Godzilla 2000: New Era, PART 20 · 5:04am Feb 25th, 2022
PART 19
Proofed by Lance-Omikron
Gabriel Hopkins by Dr1ft3r0I a.k.a C0yot3721
Dr. Joanne Johnson by Corona Blaze
Hina and illustrations by FallenAngel5414
Ami by EvoWizard
Additional illustrations by LordShrekzilla and Zeroviks
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The signal was thankfully received at Crisis Control Intelligence even before greater Kyoto got something similar. Every individual level of CCI’s grand tower was to break down what they were doing, shut down the systems, and evacuate. Projects were paused, computers short of the central terminal were removed, and CCI’s best and brightest, priorities in themselves, filed out one level at a time as the alarms continued to go off. And after which, priorities could extend to protecting proprietary information.
It was a clean, efficient system. And a scorched earth policy to keep value out of the Millennian hands. One level at a time, the staff was filed out, what was important and irreplaceable was removed, and a panel was opened by the highest ranking individual of that division. Most thought it was a security device to ensure the protection of what was left behind. Almost no one knew the truth.
One panel at a time, several dozen in number, all started beeping in synchronization. CCI was led by a man led by fear, and that tended to come with some precautions.
Amongst the sea of persons filing out of the building, a shape darted between the passing bodies. Weaving between the crowd’s members without notice, the woman was clad in a coat not her own to blend in. In the haste and movement of the evacuation, nobody noticed her at first as she made her way inside and within the still-to-be-cleared levels, initially heading for the same direction someone else in a medical staff uniform was heading up ahead.
Dr. Joanne Johnson had her hands full trying to get all of her people out first, not even worrying with the projects. If this scramble signal was from who she thought it was, it had to be serious. Deathly, serious. And she was not risking Kyoto being another Tokyo. Of the thirty medical and biological sample staffers she had responsibility for, answering directly to only Katagiri himself, she’d gotten twenty checked out and evacuated. The problem was with her, she was in charge of two floors that were not adjacent to one another.
The first was the medical wing high up the tower on the thirtieth floor, the second was the subterranean laboratory for biological specimens two stories beneath the ground level. Even with the scramble signal, it was still difficult to get anything in or out of this level due to all the clearances needed. The blaring alarms were making it hard enough to think as is.
“Move move! I gave everyone the evacuation notice five minutes ago!” Joanne roared as she stomped through the biological specimens room.
“But we just secured these canisters from the Amami operation! We need to get them out of here!” one staffer, Dr. Kawakita yelled back in a clear panic as he tried to cart over a heavy containment unit that would be an enormous hassle to get in or out of the sub-lab.
Joanne all but slammed her hand down on the bulky cart based container, shoving it back and all but grabbing them to yank them along, “We save people first, projects next!”
“But the blood samples from Patient 99 showed so much promise!”
Joanne’s eyes snapped open suddenly and she whirled around, “Patient 99?! Miss Shinoda?!”
Kawakita nodded rapidly, “Y-Yes! Her radiation immunity was like nothing the preliminary tests have ever seen in a person! We’ve been working for years throwing rocks at a wall while trying to translate Godzilla’s ability to stable human cells, but she just gave us a door!”
The tan-skinned doctor grabbed the young Japanese man by the arms and despite her typical poise, she shook herself and him hard enough her glasses rattled off, “WHO AUTHORIZED A BLOOD TEST ON SHINODA?!”
She’d been up in the medical wing all day since the patient arrived, communicating with key-checks and updates in the biological research wing remotely to focus on other matters. Joanne could admit, she’d actually been watching Shinoda’s room like a hawk specifically with the worry of someone getting snoopy. The only possible times any blood was drawn was during the first check-ups to see if she’d been radioactively contaminated and those had a strict disposal order she’d given herself after handing them off to get tested in this very lab.
Kawakita just blinked at her in a stupor, “Y-You did, Ma’am- Doctor!”
“... What?”
Kawakita just nodded rapidly, “I-I can show you the logs myself! You first gave a disposal order but then revised it to do some preliminary work! I-I mean it’s a good thing too, given the breakthrough we might just have!”
Joanne’s left eye twitched as she breathed a bit heavier at the implications. Someone had falsified her orders? Who? How?! Was there some horrific glitch to blame or had someone somehow overridden her command?!
“Th-The blood samples are back there, with the other Godzilla cells we have!” Dr. Kawakita piped as he motioned to the vault-like door in the back of the lab, “We can load them onto the cart and-”
Something caused the building to suddenly and violently rattle and Dr. Johnson’s already rushing pace was increased tenfold as she practically screamed at everyone else in the lab.
“EVERYBODY OUT! NOW!” she cried out whilst practically shoving her subordinate to the doorway.
Thankfully everyone else seemed to understand the severity now, and there was no more heel-dragging for the sake of test tubes and locked containers. The only problem was the crowds of other staff now rushing past like a wave of human life. Anyone who got within the flow of foot traffic was quickly pulled into the now panicked mob’s retreat outside.
Dr. Joanne Johnson tried to push against the crowds to no success, attempting to one of the stairwells or elevators. Even with her path blocked by well-meaning coworkers all but grabbing her arms to haul her off, they doubled in effort when she glimpsed a mass wearing a medical wing uniform managing to slip between the people with seeming ease.
“HEY! HEEEY!” the head doctor screamed as she tried to stick to the wall and avoid getting pulled off by the crowd, throwing her voice at the staffer she couldn’t recognize from behind.
She did notice their brief pause at her voice, some unconscious tether grabbing their attention in case they were being called upon over the shouting of the masses or blare of the alarms.
“Get to the 30th floor! Pull everyone out! Get the patient!”
They seemed to have heard her. They looked to the stairwell leading to the biological specimens laboratory, having been heading there prior. But at the doctor’s urgency, plans were amended.
They averted course and barreled through the crowd towards the stairs instead leading upwards.
In all the chaos no one else noticed except the head doctor. She saw the staffer seemingly morph or vanish, the lab coat and uniform flopped to the ground devoid of occupant.
A single perspective began to rapidly ascend the stairwell flights.
At the Medical Wing there was no alarm. The wires had been pulled out of the system hours ago. A door to a small laboratory was opened up and the panicked doctor tried to yell out to their colleagues a warning about what was going on. Outside the headquarters and shadowing all of its windows, an enormous UFO perched itself upon the top of the towering castle CCI had constructed for itself. They couldn’t get much more than a few words out about aliens being outside when they were silenced by what was inside.
A hand was shoved into his face and a squid tendril was jammed down their throat. The face of a colleague morphed into that of a hound and a throat was swiftly torn out, ichor and vicersa spilling from the quickly slaughtered man’s body. No one had noticed the single, lone drone resembling a mysterian woman who died over a decade ago infiltrating the Kyoto facility hours ago. Nor did Dr. Johnson know about her clearances being hacked just as Commander Aso’s had.
The local technology was primitive, but without the UFO around until now, it was still a somewhat useful means to run some tests for their own ends. Cover was kept and drone numbers grew bit by bit, needing to be wary of The Presence they detected following them here. A staffer discreetly pulled into a closet and strangled here, a doctor cornered in the changing room with a slit throat there, and now the takeover was near complete. Even with The Presence here, they no longer needed to hide as much.
After all, one of the major priorities was here and couldn’t be risked; and they needed more than Io Shinoda’s blood. If a blood sample was sufficient, they’d have gotten that at the fisheries with the droplets found on the floor or on a coat hanger. And yet, somehow her genome couldn’t be decoded like the rest. Her adaptation had proven elusive.
An advantage was only so when no one else had it, and it would be such a detriment to lose the best human genome on the planet without fully learning its secrets. Fully understanding it was optional, they simply needed to know what was and wasn’t relevant.
Was the subject’s uniqueness because unlike the other hybrids, she was born naturally without any technological or artificial aid?
Was this adaptiveness to radiation a fruit borne of the subject’s extended proximity to the juvenile stage of the Apex Lifeform?
Was it all purely physical, or perhaps a mental-born attribute created by her brain patterns which couldn’t be found in the blood?
If it was to be replicated, this perfect union of human and alien genomes and abilities most suitable to the collective; it had to be seized. They’d just have to take everything, and keep cutting through the gout of her body until they figured it out.
After all, she was such a unique chance occurrence, it was thus most sensible she be granted eternity within them.
They were in force now, and this hive of humanity had more to offer than just Io Shinoda and a strong computer…
============
“-Captain Mei Shindo, confirmed KIA. Captain Kazuma Rinko, confirmed KIA. Colonel Sho Kuroki, confirmed KIA,” Admiral Tachibana frowned as he continued to read off the names, it took a lot of nerve to continue doing so without pausing or wavering.
It seemed disrespectful to list off so many names like lost assets suffered from storm damage, but they needed to know which officers were gone. That the departed would no doubt want to help any way they could was small comfort to the grimness of the very large list.
Commander Takaaki Aso listened on for several minutes in the jury-rigged command post, scraping together any communications equipment the UFO hadn’t fried under a pavilion to try and get their affairs in order. His leg was wrapped in a large brace that doubled as a prosthesis, at least allowing him to stand. One leg forever feeling several kilos lighter than the other was something he didn’t think he’d ever get used to. At the very least the Millennian tore his nerves out with his foot, spared him some of the phantom sensations of digits he didn’t have.
“Super-X3 deemed flight operational with minimal repairs. The hostiles around the hangar have been cleared out and damage is restricted to the cockpit front windshield. If needs be, a temporary windshield can be installed within ten minutes,” Tachibana continued.
“Do it,” Stacker Pentecost grunted, arms folded as he looked through a hastily arranged list of potential back-up pilots with the proper training, the fact he himself and some senior staff were on the list wasn’t elusive to him but he was needed on the ground, “We need that thing up and running as fast as possible. Has Major Akiko Fuji been located? She is qualified.”
“Fighting still going on in the south sector where she last reported in at,” Tachibana noted, words punctuated by the distant ringing of an explosion going off from a missile launcher, “She was in that sector, considered MIA until she can report in.”
“She and over sixty percent of this list,” Pentecost frowned remorsefully for a brief moment, “Alright, then I think your Colonel Shin Hayata is our best bet. He passed the qualifying exams and was one of the original picks before Sho Kuroki was chosen.”
Yuji Shinoda watched the discussion from the sidelines, helping where he could get some more of the equipment online. The three acting heads of G-Force were all hard at work, but he caught the Commander’s eyes cast towards the hangar, a contemplative look clear on his eyes. His brief waver in focus allowed Pentecost to unwittingly sneak up on him when he approached Shinoda and Biologist 023.
“Have either of you two seen Katagiri?”
Yuji stiffened. In all the chaos and moving about, he hadn’t noticed the absence of the man ever since he departed to blow up the supercomputer. Last he’d seen him he was with Pentecost and 023. The aforementioned old Mysterian seemed to be about to say something when he paused and perked his brow at something behind the Subcommander.
“He had left while I was busy with medical work,” 023 noted dryly before holding up a hand and pointing, “But I believe that might provide an answer.”
He motioned behind Pentecost and all eyes were perched upon one of the CCI rapid airborne transports firing up its engines. The craft was something of a smaller version of the Super-X design meant for quick relocation and taxiing, such as the one that ferried Io Shinoda to the Kyoto facility in record time. It rose up from its bottom mounted thrusters, before quickly speeding off into the sky heading due west in the direction of the set sun.
Yuji watched on in dumbstruck confusion before the computer in front of him lit up with an incoming signal, “I have a hailing frequency from the craft.”
He didn’t need to be told by Pentecost to turn it on and point the screen out for all to see. A profile view of Mitsuo Katagiri’s tear stained and yet stoic frown of a face greeted them, clearly piloting the craft given he was facing forwards with the side of his face to the camera.
“Shinoda, if you’re the one answering, that means hopefully your mission succeeded.”
Shinoda swallowed and glanced at his company for a moment before speaking up, “It did. The supercomputer here at G-Force is destroyed. Katagiri, what are you doing?!”
“The same. The craft is going to Kyoto and after it hacked me once, I have no doubt what it plans to do again once it couldn’t use my remote access anymore. The fact it’s heading to the city it is, is confirmation enough. At least one of the drones managed to get ahold of Shinoda’s harddrives and Godzilla data, no doubt merging it with what was garnered from G-Force’s database and my own acquisition of the other parts of the Godzillasaurus cell research done at Kyoto.”
Shinoda’s eyes burst open as he looked back at the CCI building he’d left the drives in under heavy guard. He wanted to demand to know how Katagiri could have known this, but the claim was too extreme to call out. This was not the time for lies and he could tell Mitsuo wasn’t lying nor making an unfounded deduction. The aliens very clearly wanted his data, and if Godzilla was as big a threat to them as he’d seen with his own eyes; it was no wonder they’d want every scrap of data to figure out a countermeasure.
The sudden resistance the second drone in the computer room showed to that relic from Odo island Aso somehow had was beginning to make a lot of sense, especially with how Yuji had seen that same relic and the blood of Junior give other drones rapid on-set cancers.
Shinoda’s jaw dropped as the lightbulb clicked in his mind, “They’re going for CCI’s stored Godzilla cells…”
“Their what?!” Pentecost and Tachibana roared as they snapped around, looking at Shinoda and the unmoving Katagiri, seeing no sign of denial from either of the two.
The two once and hence friends remained quiet in acceptance. No more secrecy, no more deals, no more half-truths or wholesale lies. Commander Aso quietly sighed, having perhaps subconsciously been expecting this. Both before and after he found out of Shinoda’s betrayal of trust, he perhaps always knew he’d given CCI too much autonomy with no oversight.
“Most of the drones documented thus far have had all the signs of rapid bodily degradation from a mix of cellular energy expense and DNA damage from radiation sources, solar or from Godzilla,” Biologist 023 chimed in as he could, “It appears they’d have a limited lifespan in our atmosphere even without physical damage to repair, but that exposure accelerates it… But, if they could mend this- Achilles Heel if it were by adapting to it with Godzilla cells and sufficient studies already done to take a shortcut towards fixing or at least reducing the problem…”
“They’d be fifty times harder to kill and potentially become just as hard to destroy as Godzilla has proven to be, if not worse,” Shinoda put the puzzle together as his frown deepened, “The second drone we encountered already showed signs of that. So if they could then combine that immunity or even copy Godzilla’s ability to thrive off that radiation, they’d be next to unstoppable.”
The pursuit of his data, exploiting G-Force to get Godzilla off of them for a while, hacking CCI, going for their supercomputer here in Tokyo, their fear and very real physical vulnerability to that very entity? Options like going for the computers had a lot of applications, it was always about gunning for as many opportunities as possible. Scramble responses, hack their systems and steal their research, find a solution to their Godzilla problem; getting into the supercomputers was like hitting fifteen birds with one stone.
What kind of intelligence were they dealing with?!
"And what exactly are you planning on doing once you get there? The UFO would have already beaten you to Kyoto, and is likely going for this black books research of yours!" Pentecost griped as he furrowed his brow, his starting to go to certain places at what the doctor's plan was here.
"I've already sent out a scramble signal to safely evacuate all of my people, from my staff, my researchers, and young Miss Shinoda. Once they are out, we will stop the UFO from acquiring anything. Every single floor in the facility has a Scorched Earth policy. Various groups have always been wanting what we have and CCI likes to remain proprietary. Each team leader has activation code to put in place to prime the charges. Once the building is cleared, I will activate all of the explosives and level the entire facility," Katagiri said with a totally dispassionate tone, like clockwork, "I’ve already given the orders to blow the whole tower to kingdom come once everyone is out. And if it’s still standing when I get there, and just in case the UFO tries to block out my kill command remotely, there's a manual override across the city in another building we own."
Yuji's mind quickly put two and two together on where this place had to be. The very one where the shadow of CCI's Tower of Babel was cast upon both figuratively and literally. Kyoto Biotechnics Institute. Katagiri always maintained an office there.
It really was going back to the beginning.
“You’re acting out of line and with risky business, Dr. Katagiri,” Pentecost glared even if he resisted an outburst.
“Protocols can’t get in the way of things like this, not when the future of humanity is at stake, Pentecost.”
Which Shinoda suspected was code for something else Katagiri had once told him. That he intended the new era for humanity to come and nothing was getting in his way.
It was perhaps, similarly realized by the very man who once said those immortal words. Commander Aso managed to stand tall despite his injury, not showing pain or hindrance as he strode forward to address the screen.
“We can deal with formalities and chains of command later. That craft still knocked out most communication with the entire outside world and sent the rest of Japan into chaos. If we don’t finish this fight, no one else might get the chance to,” Aso noted as he looked at the screen, “Dr. Katagiri, I’m going to have to demand an emergency lease of all CCI aircraft in this base for G-Force use.”
“That is why I left them and took the smallest, Commander,” Mitsuo Katagiri replied, still manning his controls, “They are yours, we can deal out contracting after this is done.”
“See to it, we’ll hash it out over tea,” Aso nodded before turning to Pentecost and Tachibana, “We need to mobilize while also dealing with the stragglers here. Can the latter be done without air support?”
Tachibana stepped forward, volunteering himself for the cause, “GUNHED is inoperable, but plenty of ground vehicles that wouldn’t be fast enough to be mobilized to Kyoto are workable. I can lead the operation here and hold them back to keep the airstrip clear.”
Aso nodded to him before turning to Pentecost, “Subcommander Pentecost, your deputy position as emergency acting commander has been reinstated. Are you fit to lead the evacuation and attack operation at Kyoto?”
Pentecost paused briefly, looking at the hardened gaze Aso shot him. Stacker’s eyes widened slightly and his jaw dropped, but he stole a quick glance downwards at Takaaki Aso’s missing foot and was privy to his commander’s condition.
“Rallying the forces needs a fit mind and body with communications on the fritz, and I have only one now,” Aso frowned.
Stacker Pentecost looked at the man who’d scouted him out of the Royal Airforce. It was Aso’s personal endorsement that made him the captain of the Mechagodzilla crew, and it was similarly Aso’s ardent insistence on ample escape pod options after the Super-X debacle that saved his life when the magnificent machine met its end. He owed this man a lot. Who was he to not try and live up to that?
Pentecost snapped his heels together and saluted his mentor. Aso removed the insignia of rank on his chest and put it on his successor's. Pentecost had never felt such a weight upon him, so much he couldn't help but marvel at how Aso had remained standing all these years, and yet he wouldn't let it pull him to the ground.
"Finish up the key checks on all usable aircraft, formations Alpha-Delta with second through fifteenth divisions are to be deployed. Attack craft are to take off into main pattern formation Eta, see how much the dropships can carry and if we can bring some heavier arms, I’ll forward the distribution pattern soon as we get a sit-rep on the UFO’s location,” Pentecost barked as Tachibana and Aso acknowledged him.
The acting commander began to stride towards what communications equipment remained, calling for a list of all pilots that could make the journey to Kyoto, when Yuji found himself having run forward and grabbing his arm.
“Dr. Shinoda, if you have advice to give I will have to heed it whilst on the move.”
Yuji quickly removed his hand with a snap of the wrist, but kept stride with the taller man, “Then heed it whilst we’re in Kyoto.”
“I wouldn’t say that’s the most opportune city to go to right now.”
“I was brought on to consult the head of G-Force’s operations and right now that is you! If there is room in the transports-”
Pentecost maintained his stride as he was quickly handed a paper of the available pilots, holding back some remorse at glimpsing the sheer number of names with red-lines slashed through them. The south barracks, the one right next to the hangar, was one of the worst areas hit. And that was well before considering those who died in the hangar themselves, either in take-off or giving their lives for others like Colonel Kuroki had.
Stacker Pentecost closed his eyes and steeled his nerve, “You’ve been up close with these things multiple times and the only other godzilla cell researcher I know of is currently AWOL flying a craft ahead of us… I also know your daughter is in Kyoto-”
Shinoda braced for what was to come and was all too prepared to fight back the rejection.
A hand slapped down on his shoulder as Pentecost perked his eyes from the pilot list and looked upon him, “Which means you’ll do double the work if I ask any of you, as who you are.”
“As your scientific advisor?” Shinoda pointed his head aside slightly in wariness but chancing hope.
“As a father whose kid is in danger. If it was Mako or Jake, I’d be charging the UFO with pointed rocks if I had to… Take off scramble is in 10 minutes if we can make it, I hope you don’t get airsick as CCI craft usually don’t have barf-bags.”
Shinoda made to quickly bow to the man, and he did just that. On his descent, he glimpsed the base once again spring into action. Tachibana was running with a company of troopers to a parked maser tanker, 023 was directing several soldiers carrying stretchers to the make-shift hospital, and Pentecost was beginning to call out names into a radio com. There was only one person he didn’t see.
===========
A very short time later, Colonel Shin Hayata tried to quell the butterflies swirling around in his gut as he jogged down the hall of the hangar whilst getting to the main bay. He’d quickly been suited up with flight gear that was atypical for him, even if he’d more than qualified for it. In truth, even with Kuroki getting the pilot’s chair, this wouldn’t be Shin’s first time in the Super-X3. He’d been on the crew back in the Meltdown incident almost five years ago. He nearly died that night, which would have left Ami losing a parent all over again like when his brother and sister-in-law didn’t make it out of the Ghidorah attack alive. Some in Japan had been floating around ideas for names of those affected by kaiju, either themselves hurt or a loss of family members. It wasn’t unprecedented, even if their country’s propensity to get attacked by monsters seemed to be.
There was a term both for those affected by one of the two atomic bombings and another for those who were unforunate enough to be affected by both.
Ami’s emergency transponder, the very thing that finally helped compel Admiral Tachibana into action, felt heavy in his jacket. It was even heavier in his hands after Shin pulled it out to look at it. His contemplation seemed to last a century as he paced forward, foot over foot; even if he only set his eyes upon that small device for five seconds.
The metallic hiss of the doors leading into the hangar, with the walkway leading to the Super-X3 lay before him. His fingers curled around Ami’s signaler to hold it tight. A hand was placed on his shoulder as he stopped walking forward.
========
It was an agonizing span of minutes, flying from Tokyo to Kyoto. Just over 320 kilometers, from the economic political capital of modern Japan to the throne of its cultural and historic capital. Yuji Shinoda felt like he could count every last meter as the CCI transport craft sped forward like a missile. The deployment out of the base could be favorably compared to a horde of angry wasps streaming out of a hurt nest. He wasn’t quite sure what to make of the comparison of humanity to insects, the Millennian likely wouldn’t disapprove, but the point stood. Fighter jets, airborne maser platforms that were still airworthy, several bombers, and several airborne carriers hauling a few maser tanks made up the contingent. A call to the Eastern Divisions had managed to go through and that meant both reinforcements, and much more importantly, evacuation aid from relatively nearby Osaka.
People were getting moved, hopefully that included Io and Yuki from CCI’s base as Katagiri had assured, they were closing in on the target; and one way or another this was all going to end.
All while it was almost two hours until new years, the clock just then ticking past 10pm.
The mood had lifted briefly… before it all came crashing down again.
Several lights inside the transport blinked on and off, what had been a steady chatter of long-distance communication with the Osaka division was suddenly cut off. Yuji Shinoda gulped as he watched and waited for a short time. The lights did come back on, but the long-distance radio wasn’t responding. And the central screen as well as his laptop both displayed the exact same word over and over again.
Millennian.
The camera for the laptop was on and Yuji snapped the display shut, ripping the battery out for good measure as his breaths turned into heaves.
It was happening again, the UFO was already in Kyoto and settled in.
Acting Commander Pentecost managed as cool a head as he could, still piloting the craft himself, “Well… we should have expected this again. Thankfully this kind of abnormal engagement doesn’t require much explaining. Get the people out of the city, and fire upon the UFO. Choice is to do one of those two things.”
The only screens not displaying the name of the enemy flickered, showing the pilot of the neighboring transport craft behind Pentecost’s, “Sir, short-ranged comms are still online, we’re receiving a chained signal from Admiral Tachibana back at base.”
“Put him on,” Pentecost grunted and he was soon greeted to the sight of the pilot literally putting two radio’s inputs and outputs together for the epitome of long-distance jury-rigging.
“Bad news and worse news; Pentecost. We have confirmation the UFO just scrambled over 90% of all long distance communications on the planet. It has hijacked much of the internet again and is remotely hacking anything within range. Most of it in the USA, Russia, India, Pakistan, EU, Australia, and Canada.”
“And I have a feeling that’s the ‘bad news’,” Pentecost griped with a frown that Tachibana could feel even kilometers away.
“Look up, 11 o’clock to the left and upwards 80 degrees.”
Night had fallen, but there were seemingly no stars about. Which meant the eerie, tiny white flicker stood out. Especially as it moved. Shinoda and Pentecost could begin to see it fly over to the edge of the horizon very slowly, which was actually indicative of how enormously high an altitude it was moving at.
It was telling that even the professionalism of Tachibana seemed to waver for a moment, he needed a pause to collect himself, “... From what little is still active and can be observed, we have confirmation of over 500 Intercontinental Ballistic Missile launches and counting, potentially double that number in five minutes. They’re exceeding official numbers but there is little reason to think it’s all typos with how many Cold War Era armaments kept things secret.”
“ICBMs… wait- Y-You can’t seriously mean?!” Shinoda gawked as he looked out at the pinprick of light again.
It seemed so insane, that something so seemingly tiny and insignificant could potentially unleash such horrors near incomprehensible. And it wasn’t alone as he glimpsed another flicker to indicate a second missile, but at this point his mind was beginning to boggle and warp at just trying to comprehend dozens, if not hundreds of these streaking through the sky. Was he seeing two or was he beginning to lose his grip? Did it really matter at this point?
“That one has a 4 megaton payload heading for India, fired from a US Naval submarine that was operating outside of Japan. There are at least forty heading for all the major cities in China, Thailand, Indonesia, and India… Over 250 megatons in total payload.
The 1990s was the decade the cold war from the 1980s finally came crumbling down. The 2000s were to be the hopeful successor free of that shadow. But it seemed such horrors cast long shadows. And no matter how deeply they’d buried it, no matter how many thousands of weapons were disarmed over the years… no one had really dropped the Mexican stand-off they’d been caught in.
Not until the Millennian grabbed both gunfighters’ pistols and pointed it at their own faces whilst crushing their triggers in.
“...Can they be disabled?” Pentecost gulped as he tensed.
“I was informed by the US Naval admiral after the submarines fired off. The missiles can only stalled. Every attempt to disarm them with overrides just results in slowing them down, the Millennian keeps rerouting the commands. Attempts to shoot them down just result in the counter-missile just being diverted off into the ocean… The sheer computing power and need to stretch out might be slowing the Millennian’s response time, but we can’t stop it.”
“For how long? How long can they be held off?!”
Tachibana frowned at several print outs, “The UFO is scrambling a vast majority of the internet. The first missiles will hit in under two hours.”
“Where?!”
“Kyoto…” Tachibana said and Shinoda felt like he’d been shot.
The Admiral audibly sighed, overcome as he kept reading off the report he’d been given, “Four 5 megaton warheads will hit just before midnight.”
That would be enough to level the city thrice over, glassing the ground and irradiating the landscape across the entirety of Honshu island over 1000 kilometers away. And the obvious implication was self-evident. If the UFO was shooting at itself like that, it meant several truths.
It had good reason to believe it could survive the blast, which spoke of its craft’s durability or some other defense.
It had already begun finalizing that immunity to radiation that had been discussed prior, meaning it had already gotten into CCI’s facility and equipment.
It was also confident in its plan to enact this despite destroying its physical tether to humanity’s technology and internet. That, in light of the sheer number of missiles fired and pointed were, it knew there wouldn’t be anyone left to oppose it.
Some of humanity’s worst fears in the 1980s, used to their extermination on the cusp of a new millennium….
A voice pierced through the communication’s lines.
“The Millennian are the ones blocking the attempts to diffuse or abort the impacts. Destroy their connection or them, and we can stop doomsday. We have 2 hours to blast that demon from the sky.”
It was so jarring to hear the voice, much less recognize it, that dead air was audible on the lines across the squadron. The entire G-Force expedition had heard it and listened, as a shadow passed over the main formation of transport and fighter craft. Blocking the glimmer of the nuclear missiles from view, the enormity of the Super-X3 cloaked the formation beneath it as it shielded them from death itself from the heavens..
Flipping a few switches whilst maintaining a good handle on the controls, Commander Takaaki Aso took in a deep breath and exhaled in an attempt to relax his nerves. He remembered the echoes of protests Colonel Hayata gave when he met him at the hangar doors, almost humoring to think the dutiful officer was merely surprised to see him there.
Hayata was young, and had his responsibilities to those who came after him.
Aso was old, and that meant he had a lot more to be responsible for.
Every time someone flew a Super-X, it was a death sentence short of a miracle. A miracle had saved Colonel Sho Kuroki the first time, and Takaaki had sent that miracle to the bottom of the ocean. If anyone was going to atone for this, if there ever was a chance to do it and spare someone more deserving of continued life than he; this was his turn to pilot this latest of a series of flying coffins and not someone younger.
“Aso?! What the hell do you think you’re doing in that thing?!” Pentecost roared, the inflection belying fear rather than hatred as its origin.
Aso was unmoving as he continued to check the systems, “CCI upgrades made this thing operational by one pilot. Doing what I was qualified to do before CCI demanded that someone younger take this burden.”
Pentecost didn’t lower his voice, “Where is Colonel Hayata?!”
“Back in Tokyo saving lives, like I intend to do in Kyoto.”
“But- Your injury?!”
Takaaki perked his brow passively, nodding to himself under his helmet as he felt the seat he was strapped into, “Did you know CCI designed this so even a paraplegic or severely wounded person could still pilot it? I suppose I could psychoanalyze a lot of potential reasons why. I am clear to fly, my lack of left foot has no impact here.”
“As Acting Commander of G-Force I am ordering you to cease that craft, allow for mid-air boarding and for someone else to pilot it!”
“And as still-ranked Commander, I am denying that order. I will submit myself to a tribunal after this is over, if we live to see it. I have pulled rank so another young soul who hasn’t lived or sinned as I have has to pay for my mistakes. So I am using all means available to me to try and protect my people and my planet…”
Takaaki Aso frowned as he looked at the corrosive damage to the metal paneling that hadn’t been replaced in the interior, seeing the plating across the center console and edge of the canopy warped and deformed. As well as feeling the hole in the back of the seat where a talon had been rammed through and impaled Kuroki. Looking to the empty co-pilot seat, he could see two faces.
The first was of recent memory, the burned visage of Captain Akiyama of the Super-X; a rebar from the Sunshine 60 tower sticking out of his eye socket. The other, flashing over the man who died over a decade and a half ago, was Colonel Kuroki of the very machine he piloted now. Eyes mostly closed as blood billowed from his mouth and eyes, a gaping hole in his chest. Both were looking at him, indescribable and unreadable.
Ghosts of better people haunting him, for the curse that he still lived despite everything while they gave up their lives after a horribly short time in this world. Was it some twisted chance if one added the ages of the slain heroes together, they got exactly the number of years Aso had been upon this world? Or was he just reading into Hina’s line of thinking more and seeing fate where there was just cruel irony?
He could neve know, just as he could never truly know in his conscience what Akiyama or Kuroki would say to him right now.
He could only follow their example.
“I have led G-Force and the JSDF with every bit of righteousness, honor, and humility that I could,” Aso projected his voice across the entirety of the squadron’s frequencies, “I have seen horrors I wish no one to ever endure, and I endured them more than twice over. But I am human, and I have had my own share of follies. I have been blinded by arrogance… Ignorant of dangers or their consequences…”
He closed his eyes oh so briefly, feeling himself transported back to Amami for that instant. Standing before a living mountain as an old man just as he had once as a young one. The first and second time he’d seen such a being up close and wished it to remain in the ocean, he’d been horrified seeing it wreathed in the devastation and ash of mankind’s ruins. But on Amami, surrounded by the cool seas and bathed in the gentle sunbeams streaking down from the mountains upon Godzilla’s brow and hide… He couldn’t help but feel some sense of awe.
If sights like this were more common in the bygone days, he could imagine why Odo or Japan thought the sea was the domain of divine dragon kings like Ryujin, Watatsumi, or Gojira.
Kingly sea dragons… the King of the Monsters, there was another fitting coincidence or fateful tie to ruminate on if he survived this.
“I tried my best for the sake of those who came after me, born and yet to be. I will not have them pay for my mistakes… I cannot just have honorable conduct as your commander, it also has to be as a human being.”
The flight passed over Lake Biwa, the enormous mass of waters were practically an inland sea. A gateway to the realms of kami according to some beliefs. Kyoto lay just beyond the mountainous rise due west now, only a short time left for the flight. Even with the sight before him, he could remember the conviction he’d heard said by an old woman. She who had seen the same horrors he had, and had not lost her hope despite it. If he could even channel half of that courage, this wouldn’t be a fruitless endeavor.
“I am acting because I am determined to protect our future… And I know that someone else will too. Even if I can’t see or speak with them, I have faith in another’s hope in them."
The flight passed over the eastern edge of Kyoto, coming over the dividing mountains separating it from Lake Biwa. The shadow of the Super-X3 fell over an aged temple and a pair of eyes was upon the formation of humanity's last efforts to avert its engendered apocalypse.
For a split second, Also felt a moment of familiar peace with a known gaze upon him. Yuji Shinoda, seeing the mountainside and shrines pass by underneath them, subconsciously detected a small sense of forgotten familiarity at that same gaze.
Both eyes were soon trained upon the city before them. It was, perhaps, because of how they were in the shadow of the Super-X3; and felt the old commander flying alongside them, that some of the most unnerved held their grip. Not one craft diverted away despite what was before them.
Glimmering atop its towering throne, the Millennian stood ominously above all else within the city. It rose above the works of man in the city, the shrines to technology across the institute, and the temples of the divine with the four directional castles. All whilst the distant flickers of it's judging damnation streaked across the skies high above.
A series of cables and tethers ripped free of the ground. They, coaxed and controlled like a million multi-headed serpents, coiled and wrapped around the CCI tower in a mashed weave of connections. Like tissue hewn over nerves, a glossy sheen sprouted up around the cable weave; coating it in an alien substance that was at once animate and in the very same instance crystalline. More of the substance was starting to erupt from the ground, appearing in an enormous circle with a circumference of a kilometer in span. All constantly growing, meter by meter, upwards.
Within the center the substance encased the entire structure of CCI’s tower, forming a chamber or cocoon around the building. A mass seemed to exude from the underside of the UFO hovering above. Not flowing from an opened port, but sweating or emerging out from the metallic surface itself. Hundreds of millions of gallons of biomass was exuded, falling onto the cocoon from the opened top before it was sealed shut. The entire tower was now encased in the unworldly substance, which began to anchor onto and grow out of the tower like an erupting tumor. Obscured as it was by the barrier shielding, something was beginning to take form behind it, within the womb.
“That... that has to be it,” Yuji Shinoda muttered as he gazed, awestruck and baffled at the gestalt entity taking shape slowly under the cover, “That has to be what was inside the UFO this whole time. The Millennian’s true form, or as close to one as it might have. Its own biomass and that of every living thing it has absorbed over centuries.”
“No drones about either,” Pentecost observed, “That means it’s putting all of its mass into one basket.”
The UFO hovered up and away from the tower, turning to face the incoming formation of aircraft and tilting down somewhat as if readying itself. Warhead armed missiles shimmered across the dark skies like shooting stars.
===========
Within the CCI tower, a chair broke as it was relentlessly beat on the door that wouldn’t budge. Yuki Ichinose gasped and held her arm, a piece of the snapped metal making up a chair leg having cut her across the forearm. The door and its locked frame however, refused to budge. She’d been beating on it for the better part of ten minutes, since a few moments after she’d heard the first explosion from below. If that wasn’t enough to get the nerves frayed, the ominous emptiness of the halls outside already had her on edge. She couldn’t have known she was one of the last two people in the building, even if there were far more than two beings in said tower.
Another explosion rattled the walls and foundations, and the flickering of the lights on and off made it difficult to see what was outside. Panting and heaving in an ugly sweat, Yuki staggered and fell into the deceptively sturdy glass window. Sweat caked hair clung to her flushed face as her forehead adhered to the smooth portal.
The lights flickered on and off again, creaks and groans echoing through the entire building to indicate a large mass shifting against it. Through the veil of her eyelids, Ichinose saw the world darken, then illuminate again with the lights activating again. Only for the lights to dim slightly behind her lids.
The lock on the door audibly clicked open, the electronic system overridden; and Ichinose’s eyes snapped open. Her head shot up up to see eerily familiar eyes. Io’s eyes, set on a face with slightly different features and proportions, but recognizable all the same. An uncanny replica of Asuka Shinoda, the drone from the fisheries none knew of inside Io’s room, stood on the opposite side of the door. Down the hall, a small crowd of many people who were but one mind stood by and watched.
Instantly the horrified Yuki’s fight or flight instincts kicked into overdrive, as she began to sob.
“NO!” her bloodied hand gripped the door handle with manic strength just as it started to turn downwards, wrenching it into the frame with her full weight and every scrap of power she had.
The handle nonetheless began to slowly turn downwards despite Yuki feeling like she was about to break her wrist wrench on it so hard.
“NO! NO!” she screamed fearful tears stinging her eyes.
Through the glassy opening in the door, she looked into the eyes of the demon wearing the face of Io’s mother. The skin of the cheeks almost seemed to split with how it grinned at her.
Whether it was genuinely delighted to at last be ready to dissect and assimilate what it came here for, or if its extensive work on human mental processes told it exactly what buttons to push to horrify and unnerve a human to put them off balance; no one could say.
But even as Yuki did everything she could to keep the door shut, for even just a moment more, it didn’t stop the Millennian from forcing the latch open with such strength it bent the handle on the other side. Yuki screamed, begged, out another sobbing “NO!” as the door was forcefully shoved open and she was thrown back.
Banging her back on Io’s containment unit, the photographer crumbled to the floor in a writhing heap that nonetheless tried to stand. Blood coming from a busted lip she’d accidentally bit and sweat gluing her bangs to her face, Ichinose quickly staggered up to her feet whilst grasping the twisted metal that had once been a chair leg like a baseball bat.
The echo of a woman who died years ago stood in the doorway with the entrance, bare of attire or attributes across skin too smooth to be human. The drone took a step inside, eyes transfixed on the immobile child and the meddler who’d gotten in their way.
Across the city, darkness had fallen upon the ancient. Kiyomizu-dera stood watch from the eastern hillside, a perimeter sentinel between the ancient city of mankind and the even more ancient forested mountain, Kyozuka. It's thousand year old foundations and frame were replaced painstakingly and maintained for centuries without a single nail to hold it all together. Across the grounds, the gravel paths and wooden decks, there was a quiet. For a time.
That time passed with a whisper, a single pebble rolling over from the slightest of tremors. But the rumbling only compounded upon itself. Continuous and growing, the earthquake's echoes washing over the temple grounds from foundation to peak. The sun was setting, the last beams crossing over the stony image of Kiyomizu-dera's patron and icon. The snarling visage of a divine beast was unmoved by the echoes of warfare in the skies; but from beneath the earth was a different story.
A still water pool reflecting the image of Seiryū started to quake and rattle, with ever-growing ripples engendering from the heightening earthquake. The azure dragon's visage increasingly distorted within the pool, yet its piercing stare remained.
The sound of a single flute began to echo across the ancient grounds, carrying a song from a distant island.
The bastardization of Asuka Shinoda took another step towards the real Asuka’s legacy.
Maser fire streamed through the sky at the UFO as Aso flew the Super-X3 directly at it.
The Millennian mass continued to grow, enriched by the Godzilla cells and data acquired.
Yuki Ichinose screamed as she took a swing at the monstrosity come to harm the girl behind her.
An explosion of purple light erupted from the stairwell behind the drones in the hallway.
Earthquake tremors in Kyoto intensified with blue light briefly illuminated underneath Lake Biwa.
And Io Shinoda’s eyes snapped open.
=======================
Tired so laying out first impressions. Solid set-up before the climax chapter. Super X3 scene with Aso was great. And that end scene with Yuki was tense af.
Good set up for the climax, though I do feel it's getting a bit drawn out.
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Believe it or not the Super-X part was the one that had me the most concerned. I was a little worried it would stretch the disbelief of it too much having Aso take the controls as well as skimming over him getting in the pilot seat. In an earlier draft I did have a full discussion between him and Shin, as well as having Tachibana join aboard. But I felt so short but sweet idea worked better and for him to be alone in that thing.
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Honestly, the poignancy of the moment was what made it.
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My apologies, though thankfully we're getting quite a big entrance next chapter so it's good to see the setup was well executed.
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Alright, to make you feel a bit better, I liked the moment on the Super X3. Aso wants his juniors to live a better life than the one he did. And fully admits that he let the CCI have too much unobstructed power. I also like that you've heightened the stakes for the finale. While Godzilla 2000 is a totally fine movie on its own, you can't really do the exact same things it did when it came to story and pacing. Because in this timeline, the events of this special shaped the world's perception of what Godzilla was going forward. So just having the monster form and Godzilla blow it up won't really work. And I can understand why you're drawing it out a bit more.
I'll admit I'm wondering what you're gonna do with Katagiri. I've made my dislike of the guy clear, but you do seem to be trying to work some kind of redemption in for him. Which, while I'm not sure how I feel about that, will be a bit awkward when we get to the end.
All in all, while I do think things are a little drawn out, I do think this is a solid chapter. We'll see how things play out when the climax begins.
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Oh trust, I was perfectly happy with the prior sentiment! I'm actually very much of the opinion the G-force versus millennian fight took a bit longer than I was anticipating (seriously 2021 me, how did you think you were going to get this done before New Year's? XD), though I am still satisfied with the result.
Probably Godzilla 2000s most infamous moment I do have full intention of keeping in some form or another, though I have changed things up a little bit. It took a lot of thought but I think the path planned out makes sense in regards to both how this plot has differed and all that's going on while still keeping truth the spirit. Part of a rewrite is knowing what to keep after all, just as much as what to change.
Glad the upping of the stakes is working, I fully admit I was inspired by another Y2K inspired media with the Digimon movie Our Little Wargame. Just throwing a lot more nuclear missiles than just two. It makes the millennian a very different type of threat than most other Kaiju enemies, which I think worked for the setting and the moral lesson of sins of the past.
Gonna be real: So glad that we're back in the game! It took a while to catch up after my hospital stay but I'm glad I did, and to see that this is still going strong! I loved Aso's speech in the SX3 because it felt like soemthing you'd see before the grand finale of an epic action movie.
Also is definitely one of my favorite characters in this story. I particularly like how his piloting of the super x3 despite the loss of a foot reinforcing his never give up attitude, even when the odds look hopeless.
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Hey hey! Thanks for dropping in man :D
I write to entertain and in a weird way this sorta turned into a dress rehearsal of an original novel I've been penning and refining the outline to. So I'm quite glad it's been landing well. I had considered giving Aso some big, grand speech; but I felt a shorter and to-the-point one along with him shielding his troops with his presence and craft got the point across.
Junior: I have come to saaave the Daaaaaay!
) We needed the King!
Woof. What a way to end these intense moments. What with the missiles launching(which I bet was a reference from 1984) And those bastard drones about to take Io. (Poor Yuki having to try her best to protect her
Good showing for Aso. Honestly I feel like he's my favorite character in the story. Not to say that the others aren't good as well. Really good build up. Great chapter
Fortunately, for all their hubris, CCI had preparations for something like this happening...including taking something very secret. Katagiri's fear lead to something else. Joanne is presently working hard to keep everything out of Millennian claws...but more importantly, her people's lives are her priority.
Unfortunately, Millennian already arranged what it wanted despite her best efforts, the same trick it used to arrange the attack on Godzilla. Fortunately Joanne finally notices what's here.
Outside, Millennian has arrived while its drone had been here and going for what it wanted like they had at G-Force. They need more of Io than what they've got.
Meanwhile, G-Force take stock of who they all lost. Super-X3 is the best thing they've got and have to repair it. The problem is finding people to pilot it with its best pilot gone.
Meanwhile, Katagiri is trying to fix his mistake as best he can...and now they know they're going for CCI's illegally stockpiled cells.
I like the slight bit of comedy from Pentecost and Tachibana's reaction. Millennian wants to become even more unstoppable and able to withstand their biggest weakness.
I also like how Aso realizes he gave Katagiri and CCI too much free reign and never should have allowed that.
Also shows Katagiri's paranoia, even if it might pay off this time.
I like the preperations for the final battle and emotions...
And I like how Pentacost knows EXACTLY what's motivating Shinoda, as a FATHER. Shows his human side despite his normal personality.
Meanwhile, Shin, another father, is preparing for flying the Super-X3 and contemplating the situation and what's about to happen...as well as those effected by kaiju over these years.
G-Force is preparing for battle...and Millennian has cut off their communications again and once more announces itself. And not just them, but90 percent of the world...
And its began to prepare for Judgment Day. Fortunately, even Millennian has limits and it is slowed down, allowing them to slow it down, but they can't stop them.
Fittingly, the first missiles will hit right before midnight on the eve of the year 2000.
The only way to stop it is to destroy Millennian. And Aso is leading the charge from the Super-X3, having replaced Shin. Letting the young man survive while the old man risks his life.
Pentecost tries to stop him, but Aso refuses to back down. He remembers the people who died in Super Xs, and acknowledges he might be the one to die this time. He acknowledges his mistakes and is ready to atone.
Meanwhile, Millennian brings together all its biomass its assimulated, forming a cocoon to manifest in its physical form.
Yuri is desperately trying to escape a room she's locked in. She's essentually the only thing standing between Millennian and Io. Yuri puts all of her effort into stopping it from getting through.
Despite terror, Yuri refuses to back down.
However, as Millennian approaches its goal, a temple to Seiryu begins to be rattled by its modern inheritor.
And another guardian arrives to protect the child.
I really like this chapter, very frightening but also building towards the arrival of the incoming heroes.