Kaiju Rising: Age of Monsters (12 page)

What now?

She knew the drill. The city would race for the shelters and hunker down until someone saved them. That someone was usually her and the guys, but not tonight. Her heart sank. Andrea would be stuck alongside everyone else, cramped in the sweaty basement bunker while someone else battled the Kaiju that threatened their city. Jansen would whip out his secret weapons and save the day.
More likely screw it all up.
Who was he going to send out, Mecha-Baz? The city would be half-destroyed before he arrived, and Baz would use the other half as a wrestling arena.

No, fuck that noise.
Andrea snarled as she pulled out her cell phone and fired off a furious burst of text messages. Fighting Kaiju is what she did. She’d be damned if Jansen took that away from her.

~

Gerry grinned at Andrea as she squirmed into her flight suit in the car, her bra and taut stomach on full display. She didn’t care. They were in a rush. Once they picked up Will she’d catch him up on the plan—such as it was—and they’d do what they had to in order to save New Orleans from the approaching Kaiju and General Jansen’s arrogance.

Gerry stared while she changed into her outfit, his darkened eye squinting to get a better look.

“Get it out of your system now, buddy, because we’ve got work to do.”

Gerry chuckled and floored the accelerator. The roads back toward the gulf pretty much empty since everyone was running the other way toward the shelters; there was hardly anyone in the path of the incoming Kaiju. There were only the unfortunate, the stupid, and the brave, and at a time like this, there wasn’t a hell of a big difference between the three.

They found Will outside of his apartment lending a hand to a family of the first. He boosted a young girl into the back of one of the evacuation trucks where her parents clutched to her. Always the gentleman, Will handed the young girl her stuffed animal, and Andrea had to laugh at the irony. It was a tiny Tornaq bear. Nothing like a Kaiju doll to comfort a kid during an attack.

Gerry brought the car to a screeching halt at the curb as a giant shadow fell over the street.

“Oh, shi—” was all he got out before a great, scaly leg and clawed foot blotted out the light.

Will looked up and bolted the instant he saw the creature. Andrea gasped, but Will was fast for a big guy. The massive limb crashed down just yards from where Will had stood, the weight crushing the front end of the evacuation truck as though it were a tin can. The survivors spilled from the covered bed of the truck screaming. They hit the ground running and scattered. Andrea let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding, but her relief at the people’s escape was short lived as the rotten stench of the creature assailed her. Gerry choked beside her, both muttering the creature’s name through the murk of its stink.

Grimmgarl had come to
Nawlins
, and she wasn’t there for Mardi Gras.

The beast’s tail slammed into a nearby bank building, the glass and steel exploding as though it were confetti, the illuminated sign sparking as it crashed onto the roof. The remnants of the building screamed as it collapsed, and Andrea saw a figure fall beneath the rubble, but the creature wasn’t done. Another building fell to her wrath as Andrea stared at the wanton destruction.
It was a strange experience viewing the wreckage from this angle, her normal seat eye-to-eye with the creatures she faced down. She didn’t like the feeling.

Her attention was drawn back to Will as he ran toward the fallen building.

“What the hell is he doing?” Gerry asked.

Andrea sighed. She knew exactly what he was doing. “Damn it,” she muttered and leapt out of the car. “We need to help him before he gets his compassionate ass squished.”

She bolted over to where Will was struggling with the wreckage, hauling big chunks off the pile and tossing them aside. Will grunted with every stone, sweat beading across his forehead, but he was chucking them aside like nothing. Desperation had lent him strength.

Andrea reached him just as the tech uncovered the man buried in the debris. Both stopped cold as the familiar colors of purple and gold stared out at them, apparent despite the coating of gray dust. Gerry stumbled over to them right then, his foot bumping into the top of a half-buried yellow motorcycle helmet with a red stripe down the center.

“Colonel?” Will asked, spurred back into action to remove the last of the stone and steel refuse that held the man down.

The man sat up and reached over to retrieve his helmet. His smile broke through the dirt spattered across his face. “This is just embarrassing,” he said with a laugh as he climbed to his feet with Will’s help. “Hope you’re having a better day than me, Will.” He glanced over at the other two. “Gerry. Andrea.”

Andrea grinned at Colonel Ausum, but the stakes of what was happening wiped it from her face a moment later. No KRASER, the Colonel was on his own against the Kaiju, and it didn’t look like he was winning. “You okay?”

Ausum nodded. “Grimmgarl just caught me clearing people out of the bank. Hadn’t realized she was so close.” He shrugged. “Guess the stench should have warned me.”

Gerry grunted, waving at the air. “Definitely.”

Ausum’s own grin faded as he cast a glance at each of the group, one after the other, confusion registering on his expression. “Why are you here without KRASER?”

“Long story, but that’s where we’re headed now,” Andrea answered. “Can you keep the big girl busy for a bit?”

“Don’t have much of a choice, do I?” Ausum winked at her. “You folks do what you need to, but I certainly wouldn’t mind if you hurried.”

The group nodded as one, and the Colonel waved, slipped his helmet on, and chased after the beast. Andrea watched him for a second before corralling Will and Gerry.

“We need to go,” she said. “We’ve a robot to steal.”

~

Colonel Ausum clenched his teeth as he ran after Grimmgarl. His ribs ached and every step was perilous on the asphalt that shook beneath the creature’s fury, but he did never wavered. As the Kaiju’s tail appeared out of the dust cloud before him, Ausum skidded to a stop. He raised his hands raised into the air, drawing a slow, cleansing breath, before slowly lowering them back to his chest. “Hen…” His hands snapped outward, and then retreated until his arms lay across his chest, the ritual of transformation completed. “…shin!”

A familiar sense of vertigo filled his head as the world around him shrank away, his body glowing bright gold. The wash of his power erupted from him in a surge. He knew Grimmgarl would sense his change, but there was nothing he could do about it. The giant alligator spun about just as Ausum had predicted, but it was too late for the beast. He had assumed his henshined state, the glow replaced by the massive armor and spandex outfit that formed at his metamorphosis. Thunder rumbled in the wake of the Colonel’s power, both combatants staring across the city expanse at one another.

“For justice,” Ausum shouted as he felt his strength swell to full, his limbs channeling his energies in preparation of battle.

Grimmgarl snarled at the Colonel’s battle cry, charging at him with jaws wide open. Ausum sidestepped Grimmgarl, delivering a blow to the base of her neck. She staggered but didn’t fall, her tail slamming into Ausum’s helmet. The Colonel stumbled into a nearby building. The creak of breaking glass rang in his ears as he righted himself. Grimmgarl shook her head in annoyance and swiped at Ausum. Blood welled as the beast ripped the armor piece off and claws sank into flesh.

Ausum’s growled and reached for his wound out of instinct. Crimson welled between his fingers. Grimmgarl took advantage of his hesitation. The sharpened point of her snout slammed
into the same shoulder, razored teeth slashing through skin and muscle as she opened her mouth, poised to bite down. Ausum knew time had turned against him. He summoned his energy and willed it into his fist as he drove and uppercut into Grimmgarl’s jaw. The beast’s mouth
clacked
shut as its head snapped upward. Her rancid breath steamed the colonel’s helmet as she roared and toppled backward. She crashed into the asphalt, kicking up shards of blackened wreckage and sending a tremor through the earth.

Ausum, eager to remain on the offensive, delivered a brutal axe kick to Grimmgarl’s midsection. The creature howled, but the
Colonel pounced, desperate to keep her on her back. He rained down blow after blow, the creature squirming beneath him but doing little to ward off his attack.

Was it over already?

The Colonel eased back and glanced at the slit of the Kaiju’s reddened eye. It loosed a wet, phlegmy snort, dark blood and fetid spit streaming down its maw as it labored to draw breath. Then its eye snapped open, a snarl rippling across its mouth.

Ausum went to strike her again, but Grimmgarl had lured him in. Her tail smashed into the back of his helmet. Brilliant dots of white exploded in his vision, and the
Colonel felt his legs give way. He fell as Grimmgarl rose up beneath him. The ground caught him with a shuddering
thud
.

~

Andrea slipped into the hangar where KRASER was stored, Gerry and Will at her back. As casual as they tried to appear, there was no mistaking the sense of criminality about their presence there. They’d fooled the gate guards into letting them onto the complex, their credentials still in place due to bureaucratic slothfulness, but none of them believed they’d be able to commandeer the mech so easily.

And as if to quash what little hope they’d had, Andrea spied the two soldiers camped outside the stairwell that led into KRASER’s cabin. The hangar empty of everything but the mech and its accoutrements, the guards spied them the moment they walked through the door.

“Hold it right there,” the first of the men called out, raising his rifle their direction.

Andrea kept walking, Gerry at her side, but she could hear Will muttering at her back.

“Came all this way just to get shot. Wonderful.”

“I said stop!” the soldier repeated as they drew closer, the second man joining the first and bringing his rifle to bear. “You know you’re not supposed to be here.”

“You don’t know—”

Andrea waved Gerry to silence before he could finish his statement. She slipped on her sad face and inched closer to the men. “You know what’s going on out there, right?”

The soldier shrugged. “Not my place to worry about it, ma’am. My job is here.”

Andrea sighed. “Maybe, but what’s happening is going to kill us all. You know damn well that General Jansen’s weapons are unproven.”

“Yeah, and Ausum is getting his ass kicked out there if you believe the radio,” Gerry added.

The first soldier drew a deep breath at hearing that, but the second stepped up.

“This robot is government property, so just turn around and walk away. We can’t let you take it no matter what’s going on.”

“Tell that to the people of New Orleans whose families are being killed while you sit here impeding our way.” Gerry snarled, poking a finger into the man’s chest.

The soldier batted it away. “Now, listen here, you robot jockey—”

Andrea stepped between them. “This is getting us nowhere. We’ll leave.” She turned and looked to Gerry, mouthing her thoughts to him as soon as she was sure the soldiers couldn’t see her face.

Do what you do best.

“Yeah, that’s what—” the officer started.

Andrea took a step to the side, Gerry’s fist flying past just inches from her cheek.

The solider crumpled as the punch landed flush on his jaw. He hadn’t seen it coming. The second man shouted and pivoted to line up a shot at Gerry, but Andrea elbowed him flush between his eyes. He grunted, blinking to clear the tears that spewed forth. Gerry tackled the soldier and drove him to the hangar floor as he ended the fight with a quick flurry of punches.
Gerry crawled off the soldier and shaking his hand out.

“See? Violence does solve some things.”

Andrea just shook her head and charged up the stairs. They were running out of time. Security might be low for now with everyone’s attention on the Kaiju, but people would notice the unconscious men lying in the middle of the hangar soon enough. She planned to be long gone by the time they did.

KRASER’s cockpit was littered with levers and lights, three specially prepared seats welcoming the crew as they scrambled inside. Gerry took the center station and flipped switchers on his console, prepping the robot.

Lights slowly flickered to life as Andrea ran through the startup checklist as Gerry ran diagnostics on his side. She sealed the cabin and let out a quiet sigh. The Army would need a dozen tanks to peel the team out of KRASER now that the giant seals
clanked
shut. A few more buttons pushed and she heard the familiar hum of the robot’s systems coming online.

“Weapons free, all systems go.”

Gerry pointed at the hangar doors, still locked down. “What do we do about that?”

“No time to be gentle,” she said with a laugh.

Gerry grinned and together, the two set the robot in motion. KRASER brushed aside the boarding ramp and the robot charged toward the doors.

“You’re not going to…” Will’s question dropped away. “Oh, never mind. Of course you are.”