Godzilla: Tactical Assault.

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mpsoldier
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Re: Godzilla: Tactical Assault.

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Glad to see you back! Sounds like your surgery was easier then mine, nice to see medical practices advancing. I had an idea for a sequel to my earlier Jet Jaguar very much in the same style. Some of your earlier chapters gave me an idea for a tie in that fits within your narrative. I also came up with a much more serious addition, your work is brilliant and globally encompassing but still focuses on what we would call the "main players" of the WW2 Era. I came up with an idea to have a scene with some of the much more minor global countries, sort of reinforce the fact that the Kaiju are truly a planet wide concern and...yeah ok I'm totally a Canadian and had an idea for a scene here.

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Ashram52
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Re: Godzilla: Tactical Assault.

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Cryptid_Liker wrote: Sun May 01, 2022 9:56 pm
Ashram52 wrote: Sun May 01, 2022 3:11 pm Special thanks to MPsoldier, CommanderPhoenix, and Cyptid_Liker. This chapter is for you guys. ;)
Aww, ya didn't have to. :D

Great chapter, as always! Although, I will say that there's some extra color leaking through in the fire pics. If that wasn't intentional, I suggest making it black-and-white and then applying the orange filter.
Thanks!

Yep, the color thing is intensional.

You’re actually tempting me to reveal a big change that is coming to the story soon, but I’m not going to tell you what it is yet. :lol:

Added in 30 minutes 12 seconds:
mpsoldier wrote: Mon May 02, 2022 8:28 am Glad to see you back! Sounds like your surgery was easier then mine, nice to see medical practices advancing. I had an idea for a sequel to my earlier Jet Jaguar very much in the same style. Some of your earlier chapters gave me an idea for a tie in that fits within your narrative. I also came up with a much more serious addition, your work is brilliant and globally encompassing but still focuses on what we would call the "main players" of the WW2 Era. I came up with an idea to have a scene with some of the much more minor global countries, sort of reinforce the fact that the Kaiju are truly a planet wide concern and...yeah ok I'm totally a Canadian and had an idea for a scene here.

Thanks MP,

My vision isn’t quite back to 100% yet, but it’s good enough to get some work done.

A Canadian, eh? Cool. I look forward to seeing what you have in mind.

It should please you to know I plan to visit Canada in the near-ish future in the story too. I’m not sure exactly when, but probably within the next 10-15 chapters. The setting can’t stay in Europe and Asia forever. That would get boring. Anyhow, there is a Kaiju in the Godzilla universe that is strictly associated with Canada. If you’re not sure who it is, I’ll let that be a little surprise for later. It’s a very obscure character, so I’m guessing you won’t know who it is. Here’s a little hint. :Batman:

It might take me a little while, but I plan to get pretty much every continent before I’m done. The timing just has to be right.
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mpsoldier
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Re: Godzilla: Tactical Assault.

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The Canadian Kaiju is Batman?!? Wow I know DC has some odd Alternate Universes but that's way out there. I also have an idea for a Canadian Kaiju or two, but of course it all must fit within the stories framework. Although come to think of it "Kaiju Batman" would be an ending that few would expect...AND make about as much sense as half the 60-80s movies...and more sense then Godzilla v Kong.

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Re: Godzilla: Tactical Assault.

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mpsoldier wrote: Fri May 06, 2022 10:11 am The Canadian Kaiju is Batman?!? Wow I know DC has some odd Alternate Universes but that's way out there. I also have an idea for a Canadian Kaiju or two, but of course it all must fit within the stories framework. Although come to think of it "Kaiju Batman" would be an ending that few would expect...AND make about as much sense as half the 60-80s movies...and more sense then Godzilla v Kong.
Am I nuts, or wasn’t there supposed to be a ‘legit’ Batman/Godzilla crossover decades ago? I swear I remember hearing that recently while watching a YouTube video. They were taking about cancelled Godzilla projects. If I remember right, it was supposed to be Adam West’s Batman in the 1960s. How weird would that have been? :Batman: :godzilla1962:

On a more general note: I lost my notes for chapter 27 due to a computer glitch. The whole file is gone, along with all of its contents. Now the good news is I was just on the very first paragraph of actual writing when it happened, (I wasn’t even at a point where I could call it a proper outline) and I pretty well remember what I was planning to do anyways, but there were definitely some details in it that are now gone forever. I’m just a little bit pissed about that. Hopefully nothing too interesting was lost...😡 😤 😞

I’m doing my best to carry on and not let the setback cut the legs out from under me and kill my momentum. About all I can say now is shit… :?
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Cryptid_Liker
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Re: Godzilla: Tactical Assault.

Post by Cryptid_Liker »

Can confirm the Batman vs Godzilla movie was supposed to happen. IIRC, the villain was a mad scientist controlling Godzilla via the weather and the way Batman dealt with the big G is making a Bat-Rocket and launching him into space.

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Re: Godzilla: Tactical Assault.

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Cryptid_Liker wrote: Fri May 06, 2022 8:02 pm Can confirm the Batman vs Godzilla movie was supposed to happen. IIRC, the villain was a mad scientist controlling Godzilla via the weather and the way Batman dealt with the big G is making a Bat-Rocket and launching him into space.
Huh, that’s pretty wild. Kind of wish they did it. :lol:
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Re: Godzilla: Tactical Assault.

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Well it would still have been as realistic as a fair number of Kaiju films! Also Marvel had the rights to Godzilla, did some comics a while back. But sadly not many crossovers. He did get filmed by Spiderman though.

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Ashram52
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Re: Godzilla: Tactical Assault.

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mpsoldier wrote: Sat May 07, 2022 6:31 pm Well it would still have been as realistic as a fair number of Kaiju films! Also Marvel had the rights to Godzilla, did some comics a while back. But sadly not many crossovers. He did get filmed by Spiderman though.
Yeah, I’ve read through those. I bought the omnibus a few years back. It was in black and white, which was a little disappointing since the comics were first printed in color. You loose the intended ‘feel’ of the thing.

I know I’m doing black and white too, but that’s very-much intentional to make the story feel like the 40s and 50s time period that the plot takes place in. Marvel’s story was like 1970s, so it should be vibrant colors. It was a cheap/money saving tactic, and I feel it ‘cheapened’ the experience for the customers. :|

The Marvel storyline is also a little underwhelming. Godzilla did square off with The Avengers at one point though, so at least there was that, but most of the time he was taking on the D-Listers. I shouldn’t complain too much, but there were certainly some missed opportunities.

Anyhow, I did managed to collect ‘some’ figures to represent a few of the monsters from the Marvel Godzilla run. No idea when, but I’m intending to at least give them a cameo appearance in the story at some point. I’d be shocked if anyone knew who they were without a little explanation. I still have so many regular Godzilla characters to show some love to first though.
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Re: Godzilla: Tactical Assault.

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Chapter 27: Icey Reception.

Marcus was flying back to the Essex in his Sabre following his mission in Osaka. He was on final approach to land on the carrier’s deck. Marcus never much liked landing on carriers with jets. It was never an easy proposition and was inherently risky. He slowed his plane down and brought up the nose as he maneuvered towards the flightdeck.

‘Ok, nice and easy…’ Marcus thought to himself as he got closer. ‘Don’t want to end up in the drink.’ He peered out over of the side of his cockpit to the water surrounding the ship. ‘This is always so much easier with the chopper, just pick your place, and done.’


Image

While it was nice to be at the controls of a Sabre during combat missions, the slow and steadiness of a helicopter was much less nerve-racking for landings. Marcus inched his way down until his tires made contact with the deck. He bounced up and down in the cockpit as the full weight of the aircraft came down upon it. The Sabre rolled forward for about forty yards until it hit one of the safety wires and then jerked to a stop.

The deck crew was quick to wheel a ladder over to Marcus’ plane so he could disembark. He popped the hatch to the cockpit and then stepped down from the aircraft. The flight leader, Lieutenant Larson, and Roger were both waiting for Marcus as he came towards the carrier’s island.

“You really earned those wings today, Captain Ryan.” Larson patted him on the shoulder. “Nice shooting.”

“I’d like to say it was all skill, sadly there was a lot of luck involved.” Marcus confessed.

“That was the most intense encounter with a Kaiju I’ve had since we bombed that overgrown squid Gezora in the Mediterranean together!” Roger laughed, ignoring Marcus’ deflection. The adrenaline was still clearly coursing through his system. “You still remember that, right?”

“How could I forget?” Marcus replied. “It was my favorite ‘near-death’ experience so far.” He said half-joking. In truth, Marcus didn’t like to be reminded of that incident. He had lost several friends and a mentor during that battle.

“It was good to have you back with the actual squadron again Marcus and not on one of those damnable reconnaissance flights.” Lieutenant Larson commented, detecting Marcus’ discomfort with the subject, and moving the conversation a different direction.

“I have mixed feelings about it myself.” Marcus replied.

“HEY, WE’RE GETTING CLOSE NOW!” A voice rang down from the lookout manning the crow’s nest of the Essex.

The fleet was still steaming northward in the Kii channel while Godzilla was making his way back down it. He was apparently still looking for Anguirus. Godzilla was on the surface of the water, wandering through the shallows near the edge of the landmass a couple hundred yards off of the beach. The fleet was miles away from him, keeping their distance in the deep water. The Japanese gave strict orders to only observe Godzilla for the time being. As long as the monster was heading away from mainland Japan, they did not want him fired upon. A number of Japanese aircraft were keeping close tabs on him.

The Archimedes fleet was going to pass relatively close to Godzilla in the next couple of minutes. They were planning to stay at a safe distance, and then turn around to follow the monster. The guns of the warships were already trained on Godzilla, even from miles away. The radar-controlled cannons had a bead on him. The gunners were ready engage the monster at a moment’s notice if he should suddenly decide to head their way.

Marcus, Roger, and Lieutenant Larson ran over to the side of the ship where the gun crews were stationed. The gunners were constantly correcting their aim to compensate for both the movement of the ship and Godzilla’s steps along the coast. Joe was now a gun captain in charge of his own six-inch battery. When Joe noticed Marcus standing there, he began to speak over his shoulder to him while keeping his eyes on the task at hand.

“Marcus!” Joe greeted him warmly. “Welcome to the party. I haven’t hardly seen you of you since joining… well…, being ‘forced’ to join the Archimedes fleet. How have you been? Have you come to your senses and elected to rejoin the gunnery crew?”

“Oh, I’m just fine Joe.” Marcus replied. “Sorry my old friend, I hadn’t forgotten about you. I’ve just been busy lately with missions from the Admiral. I’ll pass on re-enlisting; it tends to get me into trouble and I’m doing alright where I am.”

“Think nothing of it.” Joe smiled. “I’ve been hearing stories about your more recent exploits. Once we get past this, you’ll have to tell me all about it yourself. It’s been so long since I’ve been this close to a Kaiju, I’d almost forgotten the terror and exhilaration. It’s a rush like nothing else.”

“You always did like to live on the edge.” Marcus recalled.

“I don’t think this six-incher is going to do us much good if ‘Mr. Big and Ugly’ over there gets it in his head to come attack us.” Joe remarked. “However, I would like to see how he’d stand up to the high-caliber eighteen-inch rounds from the Nebraska over there.” He gestured to the battleship which was sailing just starboard to the Essex. “I’ll wager she’d have a decent chance of denting his armor.” Marcus looked over the huge warship, which also had her guns trained on Godzilla.

“With all due respect Joe, I hope we don’t find out.” Marcus commented.

“We’ll never have a clearer shot at it.” Joe noted. “He’s moving slowly and all out in the open. Makes for a perfect target.”


Image

Godzilla passed by the fleet without giving them a moment’s interest. The warships wheeled around quietly and started to follow him at a distance. Marcus, Roger, and Lieutenant Larson stayed on the deck in their flight suits just in case they were called upon to scramble in their fighters once again. The order was never given though, and soon Brock appeared with new instructions for Marcus alone. Admiral Malek wanted him to resume his duties as eye in the sky for the fleet again.



Three hours later, Marcus and Brock were once again shadowing Godzilla. The fleet had fallen back out of visual range by the request of the Japanese. They did not want to do anything to provoke Godzilla at that juncture, and they felt the sight of warships might do just that. Brock was watching Godzilla closely with binoculars from over a mile away.

“Is it my imagination, or are you keeping more distance from Godzilla than usual?” Brock asked with a grin. “Feels like you’re treading quite carefully…” He added sarcastically. Marcus in fact was staying further away than he had done previously.

“Yeah, well you weren’t with me the last time I flew close to him.” Marcus grimaced at Brock for poking fun at him. “That look the monster gave me will haunt my nightmares for a lifetime.”

“Must have really been something.” Brock remarked with a slight smirk. There was quiet for a moment while Marvus appeared to be thinking.

“Well, I guess we’re not going to help with the relief effort back in Osaka after all.” Marcus said, changing the topic.

“It’s actually more about clean up this time.” Brock observed. “While you were zooming around the skies playing tag with Godzilla, I was keeping track of the tactical situation from the bridge of the Essex. Good news is the military and civilian casualties were both much lower than in Tokyo. That flare idea may have failed in the long run, but it bought the common folks enough time to get clear. Anyone who ended up dying in that city did not have a strong will to live, I can tell you that much.”

“Do you think half of Osaka being destroyed will be celebrated as a victory, or seen as yet another failure on our part?” Marcus asked.

“Ha, who can say?” Brock grunted irritably. “I’ve never had much time for politicians. They’ll just do what they always do in a crisis.” Marcus looked over to him, inviting an answer. “Try to use it to their own advantage.”

“That’s a little cynical, don’t you think?” Marcus asked.

“Marcus, don’t be naive.” Brock replied. “It’s always been that way and always will be. I’m going to tell you exactly what is going to happen. One side is going to whip up their supports one way, the other side will do that same, only with an opposing view. Everyone is going to get upset and argue about it. Neither side is going to budge on the issue, nothing will get resolved, and everybody will be frustrated and exhausted before the end. If we are very lucky… maybe something productive will get done at some point, but I wouldn’t count on it. Politics are a headache, too often the common good is lost in all the scheming.”

“Maybe, but I’m not ready to give up on the system just yet.” Marcus grumbled. “Anyways, you’d think the intelligence we’ve gathered so far would count for something.” He returned them to the original topic.

“Well, the trouble with that is our intelligence has yet to yield the type of results ‘the-powers-that-be’ value most.” Brock began to answer. “Godzilla scares them, and they expect us to take him down. They only see the Archimedes organization as a military group that is meant to defeat Kaiju. So, from that perspective, we are failing in our mission. So far, we have no kaiju kills to boast about.”

“Unless we understand Godzilla better, I don’t think there’s much chance of us, or anyone else, defeating him.” Marcus observed.

“I don’t think you’re wrong about that.” Brock remarked. “One has to know their enemies to beat them. It’s a good, sound argument. Getting the politicians to be patient while we figure it out, that’s the tough sell. Admiral Malek was right about one thing; we need some kind of military win to show our worth.” Marcus leaned forward to make sure the radio was not turned on.

“Yeah, it’s the admiral’s ass which is on a hot plate about those destroyers we lost, and their crews.” Marcus noted. “The USS Johnston, the Heerman, the Hoel, and the Roberts… I’ve been thinking about them lately. That was a lot of good men lost.”

“Did you know anyone aboard them?” Brock asked.

“The officers…? No.” Marcus began. “The crews though, it’s very likely I knew some of those men. But even if I didn’t, those were still someone’s husbands, fathers, and sons. I was talking to Shauna about it when she was in Osaka. She has an ear in Washington. I don’t think it’s so much the fact that we lost those men and ships that has so many people at home up in arms, it’s the fact that we took off without even trying to find or rescue them. Those poor sailors were just given up for dead and left behind. We’re not even certain if all of them were killed for sure. We may have abandoned some of them and not even realized it.” Marcus stopped to think on it more. Brock sighed, gearing up for a response.

“I know it doesn’t seem like it, but it was probably the right thing to do.” Brock replied quietly, taking Marcus by surprise. “We were not in a position to do any search and rescue. As it was, Godzilla was right on us, and visibility was bad due to the fog. If the fleet hadn’t left right when it did, we would have risked losing even more ships and men. What it came down to was risking the lives of a few men who may have already be dead, or the lives of everyone else in the entire fleet. It’s harsh, I know, but I think it was the right call. You think Admiral Malek got it wrong?”

“No, it's just... a difficult thing to come to terms with.” Marcus answered. “I guess I’m just glad I didn’t have to make that decision.”

“Hey look, Godzilla is turning north.” Brock leaned forward in his seat.

Godzilla had emerged from the Kii channel and was indeed changing course. Brock thumbed the radio back on and reported the newest development to the fleet. After he had done so, Marcus shoved the binoculars back into his hands.

“Quick, take a Look at Godzilla’s hands.” Marcus urged him. “The palms, what do you see?”

“Ok, ok, I’ll look.” Brock was a little annoyed by Marcus’ pushiness. “Don’t get excited.” He brought the binoculars up to his eyes a looked closely. “Alright, I just see hands, so what?”

“No wounds…?” Marcus asked.

“No.” Brock answered.

“Well, if you ‘had’ been up with me last time I looked at Godzilla, his hands were dripping with blood from his fight with Anguirus. They got all mangled against his spikes. It’s only been a couple hours and they’re already totally healed. That is damned impressive, don’t you think?”

“You were saying something about regeneration before, this is an example?” Brock inquired.

“Yeah, given what I saw on the battlefield, I’d say it more or less proves Dr. Tadokoro’s theory about Godzilla’s ability to regenerate wounds rapidly.” Marcus observed. “If a human had sustained an injury proportional to what he had, it would have left a permanent scar and would have taken weeks to heal.”

“So, if what he said was true about Godzilla, then it would stand to reason that his theory about Anguirus having a similar, though weaker, ability is also reasonable?” Brock asked. “I wonder if all Kaiju heal quicker?”

“Well, I figure Godzilla is top of the food chain with that ability, and Anguirus is a close second.” Marcus answered. “And maybe the rest of them have it too, though to a lesser degree. Godzilla and Anguirus are both just tanks that can absorb heaps of punishment.” He went on. “Rodan, Baragon, and the rest are tough, but I doubt any of them could take the hammering Godzilla and Anguirus subjected each other to in Osaka.”

“Gezora was also a fast healer, despite his sponginess.” Brock noted.

“That is true Brock, but in his case, after he was shot up by the Italian navy, it was weeks before Gezora turned up again.” Marcus countered. “And sure, he had fully healed given that much time, but it wasn’t like he was fresh and ready to go again within a few hours like our friend ahead of us. I think Gezora’s ability pales in comparison to Godzilla’s.”

Meanwhile ahead of them, Godzilla had waded out into deeper waters and dived, disappearing back into the ocean’s depths.

“Shit, there he goes again.” Brock cursed, preparing to report in.



The Rodans were finally withdrawing from eastern Russia and going home, but only after inflicting twenty-thousand casualties, causing eleven-billion rubles worth of damage, and spreading untold terror amongst the Russian people. It was going to take years to rebuild everything the monsters had destroyed, and the people would never forget the two saurians darkening their skies.

Perhaps the damage had been bad enough to finally convince the Russian military brass to leave the Rodans alone in their own territory. In the short term, it certainly would. The Russians had an egg specimen to study now, and it might reveal a weakness to exploit given enough time to analyze it. In the long term, the Russians were waiting for a better opportunity to strike.

Dimitri at long last emerged the tunnel and surveyed the countryside. It was heartbreaking. The rural landscape looked as if a massive storm had devastated the area. There had been a farmstead nearby. The crops were flattened, and what was left of the buildings were in such shambles that they could hardly be called buildings anymore. Roofs were torn off and wooden splinters from the house had been scattered all cross the yard. Clothing and other personal belongings were likewise strewn about everywhere but where they should be. Heavy farm equipment was rolled over and over again in the grass. Vehicles were crushed under fallen trees. Shattered glass dotted the ground, glimmering in the sunlight. A metal shed had been torn to pieces and thrown up into a tree.

What had once been a thriving Russian village was in just as sorry shape. The buildings were reduced to absolute rubble with debris scattered about in the streets. Power poles were slanted to the side, bent by the winds, or were otherwise snapped in half like twigs. A fire had spread from the exposed wires and consumed several structures before burning themselves out. Branches were torn from every tree. Vehicles had been flipped over and crushed. A Russian flag had been ripped from its pole and was hanging off of a tree upside-down and torn. It was a powerful symbol for Dimitri that signified just how powerless they were to resist the monsters.

The worst of all though, there were numerous bodies visible from Dimitri’s perch. They were covered in dirt and blood. The saddest victims among them were missing limbs or had been otherwise mutilated by the Rodans, who’d satisfied their hunger with a light snack. Just like that, Dimitri felt like he was back in the woods again. The same old horrors, but at a new location.



In Washington, the debate had started over the battle of Osaka and the fate of the Archimedes organization. On the one hand, by participating in the fight, the Archimedes fleet had bought the United States more good will with the Japanese on a political level. They had not taken any causalities during the operation either. Moreover, Japanese civilian deaths were kept to a very low figure and only half of the city of Osaka had been physically destroyed.

On the other hand, half of the city ‘had’ been destroyed. If you were a glass half-empty type, which plenty of political were, it was another disaster. Additionally, Godzilla escaped virtually unharmed again, and Archimedes fleet’s fighter group’s direct intervention allowed Anguirus to survive as well. It wasn’t really a win, but it also wasn’t a total loss. Senators both sides of the isle debated the usefulness of the Archimedes organization.

In the end, neither side of the argument garnered enough support to take any action. It seemed that the battle at Osaka had bought the Archimedes fleet a little more time to prove themselves in the field. But their time was running short.



Seven days after the Godzilla’s raid on Osaka, Akira and Kiki were sitting down to lunch together at a restaurant just outside of the airbase. It was, in part, Akira trying to repay Kiki for the home cooked meal she had made him when they first met.

“This is good, but it isn’t as good as your cooking.” Akira remarked, taking a bite with a smile.

“It’s a fine second place.” Kiki smirked, allowing herself a moment’s pride.

“The chicken ‘is’ a little dry I suppose.” He winked at her.

“That is all well and good, but I get the feeling you didn’t just bring me here for lunch.” Kiki leaned forward in her chair, staring Akira down suspiciously. “There’s something you want to tell me, and you’re stalling for time.”

“Well, yes… yes I do.” Akira was surprised by Kiki’s intuition and directness. He paused to find the right words. “Godzilla was last seen headed north. My squadron is being transferred up to Hokkaido to follow him.” He lowered his eyes. “I don’t know for how long, so I don’t know when I’ll be back.” There was quiet for a moment and then Akira looked up to gauge Kiki’s reaction.

“You were afraid this would upset me?” She asked, seemingly unshaken by the news.

“Well… yeah.” Akira leaned forward and took her by the hand. As he touched her, Kiki made an odd expression, and for a moment, she seemed a million miles away. Kiki blushed, then her eyes shifted and met with Akira’s. He went on. “I’ve grown rather fond of you over the past two weeks. I’d hoped you’d grown fond of me as well, so I didn’t want to disappoint you with this.”

“Disappointed…?” Kiki echoed him, seeming to fully recover. “No. It’s your duty and I understand. It would be selfish of me to expect anything else. Do me a favor though and be careful up there.” Just then, the waitress came up to the table to check to see if everything was to their liking. When Kiki saw her coming, she put her hand on the waitress’s shoulder. “We’re not quite ready for the check yet, thank you.” The girl got kind of a funny look on her face and then turned back the other direction without a word. “Listen, there’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about myself.” Kiki turned her attention back to Akira. “It’s kind of important. I’ve grown rather fond of you too, so it’s only fair…”

“Akira, Godzilla has been spotted, the timetable for departure has been moved up!” Haruaki shouted from the restaurant doorway. “We’re leaving in a half hour. Got to get moving!”

“Damn…” Akira cursed. “Terrible timing… I have to go, but I’ll write you or call as soon as I land somewhere.” He promised Kiki as he got up, quickly put some money down, and then left the table.

After Akira was gone, Kiki sat there alone, looking despondent.



In the port of Kushiro, located on the eastern side of Hokkaido, the Archimedes fleet lay at anchor. They had followed Godzilla underwater nearly seven hundred miles, all the way up the coast of Japan, before losing him again. However, Japanese intelligence felt confident that the monster was still in the area. There had been an unconfirmed sighting that was still being investigated.

Marcus was walking alone in the streets wearing a heavy jacket and gloves. The weather was starting to turn cold, and it wasn’t just because they were further north. Winter was coming early to Japan. Light snow started to fall as Marcus neared his destination. Admiral Malek had sent him on an errand to collect a specialty food item he’d ordered. It was some kind of unique beef for steaks. Malek had given Marcus with a note written in Japanese and a pocket full of yen to present to the butcher.

Marcus was annoyed with the chore, thinking it would be better suited for Ling to carry out since he actually spoke Japanese. But then Marcus remembered Ling hated the Japanese and preferred not to deal with them unless he absolutely had to. That aside, it did seem odd Malek didn’t ask one of the numerous galley men to handle the task since it was specifically their job to handle food. Marcus could only conclude that this was some subtle form of punishment for something he said or did to annoy Admiral Malek. He’d also sent Brock on some menial assignment, so maybe he had caught wind of their conversation earlier.

Annoying assignment and cold aside, the city of Kushiro was actually quite beautiful with the light dusting of snow. It felt like something Marcus had seen in a painting. Many of the buildings were of the old Japanese style. They certainly had a talent for aesthetically pleasing architecture. That was something Marcus and noticed in general about the Japanese, they didn’t do anything in half measures. Even their common workers would strive to do their absolute best with menial tasks. They were a people who were constantly trying to improve and achieve perfection in all things.

It was starting to get dark when Marcus arrived at the butcher shop and presented the note to the man he found behind the counter. The shopkeeper read it to himself and looked up to Marcus, nodding. He disappeared into the back and then came out a few moments later carrying a ten-pound bundle of meat. The Japanese man set it on the counter in front of Marcus and then waited. He just stood there staring at him. Marcus quickly realized that he hadn’t paid him yet and snapped into action. He pulled out the wad of cash and put it into the shopkeeper’s hand. The gruff old man looked pleased with the amount and so Marcus picked up his purchase.

With the transaction complete, Marcus left the shop and began to trudge back towards the harbor. It was already pretty dark by that point, so he tried to pick up the pace. He didn’t trust himself to remember where he had come from without being able to see the landmarks from the way in. At that point, Marcus wished he had a jeep at his disposal. He grimaced, seeing his breath in the cold. Malek was probably having a good laugh at his expense right about then. Marcus sighed, hoping he didn’t run into any hunger dogs on the way back.

As he was walking, Marcus heard a noise up ahead. He stopped to listen. It sounded something like a garbage can being knocked over, but that wasn’t all. There were footsteps moving rapid in his direction too. Suddenly, he saw a woman in a cloak run in front of him. She zoomed from one side of the street to the other about forty yards ahead of him. She disappeared quickly down an alley. Marcus only caught a glimpse of her as she passed under a streetlight. Soon after her followed a pair of men. They appeared to be chasing her.

“HEY!!!” Marcus shouted to them, but the men disregarded him and just went on after the woman down the backstreet. Marcus’ adrenaline got pumping and he decided to join the chase. He wasn’t certain what was going on, but it smelled like trouble. Once Marcus reached the street they had disappeared down, he could see the woman turning into an alley without an outlet. She was about to be cornered by the two men following her.

Marcus set his package of meat on to a closed down newsstand and ran as fast as he could to catch up. He thundered into the alley, looking around for the pair of men. He soon discovered them. Both were laid out on their backs. Now that Marcus could see them up close by the light of a streetlamp, he realized they were both Japanese naval officers. The two of them were both unconscious and had bruises forming on their faces.

‘What the hell…?’ Marcus thought confused.

As Marcus stood there, a figure stepped out from the shadows behind him. Marcus could sense their presence and turned to face them. To his surprise, it was the woman. She had a mask pulled up over her nose and mouth. Between that and the cloak, Marcus couldn’t see her face properly, just the eyes. In a flash, the woman spun around and brought her foot right up into the side of Marcus’ face. He would have been impressed by the grace, speed, and skill of it if he hadn’t been hit so hard. Marcus was staggered and seeing stars in the corner of his eyes, but the attack had not put him on the ground as intended.

For a second, Marcus was too stunned to move. The woman in the hood struck at Marcus again, this time with her fist, but Marcus instinctively brought up his forearm to block the blow. He successfully managed to avoid the strike but was still too staggered to do much else. The woman in the cloak tilted her head to the side in a curious sort of way, perhaps she was impressed that Marcus had withstood two of her best attacks.

Apparently, she didn’t want to see what Marcus was going to do next though. She turned and dashed away from him, jumping up onto a chain-linked fence and used the bar at the top to flip herself over it with the finesse of a gymnast. After landing, she moved like a cat, nimbly avoiding obstacles as she escaped. Marcus tried to give chase but was too loose on his feet to effectively climb up after her.

Having little other choice, Marcus returned to the two Japanese officers on the ground and helped them get to their feet. He did his best to check and see if they were alright, but he couldn’t communicate with them well enough to be sure. Once the officers had regained their composure, they walked away on their own. Not knowing what else to do, Marcus returned for his steaks. Fortunately, the meat was still right where he had left it.

Marcus didn’t know it, but from a distance, the cloaked woman was watching him.



Marcus reported the incident to Admiral Malek, who made inquiries to the local Japanese base. It turned out the Japanese officers were chasing the unidentified woman because she had been caught trying to sneak into the local naval intelligence office. She was picking a lock when they had come upon her. It wasn’t clear what her goal was, or who she worked for, but with the recent bombing of a Japanese naval facility that was still unsolved, there was fear that she was intent on some type of sabotage, espionage, or both.

Over the next two days, a door-to-door search of the entire city for the woman turned up nothing. She had vanished without a trace. Who she was, what her objectives were, and if she was somehow connected to the prior bombing incident remained a mystery. In the meantime, the Godzilla sighting had been debunked as a hoax carried out by some local teenagers out fishing. Their little prank did not go over well, and their punishment was severe.

With things settling back down again, Admiral Malek allowed sailors shore-leave for a couple hours at a time, so long as they didn’t venture too far from the harbor. Thus, the men began leaving in shifts. When it came to be their turn, Brock insisted on taking Marcus to a gym to toughen him up. Marcus’ jaw still had a sizable welt with brilliant shades of blue and purple from where the strange woman had struck him. He had been getting a fair amount of guff from the boys on the Essex. When Marcus and brock arrived at the gym, they found Joe already there working out.

“Marcus, I heard you got beat up by a woman.” Joe teased when he spotted him, coming in close to examine the damage carefully. “Damn… she got you good, huh?”

“Everyone has got to make a fuss...” Marcus grumbled, rolling his eyes, slightly embarrassed. “She kicked me and then ran away, that’s all. And I think I recall you getting smacked around several times by girls too Joe. Only, you deserved it.”

“He certainly does have his way with the ladies.” Brock chimed in. “Remember that one time we came into port and there were two girls waiting for him? That turned into a real blood bath.” He laughed recalling it.

“Totally worth it…” Joe retorted with a sly smirk. “Besides, maybe I liked it a little.”

“Joe, you are just too much.” Marcus laughed. Clearly, Joe had not changed very much over the years. Still so cocky and arrogant, and single. He didn’t seem like the type of guy who would ever really settle down. “I bet they are still finding chucks of your hair on that dock to this day.”

With that, the three men spread out to find unoccupied equipment. As Marcus was warming up for bench presses, he noticed a marine the next station over looking at him. He was a fairly large man who was lifting about twice as much weight as Marcus was gearing up for.

“So, you’re friends with Sargent Brock?” The marine asked him.

“Yeah, that’s right.” Marcus replied, not sure what to make of the question.

“I’m corporal Treves.” The marine introduced himself. “I’m stationed on the USS Nebraska, but I used to run with Brock during my early days in the corp. I saw you come in with him. How is the old son of a bitch doing these days?”

“It’s nice to meet you Corporal.” Marcus reached out and shook his hand. “And he’s fair I’d say. Though I wouldn’t say the son of a bitch part too loudly around him.”

“So, he’s still kind of crotchety, huh?” Corporal Treves remarked with a smirk. “Is he married yet?”

“No, not that I’m aware of anyways.” Marcus replied.

“Yeah, that doesn’t surprise me much.” Treves noted. “He’s always been a little too gruff to keep the ladies around for long. Looking the way he does, he gets their attention easy enough, but he lacks… the delicate touch they seem to like. Speaking of which, I’m guessing he brought you here to tough you up, am I right?” Treves, motioned up to Marcus’ bruise.

“Jesus, even you know about that already?!” Marcus sighed.

“No, no.” Treves assured him with a chuckle. “I have no idea what happened to you. It’s just that I know how Brock is. He did the same thing for me years ago. I’ve gotten a little bigger and tougher by following Brock’s example.”

“What happened to you?” Marcus asked curiously. “If you don’t me asking.”

“Not at all.” Treves answered. “You see, what happened is a bunch of us marines serving on the USS Omaha had one-day passes while putting into port in Hong Kong. This must have been like ten years ago. Anyways, one of the guys decided to go off on his own and got robbed by a street gang. They took all his money and beat him up. I was out looking for him and came upon the scene just as it was wrapping up. So naturally, I helped him get back to the boat. When we got there, Brock was the only one who was already back. I told him what happened and suggested that we outta get all the boys together and then go back and take care of business.”

“So, you rounded up the cavalry and did just that?” Marcus inquired.

“Not exactly.” Treves answered. “After I told Brock what had happened, I set the injured marine down. By the time I turned back around, Brock was already gone. He didn’t want to wait for anyone else. Thinking he’d need a little backup anyways, I managed to grab a few other marines who were nearby. It wasn’t hard to find Brock. Once I got back to the initial scene, I found that he had left a path of destruction in his wake. There must have been four or five guys he had put to the pavement just with his fists. They were only the lookouts.”

“Wow, what happened next?” Marcus asked.

“Well, we caught up with Brock just up the street a little way.” Treves continued. “By that point, he had found the leader of the gang a few of his cronies. The underlings stepped forward when they saw Brock coming to protect their boss. It was probably the worst mistake they had made in their lives up until that point. When they swung at Brock, he made them miss and broke one of their noses in retaliation. The way the rest of the fight played out, it was like watching two little brothers trying to fight their older brother, only Brock did not hold back. Arms were broken, jaws shattered. He slammed one of their heads down into the concrete curb. I saw at least one tooth fly out of the guy’s mouth.”

“Geezz….” Marcus gritted his teeth sympathetically.

“Then there was only the gang leader squaring off with Brock.” Treves went on. “To his credit, the punk didn’t run away or back down, even after seeing the beating his underlings had taken. He was the only one who put up a decent fight.” Treves noted. “He knew some type of martial art, Kung Fu maybe…? Something like that anyways. But I’m going to tell you something Marcus, Kung Fu doesn’t mean a thing when your opponent is built like a brick shit house and knows how to fight. Brock is bigger now, but he was still formidable even back then. Brock was 6 foot 4 and at least 275 pounds at the time. The gang leader was ‘maybe’ 5 foot 3 and 150 pounds. When your opponent is foot taller, and has say… a hundred pounds on you, it doesn’t really matter if you know a martial art or not. Once he gets you to the ground, it’s over.”

“How long did he last?” Marcus asked.

“I’d say about a minute.” Treves answered. “Maybe a little longer. The gang leader got one decent kick in, but then Brock caught the second one and drove him into the dirt. From there, Brock just pummeled the guy relentlessly. The punk was ‘out’ after a barrage of punches and elbows connected. His face was a mess. When it was over, Brock just took the money out of his pocket, spit on him, and then walked away. He made an example out of the guy. Anyone who bothered United States marines in Hong Kong from the point on could expect the same. A small crowd had witnessed the beat down.”

“I suspect they took in the message well.” Marcus remarked. “Did you guys get in trouble?”

“Well, some of the gang members ‘may’ not have made it.” Treves answered. “They were in pretty rough shape. I don’t know for sure. We didn’t stick around afterwards to see what the fallout would be. We got back to the ship straight away, and it sailed by the next morning. If the local authorities cared enough to even investigate a bunch of street thugs getting beaten down, they didn’t have enough time to catch up with us for questioning. But from my perspective, we did them a favor. I’m sure crime dropped sharply on that block for at least a couple weeks.”

“Huh, well I guess that at least ‘in part’ explains Brock’s prejudice against Asians.” Marcus observed.

“I suppose it does.” Corporal Treves agreed.

“You two ladies aren’t going to get any stronger just by standing around in here!” Brock called to them from across the room. “Marcus, come over here and spot me.”

“Nice to see you again too Brock!” Treves waved, calling back to him. Brock just kind of nodded in acknowledgement. “He’s such a people person, don’t you think? Well, it was nice talking to you Marcus.”

“Yeah, thanks for the story.” Marcus then went to join Brock who was benching an impressive four-hundred pounds.

“Just make sure the bar doesn’t fall on me.” Brock instructed him before beginning ten reps. Marcus wasn’t sure he’d be able to do a thing with that much weigh if it actually came down to it. Thankfully, he wasn’t put to the test. Brock had no issues lifting it.

“Damn Brock, how do you stay so strong?” Marcus inquired, impressed.

“You know all of those P.T. drills you keep ducking…?” Brock asked sarcastically.

“Alright, fair enough.” Marcus replied.



After the weightlifting was over, Brock took Marcus out back and found some pads he could use for sparring. It was time for some hand-to-hand combat training. While Marcus had gotten ‘some’ instruction during basic training, it had been a very long time ago and insufficient to begin with in Brock’s eyes.

“I’m not really sure what the point of this is when were are going to be fighting giant monsters.” Marcus complained, already tired from weightlifting.

“Not all of our enemies are going to be giant monsters.” Brock remarked. “I think that should be clear enough by now.” He gestured to Marcus’ bruise somewhat mockingly.

“Point taken.” Marcus surrendered, realizing Brock was right.

“Ok, let’s start with the basics, your stance.” Brock said, directing Marcus to an open spot in the grass. “First things first, widen your feet a little bit and bend your legs more. Your center of gravity is too high because you’re standing up too straight. Now stagger your feet more in front and behind you. It will be a lot harder for an opponent to take you down when you’re low and wide and you’ll be able to react more quickly this way too. You don’t want to get caught flat-footed.”

“Ok, how’s this?” Marcus made the requested adjustments.

“Much better.” Brock noted. “Now, one of the most important things in any fight is moment. It’s not about how hard you can hit your opponent; it’s more about making them miss you. It’s much harder to hit a moving target. Making your opponent miss a punch is going to cost them much more energy than you moving to avoid it. So, the best way to do that is to be light on your feet and be able to react quickly. I generally don’t make the first move in a fight. It’s a heck of a lot easier to counter-punch someone after they’ve committed to a strike. Use their momentum against them. Throw a mock-punch at me at one-quarter speed and I’ll show you what I mean.” Marcus followed the request and Brock demonstrated how to dodge and strike back slowly enough to illustrate his point.

“Alright, what’s next?” Marcus inquired.

“If you know you can’t avoid an attack, learn how to block.” Brock went on. “Dodge when you can, but block when you have to. Defending yourself is much more important than attacking. Unless you’re someone who constantly trains, you’re going to get gassed-out real quick throwing punches. The adrenaline starts to wear off and you’re exhausted. Keep your head and make them miss. If you can do that to your opponent, they will get tired and frustrated missing you. Then they will make mistakes you can exploit.

“Anything else?” Marcus asked.

“Protect your head above all else.” Brock instructed. “If they hit you in the jaw or on the temple, they can knock you out in one strike, or daze you enough to where you can’t effectively defend yourself anymore.”

“Yeah, I know that much.” Marcus observed, rubbing his jaw. “What if I’m outnumbered?”

“Be tougher than they are.” Brock smirked but wasn’t joking.

“Brock, you are a gentleman, but with just the right amount of bastard.” Marcus noted, smiling.

“Ok, now let’s talk about offense a little.” Brock went on. “You can’t win a fight just defending yourself after all. When you do throw a punch, don’t just use your arms. Put your shoulders into it and move your hips along with your fist so it flows like one fluid motion. You’ll get more force behind your strike that way. But be patient, and wait for the right opening, or your opponent will punish you the way I’ve been telling you to punish them.” Brock paused and put up his pad. “Ok, let me have one now.” Marcus threw a halfway decent punch and hit the pad. “Good.” Brock noted. “With strikes, it’s quality over quantity that counts. Wait until you can’t miss. Let’s see… what else? I already know you can take a punch, so there’s little point in talking about that.” He Grinned.

“Ha… ha…” Marcus frowned at Brock.

“You always want to be ready for a fight, because you never know when one is going to come to you.” Brock warned. “I train for a reason. If you are in better condition that your opponent, they won’t have much of a chance against you. But a lot of what you do, or don’t do, during a fight is going to depend on your opponent. It’s very situational. If they are bigger than you, stick and move with punches. Make them move around and waste their energy chasing you. If they have a reach advantage, close the distance and crowd into them. If they are faster than you are, try to take them to the ground. There’s more I can teach you, but it’ll have to wait until later. We’d better get back to the ship.” Brock said, looking at his watch.

“Alright, this was a pretty good start I think, thanks.” Marcus started to put the gear back.

“Oh, and Marcus.” Brock called back to him. “If you have to… play dirty to win. There are no runner-up trophies for second place. It could mean your life, so don’t stand on your honor. Do whatever it takes to win.”



On the way back the Essex, Marcus and Brock continued the conversation.

“So, I know the navy didn’t teach you all of that hand-to-hand stuff you were passing along to me.” Marcus remarked. “Where did you learn it?”

“Mostly from my pops.” Brock answered. “He was a boxer, amongst other things. He had a simple philosophy when it came to people messing with him.” Brock Paused. “Fuck around and find out. He didn’t have my size, but he was fierce. Surprised a lot of guys in the worst way possible. He also signed me up for the wrestling team when I was in school. You’d be surprised how useful grappling skills can be in a fight.”

“Did you get along with your old man?” Marcus asked.

“Heck yeah, we got along swimmingly.” Brock smiled, a rarity for him. “Though he could be a little rough around the edges.”

“Oh really…?” Marcus resisted the urge to laugh.

“It just occurred to me.” Brock began. “You don’t ever talk about your old man.”

“Well, I didn’t know him very well.” Marcus answered. “He was gone quite a lot and he died when I was very young. He was in the navy during the first great war and his ship was lost during a mission in the Atlantic. They think it was sunk a U-boat. One-hundred and five souls and his ship never heard from again. The vessel was last seen striking out on its own, leaving the safety of the convoy. It must have gone down fast. No survivors or wreckage was ever found.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.” Brock replied. “It must be a little tough not to have that certainty or closure.”

“Yeah, my mother didn’t like to talk about it.” Marcus agreed. “It was a taboo topic to her. For a long time, I think she was still hoping he’d come back. I joined the navy for adventure, but just as much so to follow in the footsteps of my old man. Kind of my own way to honor him. My mother nearly had a coronary when she found out. She didn’t talk to me for ages she was so upset about it. I guess she was just afraid I’d disappear out here too. Our relationship has been better since I married Shauna and gave her a few grandkids. Maybe it helps her sleep at night knowing that our family legacy is secured if something should happen to me. I’d hate to see the look on her face if one of my sprats decided to join the navy too. That might finally put her over the edge.”

“You know what Marcus; I think you get a little sick pleasure torturing your poor mother.” Brock pointed out.

“You might be right.” Marcus agreed. “But anyways, I don’t even have many stories about my father. Most of the guys who knew him best disappeared right along with him. So, it’s not like I could ask anybody what kind of man he was. I only have my early memories of him. I recall liking him though. He was a warm and loving man from my vague recollections. It’s a shame I didn’t get to know him better. Maybe he would have taught me some of the things you are now.”



The next day, a Japanese fishing fish, the Suko Maru was destroyed. Her last radio broadcast left little doubt that Godzilla was the culprit. The sinking occurred due west of Kushiro, so the Archimedes fleet was sent to investigate. The Japanese meanwhile dispatched land-based scout planes in all directions. In the hours it took the fleet to arrive at the last known position of the Suko Maru, Godzilla was nowhere to be found.

As it turned out, Godzilla had moved north and circled around the northern cape of Hokkaido. A civilian scout plane spotted him moving even further north towards an unknown destination. After locating Godzilla, the scout continued to follow him, radioing in his position. Eventually, Godzilla landed on a what appeared to be a snowy island with high mountainous peaks, but it was in fact an enormous iceberg that was slowly drifting south. What the monster was doing there was anyone’s guess. Perhaps he was just curious. It may have been the first time he’d ever seen such a thing.


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The scout plane called into headquarters and gave them the updated coordinates of the monster’s location, as well as the details about the iceberg. The Japanese sensed an opportunity. The scout was ordered to continue shadowing Godzilla, but he was starting to run low on fuel. If he stayed too much longer, he’d risk not being able to make it back to base. Fortunately for him, help was already at hand. His friend, and fellow scout flyer, arrived in his own plane to take over surveillance.


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Marcus was listening to the reports as they rolled in. He soon realized it was the same pair civilian pilots, Shoichi and Kobayashi, the very men who had encountered Godzilla and Anguirus earlier on Iwato island, that were currently tracking him. It was one of their company’s ships that had been sunk. The two pilots had been transferred to the northern branch of their company when their holdings in Osaka were destroyed. The poor bastards just couldn’t seem to get away from Godzilla.

The Japanese military acted quickly, formulating a plan on the fly as they mobilized their forces. Land-based fighters were being scrambled to the iceberg while several landing craft with bombs meant to seal off Godzilla’s escape route through the narrow passage of the icy canyon were following them. Based on the scout’s report, there was only one way in or out of the ravine Godzilla was traversing. If they closed it up, they could trap Godzilla and then attack him from above at their leisure.


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The Archimedes fleet changed course to join the attack, but the Japanese forces were much closer to the iceberg, and they couldn’t afford to wait for reinforcements to arrive to begin the operation. Godzilla was reportedly already moving back towards the entrance of the canyon. As it was, the Japanese fighters might not even make it there in time to initiate the plan before he was gone.

The civilian scout pilot Kobayashi recognized this fact and did his best to buy the fighters more time to arrive. Unfortunately, he did not possess weapons of any kind on his seaplane, so he was forced to resort to diving down close and buzzing right by Godzilla’s head to get his attention. It worked. As Kobayashi’s plane passed by Godzilla, the monster stopped in his tracks and turned, watching him climb up out of the canyon behind him.


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The diversion only worked for a moment though. Godzilla almost immediately resumed his march towards the opening. He was only a couple hundred yards away from the water’s edge. As it turned out, Kobayashi’s gambit had been worthwhile. The Japanese fighters finally arrived on the scene and got straight to work.

Akira was leading the second squadron of fighters. The first squadron got into position above Godzilla and then began dropping their five hundred-pound bombs on him, six of them at a time. The bombs exploded all around Godzilla, but seemingly did little damage, to the dismay of the pilots. Godzilla just shrugged them off like they were nothing and once again began to move towards the entrance of the canyon.


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Not knowing what else to do, Kobayashi decided to buzz Godzilla a second time to prevent the monster from leaving. This time, Godzilla was ready for him. The bombing had antagonized Godzilla, and as soon as Kobayashi got close, he unleashed his atomic breath upon the seaplane. The aircraft immediately caught on fire, and Kobayashi lost control of it. He pulled up on the controls desperately trying escape the canyon but failed to gain enough altitude.


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Kobayashi’s plane crashed into the icy peaks and exploded as his fuel line detonated. As the blast reverberated throughout the canyon walls, it caused an avalanche of ice to rain down on Godzilla. Within moments, the monster was up to his ankles in chunks of ice and snow. The flight leader, Tajima, who was in overall command of the raid, saw what was happening and got an idea. He called his squadrons over the radio and directed all the fighters who still had bombs not to target Godzilla, but rather the walls of the canyon around him. The idea was to bury the monster alive.


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The squadrons quickly responded to their new set of orders. One by one, the fighters dropped their bombs onto the icy peaks around Godzilla. The plan was working to great effect. Godzilla soon found himself more than half buried. More and more bombs fell, adding to the frozen heap. When the planes were out of ammunition, Godzilla was up past his shoulders in snow and ice.


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With a solid plan now in place, the fighters withdrew, rushing back to base to rearm so they could return to finish the job. This time Tajima wanted his fighters to switch to rockets. That way, his men could better direct their attacks. Bombs were ok if you wanted to hit a general area, but with rockets, a skilled pilot could put their firepower right where they wanted it, if they were willing to fly in close enough.



The Essex, along with the rest of the Archimedes fleet, had closed the distance by the time the second attack was getting underway. They were now in range to launch their own fighters to join in on the assault. The Essex’s jets were lined up in row on the flightdeck, just waiting for the word to go.

Even Marcus was there sitting in his cockpit. Admiral Malek was committing everyone and everything he had at his disposal for this fight. There was excitement in the air. All of the pilots were raring to go. They knew there was an actual chance of victory this time. Word of the initial Japanese success was bolstering their courage. Marcus was just finishing up his final flight checks when word finally came down over the radio from the bridge.

“Launch, launch, launch!!!” The fighter-director ordered. The deck crew got to their stations and began motioning for takeoff to the lead pilot with their hands.

One at a time, the fighters ahead of Marcus took off, speeding away. When it was his turn, he looked over to the crew chief and gave him the thumbs up, indicating that he was ready. In return, the chief gave him the signal to go. With that, Marcus’s plane rocketed down the deck. Within seconds, he dropped off the edge of the carrier and caught air as he accelerated up into the clouds. Marcus increased his speed to catch up with the rest of his squadron who were all ahead of him. He got into formation near the back, rising into position.


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“We’re on our way you ruin your day.” Roger crackled over the radio confidently. Several of the other pilots audibly laughed hearing it.

“Cut the chatter.” Lieutenant Larson barked from the lead plane. “We’re going into battle, there’s no telling what could happen out there. Don’t get cocky and stay focused. But since you’re clearly feeling talkative Roger, get on the horn with the Commander of Pheonix squadron and ensure that they know to get lined up on our six. They don’t get first crack this this time.”

“Aye sir.” Roger replied.



Back at the iceberg, the Japanese landers had arrived and were getting to work placing bombs at the ice canyon’s entrance. Three hundred yards into the canyon, they could see Godzilla beginning to claw his way out of the ice. The monster was making headway. They needed to hurry. The officer in charge on the ground had anticipated this possibility and was having his men prepare a distraction for Godzilla in case the fighters didn’t return in time. Dozens of oil drums were rolled out into the entryway and lined up in a row.


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The soldiers up in the canyon walls handling the explosives were finished with their work and coming back down. It wasn’t a moment too soon. Godzilla was slowly climbing out of the ice and getting his footing. The men in the snow started to panic and retreated just as quickly as they could. Godzilla was sluggish as he walked towards them though. The cold seemed to have taken some of the energy out of him.

Just the same, the soldiers rushed onto landing craft in utter terror, hoping to escape. As soon as all of them were aboard, the ships hastily pulled away from the shore and then used their deck guns to set off the oil drums they had left behind. The fuel filled canisters began to burn furiously as bullets ripped through them. Godzilla stopped to watch the fires. He seemed to enjoy the flickering of the flames and the heat.


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While Godzilla was distracted, the commander on board the landing craft set off the charges in the ridge and the opening of the canyon collapsed in on itself. Godzilla just stood there watching the ice pile up in front of him. It came down in enormous sheets. The snow and ice eventually settled. By that point, it reached up to Godzilla’s chest. He could have climbed over the mound if he had a mind to, but he didn’t. Instead, Godzilla looked around trying to find an easier way out. There was none to be found. The monster turned and started back the other way, seeing if there was another way out at the far end of the iceberg.


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As Godzilla reached the end of the ravine, he found that it was a dead end. By that time, the Japanese fighters returned to the scene. They were close enough for Godzilla to hear their engines echoing around him. He once again turned to face the warplanes, felling ill-tempered. The jets dove down and began to hammer away at the walls nearest to Godzilla. High peaks poured chunks of ice down on to the monster.


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As first, Godzilla wasn’t sure why they weren’t targeting him, but then the cold started to close in around him again. He wasn’t going to take any more attacks sitting down. Godzilla used his heat ray to down several planes as they came in for another pass. One of the jets exploded mid-area, catching the full blast of his attack. The second one caught fire, and much like Kobayashi, slammed into the canyon wall. The fighter’s rockets went off on impact, along with his jet fuel, sending a cascade of snow towards Godzilla and knocking him off balance. The next set of planes got their attacks off without any trouble.

Akira was in the fourth wave and got close enough to ensure his rockets landed right where he wanted them. Godzilla had recovered enough to take a shot at Akira but missed. His ray hit the wall and only worsened the situation for himself. After the first four series of attacks, Godzilla was already half buried again. He was once more struggling to climb out, but at that point, the worst thing possible happened. The American fighters arrived on the scene with their extra hard hitting anti-kaiju rockets.

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“Alright boys, Light’em up like the Fourth of July.” Lieutenant Larson ordered, leading the assault.

Godzilla saw the Sabres coming down at him and refused to allow them to carry out their attack unchallenged. He once again utilized his atomic breath and cut down the lead plane. Lieutenant Larson’s fuselage caught fire and he veered off course. He was moving way too fast to bail out, but his radio was still on. The entire squadron could hear him yelling on the way down before he collided into a sheet of ice.

The two planes following Larson made good on their attacks though and pounded the ice walls surrounding Godzilla. Three Japanese fighters took a turn next and likewise made progress towards burying Godzilla. The monster picked off another one before it could get away clean.

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It went on that way for a while, American and Japan fighters taking turns making attack runs section by section until finally it was Marcus’ group screaming into the canyon. Roger was in the lead and Marcus was following on his right wing. He noticed a huge chuck of ice hanging by a thread. Previous attacks had chipped away at it and one more solid hit outta bring the whole thing down.

Marcus radioed Roger, pointing it out, and Roger agreed that they should target it. Godzilla was not out of the fight yet, however. He was up to his neck, but he could still move and defend himself. Godzilla waited until the fighters were at the bottom of their run, when they would be their closest to him and at their most vulnerable. Only then did he strike.


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“Watch out Marcus, he’s firing!!!” Roger warned, seeing the flash of light, but it was already too late.

Marcus fired his rockets away, but as he was climbing back out of his dive, Godzilla’s beam closed in and hit his left wing. It sheered half of the wing clear away from his plane. If Godzilla had been able to move his head a little more freely, he would have completely engulfed Marcus’ plane in fire.

“Shit!!!” Marcus’ chest tightened up, realizing just how close of a call it had been. The skin on the side of his face stung, as if it had been burnt from the heat of the beam passing so close to his cockpit. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead.

Meanwhile, the massive sheet of ice crumbled as Roger and Marcus’ rockets impacted against it. The mountain collapsed under its own weight and began falling towards Godzilla. It was inescapable for the monster. He couldn’t move his arms or legs. Godzilla could only roar out in defiance as the inevitable closed in on him. He was finally buried from head to toe as a mountain of ice piled upon him. That didn’t stop other fighters from closing in and adding to the top layer covering Godzilla. They wanted to ensure he’d never be able to climb his way back out again.

Marcus in the meantime was struggling with the controls of his plane. He just barely managed to get up and over the peaks of the iceberg, but that was about all he could do. A fire was rapidly spreading from his left wing to the rest of his aircraft. Once it got to his fuel tanks, it would explode. Marcus couldn’t effectively steer anymore in any case with half of his wing gone. The controls were starting to lock up. He only had one recourse left, he needed to bail out.

Marcus pulled the eject lever and he went flying out of his cockpit. His parachute deployed and he started to float down towards the water. He watched as his plane streaked through the sky and exploded. Marcus drifted for just a few more moments before hitting the water. His parachute quickly filled up with seawater and dragged him under. Inch by inch, he was sinking further into the cold water.

Marcus kept his head and tried not to panic, remembering his training. He had to act quickly, or he’d certainly drown. He took out a knife and cut the straps connecting him with his chute. Marcus then turned in the water looking for the light, knowing that was the way to safety. He finally found the sun and swam towards it. His lungs were starting to burn.

Marcus breached to the surface just when he thought he was going to run out of air. He inhaled sharply and started to recover, but now he was facing another very real problem. The water was cold as ice. He could freeze to death if he couldn’t get out of it fast enough. He tried to swim towards the iceberg, but it was pretty far away. After a few minutes of swimming, hypothermia was starting to set in. Marcus’ vision was getting blurry, and his muscles were exhausted. He’d gone as far as he could. Marcus blacked out three hundred yards away from the shore.





Alright, a couple of quick shout outs to Cryptid_Liker, mpsoldier, and CommanderPhoenix. That for the support. This chapter goes out to you guys.

I know it took a little longer for me to get this one out, but I've been working on some projects that were very time consuming. However, those projects will benefit the story in the near future.
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CommanderPhoenix
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Re: Godzilla: Tactical Assault.

Post by CommanderPhoenix »

Another great chapter, and I'm a fan of the Raids Again ending putting the Big G on the backburner, at least temporarily. Hope we get to see my boy Varan again.
also if we're following the showa era movie timeline then we should see big monkey soon lol

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Re: Godzilla: Tactical Assault.

Post by Ashram52 »

CommanderPhoenix wrote: Thu Jun 09, 2022 11:20 pm Another great chapter, and I'm a fan of the Raids Again ending putting the Big G on the backburner, at least temporarily. Hope we get to see my boy Varan again.
also if we're following the showa era movie timeline then we should see big monkey soon lol
Yeah, I don’t think I’m fooling anybody there. :huge:

Varan absolutely will be back at some point. I have plans for him.

In the meantime, there’s a particular plot point I’ve been looking forward to tackling for a while now. Next chapter I get to do just that. So I’m excited to finally be in a position to explore some weird new territory. With Godzilla ‘on ice’ (so to speak) it gives me the opportunity to explore a few other things without him being at the center of attention.

Next chapter should be fun and something pretty different from what I have been doing lately. I’m already planning the one after that too, which will come back to several major plot elements that have been sidelined for a bit. Hopefully it’s entertaining.
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Re: Godzilla: Tactical Assault.

Post by Ashram52 »

...

Ok, I finally got the Russian units I needed to shoot this scene. Well... most of them anyways.

Anyhow, I also completed a few 'terrain projects' which should improve my wilderness battlefields. My 'paper' trees have been a legitimate source of criticism of my miniature work from the beginning of the story, since I didn't have a better method until now. However, I've learned some new tricks and think it's pretty good alternative that looks much nicer. I made a few decent miniature mountains too.

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In case any of you are wondering why I didn't put these into the actual chapter, there appears to be a limit to how long you can go back and edit old posts. I don't know how long that is, but I appeared to have surpassed it. These are meant for the battle at the end of Chapter 24.
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Re: Godzilla: Tactical Assault.

Post by CommanderPhoenix »

I love how it turns color for the pic where the nuke goes off, then goes back to black and white. That's pretty great.

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Re: Godzilla: Tactical Assault.

Post by Cryptid_Liker »

Ashram52 wrote: Fri Jul 29, 2022 5:17 pm In case any of you are wondering why I didn't put these into the actual chapter, there appears to be a limit to how long you can go back and edit old posts. I don't know how long that is, but I appeared to have surpassed it. These are meant for the battle at the end of Chapter 24.
24 hours. The limit was only done late last year.

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Re: Godzilla: Tactical Assault.

Post by Ashram52 »

Cryptid_Liker wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 9:02 am
Ashram52 wrote: Fri Jul 29, 2022 5:17 pm In case any of you are wondering why I didn't put these into the actual chapter, there appears to be a limit to how long you can go back and edit old posts. I don't know how long that is, but I appeared to have surpassed it. These are meant for the battle at the end of Chapter 24.
24 hours. The limit was only done late last year.
Dang, well I'd better make sure to get things right the first time from now on then, huh...? :|

In general though, that's very bad news for me. I tend to notice mistakes after the fact and go back to fix them. Sounds like that's not an option anymore. So.... sorry in advance for typos, etc that I'm not going to be able to fix. Also, I'm going to have to be extra careful about having photos ready when the writing portion is.

I've actually had chapter 28 ready to go for some time now, but I was waiting to post it because I was still working on some miniature terrain and painting the new monster sculpt. I'd considered posting the written portion of the chapter ahead of time, and then going back to add the photos, but now I'm really glad I didn't do that. The whole chapter would have been disjointed.

Thanks for the heads up.

BTW, I am going to be posting chapter 28 today as I have completed the miniatures work. Just wrapping up some details.

Added in 23 minutes 33 seconds:
...

Chapter 28: Angry Fungus.

Marcus opened his eyes and saw a light blue ceiling above him. Something had woken him up. What was it? It was his arm. Someone was touching his arm. He looked over and saw that there was a woman in white standing next to him. His vision was blurry and the overhead light in the room seemed quite bright. Marcus was having trouble focusing on her. Was it Shauna? He tried to focus. As his vision became clearer, he realized that it wasn’t Shauna, but it was a nurse. Marcus realized that he was in sickbay on board the Essex. He felt sick to his stomach and was weak. What was wrong with him? What had happened? He couldn’t remember how he’d gotten there.

“I guess I should have taught you how to swim too.” Brock spoke up from the corner of the room. He had been sitting there waiting and noticed Marcus stirring. Marcus looked over to him confused. “You’re lucky you had a life preserver on. It kept you afloat long enough to be rescued by troopers on one of the Japanese landers.”

“Huh, what are you talking about Brock?” Marcus asked. “I don’t remember any of that.”

“Dang, you must have gone too long without oxygen to your brain.” Brock smirked. “I hope it’s only a temporary side effect. The Japanese pulled you out of the drink after Godzilla shot you down. They wrapped you in a warm blanket and the leaned you up against the lander’s boiler. It kept you from freezing to death. The Japs got to you just in time from what I was told. A couple more minutes and hypothermia would have snuffed you out.”

“God, am I in a hospital again?” Marcus asked.

“And he’s starting to catch up folks.” Brock stood up and started to walk over to him. “Better check his temperature again nurse, I think this guy has got a fever. Remember, he prefers to go the rectal route for optimal accuracy.” He put his hand on Marcus’ head. The nurse snickered from the other side of the bed. Marcus swatted Brock’s hand away, annoyed.

“That will do Sargent.” Marcus said sharply. “If you are quite done making an ass of yourself.” He rubbed his temples, taking a moment to try to remember everything. “I guess I should have zigged when I zagged. Did we win?”

“This should answer your question, Mr. grumpy pants.” Brock reached over to a newspaper on the nightstand by the bed and handed it to Marcus. The headline was: ‘GODZILLA DEFEATED!!!’ in big bold print. “That’s hot off the press. We’re back in Japan now. Nagoya harbor to be specific. Tomorrow we’re going to Kyoto for a victory big celebration. The whole country of Japan is in an uproar about beating Godzilla. I’m glad you woke up in time to join us.”

“Are you sure he’s really gone?” Marcus asked uncertain.

“Sure, I’m sure.” Brock replied confidently. “After you flyboys buried him, the surface ships came in with their big guns and blasted the hell out of that iceberg, just to be extra careful. There’s probably over two-hundred feet of ice covering Godzilla now. I think we put that bastard permanently on ice. Dr. Orsini thinks because Godzilla is reptilian by nature, he’s likely very susceptible to the cold. Funny thing, if he hadn’t put himself on the iceberg to begin with, I don’t think we would have ever stopped him. I can’t imagine why he would ever go there.”

“You’ve never done something stupid and dangerous for the thrill of it?” Marcus asked. “Life is so boring without risks and going places you’re not supposed to. I’m not saying that’s why he did it for sure. In fact, we’ll probably never know for certain, but it’s possible. Sometimes you just got to live dangerously.”

“That’s working out swell for both you and him.” Brock pointed out. “Well, Godzilla is the penguin’s problem now. They’re about the only visitors he’s going to get out there. Anyways, you get some rest and I’ll let the doc know you are up and about now.”

“See you later Brock.” Marcus replied.



The next day Marcus, along with a large contingent of men from the Archimedes fleet, were on their way to Kyoto in a convoy of military trucks. Marcus was feeling well enough to be up and about, so long as he didn’t overdo it. He was riding in a truck with Brock, Dr. Orsini, Ling, Lieutenant Lennox, Roger, some of the other pilots from the Essex, as well as a slew of marines.

“I don’t get it, being cold-blooded means you’re better-adapted to the cold?” One of the marines named Eddie asked.

“No, that’s not what cold-blooded means at all.” Dr. Orsini answered patiently. “In fact, the opposite is true.” He explained.

“Private, were you born stupid, or did you have to work at it?” Brock grumbled annoyed. “This isn’t exactly a hard concept to grasp.”

“Being cold blooded actually makes an animal even more vulnerable to extreme changes in temperature, because they cannot regulate their body temperature efficiently.” Dr. Orsini began to calmly explain. “A creature that is cold blooded has relatively small, or quite negligible, internal physiological sources of heat. Thus, they have to rely on environmental sources of heat to control their body temperate. Have you ever been in Florida when it gets chilly? The iguanas there fall right out of the trees when they get too cold. The term commonly used for that is cold-stunned. In effect, the iguanas are put into a state of shock. They can’t withstand the cold. But when the temperature rises again, they suddenly come back to life. Most reptiles maintain their temperature by basking in the sun during the day, often by putting themselves on a nice hot rock. Mammals like us by contrast use a robust internal metabolic process to stay warm. That’s why Marcus is still with us right now while after hitting that freezing water and Godzilla is a frozen popsicle on that iceberg.” Dr. Orsini winked over to him.

“So, do you think being stuck in that iceberg long enough will kill him?” Eddie asked.

“Who can say?” Dr. Orsini replied. “Godzilla seems reptilian, but we don’t know that he is for sure. His various mutations may have trigged some changes in his basic biological characteristics. He’s capable of breathing fire for god’s sake. That’s something I have yet to see an iguana do. The same rules don’t necessary apply to Godzilla. Still, I’d say it’s a pretty safe bet he’s not happy to be stuck in there.”

“Enough science lessons for today doc, we’re almost there.” Brock noted as they were approaching the outskirts of the city.

Once the convoy arrived in Kyoto, the temporary capitol of Japan, they found the city in a festive state of celebration. An MP soldier directed the trucks towards their designated place to park. The group disembarked and were met by a Japanese liaison officer who told them where to go from there. Once they had arrived, a ticker-tape parade began for all the soldiers who had fought against Godzilla.

Up front, there were rows and rows of Imperial Japanese army soldiers marching in highly coordinated ranks. In part due to the ongoing Inner-service rivalry, the American sailors and pilots were put between the Japanese army and the navy who followed in the third section. Marcus was still a little out of sorts but participated. Unlike most of the men who were marching through the streets on foot, he was riding along with Admiral Malek and the rest of his entourage. Marcus would have preferred to walk himself, but that just wasn’t an option at that point. The parade route went on for miles, and that was simply too far for him. Marcus just had to accept his shortcomings and enjoy the ride.

Confetti was drifting down to the street from people who were throwing it from windows high above. Bells were ringing. Flags being waved. A large military band was playing a particularly prideful Japanese nation anthem. Tanks and other military vehicles dotted the mass of marching men, standing in for parade floats. There were thousands of people cheering in the crowd from a thankful nation which had been delivered from the depths of despair. It was a feast of sights and sounds.

The parade lasted for about an hour and led to the temporarily seat of government where the Prime Minster of Japan and the Emperor himself were waiting to greet the heroes. Each of them addressed the gathered troops with well written speeches expressing their undying gratitude, followed by special metals being awarded. Ling was on hand to translate for the American contingent.

As the official portions of the ceremony died down, a general party broke out in the city, and everyone was invited. Brock and the rest of the men went out to have a good time, but Marcus was already fairly worn out by then and was ready to lay down and take a break. Ling was also not interested in hanging around any Japanese soldiers, so he volunteered to drive Marcus back to their hotel for the evening. Along the way, Marcus happened to catch sight of Akira and Kiki sitting near a fountain and holding hands. Akira looked up and saw him too. Both he and Kiki waved. Marcus waved back as they passed ways.

‘Glad to see those two are still doing well.’ Marcus thought to himself warmly.



The next day in Kyoto was a little more somber. A memorial was dedicated for all of those who died in Japan during Godzilla’s attacks. Most of the boys were too hung over to go, but Marcus made the effort to get out there. He owed that much to Lieutenant Larson and he himself had only been a heartbeat away from being counted amongst the dead. It was the right time for showing some respect and gratitude. The site was lacking a statue, but a small model was put on display to show everyone what it would look like once it was completed in the coming months. With the crisis over, the nation could finally mourn their loses in peace.

“Malak got his much-needed victory.” Brock noted, surprising Marcus by showing up at the cemetery too. Marcus turned to face him. “But that means we’re stuck here now. I guess it’s a small price to pay for what we achieved.”

“I’m starting to see the value of what we are doing too.” Marcus observed. “I was being selfish before. Not seeing the big picture. How many lives did that monster end before we were able to stop him? How many more could he have killed if we hadn’t? I was worried about being separated from my family, but how many families have mothers, fathers, children who will never be seen again by their loved ones? We accomplished something that benefited the entire world. It cost us dearly, but you can’t put a price on it. If we have to sacrifice our time or our lives to achieve such a thing, it’s still worth it in the long run.”

“Let's hope it doesn’t come down to that.” Brock replied. “Even with Godzilla gone, there are still plenty of monsters out there to fight.”



Back in the States, the victory over Godzilla was seen as a major win for the Archimedes organization. Any question or justification about their existence had been quashed. Their budget was not only approved for another year, but it had in fact been expanded. Admiral Malek had more breathing room to strengthen his position.

After the men returned to the fleet at Nagoya, they set a course for the naval base in San Deigo. They were headed home for some well-earned R&R. Admiral Malek wanted to take the opportunity to strike some symbolic blows at his detractors in Washinton and drew up plans to expand the existing Archimedes Fleet. He was poised to take full advantage of his recent success. In particular, Malek had his eyes on obtaining a new carrier to serve as the flagship. Military technology was quickly advancing, and he wanted to ensure they remained on the cutting edge.

On the way home, a coded message came though on the radio. The contents of the message were kept secret. Only Captain Hillard and Admiral Malek were shown the transcript. Once they had seen it, the fleet was ordered to change course, turning southeast. Clearly whatever was going on was high level and very important to someone back home.

A day later, Captain Hillard gathered a select group of men in the ready room for a closed-door briefing. He announced that the message they’d received was regarding an Archimedes research facility located on an island about a hundred miles north of the Marianas in the central pacific. Command had lost contact with the base the day before and the fleet was being sent in to investigate as they were the closest U.S. asset available to do so. The cause of the communication disruption was unclear. They couldn’t rule out some type of mechanical failure. None the less, they were going to treat it as though something more serious was happening.

As it stood, the fleet was still three days away from the island at conventional speeds and that gave them amble time to prepare for the operation. Marcus and Brock were among the men invited to the meeting with Captain Hillard. Aside from them, there were a handful of fighter pilots, an additional chopper pilot, and two handpicked squads of marines. All of which had seen action previously. Lieutenant Lennox and his men from the Russian freighter mission made up one half of the unit, while Brock was put in charge of the other squad.

After a brief outline of what the mission would entail, primarily inserting a small marine force to scout the island and investigate, Marcus and the other flyers were dismissed. Brock and the two squads of marines were ordered to remain behind for additional information. Marcus didn’t like it. If they really thought there could be some type of mechanical failure with the base’s transmitter, why weren’t they bringing some technicians or military engineers along too? They only wanted marines with combat experience. Something didn’t smell right.

That evening, Marcus was walking through the level-two hanger and saw mechanics working on his helicopter. They were outfitting it with new weapons. On top of the existing door gun, they were welding on a heavy nose cannon as well as small rocket brackets on to the sides. The internal mechanisms of the machine were all torn open as the techs were re-wiring the entire thing to accommodate the new weapon systems. It was a mess. Marcus found the whole thing odd and off-putting. It was like they were man-handing his lady. Marcus went over to them with a head of steam building up under his collar. When he inquired as to what the hell they were doing, the mechanics simply told him it was the admiral’s orders.

Two days later, the fleet detected a distress signal emanating from the island, but there was something very odd about it. There wasn’t a voice coming in over the radio. It was only an S.O.S. being tapped in morse code. However, it wasn’t an automated signal coming through a machine. There was clearly someone sending the message at semi-regular intervals, and it sounded like they were knocking some kind of tool onto a piece of wood close to the microphone. The noises were too inconsistent to be from a machine. Whoever it was, they were not talking, just tapping the message over and over again. No one was quite sure what to make of it.

Admiral Malak thought on it for a while and eventually gave permission to acknowledge the message and return one of their own. The radio man broadcast openly, letting the sender know the fleet was on their way. After that, the transmissions from the island stopped.



The morning of the mission, Marcus was walking on the flight deck and saw that the Sabres earmarked for the operation were being loaded up with napalm canisters. Big fat tanks were being attached to the bellies of the aircraft. He saw Brock nearby and went to talk to him about it. Brock was cleaning his weapon while his squad of marines were gearing up for action. Marcus could see a mixture of excitement and anxiety on the faces of the jar heads as they readied themselves for the combat mission. It was almost like they were about ready to go pick up a real hot date. The anticipation of action was palpable.

“Why are they loading the fighters with napalm?” Marcus asked Brock. “What exactly are they expecting to find on that island?”

“I don’t know.” Brock answered coolly. “I’m not sure the higher-ups know either.”

“They must know something and just aren’t saying.” Marcus replied irritably. “Otherwise, they wouldn’t be preparing all the heavy artillery. Did you see what they did to my helicopter?” He motioned over to it sitting on the deck. “They’re intending to send us into battle, but they have told us next to nothing. Doesn’t that bother you?”

“No, I don’t mind this assignment a bit.” Brock replied, casually reassembling his weapon. “This feels pretty normal to me. It means I can act like a marine again.” He locked the piece back into place. “Get back to doing what I do best and not just be your glorified babysitter.” He smirked at Marcus. Marcus looked back at him unimpressed.

“You can be as nonchalant as you want Brock, but for the record, I don’t like this.” Marcus said. The two just stood there looking at each other for a moment. Brock almost betrayed an emotion he was feeling but buried it like a good soldier.

“We’re within striking distance.” Eddie came up to Brock and Marcus, the two ignored him for a moment. “We’ve got the green light sir.” He reiterated.

“Alright, let's get this party started.” Brock stood up. “If you don’t mind getting us going.” He grinned at Marcus.

“Okay marines, get loaded up, we’re moving out in five.” Marcus addressed the squad who were sitting around the helicopter.

Marcus started the engine, and the chopper blades began to rotate. The engine whined as it got up to speed. Marcus lifted off and circled the carrier. He watched as another helicopter carrying the second marine squad was likewise preparing for takeoff. He saw Sabre fighters on the flight deck being put on standby near the catapults. The second helicopter joined them in the air and together they started for the island.

“Damn technicians, these controls are so stiff and sluggish.” Marcus complained, getting a feel for how his refit chopper handled. “I’m going to have to break her in all over again.”

Meanwhile in the back of passenger cabin, the marines were getting rowdy. Now that they were on their way, the men were psyching each other up for the mission. Masculine bravado was reaching its full potential. There was a lot of tension in the air. Nobody was quite sure what they were getting into, and therefore, it was impossible to truly get mentally prepared. The marines were hiding their unease with big talk and bluster, convincing themselves they were ready for anything the island had to offer them. In contrast, Brock just sat there like a statue, quietly and professionally waiting for what would come next. His stoic example seemed to inspire a certain calm to his men, and they started to settle down.

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It wasn’t long before Marcus spotted the island and adjusted his course to approach their designated landing zone. Captain Hillard instructions were specific, Marcus was to drop off the marines on the beach. It was too risky to fly over the jungle interior and there were too many trees to land close to the base in any case. The island was not particularly large, so trekking through the jungle on foot to the facility would not take the marines very long. Perhaps an hour or two just because of the rough terrain.

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As Marcus landed the helicopter, he was careful to ensure that the heavy door mounted machine gun was pointed towards the jungle. The marines piled out from the other side, preparing their weapons, and using the chopper for cover until they were all ready to move together. As they came around the helicopter, which was kicking up sand in every direction, they pointed their barrels towards the tree line just in case they came under fire. The marines advanced carefully, but the landing zone was not contested. The jungle foliage was whipping and stirring from the helicopter blades, but otherwise there was no movement.

Brock was satisfied and turned to signal Marcus. Marcus nodded in understanding and then lifted off. He was not permitted to remain on the ground for duration of the mission. His orders were simple. He was to make a big circle of the island exterior, reporting back anything he found that was not supposed to be there, and then return to the fleet and remain on standby for later retrieval of the ground unit. Under the best of conditions, it would likely be hours before the squad of marines could return to the landing zone.

With Marcus gone, Brock and his squad began to move forward into the trees, ready to start their sweep and investigate the island. The first thing they did was establish contact with the second team and ensure their equipment was working properly. The second team was landed nearby the makeshift pier that had been built to keep the research base supplied. Brock turned on his portable radio and called to Lieutenant Lennox who was in command of the other squad. He had no difficulty raising him and it turned out that Lennox already had some news to share.

Lennox’s team had immediately made a noteworthy discovery. Anchored in the harbor, they found a ship that definitely did not belong there. It almost looked like a yacht, but upon close inspection, they noticed it was not a civilian craft. The ship had modifications that were undoubtably military, and much more telling, it had a Red Bamboo insignia on the side. The craft was a military transport camouflaged to pass for a civilian leisure vessel. From above or far away it could look convincing, but up close it did not hold up to scrutiny.

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“What do you think they were getting up to around here lieutenant?” Brock asked Lieutenant Lennox.

“I don’t know, but it looks like the hull has been badly damaged.” Lennox noted.

“Was there a firefight?” Brock inquired.

“I don’t think so.” Lennox replied. “This doesn’t look like damage from any type of projectile I’ve ever seen before. There’s no carbon scoring. Looks to me like something punched into the ship just above the water line and ripped its way back out again. There’s no damage inside. A shell that penetrated the hull and left a hole this big would have ripped right on through to the other side. Also, it looks to me like the propeller was ripped off. This ship wasn’t going anywhere fast. There are materials on the dock to make repairs, but no sign of the crew whatsoever.”

“This is Marcus in search chopper one.” Marcus’ voice rang over the radio. “I’ve finished my sweep of the island’s perimeter. I’m seeing a lot of wrecked ships. The reef around the island appears to have claimed a lot of victims over the years. Most of them are under the water and look pretty old, but I spotted two that look more recent. They might be worth checking out.”

“What are their positions?” Brock asked.

“There’s a small sailboat on beach… maybe about a mile away from you location to the south and a larger cargo ship that is stuck out in the reef to the north.” Marcus replied. “It’s run aground and wedged in pretty tight. Doubt it’s coming loose anytime soon. Should be able to get aboard no problem.”

“Anything you can to tell us about the damage to the Red Bamboo vessel?” Brock inquired. “Lennox is saying there’s a hull breach. Could that be from the reef too?”

“Well, it’s possible they chose the wrong route and got scraped, but if they came in through the harbor area in the east, then they should have avoided the reef.” Marcus noted. “The harbor approach is the only way to the island that looks totally safe. Imagine that’s why it was built there in the first place.”

“It looks to me like the Red Bamboo were trying to repair their ship but were forced to stop in a hurry.” Lennox chimed in. “There’s tools and parts that were just left sitting out. Seems pretty clear they were planning to replace their propeller with something they salvaged from one of the wrecks. They just didn’t get the chance to finish the job. I can see it sitting in the shallows like someone dropped it.”

“Perhaps the research facility’s security detachment caught wind that they were here and took them out?” Brock suggested.

“Maybe, but I don’t see any signs of a struggle here.” Lennox countered. “No blood, bodies, or bullet casings. It’s possible they were collected post fight, but that doesn’t smell right based on what I’m seeing here.”

“Ok lieutenant, sounds like there isn’t much more to do there.” Brock remarked. “The ship in the reef is closer to your team. If you want to go check out that one, me and my boys will take a look at the sailboat. Maybe we’ll find some Red Bamboo boys trying to salvage more parts from the wrecks.”

“Sounds good, stay in touch sergeant.” Lennox replied.

“Yes sir.” Brock answered.

“I’m on the border of exceeding my orders gentlemen.” Marcus observed. “I’m heading back to the Essex. You need me, give me a holler and I’ll come right back. Good luck.”



A half hour later, Brock and his men found the remains of the sailboat on the beach. The craft was deserted and looked to have been that way for a while, but there were signs of survivors who had left the boat some time ago. The marines came across discarded life preservers which had been left in the sand too far in to have been washed there by the tides.

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Around the same time, lieutenant Lennox reported finding signs that people had been living inside of the wrecked cargo ship. The food stores in the cargo hold and had been opened and depleted. Given the amount of food that had been eaten, the people must have been stranded there for some time. Lennox found it odd that they would choose to live on board the wreck when they could have easily made a shelter on the island. Why would they want to remain on the water?

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Whoever the survivors were, there was no sign of them. If they’d run out of food on the ship, perhaps they were forced to search the island for other things to subsist on. Still, their shelter on the derelict ship appeared to have been deserted for some time. Whatever had transpired there, it appeared to have happened before the research center had been established on the island, though not by a long shot. Given the condition of things on the ship, perhaps a year had passed.

Lieutenant Lennox found one thing very strange about the dilapidated vessel. Nearly every compartment had fungus growing on the walls. Perhaps that was what drove the survivors out of the ship? The air smelled stale and he didn’t like it. Not seeing any value in lingering further, Lennox moved on and got back to the mission at hand. He reported to the Essex about what they had learned so far. They really hadn’t found any answers, only more questions.

Brock and his men meanwhile were already moving further into the island’s interior. The morning was gone, and afternoon was setting in. The humidity and heat of the island were starting to become an obstacle as much as the trees and undergrowth of the jungle. It was a slow and miserable slog, but the cover of the woods was screening their movements. They could have moved towards Lennox’s squad and moved up the dirt road which connected the docks to the base, but it was a too obvious location for an ambush. No, the road less traveled was the wiser choice in this case.

Brock was near the front of the squad and found some footprints in the mud. He signaled for everyone to stop while he had a closer look at them. They were at least a day old and had been left by someone wearing military boots. By the pattern on the boots, Brock could tell that they were not an American manufactured. So, most likely they had been left by one of the Red Bamboo soldiers.

Brock elected to follow the tracks, which just so happened to be heading in the direction of the research facility anyway. The squad moved much slower and more cautiously. Everyone’s guard was up now, and every man was on edge. Any noise brought the marines to a halt until they could identify what it was and where it had come from.

Eventually, they came to the edge of a clearing and Brock had his men stop for a rest. They’d been walking for over and hour in the jungle heat. They had to be getting close to the facility now. Brock wanted everyone fresh for whatever lay ahead of them. While the boys rested, Brock checked the map to get a better idea where they were.

“Damn Sarg, this heat is going to kill us before the Reds ever get a chance to.” Eddie complained. “Is it always this hot here?”

"We're near the equator private, what do you expect?” Brock retorted. “Just be happy it's not summer here anymore.” Brock saw Eddie gulping down water from his canteen. “Sip that water solider. Don’t drink too much, there’s no telling how long we’re going to be out here.” He warned. “Make it last.”

“Hey, I hear something!” One of the other marines spoke up in a loud whisper, alerting the rest. “It’s coming from the clearing.”

The other marines of the squad grabbed their weapons and took up defensive positions at the edge of the wood line. On the far side of the clearing, twelve Red Bamboo soldiers were running out from the opposite tree line and were charging towards their position with a full head of steam.

Brock did not hesitate. He took aim and opened up with his Thompson machine gun, mowing down the man leading the charge and then the soldier following him. The rest of the marines followed suit with their rifles. One by one, the Red Bamboo soldiers fell. It didn’t stop them though. Those that remained continued to charge forward, not slowing down or even trying to take cover.

Brock shot down a third and fourth man before his clip ran out of bullets. There was still one Red Bamboo soldier coming at him, however. He was too close for the other marines to shoot at. Brock had just enough time to pull out his combat knife. He lunged at the man, plunging the blade into his chest, taking him down to the ground.

Brock had missed the man’s heart and instead hit one his lungs. The Red Bamboo soldier was coughing up blood and starring Brock in the eyes. The man tried to speak but wasn’t able to. There was something in his stare that shook Brock. It wasn’t what he was expecting. The wounded man was not looking at him with hatred, resentment, or even fear. Instead, it was like he urgently wanted to say something but couldn’t. It didn’t feel right.

In fact, something didn’t feel right about the whole Red Bamboo assault. The Red Bamboo soldiers hadn’t fired a single shot from the outset of the attack. On a hunch, Brock checked the man’s weapon which was lying next to him. It was just as he expected, the Red Bamboo soldier’s rifle was not loaded. There were no bullets in his cartridge or on his ammo belt. He didn’t have any grenades either. The man was still starring a Brock with some unknown terror in his eye. Slowly he faded away until he had expired. Anything he could have told Brock slipped away with his life.

“Shit… Check the rest.” Brock ordered his squad, looking around from man to man. One by one, the marines found that each enemy soldier lacked any ammo whatsoever.

“What the hell were they charging at us for if they didn’t have any bullets?” Eddie asked perplexed.

“Japanese solders used to be rather famous for suicide charges were out of other options.” One of the other marines named Richards noted. “They preferred death over dishonor.”

“Yeah, except these boys ain’t Japanese, they’re red Chinese.” Brock pointed out. “Whole different mindset altogether. And they were far from out of options if they wanted to kill us. If I were them, I would have waited until dark and tried to take us out quietly by slitting our throats while we were sleeping. They still have knives. That would be better plan than a suicide assault. Something else is at work here…” Brock said unsettled.

“Were they running towards us, or running from something else?” Eddie asked.



Brock’s squad got moving again and made contact with lieutenant Lennox to let them know they had engaged Red Bamboo forces and were moving on towards the facility. As they continued on, they discovered a large patch of the jungle that had been burned to the ground. Only charred soil and ashes remained, which crunched under their boots as they walked through it.

“What do you make of this sarg?” Eddie asked.

“Well, this doesn’t look to have been a natural fire.” Brock answered. “Seems more like a slash a burn type of operation. You see how the vegetation on the perimeter has been cut down. This was a controlled burn. We’re pretty close to the facility now, it must have been them.”

“Why the hell would they do this?” Richards, spoke up.

“Beats me.” Brock replied. “Usually, you would do this sort of thing to prevent natural fires from getting out of control, but that is typically done in a dry area where fire danger is a regular threat, like California, not a lush tropical island.”

As the marines got closer to the research center, they came across more areas that had been torched, and even stranger, a huge section of jungle that was fenced off. There were biohazard warning signs hanging at regular intervals from the chain links of the fence. The squad came right up to the fence to take a closer look at what was on the other side. In the near distance, they could see mushrooms that were the size of small trees mixed in with the regular forest.

“Woah… what is up with the mushroom kingdom?” Eddie asked.

“This just keeps getting weirder and weirder.” Brock answered, not knowing what else to say.

“I’ve never seen anything like it.” Richards noted. “That is some impressive fungus.”

“Do you think they are trying to find new ways to solve world hunger here?” Smith, one of the other marines chimed in.

“I somehow doubt it.” Brock replied. “Based on the warning signs, I’d say they’re toxic. If you see any of this side of the fence, stay away from them.”

Movement in the forest of giant mushrooms caught Brock’s attention and he brought his weapon up instinctively. He kept his weapon trained, watching for a target to present itself. The rest of the squad, spooked by Brock, likewise readied their weapons, but found no visible threats.

“Getting a little jumpy aren’t we sarg?” Eddie noted. “There’s nothing but overgrow shiitake out there.”

“Don’t be stupid.” Brock berated Eddie. “There’s a steel fence here for a reason. Something dangerous lurks on the other side. Hopefully, we don’t find out what. Let’s get moving.”

From there, Brock had the squad follow the fence towards the lab. It wasn’t long before they spotted the facility, but before they could go inside, they found a large section of the chain link fence had been torn open. A nearly twenty-foot gap had been shredded. Twisted metal lay all over the ground. Brock eyed over to Eddie.

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“I’m starting to not like this mission sarg.” Eddie remarked. “What do you say we turn back to the landing zone?”

“Sorry private, we’re still marines, and we still have a job to do.” Brock replied. “Let’s get into the lab and then get the hell out of here.”

The squad was extremely careful as they approached the facility, advancing only one man at a time while the rest of them covered him. Ten yards at a time, the marines closed the gap. Constantly on the lookout for any opposition. Finally, Brock entered the threshold of the main entrance. There were no signs of any more Red Bamboo soldiers outside of the facility. One by one, each man ran the last stretch and made it to the entrance.

Once together, the team went inside, wary of an ambush. The entrance had a reception area which served as a security checkpoint. No one was there. Past the checkpoint, there was a long narrow hallway which led to the main facility. If there was anyone waiting for them inside, this was the most strategic choke point. Just one man with a rifle and a decent shot could hold the whole squad up from the far side. But there wasn’t a soul to be found. The facility was eerily quiet. The soldier’s footsteps echoed in the hallway as they traversed it.

At the end of the hallway, the marines found the first signs of something wrong. There were a number of cubicles that were in a state of complete disarray. The disheveled scene told Brock that the Red Bamboo soldiers had infiltrated the facility and were looking for something. There were traces of blood here and there, but no bodies. The cubicles were each marked with the name of one of the various doctors on staff. None of which rang any bells to Brock.

The next section of the facility lay behind a strong metal door with a sturdy lock. Most likely the Red Bamboo were looking for the key in the cubicles. The door was made of solid steel and couldn’t have been forced open. However, the scientists must have given up the key under duress because the door had been opened and left ajar, allowing the marines access to the adjoining area.

At the end of another short corridor, there was a second steel door which led into the main research laboratory. It too was open. Upon entering, the marines found it in shambles. Someone had definitely been killed in lab. There was a large pool of dried blood behind one of the tables that been turned over and bullet holes all over the walls. Someone had put up a struggle against the Red Bamboo. And it didn’t end in there. From the main room, there were numerous doors leading to separate sub-sections of the lab. The fight had continued down into one of the sub-labs. The main lab was very large and had numerous cages of various sizes lining the far wall. All of them were empty.

Brock signaled for his men to hold the room while he continued down into the sub-lab to investigate by himself. He went down a short flight of stairs which lead to a wide corridor lined with what appeared to be holding cells. Each of them had large glass observation windows. There were biohazard suits hanging along the wall just before the segment containing the cells and a side room that branched off labeled ‘decontamination area’. Brock passed by it as he stepped into the main area. The lights were off, but there was a switch on the wall. He flipped it and the overheads in the hallway and in the cells flickered on.

Brock held his weapon ready, but there were no enemies to be found. One by one, he carefully checked the cells. Each of them had been opened, except for the last two at the very end of the corridor. One of them had its thick glass observation window shot out and whatever had been inside must have gotten out. There was a residue where it had slide over the bottom of the frame. There was more blood on the floor, but again, no bodies.

‘Why would the red bamboo bother to take the bodies?’ Brock wondered to himself. ‘They had to have been here for the research. Getting in and out fast should have been their top priority.’ He crouched down to take a closer look at the blood. In the light from the overheads, he could see that it had some type of film over it, growing from it. He almost touched the filmy substance, but then thought better of it. As Brock stood up, a hand slapped onto the window of the second-to-last cell. It took him by surprise, and he nearly fell backwards bringing his gun up to defend himself.

Brock regained his composure and quickly realized that there was something very wrong with the hand on the glass. It didn’t look totally human. It was very bumpy, as though it was full of pustules, and the skin was discolored brown. Brock carefully came around the corner to get a better look at the occupant of the cell. It resembled a human being, in an abstract sort of way, but clearly wasn’t human. Just looking at it made Brock’s stomach turn. What the hell was he seeing?

Brock was staring at what might have been a face in another life. It was hard to decipher where one feature started and another ended. The creature had something which at one point could have been eyes, only the lumps had grown to a point where they were swollen shut. It looked painful. The whole body was a mass of thick bulbous growths which made the body appear asymmetrical and twisted. The tumorous lumps were secreting an oozing a brown liquid which was running down the creature’s body. The whole thing could best be described as a disproportioned and distorted sin against nature, and it thoroughly disturbed Brock to look upon it.

The window had a label on it noting specimen three. The lock on the cell had been damaged during the firefight and the key would not have fit in it anymore. A terrible thought occurred to Brock just then. If the other cells had been occupied, whatever had gotten out must have released all of the other specimens. Cold sweat was forming on his brow. Specimen three just sat it its cell starring at Brock with its horrible, near featureless face.

Brock moved away from the cell and very carefully moved back through the corridor. His heart was racing. He wiped the sweat from his brow and went up the stairs leading to the main lab. He was sure to seal up the door behind him. Brock focused and put his game face back on before turned, he did not want his men to see him scared.

“Everything ok boss?” Eddie asked, sensing something was off.

“Just fine.” Brock took off his helmet and put it on the table. “Did you find anything of use in here?”

“Yeah sarg, there are some notes from the head researcher here.” Eddie replied, presenting him with paperwork. “A doctor Veers.”

“Good work private.” Brock took the papers. “Richards, Smith, Caprili, go check out the other sub-labs, make sure they are secure.” The marines started to move. “And boys, be very careful down there.” Brock added, causing them to pause for a moment and look back. “Don’t take any chances. Get right back up here if something seems off.” They nodded and continued on.

“There is also this sir.” Eddie handed Brock a metal cylinder with a name taped on to the side.

“Ok, let’s have a look at that.” Brock examined the specimen jar. “Ma-tan-go…” He read the name off of the tube. “What the hell does that mean?”

“I don’t know, never heard of it before.” Eddie replied. “Maybe the notes will shed some light on it?”

“Yeah, you may be right.” Brock thumbed through the pages of the notebook, looking for anything that would jump out at him. More than a couple things did. Matango referred to three things: First it was the name of the island they were on. Second, it was the species of giant mushroom growing on the island which gave it its name. Third, it was the name given to the humanoid creature Brock had discovered in the sub-lab. Brock was horrified to discover the creature down there had once been a man. “Jesus, now I know why they only sent two squads in here.” Brock remarked.

“What…? What is it?” Eddie asked anxiously.

“According to this manuscript, the mushrooms on this island are mutagenic in nature.” Brock began. “They can assimilate and transform human beings into horrific walking mushroom people. They are extremely dangerous. Dr. Veers was led here by a survivor from one of the boats we found on the beach. He, along with a small group of people, were stranded here for an extended period of time. Over time, all of them succumbed to the infectious fungus. The survivor, Kenji Murai, made it back to Japan, but it turned out he was also infected. For the safety of the general public, he was terminated, and his remains were incinerated. There was just too much risk of the spores getting out to do any research in Tokyo. A remote, isolated island however is an ideal place. Before he died, Kenji told them how to get here. The Japanese shared this information with the Archimedes organization and started a joint study of the Matango.”

“Holy shit….” Eddie replied. “How do they infect you?”

“Looks like there are several ways.” Brock went on. “The Japanese civilians who got marooned here were running low on food, and in desperation, started to eat Matango mushrooms. Apparently, consuming just one is enough to begin the transformation, but once you eaten one, you get the overwhelming urge to eat more, which accelerates the process. That is the quickest way to become infected, but not the only one.” Brock warned. “There are other methods of transmission. Direct physical contact with the mushrooms or an infected individual are less risky ways of infection, but still possible. Having an open wound comes with a higher risk. Finally, it says inhaling Matango spores into your lungs is quite risky as well.”

“In that case, I’m glad we haven’t run into any of them yet.” Eddie remarked.

“Dr. Veers goes on to say that the Matango mushrooms release a pheromone that can cause animals to hallucinate as well as giving them a feeling of euphoria. These creatures apparently aren’t too fast, so disorienting their prey is one way to make them easier to grab. Or… in some cases, causes their prey to wander into an area full of them.”

“It sounds like they were really playing with fire here.” Eddie observed. “What were they hoping to learn from these things?”

“The researchers were performing tests on various plants and animals with the fungus to determine just infectious they are.” Brock noted. “That’s what all these cages and holding cells are for. They’ve been exposing test animals to the Matango mushrooms and studying what happens. Looks like their end goal was to develop a biological weapon to use against Kaiju.” Brock then read something that made him scoff.

“What?” Eddie inquired.

“They called it Project Shiitake.” Brock answered. “Isn’t that cute…? I wonder what asshole came up with that codename. The Matango spores do not seem to affect plant life, but animals... so far there has been a one-hundred percent infection rate under the right conditions. This is also pretty interesting, and gross.” Brock remarked. “Dr. Veers noted that Matango colonies formed from test animals were able to join up together to create larger organisms. The Red Bamboo’s attack must have let some of the specimens out and the situation got completely out of control.”

“Do these things have any weakness?” Eddie asked.

“Veers says they don’t hold up well to fire.” Brock replied. “That’s how they clear them out of areas they don’t want them. Guess that’s what we saw on the way in.”

“Sir, the cells in the sub-labs are all empty.” Richards reported. “No intruders found and not a single specimen is left.”

“Shit, that means they are all running around somewhere.” Brock cursed out of frustration. “Ok, let’s load up, check for any survivors, and then get the hell out of here. This place is making my skin crawl.”

“What should we do with the spores?” Eddie asked.

“Take them with us.” Brock answered. “Command wanted us to secure any research notes and samples we could find. Those are our ticket out of here, so do not lose them. In the meantime, get Lieutenant Lennox on the radio and let them know what we have found. We need to warn him in case his team runs into any of these things.”

“I tired while you were down in the sub-lab sir.” Richards replied. “I wasn’t able to raise him. It could be all of the reinforced metal built into the structure causing interference. Maybe we could try again from the radio room.”

“Alright, we’ll do just that.” Brock agreed. “We have to go there anyways.”

Brock and his squad combed through the rest of the facility room by room until they came across the base’s armory. There they found two flame throwers inside and decided it would be a good idea to bring them along for the duration of the mission. The last area in the base they needed to search was the radio room. Brock was very interested to see who had sent the S.O.S.

The radio room was up a short flight of stairs on the main level. As Brock traversed the steps, he could see that the door had a number of marks hammered into it, indicating that someone or something had tried to beat their way in. However, the door was made from oak and was quite sturdy and solid. It had held up beyond the attacker’s patience.

“Shouldn’t we just get out of here sir?” Eddie asked, coming up behind Brock, eyeing the marks in the wood.

“No, if there is a surviving scientist behind this door, it’s our job to secure him and get him back to the ship safely.” Brock replied.

Brock had Richards fetch a sledgehammer he had seen downstairs on a workbench. With it in hand, he aimed directly for doorknob. Carefully bringing the hammer back, Brock swung down hard. He was right on the money. The knob caved in, and the lock broke loose from the doorframe. Despite this, the door only opened slightly. The room had been barricaded from the inside. Brock leaned his shoulder into the door and forced his way through, pushing aside a desk that had been propped up against the entrance with other heavy equipment stacked up on top of it.

In the corner of the room, a man in a tan uniform was crouched down in terror. Clearly, Brock was not what he had been expecting to come through the door. Brock pushed the door open further and stepped inside. The man in the corner looked up and saw Brock in his distinctive green marine fatigues and immediately jumped up to his feet and ran over to him.

Brock prepared to defend himself, but the man only grabbed for his hand with both of his and shook it vigorously. It turned out to be a Red Bamboo officer. Apparently, he had been cornered inside of the facility by the Matango and the radio room had been his last refuge. He must have been in there for over two days. He was showing signs of dehydration. The Red Bamboo officer didn’t seem like much of a threat. He had no weapons to speak of and was in a weakened state due to going so long without any food or water. Brock took out his canteen and handed to him. The Red Bamboo officer wasted no time in taking a good long drink.

“He’s the one who sent the message?” Eddie asked, leaning in through the doorway. “Why would he do that? Didn’t he know he’d be a sitting duck once we arrived?”

“I guess he’d rather be captured than killed.” Brock replied. "It’s starting to make sense to me though. I was wondering to myself, why would anyone send a general S.O.S. using morse code when they could talk? It was simply because he couldn't risk speaking Chinese over an open channel. Even if we didn't get here first, a broad transmission would tip everyone off to what was happening here. He just had to chance it and hope his buddies arrived before we did.”

“Are you sure about that?” Eddie asked.

“Yes, I’d say it was a calculated move.” Brock answered. “The message was clearly not meant for us. He could not have known our fleet was already on the way here. No, I’ll bet he was trying to get that S.O.S. to the base he came from. He was hoping they’d send a rescue team first. In fact, there’s a good chance that there is a Red Bamboo ship on its way here even now. We just happened to beat them here.”

“Guess luck just wasn’t on his side this time.” Eddie noted.

“I don’t know about that.” Brock countered. “He’s still alive after all. We’re probably not the sort of help he wanted, but at this point, I think he’ll take whatever help he can get. Keep an eye on him private.” Brock ordered. “I doubt he will try to wander away on his own, but let’s not chance it.”

“Do you think he’s going to be trouble?” Eddie asked.

“He’s pretty weak from being stuck up here for a few days.” Brock replied. “I don’t see him trying to take on a squad of marines by himself. Besides, we’re his only protection for the time being. Based on the look on his face, I’m guessing he could use a little feeling of security right about now. I’m going to radio the fleet and bring them up to speed.”

“Aye sir.” Eddie replied, offering his hand to the Red Bamboo officer, and leading him out of his confinement while Brock fiddled with the base’s radio.

“Lieutenant Lennox.” Brock began to transmit. “This is Sergeant Brock. We have secured all assets and are preparing to pull out. What is your team’s status?” There was only static coming though while Brock waited for a reply. “Lennox, are you reading me? Comeback please.” There was still no reply. “Shit….” Brock sighed. “Essex, this is Sargent Brock, have you been monitoring our communications?”

“That’s affirmative Sergeant.” The radio man on the Essex crackled on the other end.

“Can you raise Lieutenant Lennox?” Brock requested. “I can’t get through to him.”

“Stand by Sergeant.” The radio man replied. There was silence over the line for a few moments and then he came back. “He’s not responding to us either.” The radio man reported. He paused while getting orders from the bridge. “Withdraw to your landing zone sergeant, we’ll keep trying to reach lieutenant Lennox on our end in the meantime.”

“Understood Essex.” Brock acknowledged. “We have captured a Red Bamboo officer and believe there may be more enemy reinforcements on the way. Advise caution.” He warned.

On the bridge of the Essex, Captain Hillard and Admiral Malek were both personally listening in to Brock’s transmission.

“What do you think sir?” Captain Hillard asked. “Should we prepare for a possible strike from enemy fighters?”

“The Red Bamboo dispatching aircraft is possible, but it’s far more likely they’d send another ship.” Admiral Malek began. “If their base was within range of aircraft, they would have used helicopters to insert their troops like we did.” He pointed out, scratching at the stubble on his chin while thinking it over more. “No Captain, I’d expect to see a surface ship. Do we have anything on radar?” Malek asked. Captain Hillard looked over to the radar officer who shook his head.

“Negative.” Captain Hillard reported.

“We won’t take any chances.” Admiral Malek replied firmly. “Tell the skippers on the jeep carriers to deploy their search helicopters. Have them comb the area for ships. Meanwhile, get our fighters up. I want to double the CAP over the fleet within the next ten minutes, just in case there is an air attack.” Malek eyed his watch. “Once they are in place, prepare a strike package as well. We’ll hold them on standby. If the search helicopters find anything out there that isn’t supposed to be, I want it blown out of the water.”

“Yes sir.” Captain Hillard saluted before turning back to the radio receiver. “Do you have anything else for us Sargent?” He asked Brock.

“Yes sir, I’ve discovered what the Red Bamboo were after.” Brock reported. “Best not to say over an open channel. It will be easier to explain once we are back aboard the ship anyways.”

“In that case we’ll get your ride on its way soldier.” Captain Hillard assured Brock. “Can you make the rendezvous say… an hour and a half from now?”

“I think so.” Brock replied. “If we don’t run into any more trouble, that is.”

The search helicopters took off from the escort carriers and spread out rapidly. Marcus was sitting in his cockpit listening over his radio to anything he could pick up on. He was anxious to get back in the air and retrieve Brock and his squad, but for the time being, all he could do is wait.



Less than an hour later, one of the search choppers detected a large vessel on radar approaching Matango island from the east. The radar signature suggested that it was a destroyer. The scout quickly closed in on the intruder to investigate and was able to verify visually that it was indeed a destroyer. Specifically, it was identified as a heavily armed Cheng-Ho class destroyer. A vessel that boasted twelve torpedo tubes. Though it was not flying a Chinese flag, it was very much a Chinese design.

The helicopter shadowed the warship, managing to remain undetected so far. The pilot darted in and out from the cloud cover. He reported the ship’s position and bearing, also noting a substantial number of troops gathering on the aft portion of the deck. There was no doubt, they were preparing to land men on Matango Island.

Admiral Malek had to make a quick decision. Attacking the Red Bamboo openly carried some risk. At the very least, it could cause an international incident if they were caught doing it. But then again, the Chinese government denied any official association with the group, and they had clearly attacked an Archimedes outpost. That gave them all the provocation they needed to strike back. Admiral Malek turned to Captain Hillard.

“We can’t let that ship getting anywhere near the fleet, its torpedoes are a threat to the carriers.” Malek noted. “We also can’t allow those troops to make it to the island. That would put our ground operation in jeopardy. Launch the airstrike. I want that ship on the bottom of the ocean floor!” Malek barked.

“Yes Admiral.” Captain Hillard saluted.

The green light was given, and the Sabres took off from the Essex. They were upon the unsuspecting Chinese destroyer within minutes. The warship lacked any radar capabilities whatsoever, and thus, had no idea the force that was descending down on it. The jets swooped in, and the first barrage of rockets were already on their way before the sailors manning the anti-air batteries even had a chance to prepare their weapons. Nine rockets were launched by the first wave of fighters. There were several near misses that sent up huge columns of water crashing down on the destroyer deck, but two of the rockets directly impacted against the hull, crippling the vessel. The engine room was hit and utterly destroyed. The destroyer slowed to a crawl, leaving it a sitting duck for the next wave of fighters.

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The next group of Sabres were on the ship in less than thirty seconds, and with a stationary target, had an easier time lining up their attack. The anti-air guns on the destroyer got off a couple rounds this time, but in the chaos on the deck, water flooding in and fires burning, their defensive fire was hopelessly uncoordinated and inaccurate. Four more rocket hits were scored on the ship and one of them found its way into the magazine. The Chinese destroyer ripped in half from the resulting explosion, and that was effectively the end of the fight. From there, the vessel quickly took on water and sank. It was all over in less than a minute.

“No distress signal sir.” Captain Hillard reported to Admiral Malek. “They got off no transmissions of any kind.”

“Good, a clean kill.” Malek replied. “Instruct the retrieval helicopter to launch. It’s nearly time for the rendezvous with the ground team.”



Brock and his men meanwhile were well on their way back to the landing zone on the beach with their prisoner in toe. The man didn’t say a word, but he stuck to Brock like glue and was constantly looking around them nervously. The things he had seen on the island had obviously left their mark on him. The slightest noise put him on edge. They had reached the clearing where they had gunned down the Red Bamboo troopers earlier, only their bodies weren’t there anymore.

“What in the hell is this?” Brock slowed down, looking around confused.

“Hey sarg, is it just me, or is something important missing here?” Eddie asked. Only one of the bodies was still there. It was the man that Brock had taken down himself with a knife.

As the squad approached it, they could see that his wound was covered with a pulsing layer of tannish-brown mold. Not only that, but it was also starting to grow around the corners of his eyes and mouth too. The Red Bamboo officer saw the body and started to speak. None of the marines could understand a word he said, but they didn’t need to. It was clear from his tone and inflection that he was scared and trying to warn them. The corpse suddenly sat up and the dead eyes of the soldier opened. There was no spark of life behind them though.

“Jesus Christ!” Brock brought his machine gun up and left loose with about ten rounds, putting the body right back down to the ground.

“What in the fuck did we just see?” Eddie shouted, unnerved. All of the marines just stood there in shock. There was no time for an answer to that question though. The corpse reanimated for a second time, stumbling to its feet. At the same time, the marines became aware of the other dead Red Bamboo soldiers around them mingled amongst the trees.

“What the hell is wrong with them?” Richards asked. They were all dead-eyed and full of holes from being shot up earlier. Some of them were already showing signs of bulbously growths under the skin. They were all shambling towards the squad.

DO NOT let any of those things touch you!!!” Brock shouted. “Open fire!!!”

The marines let loose with their rifles and put each infected Red Bamboo soldier on the ground. Brock carefully lined up the target in front of him, aiming for the head. With a short, controlled burst of fire he hit the bullseye. The back of the Red Bamboo soldier’s head exploded from the force of Brock’s bullets ripping through it. Brock watched as the corpse collapsed did not rise for a second time. It looked as though these things did have a weakness. The Matango fungus needed the central nervous system of its host intact to manipulate the body.

“Aim for the head!!!” Brock shouted to his men over the sound gunfire. “Aim for the heads!!!” He repeated. One by one, the marines start took down the walking corpses. The fight was over within seconds. The marines were all a little shaken, but no one was injured. Somewhere in the near distance, they could hear a deep, throaty roar that drained the courage out of each man standing there.

“What is going on sarg?” Richards asked.

“No time to explain that now private, just keep moving.” Brock ordered. He was troubled though. Dr. Veer’s notes didn’t say anything about the Matangos being able to reanimate corpses, but then again, maybe he didn’t know that either. His research had clearly been cut short.

The group started to double-time back to the landing zone. No one wanted to find out what had roared in the jungle behind them. They whipped through the underbrush, swatting away branches and leaves along the way. In front of them, something stepped out from behind a tree. It was a fully transformed Matango. It must have formerly been one of the scientists because there were still vestiges of a lab coat fused within the mass of fungus.

“Hey Sarg, I think you should know, there’s a humongous fungus among us.” Eddie shouted, pointing it out to Brock.

Brock took his Thompson and unloaded his entire clip at the Matango. The bulbus lumps on the creature’s skin exploded as the bullets ripped through them. Brock took care to aim for the head, but even that didn’t seem to have too much effect this time. The Matango slumped back against a tree from the force of the bullets, but seconds after Brock stopped firing, it began to slowly come at the group again.

“Give me that.” Brock ordered Richards, seizing one of the flame throwers from him. As the Matango got within twenty yards, Brock unleashed a flurry of burning gasoline onto the creature. There was an immediate effect. The creature flailed about wildly in pain as its tissues were incinerated. It fell over and slowly died. “Try getting up from that you filthy bastard.”



Marcus meanwhile was well on his way back to the beach. As he approached, he spotted the Red Bamboo yacht leaving the harbor and sailing away from Matango island. Marcus moved to investigate. He could see that the hull breach was still present, but someone had repaired the damaged propeller of the craft. As he got closer, Marcus abruptly got an emergency radio signal from the vessel.

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“This is Lieutenant Lennox transmitting from the Red Bamboo yacht.” Lennox’s voice rang over the radio. “The ship is full of friendlies, do not fire on us.” He said urgently in a slightly raspy voice.

“Good to hear from you Lieutenant, we were starting to get worried about you.” Marcus replied. “You’re coming in a little fuzzy. What happened?”

“We were ambushed by some kind of monsters on the island.” Lennox explained, still sounding gravelly, perhaps from shouting in the heat of battle. “They took out our radio man, so we couldn’t contact anyone. We took several casualties before we were able to retreat to the Red Bamboo ship. Something smashed the radio here too, but we managed to patch it up and got a makeshift propulsion system working on this heap. It won’t get us very far or fast, and we’re slowly taking on water from the hull breach, but it’s getting us away from that damned island. We’ve got a badly injured man on board. Need to get him medical attention asap.”

“Captain Ryan.” A voice cut into the transmission. “This is Captain Hillard. Cease communications with the Red Bamboo vessel immediately and destroy that craft.”

“Sir, can you repeat that order?” Marcus requested. “I don’t think I heard you correctly.”

“I want that yacht destroyed captain.” Hillard repeated. “We have reason to believe that ship is carrying an extremely hazardous biological agent. They can’t be allowed to reach the fleet.”

“But sir, there are friendlies aboard it.” Marcus protested.

“I’m aware of that son and I understand your hesitation, but we can’t afford to take the risk.” Captain Hillard insisted.

Marcus activated his weapon systems and closed in on the Red Bamboo vessel. He lined up the target and thumbed over the trigger. Every instinct in his body told him he was doing the wrong thing.

“I’m sorry sir, I cannot do it.” Marcus told Hillard, stopping just short of firing.

“Take the shot captain!” Admiral Malek’s voice thundered over the radio. “I know I told you I hired you because I wanted you to use your head in the heat of battle, but this is not one of those times to think things over. This is the moment to trust your superiors and follow orders. If you don’t, more people will die than necessary in the long run.” Malek’s words sunk in, and Marcus fought with himself trying to decide what to do.

“God forgive me…” Marcus surrendered. He retargeted the ship, thumbed over the button, and then opened fire on it with a set of his rockets.

The Red Bamboo yacht exploded into a thousand pieces as two of the rockets hit home. Marcus’ eyes welled up; he instantly regretted the decision. He had just killed a friend and a slew of marines. Men he knew personally, and he had no idea if he was justified in doing so. The ship burnt right down to the water. There were no survivors.

Marcus wasn’t given much time to let the trauma sink in though. Before the hull even sank under the waves, Brock crackled in over the radio requesting immediate pick up at the landing zone on the beach. Marcus set aside his feelings and swung the helicopter around and throttled up to full speed.

As he got close to the beach, Marcus could see Brock and his men running out from the tree line and onto the sand waving at him. Marcus started to descend down towards them, but then something huge rose from out of the jungle. Whatever it was, it had to have been chasing after Brock and his squad. The dark figure stood up straight, giving Marcus the opportunity to get a good look at it.

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It was a brown hulk of a monster with bumpy bulbous skin. It stood at least forty-meters tall. Its head fanned out in all directions like an umbrella, forming a circular cap. The monster lacked any eyes or other facial features that Marcus could distinguish, but still, he could sense that it was looking at him. He didn’t hesitate. Marcus unleashed his other pod of rockets at the creature. It was so large, and he was so close, that he couldn’t possibly miss it.

The rockets impacted against the monster’s skin and exploded, cutting it to pieces. The creature’s flesh was soft and spongy. It couldn’t withstand the blasts. Each detonation tore away large hunks out of it. However, Marcus was out of rockets, and he had not inflicted nearly enough damage to kill the monster. He opened up with his cannons, but they simply did not have the firepower necessary to do any meaningful damage. The rounds just sunk into the gigantic Matango’s body. The creature reached out for Marcus’ helicopter with its chucky fingers. With all his ammo exhausted, he was defenseless.

At the last moment, a rocket hit the monster on the left side of its cap. A squadron of fighters from the Essex had arrived on the scene. Marcus took the opportunity to pull away and land his helicopter on a section of the beach a hundred yards down the coastline. Brock and his men wasted no time running after him.

“Marcus, this is Roger, get those marines clear.” Roger called from the lead jet. “We got this.”

Having more space to operate, the jets swung around and hit the gigantic Matango with a full spread of rockets. The creature went down, one of its arms was completely blow off by the series of explosions. The fighters finished it off by dropping their large napalm bombs on top of it, unleashing the gelatinous hellfire. The jungle all around the monster was aflame in just seconds, leaving it nowhere to go. The napalm stuck right onto the Matango no matter what it did. The fire furiously burned away at it until there was nothing left.

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Brock and his men climbed aboard Marcus’ helicopter just moments after he had landed. They could feel the heat of the jungle and monster’s burning corpse. The smell was curious, it was half burning gasoline fumes from the napalm, and half something like you’d smell cooking in the kitchen of a French restaurant. They didn’t stick around to enjoy it. Marcus noted the Red Bamboo officer as he climbed inside but said nothing about it.

“Everyone is aboard.” Brock said slamming the sliding door shut behind him. “Get us the hell out of here Marcus!”

Marcus didn’t have to be told twice. He lifted off and never looked back. Brock did though. From the side window he watched as a large section of the forest burnt. More Sabre jets were streaming in and dropping their payloads down upon the island. More and more just kept coming. The way they were hammering it, Admiral Malek seemed intent on wiping out the forest, the base, and any trace of what had gone on there.

The flames were so extensive that Brock could still see the smoke rising from them all of the way back at the fleet, which was miles away from the island. The deck of the Essex was completely deserted as the survivors made their final approach. Marcus didn’t know what to make of it. He had never seen that before in all of his years of serving aboard a carrier.

“Brock, what is going on?” Marcus asked. He knew something was wrong.

“Just set us down Marcus.” Brock replied. “We’ll just deal with whatever comes next.”

Marcus didn’t like it, but he landed the helicopter on the deck. Immediately after they set down, twenty men wearing biohazard suits ran out from the carrier’s island. The first couple of them were armed with rifles and pointed them at the helicopter just as the side door opened up.

“Everyone just be cool and follow my lead.” Brock instructed his men, stepping out first.

“Sergeant, stand down and have your men drop their weapons.” An officer in a biohazard suit calmly instructed him.

“Do what he says.” Brock told his marines. Each of them obeyed, though they clearly didn’t like it.

“Thank you, sergeant.” The officer smiled through his mask. “Now, everyone come out and form a line. You too captain.” He said to Marcus.

“That’s what you get for being in a closed space with us.” Brock shrugged looking over to him. “Sorry.”

“Unfortunately, all of you are going into quarantine.” The officer announced. “The next thing I need you to do is strip.”

“What…? Are you kidding me?” Eddie complained. “This is not the welcome home I was expecting.”

“Just do as he says.” Brock said sternly. “I doubt you’ll like the alternative.” He warned. The marines and Marcus all were stripped naked and stood there on the flight deck with their asses hanging out in the wind.

“If one of you would be so kind as to pile up your clothes at the end of the line, I’d appreciate that.” The officer requested. He clearly did not want to touch them himself.

Once the clothing was all gathered up in one place, a man brandishing a flame thrower appeared. Making sure he was facing downwind, he set the pile of clothes ablaze. While that was happening, the group was led over to the wall of the carrier’s island and sprayed down with some type of chemical. It smelled awful and it burned their eyes and nostrils. Each man quickly learned to close their eyes and hold their breath as they got sprayed down.

“Were any of you touched by the creatures while on the island?” The officer asked. “Did any of you get close enough breath in any of their pheromones? It would have been a sweet smell. If you were, it’s best you tell us now.” No one spoke up. “Alright, just bear with us for a little bit longer gentleman. The tough parts are almost over. I’m going to need you all to raise your arms and widen your legs.”

Each man was inspected from head to toe for any irregularities. It was very degrading being scrutinized like a piece of meat. Marcus felt like a prisoner being deloused before going inside the big house. He half expected someone to shout ‘fresh fish’ at them.

“Good news, so far everyone has passed examination.” The officer announced. “We are going to sickbay next.”

“If you are going to march us around the ship like this, could we at least have a towel or something to cover ourselves up?” Eddie complained.

“That’s a negative private.” The officer replied. “You’re just going to have to deal with it for now.”



The corridors of the Essex were empty as the group traversed the ship, so they were at least spared the indignity of being paraded around the other men. Once they had arrived in sickbay, each man was taken in for a series of chest x-rays. They were being screened for any type of pulmonary growths or infection. One by one, each man was cleared, but they remained in sickbay. There they were isolated from the rest of the ship.

The Red Bamboo officer was separated from the other of the men at that point and taken to another secure location. They didn’t say where, but undoubtedly, Admiral Malek wanted to interrogate him as soon as it was deemed safe to do so. He likely had useful information that could be extracted.

The officer in charge told them that the quarantine was going to last for three days. While they were in sickbay, the men were going to be treated with IV anti-fungals and rechecked again with x-rays daily. If they still lacked any symptoms after three days, they would be totally cleared to return to full active duty.

Marcus could tell Brock was mad about it all, but he was keeping a cool head in front of the men. It felt like they were being unjustly detained. However, having witnessed what he had witnessed, Brock knew Admiral Malek and Captain Hillard were actually behaving pretty reasonably in being so cautious. The Matango fungus was extremely dangerous. They couldn’t risk it getting aboard the Essex. If it got into the general population, they’d have to abandon the entire ship. But even so, Brock was still rather mad at them. If only because they hadn’t adequately warned him about the risks going on to that island in the first place.

“They had to have known about what was on that island ahead of time.” Brock told Marcus quietly, away from the rest of the marines. “That’s how they knew how to handle this so well. They couldn’t have been this well prepared otherwise. I think the only reason they risked letting us back aboard the Essex is because we had the samples and research notes they wanted. Someone had to fetch it for them. That was an Archimedes base performing those experiments after all. Admiral Malek is at the top of the organization. He had to have known about what they were doing.”

“That wouldn’t surprise me.” Marcus replied unmoved. “The man has black ice running through his veins. He’s capable of just about anything if it serves his purpose.” Marcus paused, thinking about what happened earlier in the day. He sat there, trying to put together the right words. “Brock, I need to tell you something. Lieutenant Lennox is dead.”

“I know, I heard the whole thing over the radio.” Brock cut in, trying to make it easier. “Listen Marcus, I know that was very hard for you. It easily could have been me and my boys on board that ship. Sometimes being a soldier, you have to make hard choices. Picking from two terrible options. If it makes you feel any better, I’m sure Lennox would have understood.”

“It’s tearing me up inside Brock.” Marcus started to get upset. “I wish like hell it didn’t go down like that.”

“I know.” Brock continued. “You’re a good person. There are times when you have to put the good of the unit ahead of yourself. We may never know if Lennox or any of his men were actually infected, but if they were, there wasn’t much we’d be able to do for them. I’m not going to tell you to forget about it, chances are you wouldn’t be able to anyways. This is going to stay with you for as long as you live, but you’re going to have to carry on the best you can.”

Marcus was listening but didn’t say anything else. He just sat there staring at the ground running the events back over again and again in his mind.

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Re: Godzilla: Tactical Assault.

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Ashram52 wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 11:23 am
Cryptid_Liker wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 9:02 am
Ashram52 wrote: Fri Jul 29, 2022 5:17 pm In case any of you are wondering why I didn't put these into the actual chapter, there appears to be a limit to how long you can go back and edit old posts. I don't know how long that is, but I appeared to have surpassed it. These are meant for the battle at the end of Chapter 24.
24 hours. The limit was only done late last year.
Dang, well I'd better make sure to get things right the first time from now on then, huh...? :|

In general though, that's very bad news for me. I tend to notice mistakes after the fact and go back to fix them. Sounds like that's not an option anymore. So.... sorry in advance for typos, etc that I'm not going to be able to fix. Also, I'm going to have to be extra careful about having photos ready when the writing portion is.
Yeah, it does suck. And I'm not exactly sure why it was imposed even with the context of what happened but hey, not much I can do.

Anyways, great job as usual on that new chapter. Not sure if it was fully intentional but I love how the photos look like they're in Technicolor this time around.

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Re: Godzilla: Tactical Assault.

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Yeah, it does suck. And I'm not exactly sure why it was imposed even with the context of what happened but hey, not much I can do.

Anyways, great job as usual on that new chapter. Not sure if it was fully intentional but I love how the photos look like they're in Technicolor this time around.
Thanks!

Oh yeah, the technicolor effect is definitely intentional. Basically what I did to achieve that is to edit the photos and change their base colors to ‘dramatic warm’ and then make some other adjustments to them. Gives then a real ‘aged’ feel.

While we have jumped into color, I’m still trying to capture the feel of movies from that age. I was trying to decide when it was best to make the transition. I couldn’t do it before the Godzilla Raids Again chapter, but I’m pretty sure Matango was filmed in color. Or at least it was transitioned to color at some point. So it seemed like a good time to do it.

In timeline terms, we’re now getting to latter half of the 50s in the story, so it does feel like the appropriate time to change to color to me. My plans have always been to make the images reflect the era we are in. Glad you like it. ;)
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Re: Godzilla: Tactical Assault.

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Chapter 29: A Watery Grave.

Brock sat up from his cot in sickbay. It was the dead of night. The room was dark. He looked over to where Marcus had been sleeping and noticed that he was gone. Brock looked around the room and discovered that it wasn’t just Marcus, sickbay was entirely empty. He was the only one still there. Brock saw that the metal door that led out of sickbay was left open. A thin sliver of red light was creeping in from the corridor outside. The ship’s emergency lights appeared to be on.

Brock got off of his cot and crept towards the sickbay door quietly. When he reached it, he could see the door had been forced open from the inside. The metal hatch was bent out of shape, as though it had been crushed by something with immense strength. Brock carefully pushed the door further open and peaked out of the door and into the passageway.

In the red lights, Brock saw a body laying on the ground a few feet down the hallway. It was one of the marines who had been on guard duty outside of sickbay. His head was slanted awkwardly to the side in an unnatural position. The marine’s neck had obviously been broken. The dead man’s eyes just stared vacantly up at the ceiling. A small patch of blood pooled around his head. It gleamed in the emergency lights.

The dead marine’s weapon was resting next to him. He never had a chance to fire it. Brock snuck over to the marine’s body, closed his eyes, and then took up the rifle. From there, he wandered down the hallway, creeping in and out of the shadows as much as possible to stay hidden. Brock controlled his breathing to make as little noise as possible. He didn’t want anyone or anything to know he was coming. The hair on the back of his neck was standing on end and his adrenaline was starting to kick in.

Weapon ready, Brock came around a corner and found someone standing at the far side of the hallway. He saw a silhouette of a man with their back towards to him. Brock stepped forward to get a better look at them, but as he approached, they seemed to sense his presence and turned to face him.

Brock was surprised to see that it was Marcus. Even in the dark, he could recognize him. Marcus smiled at Brock, seeming to acknowledge him. Brock let out a sigh of relief and was about to ask Marcus what was going on, but then the smile melted away from Marcus’ face. He looked sort of melancholy. Brock stopped in his tracks, recognizing something was wrong. There was something in Marcus’ eyes he did not like.

All of the sudden, Marcus’ face began to contort out of shape. He had been infected with the Matango spore and it was starting to transform him. Brock was horrified. He took aim again with his rifle, but then lost heart, letting it slump down. The Matango-infected form of Marcus grinned at Brock in a malevolent sort of way and it, was clear that Brock’s friend wasn’t there anymore. Brock hardened his resolve and raised the rifle barrel again. He hesitated though, and Marcus raised a hand pointing at him. There was nothing in his hand. He was simply pointing a finger at him. Brock didn’t understand the gesture.

Just then, Brock felt an intense itch in his hand that was holding up the rifle. The sensation rapidly intensified into a burning. It grew until he couldn’t ignore it anymore. Brock turned his wrist over to look at it. Suddenly, a Matango mushroom erupted from his from his flesh tearing his skin open. It was painful and Brock yelled out.

Brock sprang forward on his cot in sickbay. He was covered in a cold sweat. He instinctively looked at his hand, which was perfectly fine. The color of his skin was normal and there were no blemishes to be found. It had all just been a nightmare. Brock looked around to see if anyone was watching him. All of the men around him, including Marcus, were still fast asleep. He wiped the sweat away from his forehead and tried to relax. His heart was still pounding though.

‘Fuck…’ Brock thought to himself, letting out a sigh. ‘What a nightmare.’ His chest felt tight as he calmed down.

As he sat there, Brock could hear voices coming from outside of sickbay. He got out of his cot and crept up to the door quietly, trying to listen. He peaked outside of the window and could see Admiral Malek was there along with a marine officer. Brock recognized the officer. It was Colonel Slater, the man who was in overall command of the marine forces in the Archimedes fleet. He was bad-tempered man, even by Brock’s high standards, and he was already red in the face as he began to speak with Malek.

“Those were my men on that boat you ordered blown up Admiral!” Colonel Slater said, obviously very upset.

“Your men didn’t die for nothing Colonel.” Admiral Malek said in a somewhat dismissive voice. “I can assure you; it was very much necessary. We were able to salvage ‘half’ of the shore party. The rest were simply beyond saving.”

“Well, I sure do find that comforting.” Colonel Slater replied in a gruff manner. “I’ll be sure to mention that when I’m writing letters to those soldier’s families. By any chance, are you going to enlighten me as to why you felt it was crucial to do such a thing in the first place?”

“What is it…?” Marcus asked from behind Brock. The shouting had roused him from his sleep. “What’s going on?”

“If you’d shut up for a moment, I’m trying to hear.” Brock answered annoyed.

“Need I remind you that you are speaking to a superior officer?” Admiral Malek asked Colonel Slater.

“Only in terms of rank.” Colonel Slater countered coolly without missing a beat.

“My kind of guy.” Brock mused with a smirk.

“I see the Navy/Marine rivalry is still alive and well.” Marcus observed, creeping up next to Brock to listen.

“My men are not disposable.” Colonel Slater warned. “If I find out you’ve misused them, it won’t matter how high your rank is, I can promise you that. You’re not the only one with friends in high places admiral.” Slater stormed down the hallway making his exit.

With Slater gone, Admiral Malek came right up to the door outside of sickbay to look in on the survivors. Brock and Marcus had to quickly hide around the corners of the door to avoid being spotted by him. Malek stood there for a moment and then moved on. They could hear his footsteps moving away.

With the situation outside settling down, Marcus and Brock both took a seat in the chairs lined up near the sickbay doorway, which were meant to serve as the waiting area. Both of them were feeling anxious and needed someone to talk to, if only to feel a little normal again. The last twenty-four hours had been particularly intense for the two friends. Brock, who normally took everything with a stiff upper lip, even looked a little tense.

“I know what happened to Lieutenant Lennox is still eating you up Marcus.” Brock talked first. “But if it makes you feel any better, what you did on that island is nothing compared to me. I’m the one who really did some really fucked up things during the mission.” He clasped his hands together, looking down at the floor. “Sure, you killed a few men, and that’s a terrible thing, especially when you’re not used to doing it, but what I’ve done is far worse. I bought back samples of that shit that turns people into walking atrocities. That goop could potentially kill millions if it ever got out, and I made it possible.”

“Well, you couldn’t have known that at the time…” Marcus began to reason.

“No… I actually did.” Brock interrupted. “I saw first-hand what that stuff could do, and I read through Dr. Veers notes about it. I had all of that knowledge, and still, I brought a sample out. And do you know why I did it…? Just to save my own skin… and my men. That’s all. Nothing more noble that than. Simple self-preservation. I told you Admiral Malek would not have let my squad back on board the Essex without that sample, and I meant it. The admiral would have bombed that island with us on it if he didn’t think we were coming back with something valuable. For him, it was high-risk, high-reward proposition. Maybe we were infected and maybe we weren’t, but without the reward, there’s no way he’d take that risk.”

Brock took a moment to collect his thoughts. Marcus just listened.

“Look what Malek had you do to Lieutenant Lennox.” Brock went on. “The slightest hint of infection, and bam, executed him and his men on the spot. He didn’t even try to see if they could be saved. That’s how dangerous this stuff is, and I put it in the hands of a man without any scruples that I’m aware of. There’s no telling what Malek might do now that he has the Matango spores. Dr. Veers’ research notes indicated that they were planning to use them against Godzilla, but he’s gone and there’s no guarantee that those spores would work if they tried to use it against a Kaiju either. Chances are they’d just end up spreading the spores in the process. After what I’ve done, I deserve to be infected with that junk.”

“I don’t think that’s fair...” Marcus tried to interject, but again, Brock just ignored him. This was the most intense outpouring of emotion Marcus had ever seen Brock express that wasn’t anger. He decided it was best to just let him get it out.

“And that prisoner we rescued…” Brock continued. “I didn’t do him any favors either, just bought him a little more time, that’s all. Maybe kept him from becoming a monster, but I doubt that is much comfort to him. You remember the last one we captured? He didn’t last very long after he stopped being useful, did he? It won’t matter what this one tells Malek either. There’s no way he is walking out of here and going home. It boils down to just one key thing: He knows about the Matango. Malek can’t let go with that information. His fate is sealed no matter what he does now. We’ve been in here in sickbay for almost an entire day, he’s most likely already dead. The majority of the crew never saw him, and those who did, have no doubt been ordered to keep quiet about it. It’ll be like he never existed.”

“Listen Brock, if I was put in your position, I don’t know what I would have done.” Marcus put a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. “It’s easy for other people to say: do the right thing and make the sacrifice for the greater good. But unless you are there yourself, it’s unfair to throw stones after the fact. Who am I to judge you? You made the best call you could at the time. We’re both going to have to learn to live with the consequences of our actions.”

“I’ve done some bad things in my life Marcus.” Brock remarked. “But this might just be the worst thing… I could use a smoke.”

“Maybe both of us will have the opportunity to make up for our mistakes, given time.” Marcus replied.



After three days of quarantine, Brock, Marcus, and the rest of the marines were screened one final time and then released back to active duty on board the Essex without any restrictions. However, each man was brought before Admiral Malek individually for debriefing. They were ordered not to discuss any of the details of the mission with anyone or face a court-martial. The whole affair was considered highly classified.

When it was Marcus’ turn, Admiral Malek wasted no time informing him that Lieutenant Lennox and his men had indeed been infected by the Matango fungus. Their bodies had been recovered and disposed of to prevent any possibility of the Matango spreading. The spores couldn’t survive very long in salty seawater, Dr. Veers research concluded as much, but if they sheltered inside of a floating corpse, they might one day find a new host to inhabit. Every trace of the Red Bamboo yacht was collected and burnt. Nothing was left to chance.

It seemed as though Admiral Malek was justified in ordering the strike, but Marcus still couldn’t look him in the eye. The experience was still quite traumatic and fresh in his mind. Malek informed Marcus that the truth of Lennox’s demise, and that of his men, was to be covered up. The official record would reflect that they were ambushed by Red Bamboo forces and killed in action on the island. Their bodies were incinerated by the napalm bombing and burn burnt beyond the point of any meaningful recovery.

Obviously, Admiral Malek wanted to keep the existence of the Matango fungi under wraps, and to that end, have as few people as possible aware of it. Marcus wasn’t certain to what lengths the admiral would go to guarantee its secrecy, so he offered no resistance to that idea whatsoever.

Even so, Malek made a veiled threat that if word got out about what had transpired during the mission, the stigma of killing his fellow soldiers would follow Marcus for the rest of his career in the Navy. Marcus couldn’t help but imagine it. Every man on the Essex watching him and whispering behind his back. Even though he was well-aware that Malek was trying to manipulate him, there was still a part of him afraid of the implication. It wasn’t like he could claim that the Admiral was lying about it. If it came down to it, Marcus was bound by the part he played in Lennox’s death.

Perhaps to lessen Marcus fears, Admiral Malek downplayed the dangers of the Matango fungus. He assured Marcus that it wasn’t as dangerous as he thought it was. Malek reasoned that Matango could be killed by things as basic and simple as fire and seawater. Because of that, containment was very much feasible. Case in point, they had all but wiped it out a massive infestation on the island in just a few short hours.

If Matango ever got out into the civilian population, sure there would be outbreaks and causalities, but once it was identified, it could be quickly contained and eradicated. The admiral argued that a boy scout with a lighter and a can of hairspray could single handedly take down a patch of Matango.

The Admiral then went on to list the potential benefits of using the Matango spores as a biological weapon. He specifically used fighting Kaiju as an example. He suggested that if a monster were to be infected with Matango, the fungus might actually kill it. At the very least, it could weaken a monster. Since Matango is so susceptible to fire, a monster infected with it could also become more vulnerable to fire. In particular, if the mushrooms broke through the notoriously tough hide of Kaiju, that would open up a breach in their defenses which could be exploited. Or, in a more extreme case, the Matango might be able to entirely take over their Kaiju host’s body, as it has shown to be able to do with smaller animals, then a little napalm could destroy it. The gigantic Matango entity the marines had encountered on the island was imposing but proved to be just as vulnerable to fire as the rest.

Malek was making a good case for a very questionable idea. In the back of Marcus head, he couldn’t shake the idea that Matango was too dangerous to use as a weapon. There were likely still a lot of things Dr. Veers hadn’t discovered about the nature of the Matango yet. A mistake made through ignorance might prove to be fatal. Using Matango on a larger land mass may open up a Pandora’s box and lead to more devastation than an average Kaiju attack could inflict.

Dr. Orsini had written up a report of his own about Matango. He compared Matango to Cordyceps, a parasitic fungus common all over the world. Cordyceps was mainly known for the grotesque way in which it infected insects, in particular ants and caterpillars, with its spores.

Cordyceps propagated its species by infiltrating the bodies of host animals with a network of roots that would slowly spread throughout their muscle tissue. Once it has taken root, it releases chemicals to affect the brain of its host, in effect drugging them. Then Cordyceps would then compel the ant or other organism to go wherever the light and humidity are ideal for the fungus to flourish. Once there, Cordyceps makes the ant to anchor itself down with a bite to hold it in place while its body begins to die.

Meanwhile, the Cordyceps fungus starts to emerge from its host, piercing through the exoskeleton and growing larger and larger until it is able to start producing spores of its own and restart the whole process over again. An interesting transformation from a scientific point of view, but simply monstrous for the host species enduring it.



An hour after his debriefing with the admiral, Marcus was called in for yet another briefing. Apparently, there was already another mission on the table.

As Marcus walked in, he saw something that put him on edge right away. Brock and all of the surviving marines from the previous mission were already sitting there front row. The pilot from the other helicopter that had been carrying Lennox’s team was there as well. It was the same lineup as the last operation, but with some additional men sitting behind them.

It made Marcus nervous. Whatever the new mission was, Admiral Malek could be using it as a set up to kill off all of the men from the previous operation covertly. What better way to ensure the secrecy of Matango’s existence than to kill off everyone who knows about it? Perhaps Marcus was just being paranoid, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was going to be in danger on this mission from enemies within their own ranks in addition to the foreign opposition they would face. Marcus took a seat with Brock and his boys. At least he knew he was amongst friends with them.

Before long, a crowd of other soldiers started to file in and began to fill in the numerous seats behind them. Marcus immediately deduced that this was going to be a much, much bigger operation than the previous one had been. There were a lot of marine NCOs present from various squads. They were the kind of hardnosed ground-pounds used primarily for assault missions. Coming in behind them were a lot of fighter pilots from the Essex, as well as helicopter pilots from the jeep carriers. Captains from several of the surface ships joined them too. Even Colonel Slater came to sit in on the briefing. It felt as though most of the important officers in the fleet were present. Whatever was going on was big.

Finally, Admiral Malek and Captain Hillard entered the briefing room and addressed the gathered men from a podium.

“Gentlemen, thank you for joining us, I’ll get right to the point.” Admiral Malek began. “We have recently acquired intelligence of the upmost importance. The Red Bamboo organization possesses a weapon of immense power. In short, they cannot be allowed to retain this weapon, or it could upend the balance of power in Asia. We are reasonably certain that the weapon, and the scientist that is responsible for creating it, are both being held on a nearby island. Through interrogating a POW captured during our last operation, we have learned that the base he came from is relatively close by. That base is the central headquarters for the Red Bamboo’s entire organization.”

“So, you plan to attack and crush it.” Colonel Slater remarked.

“No exactly.” Admiral Malek answered. “In the end, the destruction of the base is one of our primary goals, but there is also a great opportunity here. The weapon itself could be an invaluable resource. If we were able to seize it, along with the scientist, it could give us an edge in the battles to come.” Marcus could detect a certain amount of lust in Malek’s eyes while he was taking about it. Whatever this weapon was, he wanted it badly.

“The scientist is Dr. Serizawa.” Captain Hillard added. “The Red Bamboo abducted him from Tokyo some time ago and are holding him against his will. You will be able to distinguish him by the black patch he wears on his right eye. The project he is working on is of paramount importance. We need to capture him at all costs.”

“You mean rescue, right?” Colonel Slater observed.

“Yes, of course, naturally.” Admiral Malek corrected. “Any equipment and research notes are to be secured as well. This is top priority gentlemen. Pull this off, and I’ll be handing out metals and promotions by the bucketload.”

“Here is our target.” Captain Hillard revealed a large chalk drawing of the island behind them. “The operation will begin with a surprise assault by our fighter planes. They will strategically hit targets to cripple the islands defenses: Troop barracks, hard points, pill boxes, and aa guns positions. The island is defended, but not well fortified. If we hit the Red Bamboo hard and fast from the outset, they won’t stand a chance. The big guns of the fleet will target their larger facilities and pound them to dust, being careful to avoid the research facility where Dr. Serizawa is being held. There is an airstrip on the island, but there are not any enemy fighters present at this time. We’ll have a squadron fly a surveillance flight over it at the outset of the raid just in case our intelligence is not 100% reliable.”

“Helicopters carrying marines will closely follow the initial attacks to gain a foothold on the ground.” Admiral Malek noted. “They will clear out any pockets of resistance that remains, being supported by close air cover and naval guns. Each marine squad will have their own dedicated destroyer assigned for shore bombardment duty and at least two jets a piece. You run into anything to feel you can’t handle, call them in. You should only be dealing with enemy infantry. The red bamboo have not deployed any armor yet. This base is still under construction, and full defenses have not been implemented. We’re going to exploit that weakness.” Captain Hillard started to point out specific areas where targets were likely to be found and went about assigning individual units to each of them.

“This sounds pretty risky.” Brock leaned over and whispered to Marcus. “No matter how soft he says this target is, none of us have seen it for ourselves. We in fact have no idea what we are walking into. Admiral Malek has to be planning this whole thing around the word of the prisoner alone. That certainly can’t be counted on to be reliable. If the Admiral is willing to take that kind of risk, this weapon must really be something. Three days ago, he was all about the Matango samples, and now he’s completely set that aside for this. What the hell could this new weapon be…?”

“The operation will begin in two days.” Captain Hillard wrapped up the briefing. “Report back to your units and fill them in on what is expected of them. Good luck out there men.” He saluted, dismissing them.



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Two days later, Brock and Marcus were making last minute preparations on the deck of the Essex. The weapon modifications to Marcus’ helicopter would definitely come in handy. Despite his initial misgivings, it gave them a lot more tactical flexibility, and the means to answer threats as they came.

“I’ve got some reinforcements for you sergeant.” Colonel Slater came up to Brock with a pair of marines in toe. “The admiral wants to make sure you have enough muscle for the mission, seeing as your team is the one that’s going to raid the research facility.”

“Guess you can’t have too much firepower on your side when you’re in the shit.” Brock noted with a smirk, looking over the new soldiers. Marcus eyed the two men suspiciously from the background. He was eavesdropping on the conversation and didn’t like the fact that there were going to be new faces joining them. It might just be that these new men were there specifically to ensure none of them made it back from the operation. Marcus took the precaution to hide an extra service pistol inside of his flight suit, just in case. “Marcus, you think we’ve got enough space for these two devil-dogs?” Brock asked.

“I think we can made do.” Marcus turned, summoning a smile.

Meanwhile, the Sabres fighters were already lined up to go on the deck of the Essex. The general quarters alarm began to ring out, letting everyone know it was time to begin the operation. Marcus, Brock, and the marines scrambled aboard the helicopter and began to strap themselves in. Marcus noted the scent of some type of heavy cleaning residue inside the cabin. Admiral Malek must have had every inch of the helicopter scrubbed to ensure there were no left over Matango spores still inside. The whole thing had a stale clinical aroma as they settled in.

“It’s got that new car smell, doesn’t it?” Brock noted sitting down. “Not sure I care for it. Pine would be an improvement, though I don’t much care for that either.”

“Keep an eye on your new men.” Marcus leaned over and told Brock quietly. “I got a bad feeling about them.” Brock didn’t say a word, but he stared at Marcus curiously for a moment.

“Alright boss, whatever you say.” Brock finally replied, before leaning back into his seat.

Outside, the jets were taking off past them down the runway one by one. On the waves, the huge warships of the fleet began to rotate their turrets, angling and elevating them. Marcus waited just a few more moments. He wanted to ensure the jets got a sizable head start to ensure the island’s defenses were well softened up per the battleplan. He saw other helicopters beginning to rise from the jeep carriers and he knew he couldn’t wait any longer. They got underway and joined the back of the pack.

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Once the swarm of helicopters had gotten several miles away from the fleet, they could hear the opening salvo of the bombardment beginning. The heavy guns of the Nebraska started things off with a thunderous report. The shells were being lobbed over the helicopter strike group. A moment later, Marcus could see the massive glowing yellow shells arching over their formation on the way to the island. A few seconds later, he saw plumes of smoke and fire rising up from the island as dozens of them landed.

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As the formation of helicopters drew closer, Marcus could see the jets diving down on targets. There were several Red Bamboo warships in the harbor. One of them took a significant hit from the attacking aircraft, but its armor belt held up to the punishment. The island’s defenses started to come alive as the attack progressed. AA fire rose up, trying mostly in vain to hit the fast-moving Sabres. The dotting lines of tracer fire only served to reveal their positions and made it easier for the fighters to target them. Some shore batteries also started return fire, dueling with the Archimedes fleet, though they were heavily outgunned. A five-inch shell managed to hit the side of the Nebraska, but it simply bounced off of her heavy armor.

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The group of helicopters had closed to the point where they could make out individual pill boxes and bunkers near the beach. Quite a few of them had not been taken out yet. The formation would be entering firing range within moments and most of the helicopters did not have the same modifications that Marcus’ did. Therefore, they would have to rely only on their door mounted guns to defend themselves. Marcus realized they needed to give the fleet and fighters more time to thin out the enemy defenses.

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“This is Raider One to squadron.” Marcus addressed the other helicopter pilots. “I don’t know about the rest of you boys, but I think we outta circle the block one or two more times to give the Sabres another minute to clean up the streets.”

“Affirmative Raider One.” The leading chopper replied. “I concur. Still looks like a mess down there.” One by one, all of the choppers reported in agreeable.

“Ok, everyone start banking to the left on my mark.” Marcus replied. “Just play follow-the-leader and circle for the time being.”

Down in the bay, the small Red Bamboo fleet started to make its way towards the open water and out of the kill zone. They were just sitting ducks in the port. To have any chance at all, they needed to be able to maneuver. Most of them were smaller torpedo craft which could cause havoc in the Archimedes Fleet’s formation if they could get in close enough to utilize their weapons.

As Marcus watched the ships escaping, he noticed something very odd in the bay. There were some type of markers all over in the water. They were wooden poles with painted tops in a color coordinated pattern. Their purpose was unclear, but there were hundreds of them all over the place. They couldn’t have been there long. The cuts of the wood looked fresh and untarnished by the water. Something was very off. Marcus had never seen a harbor with these types of markings before. It was like some sort of experiment.

As the Red Bamboo continued out of the bay, something else caught Marcus’ eye. At the mouth of the harbor, a dark mass was moving in under the water towards the ships. The water of the bay churned as whatever it was began to rise to the surface. As Marcus suspected, it was a Kaiju, but it wasn’t one he had ever seen before. In fact, it was one of the strangest ones he’d laid his eyes upon yet.

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The monster was crimson red around its head, which was vaguely humanlike, and onyx-black nearly everywhere else. Most of the creature’s body was covered in spikey crustacean-like armored plates. The kaiju had entirely pale blue eyes with no signs of pupils, which gave it an other-worldly appearance. It lacked any sort of traditional mouth and instead had some sort of tendrils hanging down from its face. The monster had vestiges of a nose, though it looked rather corpse-like, whittled down to a just the sinus cavities. The creature had two disproportionally large arms, each with serrated claws which closely resembled a crab. The monster also had four nodules on its head that Marcus could not identify a purpose for. Finally, it had two rows of pleopods on its abdomen which appeared to be one of the methods by which it propelled itself through the water. Under those, there was more black carapace armor protecting its underbelly. Overall, it had a menacing and malevolent look to it.

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The Red Bamboo ships saw the monster coming at them and began to maneuver out of the way, but it was no use. The creature quickly closed the gap and snapped up the lead destroyer, slicing it in half with its claws. The two halves of the ship came splashing back down to the water and the surviving sailors began to swim away for their lives. Seeing that there was no chance of escape, the remaining Red Bamboo ships opened fire on the monster. Most of their rounds bounced harmlessly off the black armor, but the creature took notice when a shell exploded against its face.

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The crustacean monster turned towards the offending vessel and the nodules on its head lit up, emitting thin yellowish-green rays. The rays cut right through the armor of the ship and sliced it into three separate sections. There was only one Red Bamboo ship remaining now and the monster simply smashed one of its claws down upon the vessel before making its way towards the shore.

As the monster reached the middle of the bay, the Red Bamboo shore batteries prioritized targeting it over the Archimedes fleet. Shells explored all around the creature. The Sabre fighters hammering the island’s defensive emplacements had taken notice of the monster by now too and pulled away, not certain what to do next. The best course of action was to withdraw and wait for additional orders from Admiral Malek.

The monster paused in the bay and again let loose with its deadly cutting rays. The beach area was torn up. Sand and soil were blasted into the air. What remained of the shore guns fell silent as their crews recognized a losing battle and abandoned their positions. It seemed as though the monster had triumphed. Now unopposed, it began to move once more, but something was amiss. The monster paused again, as though in sensed something happening.

The waters around the monster were unsettled. There were bubbles rising to the surface of the water all over the bay. Slowly, a chain chemical reaction was taking place below. The reaction intensified and the monster on the surface began to respond to it. The gurgling foam in the bay continued to build more and more until water all over was raging so intensely that it appeared to be boiling. After just a few seconds, the huge creature sitting in water was clearly showing signs of distress and pain.

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The monster shrieked out horribly, and then made a desperate effort to get to the shore and out of the water. Its every movement looked agonizing. A trail of blood was left in its wake. Before long, flakes of the monster’s shell began rising to the surface. Shortly thereafter, large chunks of its flesh and vital organs bubbled up like some sort of meaty red soup. Every moment that passed seemed to get worse.

Finally, the creature halted in the water, not able to go any further. It slumped over and began to sink into the bay. As it fell, the lower half of its body was exposed, or at least what was left of it. The monster had been eaten down nearly to its core, which was almost completely gone by that point. Remnants of muscle were the only solid things left. The shock of it to the soldiers watching was intense. No one had expected to see such a disturbing sight.

The Red Bamboo sailors that had been in the water swimming away from their wrecked ships were also melting away into nothing. They had been further away from the epicenter of the reaction, but by that point, only their skeletal remains still endured. The other tissues had already melted away from their bones. It was a grisly sight. What was left of the monster by that point sank down and began to degenerate. Within moments, only a red stew remained, staining the gushing unstable waters. In time, even the blood was consumed by the water. Finally, no trace of the monster was left. The remains of the Red Bamboo sailors had entirely disappeared by that point too.

“I think I’m going to be sick…” One of the raw recruits said in the cabin behind Marcus. It was no idle threat. Seconds later, he indeed vomited. Marcus mostly ignored him though. He was still captivated by the carnage unfolding below them. This had to be the weapon Malek was so keen to get his hands on. A weapon that was capable of killing a Kaiju with such ease was valuable beyond measure. The sheer magnitude and terror such a weapon presented.

As he watched, Marcus noted something else curious. The wreckage of the Red Bamboo vessels seemed unaffected by the chemical stew. The metal hulls just floated on the surface, while anything remotely organic was disintegrated. Even the wooden poles that had been placed in the water forming the outer ring of the experiment were gone. The device only seemed to destroy organic tissue. Metals could withstand it. That was very noteworthy.

“This is Captain Hillard to Raider flight, proceed with your attack.” His ordered came through over the radio as the chemical reaction was starting to subside in the bay.

With that, the lead helicopter changed course and operation was renewed. The soldiers all tried to focus on the mission, but the shock of what they had all just seen still persisted none the less. There was no forgetting it. The helicopters at the front from the group hesitated to fully commit to the attack. Little by little, their courage rallied until they were throwing themselves at the island’s air defenses.

The frontline defenses of the Red Bamboo base had been smashed. Only a handful of them were still actively trying to resist. The first wave of helicopters bypassed many of those positions before landing, choosing instead to take them from behind with relative ease. The marines couldn’t simply ignore all of the defensive positions though. If they flew too far into the island’s interior, they would risk their landing zones being surrounded from the outset of the battle, which could be a lethal mistake.

Between the bombardment, the air strikes, and the monster’s assault, the island’s defenses were in pretty poor shape overall. Many positions were outright abandoned, but some of the braver Red Bamboo soldiers had held on tenaciously through everything that had been thrown at them. Pill boxes came alive with machine gun fire as the helicopters approached them.

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From the second wave of helicopters, Marcus could see marines dispersing and taking the fight to the enemy from the first wave. The leading squad on the ground advanced until it got pinned down in front of a concrete bunder. Marcus saw two marines get gunned down as they tried to charge it. His blood rose to his face. He couldn’t let that stand. Marcus took the opportunity to dive down and use one of his rocket pods to attack the fortified Red Bamboo position. Out of the four rockets he fired, one of them found its way inside of the bunker and exploded, silencing the machine gun fire. Satisfied with that, Marcus held back the second pod for later.

Marcus’ door gunner meanwhile was hammering away at lightly defended machine gun nest that only had sandbags protecting it. Sandbags were a great defense for slowing down infantry, but it was next to useless against an enemy attacking from above. The two machine gunners dueled each other for a few intense seconds. Some of the enemy fire actually ricocheted against the choppers side, but in the end, the gunner in the chopper held the advantage and won out. He mowed down the Red Bamboo soldiers below.

The Red Bamboo’s second defensive line was already weakened beforehand but loosing those two key positions badly compromised their network. Marines were breaching through in several places. Soon, they’d be able flank around and start folding up what was left the line. It was just a matter of time before the rest was overran. Shattered Red Bamboo units were already beginning to run, seeing the writing on the wall. Door gunners from other helicopters were mowing them down wherever they could. Allowing them to reach their third line would only make the rest of the fight that much harder.

Marcus’ wave had reached their designated landing zone and began to descend. Resistance in that area was much stronger. There were more Red Bamboo positions hidden amongst the trees that the planes had missed. An AA-battery managed to down one of the helicopters as it approached. Attacking their third defensive line was turning into more of a proper fight. The marines were approaching the outskirts of the actual Red Bamboo base. With nowhere else to go, their troopers had to hold the line right there or die trying.

Marcus landed and Brock’s boys piled out, getting into themselves into the fray. Those first few moments of the landing were chaotic. Everyone was scrambling to get to cover as quickly as possible. The chopper blades muffling the sounds of shouting and gunfire. Brock heard several bullets whiz by him. Way too close for comfort. As he got further away from the chopper, he could hear the crackle of machine guns in the near distance. He finally got to a boulder and found refuge. The rest of his men either followed him there or found their own places to take cover.

Marcus pulled the helicopter back out quickly; he was taking way more fire than he was comfortable with. There were three Red Bamboo soldiers nearby who were taking pot shots at him. With the squad all hunkered down now, they were in a position to fight back effectively. The marines had the numbers advantage, and they knew it. Brock rose up first, using his Thompson to suppress the enemy troopers for a moment, which gave his men the opportunity to look out and start selecting targets.

When Brock’s clip ran dry, the other marines had taken aim and were ready to start picking off the Red Bamboo soldiers. The first one peaked around the tree he was hiding behind and got a bullet in the chest for his trouble. The second Red Bamboo soldier got a shot off without taking much fire in return. Brock reloaded quickly and then perched himself waiting behind the rock. Sure enough, the third man popped up and Brock was ready for him. He put a round right into the man’s forehead. When the second Red Bamboo soldier noticed what had happened to his two buddies, he made a run for it, but in so doing left his back exposed. Brock turned his weapon and shot him down.

From there, the marine squad advanced unmolested and found a nice fallen coconut tree to hide behind. The tree had been taken down by a random naval shell from earlier. The bombardment from the ships had not only take out several key defensive positions, but also given the marines the benefit of extra cover, as well as holes to dive into as they moved forward.

Brock’s squad advanced from cover to cover until they ran into their first major challenge. Opposite of them was another enemy pillbox with two heavy machine guns inside. The Red Bamboo defenders had spotted the marines coming and were just waiting for them to make a move. After a moment, one of them tried to provoke a response by putting a few rounds into the log. That rattled one of the replacements who Brock had to hold down, but everyone else knew well enough to stay put.

Just then, the marines could hear a sound getting louder. It was a wheezing, whistling sound. From past experience, Brock knew exactly what was about to happen. Those were big shells coming in from naval cannons. One of the other marine squads must have called for artillery support nearby.

“Everyone down!” Brock shouted urgently.

The shells came in and landed about a hundred yards away trying to hit another target. There were three explosions in quick succession, each one of them massive and shaking the ground. The concussive force was apparent even from that far away. They missed whatever they were aiming at, but debris came raining down all over the place from all the displaced dirt. It clanged against the helmets of Brock’s squad. It had to have been the eighteen-inch guns of the Nebraska.

“Maybe we should call in naval support too sir?” One of the replacements suggested.

“No, they’re not that precise.” Brock said dismissively. “They’d end up shelling us right along with the enemy. Whoever called in that attack is probably learning that very lesson right now.”

“Ever gotten out of a tight situation like this before Sarg?” The other replacement asked.

“He managed to fart his way out of church once, does that count?” Eddie snickered with a smirk.

“Shut up private.” Brock glared over to him. “We got just the thing right here.” He waved at Richards who brought up his bazooka. Brock didn’t even have to tell him what to do. Richards found a nice safe spot to take aim while the rest of the squad popped up to provide covering fire. The Red Bamboo machine gunners were completely distracted while Richards prepared to fire off his round.

“Bend over and kiss your dreams goodbye you yellow commie bastards.” Richards fired. His projectile found its mark. It blew up inside the concrete bunker, filling it with dust and debris. However, the explosion only killed one of the Red Bamboo soldiers. The other man was only stunned for a moment and wasn’t out of the fight.

One of Brock’s replacement men popped up and saw the seemingly empty machine gun nest and then hopped over the safety of their cover. With a rebel yell, he charged forward.

“We got’em now boys!” He shouted confidently.

“What are you doing?!” Brock shouted furiously. “Stay down you idiot!”

The Red Bamboo machine gunner came to his senses and saw the marine running towards him. He quickly took aim. Brock and the rest of the squad tried to cover the lone marine, but it was useless. The machine gun roared into action and round after round tore through the solitary soldier until he crashed face down into a bloody mess in the dirt. Richards was ready to fire off a second round by that point and put down the Red Bamboo soldier for good with his second shot. The bazooka round hit the Red Bamboo soldier directly, turning the top potion of his torso into a juicy red mist in less than a second.

At that point, other marine squads were coming up around on either side of Brock’s flanks. Together, they carefully advanced forward upon the facility.



Marcus meanwhile was still drawing a lot of ground fire and was doing everything he could to avoid it. His evasive maneuvers eventually took him to the far side of the Red Bamboo base where he spotted an airstrip. Marcus could see that there was a runway for planes, but no facilities for operating jet fighters in any meaningful capacity. There did happen to be a cargo plane taking off though. It was an ilyushin il-14. Marcus reached for his com to call it in.

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“This is Marcus in Raider One.” He began. “I see an ilyushin il-14 escaping the island heading northeast. I’m too slow to catch him. I’d recommend one of the Sabres goes and takes him down before he gets away.”

“Negative Raider One, Dr. Serizawa could be on board that plane.” Admrial Malek himself came over the radio. “His strategic value is absolute. Do not, I repeat, do not fire upon that craft. Let it go for now. If that is an ilyushin il-14 cargo plane, then it’s very slow and it does not have radar capability. I can put a Sabre with drop tanks on its tail. That ilyushin will lead us right to the next Red Bamboo base. The range of a plane like that is just over eight-hundred miles and I doubt it will go that far.”

“What about the doctor?” Marcus asked. “Isn’t this party all about him?”

“Even if we lose Dr. Serizawa here, there will be other opportunities.” Malek replied. “If that plane is headed northeast, then it’s not headed for mainland Asia. It has to be going to another island base. If they indeed have Serizawa aboard, we’ll catch up to them there. Focus your efforts on capturing the facility for the time being.”



Back on the ground, Brock and his men were closing in on the facility grounds. Red Bamboo soldiers from the far side of the island figured out that their headquarters was on the verge of being taken and left their positions to try to defend it. They were at a major disadvantage though. The marines were massing on the outskirts of the jungle while they were running into the open grounds surrounding the compound. Worse for them still, the Sabre jets had returned and were hammering the few safe positions where Red Bamboo soldiers were taking cover. It was turning into a blood bath.

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Brock felt the heat of a canister of napalm exploding ahead of them. It wiped out an entire unit of Red Bamboo soldiers who were all huddled together. He almost felt bad for them. He could see one survivor running away on fire. The strafing was so frequent and intense that he couldn’t risk advancing his own men into the open area until the Jets had finished up or they’d risk taking friendly fire themselves. Such as it was, the marines stayed put and sniped at the Red Bamboo when they had the opportunities to do so.

Finally, the jets pulled out and left the rest of the attack to the men on the ground. The area immediately ahead of Brock’s squad and been pulverized and offered no resistant whatsoever so they moved in. As they advanced, they saw that the Red Bamboo compound was in ruins. Not many of the buildings had been left standing.

About halfway to the Red Bamboo headquarters, Brock’s squad saw a fresh batch of enemy soldiers charging towards them. Brock’s men were just cresting a small rise in the grass, so he signaled for them to lay down hold the position. They did exactly that and started to pick off the enemy who were still bravely charging them despite men falling out of the formation regularly. Brock tossed a grenade out into their path which exploded just as the first few men passed it. The resulting explosion broke the enemy charge. Those Red Bamboo men who weren’t wounded or killed outright took cover and started to exchange rifle fire with Brock’s.

“Sarg, there’s more of them coming from this way!” Eddie announced in an urgent unsteady voice.

Brock turned to see that Eddie was indeed correct. Another full squad of Red Bamboo men were advancing on them from the side. Brock’s marines were about to get flanked. One of the surviving Red Bamboo soldiers from the first charge lobbed a grenade of his own at the marines, which exploded nearby Eddie who cried out in pain. Brock crawled over to him to examine the damage. It was bad.

“To think I made it through that walking fungus business just to die here on this shithole island.” Eddie complained with a grimace. It was the one time he was right about something. He was bleeding out from several wounds and Brock couldn’t do a thing to stop it. Not in the middle of a firefight anyway.

Brock rose up and unloaded his Thompson towards the second group of Red Bamboo men, cutting down enough of them to persuade the rest to go to ground. In doing so, Brock exposed himself to the first group of Red Bamboo soldiers though and he took a round to the arm. The bullet tore through his deltoid and passed right on through. It hurt a lot, but the bullet had only grazed Brock. It was enough to convince him to get back down again though. Brock spared a moment to look at Eddie again. Eddie was already dead.

The marines were in trouble. The Red Bamboo were closing in on them from two sides and they were outnumbered. Brock patched himself up the best he could while the other marines kept up the fight. By that point, blood had streamed down his arm all of the way to his hand. It made grasping his weapon slippery. Without the suppressing fire of Brock’s Thompson, the second Red Bamboo squad renewed their charge and were only fourth yards away from being on top of the marines with fixed bayonets.

At that moment, a series of explosions ripped through the Red Bamboo ranks, sending several of them flying, while others simply were blown to pieces. Marcus’ helicopter passed closely over the marines on the hill. His carefully aimed rocket strike had made the save.

Marcus banked around hard and came back using his nose cannon to tear up more Red Bamboo troopers. His side gunner focused on the other bunch. Together, they tore their ranks to pieces and put them to flight. There were only a few of them left by that point. Brock’s squad was out of immediate danger. They could now proceed to the Red Bamboo base unopposed. Marcus stayed close by, just in case, but the compound was nearly empty aside from bodies.

Finally, the marines reached the headquarters building itself. By that point in the battle, the structure only had the semblance of being a building. It still had most of its four walls, but a large section of the roof and the upper floors had been blown out. A shell from one of the naval cannons must have strayed off course and struck it. Debris fallen from the upper floors had collapsed around the doors of the rear exit blocking them off.

“Sorry guys, I can’t help you once you’re inside.” Marcus noted. “Call me down when you need me again. I’m going to see if I can find a secure landing zone nearby.” Setting down on the roof of the facility certainly wasn’t an option.

“Roger.” Brock replied. “Thanks for your help Marcus.”

Having only one clear way in, the marines approached the front entrance of the headquarters. Brock thought he saw moment through one of the dark windows. He wasn’t going to take any chances. Brock had Richards take his bazooka and blow open the doors. Richards wasted no time in doing so. The windows around the entrance were also shattered by the explosion. Brock directed two of his men to cover each while the rest of his marines charged forward towards the entrance. Once they reached the threshold, Brock motioned for his squad mates to stop. He took two grenades, pulled the pins, and threw them inside. He waited for them to go off, then signaled for everyone to move in immediately afterwards.

There was no resistance to speak of, but as the smoke started to clear, Brock found several bodies. There had indeed been Red Bamboo men waiting to ambush them just inside the doors. One of them was crawling away with only one leg. The man was dragging a bloody stump, leaving a streak of blood behind him. Brock took out his service revolver and put one round into the back of his head, ending his suffering. Brock heard more shots. His men took down two other enemies who were still alive and disoriented from the explosions.

With the room seemingly secured, Brock took a closer look at the fallen defenders. These Red Bamboo men were not actually soldiers. Brock could see from their uniforms that they were security officers specifically meant to guard the headquarters building. There had been eight of them in all. Brock hoped that they had gotten all of them already. He was tired, dirty, and banged up. If there wasn’t any more resistance from here on out, he’d be just fine with that.

It didn’t take Brock’s squad long to locate the lab area. Interestingly, the door leading into it was heavily reinforced. Wasting no time, they shot off the lock and forced their way inside. To his surprise, Brock was immediately greeted with a heavy layer of smoke billowing out of the lab as he stepped inside. There was a fire burning inside of it. Brock let the worse of the smoke escape the room before he went in. He took a rag and put it over his mouth. His eyes stung though.

The room was shrouded in smoke, but Brock could make out the source of the fire. A Bunson burner had been left on and seemingly knocked over, perhaps when the shell hit the facility it fell. The walls of the room were made out of cement, which was the only thing that had kept the fire from spreading out of control, but some paperwork and the wooden counter were blazing away.

Brock saw a sink nearby the fire and turned it on. He quickly found a bucket under the sink and started to fill it. While he was waiting on that, he turned off the gas to the burner to keep the fire spreading any more than it already had. There were other stations with sinks in the lab and the other marines set about filling up additional buckets. When Brock’s was almost full, he tossed the water onto the flames which slowed the fire down some. Little by little, the marines got the fire under control. With the source of the flames subdued, the smoke began to clear out of the room.

On the floor, they found a man in a white lab coat passed out from the smoke. He had a black eye patch and appeared to be Japanese. On the far side of the room, Brock could see a holding cell. The door had been forced open. That must have been where the Red Bamboo were keeping the kidnapped Serizawa and forced him to do research for them. Brock guessed when the fire broke out Dr. Serizawa must have broken out of his cell to try to put it out. Only he didn’t make it there before the smoke took him down.

“Salvage whatever you can.” Brock ordered his men, looking over some paperwork. “Bring it with us.”

“Hey sarg, he’s still breathing.” Richards called over to Brock. Dr. Serizawa coughed from the floor and started to stir. Brock came to take a closer look at him. Dr. Serizawa opened his one good eye and stared at Brock disoriented.

“Well… tough old son of a bitch.” Brock smiled down at him. “Help him up. He’s coming with us too.” Two of the marines helped the Serizawa to his feet. “Richards, get Marcus on the radio and let him know we’re coming out. Find out where the hell he landed, and we’ll come to him. And while you’re at it, tell the other squads not to shoot at us when we come out.”

As the marines slowly made their way out of the facility, Dr. Serizawa was starting to come around more. He was able to walk rather than just be dragged.

“Sarg, Marcus says he sat down to the northeast of here.” Richards reported. “He found a nice quiet spot on a cliff overlooking the sea.”

“Leave it to him to make us climb up a damn hill.” Brock groaned. “It’ll do though.”

Brock’s squad carefully left the grounds of the Red Bamboo base. There was still scattered fighting here and there, but the marines were firmly in control now. They were just mopping up pockets of resistance by that point. Brock and his men kept Dr. Serizawa in the center of their ranks to protect him. They crept into the cover of the jungle.

“How far is it?” Brock asked. “Did Marcus say?”

“Only about a half-mile.” Richards answered. “So, maybe fifteen minutes of walking, even through this thick bush.”

“Good, the sooner we’re on our way the better.” Brock remarked.

Suddenly a shot rang out and one of Brock’s men dropped. The rest of the marines immediately ducked for cover. Brock looked over to the fallen solder. He was facedown and motionless. The exit wound through his back put the point of entry right by his heart. Whoever had fired on them took the marine out with one precise shot. It had to have been an enemy sniper. The shot had come from in front of them. Brock could determine that much from the entry and exit wounds. There wasn’t any more gunfire. The sniper was waiting for them to make a move and break cover.

Brock decided to give him a target to shoot at. He took off his helmet and put a nearby coconut inside of it, then raised helmet up and outside the safety of his hiding place. The sniper took the bait and put a round right through the side of the helmet. Coconut milk spilled onto Brock’s hands. He quickly looked up and saw a small puff of smoke in the trees ahead of them. The sniper had climbed up there to avoid detection.

“I’ve got him boys.” Brock announced. “The bastard is up in that big tree to our one o’clock. I think we are dealing with just one man. Snell and Hansen, take out your smoke grenades and prepare to throw them to give us some cover. I’m pretty sure he’s still focused on my position. On the count of three, I’ll distract him for you.”

“Ok sarg.” Snell replied. “I’ll be ready on your count.”

“Me too.” Hansen confirmed.

“Alright.” Brock prepared his Thompson again. “One… two… THREE!!!” Brock aimed his gun over the rock, and without exposing himself, fired off about five rounds. Snell and Hansen came out from their hiding places and tossed their grenades and then retreated back to safety. Smoke began to billow out and rose up to impede the sniper’s vision. Brock sat there and waited to allow the maximum amount of smoke to fill the air. “Everyone get ready!” Brock shouted. “We hit that tree together in three. One… two… three!”

The marines all broke cover and unloaded everything they had into the tree simultaneously. Through the smoke, they could see something fall down. The marines cautiously approached through the hazy jungle to ensure they killed their target, but another shot rang out. The sniper was still alive. It was unclear if they had hit him or not. His second shot hadn’t found a target. He was just firing out of desperation. At that point, all the marines could do was aim for his muzzle flash of the return fire. Everyone was fighting blind.

As the chaos ensured, Brock saw a shadow flash pass behind him in the smoke. He turned and realized that Dr. Serizawa was running away from them.

“God damn it.” Brock cursed. “Hey fresh meat.” He was addressing the other surviving replacement marine. “Get on his ass.” He pointed to Dr. Serizawa. “We can’t afford to lose him.”

“Yes sir!” The marine left the firefight and went after him.

At that point, Brock was sick of getting shot at and took matters into his own hands. Since no one could use a precise weapon and was just taking shots in the dark, he decided something a little less precise might be just the thing needed. He took out a grenade and waited for the sniper to fire again. Once Brock saw another muzzle flash, he threw his grenade as close to it as he could.

“Everybody down!” Brock alerted his men, not wanting any of his marines to catch a stray piece of shrapnel. The grenade went off and all was quite afterwards. “Everybody hold your positions.” He ordered and then began to crawl forward cautiously with his weapon out in front of him. A breeze from the ocean blew in and slowly the smoke started to clear. Little by little, the forest ahead of him was becoming visible.

Finally, Brock could make out something that wasn’t natural. There was a big black boot sitting on the ground about fifteen yards in front of him. Inside of the boot there was a foot. A foot that had been blown off the person it belonged to. Close by, Brock found the rest of the body. He had gotten the sniper with the grenade. He was dead.

“Alright everyone, it’s over.” Brock announced. “Let’s find Dr. Serizawa and then get back to the chopper.”



Up on the cliff, Marcus was waiting for Brock and his squad inside of helicopter. His door gunner kept a weary eye towards the jungle for any signs of movement. He had heard the nearby gunfire and was taking no chances. Finally, something did grab his attention. He held his fire just long enough to identify who it was.

“Sir, I got something.” The gunner reported. “Out there, a man in a white lab coat.”

“Hold your fire.” Marcus requested. “That might just be what we came here for. Why is he wandering around by himself though?” He wondered out loud. “He looks exhausted.” Dr. Serizawa stumbled as he made his way up the hill. “Stay here, I’m going to go try to talk to him. Keep me covered though.”

Marcus exited the helicopter and started to make his way towards Dr. Serizawa. As he got closer to him, he saw a fresh blood stain on his lab coat.

“Are you hurt?” Marcus asked. Dr. Serizawa ignored his question entirely. He was acting strangely. Serizawa had a blank expression and appeared to be a little delirious. Sweat was pouring down his face. The doctor walked past Marcus without a word, almost as though he didn’t see him. At no point did he make eye contact. Marcus looked over Serizawa closely as he passed by and saw no visible wounds. The blood did not appear to be his own.

Dr. Serizawa went up to the edge of the cliff overlooking the ocean and then sat down on a small boulder he found there. He rested, looking out at the setting sun. Marcus kept his distance, giving Dr. Serizawa a little bit of space, but he carefully kept watch over him. The doctor just observed the waves coming in and going out. A soft breeze was blowing through the grass around him.

As he stood there watching, Marcus became aware that someone was standing behind him. He turned and saw it was one of the newly assigned marines with his rifle. There were no signs of the rest of the squad, it was only him. Marcus did not like that. He thought about the pistol he was still hiding in his flight suit. If he was quick enough, he might be able to get to it before the marine knew what was happening. Marcus decided it wasn’t a good idea. The marine’s gun was already at this shoulder. He only had to turn the weapon slightly and he’d be able to take Marcus out. He decided to take a more diplomatic approach.

“Do you mind lowering your weapon private?” Marcus asked, trying to hide his anxiety.

“What…?” The marine asked, confused by the question. He looked down and realized he had his weapon pointed in the general direction a superior officer. “Oh, sure. Sorry sir.” He quickly changed his posture to a more relaxed stance, then walked up to join Marcus. “Has he said anything to you?” The marine asked. “We haven’t gotten a word out of him since we picked him up. He was caught up in a fire in the lab. That’s where we found him.” The marine explained.

“Where’s the sergeant?” Marcus asked, still suspicious of the marine. He was careful to keep the marine in front of him at all times.

“A sniper pinned down the rest of the squad on the way here.” The marine reported. “The doctor bolted on us. At that point, Sergeant Brock sent me after him and here we are.”

“I see.” Marcus replied. ‘That does sound somewhat reasonable.’ He thought to himself. ‘It would explain all of the gunfire we just heard. He didn’t hesitate even for a second thinking about his answer. If he’s a liar, he’s a heck of a good one.’ Marcus stood there looking him over and thinking. ‘If he wanted to shoot me, he had every opportunity to do so a moment ago when my back was turned.’ Marcus reasoned. ‘He could have easily fired from the cover of the jungle so the side gunner on the chopper couldn’t see him do it. Maybe this guy is ok.’ He concluded. “What’s your name soldier?” Marcus asked.

“I’m Crosby.” He replied, holding out his hand for Marcus to shake. Marcus paused briefly, but eventually did accept the gesture of good faith. “Should we try to converse with him?” He motioned to Dr. Serizawa. “The admiral said that he studied in the states for a while. So, we can assume he understands a least some English.”

“I tried already.” Marcus answered. “He’s either unable or unwilling to speak with us at this time. I think we should just give him a little space for now. Until the rest of the squad makes it back, we aren’t going anywhere anyways. Looks to me like he is trying to work through some things.” Marcus observed. He could see that Dr. Serizawa had come out of his daze and was now visibly upset.

The clunking and shaking of equipment announced the approach of the rest of the squad as they double-timed up the hill. Marcus could see that they were two men short of what they had set out with, but Brock was there in the lead. Marcus was relieved that Brock was not dead somewhere out in the jungle. It meant that he could finally relax. Crosby’s story appeared to have checked out. Brock saw Dr. Serizawa sitting idly by the cliff as they got close.

“What the hell…?” Brock barked irritably. “Is he on a break over there or what?” Brock cupped his hand and raised his voice. “Hey doctor, if you’re just about done with your moment of Zen, we’re ready to get out of here now!” He said impatiently.

“Try to relax Brock.” Marcus said, attempting to soothe him. “Something is wrong with him.”

“I’ll tell you what’s wrong with him.” Brock took in a big breath, which meant his was building up towards an extended rant. “My boys got all torn up in the jungle fletching him and literally pulled his ass out of a fire. Then the first chance he got, he rabbited, making us chase him through all of the unholy bush on this island, enemy snipers and booby traps notwithstanding.”

Just then, Dr. Serizawa suddenly stood up and turned around. The abrupt motion stopped Brock, who paused to look at him. All of the marines were watching along with him. Dr. Serizawa stared back at the marines with a clear head and tears in his one good eye. He took a step back towards the edge of he cliff. Some loose soil crumbled away and went over the side.

“Hey, relax, we’re on your side.” Brock assured him, raising a hand and putting his weapon down on the ground. “Nobody is going to hurt you. We were sent to rescue you. Come with us, and we’ll take you home, I promise.” Dr. Serizawa just stood there looking over the marines. He took another step back, putting himself right on the edge. A stiff breeze would have been enough to push him over. “Hey, don’t do that!” Brock said with an uncharacteristic degree of urgency in his voice. Dr. Serizawa closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.

“Doctor, what are you doing?” Marcus joined Brock’s pleas.

“Jibun no sakuhin wo buki ni suru koto wa yuruse mase ne. gomennasai.” Dr. Serizawa spoke, then bowed with respect to the marines. None of them understood a word of what he said.

They didn’t have time to think about it though. Dr. Serizawa straightened up, opened his eyes, and then he got sort of a strange look of relief on his face. It was as though a weight had been lifted from him. He stepped back one final time. In a fraction of a second, he was gone. Marcus had been looking right into his eye as he dropped and disappeared over the edge. Serizawa hadn’t even blinked when he jumped.

Brock and Marcus ran up and looked over the rim. Down below, they saw Dr. Serizawa’s body dashed against the jagged rocks in the water. He had fallen at least sixty feet and his body was slowly sliding into the water as the waves rocked it back and forth. There was no question about it, Dr. Serizawa was dead.



Added in 24 minutes 59 seconds:
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Just in case anyone is curious who that new monster is/was. He's a reference to the 'Lord Howe Monster' from Godzilla's Darkhorse run:

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By the way, does anyone know what happened to Living-Corpse? I was scrolling back through old posts to look something up, and I saw he's listed as a 'Blank Account' now. Does that mean he quit Toho Kingdom and deleted his account? That would be a bummer. If he did quit, does anyone know why...? Just curious. Anyhow, I'll miss our conversations.

Thanks for joining us while.
Last edited by Ashram52 on Mon Sep 05, 2022 10:41 am, edited 1 time in total.
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mpsoldier
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Re: Godzilla: Tactical Assault.

Post by mpsoldier »

Just finished the Matango chapter. Having never seen the film it was very fresh and unexpected. Great work showcasing one of the unsung classics of the genre. I'm sure we all expected the Godzilla and Rodan tie ins but this was way out of left field. It's well done but I have to say contaminating Kaiju with the mushroom spores is pretty much one of the worst anti Kaiju strategies since Jet Jaguar {and we've covered how well that worked) Malak is shaping up to be a villian.

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Ashram52
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Re: Godzilla: Tactical Assault.

Post by Ashram52 »

Yeah, that was a fun chapter to write. It was good to do something a little different. Suffice to say, the Matango plot line and Malek’s machinations will be followed up on.
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