She had only taken a few steps when the door to the craft opened and the ramp extended down from it. Okafur came sprinting down the ramp and then he ran over to Michelle. He put his arm around her waist and then pulled her arm over his shoulder. “I’ve got you, soldier.” Michelle nodded and accepted the pilot’s help. As they were walking back toward the ship, he smiled at Michelle. “The world might be coming to an end, and I can’t even begin to think what it must be like to be you, but I have to say that the bravery and refusal to accept defeat that you exhibited today go far beyond the call of duty.” He shook his head. “Girl, monster, soldier, however you see yourself, I want you to know that I will always see you as nothing but a hero.”
Michelle smiled back at the Okafur as they walked up the ramp to the TR-3B. The pilot helped the young woman into his chair so that she was facing the projection of Susan. He quickly whispered in Michelle’s ear, “I will be right outside. Just yell when you are done talking to her.” Michelle nodded in reply and then Okafur exited the ship.
Tears were rolling down Susan’s face as she looked at Michelle. She shook her head in acknowledgment of her own failure to connect with this remarkable woman. Susan cleared her throat and then she addressed the person who meant more to her than anything in the world, “I am truly sorry that I am not able to be there in person with you. Michelle, I have something important to tell you, but first, there is something else that I have to say because I will never have the opportunity to say it again. I want you to know that while I have always tried to respect your privacy, I have always looked at you as if you were my own daughter. I love you, Michelle, and for what it’s worth, please know that no mother has ever been prouder of their child than I am of you. You are a strong and resourceful young woman who has done her species proud in its defense. I can only offer my sincerest apology for not being a better Instructor for you.”
Michelle was starting to cry as she saw the face of her Instructor in front of her bearing her soul. Michelle began to vigorously shake her head. “No, you didn’t fail me. You were the only person who could see that I needed space and time to confront my unique life on my own terms. Any other instructor would have tried to smother me in an attempt to clear their own conscious that they were doing what they needed to. You had the strength to allow me to be myself.” Michelle wiped a tear from an eye that was half-swollen shut. “I have never been good at expressing my emotions, but please know that I love you too. I always thought that we would have more time together, and that one day we would have a talk like this face to face, but I suppose that it’s now or never. I just want to thank you for letting me be me. It’s all that I could ask of anyone who was assigned to me and you let me have that.”
Susan wiped more tears off her face. “Thank you. That means more to me than you could ever know.” Susan took a deep breath. “I am sorry to throw this additional burden on you, but I must discuss an integral part of the next phase of our plan that will put a tremendous strain on the team, but I suspect you most of all.”
Michelle held up her hand to stop Susan from speaking. “I know what you are going to say. Once more, our family is going to be assigned to us, and just as you and I did, we will have to learn to love each other.” A look of surprise flashed across Susan’s face as she realized that Michelle had already figured out the next phase of the plan for humanity’s continued existence. Michelle sighed as she revealed the truth that she had deduced earlier that day. “This is the type of war that won’t be over in a few years. It will go on for generations. Once we secure a foothold for humanity, the people who live there will need the Kaiju Corps to protect them from the threat of robot abduction until every last robot on earth is destroyed. Jerome, Miki, Nick, and I will not be around to see the end of this war, but our offspring will.” Michelle was silent for a moment as a tearful Susan simply nodded in reply. “There are only four people on the entire planet who can change from humans into kaiju, and with the imminent destruction of the Horsemen Facilities around the world, you won’t be able to make more of us. We are humans, but we are also part of a subspecies and that subspecies can only breed within itself. You need the four of us to pair off and mate to create the next generation of Kaiju Corps members.”
Susan was momentarily taken aback at Michelle’s knowledge of the situation. “As always, your perceptiveness of the events around you astound me.” Susan’s voice took on an empathic tone. “I am so sorry, Michelle. I am sorry, because you are too young to even understand the implications of what we are asking you to do. We are asking you not only to mate with someone who you may not even feel romantic love toward, but we are asking you to raise your children to be humanity’s protectors. Believe me, that is a burden no parent should have to shoulder.” Susan wiped her face clean of tears. “Are the other members of the team aware of this as well?”
Michelle shrugged. “I don’t believe that they are, but it’s obvious that Nick and Miki are already in love, even if they don’t know it yet.” Michelle raised her voice, “Isn’t that right, Timothy and Clarissa?”
Timothy briefly stepped in front of the screen. “Yes. We also believe that to be true.”
Susan looked Michelle in the eyes. “What about Jerome? How does he feel about you?”
Michelle thought for a moment as she chose her words carefully. “I believe that he views me the same way that I do him: as a respected and valued member of the same unit. Jerome is like me though; we will do what is asked of us in order to complete our mission. “
Susan tried to smile. “I am sorry about this, Michelle. I wanted so much more for you. I wanted you to have as normal a life as possible.”
Michelle shook her head. “It’s all right. Things are the way they are, and there is nothing that we can do about it.”
Susan nodded. “I know that we have already asked so much of you, and I know that you will heal faster in your kaiju form, but I have to ask more. We need you to meet up with the other members of the Kaiju Corps ASAP because the Signal may soon overtake the TR-3Bs. If that happens, then it will be difficult for you to reach the rest of your team and secure the designated areas, let alone carry out the next phase of the plan when the time comes. Additionally, we are going to have the remaining TR-3Bs return to base where we will disconnect them from external communications in an attempt to prevent the Signal from taking them over. We will then arm the TR-3Bs with any of the experimental weapons that we can. The pilots of the TR-3B’s that are operating abroad, will be sent instructions on how to disconnect their ships from outside information as well. The TR-3Bs will then meet with you and the rest of the Kaiju Corps in Chicago. They will be part of the weapons for you to use against the robots as this war rages on.”
Michelle nodded. “All right then, let me get Okafur back on board and we will start flying toward Chicago.” She started to tear up again as she looked at Susan for what she knew would be the last time. “Goodbye, Susan, and thank you.”
Susan did her best to control her emotions as she gave her last words of wisdom to Michelle. “You have always been so good at finding your own way in life, but let me offer one piece of advice that I hope will help you to avoid a great deal of pain. I know that you will do whatever you is needed of you to carry out your duty. If the next phase of the plan comes to fruition, you will have even a greater duty than those you currently possess. Please, for your own sake, do all that you can to win this war before you need to send your children to fight it, or even worse, inform them that they need to mate with a specific person in order to ensure the continued existence of the human race.” Susan had to stop talking for a moment as her words became stuck in her throat. “I can assure you that burdening your children with responsibilities like that is an experience that no mother should ever have to endure.” Susan reached out and touched the screen in front of her. “Goodbye, my daughter. I love you, and I am proud of you.”
The screen went blank as Michelle broke down in tears. She was glad that she at least had that s
mall moment to let Susan know what she truly meant to her. Michelle was never the type of person who was good at expressing her emotions verbally. She was the type of person who firmly believed that actions spoke louder than words, and as Susan went off to face the last few hours of her life, Michelle vowed that her actions would honor the Instructor. She wiped her battered face clean and then she yelled out the open to door to Okafur who was waiting outside, “Captain, we need to get to Chicago!”
Okafur hurried back into the craft. He turned his back for a second when he saw that Michelle was dressing herself. She thanked him for this discretion but assured him that he could take his seat and set course for Chicago, as she was not embarrassed by the situation. He nodded and walked over to his seat. He kept his eyes forward but he quickly asked Michelle, “Are you okay?”
She sat down in the chair next to him. “No. I am in no way okay, but I will feel much better after we meet up with the rest of the Kaiju Corps and kick some robot ass.”
Okafur nodded in reply and then he lifted his TR-3B into the air and started flying toward the city of Chicago.
Back at the Horsemen facility in the Catskill Mountains, Susan quickly turned to Timothy who was still standing next to her. “What happened to the feed? I wasn’t done talking with her.”
Timothy shrugged. “The system is under attack from the Signal. We are losing services all over the place. It’s just a matter of time before the Signal completely overrides our network. That’s why we need to keep working as hard as we can until that happens.”
Timothy and the other programmers were completely unaware that the reality of the situation was that the Signal had already compromised their operation. In the deepest sublevels of the Catskill Mountain Facility, was the hangar in which the TR-3Bs were constructed. The security cameras stopped recording for a nanosecond and then they started running a loop of the room on the security feed throughout the facility. Then the electronic doors in the room locked themselves shut. Finally, when the hangar was completely under the Signal’s control, the robots in the room that the programmers used to construct the otherworldly crafts suddenly activated and began constructing something that was much more than a TR-3B.
Chapter 12
Chicago
Captain Granderson shut down his feed from headquarters. He turned around and addressed Jerome, Nick, and Miki. “I have just received word from HQ that Bearadon engaged several hostiles in Buffalo. She was able to defeat them, but she needs to rest and she will not be able to assist us in the upcoming battle. They are also reporting that in addition to a robot created to fight Bearadon that the humanoid robots she encountered were much more heavily armored and aggressive than the ones we have seen so far.”
Nick laughed. “Just like Michelle to save an entire city on her own and then leave the three of us to save a city without her.”
Jerome smiled for a brief moment then he refocused his team on the task at hand. “Michelle has more than done her part. Now we need to honor her by doing ours. Chicago has a large military weaponry plant located just outside of the city. We don’t have any definite intel, but it is likely that we will be facing robots constructed from the same machinery that is used to make tanks and military trucks.” Jerome walked up to the pilot. “Captain Granderson, drop the EMP to prevent any more robots from being created then circle the city so that we can see what we are up against here.”
The pilot replied with a quick, “Yes, sir.” Then he swooped down over the city and deployed the EMP weapon. The EMP washed over Chicago like a neon wave, shutting down every piece of machinery in the city including the military plant that Jerome had suspected was creating the giant robots who were attacking the city.
The TR-3B increased its altitude as Granderson brought up the visual feed from the city onto the walls of the TR-3B. Jerome stood and walked over to the feed. He closely examined the situation to see four robots each in a different section of the city. Jerome quickly developed a plan of attack, and then he turned around and gave out his assessment of the situation and his attack plan to Nick and Miki.
“There are four robots down there. Two of them maintain the humanoid form that we have seen before, but in this instance, they are heavily armed as they are constructed out of tank parts. We are designating them by their parts as PT1 and PT2. From the reports we have gotten from headquarters about Michelle’s last encounter, the humanoid robots are adapting to be better equipped to protect themselves from us. We can expect a more difficult battle from these robots than what we got from the robots in Detroit.” Jerome zoomed in on the images of PT1 and PT2. “As you can see, while these robots have a relatively humanoid appearance in terms of arms, legs, and torsos, it’s the military-style additions that make them far more deadly than the car-based robots we faced in Detroit.”
Jerome pointed to the robots’ arms. “Instead of hands, these robots have cannons at the end of their arms.” Jerome quickly shifted the view to show thousands of body parts and large craters scattered around the city streets. “It’s easy to see that these cannons are functional and were used on the population of Chicago based on the carnage below us.” He moved the projection back to the humanoid robots. One of them was crushing a building while a second one was firing his cannon directly onto the street itself, causing it collapse into the subway system. “When we were in Detroit, we were fighting to protect people who were trying to flee the city above ground. As you can see from the carnage down there, the humanoid robots’ long-range weapons have taken away that option. Anyone who is trying to escape the city now is doing it underground through the subway and sewer tunnels. This is likely the reason that the robots are targeting the streets themselves. We can also assume that there may be civilians still alive and hiding in some of the buildings that the robots are attacking. Once we transform in our kaiju-selves, we should be able to use our sense of smell to determine the location of any surviving humans, be they above ground or below it. We need to use our sense of smell to make sure that we are moving the humanoid robots away from the human population as we engage them.”
Jerome then shifted the view to show the two battle-ready guardian robots standing still in the center of Chicago. “Based on the way these two robots are staying still, we can assume that they are the battle bots.” Jerome focused the screen on a colossal robotic rhinoceros made from tank parts. The mech’s horn was in fact a tank cannon and on its back, was a gargantuan gun turret that stretched the length of the robot’s shoulders. Jerome pointed directly to the gun turret. “We are designating the first battle robot as Roboceros, for obvious reasons. The gun turret on its back is an experimental weapon that is designed to attack battleships at sea. It packs a hell of a punch. So, let’s try to avoid getting shot by that thing.”
Jerome then shifted the view to a giant robot that was like nothing they had ever seen before. The second robot was a huge sphere with a giant blade sticking out of the top of its head like a sail, three crab-like legs on either side of its body, and two long thick arms that ended in gigantic circular saws. Jerome shrugged. “So far, the Signal has been basing its robot designs off animals found here on earth. I don’t know if that second robot is a mix of earth creatures, some alien monster, or what, but it was clearly created for battle.” Jerome shook his head as he looked at the monster. “I don’t even know what to call it.”
Nick smiled. “Phantasm. We call it Phantasm. You know, like the horror movie where the Tall Man uses spheres with blades and drills in them to kill people.”
Miki gave Nick a sly smile. “You and your horror movies.”
Jerome shrugged. “It’s as good a name as anything. Basically, we are using the same plan as before. I will fly around the perimeter of the city and take out PT1 and PT2. Nick, you take on Roboceros. That thing looks pretty heavily armored, and as it’s made out of tank parts, I am not sure that even in her Chagon form that Miki could do much damage to it anyway. Beware of that big gun turret, especially at close range.”
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p; He turned his head toward Miki. “You have Phantasm. If one of you manages to defeat your opponent before the other one does, help each other out before helping me.” Jerome yelled up to Granderson, “Captain, how much more ammo do you have left?”
“A few hundred rounds but plenty of air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles. I think that I can still be of help to you guys.”
Jerome nodded. “Okay, fly in a circular pattern around the city, and take shots at the robots as you can. If you see that one of us needs help, break your pattern and see what you can do.”
Jerome shifted his attention to Brian Linke. “Brian, are you about ready to disconnect this craft from external sources?”
Brian shifted his head back and forth indicating his trepidation. “I think so, but I am not one hundred percent sure. I am learning all that I can, but this craft has computer programs and components that are far beyond what would be considered cutting edge in the civilian world.”
Jerome nodded. “Just keep doing your best. As soon as we see Michelle’s TR-3B, I want this thing offline and then as soon as possible, I want you to do the same thing to the craft that Michelle is coming in on.” Brian nodded in reply.
Jerome looked around the craft. “Does everyone understand their roles?”
The other four replied in unison with, “Sir, yes, sir!”
Jerome started taking off his clothes as Miki and Nick followed his lead. When they were naked, Jerome opened the door. The craft was flying around the outskirts of the city and, approaching PT2, Jerome jumped out of the jet and started his transformation into Garudasaurus as he was in free fall.
Kaiju Corps Page 10