Back to the Monster!
MONTEREY: 8:10 P.M.
Paul Watters glanced once more at his watch. A few minutes ago his companion John Scafga joined him in the bank parking lot. Well, that's what was supposed to happen. Paul was starting to get anxious.
Two hours ago Paul had watched as the entire city of Monterey was evacuated by the National Guard. He had immediately run off to tell John the good news. Very excited, the two men returned for a night of freebies on the town.
They had already robbed the shops up and down Main Street, pulled over various restaurants, and just for the hell of it broke a bunch of the tanks at the aquarium. Then John suddenly had the good sense to make a withdrawal from the local bank.
Paul had been told to do what he could and then meet John in the parking lot outside the bank at 8:00 sharp. The two had even synchronized their watches. Right now Paul was starting to doubt that his companion's watch was working correctly. You're eleven minutes late John! he thought, I'm getting restless.
Paul sighed, gave a final sigh, and turned on his heels to make sure John was still in the bank. The thieving young man almost winced as he heard his steel toed boots' clatter across the otherwise silent parking lot. Silent except for the ocean, Paul reminded himself. Because he had lived on the shores of this bay his entire life, Paul Watters had grown accustomed to the noise of waves lapping over rocks and sand.
Paul Stood up on his toes, glancing through one of the bank's windows. There was no trace of John Scafga. Paul sighed and kicked open the door. "John! You there?" the man called into the dark building. After another few seconds of silence Paul began talking to himself. "Where the hell is he? John, I'm bored standing here doing nothing. Where-are-you?"
Suddenly a thought came to Paul. What if John Scafga had robbed the bank and run off, hoping to keep all the money for himself? I'm such an idiot! Paul thought quietly. He glanced accusingly around, hoping to catch a glimpse of his escaping companion. I'm too late, he's gone, Paul Watters realized sadly. In frustration he kicked a door off its hinges.
Suddenly a hurried whisper came from a corner of the bank. Paul immediately recognized the sound of John's voice, even when it was as frightened as this.
"Quiet you idiot, it'll hear where we are!" Paul looked into the black shadow where John was sitting. "What are you talking about John?" he asked, very happy his friend had not a traitor. As John Scafga slowly came into view, Paul could see that the man was pointing towards the beach.
Even in the night, Paul could vaguely see that something was wrong with the beach. It looked almost like white sea foam had covered the sand as far as the eye could see. Hardly believing his eyes, Paul Watters raised the pair of binoculars he had stolen to his face.
The young man gasped in surprise-the white substance covering every square inch of the beach, which had looked like sea foam from this distance was, in fact, millions of clean white fish skeletons. Billions of ivory ribs, vertebrae, and skulls were layered over the coastline.
Swinging his binoculars over to the side, Paul got an even more intense eyeful. Although he didn't recognize them at first, because of their size, Paul realized that tremendous footprints existed on top of various areas of the beach. The prints were shaped like hooves, as though some immense wild boar had stampeded across Monterey. Paul instantly thought of the titanic creatures he had heard about that mangled Japan and felt a pang of dread well up inside of his heart.
So this is why the city was evacuated. Ohh… Paul silently joined John inside the dark bank. The two men shivered for a moment until Paul Watters remembered that John had warned him about it hearing them. Briefly, Paul's gaze turned through the doorway and focused on a blood red foot so large that until now his mind had failed to acknowledge its existence. Standing dozens of yards away was another foot. Both had planted themselves firmly just beyond the parking lot Paul had been standing in.
Beyond the feet was an impossibly gigantic tail the same bitter shade of brown as the feet. Cautiously, Paul looked up through the doorway at a huge armored torso. Up near the shoulders were two huge machines in the shape of a lizard's arms. The smooth silver plates making up these appendages looked almost liquid in their movement. Sitting atop it all was a demonesque, insectoid head with small golden orbs for eyes.
Bony mandibles protruding from the beast's face seemed to shiver from the cold coastal air. Then, for no apparent reason, the immense bug screamed a deafening wail of evil pleasure into the sky. Golden electricity danced briefly over its body before huge wings unfolded from the thing's back and began beating at an unbelievable speed. The creature took off and began flying away from the shore.
DEFENSE RELATIONS, BEIJING: 4:02 A.M.
"Sectorrus you say?" said a man's voice. Sin Lang sighed and repeated over the telephone that the creature which had attacked Monterey last night was the bizarre cyborg that had come from an unknown location somewhere in Asia.
"Well," she added, "Sectorrus is only its rumored name of course, we don't yet know if that is what The Agency actually named it." The phone crackled a bit before the man's voice at the other end could be heard more clearly. "Is that the same one who destroyed London and then just afterwards smashed Dublin?"
"Yes that's right," Sin Lang answered, "Monterey was its fourth attack so far, besides London and Dublin, Sectorrus also attacked Beijing." Burton Helzer, a member of Team G-Force, nodded on the other end and hung up the phone.
TEAM G-FORCE HQ, MID PACIFIC OCEAN: 4:03 A.M.
The aging male looked back over his shoulder at Dr. Kazushi Kagaku, the leader of his elite squad of scientific commandos. Team G-Force became a reality back in 1992, before the UNGCC had even been formed. It consisted of a dozen people, more than half of which stayed at base the entire time. The rest of the team traveled the globe chasing after Godzilla and all the other monsters out there.
After 1994 the UNGCC began funding Team G-Force and it quickly became one nearly as helpful to Japan as the military branch of G-Force which produced the weaponry used to battle Godzilla. It was at that time that Burton Helzer had become the latest, yet oldest addition to the team.
"It was Sectorrus, wasn't it?" Dr. Kazushi asked quietly. Burton nodded with a coy American smile. "Yup Doc, I just got confirmation from Dublin, London, and Beijing that we're dealing with the same monster that tore them up a few months ago."
"Good," Kazushi replied, "The Agency's newest toy will have to be put away then." It was the policy of Team G-Force that unless a Daikaiju posed an immediate threat to human life, it would be studied, not fought. Sectorrus was rumored to be the insane brainchild of the mad Doctor Yamazaki, head of the terrorist organization known as "Agency". As such it needed to be immediately destroyed.
Kazushi's wife Reiko entered the room. After kissing her gently on the forehead Kazushi told her that it was in fact the famed killer cyborg weapon that had been artificially created in 1996 which was terrorizing California.
"Well," said Rieko Kagaku in her nasal Japanese voice, "Air traffic reports that Sectorrus has not yet returned to the pacific. If this is just another act of terrorism than my guess is that The Agency is moving Sectorrus towards Las Angeles."
Kazushi stretched his arms and turned to his two teammates. "Don't worry, Tak'e and I have been working on a plan for a while now that we think will stop Sectorrus."
Burton Helzer scratched his chin. "You wanna' tell us this plan any time soon Doc?" Kazushi just smiled. "I'll have Tak'e explain it to everyone on the trip down there, we'll have to depart for California as soon as possible."
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: 4:15 A.M.
A heard of cattle sat slowly grazing in a pasture. Certain parts of the fun and beautiful state of California could sometimes be as slow and quiet as anywhere on Earth. Despite its horrid smell, this field was one such place.
The cows seemed to hardly be moving their speckled bodies whatever. The only visible action the lazy animals were making was faint breathing. Suddenly the ground began to shake violently and the cows looked up.
Many fell on their sides, honking and screaming in terror. Not high above their heads flew a tremendous crustacean. Shielded beetle wings buzzed and flapped, somehow keeping the thing aloft. Not even noticing the cows, Sectorrus flew on, unconsciously exhaling slightly.
The micro oxygen which peppered the saliva in that breath of air washed over the heard of animals, dissolving all the flesh and tissue from their skeletons like magic. On the monster flew.
PACIFIC OCEAN: 4:30 A.M.
Inside the cockpit of Team G-Force's VTOL(Vertical Take Off and Landing) jet, a brief meeting was being held between the five brave souls who dedicated their lives to the science of Daikaiju. Tadihisa Kinoshita, or "Kino" as his teammates called him, slipped the heavy bag he had been ordered to bring with him onto the plane's floor.
"What's in here anyway Kazushi?" he asked, groaning off the extra weight of the luggage. The leader of the team sat down in his designated chair and strapped on the orange safety harness. "Please sit down everyone," he said, "We don't have much time."
Tak'e Fukuda, Kazushi's brother-in-law and the electronics expert of the team, unzipped the bag and dragged out two large box-shaped devices. One had a red stripe running down the right side and the other had a blue stripe. Both looked basically the same otherwise.
Tak'e cleared his throat and began to explain the usefulness of the devices. "This gadget with the red stripe here is what we call a thermal reactor, whereas its companion with the blue stripe is a thermal abstinator. Both have opposite effects."
Kazushi realized that Tak'e had gotten ahead of himself and stepped in. "Uhh, I'll try and explain. When Destroyah attacked Tokyo in 1995, it was descovered that micro oxygen could be neutralized at extreme temperatures. With the combination of Super X III's freezing gun and the overheating Godzilla, Destroyah's Micro Oxygen-rich cells died."
Tak'e now jumped in. "From tissue samples taken of Sectorrus we've learned that he is basically nothing more than a clone of Destroyah." Tak'e reached into the heavy bag which had contained the two heavy machines and took out a diagram of Sectorrus. "As you can see," Tak'e pointed out, "Sectorrus has artificial arms. We think that those arms are its one weakness.
"After viewing footage of Sectorrus in action, my sister Reiko here figured out that in order for the limbs to work this well, Sectorrus must have grown nerve endings into them. So in theory if we could get inside those mechanical arms and attach a heating device to the main nerve in one and a freezing unit onto the main nerve of the other, we could kill all of Sectorrus' nerve cells."
Kino figured out the rest himself, "So you want half of us to get inside one arm, walk down it untill we find the nerve, and plant one of those thermal things on it, while the other half does the same to the other arm?" Kazushi and Tak'e nodded simultaneously. Kazushi then added, "Right before we left I requested a missile strike to slow down the monster's advance on Las Angeles. It should be intercepting him any time now."
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: 4:36 A.M.
Sectorrus was briefly resting its tired wings. In another few minutes it would return to the sky and fly the final few miles to Las Angeles. Suddenly its sensitive eardrums caught the sound of a quiet whining, piercing through a building roar.
Instantly the cyborg recognized the sound of a squadron of jets and took off. Sectorrus knew it would never be able to outrun things that could travel at the speed of sound, but it still wished to drain their fuel a bit more before fighting.
The first aircraft was within firing range two minutes later. Without missing a beat the sleek silver vehicle launched the two homing missiles at the edges of its wings. Seconds later every other jet repeated this action. All the missiles streaked towards Sectorrus. Then, only moments from impact, the cyborg opened his mechanical right hand and deployed chaff.
The hard dust blasted out in a cloud and detonated each missile in mid flight. Then it was Sectorrus' turn to attack. The mammoth creature spun 180 degrees in the air and turned to face the oncoming planes. Its quivering mandibles spread and from its mouth blasted a spray of condensed Micro Oxygen. Swinging its head side to side Sectorrus connected the spray with each jet, disintegrating them instantly.
Five minutes later Sectorrus arrived in Las Angeles unnaposed.
THE CITY OF ANGELS: 4:53 A.M.
Luckily the city of Las Angeles had been evacuated hours ago. Had it not been, thousands of people would have already died. Sectorrus opened its left fist and blasted out a red laser which blew apart the top of a nearby building. This action was followed by a powerful kick from one of its hoofed feet, knocking out the lower floors of one of the taller structures in the city.
Above all the destruction flew Team G-Force's VTOL craft. Burton Helzer was to stay outside and fly the plane whilst the other four split into to pairs and planted the thermal devices. Carefully Burton positioned the VTOL over Sectorrus' right arm. Sliding down cables hanging out one of the doors, Kino and Tak'e went down, the red-striped thermal reactor strapped to the bulky Kino's back. The two landed without mishap on the cyborg's metal shoulder.
Reiko and Kazushi set down on Sectorrus' left shoulder. Dr. Kazushi was wearing the blue-striped thermal abstinator. Reiko knelt down and pulled a metal cutting torch. After slicing a hole in the arm, she and her husband slid into the robotic appendage.
60 feet away Kino and Tak'e had done the same. Cautiously they moved down through tight passages inside the arm for a few minutes. Almost immediately Kino discovered that he was just too beg to fit through a certain passage. Tak'e was forced to move on by himself. Finally, after many minutes of squeezing and pushing his small body, Tak'e reached a huge pulsating nerve. Groaning, Tak'e lifted the thermal reactor and shoved it into the nerve. Sectorrus' natural electricity activated the device and Tak'e knew that very soon it would get very hot in here.
Back in the left arm Reiko and Kazushi pushed the blue thermal abstinator onto a similar nerve. Now all Team G-Force had to do was escape. The two pairs pulled their bodies through the narrow passages in the arms with all their strength and reached the surface just as the devices made the environment inside Sectorrus unbearable.
Burton Helzer had been waiting just over the hatch Reiko had made in the VTOL. Hurriedly, she and her husband climbed inside. Then Helzer activated the thrusts and began flying towards Kino and Tak'e. Just then Sectorrus went wild from the pain.
The cyborg leapt into the air and began violently flapping its wings. Tak'e slipped off the arm and began to fall through space…
But was luckily caught by Kino around the scruff of his shirt's collar. Hanging onto the hole in the mechanical shoulder which they had just made with his free hand, Kino began grinding his teeth because of the stress placed on his shoulders and arms. Finally, just as Kino feared his arms would be ripped off, the VTOL flew up alongside them.
Kino instantly released his grip and he and Tak'e fell down into Team G-Force's craft. As they flew off they caught site of Sectorrus writhing in pain for many seconds until at long last his body went limp and crashed into the Earth. Team G-Force caught a final glimpse of the fallen cyborg before Tak'e exclaimed, as they flew out of sight, "Now who's gonna' clean up the mess?"
He's da' king!
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