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Ultraman Daxium
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08-15-2019, 09:56 PM
#
28
scikaiju
Member
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 486
Episode 28
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OP – Mercy Drive – Burn in my Light
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In a more mountainous region near an agricurltural farm a giant creature, that looked like a giant green mantis with three eyes that Brooks had dubbed Majaba, cried out as a series of explosions hit it and several Razor Wings flew past over head. In response it started spewing a yellow gas. Any effect it was supposed to have wasn't immediate apparent until it sank to ground level. There a few workers who hadn't cleared out yet started clutching at their throats and coughed as they fell to their knees. Before long some of the crops started to wilt as well. One worker in particular was trying to crawl out of the gas before falling on his face. Soon after a Scan Track came to a stop close by. A UNDF solider jumped out with a breathing device covering the exposed part of her face carrying a spare breathing apparatus sprinted toward the worker. Holding the mask to his face she turned it on before checking for any vitals, grateful that they were still strong. “Get going!,” she told the driver. “There's got to be more in there.”
“Right,” the driver said as he drove off. The worker started to reach for the Scan Track as it drove past.
“Easy big guy,” she told him as he got one of his arms over her head and helped him up. “You almost made it on your own. The edge of the gas is pretty close. We can get there on foot. They need to rescue who they can in the meantime.” He nodded as he clutched the mask to his face as they headed out of the gas. She looked back at the monster as more Razor Wings made another run.
“Has anybody been able to figure out where that gas is coming from?”, Hawk asked from the rear seat of Razor Wing One. “If we can stop it from doing that everyone on the ground can breath easier.” No pun intended he thought to himself.
Reid called in an answer. “I think I see a general location but it won't stand still long enough for us to get a lock on it.”
“Keep trying Commander,” Hawk told him. Ending the communication he looked at the pilot in front of him he went, “I wonder how things are going on the ground Bill.”
Bill nodded as he hit his communicator and opened a link to Razor Wing Two, “Ryo have you checked on them yet?” The “them” in question being a particular individual, and the only way any of them thought of to describe him without giving anything away on the chance they were accidentally overheard.
“Doing so now,” he said. He checked one of his scanners and activated a new function that was covertly added to all the Razor Wings just recently. On it was the location of all the ground troops and the status of the area around them. He located one dot in particular, watching as it made it's way to a spot behind the creature, as they recently planned, as it joined in turning green with the others. Mainly to the person behind him he said, “He's in position and the immediate area is clear.”
Nodding Jess reached into her helmet and activated the microphone hidden under it. “Ken it's show time.”
On the ground and away from the gas Ken reached into his sleeve and clicked a button on a device that was on his wrist a couple of times to indicate that he understood. Yet he still looked around despite the all clear, more out of habit after doing this alone for so long than anything, before reaching inside his jacket. “Let's do it Dax,” he said as he took out the Spark Magnifier and held it over his head.
Majaba turned around as a column of light appeared, soon to fad away to reveal the giant hidden withing. He took a quick defensive stance and shouted out his usual, “Shiah!” before charging at the monster. It stood there and took the shot as Daxium nailed it with a solid forearm shot. It's head rocked to the side but it started spewing that gas again. Daxium quickly jumped back to avoid contact with it. Then Majaba leap through the gas cloud and struck the giant with it's claws. Spinning around from the contact Daxium barely reacted in time as the creature tried to swing the claws at him again. Blocking them with his forearms He kicked it back and took a step back himself to fire off a Flashbolt that exploded against it's body.. Crying out in pain the creature jumped high into the air.
Daxium tried to keep an eye on it but it kept going up until he lost it in the sun momentarily. By the time he located the monster again it was already on the wat back down and slashed him with both claws as sparks rained off the giant from the impact. Grunting in pain as he recoiled from the blow he took a couple of steps back and Majaba jumped at him again knocking him to the ground. It leaped up high in the air again and pointed the tip of those claws at him as it came down. Daxium rolled out of the way as those claws impaled themselves into the ground. Getting to his feet the giant spun around with a kick to the head that rocked it again. While it was stunned Daxium quickly grabbed it. After a brief struggle he was able to get a good enough grip to lift the bug monster over his head and slam it to the ground.
It started spewing the gas again forcing Daxium to back away. Ready for it this time he quickly sidestepped out of the way when it tried that surprise jumping attack again. Majabe started jumping around the giant, trying to disorient him enough to attack again. This worked for a bit then Daxium stopped and jumped up himself, Flying straight up into the air and flying off. Majaba soon realized he was gone and stopped jumping and looked around. It turned around as Daxium flew in and slammed into it at full speed. Both of them crashed to the ground causing the dirt under them to rise up in a cloud, obscuring them from view for a moment. As the dust settled Majaba flew out and slammed into side of one of those mountains. Once fully visible Daxium set up and quickly fired the Dimensional Storm Ray, destroying the creature in a massive explosion.
Holding his chest for a moment Daxium looked around, trying to sense if Brooks was anywhere close by, before looking up at the sky and flying off, “Shiah!”
On the ground Reid was giving out orders to those around him. “Keep looking people. Some of the workers are saying people are still in the area because they couldn't get out in time. Anybody who had been in the affected area stay out of it for now. Try and lend aid to those we rescued so far as the rest of us head in and try to locate them. And try to see if you can get the last known location of those we're looking for while you're at it. The more starting points we have the better we can search the area.” The men in front of him quickly saluted and confirmed his orders. Once they were gone he added to himself, “And pray we're not too late.” Whatever that gas was it was pretty deadly. There was already a couple of causalities that they were currently aware of from it. And there were talks of burning the crops in and around the affected area as well.
Personally he couldn't wait for this monster nonsense to be over with already. He looked around and saw Ken come jogging up to him. “You're late Scott,” he said going into full commander mode.
“Sorry Commander,” he said as he removed his helmet. “I was making my way around what's left of that cloud. I didn't grab a rebreather in the rush.”
“That was probably a wise choice,” he admitted looking at the cloud still hanging in the air. “But next time take a quick moment and think about what you might need in these type of situations.” He gave him a light, friendly slap to the chest with the back of his hand. He looked away and didn't see Ken wince from the blow. “Go help with the ones we've gotten to so far. The others will tell you my orders regarding them.”
“Yes sir,” he said with a quick salute. Once he was gone Ken started rubbing his chest, yeah this one was going to hurt for a while all right. To Dax he muttered, “No offence buddy but can you react a little quicker next time. Hiding these injuries is starting to become a pain in the ass.” He looked up to see the Razor Wings were still flying around and tried to pick out a particular knowing he couldn't from this distance. Holding his helmet under his arm he reached into his sleeve again and clicked the device three times. The signal he and Jess agreed on to tell her that he was okay since they knew he was being monitored now. He rubbed his chest again, well relatively okay.
***
Later Jess walked into one of the work labs in the garage area. Like she thought Ken was there working on Windam again.While she was glad he had something to keep his brain occupied, at least something that wasn't the engineering final that he was still obsessed with despite what he said after the mess with Kyrie. But he was spending so much time with the robot part of her was wondering if she should be getting jealous of the attention he was giving it. A small, very immature part that she thought she grew out of long ago. But a part of her none the less, and one she wasn't listening to. She never felt that way back in high school when they originally dated and there was no need to start now. Still he noticed her quicker now than he used to back then so there was that. She offered him a small wave and a smile when he did so. He returned the smile but his hand were currently occupied holding what looked like one of Windam's arm. “Hi Jess, he said. “just give me a quick moment.”
“Take your time,” she told him as he started reattaching said arm to Windam. She came closer saying,“Since you're working on a different body part I'm guessing you and Bridge finally figured out that little problem he was having.”
“Well Bridge and Emiko did,” he told as he concentrated on hooking up the proper connectors. “I was right, it was software related. It took them a couple of hours but they found out what it was. One single line of code was the problem, can you believe it?”
“My dad always said the more complicated something was the easier it was to screw it up,” she told him.
He snorted before muttering, “Ain't that the truth.”
Going on she said, “So I can believe it.” Studying the robot a bit she looked over at him, still looking like a kid in a candy store working on it. “I overheard Bridge getting excited about something Emiko was telling him about Windam earlier. Something about an adaptive program, like he can actually learn.”
“Yeah,” Ken said suddenly looking excited himself. He stepped back from the machine going, “Watch this.” Looking at the robot he said, “Windam, be a bud and get me that screwdriver on that table behind you.” She raised an eyebrow as the Machine turned around and made it's way to that very table. Windam looked down at the objets on it then picked up the very thing he asked for. Ken pumped his fist slightly when it did so and turned back toward him. It came forward then held out the screwdriver for him. He took saying, ”Thank you,” then he held out a fist. Jess watched as Windam made a fist as well, then bumped it against his. Them both of them pulled their fists back while opening them up. Grinning like an idiot he looked over at her. He lost some of that grin to confusion as he saw her expression, “What?”
Still in disbelief she went, “You taught him to blow up a fist bump?”
“Yeah,” he went like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“If Greenberg only knew before he gave him to you,” she told, mainly in a teasing way..
A little too defensively he told her, “I'm just giving him a little more personality. Besides he learned what this was, and some other tools.” Then he used that screwdriver on something in Windam's shoulder joint. “It's not like I got him screwing around or anything.”
“Ken, you know I'm messing with you right?”, she told him. “But let's be honest here, you might not have been the only person to think of it, but you're the only one who would have gone through with it.”
“Somebody else would have done it,” again a little too defensively, then he added, “And had the guts.” His mood changed a bit as he looked at her, “Oh since you're here I can I get you're opinion on something?” Did he he just ask for help? Ken never asks for help. He kept looking at her expectantly so she nodded, not sure what else to do. “Great,” he went on not seeing her confusion, “I've been thinking of adding some weaponry to Windam here considering how messed up he got the last time I used him in a fight.” Which was back in Japan as she recalled. Jess remembered how distraught Ken was when he found Windam right after it was over. “I was thinking about adding some sort of gun.” He took Windam other arm and held it up a bit. “Apparently whomever programmed him originally made him a righty.” She snorted at the thought. Ken actually look insulted, “Don't laugh, you haven't spent as much time with him as me and Bridge have. Ask him to pick up or do something he always does it with his right hand., so it only makes sense to modify his dominant arm.”
“You would have fit in at Tower all right,” she joked, well half joked at any rate. Making a robot right handed sounded like something he might have come up with if his talent was in that area. But he didn't even chuckle, he just gave her a look. “Sorry,” she told him, “please go on.”
“Any way,” he said after a beat, “I was thinking of maybe making this arm replaceable. What do you think would make the gun mount more stable, if I replaced the arm entirely or make it so he could swap his forearm with that gun? I mean they designed him so parts can be easily replaced or upgraded, so he's already modular so there's no extra work there to do. But I'm not sure exactly how stable that connection would be in a fire fight compared to the other way.”
Jess heard all of that, but she was still having a hard time with idea that the request was coming from him, “You are asking for help.”
“Yeah,” he went, looking and sounding confused.
She couldn't help herself, “But you never ask for help. On anything. Oh my God, this is blowing my mind. Did you even ask for help back at the garage you used to work at?”
All the while he had his head down, then he suddenly exploded with, “I'm trying alright!” His outburst caught her completely off guard. She had never seen him this upset about anything. A little more subdued he said, “I remembered how annoyed you use to get back in high school when I tried to do everything on my own. I'm trying.”
She quickly went to him, “Hey, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make fun. I'm just not use to seeing you looking for help on anything.” She looked over at Windam who was oblivious to all of this, apparently, she hoped. “I can see you're trying not to fall into old habits and I'm proud of you, I really am. Like I told you, since you been here I've seen you turn into the man I knew you could be back when we first dated. But you're asking me about a robot that I can barely comprehend how advance it is. Now if you want to talk weapons I'm your girl.”
“It's why I asked,” he told her. Jess had to smile at that
“Hey come here,” she said pulling him a little closer and wrapping her arms around his waist.. “How about I make it up to you with another lesson.”
Like she thought, that perked him up slightly. “I'm always a willing student,” he said as he started to lean in for that implied kiss. Then he stopped and looked at Windam. “Ah, could you look that way bud.” Again she was a little surprised it turned it's head. “Thank you,” Ken told the robot. Then he returned his attention back to her, “Now where were we?”, he asked as she went for that kiss as well.
“I figured you be in here,” they heard Hawk say as he entered the room.
Jess pulled away mumbling, “It is my dad all over again.” A little louder she went, “Can we help you Captain?”
“No I was looking for Ken,” he said, “I figured you'd be close by. But Bridge wanted me to find you and the others. He said you'd find it interesting.”
Standing next to him she could tell he tensed up slightly. She did so too, Did Bridge finally get it? With Captain Hawk waiting for any sort of response she nudged him slightly to get Ken to do so. “I'll be right there.” He looked at her for a moment, she could see the hope in his eyes before he turned toward Windam.
“Windam, go to your recharge station and top off. I'll be back in a bit.” Hawk was caught off guard by the robot's response as it nodded and headed for that station. Apparently he spent less time down here than she did. Ken started to follow Hawk but he stopped suddenly, “Screw it,” he said right before he turned around. Grabbing her by the back of the head he pulled her in for a kiss. She was caught by surprise, so much so it took a second for her to try and push him back fully aware at how uncomfortable Captain Hawk was getting at the situation. Not to mention on how embarrassed she was getting.
Finally getting him away she hissed at him, “He's standing right there.”
He looked at her and went “Don't care.” Then he started out the door. Jess didn't follow right away. Because if she did she was going to kill him.
He passed Hawk, who coughed into a fist a bit before saying, “With all due respect son, that wasn't exactly necessary.”
Ken barely looked at him, “With all due respect sir, stop interrupting.” And he exited the door. Hawk coughed into his fist again before leaving himself.
Jess still stood there a moment, looking over at Windam she told the robot, “I'm going to strangle him.” Then she left, trying to concentrate more on the fact Bridge wanted to see him about something than what just happened.
***
Hawk had lead them to their usual war room, like they had in the recent past for dealing with Ken's particular issues. He looked back and went straight in. Jess was about to follow but didn't when she realized he he stopped in place right outside the door. Ken stood there and stared at the door. Hoping it was what he thought it was and then again wasn't sure what he would do if it was, And Bridge wouldn't have called them all in if he didn't find anything.He looked back when he felt Jess start to rub his shoulder to help him relax a bit more. He reached up and grabbed her hand and gave it a quick, grateful squeeze. “Breath Ken,” she said softly, “breath. I'm not carrying you in if you pass out.” He grinned at her joke, grateful that she was there to try and calm his nerves a bit. “Come on,” she took his arm, “it's better to get it over with, no matter what it is.”
“You're right,” Ken told her as he took a deep breath.
“You might want to get used to saying that,” she added with another grin as they walked into the room. Hawk, Ryo, Bridge and Bill were standing around the holotable waiting for them. “Sorry, it took a couple of seconds to talk him down.”
“Completely understandable,” Hawk told them as they took a spot at the table. Bridge literally pulled him a little closer to the station he was at. “Well Bridge,” Hawk began, “we're here, what to you have.”
Pressing a few keys he looked at them and said, “Tell me if any of this looks familiar.” After a few seconds the table started to glow as a creature took shape in the digital background. Ken inhaled sharply as he saw it.
“Isn't that the... ?”, Bill began as he pointed at the image, then his mouth dropped.
Ryo finished the thought for him, “The creature we went after the night we had to bring Ken in.” All of them stared in wide eyed wonder as they watched several Razor Wings fly in and attack the creature. This went on for a bit before a Razor Wing got damaged and the pilot and wingman bailed out and someone new with a ponytail ran into frame, toward the action
“There I am,” Ken said scarcely believing it. “Here it comes.” He gripped Jess's hand in anticipation of what was coming next.
Richardson's voice came from off screen, “Mr. Scott.” He gripped her hand a little more, grateful she was gripping his just as tightly as on screen he looked back. “Good luck, to both of you.” Ken could hardly breath as he watched himself turn back around and raise his right hand in the air and let Dax free to fight the monster.
Ken couldn't speak as the video ended, none of them could apparently. After a few moments of silence Bill was the one to break the spell the video had on them, cautiously saying, “So we got him?”
After taking a moment to compose himself a bit Hawk tried not to grin, but couldn't as he said, “If he tries anything, we got him.”
“Yes!” Ken shouted out as he pumped a fist into the air after slapping the table. Letting go of Jess's hand he immediately grabbed Bridge in a bear hug and planted a big kiss right on his cheek.
Unuse to such a show Bridge tried to squirm out of his grip, “Come on now man.”
Ken didn't let go of him, “Bridge, you magnificent computer nerd, you're lucky everybody is in the room, because I would be doing so many things to you right about now.” And that caused Bridge to try even harder to get out of his grasp.
Not even hiding his amusement over the situation Hawk spoke to the others, “Could one of you rescue Bridge from Ken?”
“I'm afraid to try,” Bill said as he studied the situation. Ryo seemed equally reluctant to try even with Bridge giving both of them a pleading look.
Jess was able to get the poor computer expert free from Ken's grasp. But he immediately grabbed her around the waist , lifted her off the ground and spun around, “Yes!” Looking back at Bridge as he put her down he said, “You have no idea how much I owe you man.”
Wiping off his cheek he kept his distance as he told Ken, “Just don't kiss me again and we'll call it even.”
“I make no promises,” Ken told him, “but okay.”
Despite the embarrassment he was feeling over's Ken celebration Bridge still beamed a bit, proud of the fact he was able to get this. “I got lucky,” he told them, “I just happened to check the servers as part of routine maintenance and saw the briefcase was hooked in. I activated the search programs as soon as I saw it.”
Ryo spoke up, “And neither Richardson or his assistant never noticed?”
“Like I told you I designed the security protocol for that briefcase,” he reminded him. “And like I said there's hundreds of copies of this file in that hard drive because it backs up everything daily. I just picked a random one in the middle of the group to make a copy of, they shouldn't notice it any time soon.”
“Guys we have to celebrate,” Bill told the group. “Bridge pulled off the damn near impossible here and took a huge target off of Ken's back.”
“I never thought I'd say this,” Ken spoke up almost giddy, as he finally let go of Jess, “but I agree with Bill. We need to party.” Bridge flinched away a bit as He wrapped a arm around his shoulders, “And the man of the hour is right here.”
“I don't want to put a damper on the situation,” Hawk told them, “But how do we celebrate without giving away what we did?”
“Well think of something,” Ken quickly responded. To Ryo and Bill he said, “Do either of you have a major birthday or event coming up? No? We'll make something up.”
“What are going to do with the video?”, Ryo asked. “I mean we can't just leave it this computer. Somebody else might discover that.”
“You have this on a drive already,” Jess spoke up, “don't you Bridge?
Tapping something on the control in front of him he answered with, “Right here, seemed like a better idea to put it on this than just loading it to our servers. Here Ken, I'm pretty sure this belongs to you.” Unconnecting it from the holotable he handed it to her when she held out her hand. Jess studied the drive for a bit before handing it to Ken who took it with a shaky hand.
“Now we just have to figure out where to keep it in case we need it,” she told him. He barely heard her, his eyes were transfixed on the drive in his hand. After all this time, with this damn video hanging over his head. Now the threat from Richardson was still there, but now he had something to fight back with. Ken had never felt so free in his life.
“Civilian,” Bill spoke up, “Whatever you do, do not lose that.”
“Like I'm going to let that happen,” Jess told him, “Where do you think we should put it? It has to be a place Richardson, Stanberry or Dr. Williams wouldn't even think to look.”
“I...,” Ken began just staring at the drive, almost if he was afraid it would simply vanish if he took his eyes off of it for even a second, “ I don't know. I got to think it over.”
While they were talking Hawk looked thoughtful, finally saying, “Ken.” He and the others looked at him. “how much do you actually trust me?”
Caught off guard it took Ken a moment to respond, “I trust you completely Captain.”
“Do you trust me enough to hold on to that for you?”. Ken looked between him and the drive several times, finding himself growing paranoid all of the sudden. Hawk seemed to sense his apprehension and trued not to force the issue by holding out a hand. But Ken was fully aware that everyone was watching him intently, just waiting to see what he'll do..
And why was he hesitating? Hawk was the first one here to try and make him feel like he belonged in the unit despite the rocky start. Ken had no reason not to trust him. But he had this video hanging over him for so long he didn't want to risk letting it go. Wrapping his fingers around it he brought his hand to his head and closed his eyes. “I trust you Captain,” he said as he opened them back up. Still he was reluctant to hand it over as he finally placed it in Hawk's hand.
“I'll try not to break that trust son,” Hawk told him as he pocketed the drive. “I know that was hard for you Ken. And I wouldn't say anything if you didn't give it to me.”
“I would have,” Bill told him. Ryo quickly elbowed him in the ribs.
“Why don't you all go and grab a late lunch,” Hawk told the group.Turning toward Bridge he went, “Unless there's anything else you would like to share with the rest of us that is.” Again Ken got hopeful, yes he got the video, but there was the whole deal with his communicator that they ust found out about too. A simple shake of his head was all it took to shoot that hope down.He looked over at Jess grateful that she started rubbing his arm. Hawk looked at all of them and said, “Alright then, dismissed.”
***
Another day another cavern. Another defeated monster. Brooks sat on a stone, tossing a ball of dark energy from hand to hand, waiting for his masters to contact him. While he did so he silently sat there stewing about the defeat of Majaba. That one was one of his, much like the creature from the other dimension that snuck through when Bemular was sent over that he “boosted” to a more massive size. And much like that one he took it's defeat a little more personally than the others that were lost to Scott and the giant. It didn't matter that the mantis was the first, and still the only so far, creature that he had spotted when those same master once again gave him 'permission' to experiment with his powers once again.
And that more than likely meant they expected his creation to fail, just to buy themselves a little extra time to finalize whatever they were planning. One one hand the logical part of his mind under stood why, or at least a reason he told himself repeatedly. To try and tire the giant out. After so many battles something would have to give with either the giant or Scott. Something that might have happened sooner if Scott didn't reveal his secret to the others. He remember the attitude some of the troops had toward Ultraman when he first appeared, how some of them wanted a chance to take the giant down if given the chance, he doubted that had diminished in the time he was gone. But he was no fool, Scott revealed his secret right in front of Captain Hawk. He would most definitely be on Scott's side if the others discovered the truth, and the rest of the so called Monster Squad would be right there beside him, as would others. They were so lucky they lived at Castle, and therefore extremely protected. Otherwise he would have shown Scott the folly of changing the rules of their little game on him.
Of course there was another reason for the permissions he had been given that occurred to him.One that irked him just as much as loosing one of his 'babies'. It was an attempt to humble him. To make him remember his place as it were. And if that was the reason then they still didn't understand humans, himself in particular, at all. It just made the desire to defeart Scoot and the giant, and show them up in the process even stronger. He looked at the dark energy swirling between his hands. It made an image of the so called Ultraman. Snarling in disgust he clapped his hands together, smashing the image he subconscioulsy created into oblivion. “One day,” he muttered to himself, “one day Scott. That will be you then the last laugh will be mine.”
Sensing something he looked to the side to see the familiar sight of the vortex his masters used to communicate with him from. Getting off the stone he stood where he usually did as he waited for the shape of one of them appear inside it. When it did a voice said, “Avatar.”
“My masters,” he said with a slight bow, careful to hold back any sign of sarcasm as these Zettons did not appreciate it as much as other humans. “Am I correct in assuming the next creature is ready to send over.” He gave a quick glance of the space he was in. It wouldn't fit a full size creature, more than likely it was one that had to grow here as it happened once or twice in the past.
He was caught slightly off guard by the response, “Almost Avatar, Just a little more time is needed. And we highly appreciate you contributions to the process.”
Cocking an eyebrow at that particular statement he wasn't expecting that, much less announcing their appreciation? He had to have fallen into another universe at some point, perhaps during that whole mess with Kyrie and Scott not that long ago. “I am grateful for your kind words masters, but exactly what contribution did I have part in.?”
“For adding to the data we have been collecting on the giant.” Again he was confused. “Ever since his first appearance we have been studying him just in case a moment like this one came to pass. We feel we now have enough usable data in order to finally defeat him and take over your world.”
Now he understood, they were playing the long game here. An extremely long game from the sound of things, and he a mere pawn in said game. “From the beginning?”, he ended up asking. “Since he fought Bemular?”
“No,” was the answer. “From the one right after that one.” From the Gazoto they had him boost to a larger size. Still even without that initial battle, and perhaps including the one against King Joe since that was a creation of scientist on this side of things, maybe even the one against whatever Kyrie and Jamira became since those where rather sudden. Still it was a rather impressive catalogs of Ultraman battles to have at their disposal. “We are programming them into our latest creation as we speak.”
“And how soon will this one be ready?”
“Soon,” came the reply. “But first we have an experiment we wish to preform.” Brooks took a step back as the vortex grew in size. For a brief moment he feared this experiment was going to involve him. But instead of being attack he watched as the figure stepped forward through the portal. Brooks held up his hands as he prepared to stabilized the beings as he had to so many creatures before. But as it took the shape and appearance of the Zettons it held up a hand to stop him. Brooks watched as it studied it's other hand for a moment. It was here when he noticed the blinking light on it's shoulder as the Zetton slowly stepped away from the vortex that returned to it's original size. It looked around the cavern before returning it's attention back to the vortex, “It seems to be a success so far.”
A new voice spoke out, “Excellent. We will keep this portal open for future reports. Monitor you're situation until then.”
Brook took an unsteady step toward he Zetton, studying it intently. “You can survive in this dimension now?” Considering they needed him to stabilize their creations when they sent them over this was a bit of a shock to him.
Not even looking at him the Zetton said, “It is a new development. One we quickly advanced after your reports of one who was forcibly taken from us. If that human could pull such a feat than it should be a simple matter for us.”
If it was so simple why didn't you do so before now, but Brooks kept that thought to himself. Especially with that Vortex was still open. “A marvelous feat of science if I do say so myself.” He studied the Zetton with some apprehension, why did they feel this necessary to begin with? “But,” he thought fast to figure out what he wanted to say without incurring it's wrath, “seeing it in practice is a bit unsettling to see in person.”
“It is part of a new strategy,” came the answer. “We will show ourselves to the ones that ally themselves with the giant. In an attack right before we unleash our newest creation.” He looked back at the vortex when the Zetton did. He wasn't sure, but Brooks could have sworn he heard some sort of sound and a deep voice growl out a single word.
“Zetton.”
***
After having that drive in his possession for the past day Hawk had put it at least four different places in his office so far. Finally letting it rest in the drawer in his desk, but not the one he kept locked. The way he was figuring things he was going to need quick access to it when it came time. He always told those under him that seconds count in a battle situation. And in his mind this was no different, the field might not be something he was used to but it would have been a battle none the less, Hawk had every intention of using this particular “bomb” when the time came because Richardson wouldn't hesitate to use any advantage he had in the same situation.
The chime at his door going off made him glance at that drawer, something he was going to have to try to not get in the habit of. The last thing he needed was to give it's location away by accident. Considering he didn't even know who was behind the door at the moment since he finally had that issue that allowed him to hear what was going in the other room fixed after Janet became his secretary, it would be a even bigger issue if the person decided to get curious at what he was hiding. A worry for another time, he told himself. Since Janet hadn't told him somebody wanted to see him it couldn't be that important. “Enter,” he called out. Unsurprisingly Reid was the one on the other side. He stood as the Commander walked in, “Jason,” he greeted his Beta team counterpart, “what can I do for you?”
“Just came by to drop off a report that got on my desk,” he handed it over to Hawk who raised an eyebrow when he did so. Taking the folder he looked it over for a second before chuckling a bit. “I thought you might find it amusing.”
As he glanced over the report, and he did find it mildly amusing, and slightly familiar at the same time, “I see the good Doctor Williams didn't want you to feel left out in the super vehicle department finally.”
“Apparently,” Reid said as he took the file back. “I know I haven't talked to him about it. So either it was all his own idea, one of my men put the bug in his ear.”
“Trust me, Dr. Williams doesn't need anyone putting anything in those ears of his. After all the times I ordered my guys not to mention some sort of tank or drill like vehicle over an open line in case he overheard it some how.” Considering how he was one of the three listening to Ken when he was in the field that was already a lost cause. “Hell I'm surprised it took him this long to bring it up. He came to me with some prototype plans for the Alpha One almost as soon as the board finally gave it the green light.”
“I haven't heard of anything about it before now,” he said as he took the offered seat. Hawk took the one next to him instead of going around to behind his desk. As causal as this was there was no need to be so formal at the moment. He pulled a disk Hawk had seen out of the folder, “Speaking of plans, he says this as the initial plans for that vehicle. He wanted me and my team's input on it.” Hawk just nodded, Williams made a similar request when it came to the Alpha One. “Which brings me to the main reason why I brought this to your attention.”
Again Hawk just nodded getting a feeling he knew Reid was going, “You want Ken to take a look at it.”
“If it's no trouble that is.”
“Not for him,” Hawk said. “I'm sure he'd be more than happy to help you out.” Here Hawk paused trying to figure out the best way to say this.
“It'll just be me and him,” Reid said, reading his mind. “And maybe one or two others I know for sure don't have a problem with him since he's been here.Admittedly that's a pretty short list,” he added with a slight grin. A small joke seeing how much most of the people here treated him like a pariah when he first arrived. Fortunately it was a lot better lately now that he'd proven himself time and time again.. And in ways only a select few knew about.
“Like I said Jason,” Hawk said. “he'd be happy to help you. I'll ask him if you want, he won't say no to me that fast.”
“No need for that Gabe,” Reid assured him. “I'm only worried I'm going to catch him at the wrong moment, if the rumor mill is to be believed. Although between the two of us,” he leaned in a little, So Hawk did as well. “I'm a little surprised how this budding relationship with Wade has affected him. I mean for a while there I was worried he was going to go crazy from this place. Now he looks like he has a new bounce in his step.”
Rubbing his chin Hawk responded with, “New love will do that in the right circumstances. And I'm sure getting Windam to finally work right had a bit to do with that bounce too.” Not to mention getting a couple of big secrets off of his chest probably worked wonders too, not that he could share that last bit with Ried no matter how much he trusted him. “But I'm happy for them, either way.”
“So am I,” Reid quickly said. “although to be a little honest, I'm a bit surprised you're letting it happen with both of them in your main unit and all. I've overheard a couple of people say it creates a conflict of interest.”
“I think I heard those same people,” Hawk told him with a sigh, “when they thought I wasn't around of course. But I've always told my men that as long as nothing they do has a negative effect on the unit I'll stay out of their affairs. Besides if I broke them up then I might as well go after the other couples in Castle. And that is a can of worms I have no interest in getting into.”
“I don't blame you there,” Reid told him. “Most of the push back against the one talking about Ken and Wade are those same couples. Personally I think it's how touchy feely they been since they been together, almost like they were a couple of teenagers if you listen to the scuttlebutt and all that.”
“From my understanding,” Hawk began leaning back a bit, “They use to date, back in high school I believe. It could be they just feel into old habits Or it could be the new love thing like I said. Give them time I'm sure they'll mellow out eventually.”
“Or a combination of both,” Reid added. “But as you said as long as it doesn't affect the team it's not really our business.” He then looked thoughtful about something. “But I did want to talk to you about something else we talked about briefly. About the possibility of Ultraman being one of us.” Hawk tried not to show his trepidation. Because he was afraid he might have accidentally lead him right to Ken. And he wasn't exactly comfortable with the number who knew now as it was. “Was it because he keeps showing up where we are?”
He really choose his words carefully now. “Ever since he showed up in Japan.” And those were probably the wrong words considering the limited amount of Castle personal who went on that particular trip. Too late to back out now. “If he's not one of us then he's connected to somebody some how.”
“Yeah,” Reid nodded, “I highly doubt he's sitting in the sky somewhere just watching what we're doing and waiting for a monster to pop up.” Looking at him Hawk wondered exactly which parts of his brain were trying to connect the pieces in front of him. “I'm sure you got a couple of suspects in mind already since you brought it up to me.”
“One or two,” he told Reid. “But I don't have any proof one way or another. I made the mistake of accusing Ken of sabotaging the Alpha One with out any concrete proof once. I don't want to make the same mistake with the one actually helping us out against those things.”
“Completely understandable,” he told him. “And considering a good chunk of Beta still wants to take a shot at him I can see why.”
“I have a few in Alpha waiting for Richardson to rescind that particular order as well.”
Shaking his head Reid went, “It's a damn shame. He does so much to help us fight those monsters and this is the reception he gets. I don't blame the guy, whomever it is, for keeping quiet for so long.”
“Neither do I,” Hawk said, hoping that meant he hadn't put two and two together yet about Ken and Ultraman.
“Wish I could tell him I had his back.”
“I'm sure he would appreciate it Jason.” After a bit more small talk Reid took his leave. Once he was gone Hawk visibly relaxed. He came that close to blowing Ken's secret. He had faith in him and he didn't want to tarnish it any by accident. But again how did he manage to keep that a secret for so long by himself?
***
She was almost becoming a regular in the garage level. Almost as soon as she walked in holding a couple of cups of coffee the few that saw her pretty much all pointed to the lab Windam was in. Jess was taken back a bit but she nodded in thanks real quick since her hands were full as she headed for that door. Granted she already guessed Ken was going to be in there already but she was grateful for the assistance. Then she realized the door was closed, and there was no place to set one of the coffees that she could currently see.
One of the workers saw her dilemma and quickly got the door for her, “There you go.”
“Thanks Phil,” she said. Being here so often looking for Ken she did quickly learn the names of the ones he was friendly with. And to be fair Ken tried to do the same with the people on base she was friendly with as well. Fortunately these current friends liked him better than some of her old ones back in high school. She looked back after Phil closed the door behind her. Then she looked over to see Ken wiping something down on Windam. “Was something wrong with him?”, she asked when he spotted her.
Taking one of the offered coffees he told her, “Thanks,” and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. “No nothing was wrong, just polishing him up a bit. Windam's has to look his best you know.” She rolled her eyes, yeah that was Ken in a heartbeat when it came to machines.
“I hate to burst your bubble Ken but he's still considered a battle bot,” she said sitting on a free stool.
“Doesn't mean he still can't look his best. You don't want to be all dingy looking facing down a bad guy, do you buddy?” Windam shook his head once in answer. Ken just beamed with pride as he looked at her, “See.”
“You taught him that,” she shot back.
He quickly held a hand up, “Get a stack of bibles, that was all him. Now I'm not a software guy like Bridge is, but that adaptive program they put in him is freakin' amazing. You gotta see this, I was going to show you the other day but Hawk came in. Windam where's your favorite toy?
“He has a favorite toy?”, Jess asked as Windam started looking around before moving in one direction. Then he went to a wall, bent over and picked something up. Walking back over he handed Ken a small figurine of some sort. Jess just stared, “I don't believe it.”
Taking the offered figure he showed it to her, “His favorite toy.” He handed it back to the robot. “I swear he damn near has a personality already. Hell, I thought I was going to have to leave Bridge alone for a few minutes when I showed this off to him. I can't believe they were just going to put him in a display case and leave him there,” he added as he seemingly spotted another smudge or something to wipe down.
She just shook her head at the display she just witnessed, “Okay, all serious here, but maybe you should have been at Tower all this time. Not that I'm exactly sure how much actual work you would have gotten done geeking out over everything.”
“Maybe,” he conceded although still a bit annoyed she brought it up again, “but then I never would have gotten back together with you.” With a slight grin he added, “Sounds like a good trade off to me.”
She got up and wrapped her arms around his waist, “I cannot disagree with your logic there.” He put an arm around her and gave her a quick squeeze. Windam turned his head which amused Ken greatly. She pointed at the robot, “Did he just think we were going to kiss or something?”
“Apparently,” he told her not even hiding how happy he was over the situation. Then he gave her a quick one which caught her off guard a little then looked around the room. He turned back to her smiling, “No sign of Hawk anywhere.”
“Well in that case,” Jess said as she pulled him in for a longer one. She pulled away going, “Been wanting to do that longer than I originally thought.”
“Tell me about it,” he said. “I was almost afraid we're going to be late for homeroom for a moment,” he added as a joke. She was about the say something when the dorr was pushed open with a bang. Instinct made her go for the weapon that wasn't there. Ken got ready for a fight as well but she stopped his head from reaching into his Jacket right away. Then Windam moved and stood in front of them and the person who forcibly entered the room. They both looked as Stanberry, Richardson's assistant stared at them. She felt Ken tense up as he snapped, “You ever heard of knocking?!”
“I believe I just did,” she told as she glanced at the door as she walked in. “I'm here to inform you this particular relationship is now officially over.”
“You don't have the authority,” Jess told her, “There's no regulation that says nobody in the UNDF can see each other.
“But Scott isn't part of the UNDF, not officially any way. Mr, Richardson has decided that his status as a civilian operative means...”
“Bullshit!”, Ken suddenly exploded and stormed toward her. Stanberry stepped back in surprise, and if she had to be honest a bit of fear crossed her face a little. Jess was a little afraid herself if she had to be honest, She had never seen Ken so angry before. And if he did he never showed it before now. “I don't give a fuck what Richardson thinks. My personal life is not his fucking concern,”
“We both beg to differ Mr,”
She didn't even get a chance to finish. “You tell Richardson he can take his opinion and stick it straight up his ass. Sideways. You too.” Then Stanberry looked over at her with a particular look. She was expecting it, Ken having told her about the silent threat when he almost told her and Hawk everything after Brooks escaped. If she was expecting Ken to back down again she was deeply mistaken as Ken took a step closer. Jess couldn't see his face but she was surprised by the near venomous like tone of his voice as he told her, “Test me bitch.”
Stanberry took another step back, definitely in surprise this time. “What the hell is going on in here?”, the Chief demanded as he stormed in. Although once he saw Ken he quickly got between the two of them. “You want to help me back him off?”, he asked Jess after a bit. That snapped her out of the stupor she was in as she grabbed his arm and dragged him away from Stanberry. “Now what the hell happened in here?”
“He was going to attack me,” she quickly said, “for no reason.” Which was a bold face lie but how were they going to explain their side of things.
Apparently they didn't have too as the Chief crossed his arms. “Really now, no reason you say? Funny, because I have at least five people who flagged me over who told me you barged in here uninvited and said something that royally pissed him off. And considering the short time I've known him he's been really even tempered so that's really saying something.”
“And this doesn't concern you,” Stanberry informed him realizing he wasn't going to believe her, basically dismissing him. “Go back to what little task you were doing before now.”
“Now she did it.” Ken muttered. Jess looked at him before looking back at the chief. The change in his demeanor was evident to everyone but Stanberry apparently.
“Little task?,” he said evenly enough but something about him finally tipped off Stanberry as she started looking less and less smug by the second. “She call running this entire division a little task. I will not have some over glorified secretary come barging into my section and start throwing her weight around. Now I'd suggest you walk out of here under your own two feet or I'll have the boys and girls under me physically throw you out.” She looked back and a couple of the 'boys and girls' as he called them were at the door. Most of them looking like they were just waiting for the word to be given.
“Mr. Richardson will not tolerate this treatment,” Stanberry quickly got out.
“Well then he can come down here and express his displeasure personally,” the chief told here. “And I'll tell him the same thing. Now get out of here. Phil, Connie,” Stanberry didn't even look back as the two that were called entered the room. She just got this look on her face as she smartly turned around and left, making sure nobody touched her. Finally back at the two of them, “You don't make small enemies do you kid?” Ken just shrugged his shoulders. The Chief just shook his head and left the room himself. Stopping just long enough to examine the door and uttering a small curse before leaving them alone.
Ken's only reaction to the situation was, “That felt way better than it probably should have.”
“Ken,” Jess began, “you know I have your back where Richardson is concerned. But maybe it wasn't the best idea to fire the opening salvo in this situation.”
“She looked at you,” was all he said.
“I know, I saw it.”
“I got sick of that threat,” he went on. “Even if we didn't have the video I still would have done that.” He reached over and took her hand. She gave his a quick squeeze. “I'm not going to have a pompous son of a bitch tell me who I can't be with right after we got back together.” Jess appreciated the sentiment, she really did. It was something she wanted to see since the days his brothers pushed him to get what he wanted. But she was fully aware of the shit storm this particular incident could cause. Then he got a look on his face as he looked at the ceiling as he said, “This is not going to be a fun conversation.” Then he hit his communicator, “Scott to Hawk.” Jess nodded, he was right it wasn't going to be fun but it was a necessary one all things considered. “I just did something sort of not good.”
“I've been getting some reports from the Chief and the garage crew,” he said. Ken just winced. Jess joined in as well. “You want to tell me what's going on before I get upset.”
“I,” he began slowly, then he just got it out, “kinda got into it a bit with Stanberry.”
“God dammit,” was the exasperated reply. Jess could picture the expression on his face just by the tone. “Stay were you are. I'm going to talk to you and any one who witnessed this personally about what just happened.”
“Yes sir, Scott out.” He looked at her and went, “So how screwed am I?”
She really didn't know what to tell him, “I not sure, hopefully calling in and telling him upfront instead of trying to hide things will help. But I wouldn't bet on it.” Ken lowered his head. Hopefully Hawk would believe the two of them and any of those who witnessed what happened
***
Hawk had to reluctantly give Ken credit for one thing, he didn't do anything small. And getting into a verbal confrontation with Stanberry was the very definition of a big one. And now he had to be the one to deal with some of the fall out. Right now Ken was in his office waiting for this particular meeting to be over with. And if he was smart he'd stay there until he got back. Normally Hawk would have dragged him along, or at least Jessica, to get both parties involved in fixing the situation. But considering the nature of the situation, and the fact he noticed Jessica's hand hover around the general area her gun was in the field, Hawk felt it was best to leave the two of them out of this. And if what they and the others in the hanger told him was true then more level heads were going to be needed.
Still he wasn't going to walk into this particular lion's den by himself. He didn't even have to make the request, Reid sought him out after having heard what happened., Hawk wouldn't have been surprised if half of Castle heard it by now. And he halfway expected the other half to hear it within the next five minutes or so. But he was grateful Reid volunteered to join him in the meeting. As it was he rather face down one of those giant creatures alone with a half loaded six shooter at this point. And the rather rough patch they had right after Joe's death and the run around with Ken in the beginning was still fresh in his mind as well. He tried not to think about how he treated Ken this entire time, because if he did he would've head right back to his office and grab that drive.
Reid, while not fully aware of the exact details, seemed to sense the inner turmoil he was feeling. “At least there's one good thing,” he said as they reached the door. “things probably won't go as bad as when we confronted Brooks.”
Hawk offered a weak smile, “Never assume anything.” Because the fall out could be much, much worse but he didn't share that thought with him. Opening the door without any preamble they walked right in. Like he suspected Stanberry wasn't in sight. More than likely she was in the other room with Richardson. “Once more into the breach,” Hawk said as he headed for the door that lead to Richardson's main office. Not even knocking he opened the door and walked inside seeing Richardson sitting behind his desk with Stanberry by his side. Reid came in right after and stood next to him as each side studied the other. Breaking the silence Hawk calmly said, “Mr. Richardson, I assume you're aware of the reason I'm here.”
“Yes,” he said leaning back a bit, “a little incident that's been blown out of proportions. Or one aggravated by Scott if you want to get more specific.”
“Funny,” Hawk went taking a couple steps forward. “The way I hear it Stanberry was the aggressor in this situation according to the witnesses I've talked too, including the Chief . And if what they all claiming is true than I'm not sure I can't fully fault Ken for aggravating, as you say, the situation. Now I've already reprimanded Ken for his actions for this situations.”
“I hope you'd do morer than reprimaned him,” Richardson interrupted. “Telling Mrs Stanberry her to fight him him of all thing. What kind of man would say that to a woman.”
“Even if said woman is your bodyguard?”, Reid chimed in. Richardson shot him a look. To his credit Reid held his ground. Hawk hadn't seen a whole lot of people do that for even a second.
“Actually according to Ken,” Hawk quickly cut in before Richardson could respond to him verbally, “His exact words were 'test me' and a particular word generally used to describe a female dog.”
Reid spoke up again, “Since the word going around is that she barged in and told Ken and Wade that their relationship was over per your orders I'd be pretty pissed off as well.”
“I highly doubt she barged in,” Richardson told them.
“Hawk to Bridge,” he said hitting his communicator, “Would you please transmit the footage you found to Richardson's office.” Maybe it wasn't the footage he used to blackmail Ken, but if it would wipe the look of Richardson's face it would be just as good. Not even asking permission he reached over and hit a few switches that activated a hidden view screen in the wall. He stepped back as the footage from the lab started to play. Hawk eyed Richardson the entire time. Naturally he did look away when Stanberry shoved the door in. He turned to Reid. “What did that look like to you?”
“Looked like somebody barging in to me,” Reid told him. Stanberry started to reach for the controls, “No don't stop it yet, here comes the part everybody's talking about.” They watched as Ken walked straight up to Stanberry. Then she looked over at Jess. Here Reid stopped the footage himself. “Now I don't know exactly what's going on here, but that look she's giving Wade here has threat written all over it.”
“In your opinion Commander,” Richardson snapped at him.
“Apparently Ken's as well,” Hawk spoke back up, “since that's when he said what he did. And if I'm being honest I'm seeing a threat in that look as well.”
“So she went a little over board,” was all Richardson could respond with.
“That's more than a little over board,” Hawk told him. “And I don't even know were to begin with this apparent ruling you made over their relationship.”
“It's not you concern Captain, and I'm only using that term for the moment,”
Hawk didn't even blink at the thinly veil threat “And I don't take kindly to the offices interfering with the people under me. They are my concern not yours.”
“Commander,” he said addressing Reid, “perhaps if you were in total command...”
Reid quickly cut off that line of thinking, “You don't want to know the fight I'd be putting up.” Hawk fought hard to keep the smirk off his face as Richardson started sputtering.
“The way I see it,” Hawk told him, “that particular decree had no legs to begin with, because you're either targeting one man. Which would bring you a whole mess of legal problems no matter how hard you tried to spin it. Or you're telling everybody involved with somebody not part of the UNDF that they can't be with that person.”
“That is preposterous Captain.”
“I don't think so. Bridge found that particulat addition you're getting ready to propose to the board to add to the charter. I've read it over several times before I came here, that's exactly how it reads. And the fact you're assistant here tried to enforce it before it was even ratified would add to those legal woes.”
“And we didn't even bring up those who are married to those outside the organization,” Reid added. “While I won't speak for Captain Hawk, I personally would be directing people to send all those lawyers fees from the divorces directly toward you and the board. And seeing how our legal team has spouses outside the UNDF I'm sort of doubting they would be all that willing to help you mediate those matters.”
“Oh I'm sure one or two would do their job,” Hawk joined in. At his desk Richardson's face was getting redder and redder by the second. “Likely not very well but they would do the job.”
“What do the two of you want?!”, Richardson exploded as he stood from his chair. Hawk put his hands on the desk and leaned in so he looked him right in the eyes. Showing him he wasn't impressed at this display of anger at all. After he learned the truth about what happened to Joe, why Ken was really part of his team, no he was going to have to do a lot more than this to get Hawk's attention like he used to.
Calmly he replied with, “What we want if for the higher ups to stop messing with the men under us.”
“Scott isn't under you,” he sneered. Hawk slapping his hand on the desk caught Richardson by surprise as he sat back down at the look he was getting.
“The hell he's not,” Hawk told him. “You said the Civilian Operative program was a second chance. I remember that like it was yesterday. An opportunity for someone who originally fell through the cracks. Ken has more than lived up to that opportunity. Me, Reid, the Chief everybody on base thinks so. You are the first one I know of to say otherwise.”
“I think he's the only person in Castle who thinks that,” Reid said. He didn't wither either as Richardson turn his glare toward him. Like Hawk he didn't looked exactly impressed with the display directed toward him. Reid looked over at Stanberry, “Before I forget,” he reached into a pocket and put a slip of paper on the table and slid it toward her, “It's from the Chief. The bill to fix the door. I believe his exact word were 'She broke it she can damn well pay for it.'”
“Only seems fair,” Hawk said with a shrug when she looked at him. “So what's it going to be? Are you going to back off Ken or do I tell Bridge to go ahead and scratch a particular itch he's been having since Brooks got away? Because he sure there's some secrets still to be discovered.”
His face damn near purple Richardson angrily said, “Fine, I'll forget about that new addendum to the charter, and I'll leave Scott alone. But I will be there when this blows up in your face Captain.”
“I'm sure you think it will,” Hawk told him. “Good day sir.” not even waiting for a response he turned around and lead Reid out of the room. Once out of the hallway he stopped and looked back at the door. “Is it wrong that felt good?”
Reid started shaking his head, “Gabe I knew you had a set but damn that was something else. What if he called your bluff about Bridge?”
“Who said I was bluffing?” Bridge did want to do a little more digging. But not because of Brooks. He wanted to get some more ammunition to help defend Ken. “But what about you? I've hardly ever seen anybody else stand up to him like that.”
“Are you kidding?”, Reid went as they continued walking. “I was shaking in my boots.”
“Right,” Hawk said in disbelief. “I was standing right next to you and didn't even see a bead of sweat on you.”
“I'm really good at hiding it,” was his answer.
“Remind me to never play poker with you with a face like that.”
***
And he thought being alone with a brainless monster was boring. Granted that was before one of his masters stepped through the vortex to test a device to keep him stable on this side of things. It got to the point were Brooks had timed it out. Every twenty minutes, exactly he might add, the Zetton would examine his extremities just to see if they were still structuarlly stable. Then he, she, whatever the hell it was, would do a check on the device. After it did all of that then ithe Zetton would stand in place staring at the vortex until the next check. And he was pretty sure it kept doing it while he slept as well. And that's all his “guest” did, Brook sure hadn't seen him eat in the the couple of days it had been here, outside of that single eye there wasn't anything to indicate that it had it had any sort of facial features. Not any that he recognized at any point.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw it move. Brooks glanced at his watch, twenty on the dot. The Zetton went through it's usual motions before returning to it's usual standing state. Despite knowing he wasn't going to get any sort of response from the alien Brooks still went, “Everything still in working order I presume. Not going to fade away or whatever happens when out of your dimension?” The Zetton didn't even move a fraction of a millimeter than he could tell. Granted he only said something because the near silence was starting to get a little maddening. “Just assuming you're the same one in the vortex every time, you seemed much more chatty on the other side of things.” Brooks eyed narrowed a bit, maybe he was going crazy but he would have sworn it turned it's head, just a little. But that was about it as it kept up the million mile stare it had been doing.
The other major drawback was it gave Brooks more than enough time to think. Mainly about the device on it's shoulder. If they were going to use that to stay in this universe, and probably use it to invade the giant's universe as well depending on it's strength, what did that mean for him? They originally made their deal because they needed someone on this side to help stabilize their creatures as they came through. If they could do it mechanically then why would they still need him? For the immediate future he should be fine be, at least that what he told himself since given the size difference between this particular being and the creatures that were usually sent over a little tweaking would be needed to compensate for that difference given how new the technology actually was. And in some of these quiet moments he had almost convinced himself that it was true.
But the actual situation meant his days of being useful was probably coming to a close. And somehow he doubted his masters would let him keep the power they had given him as a parting gift, nor would his youthful appearance stick around much longer after that. And Charles Brooks was no match for anyone at the UNDF, someone from sanitation could probably take him out without much effort. So while he sat there contemplating how much damage he could do before they drained these abilities from him he looked over as the vortex started to do something, returning to the state it usually had when communication was happening. He stood next to the Zetton and waited for another of his masters appeared, which made him wonder once again if he dealt with the same being each time.
When one did there was no pretense, no greeting, no attempt at small talk, granted that last one may be too human for them, just a single word was uttered, “Report.” So far this one sounded the same as before.
“The device is working as designed,” his visitor replied. Paying close attention Brooks couldn't notice any difference in either voices. So as far as he knew there was no difference in the voices between Zetton to Zetton. “There has been no derogation to the test subject.”Did he just refer to himself as “the test subject”? There was cold indifference then there was that.
“Excellent,” came the reply. “Do you think the next stage of the plan is feasible?”
“I do believe it is.” Brooks raised an eyebrow. He knew there was a plan since they previously mentioned a new plan of attack. But that was about it. He had a idea what it might be with all the time he spent in his head since the experiment began. So he was curious at how close he actually got to the actually plan. “We will commence with the planning stage now.” The shadowed image faded away as the Zetton turned toward him.
“We?”, he asked. Now he had a part to play in this situation, interesting.
“Yes,” the Zetton said as it walked away from the vortex as it finally disappeared, “your knowledge of the base you used to inhabit should be extremely useful.” So far this was in line with the idea he had come up with.”
“Anything I can do to help,” he said as he followed. Holding out a hand the Zetton created a very rough image of a hallway. If he had to guess one they thought existed inside of Castle. Granted based on what was hanging in front of him that could have been any hallway in the building. Or any building, anywhere.
“This is what we believe is the main corridor of that base.” Again he had to raise a eyebrow. He vividly recalled that particular hallway, it looked nothing like this. “Any information you can provide to correct and expand on this image would be useful.”
Again with the useful. Not appreciated, just useful. He'd show them just useful. Smirking just a bit he activated his own power and took over the image without the Zetton's permission and immediately made the necessary changes, expanding the image into a small model of what he recalled of the inside of Castle. As the Zetton looked around at the adjusted image Brooks crossed his arms, “So what do you want to know?”
***
The whole mess with Stanberry blew over fairly quickly for the most part. Just about everybody he came across on base seemed to be backing him and Jess for the most part. Even the old Jamira regulars, which surprised Ken a bit. All right it surprised him a lot. Apparently there was a rule Richardson was getting ready to try and get into place, according to rumors, and it was not sitting well with a lot of the men and woman around him. But at least Stanberry went in another direction every time she saw Ken now. Yes Hawk chewed him out for it but it was worth it as far as he was concerned.
But more importantly as far as he was concerned Jess readily forgave him for the incident. And to be honest he was more worried about that than any thing Hawk was going to do to him. Okay it wasn't his fault to begin with but he was so worried about losing her again he didn't want to take any chance to risk it. He dated a few women in the past 10 years since their first go around and none of them made him feel like she did. And the same was true for her based on some of the things they talked about since getting back together. So yeah he was making damn sure he didn't do anything to screw this up. Maybe a little too hard according to Jess. Just another thing to keep in mind. But he told himself to try and not think about so much, she loved him, he didn't have Jeff trying to push his buttons to get what he wanted at their expense any more, and, at least according to her, he was being the type of man she knew was on the inside whatever that meant. As far as he could tell he was just being himself. But if she was happy with what she was seeing he'd take it.
But those were thoughts for when he was alone, sitting in the cafeteria with her and the others he just learned a new bit of information that he never knew about. “Since when has there been a Tabitha?” Ryo looked embarrassed at the question.Bill looked just as uncomfortable for some reason.
“Sorry Ryo,” Jess told him looking apologetic. “It just slipped out “
“Okay who is Tabitha and how long have her and Ryo been a thing?”, Ken asked still feeling confused over this new bit of information. Ryo had a girl? When in the hell did that happen? He barely left Castle as far as Ken knew.
“This had to be how you felt when you were telling us about Dax,” he mumbled as he retrieved his wallet and showed him Tabitha's picture. “It's been a little over a month. And I'm surprised she didn't tell you before now.” he said indicating Jess as he put his wallet back.
“I don't tell him everything,” she said a little defensively. And that drew a look from Ken. She ended up telling him something similar to what she told Hawk, “It's not my story to tell.”
“That never stopped you in high school,” he informed her. “I knew who people I never even heard of were dating because of you.”
“I was a teenage woman back then,” she told him. “Gossip was a second language for me and my friends.”
“Oh trust me I recall how fluent you use to be back then,” he told her. Then he returned his attention back to Ryo, “But dude a month and you never said anything?”
“He didn't tell me either,” Jess informed him. “I'm pretty sure he told us to shut Bill up.”
And now he was confused all over again. “Why?”, he began.
Bill sharply answered with, “Don't ask,” before he could even finish the question.
“Okay, now I really want to ask,” Ken told the group. Ryo smirked at Bill as he started burying his face in his hands. “That's not making me want to ask any less.”
“Leave him alone Ken,” Jess told him. “There's plenty of time to hear about it later.” Bill went from looking grateful to betrayed pretty quick. Okay he really wanted to know what was going on now.
“Bill, I'll make you a deal,” Ken told him. When Bill looked interested he continued, “I'll drop it if you tell me how you convinced whomever it was back at Tower to send those barricade plans?”
“What barricade plans?”, he asked. And he wasn't the only one at the table who was confused.
“Those expanding Barricades they used during that assault back at Tower,” he reminded them. “I seem to recall you asking to get me the plans at the time.”
At this Bill perked up a little. “Dude are you serious? You got the plans?” Realizing everyone at the table was staring at him now he quickly said, “I never talked to anybody after we saw them that one time. I mean Bridge is the only person I know with any regular contact with anybody at Tower and I didn't go through him. Ask him yourself.”
“We will,” Ryo told him.
Waving him off Bill asked Ken, “But seriously they sent the plans?”
“The Chief showed them to me before I headed here,” Ken answered him. “And he has no idea why we got them either.”
“Maybe they're sending them to all the UNDF bases,” Jess offered. “Making them standard equipment now since they worked so well during that assault.”
“The Chief considered that,” Ken told her. “He's contacting the other bases to see if they got the plans too. If they didn't, and if Bill didn't pester anybody to get them, then Greenberg still trying to rntice me to come over for a bit.”
“So a little sample of what you could be working on,” Jess said while shaking her head.
“Doesn't give up easy, does he?”, Ryo quipped.
“It's literally the first time I've heard from him since Japan if it's true,” Ken told them. He glanced over at Jess, “But since we have the plans the Chief wants me to take the lead on building the first one, just to see if it'll work like people who where there said it did. He wants to get started as soon as possible, like right after dinner”
“Hey that's great,” Jess told him with a big smile. “Taking the lead on a big project like that. See I told you you had it in you.”
“I know we didn't have any plans or anything,” he started to say.
:Go,” she told him, “I know you're salivating just to build one as much as Bill is to get them. Go and have some fun, just don't make Windam jealous. Just remember I'm here once this part of your career takes off.”
He had this same exact thought several times back when the dated the first time around. Ken just never said it out loud for anybody else to hear before, “I don't deserve you.”
“You probably don't,” she said. “But I think I'll stick with you anyway.” They both leaned in for a kiss. Then both of them stopped and looked around the room.
“You see Hawk any where?”, Ken asked, standing up a little to survey the area better.
She looked around him to see behind him, “I'm not seeing him anywhere.”
“If he just pops up again than he fucking teleported,”, Ken muttered as he sat back down.and kissed her. Both of them lingered on it for a bit before pulling away. “Well teach?”
“Better,” she told him. “Much better.”
“I for one,” Bill suddenly spoke up, “can't wait until you two get out of this phase of the relationship,”
While both of them stared at him, and Ryo slowly trying to move away from Bill, Jess was the one who asked the question, “What stage are you talking about?”
“This whole touchy lovey dovey thing you guys are doing now.” Ken and Jess just looked at each other, both wondering what the hell he was talking about. “It's getting sickening. There's no way you two could get any worse.”
Ryo mumbled, “You had to say it.”
“I'm suddenly seeing why Ryo hadn't mention he was seeing somebody before now,” Ken told him, still feeling confused.
“Mr. Scott,” Jess said as she turned in her chair to face him, “I don't know about you but that sounded like a challenge to me.”
“I do believe you are correct Miss Wade,” he joined in. He took her hands in his and looked into her eyes. “Shall we take up the gauntlet snuggle bunny?”
“And here we go,” Ryo said pushing away from the table, While Bill looked at him, face full of worry.
Jess grinned at him, “Yes we should honey dove.”
“My cute little angel.”
“My big, strong hard working man.” She got in close, “I wuv you.”
“I wuv you more,” he said tapping the tip of her nose lightly.
Bill started patting the table. “I'm tapping, I'm tapping. You guys win.”
“You brought it on yourself,” Ryo told him as he brought his chair back to the table.
“Thank God,” Ken said said after Bill stopped tapping out, “I was making myself sick there.”
Still grinning Jess said, “I'm pretty sure that was you in high school.”
“No way,” he said in full disbelief. And surprised when she actually nodded. He thought hard and fast, there was no way he acted like that the first time around. Was there? Eventually he ended up going, “How did you stand me?”
“I don't know,” she answered him, “but you're lucky I did.”
“Oh I fully realize that, thank you very much.” Then he felt something from Dax. Several somethings almost all at once that made him look around. These were close, too close for comfort. And more were still popping up. What the hell was going on?
“Ken?”, Jess asked. All around them communicators were going off about some sort of invasion happening. But that made no sense. Then he got another spike, one that made him whip around to face the far end of the room. A few started to back away as some sort of portal formed out of thin air. Then some sort of one eyed being started to walk through. Ken tensed up, he had seen something like that before. At Kyrie's lab not that long ago, it was one of the creatures Dax's people were at war with. He barely heard Dax's warning as he saw the creature hold up some sort of device and fire it, in his direction. Jess reacted before he did, grabbing him by the jacket and throwing both of them to the ground. Ryo and Bill were right behind them as more of those creatures came through firing at anything that moved, which was just about everybody in the room who was trying to run.
“I'm guessing friends of Brooks,” Bill said as the four of them tried to crawl toward the closest door since none of them were armed. And there were way too many witnesses to let Dax out and play..
“Did you have to ask?”, Ryo snapped at him. Before long a group of guards burst through that particular door and started firing at anything that didn't look human.That particular number was growing by the moment as the portal stayed open. The creatures started concentrating their fire at them.
From Ken's perspective it looked like both sides took hits but only the UNDF soldiers were going down. Then something caught his eye while on the ground. A light on the creature that kept going on and off. Once drawn to the device on it's shoulder his mind went into overdrive trying to figure it out. And he wasn't sure if it was because it was alien technology or the stress from the situation or both but how it worked was staying just outside his mental reach, but he understood their function right away. They were using them to stay in this dimension. He looked over to where he thought Jess and the others were but quickly realized they had moved on without him. Seeing Jess head toward one of the fallen guards he hurried up to catch up with them.
She grabbed the man's gun when he did. “You gotta aim for the device keeping them stable in this dimension.”
Ryo grabbed a weapon as well and knelt next to Jess as they joined in. Bill just looked at him as he gtabbed a gun for himswlf, “Aim for the what?”
For the love of... Taking a quick breath Ken tried to remember that despite telling them all he knew he still knew these things longer than they have. So he told him, “Shoot the blinky thing!” Jess paused just long enough to hear what he said. Then she took a quick aim on one and fired off a single shot. It hit the device and caused it to spark a bit then the creature screamed a bit as it dissolved away into nothing. Ken watched the whole thing and a couple of others as she scored a few more bull eyes. “Geez Dax was that going to happen to you if we didn't bond?”
He didn't hear a response as the invaders suddenly all turned in their direction and increased their fire. “Move!”, Ryo shouted as they made it for the door. Once in the hallway and seeing it was clear for the moment they finally stood and ran away from the cafeteria as did others who were able to escape. Toward the armory if Ken recalled correctly. Hitting his communicator Ryo kept moving as he looked around, “Watanabe to all units still fighting, aim for the blinking device on the creatures' shoulder. Damaging that will make them go away.”
“Ryo,” Hawk called out over the line, “are you absolutely sure about that?”
“Saw it happen myself Captain,” he said. He glanced back at him before saying, “Ken was the one who figured it out.”
“Understood, Hawk to all units, aim for that device.”
“You heard him Beta Team,” Reid joined in. “Sounds like the best plan we have for the moment.” There were several rounds of acknowledgement. Then another group of creatures came around the corner. They seemed surprised enough that they didn't fire right away. That didn't stop them however as they quickly opened fire on the group, with Jess hitting the target the most.
While the sound of things made it seem like these creatures were all over the place that group sudden appearance made him ask, “Dax can you sense these guys?” The others looked at him, with Jess in particular looking at his communicator then stopped, realizing now was not the time to worry about him being listened in on.
In his head he heard Daxium tell him, “No, I have no idea where any of them are after they exit those portals.”
Nodding a bit Ken said, “Probably means they can't sense us either.”
“It's a likely possibility,” he heard in his head.
Outside his head he heard Ryo go, “What are you thinking Ken?”
“I'm still piecing it together,” He answered and tried to think fast. “That's the way to the armory right?” When they said it was he tried to get out what was in his head. “That last group came from that way. Granted it was probably chance but you have to think Brooks told them where stuff was around here.”
“The stuff he knew about when he was here,” Jess took over for him seeing his line of thinking. “It's 101, keep the troops away from the weapons.”
“But we have more than one armory,” Bill said.
“Now,” Ryo said. “We added several weapon stockpiles on every level since Brooks. He wouldn't know about them.”
“So we hoof it to another floor,” he said in understanding. “So which way do we head, up or down?”
“Both,” Ryo told them. “we split up,You and me will head up, maybe try and meet up with either Hawk or Reid. Jess, you and Ken head down.”
“The garage is pretty close,” Jess offered. “I'm sure the chief has the area secured right now. And them maybe we can coordinate a pincer movement of a sort and try to trap them between the two groups. Catch them in a crossfire if we can.”
“Maybe I can get Windam involved too,” Ken offered. “His battle computer is active and we could use all the help we can get.”
“Sounds like the best play we have for the moment,” Ryo told them. “Keep you heads down and eyes wide open. Be safe guys.” They all acknowledged him and continued on until they found a stair well. After making sure both ways were clear they split up and headed toward their destinations.
***
“Bridge do we have whatever these things are on sensors?”, Hawk said from his post. There was a lull in the attack they were facing for the moment, the invaders backing away once they realized they figured out what to target now thanks to Ken's observation. Everything in his body told him to take the breather, and many of those with him were doing just that. Especially with the wounded and fallen they pulled in here with them. But he didn't get this far by not being aware of what was going on elsewhere in a battle.
“Barely,” was the eventual answer. Right now Hawk was just grateful none of those portals had opened up in Command Room, otherwise the entire outfit would be blind and deaf to must things going on in the complex. “We have some sort of energy signature we can follow but mainly we know were they are based on the reports that are coming in.” Not ideal but it was better than nothing at the moment. As it was Hawk had barricaded both ends of the hallway that lead to the Command Room, but he didn't dare leave and talk to the man himself. “If I have to be honest Captain,” Bridge went on, “Whatever they used to get in is similar to the portal Brooks used to bring that monster down on us when we found out about him. They're wrecking havoc with our electrical systems but not on the same scale.”
“So that's who he'd been working for,” Hawk muttered, mostly to himself. Thanks to Ken he knew about this strange war that made it's way to their world. But outside of the ones like Daxium he wasn't all that versed on the combatants. Well, outside of finally getting a good look at the one Kyrie some how produced he had no idea what they looked like. “Okay Bridge, keep trying to lock in on them and keep me updated.”
“Yes sir,” Bridge replied before cutting the link. The one question he really wanted to ask the man was could the enemy listening in on them. It would be so easy to walk into the room and ask him face to face. But he couldn't leave his post in case they renewed their attack. He didn't even know what there goal was. The portals just showed up at seemingly random places so it was hard to figure out the objective they were after. So he went on instinct when he set up shop here as soon as he could, trying to guess what the potential targets could be.
Speaking of potential targets,“Stanberry,” he called out over his communicator, one more concern he had to worry about, “Location report.” He intentionally kept the question as vague as possible, not giving away where she was just in case they were listening in
“Secured,” was her reply. Whatever the issues between them were she knew her responsibilities was to protect Richardson and the board. And hopefully the men he and Reid allocated to support her were going to be enough, as it was he had Janet and the other secretaries and civilian staff on base hold up in whatever office they were in. “No sign of the enemy anywhere.” Another small favor there, if they wanted to disrupt them or get them to surrender then there was no faster way than to capture the Board. Then again that was thinking in human terms, who knew what these invaders thought. The fact none of the portals appeared in that section at least told Hawk they didn't consider them a priority, at least for the moment.
“Understood, it goes without saying but keep your eyes open for anything.” There wasn't any response as the link ended.
“Captain Hawk,” he turned around when he heard his name called, and was relieved when he saw Ryo, Bill and a few more men come toward him.
“Good to see you Ryo, Bill,” he told the men and acknowledged the others. The fear started to set in as he realized some were missing“Were's Jess and Ken?”
“They headed for the garage,” was Ryo's answer. Then he quickly filled him in on Ken's observation when he last saw him. Hawk would have to remind himself to be happy at how far Ken had come with thinking like that. Right now he had to go over his original strategy with what he knew now. If it was right they're initial goal was to try and cut them off from the main armory. And if Ken was right about Brooks' involvement in this attack then some of their information would be out of date. How could he use that?
“Hawk to Bridge,” he said suddenly. “Those reading you're able to get, how wide spread are they?”
“Not very,” came the surprising response. “Outside of the occasional burst here and there, readings and reports have them primarily around the main armory. With a group near the hanger and garage.” Hawk looked at Ryo and knew they had the same thought, Jess and Ken were headed for the garage. “They are trying to separate us from the weapons from the look of things, heavy or small.”
“Looks like,” Ryo agreed. “But how come they haven't tried to gain a foot hold somewhere else? We were caught off guard and they could have wiped us out without even trying, at least set up a base of operations before we could stop them.”
“I'm not sure,” Hawk told him. And that was driving him insane at the moment. Something like this there had to be a goal, even if it was just confusion. Then it hit him, that was the plan . “They want us confused,” he said softly. “This is a diversion. This whole thing is just a diversion for something else.”
“What could this be a diversion for,” Bill asked. “I mean there's usually a giant monster of some sort.”
“Brooks,” Hawk told him. “Brooks had to do something when that other monster showed up. Why else he unleash that massive amount of energy before it came through. He's around somewhere. They want to make sure we couldn't detect him,” he talked a little softer so only the two of them could hear him, “or Ken for that matter.”
“If this is what they're doing to distract us then.. .,” Ryo started to say but stopped. Bill paled slightly as he thought about it. Hawk couldn't blame him, after all the monsters that were sent their way what was coming up if they were going to this length to get their attention?
***
Oh how she wished Ken was able to sense where these things were. At least it would make each corner they approached a little less nerve wreaking. She had them stay close to the wall and gave him a weapon and told him to keep an eye on their rear as they made their way to the garage. He was at least aware of how serious the situation was to reframe from making the obvious joke. Actually Jess didn't think she would have minded it that much if it broke the tension a bit. Reaching yet another intersection she motioned for him to take the other corner and check it, almost there she told herself.
Ken carefully peeked around the corner then nodded at her, all clear. She nodded in response then checked the hall leading closer to the garage. She motioned for them to keep going. They made their way then a sound made them stop and look behind them. Several of those things turned a corner a little further down an headed in their direction. “Move!”, she ordered Ken as she pushed him in the other direction. He didn't argue as they ran away from the invaders. In moments both of them ducked as they started firing at them. Jess still ran as she fired off a quick shot when she could, not even stopping long enough to see if she hit anything. They were almost to the garage she kept telling herself, almost to a fresh set of ammo and reinforcements. Almost there just a few more corners.
A shot from whatever they were using went past her and almost hit Ken. Then he dove for the floor as another one almost hit him. And that's when the thought hit her, maybe he couldn't detect them but maybe they could detect him and Daxium. And all things considered they were going to need the two of them more than they were going to need her in this mess. She stopped and quickly turned around and took aim. A single shot nailed the device as the creature began to dissolve but they kept coming, so she kept firing. “Jess!”, she heard Ken cry out when he realized what she was doing.”We're almost there come on!” But she kept firing at the invaders, seeing one disappear and more keep coming. She should have told him to get going, that she'd cover him but she was too busy concentrating on her moving targets. She should have said she loved him one last time.
When they were close enough that she was sure this was it Jess felt a hand grab the collar of her uniform and pulled her back. She was vaguely aware that it was Ken 's doing as he kept pulling as he forced her behind him and and spun toward the horde as he pointed his right hand at the invaders. He was quickly engulfed in an orb of light that finally caused the invaders to halt their advance. When the orb faded away Daxium stood where he was and quickly fired off what she recently learned was called a Flashbolt at the creatures. It hit the closest one and exploded on impact as the creature fell to the ground unmoving. Then all she could do was watch as Daxium charged at them, launching an attack they weren't expecting. They tried to swarm him but he was holding them off, not easily but he was holding them off. A few starting to dissolve made her notice were he was attacking them, at the device, either he learned through Ken or Ken was telling him where to focus his attacks. The creatures started to retreat after a bit as Daxium kept tearing through them. Then he grabbed one and slammed it against the wall. As it gripped with both hands at the hand wrapped around it's throat Daxium quickly reached up and tore the device off it's shoulder. As it faded away like the others he looked at the device in his hand.
Cautiously she stepped forward and said, “Daxium?” She took a quickstep back as he became solid light that expanded into an orb shape. Then it shrunk down again, breaking away revealing Ken once again. He looked around before looking back at his hand, he was holding the device. She saw a look cross his face that she had seen before, most recently in Japan, he was figuring it out, or trying toev. “Ken?”, she asked to get his attention, mainly because now was not the time for his brain to go into overdrive piecing this particular puzzle together. When he looked at her she went, “I thought you said he only comes out for something a bit bigger.
He looked back down the hall making sure they weren't coming back. “He made an exception given the circumstances.” Taking one last look at the device he pocketed it before hugging her, “Do not do anything that stupid ever again.”
“Pretty sure that's my line,” she told as she hugged him back.
He pulled back going, “You okay?”
“I'm fine,” she told him, although she was trying not to think about how sure she was that she was going to die before he pulled her back. “Come on, almost there.” He didn't say anything as he followed her the rest of the way. They finally turned the last corner that lead to the garage and were immediately met with a bunch of UNDF soldiers aiming their weapons at them. Both of the held up their hands with Jess going, “We're friendlies!”
“Stand down!”, they heard the Chief call out before making his way past the group to wave the two of them forward. Once past the line she finally tried to get herself to relax a little. “What are you two doing here?”,the chief asked as he ushered them into the garage.
“We figured they basing their attack on information they got from Brooks,” Ken told him as he walked away from the two of them.
Jess picked up were he left off, “ They don't know we have more than one armory station now. We're trying to use that to our advantage some how.”
“Do we have any idea where these bastards are coming from?” the Chief asked. She shook her head despite having an idea from what Ken told her. She hated keeping information from him but telling what she knew would cause more questions than what they needed at the moment.
Suddenly Ken shouted out, “Windam!” After a bit the robot came out othe lab it was in and walked toward him. Ken reached into a pocket and pulled the device Daxium grabbed a bit ago and showed it to him. “You see this, attack anything that doesn't look human that has one of these. Is that understood?” Windam seemed to study the device before nodding. Pointing at the way they just came in he told him, “Good, now guard that door until I tell you otherwise.” Again the machine nodded and took up position at the door. Ken started looking at the device again.
“Is that the thing I heard Hawk and the rest talk about over the line?”, the Chief asked.
“Yeah,” Ken said eyeing a lab before heading toward it. With her and the chief following he went on, “I'm hoping I can use this to disrupt the other ones being used, at least be able to detect them.”
“I'd concentrate on that last part if I were you,” The Chief said. “That sounds more doable with what we have down here.”
“One thing at a time Chief,” Ken told him.
“I'll let Ryo know we made it,” Jess told him before hailing Ryo over her communicator,hoping she wasn't detracting him at a bad time.
It looked like those fears were put to rest as he answered back. “Good to here from you Jess. Me and Bill made it to Hawk. What's your status?”
“Everyone in the garage seems to be in one piece if a little rattled,” she told him. “We were able to get one of the devices off the creatures. Ken has a couple of ideas for it that he's working on right now.”
“Good,” he said. “Whatever they are it better be good. Captain Hawk just figured out something about their attack that you need to hear.” She shared a brief glance with the Chief, now what?
***
Ken and a few others carefully made their way down the hall. In his hands was something he had quickly put together using that device and anything he could get his hands on in the garage, fortunately it had labs with equipment that was comparable to the labs found on the upper levels. Still he might have been a little more confident if he threw this thing together up there than down here, but beggars couldn't be chooser in this this situation. He kept his eyes on the device in his hands, only stopping when he got a reading. He looked over to the man next to him and nodded. As he quickly went forward to the upcoming intersection the others with him drew their weapons and took up positions. Anxiously he watched the man go up to the corner and take a peek using a small mirror to see around the corner. Pulling the mirror back he looked at Ken and held up three fingers. Ken looked back at the readout on the device and held up three fingers of his own. He was getting three hits and the other guy was seeing three of the invaders. Holy shit the thing worked, it actually worked.
The other man quietly rejoined the group and they made their way back the way they came. It seemed like forever but they made it back to the garage were he immediately hit his communicator, “Scott to Hawk, the prototype worked like I thought it would. We can fully detect them now”
“That's great news Ken,” Hawk responded. “Bridge and his staff are already looking over the base's schematics to see if there's a way to connect that device to the internal sensors from down there. But get ready to haul it up here if you have too.”
“Understood Captain,” Scott said before the link ended, they still weren't sure if the enemy could listen in to their comm frequency yet so they tried to keep things as brief as possible. Going over to a near by workbench he set the device down and started undoing the straps to his wrist scanner. Once off he started to unscrew the back cover of the device.
Jess came up to him and watched him for a bit before going, “What are you doing now?”
Getting the cover off he studied the insides a bit as he told her, “It occurred to me that if we got to move this to the upper floors then it might be useful if more than one person had access to the readings, maybe get a wider field of coverage to detect them” He really wished he had something to call the invaders outside of them, even Dax didn't know what they were called. Finding the receiver unit he was looking for he turned his attention back to the device he created. Then his hand sort of just paused, hovering by it.
Immediately Jess was concerned, “What is it.”
“I'm scaring myself here Jess,”he admitted to her. “I'm a builder, a fixer, a damn grease jocky. Hell I told Greenberg that I was more of a hands on type than a think something up type. Now here I am figuring out how to use alien tech with ours to figure out where they are. Jess never in my wildest dreams...”
She immediately held him by putting an arm around his shoulder, “Hey strange circumstances Ken. This is pretty much the deep end we've been thrown into. It's sink or swim, and boy are you swimming.” She started rubbing his arm to get him to relax a little. “If anything you better hope Greenberg never hears about what your pulling off here. Otherwise your inbox is going to explode everyday.”
Despite the situation he snorted a bit. He reached out and held her closer, grateful she was there to calm him down a bit. “I really don't deserve you.”
Unlike her answer from before it all went to hell she told him, “Yes you do.” Leaning in to give him a quick peck on the cheek she looked around. “I better pick some guys to help me escort you to the command room in case we have to.”
“Actually, I better show you how to operate this first,” Ken said, just soft enough that only she could hear him. “Just in case Hawk's right and I gotta get away real fast before we get there.” What he didn't say was that he probably should have been out there already looking for him.
“You think he's out there too?”, she asked him.
“It makes sense,” was his answer. “Despite the tech they got here,” he gestured to the device he cobbled together. “it's pretty easy to take out. Going from the output it has it's not strong enough to cover something the size they usually send. They're still going to need Brooks to stabilize whatever is coming.”
“I guess you're right,” Jess told him, then quickly added, “I wouldn't get use to hearing that by the way. Okay show me how to run it.”
“Okay,” he said turning back toward the device, “I made sure the display was easy to read and figure out, I also realized that thing has different frequencies, so in case they get the bright idea to change what they're using you can use this dial to go through them. This dial can extend or shrink the sensor range...”, she kept nodding as he went over each component and what it did. After he was done and she started to repeat everything he just showed her his communicator beeped, “Scott here.”
“Ken,” Hawk said, “bad news. Bridge just told me there's no way to hook it up to the sensors from down there.” Ken had a feeling that was going to be the case but still he did sort of hoped, just so he could get away and track down Brooks. “You'rte going to have to get it up here and install it.”
“Understood Captain,” he looked around “Let us finalize a few things down here then we'll be on our way.”
“Don't take too long son.” Again the link ended. And Ken went back to work on his wrist scanner, he was going to have to work fast. Jess had already started looking for volunteers for the goup.
“Why don't we hook it up to one of the Scan Tracks?”, Ken and a few others looked over at the guy who asked the question. “They got a sensor package.
“It's not as good as the sensors installed inside the base,” Ken answered him as he went back to his previous task, “And I'm kinda doubting how many levels they can actually get through. Besides I'm not sure how far away the wrist scanners can be be away from this thing and still get the signal.”
“Windam,” Jess called out. “You're with us.” The robot nodded and walked away from the door.
Ken's mouth dropped for a moment as he watched this, “What the hell, he listening to you now?”
“Apparently,” Jess said just as stunned as the rest of them. “I didn't even think I just said it and well,” She gestured toward Windam who was still coming toward her. Everyone just watched as the robot finally stopped in front of her, waiting for further orders. Okay this day officially couldn't get any weirder.
***
“Any sign of them?, Hawk asked as he checked with the guards he posted on either end of the corridor. The guard didn't look at him as he shook his head. That was the same response the ones on the other side had given him. He tried not to worry, they did say they had to finalize something, whatever that was, before heading in this direction. And he was pretty sure they weren't going to take the elevators so it was going to be by stairwell and that was going to take time, especially if they took a less than direct route from the garage to best avoid the invaders as much as possible. It was good strategy and it was what he would have done or told them to do if they called in to let him know they were off. That's what he told himself, still didn't calm his nerves though. And that was almost an hour ago. “Keep you eyes open,” he told the guard who nodded.
Almost as soon as he turned around Ryo called out, “Captain we have incoming!” Then he ducked a little as something by his head exploded. A few more explosions started to heppen as it took Hawk a second to realize it was incoming fire. The invaders had gotten here first.
“Make sure they don't come up behind us!”, he told the guard, who nodded although they kept looking back at where the attack was coming from. The last thing they needed was to be attacked from two different direction, which he knew was a possibility when he took up position in this here. Ryo, Bill and the others were already returning fire when he made it to them. “How many?”
“Too damn many!”, Bill quipped as he took a few shots before going back behind cover.
“Just aim for the thing Ken pointed out,” Hawk ordered as he drew his side arm. He was able to get a quick look at what was coming and found himself agreeing with Bill's not so professional estimate of the situation.
“Argh,” Ryo cried out as he took a shot to the shoulder. Bill quickly grabbed him and helped him down behind cover as he and the others laid down more fire “I'm fine,” Ryo insisted as he tried to get up.
“You're starting to sound like Civilian when he's hurt,” Bill told him as he grabbed a medkit from somebody and opened it. He quickly had the wound bandaged and wrapped and was back trying to hold off the invaders as someone else pulled Ryo back from the assault. Hawk pulled back and took a quick glance at the other end. So far it didn't look like they were coming that way, a small favor at least.
“Windam, go!”, he heard somebody call out. He risked a look to see the robot come up behind the invaders and attack. As soon as they turned to the new threat a few shots came from behind the robot, at least two hitting the device the aliens wore. As they started to dissolve away Hawk and the rest of them started firing again. He hoped this was going to be enough of a distraction. And it was as the combined attack started whittling down the invaders numbers. When the last one was gone he stood up as Jess and the others rushed forward. Ken was with them but he stopped to check on Windam along the way. “You okay buddy?”, he asked as he did a quick visual inspection of the machine. “They didn't damage anything did they?”
“Ken come on,” Jess called out to get him moving again. To him she said, “Sorry we're late Captain. Ken was able to hook his device to our wrist scanners so we did our best to avoid any conflicts we could to avoid being detected.”
“Completely understandable,” Hawk told her hiding the relief he he was feeling. “Ken hurry up and get to Bridge to get that thing hooked up to sensors.”
“On it,” he said. But he turned around first to face the robot. “Windam help guard this end.” As soon as the robot nodded he went into the control room while sparing a worried look as he past Ryo.
Just then Jess noticed him as well. “Ryo,” she went as she knelt next to him. “This is what happens when I'm not around to watch your back. “
“It's only a flesh wound,”: he grunted as he re-positioned himself.
“Let me hear that from a medic first,” she told him as she stood back up. “Henry, Phil bring the package up here,” she suddenly called out. The two men hurried forward carrying a crate. As they set it down she told Hawk, “I figured it be a good idea to bring some fresh supplies and ammo while we made our way here.”
“Good thinking,” he said. Then he got a better look at the crate. It was for an automated defense turret they had recently received. He looked at her, “We had one of these in the garage armory?”
“It was the Chief's idea,” she told him. “He remembered the armory a couple of levels up had a couple of these stored in there. We made a stop and collected one to bring up here. The Chief had a couple of men come with us to grab another one to set up down there.”
“We needed this a few moments ago,” Bill said as he an another started to undo the latches on the crate. And open it
“Better late than never,” Hawk told him as they began assembling it. “we'll set it up on this end. “Martin, Roberts get on the other end and help keep watch.”
“Yes sir,” they replied and hurried to the other end taking some of the supplies with them.
Ken came back out into the hallway, “We got it hooked up,” he announced. “It's picking up the alien devices clear as a bell. The information should be transmitting to the wrist scanners now.” Hawk and a few others did just that. So far he was only picking up a scattering of signals around the area. “The only drawback is we're getting signals from every floor at the same time. Bridge is working on it though. But if you set the scanner to this,” Ken took Hawk's arm and started pressing a few things and before too long the various readings started to fade away, most of them at any rate, “it'll put you in map mode so you'll get a hit if any of them come in this direction.”
“Map mode?”, Hawk asked.
Ken immediately jerked a thumb back toward the door to the controll room, “Bridge's idea. He and the others were working on it once they found out what I was doing. He's also texting direction to the scanners themselves so everybody on base can switch over to it.”
“Do you people even need me at this point,” Hawk muttered with a slight grin. “Good job Ken, this is going to help a lot.”
“Just make sure Greenberg doesn't find out about it, please,” was his response. Hawk chuckled despite himself. Of all the things to be worried about in this situation. But Hawk was still wondering how he was going to word it in his reports as it was. He didn't want to give Greenberg any fresh ideas to try and take Ken for his Tower staff. Then Ken got a look on his face right before his head whipped around in a certain direction.
“Ken?”, Jess asked right before the lights started to flicker. “Here it comes,” she whispered. Hawk nodded, this is what happened when Brooks brought that other monster over.
“Captain,” came Bridges's staticy voice over the communicator. “We got a reading outside of the base.” Hawk looked back at Ken who was looking around before locking eyes with him. Hawk saw it in his face.
“There's a stairway to the roof that way,” he pointed down the hall he and the others came from. “Go.” He nodded and shared a quick look with Jess before running down that way
Bill who had stop assembling the turret long enough to walked up to help support Ryo as he walked up to join him and Jess to see him go. “I'm really starting to hate this part.”
“Tell me about it,” Ryo joined in.
“Get in line boys,” Jess told the two of them, having figured out that Ken was Ultraman before any of them did.
“Just keep an eye on those scanners,” Hawk told them. “And finish getting this thing together, I wouldn't put it past them to try and attack thinking we're distracted. By what's going on outside” The all complied but silently Hawk was in agreement with them.
***
He found the door Hawk had mentioned soon enough, not even slowing down as he bashed the door open and started up the flight of stair that led to the roof. The only thing that halted his progress was when the base started to shake a bit and he held on to the guard rail to keep from falling off. As soon as it seemed to stop he headed up again. The invasion, now what ever was out there, this was going to be big. And if Brooks was still out there then this might be his chance to finish things once and for all. “One thing at a time,” he told himself, “stop the giant threat first then worry about Brooks.”
Reaching the door to the roof, again he didn't stop as he rammed his shoulder into it to bust it open. He heard a deep voice go, “Zetton”, before he actually spotted the creature. He looked up at what was sent over this time around, black with white limbs with glowing orange spots on it's chest as well as a slightly flashing orange strip going down it's face. It seemed to look right at him as Ken tried to stare it down. Then there was several small explosions that made Ken rush to the the railing and look down. Some Scan tracks got mobilized and started firing at the monster, who promptly ignored the attempted assault.
Ken looked back up at the creature who stayed in place, still apparently staring at him, almost like it was waiting.”You ready for this one Dax?”, he asked not taking his eyes off the monster. And remembering that he let his usually giant friend loose earlier to help Jess deal with the invaders that almost got the two of them. While he wasn't out long Ken wasn't exactly sure how much energy he used and how much had built back up in the meantime.
“I'm as ready as I'll ever be,” came the response in his head. “I do believe the phrase you 'be been so fond of recently is 'Let's do it'.”
Ken didn't even hide the smirk after hearing that. “I am corrupting you,” he said still keeping his eyes on the monster. Reaching into his jacket he retrieved the Spark Magnifier and held it over his heads as he activated it.
***
Zetton looked up at the column of light that formed on top of the base. It faded to reveal Daxium who quickly jumped off in case the creature tried to attack him while he was on it. Making sure he landed to the side of the monster he quickly rushed in and pushed it away from the base. Once far enough away from Castle he didn't have to worry about it for the moment he backed up and took on his usual fighting stance, “Shiah!”
The creature barely reacted, only repeating, “Zetton,” and came toward the giant. Daxium saw it raise it's arm back and jumped back again to avoid the blow. He went for a kick the creature easily blocked and pushed back making the giant stumble slightly. Daxium went in again and tried to attack. The creature just stood there absorbing each punch that impacted it's body. After a bit, and since he was too close to dodge the blow properly Daxium was knocked to the ground by a backhand. Before Daxium could get up Zetton grabbed him by the back of the neck and hauled him off the ground.Then swung with it's other arm to knock him down again. In desperation Daxium kicked out with a foot and caught his opponent at the knee.
As it staggered a bit Daxium rolled backwards to get to his feet. Before he could do anything fireballs like objects shot out of that strip on it's face. Rocked by the multiple impacts he was able to dodge a couple long enough to start bac kflipping out of the way as more came at him. Once there was a pause in the attack Daxium landed on his feet and quickly fired off a Flash Bolt. Zetton held up both arms, bent at the elbows and some sort of field surrounded the monster blocking the bol and catching the giant by surprise. When the field dropped it fired those fire like energy balls again. Daxium dove to the side to avoid the attack and quickly fired off another Flashbolt at the monster.Just as fast as he fired it off Zetton formed that barrier again. He rushed in again hoping to catch the monster off guard as the field lowered. The creature ended up grappling with him as it seemed to be fully prepared for this change of tactics and easily threw him to the side.
The creature didn't follow up with another attack of it's own, almost like it was daring him to attack it again. Daxium held back a bit, not falling for the obvious bait, trying to go over his options, No matter what he did next one thing was for certain he had to figure out a way to disable that field before he did anything else. Then the creature turned toward Castle and fired more of those fireballs at the upper levels. Daxium quickly grabbed it from behind and tried to pull it away from the base. Again it easily shrugged him away and knocked him to the ground.
Closer to Castle Reid had stepped out of the Scan Track to watch the two giants battle and not for the first time felt like an ant looking up at something. After witnessing Ultraman battle monster after monster after he took over Beta Team he was still in awe of seeing it at this level. Even feeling the ground shake under his feet as they struggled against each other still blew his mind slightly. He doubted he would ever get use to it.
But seeing Ultraman basically on the ropes stunned him most of all. Reid was aware that one of his men walked up beside him. “That thing seems to have a counter for everything Ultraman is throwing at it.”
“Looks like,” he was forced to agree. “But get ready to get the hell out of here in case he goes red.” Which meant going in to the strong form of his and that really destructive weapon he uses in that mode. His man nodded as he went back to the Scan track, Reid slowly started to make his way back to the vehicle as well when the monster grabbed Ultraman and literally throw him further away. Reid tensed as he saw Ultraman position his arms to go into that stronger form but the monster fired those fireballs again to stop him.
“Come on fight back,” Reid mumbled as he witness the giant just stand there and take the attack. Then he set up his arms as he did when he used the main beam weapon in his starting form. Reid look back at the monster, could the beam shatter that field it could put up. Ultraman crossed his wrist and fired the beam. But the monster put both hands to it's chest as the beam hit. After a bit Reid's mind finally processed what happened, “Did it just absorb that beam?”, he asked the air. Ultraman looked easily as shocked as well.
There was a deep, “Zetton,” before he held up both arms and fired a beam of it's own. Ulteaman was hit before he could react. A pained grunt filled the air as he hit the ground. But he still got back up to fight the creature. The monster fired the beam again but Ultraman quickly spread his arms to put up his own field. It blocked one shot, and a second but Ultraman ended up taking a step back. A third destroyed the field with a minor explosion. “Zetton,” the monster fried another blast in the confusion but Ultraman was apparently expecting it and tried to move out of the way. But he wasn't fast enough as the beam hit him in side, apparently ripping him open. Reid lost his breath as he heard Ultraman cry out in pain as he was spun to the ground.
“Fuck,” he heard some one say. He couldn't reprimand anyone since it was him as he watch Ultraman grab at the open wound that seemed to be bleeding light as that jewel on his chest started blinking red.
Daxium tried to heal the bleeding gash in his side, even if it was just a little, but he was assaulted by those fireballs before he could concentrate enough to do it. Another cry of pain was canceled out by another volly that exploded around him. He banged his forearms together and mode shifted into power mode and ran toward the monster. Ignoring the new assault he kept going forward finally punching the monster right in the face. It rocked back so he kicked it in the stomach to cause it to stumble even more. Daxium tried to keep up the attack trying to keep the creature rocked and to keep it from firing off anything else. Then it stuck one of it's hands right into the gash and twisted. A loud cry of pain came from Daxium as he grabbed the monster's wrist. With some effort he slowly pulled the offending hand out of his wound then punched it in the head again.
“Zetton.”, it said again as it grabbed him by the throat. He was barely able to pull the hands away as the side of his body with the gash threaten to give away from the pain. Ignoring it he quickly turned around and hurled the monster away from Castle. Bringing his hand close to the jewel he began drawing in energy. The monster raised it's forearms again to create the field one more time. Expecting it Daxium ran toward the monster, this Zetton. It didn't move. Just watching the giant get closer. Then Daxium reared back with the fist and punched the field with the full force of the Giga Wave. The field exploded but still saved the monster although it seemed stunned. Sent back from the explosion Daxium crossed his arms and threw them out as he rolled to his feet and was kneeling in Hyper mode. Drawing in energy one more time he flinched a bit and was suddenly behind the creature as the light whip retracted back into his fingers.
Behind him the monster had a glowing gash of it's own across it's body. It stood there for a moment before finally exploding. Daxium stumbled a bit as he looked behind him and held the gash in his side. He would have taken the time to heal it but the quick flashing of the jewel told him he didn't have the time. He apologized to Ken for the state he was about to leave him in then looked at Castle. The roof was destroyed thanks to the monster's assault, he couldn't return his friend in that mess. He apologized one more time before looking up at the sky and flying off, “Shiah!”
***
“The creatures are disappearing back into the portals!”, Hawk announced over the communicators. “All units keep an eye out for any stragglers just in case.”
Turning to the men with him, who looked as ecstatic about the news as he felt, Reid said, “You heard the man. Let's get back in there and sniff them out of hiding” He heard them comply but didn't pay attention to it. Something behind them caught his attention first. At first he thought it was one of the invaders as his hand went for his weapon. His men seeing the motion quickly turned around and did the same. Fortunately for the individual they quickly realized the person was human and held their fire. Walking through the group as he got a better look at the individual he said, “Scott, what are you doing out here?”. Then he noticed how pale the young man looked. He stumbled to a stop and for a moment and looked like he was going to say something. Then his face twisted like he was in immense pain and grabbed his side right before he dropped to the ground.
“Ken!”, One of his men shouted as all of them ran toward him. Keeping an eye open in case this the work of one of the invaders.
“Easy Ken,” Reid said as he knelt next to the unconscious man and holstered his weapon. Carefully they flipped him to his back, trying not to cause any more damage, whatever it was he was suffering from. As soon as he was on his back Reid immediately pulled up his shirt trying to figure out what the problem was, he was just grateful he wasn't apparently bleeding. At least on the outside, who knew what kind of internal injuries he could have suffered. Lifting the shirt up he and a couple of others with him gasped at the ugly red welt on his side.
“What the fuck caused that?”, one of them said. He went to touch it but Reid stopped him in case he made the situation even worse.
“I don't know,” he said then paused. He suddenly recalled Ultraman getting hit and ripped open in the same general area. Then he lost his breath again as he remembered Hawk asking his opinion about Ultraman possibly being one of them. He lowered the shirt as he stared at the man, realization quickly dawning on him.
Holy shit.
Immediately he hit his communicator, “Reid to medical. I need a team at my location now!” he ended the call then turned to his men. “Get a med kit out of the Scan Track.” One of them ran for he vehicle as he and the others stayed with Ken. “Hang in there Ken,” he said hoping the young man could hear him on some level as he ripped off his uniform jacket and balled it up to place under his head, “help's coming. Or there's going to be hell to pay.”
***
There were some things that required Hawk's immediate attention in the aftermath of that invasion, getting repair crews in motion, making sure of the number of causalities or fatalities that occurred during said invasion was current, that sort of thing, otherwise he would have been down here already with the others. Hawk was worried when he heard Reid call for a med team, wondering if there were still more of those aliens around. Once he heard it was Ken he was calling the team for he fought hard not to panic. Particularly after he saw some of the footage of the conflict between Daxium and that monster Bridge was able to recover. Some of the content of that battle being the main reason why he hadn't shared it with the others as of yet considering Ken's current condition.. Turning a corner he saw Jess, Ryo and Bill all hovering around the door of the room Ken was in, all looking worried about him. Jess in particular as she kept acting like she was going in the door but stopped. Ryo noticed him first as he came closer, “Any word?”
“Nothing yet,” Ryo told him. “All we know is that he's still unconscious but they're still examining him.” Jess put a knuckle to her mouth as she listened and just stared at the door.
Bill stepped up to her, “Hey, he's going to be okay. Civilian's tougher than he looks. He'll be up and out of there before we know it.” Ryo looked at Hawk and seemed to read what he was thinking, but didn't say anything but joined Bill as they tried to comfort her, and ultimately each other. Hawk walked up and placed a hand on Bill's shoulder.
“Pardon me,” they all looked back to see Dr. Williams there. “Can I get through please.”
“And do what?”, Jess demanded with a particularly nasty tone in her voice. Her reaction caught the doctor off guard. Given what he heard about the “care” Richardson had given him since he was forced to join the unit Hawk couldn't exactly blame her at the moment. Although Hawk was surprised as well when Ryo and Bill turned around and essentially tried to block him from the door.
“I..”I... I,” he stammered to get out, “I just want to check on Ken, see how he's doing.” Ryo, Bill and Jess all crowded the door a little more. Hawk didn't realized he joined until he noticed Williams was looking at him funny. Now as over all leader of the forces he should be putting up a better example than trying to bully one particular man from entering a single room. But right now his man was down and he wasn't going to let anybody other than a qualified individual look him over. “I am a doctor after all,” he said, puffing up a bit.
“Hmm,” Ryo went, obviously not that impressed with William's display, “I didn't realize that being able to create something like the Alpha One meant you knew the human body as well.”
“Oh didn't you hear,” Bill chimed in, “that's the hot new doctorate right now. Everybody's jumping on it.”
Just staring a hole into the man Jess joined back in, “Yeah, well he can practice with somebody else. Ken's already in better hands.” Hawk glanced at her over the choice of words. And he didn't fail to notice that Williams caught it as well. That was probably going to cause some problems some time soon.
“I have to see him,” Williams started to insist. All of them crowded the door even more. He looked like he was going to say something when Reid walked up beind them and placed a hand on the Doctor's shoulder, causing him to jump slightly.
“I'm sure,” Reid began as he gently guided Williams away from the group and the door, “that they'll gladly let you in. Just as soon as you tell them why you need to so badly.” Williams began to stammer a bit as he squirmed his way away from Reid and stood in front of them.
Looking at each one of them before he eventually lowered his head, muttering something that sounded like, “Needed elsewhere,” and headed in another direction. While Ryo and Bill relaxed a little Jess kept her eyes on Williams until he hastily turned a corner. Then she turned her attention to Reid.
Slowly he turned around, and with a critical eye studied each of them for some reason. Looking satisfied about something he just nodded once before going, “I thought so.” And that comment made them all look at each other. Hawk in particular was starting to get a little worried at what that meant. Reid stepped up to him and said, “I think we need to talk a little more about that question you asked me.” And that's when Hawk knew, Reid figured it out. Reid looked at the others again and told them, “It's safe with me, so don't worry.” That's when it occurred to them that he knew now too
Before anybody could say anything else the door behind them flung open with somebody going, “But you shouldn't be up!”
Ken, much to his and Hawk was sure's everyone's relief, walked out of the room putting on his uniform jacket going, “I shouldn't be a lot of things.” He noticed all of them right then as the door closed behind him. “Hey guys, Captain, Commander,” he said like he wasn't just unconscious for a couple of hours. To Reid he said, “I heard you found me. Thanks and I hoped I didn't scare you too much.”
Reid looked at him like he was seeing him for the first time, “Maybe you should listen to the Doctor Ken,” he began, carefully Hawk noticed. “That seemed like a big deal he was talking about there.”
He looked back at the door and basically waved the idea off, “You know doctors,” he said, “always blowing things out of proportions...” Reid made him stop by placing a hand on his shoulder. Ken looked at the hand before going up the arm to look at him with a confused look.
Reid just smiled as he kept the hand there. After several moments he went, “If nobody has said yet, thank you. For everything you've done since joining up.” With a quick pat on that same shoulder Reid looked at the rest of them before leaving. Ryo, Jess and Bill all looked at each other, looking worried despite his assurance.
Ken on the other hand just watched him go before he looked at the rest of them. When he finally did speak it was, “All right, who told?”
“I think you did son,” Hawk informed him, “without meaning too. Granted, I didn't really help in that regard.”
He began rubbing his eyes and sighed. “Have I mentioned I'm getting really uncomfortable with the number of people who know at this point?”, he asked.
“Several times,” Jess told him. To Hawk she asked, “Do you think we can really trust Reid to keep quiet?”
“I do,” he told her and then he looked at the rest of them. “I don't really think we have much of a choice in the matter.”
“He apparently hasn't told anyone yet as far as I can tell,” Ryo offered.
“Yeah,” Bill put in, “if he did I wouldn't be surprised to see some of the guys who want to take Ultraman down hanging around. I wouldn't put it a couple of them to take a shot at Civilian here.”
“I really didn't need that thought,” Ken told him.
“They got to get past me first,” Jess told him.
Ryo added, “They got to get past all of us.” Bill nodded his agreement with that statement. Ken looked grateful for the support.
Felling like a proud father as he looked at them Hawk told them, “Come on. It's still dinner time. And if Ken can stand it he's probably a little hungry.”
“Can you stomach stand it now?”, Bill asked. “I mean it's been a couple of hours but it still has to smart if it's like last time.”
Ken wouldn't look at any of them as he went, “Uh, yeah right.”
For some reason Hawk didn't exact;y believe him for some reason. Jess beat him to the punch as she went, “Ken what aren't you telling us?” Even with Ryo and Bill staring at him now Ken didn't answer her question. Then looking as stern as he had ever seen her Jess said, “Kennith Riley Scott, you better answer my question.”
“Whoa full name,” Bill went. Then he looked confused, “Wait a minute 'Riley'?”
Ken pointed right at him, “Shut up.” With all of them basically surrounding him he eventually gave in, mainly from the glare Jess was giving him at the moment, in that Hawk was sure of. Finally he admitted, “This one pierced Dax's skin. When that happen's I'm usually feeling it for a couple of days.” He quickly added, “But I'm good, the spot just a little tender right now. In a couple of days I'll be perfectly normal. Honest.”
“Define normal Civilian,” Bill told him.
We'll talk about it later,” Hawk told the group. “Let's get some food, if there is any left.”
They started off again. After a bit Ken started looking thoughtful and stopped, making the rest of them stop as well and looked back at him. “How come nobody thanked me before Reid did?” They all sort of groaned at the comment. Ken just grinned as Ryo pushed his head to the side as they continued on to the cafeteria.
***
“How was this possible?!”, the voice inside the vortes demanded as energy lashed out all around him and his Zetton visitor. While he was used to such a display, even felt this particular wraith personally on a couple of occasion, Brooks tried not to enjoy the some what fearful reaction it was getting out of his visitor. Well at least not visibly, well not too much at any rate. He didn't want to be a rude host after all. “How did the giant beat this monster? We put in all the data we had collected into it! Victory should have been assured.”
“I am not sure,” his visitor said. Was that almost a stammer when it was speaking? Alright he may be enjoying this just a tad too much. “We witnessed the battle. Zetton damaged the giant and had an answer for just about everything the light being was throwing at it. There was no way the giant should have emerged victorious.”
“And yet he did,” Brooks said calmly. A bolt of energy lashed out from the vortex. Brooks just looked as it landed close to him. He didn't even change his expression as it happened. “No matter the amount of battle data you may have it doesn't take into account certain things that can't be properly measured. Like determination, quick thinking, how willing the person in question would be to go outside their normal behavior pattern to achieve victory. And the giant has been more than willing to do that on more than one occasion based on my observation at least.”
His visitor looked at him and demanded, “And why haven't you shared this insight before now Avatar?”
“I have,” Brooks shot back. “It's not my fault you ignored those observations.”
“What about the information you supplied about the human's base?”, his visitor demanded, getting in close. If he was human he would have sworn he was trying to get in his face and intimadate him. “The humans had more weaponry then you originally implied.”
“The information I gave was based on what I knew when I was there,” he said trying to show this one he would not be easily intimidated. He lived a full life and took on all comers in his business life before the Zettons weaved themselves into his life, gave him these abilities and allowed him to relive that life essentially. But he would not show any hint of fear to it. “That was months ago. Obviously thing were going to change since I've been gone. Perhaps you should have taken that into account, maybe followed my suggestion of taking out the Control room first instead of the armory.” Something he and his visitor witnessed through the portal. Brooks resisted the urge to release a very loud sigh when he realized what was happening.
“Then how do you explain how they were able to destroy many of us?”
He looked right at the device on his shoulder, “Well that is a rather obvious target you're sporting. Considering the human the giant bonded with particular gift, I wouldn't be surprised if he was the one to discover it.”
“Either way Avatar you failed us.” the Zetton said as he walked away from him. Brooks just watched as it strolled away from him until it stood next to the vortex. “It is time to remind you that failure in any form will not be tolerated.” The energy around the vortex grew quickly and lashed out, directly at him.
“No!”, Brooks said as he held out a hand, as he quickly drew upon the dark energy within himself to try and protect himself from this assualt. He felt the arcs of dark lightning hit the barrier he tried to put up. But it eventually stopped. He could sense his visitor's confusion, he was feeling it himself. The barrier he tried to throw up took on an unusual shape, one of part of a forearm and a hand, almost Ultraman sized if he had to guess. He studied the giant limb, wiggling his fingers and seeing the energy construct do the same. He started laughing to himself, then out loud.
“What is the meaning of this Avatar?!”, came the demand of one of his masters. He really didn't care which one it was at the moment.
“What? This?”, he innocently asked while he gestured with the giant construct. “I think it should be fairly obvious.” Dark energy swirled as it surrounded him as he saw things shrink suddenly. He smirked to himself as his visitor looked up at him. He looked on satisfied as he could see familiar markings start to adorn his arm, While the skin itself was black the markings themselves were different shades of purple, He felt his face and head and felt how the bulbous his eyes felt and the fin now adorning the top of his head. He just formed the dark energy around him to become a copy of Ultraman, a dark copy if you will. He looked down at his visitor and said, “It's a sign that we should rethink our current working relationship. I'll give you time to come up with a first offer. Until then just a reminder of who you're dealing with.” He reached out and grabbed the Zetton and the vortex and squeezed. He felt both disappear in his grasp in different ways. The vortex just ceased to be, as for the Zetton he saw what was left of it dissolve away in his hand. He looked at that hand for a moment longer before punching through the ceiling of the cavern. Standing at his full height he looked around, chuckled to himself and flew off into the cloudy night sky with a sarcastic sounding, “Shiah!”
-----
ED – Shinedown – Fly From the Inside
-----
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