[scikaiju]

Episode 11


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OP – Mercy Drive – Burn in my Light
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Peter Brooks stared out one of the windows of his Family’s estate. For generations a Brooks has lived within these walls and he had no intention of stopping that tradition anytime soon. For a long time if he had anything thing to say about it and he planned on having that say, especially with his master’s gifts. Pushing the boundaries of their limits, despite their warnings, he grew stronger. And he was almost off the ground that last time too, he as sure of it. Then one of the help walked into the room disrupting his concentration. He dissipated the energy aura around him fast enough to keep his secret intact. Still he almost gave into the desire to blast her to atoms. He held back only because he would still have the skeleton to deal with. “Note to self,” he said out loud, “find out how much power it is going to take to disintegrate skeletal structure.”

Walking away from the window his thoughts turned toward Scott and Ultraman as his phone went off. He looked at it with some confusion when he realized the number calling him was his own. Mainly out of curiosity he answered it, “Hello?” At the same time a dark energy vortex started right in front of him and the shape of one of his masters appeared inside. “I told you not to contact me here,” he hissed as he looked around to see if any of the servants were around.

“You do not tell us what we can and can not do Avatar,” he told him. “And your insubordination will not be tolerated in front of our new ally.”

“What new ally?”, he asked warily.

“One from beyond this pitiful planet. Check the primitive communication device in your hand.”

Looking at his phone one more time he cautiously put it back up to his ear and repeated , “Hello?” This time he was greeted with a strange otherworldly laughter.

***
In a special military museum two guards wandered the darkened halls on their nightly patrol. “I still don’t see why they need two of us,” the younger of the pair complained like always. “Nothing ever happens around here.”

“Company policy,” the older one said as he swung his light around the exhibit. “Just because nothing has happened doesn’t mean nothing won’t.”

“Do you have any idea how tired I am of hearing that?”

He shot back, “Probably as tired as I am of hearing you complain about it.” They walked the rest of the way in silence, just like the old man preferred. He spent several hours a night trying to figure out what he did to the manager to get stuck training his punk. At least they were near the end of their rounds then he could pass him off to Dan for monitor duty, then he could get some quiet time for an hour.

“Chuck come in,” his walkie talkie squawked as it came to life.

“What is it Dan?”

“They seriously need to upgrade the equipment around here,” the youth complained, again.

“I got some movement in the exhibit in front of you,” he answered. “I can’t make it out.”

“No way,” the youth said, squinting his eyes and trying to see through the darkness. Chuck frowned, they weren’t supposed to trick the young buck here with the report scare for another couple of weeks yet. Nice for Dan to let him know the time table had changed.

“Alright Dan, me and junior will check it out.”

“Aren’t we supposed to get guns for this?”, the youth asked.

“Not in the budget.” Carefully checking from the opening of the room Chuck slowly walked in. They were in the Desert Storm exhibit, and Dan usually hid by the old Hummer in the middle of the room. Making sure the young gun was still behind him he made his way towards it. Not seeing his reflection in the case on the left he figured he was hiding somewhere on the right. As they got closer Chuck figured Dan must have found a good spot hiding spot this time around because he couldn’t see him anywhere. Walking past it he was a little disappointed nothing happened,

“I just saw it again,” Dan unexpectedly called in. “It’s behind you.”

Dan had better not be trying to get him too, otherwise he’d stick this flashlight up his ass. He motioned for the kid to head back toward the door while he checked the back. He didn’t get far before he saw a flash of light in front of the Hummer. Heading over he saw the kid was just standing there. He wasn’t moving and had a freaked out look on his face, and a slight glow around his body. Seeing movement out of the corner of his eye he turned to his left. There was nothing there at all. Turning toward the door he went for his walkie talkie as he saw a pair of round glowing eyes. Hearing an echoing “Hohohoho,” a huge claw like appendage pointed at him and there was a bright flash of light.

***
Dan ran out of there the moment he saw the thing blast Chuck and the kid and flagged down the first police car he came across. After checking it out for themselves they immediately took him to the station and contacted the UNDF. Captain Hawk and Commander Jamira responded to the call on their behalf, more of a PR move on Richardson’s part than anything else. Currently Jamira was staring Dan down in one of the interrogation rooms. “I think you’re wasting our time,” Jamira sneered. “You and whatever buddy you have working here are trying to get famous by pulling one over on us.”

“The police saw the same thing I did,” Dan insisted.

“I have the police reports right here,” Hawk, who was sitting next to the table with a data pad in hand, tapped a folder hat was on it. “We both read it.”

“And I don’t have to believe it,” the Commander stated while Hawk kept his attention on the pad.

“And I’m not a big believer in wasting time and money on the job,” Hawk stood to show both of them the image on the pad. Dan looked surprised as he recognized the Desert Storm exhibit and his two frozen co-workers. “Bridge just hacked into the security feed, this is live footage.” Jamira grumbled something and walked away. “Did you see what did this?”

“Not clearly,” Dan answered. “I saw a shape sticking to the shadows. That’s why I sent in Chuck and the kid. Then that thing did … that to them and I went looking for help.”


“Left them there,” Jamira muttered a little too loudly.

“You did the right thing,” Hawk assured him. “Is there anything else that you can remember? Anything that seemed out of place.”

“Well,” he said slowly, “Chuck looked one way for some reason, then when he turned around he got blasted.”

“All right,” Hawk nodded, “is there anything else?”

“Somebody was laughing,” as it occurred to him.

“Laughing?”, Hawk repeated as Jamira grumbled something else as he left the room. “Don’t mind him.”

“I know it sounds crazy,” Dan admitted, “But over the walkie I heard somebody laughing before Chuck got shot.”

“Did you recognize the voice?”

“It wasn’t anybody I knew, if it was they were disguising their voice.”

“Thank you for the information sir,” Hawk said. “We’ll check it out immediately.” Shaking Dan’s hand he exited the room and found Jamira pacing the halls. “You were voted Mr. Personality back in school weren’t you?”

“I don’t like having my time wasted,” he stated. “And I don’t like how everybody expects us to act like the police.”

“I think this one is a little over the police’s head,” Hawk said looking at the video feed on the pad again. “No this looks like something that’s right up our alley.”

“Then I’ll take my team in and blast the thing back to wherever it came from.”

“We still have civilians in there,” he reminded him.

“And they’re probably already dead,” Jamira snapped.

“We don’t know that for sure,” Hawk argued. “And I’m not going to operate under that assumption. I’m sending in Alpha Team.”

“Looking for more glory for Monster Squad,” he sneered.

“The glory hunter tag belongs to beta Team the last I heard,” Hawk said leaving Jamira standing there steaming.

***
Within the hour Alpha Team was mobilized and at the museum. Ken tried not think about this to much, shooting things in the sky was one thing but up close that was another thing entirely, while Ryo and Jess checked the door in the front of the building. “Clear,” Ryo said as he waved them in. Procedure and protocol swirled in his head as he tried to remember everything they drilled into him these past couple of months. “Just like we practiced,” Ryo said as he past him on the way into the building. Ken tried not to think about the times he screwed up in practice. Heading toward the door that lead to the room the disturbance was in Ken and Bill checked the entry way.

“Clear,” Bill said after he looked at Ken who nodded. Heading toward the door to the exhibit they kept an eye out for anything strange an ear open for that laughter the Captain told them about. Getting there they could see one of the guards still standing there like a glowing statue. Ryo and Bill took point at the door. Looking at the gun in his hand he hit the button that that activated reticule in his visor.

Jess saw him do it and smirked, “Cheater.”

Ken smirked back, “Some of us didn’t have a mobile with six shooters over their bed.”

“Neither did I,” Jess told him. Then that smirk got a little bigger, “They were forty fives.” Ryo waved them in and they made their way to the closest of the guards while the other two covered them. Ken kept an eye on the area while Jess ran her wrist scanner over the guy. “I’m getting life signs but they’re faint. Ken check the other one.”

“Right,” he hurried over as Bill ran in to cover him. “I’m getting the same thing,” he said after a moment.

“I wonder if we can move them,” Bill wondered out loud.

“We’ll find out later,” Jess said. “Wade to Bridge, do you see anything?”

“Just you four,” he answered. “Can you get to the security room? Maybe we can see what they saw from there.”

“Watanabe to Miller,” Ryo said into her communicator,” meet us in the main lobby. Bridge can you give us direction to the security…?”

“Hohohoho.”

The sound echoed throughout the room as they tried to cover every cover they could see. Standing back tot back with the rest of them Ken tried to hid his confusion. Why didn’t Dax tell him anything was there? “Nine o’clock!”, Bill shouted. All of them turned to face what he saw. They saw glowing eyes and humongous claws that were connected to a creature with dull gray skin and a segmented looking armor, almost insect like body. Then it split into four identical ones in the next second.

“Open fire,” Ryo ordered. None of them hesitated in pulling the trigger. All of them were stunned as their shots went through all four of them. Then they disappeared without a trace.

“What the fuck?’, Bill muttered. That thought ran through Ken’s mind as well as Dax still wasn’t telling him the creature was there.

“Did anybody get that thing’s life signs?”, Jess asked.

“I couldn’t zero in on it,” Ryo told her. Then they saw those glowing eyes at the far end of the room. “Watch out,” he was able to get out before it fired it fired a beam from it’s claw. They got behind cover fast to avoid ending up like the other two. “Where in the hell did that one come from?”

“Think I got something,” Bill said as he messed with his scanner. “Goes without saying that it’s not human.”

“Send the information to the rest of us,” Ryo told him. In moments they saw what he picked up. “Keep an eye on your scanners and an eye on your surroundings.”

“I just lost it,” Jess announced, as did the rest of them.

“What the hell is that thing,” Ryo said out loud. As the three of them went forward a little bit Ken stayed where he was. They were going to need a little extra help on this one. Making sure he wasn’t in their line of sight he reached for the Spark Magnifier.

“No Ken,” Daxium said suddenly.

He couldn’t keep the shock out of his face, “What do you mean no?”

“This being is not my target.”

Before he could ask what that meant he saw the thing again. “Behind you!”, hearing his warning Jess quickly turned around and shot it in the shoulder. It disappeared again in an instant.

“Good thing civilian held back,” Bill commented. Too bad that wasn’t his actual plan.

“We better stick to pairs,” Jess offered. “Ken stick with me.” They took half the room while Ryo and Bill took the other. Everyone glanced at their scanners every so often to see if they got another hit. Ken saw movement out of the corner of his eye and pointed his gun at it. Then he remembered what happened to the guard as it faded from sight. “Ken look out!”, Jess shouted as he started to turn around. She pushed him out of the way as she took the blast. She stopped moving and emitted the same glow as the guards.

“Jess!”, Ryo shouted.

“No,” Ken whispered. Without thinking he leaned to the side and started firing at the creature. Again laughter filled the air as images of the creature shot toward the door and out of the room.

“All units outside look out for the creature,” Ryo said. Ken stood up and stared at Jess feeling totally helpless.

***
“What do you mean no?” Without Scott knowing Richardson had all of his conversations recorded when he went out on a mission. As such he knew he could talk to the alien. Of course he knew that before he made that offer to join the UNDF. “What do you mean no?” Right now he, Patricia and Williams listened to a particular line over and over. “What do you mean no?”

“The alien refused to help?”, Richardson said through his teeth as he sat there fuming. “We had a deal! Scott was supposed to be able to control him!”

“I don’t think Scott could control him to begin with,” Williams said. Richardson gave him a look that made him fall backwards into his chair.

“I believe,” Patricia spoke up, “what the good doctor is trying to say is while he is in Scott’s body Daxium is the one in control when he is called upon.”

“Exactly,” Williams said as he freed himself from the chair. “Scott and Daxium are two separate entities. He can’t control Daxium any more than he can control Scott.”

“We had a deal!,” Richardson exploded, Williams nearly fell back intot eh chair. “He fights those monsters for us. Why didn’t he do that? Did Scott say why?”

“Scott isn’t exactly talkative at the moment,” his bodyguard informed him. “He’s too busy staying with Wade and the other victims. I pushed him on it, he eventually pushed back. From the ramblings Scott implied Daxium wouldn’t confront the creature because it was from this universe and not the dark one.”

“Why does that matter?”, Richardson demanded.

“Scott wouldn’t say,” she told him, “in fact I don’t think he knows either.” Richardson pounded the desk.

“This is all speculation on my part of course,” Williams spoke up, “but the alien’s mission is to fight and defeat creatures from this dark universe. Since the creature is from this universe he doesn’t see it as the enemy.”

“He had better start,” Richardson said, “or he and Scott are going to star in the next alien autopsy.”

“That would be doing Scott a favor in his current state of mind,” Patricia said. Richardson humphed at that statement.

***
In one of the lab several scientist and technicians ran scanners of the affect people. Since the glow didn’t affect anybody else who touched it they were transported back to Castle. Ken silently watched them from one of the observation rooms. Several times Daxium tried to tell him that he was sorry this turn of events. Each time he ignored the attempt. Right know he focused on the techs as they continued their work and went over the readings they collected. Hawk walked into the room and stood beside him as he watched with him. After a bit he said, “They say they’re in a state of suspended animation. They’re perfectly fine we just need to figure out how to get them out of it. One of them said something about hacking into Jess’s wrist scanner to see if they can get some sort of reading.”

Ken lowered his head a little bit. The Captain put a hand on the younger man’s shoulder, “She’s going to be fine Ken.”

“It shouldn’t have happened,” he muttered.

“Nobody is blaming you son,” he assured him. “My first instinct would have been to go for the first image too. And she would have done that the same for any one of us.” He watched as Ken squeezed his eyes shut. “We’ll get that thing if it’s the last thing we do. Hell Ultraman won’t even know there was a problem.” Hawk didn’t expect him to snarl a little more.

“Like he even cares,” Ken said as he turned and left the room, almost running over Ryo in the process.

“Easy Ken,” he said quickly getting out of the way. “Ken?”

“Let him go,” Hawk told him as he walked into the room and joined him

“I didn’t think he’d take it that hard,” Ryo commented. “I mean I know they picked up the friendship again once he joined but still.”

“Just give him some time to get his head on straight. Any updates on the scanner?”

“Bridge is writing a program to get through the field interference as we speak.” Hawk nodded. Ryo looked at his wingman and the others and said, “Is it wrong that I was expecting Ultraman to show up at some point during it all?”

“I think we all were son,” he commented. Hawk thought about Ken’s reaction just now and some other things he’d overheard and seen since he joined up. “Ryo, do you know where Ken stands on the whole Ultraman business?”

After thinking it over he had to admit, “I don’t really know. I’ve seen him look a little irritated or annoyed when some of the other units say they want a shot at taking Ultraman down. But outside of that whenever somebody asks him about it he gives as vague of an answer as possible and he changes the subject. Why?”

“No real reason,” Hawk told him. “He seemed pissed at Ultraman at the moment and wanted to know if there was a history of it before now or because of what happened. I’m going to see how Bridge is coming along.” Once alone in the corridor he looked thoughtful for a moment, “I couldn’t have been that off the mark, could I?”

***
The whole compound was abuzz from the events of the previous night. One of their own was out of commission and the lack of an appearance by Ultraman to stop the monster. Brooks just happened to walk by to overhear Jamira boast that he had been right to not trust the “giant freak” all along. The man was going to be unbearable after this. More so than usual at this rate. But he had to admit his masters were right this time around, the giant wouldn’t attack something from this universe. As it was they were looking for more hostile races on the off chance the UNDF was able to take this Baltan, as they were called, out. It was so simple he was surprised he hadn’t thought of it before. But right now the continued success rate was going to depend on Scott’s influence on the giant.

“Speak of the devil,” he mumbled to himself as he entered one of the observation halls. Scott was looking out the hall’s large windows at the world outside, not even paying attention to anything else. Peter’s hand twitched ever so slightly, nobody would know and he wouldn’t have time to react. Then common sense returned to him as he realized there were several security cameras on the deck and more than a few of them catalogue his path. It might be a bit risky but perhaps he could underscore his faith in the giant a little more, if what he heard was right. Putting on a concerned look he walked up to him, “Is everything alright Ken?” Scott jumped a little. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you, and you did say I could cal you Ken, correct?”

“Yeah,” he said as he regained his composure. “Did you need something Mr. Brooks?”

“Not really, you looked upset. And please call me Peter.”

“I had a lot on my mind recently.”

“Yes we all have,” he said. “Especially since last night. We put our faith in a so called superior being and just like that he doesn’t appear when we need him the most.” Scott lowered his head and Peter silently enjoyed seeing the anger grow inside of him. “My father was never a religious man, I guess some of it rubbed off on me, I’m sorry if I upset you in some way.”

“No I just…,” he paused, “but this time I think I see his point.”

“Well he always said that the only one you can really put any faith in those around you, even then you should expect to be disappointed. He was a rather cynical man”

“Doesn’t mean he wasn’t right,” Scott suddenly got this strange look on his face and left him alone in a hurry. Peter wondered if he just realized he was speaking to one of his “prime suspects”.

Another thought ran through his head as well, “Perhaps I might have pushed a little too much this time.”

***
The lab where Jess and the others were was empty by the time Ken came back, on lunch or something right now he really didn’t care. Walking over to her he leaned back against a table and just stared at her. “Looks like I screwed up again huh?”, he told her. “I don’t know if I should apologize for falling into that trap like an idiot or for trusting Dax like an idiot.” His only answer to that was the sensation of Dax was trying to tell him something again. Fed up he looked inside and was face to face with Daxium. “What do you want?”

“I realize you are upset with me Ken…”

“Upset!”, he exploded. “It’s your fault this happened!”

“My mission only pertains to the beings from the dark universe. I cannot in good conscious knowingly harm a being not involved in the war.”

“But you have no problem commandeering the body of somebody from this universe when it suits your needs do you?”

“Ken that is not how our situation works…”

“Do you even care that could have been us if she didn’t push me out of the way?”, Ken demanded getting angrier and angrier with each passing second. “I would have been the one frozen in time and what would you have done then?”

“We’re fortunate that didn’t happen.”

He got right in his silver face and spat, “Tell that to Jess.” Looking back out he was face to face with the frozen Jessica. “Sorry you had to see that,” he told here knowing she didn’t see or hear any of it. “God Jess this is where I need you to tell me to snap the hell out of it.”

***
At his masters request he set this Baltan up in a safe area, so he decided to place him, her the hell if he knew, in one of his contact areas. Not one of his regular spot but one he had used before once or twice in the past. In fact he almost forgot about it. He remembered why as soon as he passed those small towns that were nearby. He was fairly well known now thanks to all the media attention so it would be hard to explain why he headed out here on a semi regular basis. As it was Brooks had to study maps of the area to find an alternate route to the mountains that held the hidden area. It added an hour to his travel time but it did the deed.

Right now he and the Baltan stood in front of a swirling vortex as his masters spoke to them, “And there is no sign of the light being?”

“None so far,” Brooks answered.

“Excellent,” he said, “things are finally going our way Avatar.”

“It appears so,” he agreed. “So what are we going to do with… our friend here?”

“He has been compensated already,” the figure in the vortex replied. “Once he has completed his task he will be set free. Then begins the next step in taking over this bastard planet and use it population to invade the light universe.”

The Baltan suddenly spoke up, “No.”

The shape in the vortex turned to look at him as Peter took a few moments to process what he just heard, “I beg your pardon?”

“This planet is now ours,” the Baltan said in response. “We will subject the population and add it to our empire.”

“I do believe we had dibs on this planet first, and might I add for much longer,” Brooks informed him.

“That is not our concern. You have seen what I can do. From what I have witnessed you prove to be no threat to us. This planet will be ours.” The Baltan turned away and headed out of the cave.

Peter looked back at the portal, putting a hand to his chin. The form in the portal seemed to nod his head before fading away. He grinned ever so slightly, “I do believe I have a word to say about that.”

“And what would that be?”, the Baltan said without turning around.

Hand crackling with dark energy Peter caught hit with a beam that knocked the alien to the ground, “Gotcha.” Watching him struggle to get up Peter blasted him again. “Arrogant creature, do you really think I’m going to prefer that insufferable trait in you when I don’t tolerate it in others?” Keeping the beam on him the alien writhed and screamed in pain. A thought occurred to him that made him smile, “I’m not going to kill you, not just yet. But I am going to try something I’ve done before, just to make sure it wasn’t a fluke.” The beam continuing to hold him down he got close enough to put that hand on his chest. It’s round eyes and various parts of it’s armor started leaking dark energy as it was ravaged from the inside and forcible changed. “Let’s see if we can draw Ultraman out of hiding, hmm?”

***
“It has a hyper mode too?”, Bill asked while Hawk and the others looked one. Bridge had just presented them with a theory about the creature moving trick.

“Not exactly,” Bridge said trying to find a way to clarify his findings. “It’s more like it’s teleporting, but at such a speed it’s leaving an after image of itself in it’s place.”

“How did you figure that out?”, Ryo asked him. “I saw some eggheads arguing about it about five minutes before the Captain called this meeting.”

“They are working on theory,” Bridge explained. “Me and a few others were trying to get the facts. Facts we got we got when we finally got into your wrist scanners readout and found something you didn’t notice before,” he imputed the results from the combined readout into the holo table between them. “I’m sure you three remember this particular moment,” he commented as the creature apparently split into four. “We were able to get a life sign reading at this range surprisingly enough. I’m going to slow it down so you can see it’s heartbeat.” After a moment they could see the heart start beating on one image and finish on another. The pattern was random but they could see the heartbeat clear as day.

“You don’t have to tell me that Williams is salivating trying to figure out how that works,” Hawk said.

“I needed a boat to get across the hallway to get here,” Bridge joked.

“How does that help us defeat that thing?”, Ken demanded.

“Easy son,” Hawk told him, “one step at a time.”

”We want to get the bastard too,” Ryo assured him.

“But Civilian does have a point,” Bill added.

“We’re working on it,” Bridge told him. Before he could go one the alarms sounded. Hooking it the table into the alert system he pulled it up on the table. “The creature is back, I’ve found a news feed. I’m patching into it now.” Soon the computers pulled up several screen that Bridge was able to condense into a single 3D image. Hawk looked past it at Ken and his reaction. The others watched as a now giant sized alien trashed around some town.

“And he can grow to Ultraman size too,” Bill said. “Great.”

“Maybe he’ll show up this time,” Ryo commented. Ken’s features darkened a bit.

“I want all Razor Wings in the air and Scan Tracks on the ground,” Hawk ordered.

“Yes sir,” they answered and headed for the door. Hawk held Ken back so he could have a moment alone with him.”

“Ken I want you civilian evacuation duty for this one.”

“Captain I can do my job,” he protested.

“And I don’t your head is in the right place at the moment,” he said firmly. “And I don’t want others to get hurt because of it.” Ken didn’t have an immediate response as he looked away, but Hawk could see the young man seething. “We’ll talk after this over, but can I trust you to follow orders?”

He hesitated to answer at first but eventually he said, “Yes sir.”

“Good, but don’t worry son we’re planning on showing that giant bastard that you don’t fuck with Monster Squad.” He didn’t look convinced but he didn’t argue the point either.

***
The UNDF forces mobilized quickly and were engaging the giant creature within minutes. Those giants claws of his seemed to be able to fire some sort of destructive ray as well. Razor Wings danced around it while Scan Tracks tried to get it’s attention to give the evacuation teams more time to do their jobs. However any paying attention to the conflict would have noticed a familiar energy signature in it’s beam if you knew what to look for. One person did and he was on the street making sure it was clear. “Scott to Castle, sector K8 is clear heading toward K7.”

“Understood,” Bridge answered.

Trying very hard to ignore the creature he kept his focus on his wrist scanner. Not seeing any life signs so far he looked down at his communicator as Richardson bellowed, “What are you waiting for Scott?! Set that bastard after it?” Ken switched his communicator off with a little more force than was necessary. Of course Daxium was practically screaming at him trying to get his attention. Since that was the one voice he couldn’t readily turn off he finally got fed up enough to look inwards.

“What?!”, he demanded once they were face to face. “Now that it’s your size you’re suddenly interested. Well forget it, you said this was our problem and we’ll take care of it.”

“Ken can you not sense the dark energy coming from the creature now?”

He had to look away as he answered, “Yes.”

“Then let me out to battle him.”

“No,” he said shaking his head. “Because that thing is working with whomever working with those guys you’re fighting and is probably waiting to see if you’re going to show up.”

Daxium tried to reason with him, “We do not know if that creature has been working with them this entire time.”

“If they weren’t working together before they are now!”, he snapped. “I let you out and we just handed them the perfect weapon because you won’t go after anything from this universe as long as they don’t mess with it. And you can’t tell me they won’t search the universe looking for somebody else.”

“There is some truth to your words,” Daxium was forced to admit. “This goes against my original mission statement but I feel I need to modify it given the circumstances.”

“So you’ll get off your ass and help us?”

“In certain situations,” he amended. “If the threat, as you put it, is my size then I will fight it.”

“I guess it will have to do for now,” Ken said bitterly.

“I’m sorry that this has put a strain on our friendship Ken.”

“So am I Dax,” he agreed. “We’ll talk after this is over.”

“Agreed.” Coming back to his senses Ken checked his scanner one more time to make sure the area was still clear. Grateful he didn’t give into the urge to throw the Spark Magnifier into his dresser he held it in his hand. Taking one more look he held it over his head and squeezed the handle.

***
The column of light faded away revealing Daxium facing the Alien Baltan and took a fighting stance, “Shiah!”

“Finally the bastard doing what he’s told,” Richardson muttered as he watched the feed from his office.

“About time,” Hawk said. “All units keep out of their way.” Over the line he heard Jamira grumble something.

The Baltan stopped it’s rampage and stared at Daxium before uttering a deep, “Hohohoho.” Raising it’s claws it fired another blast, Daxium did a cartwheel to get out of the way and prepared to fire a Flashbolt when he noticed the alien was gone. Remembering what he learned through Ken he quickly spun around with a kick that caught the Baltan in the gut. He dodged when it fired another blast. He looked up in surprise as the building behind him started emitting that same glow as the others. It was enough of a distraction to blast him with that destructive beam. Grunting in pain he fell back against a building and then a knee.

The Baltan was on top of him in no time pounding him with those massive claw like appendages. The giant fought back hard eventually forcing the alien back. Stunning it with several punches a hard kick sent it flying back. As it struggled to it’s feet Daxium saw his chance and prepared to fire the Dimensional Storm Ray. Crossing his hands at the wrist a multi-colored stream of energy fired out of his upright right hand. The baltan quickly used it’s teleportation trick to avoid it. As the ground behind it’s previous position exploded upon impact of the ray. It set up position as he turned around to find him and fired the destructive beam again. Rolling out of the way at the last second he crossed his arms across his chest and flung them down going into Hyper Mode. Catching the alien off with his new speed he quickly got closer avoiding the beams. Jumping up he delivered a flying kick that knocked it to the ground.

A few more quick blows and he was able to force the Baltan into the open area between the town and the nearby mountain range. With more room to maneuver he held out his right arm as the Light Flash whip extended from his hand. Striking the alien a few time it tried to fire it’s destructive beam again. Daxium jumped up and flipped back to avoid it. Then he ran in and black flipped again catching him under the chin with the tip of his foot. Back flipping away from him a few times he drew a circle in the air and threw the Hyper Saw. Daxium watched the image ready for it to stop. He didn’t know it could fire that beam while teleporting. Knocked back he was suddenly hit from behind knocked him forward.

Forced to his knee as the images circled around him and fired at will. The humans watching this wanted to help but felt helpless as the couldn’t get a clear lock on their sensors. Those like Jamira enjoyed seeing the giant being taken down a peg or two. In the middle of the barrage Daxium started to draw in energy as the jewel started to flash, vision speeding up enough to catch a glimpse of the alien’s solid form during it all. Trying to time this just right he made the faintest of flinches and in less than a second he caught the Baltan and slammed both of them into the mountain causing it to shake and crumble a bit. Arms almost a blur he pounded away at the alien’s body as the jewel started to flash faster. Stepping back he extended the Light Flash one more time and spun around slicing through the Baltan and the mountainside. The Baltan exploded a moment later and Daxium fell to a knee. Forcing himself back up he flew off into the sky, “Shiah!”

Bill watched him fly off saying, “Did that look pissed to anybody else? Because that looked pissed to me.”

“We’ll discuss it later,” Hawk told him. “Castle what is the condition of the others?”

“Wade to Hawk, what the hell just happened?”, Jess asked sounding confused. Back at Castle she and the guards looked around trying to figure out what happened.

Hawk and everybody in Alpha Team who heard that felt very relieved at hearing her voice, a relief that they didn’t think was possible. “I’ll explain later. All units return to Castle.”

***
Despite her protest that she was perfectly fine the doctors in Castle medical wing insisted that she and the guards stay overnight for observation. Although the Captain jokingly threatened to make it an order she put her foot down at being put in a bed. She’ll stay in the room if she had to but a bed was for sleeping … and other things. And she wasn’t in the mode for either at the moment. As it was she had to endure the Captain and the others hovering around her sat she sat it the table in the room to make sure she was alright. “I’m fine,” she said getting aggravated. “How many times do I have to say it?”

“We were just worried about you Jess, that’s all,” Ryo said for the group/

“Oh yeah, you were really worried,” she said with a slight smirk. “Four of you and I don’t see a gift among you.”

“The gift shop wasn’t open,” Ken said without missing a beat. Just like old times, well almost.

“That was my line,” Bill told him.

“Then say it faster next time,” Ken shot back.

“You’re assuming there’s going to be a next time,” Jess piped in.

“Excuse me,” a male nurse said from the door. “Dr. Jones wanted the patient to get her rest.”

“I’m fine,” she insisted. Tilting her head as she watched him leave she muttered, “And so are you.”

Bill caught the look on her face, “Maybe one of us should stay around to protect him from her.”

She gave him a look that Ken had seen more than once in his short life, “I’m glad I didn’t say that one.”

“She’s going to let him have it?”, Ryo asked. When he said yeas he patted Bill on the shoulder, “Nice knowing you man.”

Hawk decided then to speak up, “Unfortunately the doctors can overrule me so we better go. I know you’re an independent woman and all, but I’m having Bridge going over the security footage while you were in the lab. He see’s anybody taking the opportunity to get all grabby hands his ass is going to be dust.”

“Then the Captain is going to let the rest of us have a turn,” Bill joke.

With a look from Hawk Ryo started to shepard him toward the door. He told Jess, “Get your rest now, because I’m going to work you double time tomorrow.”

“Yes sir,” she said with a salute. As they started to leave she got Ken’s wrist before he could get out of reach. “Can you stay for a moment longer?”, she said as he looked at her. Once they were alone she said, “So I hear you went all Mister Grumpy Face once I got frozen.” He didn’t answer her right away. “You’re not reading anything into that are you? I would have done that for anybody on the team.”

“I know, it’s…,” he hesitated before continuing, “I just got you back as a friend. I’d hate to think I screwed that up again.”

“You are going to have to act like your brother to screw it up again, and we both know that’s not happening anytime soon,” she told him. He slowly started to smile. “But move faster next time, because I’m going to let you get blasted.”

“Fair enough,” he said. “I’d better get going before Bill starts getting thoughts in his head.”

“Yeah that will be a dangerous thing,” she said. “Because I will be forced to hurt him.”

He went to the door before turning back around, “Do you want me to get that nurse back in here? Give you two a little alone time?”

“You’re lucky I don’t have my gun.”


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ED – Shinedown – Fly From the Inside
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