[scikaiju]

Episodes 18


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OP -Mercy Drive - Shine In My Light
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Jess pulled into an old diner's parking lot and looked at the building. To be completely honest she was a little surprised when Ken invited her and the others out to this place. he claimed it was one of his favorite places to eat back when he was working at that garage. As it was only her and Ryo were able to get away and take him up on the invitation. Sitting beside her Ryo stared at the building, "He really eats here? Of his own free will?"

"You sound surprised," she told her usual wingman as she started to get out. "This looks like the type of place he would take me on a more casual date." And usually some of the better times they had, well before his brother stuck his nose in things. Getting out of that memory she looked over at Ryo in his dress shirt and slacks then at her jeans and blouse. "I told you that you were over dressing for this place before we left Castle."

"A man should always dress his best," he told her as he adjusted a sleeve. She scanned the windows until she saw Ken. And the brunette girl sitting with him. Both of them noted how happy each of them looked. Ryo looked over at her, "Do you think he had a girlfriend this entire time?"

"He would have said something," she said. Of course he would have. In fact he specifically said he wasn't currently seeing anyone when Richardson had them bring him in. Besides things were long over between the two of them. If he was seeing anybody that was his business and not hers. Still who was this woman?

Then this mystery woman stood up revealing a very noticeable baby bump. Jess repeated, "He would have said something."

"Which one of us are you trying to convince?", Ryo asked her.

"Shut up," she told her wingman as she headed for the diner. Entering to some very familiar smells they made their way to Ken's table. "Are we early?", she asked him. Her eyes immediately went to the black brace currently on his left arm, a reminder of the broken bone he received on the last mission he was on.

He looked up at them and grinned, "Glad you guys could make it. I just showed up myself and ran into a old co-worker of mine. Rose...," and he waved her back over.

"Co-worker," Jess repeated. Of course it was one of his friends from the garage. He even told her about her once. To Ryo she said, "I told you he would have said something." He just gave her a disbelieving look.

"What?", Ken asked catching it. "You two didn't think that me and her..."

"Well with the baby bump we saw," Ryo admitted.

"Granted I could probably take her husband but give me some credit now."

"And I could do a hell of a lot better than this jerk," Rose told them.

"Keep telling yourself that," Ken told her. “Guys this is Rose. Rose this is Ryo Watanabe, we went to the academy together. The short time I was actually there."

"Hi," Rose said shaking his hand.

"Hello," he greeted her.

"And this is Jessica Wade..."

With a surprised look she asked Ken, "The same Jessica Wade you used to date in high school?"

Jess glanced over at Ken, who was giving her a look that she translated in her head as please don't hurt me, before saying, "That would be me."

"Well now," she broke into a grin as she eyed the two of them, "working with your ex are we?"

In response Ken pointed at her, "Stop it."

Oblivious to her and Ryo's confusion Rose asked him, "What? I can't ask a question?"

"As many times I've seen that look on your face right before you tried to set me up on a blind date? I'm cutting this off at the pass now."

"Fine," she sighed. "If you want to be alone and miserable for the rest of your life see if I try and help you again."

"I'll believe it when I see it."

"Let's not get into an argument here," Jess cut in.

"Trust me this isn't an argument," Rose told her. "This is just round God only knows at this point. Besides this big lug here knows I'd wipe the floor with him in a real fight."

"Only because Mom told me never to hit a girl."

"See he admits it," Rose said with a smirk. "I better get back to the garage. Remind your Captain to bring his car in for a tune up next week." She gave Ken a quick kiss on the cheek. "Don't be a stranger. Nice meeting the two of you."

"Likewise," Ryo said as she walked past them.

"Same here," Jess agreed.

"See you around Rose," Ken told her. She stopped by him and gave Jess the once over one more time.

She leaned in and asked Ken, "You seriously just let her go? You are a moron."

"Drop it," he said through his teeth. Rose just shrugged her shoulders and continued on her way.

"So," Ryo said, mainly to spare Jess and Ken from the sudden awkward silence, "you ready to come back to Castle yet?"

"I never should have been given this leave to begin with," Ken said as they sat down in the booth.

"You wouldn't follow the doctor's orders," Jess reminded him. "They told you no heavy lifting while you were healing up."

"And like I told them I still have a good arm," he told her.

"We heard you tell the Captain that when he put you on leave," Ryo told him. "He's just looking out for your wellbeing."

Jess added, "Besides, as much as you seemed to hate being there those first couple of weeks I'm surprised you didn't want to leave."

"What can I say," he said with a small shrug, "I just decided to go with it. The place grows on you... like a fungus."

"And there's a lovely thought right before we eat," Ryo commented as he took a menu from the holder on the table. "You eat here all the time, what would you recommend?"

Jess took one as well and spoke for him, "If he's anything like I remember it'll be the Philly cheesesteak."

Ken looked at her with a slight smile, "It's why it's my favorite place to eat."

***
"Here's the reports you asked for Captain," Reid said as he walked into the office and gave him a vanilla folder. Two months in and Hawk still wasn't used to the lead of Beta Team being so cordial. Jamira would have one of his men to the report outside his door without a word. Then again why did he put up with that behavior for so long?

"Thank you Commander," he said as he offered him the seat on the other side of the desk. Reid took it as he flipped through the file. "The Jamira regulars are still giving you some problems I see."

"It's not as bad as it was," Reid replied. "Once the worst three were removed the others started to calm down. Slowly," he amended, "but I haven't reprimanded then as often as I did. Right now they're just testing the boundaries." Hawk nodded as he continued reading. "I didn't put it in but they still don't care for your civilian."

"Them and a few others on base," Hawk sighed. "I'm sure I'm on more than few dislikes lists as well." Closing the file and putting it down he looked at the Commander. "Any word at all?"

"I think you would have heard something before I would have Gabe," Reid told him. "Where ever Jamira went he is hiding himself pretty good. It's almost like he fell off the face of the planet. I've even had people keeping tabs on those who were loyal to him. Unfortunately they don't seem to know where he is either.

"I don't like this Justin, I don't like it one bit," Hawk told him. "I've known Jamira for a long time and I could use several words to describe him. A stubborn, pig-headed ass being on the top of the list. But a hider, no. He wouldn't be hiding like this, especially if he thought he was in the right. And he thought he was in the right even after they stripped him of command."

Reid shook his head, "Then the only other explanation is something happened to him. We both know Jamira rubbed a lot of people the wrong way."

"And we haven't found a body yet either," Hawk reminded him.

"Do you think somebody would take it that far?"

Hawk frowned before answering, "I honestly don't know any more.

***
A few days later Brook's masters sent over sent over an gillman like aquatic humanoid they called Ragon. By design it attacked from the sea. The UNDF quickly set up a defensive line at a coastal city and attacked when it came to shore. Still in his possession of his UNDF ID Ken was able to get close enough to the conflict to unleash Daxium to take on the creature. He did his best to keep the monster from entering the heart of the city. Ragon fought with a wild enough style that he was forced to block the attacks as beast as he could with both arms.

Getting close he grappled with the beast. With a grunt he herded Ragon toward the water. Throwing the creature down it opened it's mouth as it laid there and spit a blue flame like beam at the giant. Daxium acted fast in getting his shield up. As soon as the creature stopped he dropped the field and quickly set up the Dimensional Storm Ray and destroyed the creature with the beam out of his hand. Glancing down at his left arm for a moment he shot off into the air, "Shiah!"

Near the alley he released Daxium Ken reappeared from a ball of light. Leaning back against the brick wall he grimaced a bit as he held the brace around his left arm. "Dax I know you have to attack and defend yourself but could try and watch the arm a bit more?"

Not getting an immediate answer he looked around and stepped out onto the sidewalk and headed for his car. He was stopped by a Scan Track, something he was hoping to avoid. The driver just looked at him, "Ken?"

"Yo Chuck," he greeted him in return, then to the others in the Track he added, "Larry, Paul, new guy I don't know."

They didn't respond but Chuck spoke up, "What are you doing all the way out here?" Which was one of the reasons why he was looking to avoid any and all members of the UNDF.

"I heard stuff was going down and I'd figure I'd see if there was anything I could do to help," he told them. It was pretty lose to the truth. "I'd helped evacuate enough cities when I was on duty that I got an idea on what I'm doing."

Larry shook his head then leaned over a bit to get a better look at him, "The Captain is going to flip when he hears about this."

"What to flip about?", Ken asked. "I made sure to stay out of harm’s way."

"I'm sure he'll love that explanation when you get back to Castle," Chuck told him. "See you when you get back to Castle."

"I'll see you then," he gave them a waved as they drove off. But he knew that this was going to get back to Hawk. Like the other encounters he's happen to be seen at. "Yeah, that's going to be a fun conversation."

***
A couple of weeks later Ken did return to Castle. Despite what he told Jess and Ryo he was surprised exactly how much he actually missed this place. Taking his usual parking place he got out and looked around, loving that he didn't have to go far to get the familiar smells and sounds of a garage even in this high tech place. Reaching into the backseat he retrieved and put on his uniform jacket. The only thing missing was the wrist scanner, but that didn't exactly fit around the brace. Just a few more weeks he told himself. Before long he was able to spot the person in charge of the hanger as he put his bag over his shoulder, "Hey Chief."

"Scott," he replied, not taking his eyes off the pad in his hand. "Captain Hawk said he wanted to see you as soon as you got your belongings back in your quarters."

Despite knowing that was coming he tried not to wince, "What kind of mood is he in?"

"You'll find out when you get there," was all he said. "You'll find your adjusted workload when you officially check in."

And that didn't sound good. "Adjusted how?"

"Expect to push a lot of paper. Hey Jones, I said track 37 not 43!", he walked off leaving Ken standing there.

Wondering exactly how long he could put this off he readjusted his bag and headed for the elevator. More than few greeted him when he reached his floor, a far cry from his first trip down these halls. Well his second trip technically, he wasn't sure he was conscious for most of the first one.

"Mr. Scott," he looked around to see Peter Brooks come toward him, at least it wasn't Richardson. There were several messages on his phone from his secretary, more or less demanding his presence on base. Considering the situation he didn't get on Hawk's bad side. "Welcome back from your little vacation."

He had several comments about that quote unquote vacation swirling around in his head. He wisely kept them to himself, maybe Hawk and the others were rubbing off on him. Instead he said, "Thank you sir."

For some reason Brooks started walking with him, "So how is your arm exactly? If you don't mind me asking that is."

"As well as can be expected," he answered while wiggling the fingers on his left hand. "They gave me some exercises to work on to get some strength back."

"Good, good," Brooks said. "I see everyone wants you back at full strength as soon as possible." There was something in the way he said that that made Ken glance at him. Whatever it was it was gone almost as fast as he noticed it. "I would love to stay and chat some more but I do have some meetings to attend and you need to get settled back in. Have a good day."

"You too...", he got out before Brooks hurried off. All this time he still hadn't figured that guy out. Outside of being one of the suspects for the dark energy blip the first time he was here.

***
"The upgrades should be ready in a week," Bridge said as he sat in Hawk's office. "They would be finished faster but I'm having trouble getting Williams and his team involved."

"He's almost done with that super jet of his," Hawk said as he looked over the estimates had supplied him. "And seeing how the board in getting more onboard with this thing by the day it's going to be hard to get him away from the thing."

"I understand that Captain," Bridge replied. "I'm just saying it's frustrating."

"Duly noted," he said with a small smirk. "Is there anything else I should be aware of?"

"No, that should be it," Bridge told him.

"That will be all then." Bridge nodded and rose out of his seat. As he exited Hawk started to take another look at those estimates.

At least he was until another voice from the other room caught his attention, "Bridge my man."

"Ken," he heard Bridge call out. "How are you doing?"

"About as well as can be expected." Ken went quiet for a moment, "What kind of mood is he in?"

And Hawk briefly wondered when people were going to figure out he could hear them through the vent grates. Not that he was going to say anything any time soon, he secretly enjoyed the little edge it gave him.

Bridge answered, "He was in a pretty good mood when I was in there. Then again he hasn't seen you yet."

"Funny," Ken uttered, "attack the guy trying to help you open up. I better get in there before that mood changes. See you around."

"See you Ken."

Ken walked in and stared at the three folders Hawk just finished putting on his desk. He started looking a bit apprehensive as he said, "Ken Scott reporting for duty sir."

"Ken," he replied pleasantly, he was happy to see the young man again, "please have a seat." he did so glancing at those folders. Clasping his hands in front of him Hawk looked at him for a few moments before opening a random folder, "I see you've been busy while you were on leave."

"Trying not to be bored sir," he said while trying to read the file. Hawk quickly closed it. "Idle hands and all that jazz."

"Normally I would appreciate that," Hawk told him. "But not when I told you to take the time off to heal up properly I meant it. And you have been doing something because the doctors have been saying you're arm's not healing like it should. And seeing how you have been spotted at the three giant monster attacks I think I know why." The fingers on Ken's left hand twitched, Hawk assumed involuntarily. "I put you on leave to keep you out of these situations and to keep the stress off that arm. What if you got blasted again or rebroke it while helping somebody?"

"I was just trying to help," he said just loud enough to be heard. "I am trained for this sort of thing."

"Yes, one of the reports mentioned you said something similar to that." Hawk leaned forward, "Look Ken, I'm proud at how you jumped into the role, I will never deny that. But that leave was for your own good. You're damn lucky that injury didn't require any surgery. And I don't appreciate you putting yourself in situations that may keep you out longer than necessary. Now the doctors are saying you're healed enough for light duty. And I'm going to make sure you stick to the 'light' part of that sentence."

Ken sighed, "The Chief mentioned there would be paper to be pushed."

"Oh you better believe it," Hawk told him. "For the next two week we're going to put your secretarial skills to the test. And you will be stationed in the outer room of this office so I can keep an eye on you." Ken started to protest but Hawk ut him off, "I can make that three weeks just as easily Scott."

"Yes sir," he said giving in.

"Seeing how eager you are to keep busy you can start today. You can start by familiarizing yourself with the desk in the other room. I'll call you if I need you."

"Yes sir," he repeated as he got up and headed for the door.

"Ken," Hawk said to stop him, "it's good to have you back son."

"Never thought I'd say this after my first few weeks here but it's good to be back."

He nodded, "If it's not out there I have a scheduled appointment at one. Sooner if you can figure out the intercom or later if we get an alert that interrupts our day."

"Yes sir. Ah," he paused at the door, "if we get an alert?"

"You're still part of the team so you'll be going out with the rest of us. We'll figure out what kind of role, if any, you'll have then." Picking up the folders to put back into the file he told him, "Now get to work, and you better be able to make a decent pot of coffee."

***
Brooks waved the smoke from his face as he stabilized another monster that came through the breach. Red in color with the wings and bat shape head, he quickly realized the smoke was coming from the creature. "Another spewer, wonderful."

The form of one of his masters appeared in the vortex, "Going over your reports of our creatures defeat we realized that the deadly smoke Bogun emitted damage the giant." Brooks remembered that battle as well, he also recalled that the light giant was hesitant to use his hyper speed finisher as well. Instead revealing the pulse like effect through his whip.

"Seeing how effective the smoke was I'm surprised you waited so long in trying it again."

"Barrangas had to be specially created," the Zetton in the Vortex told him. "It will emit the toxic gas continuously, leaving a cloud constantly around it."

"Then it's fortunate the dark energy you provided me makes me immune to it's affect," Brooks commented as he glanced around the quickly filling chamber. The Zetton inside said nothing. "I'll find an appropriate place to put him then.

"Yes you will," the figure said and the vortex dissipated out of existence.

The smoke swirled around him as he uttered out loud, "Would it be that hard to say good-bye at least once? I suspect it would actually." He looked over at the creature who had already increased in size. "Now how do I conceal you long enough to get you into the city? The smoke is going to be a bit of a problem."

***
"Hey Chad!" the foreman bellowed. "Hurry with that hole! We're behind schedule as it is!"

"I'm going as fast as the drill will go!", Chad called back. "Any faster and the machine will over heat and seize up."

"Just hurry it up!", he yelled.

"Will do," he muttered knowing the foreman had already turned around and started yelling at somebody else. "God help me if I work under another micro manager."

"He just wants to get things done on schedule," his buddy said.

"According to him we were behind schedule the second we started." The other guy shook his head and left before the foreman zeroed in on him.

Chad looked around the construction site. Or should he have said new high rise. The old one was damaged during a battle between a monster and that giant guy. It was so bad they had to tear it down and start anew. So there was at least one good thing coming out of those giant freaks battles, the construction business was booming.

A dark smoke started coming to come from the hole. "Oh shit," he said as he stopped the drill. The smoke continued to pour out as he checked the drill bit readout.

"What the fuck did you do?!", the foreman shouted as he and some other came toward him.

"I don't know!", Chad said as he started to pull the drill itself out of the ground. "Everything is still green on the controls. Maybe it's a pocket of something."

"You better not have fucked up that drill head," he went on ignoring everything Chad just said.

"I'm checking it now," he told him. Using the top of his shirt to try and protect himself from the smoke. It was still rank as hell though. "Drill heads still... looks... g.." he started getting woozy, fast. So much so he was unconscious before he even hit the ground. The foreman and a couple of others tried to drag him out of there but they were overcome by the smoke as well.

***
Given the situation the military and UNDF was scrambled rather quickly. Out of the unit nicknamed Monster Squad by the others Hawk, Ryo and Ken set up a temporary command center while Jess and Bill were back at Castle ready to launch at a moment’s notice. All of them looking at an ariel view of the construction site that was now covered in that smoke that was now a couple of yards high. "Those closest to the opening died first," Bridge said over the comm line. "Medical's treating the others who inhaled it now. Right now their chance of survival is depending on how much they breathed in."

"Did we get an analysis of the smoke yet?", Hawk asked.

"We were able to get a man in a containment suit in there to get a sample," Bridge informed him. "But we're still going over the data he collected. But we did get some blood samples from the deceased and those who inhaled the stuff processed and got a hit from the database. It's the same as the smoke that two headed slug was spewing out a while back."

Ken remembered that night clear enough, outside of the "wonderful" blind date Rose set him up on it was also the night he was rudely introduced to his current teammates. Hawk must have been thinking the same thing because he looked back at him when Bridge said that. Although he didn't need Bridge to tell him there was something there, he could sense the creature through Daxium from where he was.

"Is that why the smoke staying in place like that?", Ken asked since he couldn't exactly explain how he knew in to begin with. "Because that's starting to weird me out a little." The majority of the smoke did stop at the edge of the construction site, although there was some spill over in the surrounding area truth be told it was more than a bit freaky.

"You're not the only one civilian," Bill said over the line.

"We'll need to get over it," Hawk told them. "Bridge, are we getting anything underground?"

"Nothing so far," he answered. "I think the smoke is interfering with our sensors somehow."

"We have a couple of Scan Tracks close to the affected area," Hawk said as he went over unit placements. "Have you patched into their sensors yet?"

"I already did and got the same results."

"I wonder why we could detect the first monster and not this one?", Ryo asked.

Jess answered, "The first one didn't start spewing until after it was above ground. Maybe that has something to do with it."

"Bridge," Hawk spoke up, "check the readings around that time and see if there was any type of interference then."

"I'll pull it up," he responded.

"Let me know if you find anything, Hawk out."

"Understood, Castle out."

"How's the evacuation going?", Hawk asked as he faced Ryo and Ken. "That smoke is stationary now but we can't count on it to stay that way. Not to mention that we have no idea when that creature is going to break out above ground."

And Ken was wondering how he was going to get away when that happened.

"We're still evacuating people in a mile radius of the construction site," Ryo answered. "Needless to say there are some very unhappy people feeling they were forced to move."

"I'd rather they be unhappy then dead," Hawk informed him. "Unfortunately people who don't want to move can be stubborn too. Ryo, Ken," he glanced at his arm, "and I hope I don't regret this decision later, take a couple of squads and see that nobody's trying to sneak in or if we missed anybody."

"And if we run into any reporters?", Ryo asked. More than a few have tried as they ran across some photographers or reporters trying to get a close up of the creature whenever they get an alert, particularly in the city.

"You know the drill." Hawk told him. "If there's no immediate danger give a brief statement and send them on their way. Ken..." he looked over at him.

"Keep quiet and let somebody else from the unit handle it," he answered.

"I was going to say watch your arm," he smirked, "but that works too. Now move out."

"Come on Ken," Ryo as he handed him one of the helmets with a full faceplate to protect them from the smoke.

Ryo was on the way out while Ken stood there staring at the helmet with a bit of a grimace on his face. "I hope this things works better than it did against the happy flower." Remembering that incident as well Hawk silently hoped it did as well.

***
"Initiating sonic scans now," Reid said over the line.

Back at the Castle control room everyone tensed up slightly as the scan started. Everyone remembered how this one creature that could control the Earth itself reacted when they tried a similar scan. "I have the reading," Bridge said looking at the sensor readings of several Scan Tracks that were placed around the construction site. "I'm linking up the respective scans now. Remember to keep it low for right now."

"We have it as low as it can be and still be on," Reid told him. "Do you have anything yet?"

"A massive blob that's not telling me anything," Bridge responded. In all honestly he was expecting that on this sonic level. Reminding himself that the earth mover didn't emit smoke he said, "All Track in the link start to raise the sonic frequency slowly."

"You heard the man," Reid told the man behind the scanner station in the vehicle. Being linked they could keep the frequency increase relatively even. Bridge kept his eyes on the readings until he saw a clearer picture.

"Stop right there," he said. Switching what he saw to the main screen in front of the room the people inside stopped what they were doing when he did so.

"Is it the same creature?", Reid asked.

"Not exactly Commander."

"Show me."

"Patch me in too Bridge," Hawk said over the line.

"Patching both of you in now," he told them as he hit the appropriate commands into the computer.

After studying the image for a few moments Reid broke the silence, "I think I'm seeing a set of wings."

"I'm seeing it too," Hawk confirmed.

"We're estimating the creature's mass to be larger than the two headed creature," Bridge said as the people in the room fed him the information. "And so far we're only detecting one head."

"So," Reid spoke up, "unless the two head one was some sort of strange larval form then this is a different creature entirely."

"Commander," Hawk said, "at this point I wouldn't be surprised by anything. But we could use a drill vehicle right about now. And word of what I just said does not get to Williams in any form."

***
In his office Brooks monitored the situation. In a way he had to admire Hawk's efficiency. Within a couple of hours he had the area evacuated, cordon off, set up troop placement and found a way to retrieve the dead. Actually the whole program seemed faster now that Jamira wasn't there, or it could just be his imagination. Also his earlier hunch had paid dividends as the troops he sent out to patrol found some that were trying to sneak into the cordoned off area.

It was a shame that he was going to have to kill him eventually.

Perhaps even in this conflict. And Reid seemed competent enough to take over if that did happen. Although at that time Brooks thought he might wish Jamira was still around, then again maybe not. While he would have made a mess of thing in the transition he would be next to impossible to deal with.

Still he might as well get this over with. And hopefully his masters were still unaware that he could do this. Focusing the dark energy they granted him he opened a portal to view Barrangas through the smoke. Opening a vortex like this to talk to them was no problem, and one he figured out rather quickly. But to create one that didn't send out any ripples they could be detected by them, well all modesty aside, that took a little skill.

As did this. Concentrating on the energy that linked them he made contact with the creature's mind, something his masters said was impossible. But the headache doing so gave him was more than worth it as he proved them wrong. While he couldn't control the creature directly, it's emotion, instincts, urges and will was far too strong for that, he could nudge it into action. As he did with a simple thought.

Barrangas arise.

***
"What the hell ever happened to freedom of the press?", a cameraman demanded as Ken and the female UNDF officer with him tried to get him and the female reporter behind him to get back into their van.

"Feel free to get the hell out of here then," Ken said getting annoyed with the situation. Ryo could not be having this much of a problem. Of course Ken's unit was the one who decided to split up into groups of two. "This is a restricted area. And wearing WW2 era gasmasks doesn't count."

"The people have.." he went on.

"The people are safe at home, watching the coverage I assuming," his partner told him. "If you try to persist any further we will be forced to detain both of you."

"Come on Trevor," the reporter said, "they're not going to budge. "Let's go." When the cameraman wouldn't budge she dragged him by the arm. "Come on."

"Alright Sara, alright," he finally conceded as they got into the van.

Watching them leave Ken commented, "They are so going to try somewhere else."

"More than likely," she said. "I wonder what she looks like under that mask. She sounded cute."

Ken snorted, "I saw how you looked at her while she was leaving, you're approaching horn dog territory there Janice."

"Be in the dry spell I've been in," she told him, "And you had the same look. She probably doesn't even play for my team."

"One more me then," he said with a smirk.

"And you'd still strike out. Come on fellow horn dog, there's probably somebody else around here."

"Yes ma'am." As soon as he said that he somebody jump deeper into an alley, "Over there!" They ran in to find a boy who couldn't be older than ten try to climb a fence. Janice rushed over and pulled him off of it.

"Let go of me!", He squirmed in her grasp. "I gotta get home!"

"Easy kid," she said, struggling to keep a hold of him while he squirmed. "It's too dangerous for you to go back in there right now."

"You don't understand!" he yelled. "My mom told me to stay home! I'm grounded!"

"I'm sure she'll understand this one time," Ken said, not really believing his story. If he was grounded he would have jumped at the chance to get out of it. Then the kid kicked him in the shin as he continued to try and get away. "Ow!" The ground started to shake before he could react, "Whoa," Ken's hand almost went for the Spark Magnifier as the kid stopped fighting.

On both of their comms they heard Bridge announce, "The creature is trying to break through! I repeat the creature is trying to break through!"

"Razor Wing units launch now!", Hawk said right after. "All search units retreat to the safety zones."

The kid didn't struggle as much as the both grabbed him under the arms and escorted him to the street. About then they felt the ground shake again, this time with monstrous roar in the background. He looked around wondering how he was going to do this. "Janice," he finally said, "take the kid. I thought I saw somebody else over there."

She looked in the direction he was pointing, "I'm not seeing..."

"I have to be sure," he cut her off. "I'll catch up with you as soon as I check it out."

"Alright," she conceded. "But I better see you soon."

"As soon as I'm sure," he told her. Running after the "person" he saw he stopped as soon as he was in the alley. Trying to peek without being he seen he made sure she was headed toward the safe zone with kid. Once he was sure he ran toward the smoke filled area.

***
Barrangas continued his way to the surface and broke free with one final roar. A deep red in color he walked away from the hole as the smoke swirled around his feet. Roaring one more time smoke seemingly feel out of the holes in the half horns on either side of his head. Wings that seemed a tad too small for his body flexed a bit right before the first couple of missiles hit him from various angles. Roaring in anger he increased the amount of smoke trying to obscure his body from view.

In the air the razor wings came into view. Jess silently cursed as she realized the smoke was playing havoc with her targeting sensors. "Razor Wing One to all air units. Switch over to manual targeting and aim for the center of the huge mass of smoke."

She got a round of confirms as Bill told her, "The board's going to give you hell of that if one of those missiles hit the city."

"As big as that thing is we're going to hit something," she told him as she lined up a shot and fired. There was an explosion as her missile hit that was followed by several others. The smoke cleared enough that they could see the creature inside.

Pulling the jet into a circle pattern outside the monster's reach Bill looked at it before saying, "Would you hit me if I said I don't think we're going to run out of missiles before that thing goes down?"

"Once we hit the ground, yes."

"Then I'm running as soon as we land."

Jess was about to respond when she saw a flash in the smoke below. For a brief second she thought one of the missiles missed. Then a giant column of light appeared revealing Ultraman on the inside. He took his usual fighting pose, while flexing his left wrist a bit, and shouted his customary, "Shiah!"

Looking at the helmet in front of her she commented, "I don't think we have to worry about our missiles anymore."

***
Ignoring the smoke Daxium rushed right toward Barrangas, who towered over him a bit, and bunched it right in the snout. The creature fought back in some attacks that he easily avoided. Pivoting on on foot he planted a foot into it's gut. Seeing he had the advantage he tried to grapple with the monster. Barrangas positioned his head just enough that he spewed the smoke full blast right into his face. Making a brief gagging sound backed up out of instinct to get out of the way. The creature charged him trying to knock him down but he held his footing.

He tried to fire a flashbolt but the creature rammed into him again. Barrangas surprised him by grabbing him into a bear hug and blowing the smoke straight into his face. Daxium struggled to keep his face out of the way as he tried to get free. Realizing the monster was pushing against him he fell back using the creature's own momentum to fling it off him and kept on the attack. Pounding the creature to try and keep it down and subdue it. But it used it's own considerable strength to knock him back. Rolling to his feet as the diamond shape jewel on his chest started flashing he charged again. Barrangas used his own tactic against him as it grabbed him and used his momentum to slam him into a building still under construction. While he was stunned Barrangas and pinned his arms to the building, using it's full weight to keep him in place, and started spewing the deadly smoke again.

Daxium grunted and struggled to get free but felt himself keep weaker, to the point that his legs started to give out on him. In the air above jess watched, determination forming on her face, "Bill...".

"Already ahead of you," he said. Razor Wings seven and ten form up and follow me. We're going to cook us one giant, ugly ass turkey." After a couple of quick "Rodger" they were quickly in formation and heading for the back of the creature."

"Missiles away!" Jess announced as she pressed the trigger.. Three set of missiles hit Barrangas right in the back. The creature roared and reaction and let him go. Quickly banging his forearms together he shifted into Power Mode and kicked Barrangas back. Not wasting a moment he attacked Barrangas with renewed urgency. Kicking the creature down he backed up as he put a hand by the jewel to ready the Giga Wave.

The wings on Barrangas' back started to flap causing the smoke to rush toward him forcing Daxium to cover his face. Daxium and the rest around them watched as the creature lifted off the ground and into the air.

"Holy shit!", Bill exclaimed. "That thing can fly?"

On the ground Hawk grabbed a helmet and out it onshouting orders, "Target is airborne! I repeat target is airborne! Break out whatever breathing units we have to spare and pass them out to the civilians in the area, and I want children to be front of the line." He knew it wasn't going to be enough if Ultraman couldn't beat this thing but it was the best he had at the moment.

Daxium quickly took off and followed Barrangas trying to knock it back down to Earth. But the creature fought back creating some space between them. It rose even higher still until it turned around and came at him in a dive bomb like attack. Daxium flew backwards toward the ground to give himself time to set up and fire the Storm Globe. It caught the monster flush in the face causing it to explode in midair.

Hanging in the air Daxium noticed that the dark smoke quickly dissipate into nothing. Satisfied that the threat was over he flew off into the sky, "Shiah!"

"There you are," Ryo called out as Ken ran up to them. "Exactly how do you get lost in a city you grew up in? And Janice wanted me to tell you that she's going to hurt your good arm when she see you."

"With all the smoke and commotion I got turned around a couple of times," he said. "And this brace doesn't exactly come with a built in GPS."

"And I'm assuming you never found your mystery person."

"I had to be sure," he replied with a shrug.

"I suppose so," Ryo agreed. "And since I know Hawk is going to ask, how is you arm."

"I might have banged it against something in the confusion at least once."

"He's going to put you on desk duty for a month now, you know that right?"

"It's better than latrine duty," then he looked down at his communicator hoping he didn't hear that.

***
Ken leaned against the hood of his car as Hawk's GTO pulled up next to his. Wearing his civilian gear he looked at the diner behind him as he got out, "So this is the place you invited us to."

"It's not as deadly as it looks," Ken joked. "So why did you invite me to it."

"Actually," he looked back as cars he recognized as Jess and Bill's pulled into the parking lo as well. "I thought we try that team outing again."

"Oh for you everybody shows up... sir," he quickly added when Hawk gave him a look that quickly turned into a smirk that made the younger man relax a bit. Then he got a good look into Bill's car. "Is that Bridge?"

"He took some convincing," Hawk admitted.

"Bridge, my man," Ken called out as he got out of the car. He gave him a small wave and muttered some sort of hello. Just like he usually did when he wasn't in the confines of Castle. "I'm going to break you out of that shell if it kills one of us."

"Pretty brave thing to say in front of somebody who knows what you were like in high school," Jess told him.

"It just proves it can happen," Ken quickly told her.

"And I thought I was quick on my feet," Bill commented.

"Lousy jokes don't count as quick," Ryo told him. Looking at the diner and frowned a bit, "I'm still suffering heartburn from the last time I was here."

"Just means the food is good," Bill said. Still Ryo held his stomach.

"Seeing how I grew up in Philly," Hawk said as they headed for the diner, "that Philly cheesesteak I keep hearing you talk about better impress."

"I thought it was pretty good when I tried it," Jess told him.

"Yeah but she dated the civilian, what kind of taste could she... have...," he trailed off when she shot him a look that could kill.

Ryo leaned over to him, "Just so you know, you're probably getting shot later."

"Anybody want to take some bets on when?", Ken joked.

"I can get video proof," Bridge offered. Bill looked betrayed.

Ken put his arm around Bridge's shoulders and told him, "That's the spirit," as they entered the diner.


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ED - Shinedown - Fly From the Inside
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