been transferred around a number of times. Joe was part of the Independence's deck crew now. He had been promoted twice, only to get busted right back down again. He had some trouble with insubordination. It seemed as though Joe hadn't changed much over the years. He was still drinking, chasing girls, and getting into trouble. The most recent incident that landed him in the brig was a barfight with a local man over a girl during their last shore leave.
Marcus waved to Joe to get his attention. Joe waved back in acknowledgement and then collected a tray of food for himself. Once that was done, he came over and sat down to join Marcus, very pleased to see his old buddy. After exchanging some polite pleasantries, the conversation turned to matters of more substance.
"We've come a long ways since our time at Pearl." Joe mused. "Well… you more-so than myself." He smirked. "I never told you, but I'm proud of what you've managed to accomplish. I'm not sure I'll ever be the kind of guy who could settle down and be a responsible family man. I'm just not cut out for it. I never have grown out of my trouble-making stage. It's too much fun, I guess." He snickered. "But you've matured, and you've advanced so far. And you're getting out soon. Even if I were to stay in the Navy for the rest of my life, I still don't think I'll have the same impact you did. You've made a real difference." Marcus detected a hint of regret in Joe's voice. "Meanwhile, I'm still making the same mistakes. Maybe it's time I start taking things a little more seriously."
"You mean you're going to give up drinking and the girls?" Marcus inquired, raising an eyebrow.
"What...?" Joe retorted, feigning offence. "Heck no, but I will cut back on the booze." He added.
"Well, I guess that's a start." Marcus smiled. "Baby steps."
"You know…" Joe began as he looked around. "This ship, despite its many advancements, still doesn't have the same charm as the old Enterprise, does it? It's still a good ship though, I suppose."
"Maybe it's us who have changed more." Marcus suggested. "It's pretty easy to impress young sailors. I think we've just gotten used to the Independence's splendor." He sipped his coffee. "Despite being forced to be here, I have to admit, it hasn't been all that bad. I'm still going to be happy when it's over though."
"How much longer do you have to go anyway?" Joe asked. "I've lost track."
"I'm in my last month if you can believe it." Marcus answered with a big smile. "In fact, it's only about two more weeks, and then I can finally go home for good. So, I'm very glad we're already headed back to San Diego. If I'm lucky, Admiral Malek will just let me serve out my final couple of days sitting at a desk somewhere."
"Well, I'm glad to hear it, but I'll miss you." Joe said warmly.
"Isn't your time just about up too?" Marcus inquired, confused. "We pretty much signed up at the same time, remember?"
"Yeah, but I think I'm going to stay in." Joe replied. "I don't think I'll be really any good at anything else. Been doing this too long."
"Well, it's not really goodbye anyways." Marcus pointed out. "You'll always be welcome in my house."
"It's too bad your home isn't in San Diego." Joe noted. "It would be a heck of a lot easier to come visit when we make it back to port."
"Yeah, Brock said the same thing." Marcus remarked. "I doubt I can talk my wife into moving their though. She's in love with San Francisco about as much as she's in love with me. She was raised there, and all of her family still lives there. The kids have already started going to school too. I'd hate to pull them away from their friends. It may just be easier if I came to see you guys in San Diego when you come in."
"Sure, that would work fine." Joe agreed.
"It'll sure be nice to sleep in my own house again." Marcus said. "I've spent more time sleeping in a bunk here than there. Shauna is so proud of that house. I have it on good authority that she's already decorating it for my welcome home party."
"Well, the company sure outta be a little sweeter." Joe smirked in a provocative way. He knew Marcus had not strayed from his wedding vows while at sea. Loyalty had always been one of his most admirable traits. He could guess what was on Marcus' mind. "Make sure to send Shauna my love when you see her. I can still remember how the two of you met."
"Yeah… you had something to do with that." Marcus smiled. "You got me so stinking drunk that I ended up in her ward at the hospital."
"Maybe some good has come from my recklessness after all then." Joe pointed out. The two of them shared a hearty laugh.
"Have you thought about what you want to do for a job?" Joe asked.
"Not really, my father-in-law is planning to line something up for me." Marcus answered. "I really just want to relax for a little while though. Reconnect with my kids. I'm lucky enough to have that option since my wife's family is so wealthy. I can afford to bum around a bit. I don't want it to be like me and my old man."
"I thought you said you always got along well with your father?" Joe asked, confused.
"I did, but he was always gone." Marcus lamented. "And before I knew it, he was gone for good. I just didn't get the time with him that I would have liked to. I didn't get to know him as a man. Looking back, I should have appreciated him more. You just take for granted that they are always going to be there until they're not. You have to cherish the time you have with your loved ones, because you never know how much time you're going to get. I've been gone so much, if I were to disappear tomorrow, my kids would have the same impression of me. I want something better for them."
…
In the Sierra mountains, the situation was coming to a head. Dr. Murai had called in a helicopter to evacuate his team. He recognized it was time to leave. Whatever was about to happen with the asteroid, he didn't want to be there when it happened. From the helicopter, Dr. Murai watched the space rock pulse more and more frequently with malevolent energy. He could see something moving within the shell of the rock and he could sense the danger of it.
The breach in the rockface expanded, until finally, a torrent of fire burst forward from it. The fire surged out violently in all directions. The inferno continued to expand at an amazing rate, seeming to burn so hot as to set the very sky itself aflame. It looked as though hell on earth had exploded into reality. The whole area was drenched in fire, and still, the flames extended ever farther, reaching up into the atmosphere.
Dr. Murai sat silently watching as the stream of flames closed in on his helicopter. There was nothing they could do to avoid it. The aircraft and all of its occupants were finally engulfed and consumed by the fire. Their suffering was only brief. The fireball spread until it covered everything in the vicinity. No one was left to witness what came next…
…
At Fresno Air Force base, a radar operator named Sean was at his terminal watching his screen. It had been a quiet evening like most nights. The hardest part of his job was fighting off sleep. All of a sudden, a huge blip showed up on his monitor. It was moving southward very quickly.
"Where the hell did that come from?" Sean asked himself. It was quite unusual to see a contact coming from the direction of the mountains. It wasn't part of the conventional civilian flightpaths, and no military aircraft from the base were up running maneuvers as far as he was aware. Sean turned in his chair to get the attention of his supervisor. "Sir, I think you need to come look at this."
Commander Madison came over to see what was going on.
"Unidentified flying object detected sir." Sean pointed to the screen. "Coming in from the Sierra Mountains." Commander Madison eyed the screen closely, considering the situation. As the sweeping line on the radar display intersected the contact, it made an electronic beep, and a large spherical signal appeared.
"Charlie, see if you can verify this contact with the station at Valparaiso." Commander Madison directed the request to his communications officer. "Let's make sure this isn't just a radar glitch before we do anything else." Charlie picked up the phone at his station and quickly dialed in the number. Madison turned back to the radar screen and Sean.
"None of our craft are up sir?" Sean inquired. "The contact seems to be coming this way. Could it be someone returning home?"
"Nope, everybody is squared away in the barn as far as I'm aware." Commander Madison replied coolly. That troubled Sean. He'd been hoping that he had simply missed something. It gave him a bad feeling in his gut.
"Contact verified Commander." Charlie reported, putting down his phone.
"Okay Charlie, let's scramble some boys up to see if we can visually identify the target." Commander Madison replied confidently, seemingly unconcerned. "Make sure they're not too trigger happy though. If this is a civilian bird that got lost, I don't want to have an incident. Just try to get confirmation of what we are looking at."
"Sir, couldn't this be a Kaiju?" Sean asked nervously, anxious that Commander Madison was acting too casual about the situation.
"From within the country?" Commander Madison pointed out. "Where would it even have come from?" He reasoned.
Within minutes, two F-4 Phantoms were up and closing in on the target. Sean's eyes were glued to the radar screen, watching the three blips slowly inch towards each other. The fighters were nearly on top of the unknown contact. Sean was clenching his teeth from the tension.
"Are you seeing anything yet?" Commander Madison radioed over to the pilots of the Phantoms.
"Nothing yet Commander." The lead pilot reported back. "It's pretty cloudy tonight. If there is a civilian craft out here, we're not seeing its running lights. We've attempted to establish radio contact through the typical commercial flight channels, but there's no response."
"Alright, keep at it." Commander Madison encouraged them.
"Sir, I am seeing something now." The lead pilot replied. "Looks like flashes of lightning in the clouds ahead. Was there supposed to be a storm tonight?"
Before Commander Madison could respond, communications were abruptly cut off and the lead fighter's radar contact disappeared off the screen. Madison was about to contact the wingman, but his radar blip disappeared immediately after the first. Both of their planes were down. It finally dawned on Commander Madison that he had made a grave mistake.
"We need to get more birds in the air!" He shouted to his men. "Launch everything we've got!" The room exploded with activity as everyone scrambled to respond.
"Sir, the unidentified object has changed course and increased speed. It's on its way here!" Sean reported with a note of fear in his voice, getting a cold sweat. "ETA three minutes!" Commander Madison just stared at Sean. A bead of sweat dripped down his face. "We won't have enough time to get more fighters up before it arrives!" Sean added ominously.
…
By daybreak, the Airbase at Fresno had been thoroughly destroyed and there were no survivors. All of the buildings were left burning ruins, and all the aircraft had been reduced to fragmented wreckage. Fresno wasn't the only place hit. Edwards Airforce Base was also attacked during the night. A portion of the base there had survived, but for the most part, it was decimated. Still, nobody had gotten a good look at the assailant and lived to tell about it. The huge radar contact had never been lost though, and it was now being detected moving towards San Diego.
After what happened at Edwards, news spread quickly of the lightning-fast assaults. The Pacific Fleet was recalled from its search for Godzilla to defend its home port. The Archimedes task force was well ahead of the rest of the fleet. Whatever was attacking, they'd most likely get first crack at it.
Marcus was very concerned about the attacks in California. Not for himself, nor for the fact that the fleet was heading right for whatever had been behind them, but rather because of his family in San Francisco. Marcus couldn't call Shauna directly from the USS Independence to warn her, so he uncharacteristically pulled rank and insisted that the radio officer send a personal message to Archimedes Headquarters in San Diego to get a phone call out to her to leave San Francisco. Marcus didn't exactly know where it would be safe, but a major city on the West Coast did not seem like the best place to be at that point. He just wanted her and the kids out of the city.
The message was relayed to Archimedes HQ, but in the chaos that was unfolding there, the staff already had their hands full trying to address the emergency. It didn't matter though. They weren't going to have enough time to get the message back out again in any case. Archimedes HQ was a high-priority target for the oncoming threat. It was the first thing on the approaching monster's list of things to destroy. The nature of the threat was finally about to reveal itself over the skies of San Diego.
It started as just a golden glint catching the sunlight far off in the distance. But it got bigger and bigger. Slowly, it took form until everyone in the city could see it for what it was, a majestic golden dragon. The creature had three heads attached to three long necks. Each neck had a single row of dorsal spikes running down towards the body. Each head was identical and had three impressive horns sticking out of the top like a crown. One shorter horn in the middle that was shaped like a crescent moon, and two longer ones flanking it on either side. The monster had a golden tuft of fur like a lion's mane on each head. The monster also had two tails and a pair of vast wings which allowed it to glide through the air effortlessly. The creature had two legs with four clawed toes each. The dragon's whole body was covered in golden glimmering scales. The only part of the body that wasn't a shade of gold was its three pairs of crimson eyes. It was those eyes that betrayed the savage nature of the creature which otherwise looked the part of a regal beast. The snake-like eyes revealed its yet unseen malevolence.
The space dragon's malice wouldn't remain hidden for much longer though. As the creature hovered above the city, its sharp eyes sought out the targets it was seeking. Finally, it found Archimedes' Headquarters and dove down towards it. The massive building had no real defenses to speak of. When it really came down to it, Archimedes Headquarters was little more than a glorified, though intricately built, office building. To the space dragon, it was simply a large target waiting to be demolished. And demolished it was. The three-headed monster unleashed its most deadly attack. Each of its heads spit out a jagged yellow beam which resembled lightning. But it wasn't lightning. The power behind each attack was significantly more destructive than a lightning bolt.
They were gravity beams, and they tore right through Archimedes Headquarters. The building was instantly ripped to shreds. As the golden dragon passed above the ruins, what was left of the building's structure was scattered all around into the rest of the city. With its primary target destroyed, the three-headed monster moved on to its next highest priority. It flew to the Navy Yard in the bay and unleashed all of its destructive force. The harbor was empty due to all of the warships being called out to look for Godzilla, but the facilities there were annihilated one after the other.
The dragon's three heads moved in a coordinated, dance-like motion, never really stopping. They were constantly swaying back and forth. Perhaps it was a method aimed to distract its opponents during combat. The movements were almost hypnotic. It would definitely be a distraction to confuse any enemies that were brave enough to stand up to it. As it was, nobody on the ground was watching it though. The citizens of San Diego were fleeing in all directions, desperate to escape the devastation that was raining down on them.
When the monster was finished with the harbor area, it turned and began to attack the city itself. Every building taller than eight stories high was targeted, and just as many that were smaller were also targeted. The monster was relentless with its assault, devastating the city block by block. Without military targets to destroy, it seemed quite content to attack civilians. The golden dragon held nothing back, anything touched with the kiss of his energy beams exploded. Loose shingles flew off from roofs with even the gentlest beatings of the monster's wings. People caught out in the streets were swept off their feet and dashed across buildings in long red smears. Each attack spread more fires across San Diego until every section of the city was on fire. In the end, San Diego was a burning husk of its former self, and only then did the monster relent.
…
After San Diego, the monster began to move north, methodically destroying military bases along the way. Its next big target was Los Angeles. The monster was given a name, King Ghidorah. The name was meant to reflect the regal look of the kaiju as well as a reference to its sheer size. King Ghidorah was estimated to stand around one-hundred meters tall, smashing Hedorah's recently established height record for tallest Kaiju. That made the space dragon twice as tall as every other monster on the planet. He was, in all ways, impressive.
Being out of port had spared the Navy when King Ghidorah arrived, but the fact that they were so far away from the U.S. coastline weakened the defenses at home. That left just the Army, which Ghidorah could easily avoid, and the Airforce, which didn't possess any aircraft powerful enough to go toe to toe with the monster. The country was practically defenseless. The only thing the military had going in their favor was that the Archimedes' Masers were deployed in L.A. and the monster was already on his way there.
Positioned in the Hollywood Hills, the Masers just might be able to ambush Ghidorah when he attacked the city. The Archimedes fleet was also steaming home ahead of the rest of the Navy. Since Ghidorah had slowed down to attack other places, there was a good chance they'd be able to get their aircraft within range to take part in the fight too. There was no guarantee of victory, but at least they would stand a fighting chance with their anti-kaiju ordinance.
After what happened in San Diego, the military was desperate to stop King Ghidorah in any way they could. He had already killed over a hundred-thousand Americans in just that one attack, and inflicted billions of dollars in damage to the city. It was a catastrophe the likes of which the United States had never seen before. If Archimedes failed to stop King Ghidorah in L.A., other, more-extreme options, were already being considered.
…
In Los Angeles, the fact that King Ghidorah was on his way was not lost on the people living there. The whole city was trying to leave all at the same time. While it was not unusual for gridlock to affect L.A., which was the most populated city in the entire country, there were now dire consequences for being stuck in traffic for hours. Nobody could escape what was coming.
Skylar was one such L.A. citizen who was trapped in his car on the freeway. He was on a raised overpass, stretched over another congested road below. Neither highway was moving very quickly. Skylar was stuck in a pattern of short advances followed by long pauses of sitting idle. Everyone was honking their horns impatiently, adding to the unpleasantness of the situation. Skylar turned on his radio to try to distract himself from the turmoil. He was nervous, and rightly so. Every second he spent there put him at greater risk. Everybody around him knew it too, but none of them could do anything about it. They all just had to hope there was enough time for them to make it clear of the city.
That imaginary time was a delusion though. Above them, King Ghidorah was arriving at the outskirts of L.A. from the south. The monster began blasting away with his gravity beams, hitting any targets that looked worthwhile. The other drivers stranded with Skylar started to panic. The person behind him rear-ended his car, whipping Skylar back and forth violently. While Skylar was dazed, people around him began to abandon their cars and run. If they could just get off of the overpass and away from any infrastructure Ghidorah might want to target, they might be able to survive.
King Ghidorah saw the long line of cars and the people running from them below. It was an opportunity he simply could not pass up. He sent a series of gravity bolts their way, ripping through the line of vehicles. The overpass Skylar was sitting on was blown out from under him and collapsed onto the traffic below it. Inside of his car, Skylar was in freefall for a few seconds before impact. He somehow managed to survive the fall, though badly injured. Many of the people around him were not so lucky. Countless victims had been crushed to death.
King Ghidorah flew in a linear line, following the flow of traffic. The vehicles below him were whipped right off of the road by the flapping of his wings, with terrible consequences. Skylar watched as the golden dragon advanced further into the city proper. He was safe for the time being, but King Ghidorah was just getting started with the rest of LA.
King Ghidorah attacked the financial district, the beating heart of LA. The golden dragon blew the skyscrapers he found there to bits with his gravity bolts. After his first pass, King Ghidorah's flightpath took him close to the famous landmark of the Hollywood Sign. It was there that the military was waiting for him. The five Maser units of the Archimedes Organization took aim at King Ghidorah's wings. If they could shoot him from the sky, they would at least neutralize one of his main advantages.
The first three shots of the Masers missed, but the fourth and fifth found their mark, each hitting Ghidorah in the right wing. The jolt was strong enough to tilt his wing out of position and disrupted the golden dragon's flight. He was forced to the ground. Ghidorah managed to land on his feet though. Once he'd come to a stop, his eyes darted around looking for his attackers. Because the Masers were glass cannons, the military had hidden them amongst the trees and had sent a number of other vehicles to the hills to act as decoys. Tanks opened fire to draw Ghidorah's attention away from the real threat.
King Ghidorah took the bait and began to attack the units he could see. Only then did the Masers re-commit to the fight. Their powerful blue beams struck Ghidorah, and the golden dragon clearly did not appreciate the sensation. Like other monsters, the Mazers were able to bypass Ghidorah's golden scale armor. One shot hit Ghidorah directly in the face of his left head. The head briefly dipped after absorbing the blow. The other two heads seemed briefly distracted by that, giving the Masers a few more moments to pour fire onto their target without the threat of retaliation.
Maser bolts impacted all over Ghidorah's body, inflicting both minor damage and pain. When all three heads were back to the task at hand, they began to counterattack, unleashing a series of yellow bolts which raked the hillside. One of the five Masers exploded as it was struck. The remaining four kept up the firefight. Ghidorah quickly hit more targets, all of which were tanks.
Growing weary of taking Maser bolt hits, King Ghidorah took back to the sky. He flew up higher and higher until he'd risen above the Maser cannon's ability to follow him with their firepower. The flapping of Ghidorah's wings sent torrents of wind down upon the hill and brushed aside much of the cover the military units were using to hide in. Now able to distinguish targets more readily, Ghidorah rained down bolts on his defenseless opponents. One by one, he destroyed each vehicle he found, including the remaining Mazers. Just like that, the city's best defense was gone.
Ghidorah turned his attention back to wreaking havoc on L.A., blasting away at random neighborhoods while moving onwards towards meatier portions of the city. At that point, however, fighters from the USS Independence were arriving from the coast. They were too late to aid the Masers in a combined assault, but they just might be able to save what was left of the city. Other local air units joined them. Much in the same way the tanks had proved effective decoys for the Masers, the fighters with regular munitions would draw fire away from the Archimedes jets so they could deliver their specialized rockets unopposed.
The air battle unfolded well enough in the beginning. King Ghidorah wasn't used to dealing with so many moving targets all at once. The sheer number of fighters buzzing around him confused his senses. He fired off his gravity bolts and missed several times. The Archimedes fighters swooped in from above and put their rockets directly into Ghidorah's back. The golden dragon lost altitude after the initial blasts, but he recovered soon enough and came back up to fight again. The solid hits seemed to harden Ghidorah's resolve. He unleashed his gravity bolts and began to pick off aircraft one at a time. Each successful attack lessened the number of distractions around him.
The fight quickly turned against the fighter jets. Before long, the Archimedes planes had used up all of their special ammunition. They simply hadn't inflicted significant damage to Ghidorah. They turned to retreat, leaving the regular fighters to carry on with standard rockets. King Ghidorah saw the large group of fighters retreating and had noticed the more potent sting they carried. He wanted to ensure that they would never bother him again. Ignoring the rest of the aircraft around him, the golden dragon began to pursue the Archimedes' fighters out to sea.
…
On board the USS Independence, Marcus was standing next to the Communications Officer who was gathering information about how the battle was going. Marcus was supposed to have led the mission himself, but Admiral Malek insisted that he stay on board the carrier. He had other duties in mind for him. Thus, Marcus could only watch and wait for news about his men.
At first, it seemed as though things were going well. Very few of the Archimedes planes had been lost during the fight, and they had landed a number of good hits. Then the flight leader reported that they were being pursued by King Ghidorah. The monster was following them right back to the fleet. The general quarters klaxon began to go off and the entire task force prepared for combat. Admiral Malek put a hand on Marcus' shoulder at that point.
"Marcus, I need you to come with me now." Malek said sternly. Marcus nodded and the two of them entered the main portion of the bridge. "Captain Hillard, you have command." Admiral Malek instructed him. Captain Hillard saluted, but there was a troubled look on his face. "You're with me Sargent." Malek spared a moment's glance over to Brock who was standing there waiting.
The three of them left the bridge with many of the crew they left behind staring at their backs. Marcus couldn't understand where they were going. The fleet was just minutes away from engaging in active combat. They didn't have time for a diversion of any kind.
"Sargent, go collect your friend Mia." He instructed Brock. "Marcus, you go find Ling and bring him here as quickly as possible."
"Yes sir." Each of them replied, not quite understanding why.
When they returned with Mia and Ling, Admiral Malek led the group out onto the flight deck. He stopped in front of Marcus' helicopter.
"Get the helicopter ready for takeoff, Lieutenant." He ordered Marcus. "Everybody else get inside." Only then did it dawn on Marcus what Admiral Malek's plan was. He was intending to abandon ship. He was going to desert his post and leave Captain Hillard and the rest of the crew holding the proverbial bag.
Brock did not seem to take issue with the order. He helped Mia inside the helicopter, opening the door for her. Ling also went along without any protest. Marcus just stood there though. He took serious issue with the ethical dilemma the situation presented. Admiral Malek and Brock both noticed Marcus still standing there and came back to see what the issue was.
"There isn't really time to dilly-dally Lieutenant." Admiral Malek prodded Marcus impatiently.
"This isn't right..." Marcus replied stubbornly.
"No, it isn't." Admiral Malek agreed. "But it's the situation we find ourselves in. Either everybody dies with the fleet… or just most of everybody. The task force is about to be destroyed. There isn't a thing any of us can do to prevent that now. It pains me to loose so many good men, but it's unavoidable." The tone of Malek's voice suggested that he was being sincere. "At this point, I can only save the most valuable people around me and move on." He added bluntly. "The individuals who find themselves looking at this helicopter right now are all irreplaceable. A strong base to rebuild the Archimedes Organization from the ground up after this disaster passes."
"Marcus, he's right." Brock joined in with a grave tone in his voice. "There's no point in everyone dying here. Remember, you have a wife and kids waiting for you at home. Don't let your sense of honor deny them a long overdue reunion."
'Good dependable Brock.' Malek thought. 'He could always be counted on to be predictable.' It was in his nature to be protective of his friends and underlings. With Mia, Ling, and Marcus all at risk, his instincts to protect them would come before all other considerations. Marcus was less predictable, but much more valuable. He was able to think outside of the box just like Malek himself. His instincts had served the Admiral well on a number of occasions.
Brock's argument hit Marcus right in his weakest spot. His family. If anything could convince him to take off from that flight deck, it was the thought of returning home to them. Neither Brock nor Marcus felt right about the circumstances, but they had been given orders, and deep down, neither of them wanted to die there. Marcus feared he would be haunted by this decision for the rest of his days if he went through with it, but it was the lesser of two evils. It wasn't just his own life he was gambling with. He was the only one there who could fly the helicopter, and if he did nothing, Mia and Ling would die right along with him through no fault of their own.
Marcus finally gave in and climbed into the helicopter. Though he was ashamed to admit it, at least a part of him was relieved to be going. He hated himself, but he couldn't deny the feeling. He would just have to learn to come to terms with the guilt somehow.
The helicopter lifted from the deck, and as it turned away from the Independence, Marcus saw Joe standing at his station. In all of the confusion, he'd managed to forget about his old friend. He was being left behind. Marcus considered going back for Joe, only he didn't have the time. As his helicopter reoriented, he could see the fighters returning, and just behind them, was King Ghidorah. If Marcus landed back on the carrier, they'd most likely be caught sitting there when the monster arrived. It saddened Marcus, but he had no choice but to keep going. Even as it was, there was no guarantee that they'd be able to escape the monster.
The destroyers at the edge of the task force's formation, which acted as a picket line for the larger ships, opened fire at King Ghidorah. The heavy AA rounds bounced right off of the golden dragon's scales with no effect. They might as well have been lobbing spitballs at him. King Ghidorah retaliated, unleashing his gravity bolts, and shredding the first line of ships. The powerful explosions caught Marcus' attention as he quickly maneuvered to get out of the way. Everyone on the chopper had the same fear, that the next bolt might come in their direction. Marcus' little protest had eaten away at precious time they could have used to make a clean get away. It may just have cost them their escape altogether.
King Ghidorah passed within five-hundred yards of the helicopter, but even at that range, the massiveness of the three-headed dragon was firmly impressed into the chopper's occupants. The terror he instilled was universal. Marcus tried not to look at him and focused on plotting a course out of the war zone. Fortunately, the golden dragon had no interest in them and flew past without incident.
Instead, King Ghidorah targeted the USS Independence next. It was the biggest object he could see. The carrier was bracketed by a series of yellow energy bolts, but it wouldn't go down with just one shot like the destroyers had. It was made tougher than that. After landing a few hits, Ghidorah passed over the ship once, leaving several fires burning all over the carrier. Not satisfied with simply leaving the carrier ablaze, the golden dragon whirled back around and gave the massive ship a second dose of venom. The hull was cracked wide open, but the USS Independence still refused to go down.
King Ghidorah decided a more personal approach was required. He came down and landed directly onto the Independence's flight deck, using his body weight to force the ship to sink faster. The carrier started to take on water at an accelerated rate. Meanwhile, Ghidorah shifted his attention to the rest of the fleet. He used the task force's flagship as a platform from which he could dismantle the rest of the warships.
The Independence's stubbornness had bought Marcus and the others the time they needed to ensure their escape. They were well-away from the battle now. Fireballs from exploding ships were getting smaller with every passing moment.
On the USS Independence, the Archimedes' insignia flag fell from its post, the edges of it were burning as it hit the deck. It was a perfect metaphor for the organization as a whole. Though Admiral Malek didn't realize it yet, this was the effective end of the Archimedes Organization. The fleet as a fighting force was finished. Most of the once proud warships were already burning wrecks and their crippled hulls were well on their way to the bottom of the ocean. Their Masers were gone, and their headquarters was in ruins. All that remained of the Archimedes Organization was that one individual helicopter and the people sitting inside of it. It would never be rebuilt again the way Malek imagined.
…
On the flight back to the mainland, Admiral Malek directed Marcus to set a course for an Army base just north of San Diego, and then he made contact with the General responsible for the West Coast's defense. He informed the General of the Archimedes fleet's demise, but he was already well-aware of that. The General then told Malek that King Ghidorah was currently on his way to San Francisco. That caught Marcus' attention. He looked down at his fuel gauge. There was no way he'd be able to fly that far north without stopping to refuel along the way first. He'd have to go to the Army base as planned.
"This thing is seemingly unstoppable!" Marcus heard the General's complaint over the radio to Admiral Malek. "Nothing we got is even slowing it down. Is the Matango Project ready yet?" He asked Malek eagerly.
"No. It is not." Admiral Malek replied bluntly. He seemed annoyed that this random Army General even knew about it. 'He must have spoken with the Secretary of Defense himself. That was the only conceivable way he could know about it.'
"How about Mechani-Kong?" The general asked. Again, Malek was surprised and annoyed about how much he knew about Archimedes' special projects.
"That's absolutely not ready yet." Malek replied gruffly. "We've had next to no time to even develop it."
"The advanced laser weapons you salvaged then?" The General pressed.
"Also not ready." At that point, Malek realized this General knew about every Black Project they had in the works. He strained to contain his anger. The Secretary of Defense must have been so desperate to stop Ghidorah at that point that he was willing to pull out all of the stops and put everything they had on the table. "The units we acquired are too small to be of any use in this situation. We need a lot more time to reverse engineer the technology to produce larger weapons."
"I'm very sorry to hear that, Admiral." The General noted grimly. "That really only leaves us with one option then. I'm going to contact The President to authorize the use of nuclear weapons."
"Over American soil?!" Admiral Malek asked the question that immediately jumped up into everyone's minds. "It's already come to that…?!"
"If we don't act soon, the monster will cause more death and destruction than a nuclear blast could." The General replied coldly. "In just a few days, it's already destroyed two major cities and killed more people than any other monster on the planet. We need to stop the bleeding now. If King Ghidorah reaches San Francisco and destroys it, we'll hit him while he's still in the city."
Admiral Malek realized that the General had already made up his mind and he wasn't going to be able to talk him out of it. Marcus said nothing, but in his mind, he'd decided on what his next move would be. There was too much at stake for him on a personal level to just be a good little soldier following orders anymore. Brock seemed to sense what he was thinking and looked over to Marcus to see if he could read his expression. Marcus had a poker face though. Whatever happened next would take place as soon as they landed.
…
An hour later, they reached the Army base, and everybody piled out of the helicopter. Marcus wasted no time. He quietly grabbed a gasoline hose from a nearby pump, put the nozzle into the proper port on the helicopter, and began to replenish its fuel tanks. Brock was watching him but said nothing. What Marcus was doing hadn't escaped Admiral Malek's attention either. He stared at Marcus, and Marcus just stared right back at him. There was something in his eyes. Something savage. Like a caged tiger. Malek knew that Marcus was planning to go to San Francisco himself, but he wasn't sure what he wanted to do about it. Malek knew there wasn't much he could say or do to stop him.
There wasn't a chance that Marcus would get to the city before King Ghidorah, but could he possibly get back out again before the anticipated nuclear bomber carried out its mission? The plane had to be getting prepped for its operation at that very moment. Malek knew letting Marcus go would likely be the end for him. But how could you possibly talk a man out of trying to rescue his family?
Malek decided he wasn't even going to try. He turned and purposefully looked the other way. The meaning was not lost on Marcus. Brock saw it too. Brock made up his own mind and then turned to say his goodbyes to Mia. He hadn't gotten the kind of time with her he would have liked. There were a lot of things left unsaid. He just wished he had gotten to know her a little better. But he wasn't going to let Marcus go to San Francisco on his own. Mia looked genuinely sad when she realized what Brock was planning to do. She hugged him and gave him a kiss on the cheek for luck.
The helicopter finished refueling and Marcus simply pulled out the hose and threw it on the ground. He didn't waste any time putting it back into the proper place at the pump. When Brock saw that, he knew he was out of time and ran to join Marcus who was already jumping back into the cockpit. Brock climbed into the seat next to him before he could take off. Marcus paused and gave him a moment's stare. There were no words, but he wanted to ensure that Brock really wanted to go with him. What he saw in Brock's eyes was all the confirmation he needed. Marcus lifted the chopper off the helipad and started to fly north.
…
As Brock and Marcus approached San Francisco, they could see smoke rising up from the city. King Ghidorah had beaten them there and was already on the rampage. Marcus' heart sank, realizing they were too late. His pulse increased, his mouth was dry, and his chest felt tight. The anxiety that had been building up since the start of their flight spiked. Any chance of getting in and out of the city with his family safely before the onslaught began was gone. There was no choice though, they'd simply have to press on and hope for the best.
"It wasn't Godzilla we should have been worried about." Brock remarked. "This King Ghidorah is far worse." Marcus said nothing. He just let Brock's observation stand as it was. But Marcus couldn't help but notice that Brock was afraid. The tone of his voice gave him away. Marcus could not recall a time when Brock was actually scared of anything, and yet, he was frightened of King Ghidorah, or perhaps, just what he represented: A potential cause of mankind's extinction. The revelation hit Marcus like a ton of bricks. Brock had always been a pillar of strength for Marcus. His fear elevated Marcus' own. They couldn't turn back though. They were committed. They'd just have to keep their fears at bay while they did what they came to do.
As Brock and Marcus flew in closer, they could see the golden dragon flying in the skies over San Francisco, raining down his gravity bolts. It looked as though it was still early on in the monster's assault. As with other places Ghidorah attacked, he'd taken out the military installations first, and only then, turned his attention to civilians. A few brave fighter pilots were attempting to distract King Ghidorah from the city by engaging him in the air. They had no hope of defeating him, but they just might be able to by the citizens of San Francisco a little more time to get away. A squadron of helicopters were also moving in from a nearby base.
As Brock and Marcus got even closer, they had a clearer view of San Francisco from above. It was a terrifying sight to behold. Although King Ghidorah's attack had just gotten started, the monster had already inflicted a lot of damage. Wide strips of devastation had been ripped into the streets where Ghidorah's gravity bolts had torn through mercilessly. The destruction was incredible. The carnage was awful, surreal in a way. Fires were burning all across town, huge pillars of smoke jetted up all over the landscape. Marcus couldn't help but think of his own family at that point. The odds were very low that his own particular house was caught up in the assault, at least that's what he kept telling himself.
A voice suddenly crackled over the helicopter's radio. Admiral Malek transmitted a warning to Marcus and Brock that the Airforce had launched a B-52 with a nuclear payload. They'd already decided San Francisco was a lost cause. The bomber was on its way. It's ETA to the city was only fifteen minutes. Marcus despaired, there wasn't a chance they could find his family in that short amount of time. They hadn't even reached the city themselves yet.
Marcus was presented with two terrible choices at that moment. He could either fly into the city and die with his family, or deviate course and just watch his family and everyone else in the city die from a distance when the bomb finally hit. There was, of course, a slight chance that Shauna and his children already made it out, but he didn't know that for sure. Could he take that risk? In the end, he couldn't. Marcus pressed onwards towards San Francisco. His mind was made up. If he couldn't save his family, he'd rather die alongside them. What would life be without them? He didn't want to find out.
"Brock, I'm going in." Marcus said flatly. "If you want me to drop you off, you need to let me know right now." Brock looked over to him, understanding Marcus' feelings. He sat there thinking it over.
"No… I think I'm going to stick it out." Brock replied. "Ride or die, brother." He put a hand on Marcus' shoulder. The words evoked a swell of feelings in Marcus. The depths of Brock's loyalty surprised him, but it shouldn't have. His eyes welled up, but he fought back the tears in front of his dearest friend.
"Alright, thank you Brock." Marcus managed to reply, nearly choking on the words as he desperately suppressed his emotions. "You've always been there when I've needed you the most." Brock said nothing, but he nodded, not feeling the need to add anything more.
As the pair flew along the coast, they saw a disturbance out in the water ahead of them. A huge mass was disrupting the natural channel currents. Gushes of white water surged to the surface, hailing the arrival of an enormous entity from below. Finally, it revealed itself to be Godzilla. News of his demise had apparently been greatly exaggerated. The nuclear strike had either missed him, or he'd simply managed to endure it somehow. Whichever it was, this was not the same Godzilla that they had known before.
Immediately, Marcus and Brock could see some striking differences in the King of the Monsters. Though the word striking might have been too light of an adjective to use to describe what they were seeing. Shocking would probably be a more appropriate term. Marcus and Brock could hardly believe what they were seeing. The first and most important difference was that Godzilla had at least doubled in size. As Godzilla came closer to the shore, they could see more of his body emerge from the water, and it gave them the real measure of him. The last time Godzilla had appeared, he'd stood around fifty meters tall. He'd now shot up to around one-hundred meters. Dr. Tadokoro had clearly been right with his cautious warning. Attacking Godzilla with a nuclear weapon had definitely been a severe miscalculation. Instead of harming Godzilla, they'd just made the beast more powerful.
Not only had Godzilla grown significantly in size, but his appearance had transformed as well. It was as though he'd evolved. His color had changed. His face had changed. His dorsal plates had gotten proportionally larger compared to his body. His tail was longer too. He looked leaner and meaner. His gaze alone had grown more fierce. Godzilla's eyes had gained an intense bright orange and yellow patterned coloration that hadn't been there before. What stood there was a more physically aggressive version of the monster they had once known. Marcus and Brock were awestruck.
Godzilla moved directly towards San Francisco from the ocean side of the Golden Gate Bridge. Instead of passing under the famous landmark, Godzilla instead shifted course to enter the northwest portion of the city through Baker Beach. Godzilla roared, shaking the landscape, and eyeballing King Ghidorah flying off in the distance. It was clear that Godzilla saw an adversary, and he aimed to start a fight.
Finally coming back to his senses after being mesmerized, Marcus picked up the radio with a new plan in mind. The hopeless situation they'd been in had changed with the arrival of Godzilla. It gave Marcus just the right amount of leverage he needed to turn the tables. He notified Admiral Malek of the appearance of the new and improved Godzilla and asked him to convince the Airforce to call off their nuclear attack. He asked that Godzilla be given a chance to fight off King Ghidorah himself. If Godzilla could repel the attack, and drive off Ghidorah, it wouldn't be necessary to lay the city to waste. Furthermore, if the Airforce persisted with their plan, another nuclear blast could inadvertently make Godzilla even more powerful. Hearing that, Admiral Malek agreed to try to convince them.
Marcus sat there with the com in his hand waiting to see what the results of his gambit would be. Moments later, he got his answer. Admiral Malek informed him that the attack had been aborted. However, the bomber would circle the area and await the results of the battle. If Godzilla won, they'd entirely call off the strike. That gave Marcus all of the breathing room he needed. Even if Godzilla couldn't win, he'd at least buy them a little time to find Shauna and his children. Marcus resumed course for his home within the heart of San Francisco.
Meanwhile, the confrontation between Godzilla and King Ghidorah was about to begin. The golden dragon had noticed Godzilla and was already on an intercept course. The two monsters met in the northern section of San Francisco, nearby Fisherman's Wharf. King Ghidorah landed and sized up his opponent. Godzilla roared to declare his hostility.
King Ghidorah's three heads were moving in unison, like a synchronized dance. They never stopped moving. They were always in constant motion. The movement distracted Godzilla. He was fixated on it. The distraction, however, was over the moment King Ghidorah attacked. Ghidorah's gravity beams raked against Godzilla's hide and the whole area around him. Various explosions followed and Godzilla roared angrily.
While King Ghidorah's attacks were powerful, they were also very wild and unwieldy. He actually missed more shots with his gravity bolts than he landed. It was a circumstance perhaps related to the fact that he had three heads. Whatever the reason though, the golden dragon's initial assault was surprisingly unfocused. Godzilla responded in kind with his atomic breath, but his beam attack, in contrast, was able to pinpoint the exact spot where he meant it to land, directly onto Ghidorah's chest. The golden dragon had been distracted by the light show Godzilla's back spines put on display just prior to the heat beam being discharged from his mouth, meaning he made no effort to dodge out of the way.
As it turned out, Godzilla's atomic breath had been enhanced right along with the rest of him. The beam was brighter, more concentrated, and a more intense shade of blue than it had been before. It was packing much more of a punch as well. The blast rocked King Ghidorah, but the golden dragon's armored scales absorbed or repulsed Godzilla's heat beam quite well.
Seeing that his atomic breath alone was not going to win the day, Godzilla advanced towards King Ghidorah. King Ghidorah wasn't intending to brawl up close though. It wasn't his strong suit in battle. The golden dragon flew up backwards, gaining a little height and distance. Then he came forward again. He flew right over Godzilla and sprayed him down with his gravity bolts. Ghidorah seemed to aim a little better when he was airborne. He managed to land several solid shots. Godzilla took enough punishment to throw him off balance. He fell over in a heap, thundering as he landed on the ground.
As Godzilla struggled to get up, Ghidorah wheeled back around and came in low with his legs outstretched with malicious intentions. He came down and stomped on Godzilla with both of his feet, using the King of the Monsters as a springboard to launch himself back into the sky. The move kept Godzilla down. Ghidorah came back again and punished Godzilla with a cascade of his gravity bolts. The battle had just begun, but Godzilla was already on the backfoot in the fight. Brock was watching and looked on with concern from the helicopter as Marcus flew them towards their destination.
"Didn't Mothra beat this three-headed monster all on his own?" Brock asked. "Or were those wall-carvings on Infant Island just misleading? How is Godzilla having such a hard time with him?"
"Judging by how old those carvings were, that fight must have taken place eons ago." Marcus replied, focused on where he was going and not looking towards the monster action. "Perhaps back then, it was simply a different monster of the same species, and not the exact same individual Ghidorah. Much like us, I'd wager they vary on how strong they are." He speculated.
"Huh, good point, but I don't think I like the idea of there being more than one King Ghidorah." Brock noted gruffly.
"We're almost there." Marcus remarked. They'd entered the airspace above Bernal Heights, the section of the city where Marcus' family home resided. It was close to the city center of San Francisco. There was a lot of smoke in the area. Ghidorah had passed above it at least once and hammered the region with his gravity bolts. The fumes were obscuring their vision, but Marcus could still make out the streets. Even from above, he could figure out the route that would take them directly to his house.
Moments later, the helicopter landed in the street in front of Marcus' house, the blades of the aircraft pushed clouds of smoke out from the immediate area. It revealed a terrible sight. Marcus' home had been hit by one of Ghidorah's gravity bolts, or at least caught the edge of one. Marcus jumped out of his seat and ran towards the burning building. The fear that he'd been so skillfully suppressing surged to the surface. The back portion of his house had been blasted away. The front was still somewhat intact but was in the process of burning. In a sadistic twist, the Welcome Home banner Shauna had put up for Marcus' homecoming was still hanging above the front porch. The whole house was on the verge of collapse as the fire ate away at it.
Marcus fell to his knees in anguish, on the threshold of outright panic. He feared that his family were still inside and burning along with his home, but then he noticed something that rekindled his hope. The family car was not in the driveway and the garage door was left wide open, revealing that it was empty.
'Shauna must have gotten them out in time.' Marcus thought. His mind was whirling, trying to think what to do next. His family had clearly been alive at the onset of Ghidorah's attack, but where would they have gone? Where should he look for them now? Marcus rushed back to the helicopter. Brock was confused. They got back in and lifted off.
"What are you thinking, Marcus?" Brock asked.
"They weren't here, the car is gone, they got away." Marcus replied anxiously, saying it as much to sooth himself as to enlighten Brock. "They must have tried to get out of the city." He reasoned. "They must have gone for one of the bridges. The closest crossing out of the city is the bridge to Oakland… Shauna would have tried for that." Marcus decided. He started to follow the road out of the neighborhood.
"Okay, that seems reasonable." Brock replied calmly, seeing that Marcus was on the verge of losing it. "But how are we going to find them? It's like we're looking for a needle in a haystack."
"Normally yes, but we have one big advantage." Marcus began, regaining some of his wits. "My wife's terrible taste in cars." Brock just looked at him confused. "She bought an ugly car while I was away." He elaborated. "It's a 1965 Buick Rivera that is painted a putrid shade of orange. Kind of a light pumpkin color, only worse. I wanted to return it to the dealer when I saw it, but I'm glad I didn't. The car is ugly as sin, but it does stand out in a crowd. It's really uncommon. If she's anywhere along the main road headed towards the bridge, there's a good chance we'll spot that car, even from up in the air."
"Well let's go then!" Brock said with a hint of optimism in his voice. He wanted to do anything he could to encourage Marcus at that point, help ease his friend's frayed nerves. They both needed to stay positive.
As their helicopter got higher again, they could see that the battle between Godzilla and King Ghidorah was progressing. The fight had moved into an area of the city filled with skyscrapers. Godzilla had taken cover there to avoid most of Ghidorah's gravity beams. That forced the golden dragon to fly in close to get a better shot at him. Godzilla took the opportunity to fire back up at Ghidorah, but the beam cut into the top of two buildings, blowing them to bits. Dust and debris rained down, obscuring Godzilla's vision.
King Ghidorah took advantage of the confusion and came back around to blast the mid-section of a very tall office building behind Godzilla, destabilizing the top portion of it. The golden dragon came down and knocked against the building with his feet, ensuring that it toppled over onto Godzilla below. The frame smashed into Godzilla, disintegrating into a thousand pieces.
Godzilla got buried under the resulting rubble, but he angerly sprang back out of it again within moments. He was far from beaten at that point, still ready for the tough fight ahead. Ghidorah was coming down on him, and again, stomped on Godzilla just as he was recovering. This time, he was intent on keeping Godzilla down. Ghidorah flew up, only to come back down again and again with his full weight.
Godzilla had an answer to that though. He opened his mouth as though he were going to fire off his atomic breath, only for it to be seemingly stifled. There was a flash in his mouth followed by a surge of energy throughout his entire body. Pillars of white light shot out of Godzilla randomly, followed by a massive and intense pulse of energy which pounded out in a quick series of beats. The bubble-like release of energy completely blew King Ghidorah away, catching his wings and sending him tumbling into a building. Ghidorah was visibly damaged by the attack; sparks were dancing along his body.
"Holy shit, that's new!" Brock exclaimed with uncharacteristic excitement, seeing the light show of the powerful attack. "What was that…?!" He added with astonished confusion. Marcus ignored Brock, focusing on the road below them, very singularly minded on his task.
Finally, twelve blocks away from the Oakland bridge, Marcus spotted a car that looked a lot like Shauna's. It was sitting in the middle of a huge pileup of cars that were sitting idle in gridlock. There were hundreds of vehicles. The bridge ahead of them had been destroyed by King Ghidorah before they could cross it, and many of the cars closer to the bridge had been targeted by the monster. There were blast marks where Ghidorah had aimed gravity bolts at the helpless motorists.
Marcus came down low in the helicopter, hoping to see Shauna and his children still sitting safely in their orange car, but it was empty. It seemed as though they were long gone. Marcus happened to see the family dog's crate in the back seat of the car, next to some suitcases they'd abandoned. The crate was also vacant.
Marcus could see that all of the cars in the area were deserted. The people there had been stuck, unable to move forward or go back. They'd chosen to abandon their cars rather than be sitting ducks waiting for Ghidorah to pick them off. Marcus had a flood of emotions. Frustrated that he had failed to locate his family for a second time, and yet optimistic that they had escaped after another close call. But where could he look for them now? There was a horrible sensation of not knowing what to do next. Not being certain if they were still alive at that point was an unbearable feeling. Marcus suppressed his worst suspicions and tried to keep a rational mind. If he didn't keep a clear head, all hope for rescuing them would be lost.
"Shauna must have tried to get to another bridge on foot." Marcus concluded, saying aloud after giving it some thought.
"The next closest bridge out of the city is the Golden Gate Bridge, but that's too far away to get to on foot." Brock pointed out. "However, thereis a subway train that runs right under the bay into Oakland, and one of its stations is only a few blocks north of here." He added knowingly.
"Yes, that has to be it!" Marcus replied, his spirits renewed. "She's from San Francisco, she'd undoubtedly know that." Marcus said, assuring himself as much as he was agreeing with Brock. They could see a nearby trail where people who'd abandoned their cars had obviously run.
Marcus' heart was pounding as they flew onward following the trail, he could feel that they were getting close now. If Godzilla could hold off King Ghidorah for just a little bit longer, they'd grab his family and then get away. Just out ahead of the helicopter, there was an open field that was burning. Smoke was rising and the remnants of a fire were still burning. Marcus and Brock could see people at the edge of it waving up. They'd spotted the helicopter and were desperate for help.
It was hard to see exactly who was waving below, but for Marcus, it was well worth taking a closer look. From above, the blackened field had patches of what appeared to be smoldering bushes that had just burnt themselves out. Only, as Marcus and Brock came down to land, they displaced the smoke and discovered that the presumed bushes were not bushes at all. The area was a blast zone of one of Ghidorah's gravity bolts. The people waving were individuals who'd been at the edge of the strike. What they had thought were bushes, were in reality the bodies of hundreds of victims who'd been killed in the attack. They were people who'd abandoned their cars.
As Marcus opened the door to the helicopter to get out, he was greeted by the intrusive stench of burning flesh. Through the smoke, he could see the silhouette of a woman and two children. His heart jumped with excitement. He ran through the haze to get a closer look. The smoke stung his eyes, but he didn't care. However, when Marcus came through to the other side, he was greeted by the disappointing visage of strangers. It was not Shauna and his children standing there.
Brock came up and ushered the shellshocked family towards the helicopter. They were all suffering from minor burns. Marcus looked around, still hopeful. He found a lone man who had also been injured. Marcus asked him if he'd seen a woman with two small children and a dog. The man did not know. There had been so many people in the crowd when they were attacked. There was too much commotion and confusion to notice anybody in particular.
Marcus helped the man up. Brock returned in time to take over, escorting him to the helicopter. Marcus paused, looking for anyone else who was still alive around the perimeter. There was no one to be found. He sat there for a moment, finding the courage to move forward. Finally, Marcus turned and did something he did not want to do. He ventured into the smoldering field to look over the bodies of the other victims. His boots crunched through the burnt grass and sizzled as he stepped further into the area where the ground was still very hot.
Marcus began to look people over one at a time, but trying to identify anybody's body in there would prove to be a challenge. King Ghidorah's energy bolt had burned all of the bodies thoroughly. Most were burnt beyond recognition. Victims near the center of the blast zone were mangled so badly that it was difficult to even identify them as people anymore, and those at the epicenter of the strike had apparently been vaporized entirely.
There were so many dead. It felt as though Marcus had wandered into hell itself. Every corpse he looked at built up more dread of what he knew he might find there. Near the center of the blast zone, Marcus found something that stopped him stone-cold in his tracks. There was the body of a dog which easily could have been his own. Its body was too burnt for him to be sure, but the dog's metal tags were still hanging around its neck. Marcus carefully pulled them off. The metal was very hot. He couldn't read the etching because it was covered in burned black grit, so Marcus put it in his pocket for safe keeping. He wasn't sure he was ready to read it at that moment anyway. It could confirm his worst fears, and he just couldn't bring himself to confront that possibility yet.
Marcus' stomach felt hollow. His whole body was suddenly heavy. Before he departed, Marcus was compelled to look over the remains of everyone in the field. In the end, he couldn't tell if his family was there or not, and it was a terrible realization not knowing one way or the other. One thing was for sure, nobody else was left alive in the field. There was no one left to save.
Marcus retreated back to the helicopter, leaving behind the horrific scene. He didn't want to see it anymore. All he could do at that point was get the wounded to the nearest hospital and hope that his own family had gotten to the subway tunnel. Alameda hospital in Oakland was the closest place they could go, and Marcus quietly plotted a course for it.
Out on the battlefield, Godzilla had gotten around King Ghidorah's back and grabbed onto his tails. King Ghidorah instinctively took to the sky but couldn't get too far off the ground with Godzilla's weight holding him down. Undeterred, Ghidorah pressed on, dragging Godzilla behind him. Godzilla tripped, losing his footing, but still managing to hang on. Ghidorah dragged Godzilla along behind him, tearing up the city streets as they went.
Finally, Ghidorah saw a way to dislodge Godzilla. He turned and passed between two large buildings. Ghidorah flew above them seamlessly, while Godzilla's bulky body crashed into them. Godzilla was forced to release his grip as he plowed halfway through the structures. Godzilla managed to fire off a shot with his atomic breath which happened to clip one of Ghidorah's wings. Ghidorah came crashing down too, shattering other skyscrapers along the way.
Godzilla recovered first, intending on finally getting his hands on Ghidorah. King Ghidorah, however, had other plans. He got to his feet and then turned around. He blasted Godzilla at close range with all three of his heads. The combined power of each beam was enough to force even the mighty Godzilla back.
Godzilla used his long tail to sweep the feet out from under King Ghidorah, but Ghidorah simply flapped his wings to avoid falling face first onto the ground. Still, the move bought Godzilla time to get in close again, closing the gap. Since Ghidorah did not have arms, Godzilla figured he'd have an easy time overwhelming him in a close-up melee fight. Thinking King Ghidorah was defenseless was a mistake though, and Godzilla was about to learn that lesson the hard way.
After King Ghidorah landed again, he lurched forward, using his leftmost head like a weapon. The golden dragon whipped his neck around, much like a giraffe would do when dueling. He struck Godzilla in the ribs, surprising the King of the Monsters. He'd not been expecting that. The blow knocked Godzilla over. King Ghidorah came forward to step on him, but Godzilla grabbed on to his leg and pulled him right over onto the ground. Godzilla got up and stomped on Ghidorah's back to return the favor.
King Ghidorah took flight once again and knocked Godzilla off balance as he slid out from under his foot. Godzilla tried to attack with his atomic breath, but he was still off kilter and hit a building by mistake. There ongoing battle had leveled most of the city around them. If it went on for much longer, most of San Francisco would be demolished before they were done.
King Ghidorah landed out in front of Godzilla once more, ready to start another round of the conflict. He'd given Godzilla everything he could handle up until that point and was ready to pour on more. The battle, however, was about to take a whole different turn. King Ghidorah got blasted in the side by a pair of bright yellow beams. The three-headed monster turned to face a new challenger who'd entered the fray. It was Mothra. She had changed into her adult form and was siding with Godzilla against the space monster.
Brock was watching in amazement. Mothra had gained a new ability. What the original Mothra had taken from Godzilla in their exchange was now very apparent. It was power. She'd absorbed some of his energy and passed it along to her offspring. She'd blessed them with enhanced abilities. Specifically, powerful attack beams from their antennae. King Ghidorah was about to welcome Mothra to the fight in his own special way when he was hit with another stream of antennae beams in the back.
A second adult Mothra joined the fight and was striking Ghidorah in the rear flank. Godzilla just stood there and watched, not quite sure how to react to the recent developments. The two adult Mothra's looked similar but had distinct differences that distinguished them. The first one favored the colors of their mother closely. The other, perhaps representing a male of their species, had a different color pattern. The differences, however, could have simply represented a fundamental difference between two individual specimens.
The second Mothra had a brown stripe pattern on its abdomen, which its sister lacked, a slightly darker shade of brown on its thorax, and a more golden hue to its wings compared to the yellow of the first. Its wings were brownish-tan in areas where the firsts were white. The orange in the bottom section of its wings was not as bright or rich as the other. Colors aside, the two twin Mothra's were nearly identical in terms of shape and size.
King Ghidorah's attention was split between the two Mothra's and he couldn't focus on either. He shot energy beams at each but wasn't effective against either of them. The two Mothra's maintained their mother's uncanny ability to dodge projectiles, ducking and weaving around Ghidorah's energy bolts. In return, they unleashed their yellow energy beams back down at Ghidorah, easily winning that portion of the duel. But that was only the beginning. The two Mothra's split off from each other and then came in close to Ghidorah from two directions. They each began using their golden powder attacks simultaneously against him. The powder attack was much more powerful than before. Strands of golden lightning energy beat against Ghidorah's body from both sides. It was like he was caught up in a storm of light. King Ghidorah attempted to fight back with his gravity beams, but their energy was dissolved before it could reach either of the Mothras and was in fact turned back against him.
Godzilla finally joined in on the action too, unleashing a blast of his atomic ray at King Ghidorah. Like Ghidorah's own beam, the energy was displaced and bounced around in fragments until it struck the body of the golden dragon. Ghidorah could sense the life being drained out of him more and more with each passing second. Understanding that his defeat was close at hand, King Ghidorah flapped his wings and tore away from the fight. The golden dragon didn't stop after being free of the Mothra's powder attack. He just kept going until he disappeared into the atmosphere, off to who knows where. But he was gone. The threat he presented was over.
That just left Godzilla on the battlefield with the twin Mothras. They stared each other down. Godzilla had not forgotten the last battle he'd had with their mother, and there was still some resentment. However, these two had seemingly come to his aid, and they'd not attacked him yet. Perhaps a peaceful coexistence could be tolerated. The two Mothra's did not come at him. They were seemingly waiting on Godzilla, watching to see what he would do next.
Godzilla was tired and beat up from his fight with King Ghidorah. He had no appetite for further conflict at that point. He turned and began to make his way to the ocean. The gift that the original Mothra had given him played a role in his decision. The thing she had given him was reason. She'd made him more than just an unstoppable brute with an appetite for destruction. She'd elevated him into a higher state of being. Godzilla now possessed the faculties to make decisions rather than just depend on his pure animalistic instincts. It was a decision that would affect the very fate of the world in the years to come.
When the pair of Mothra's saw Godzilla leaving the city, they knew it was safe to depart themselves. Godzilla would not add to mankind's troubles on this day. The twin Mothras departed, leaving humanity to pick up the pieces.
…
On the other side of the bay, Marcus arrived over Alameda hospital. He was haunted by the images he'd seen in the burnt-out field. In particular, his mind kept bringing him back to the slain dog. Marcus brought the helicopter down and landed on the hospital's helipad. Afterwards, he just sat there in his seat as Brock helped the injured passengers in the back.
Marcus pulled out the dog's tags and started to wipe the grime off of them. As he did so, his worst fears were realized. It had indeed been his own dog he found in the field. His address was etched into the metal tags. That could only mean his wife and children had been in the field amongst the dead too. Marcus' sorrow overwhelmed him. He broke down and wept inside the helicopter. There was at least some solace that he was alone there with his misery. He clenched his fist with the dog tags inside, bringing them up to his forehead in grief. Burning hot tears poured out of him in anguish. His whole world had been shattered. Everything Marcus held dear had been destroyed in the space of a day.
…
Penwood's own tears hit the page of the report he was reading in the bowels of the Pentagon. Only then did he finally understand. It was no wonder Admiral Ryan didn't want to continue doing this research anymore. He'd left Penwood to carry on his own for a very good reason. Penwood could feel Marcus' grief for himself. He could imagine just how painful that episode in his life must have been. To think the man had experienced such a terrible loss. To lose his whole family that way, it had to have been unbearable.