Diana turned to look at the pilot. “Follow Grimm. We need to be able to deactivate him as soon as his mission is complete.”
The pilot smiled. “A giant man made of stone and clay codenamed Grimm? Fantastic Four fan, are we?”
Diana smiled back. “Oh yes! If Grimm defeats Atlas and saves the world, I am going to demand two things from Parsons. First, that he calls Marvel Comics and tells them to start making FF comics again, and second, call Fox and tell them to make a good freaking FF movie! I mean, Disney basically made a great Fantastic Four movie with the Incredibles! Can’t Fox just follow that format and get it right?”
The pilot laughed. “Let’s hope that Grimm there does his job so you can get Parsons to make those calls. I am a big FF fan too.” The pilot kept his eyes on Grimm and said, “By the way, the name is Todd Pressley. If they do ever make a good FF movie, would you mind going with me to see it?”
Diana gave the pilot a quizzical look. “Are you asking me on a date in the middle of a battle?”
Pressley nodded. “We could die today if things go bad. I figured this might be my only chance to ask.”
Diana smiled. “If Grimm wins this fight, I will pick a movie that we can go see. It could be awhile before Fox gets their act together.”
Pressley smiled and pulled the helicopter a little closer to Grimm. “All right, big boy, go out there and win me a date!”
Parsons watched as the helicopters and the Phoenix unleashed high-caliber bullets, missiles, and mystical flames at Atlas. The titan seemed unfazed by the attacks as he moved forward with his hand still holding the bloody socket where his eye had once been. As the giant lumbered forward, he continued to reach for the Phoenix. Parsons guessed that the giant wanted revenge on the monster for pecking his eye out.
The helicopter that Parsons was in suddenly stopped firing on Atlas. Parsons yelled at the pilot, “Why did we stop firing?”
The pilot turned his head. “Sorry, sir, but we have used up all of our ammunition.”
One by one, the remaining helicopters all stopped firing on Atlas as they ran out of ammunition. Parsons looked out his window and saw that only the Phoenix was still attacking Atlas. The kaiju was flying around the titan and continually hitting him with bursts of flames from her wings and mouth.
Cabollo shook his head. “That’s it, General. We have tried everything. Even the fire bird is useless against that thing! Sir, we need to call the president and advise him to use the nuclear option on Atlas.”
Parsons scowled at Cabollo. “Under no circumstances would I advise the president to use a nuclear weapon over US soil! As Commander and Chief, if he decides to use that option, I will respect his decision, but I will not recommend that course of action.”
Cabollo shrugged. “With all due respect, sir, I don’t think we have any other option.”
Parsons pointed his finger in Cabollo’s face and he was about to verbally assault the man, when the pilot called out, “Sir, I have something coming in on the radar!” The pilot shook his head in disbelief. “It appears to be huge! If this reading is correct, whatever is headed toward us may be even bigger than Atlas!”
Parsons kept his finger pointed at Cabollo. “There is always another way. You just have to be creative enough to find it.” Parsons then yelled up to the pilot, “Turn us around! I want to see what’s coming!”
The pilot responded with a quick, “Yes, sir!” Then he turned the helicopter around and flew toward the setting sun. When the helicopter had turned one hundred and eighty degrees, Parsons yelled into his radio, “All pilots, converge on my helicopter and follow it!” The other pilots flew into formation behind Parsons. They had only flown for a few seconds toward the sunset when a gargantuan shadow stood up in front of it and blocked out the entire sun.
Parsons smiled when he saw the unfathomably large rock giant walking toward them. He said to himself, “Good job, Diana. I can only imagine what kind of ridiculous request you are going to make of me for pulling this off.”
Cabollo gasped. “What in the hell is that? A living mountain?”
Parsons shook his head. “No, that’s Project G. It’s a Golem, codenamed Grimm. It’s an ancient Jewish legend brought to life, and it’s our best bet at stopping Atlas.”
Diana’s voice suddenly came through on the radio. “Do you see our boy Grimm, General? He is going to kick Atlas’ titan-sized ass!”
Parsons smiled. “Excellent work, Diana. Now, all pilots, follow us in a south-by-southwest direction. We don’t want to be in between these two mountains when they clash!” When they were roughly a mile away from the path of Grimm and Atlas, Parsons called over the radio for the pilots to turn around and hold their position so that he could witness the titanic battle that was about to ensue.
Grimm continued to walk across the desert in a straight line. The golem had no expression on his bland face nor did his body convey any type of emotion or sentience. Grimm existed for one reason and that reason was to destroy Atlas.
Atlas was continuing to swipe at the Phoenix when the flaming bird suddenly turned away from Atlas and flew toward the sunset. Atlas had been looking down at the ground as he held his badly damaged eye. As the Phoenix flew off, Atlas lifted his head to see where the bird was going and it was then that he saw Grimm walking toward him.
At the sight of the colossal Grimm, Atlas dropped his hand from his injured eye. Blood poured down the face of the titan, as for the first time in his thousands of years of existence, he finally beheld something larger than himself. Atlas continued to stare at the golem when the stone giant came to a stop in front of him. Atlas had the unique experience of looking up into the face of a being that stood an entire one hundred feet taller than him.
Grimm shifted his gaze down toward Atlas then he pulled his right hand back and drove it into the titan’s face. There was loud crack when Grimm’s stone hand shattered Atlas’ nose. The titan fell backward and he crashed into the earth with enough force to register as a 2.3 on the Richter scale. Between the blood seeping out of his eye and gushing from his nose, Atlas’ face and beard were covered in red. The titan looked up to see a stone foot the size of a warehouse coming down toward him. Grimm stomped on Atlas’ ribs and drove the air out of his lungs. The golem then took a step forward and kicked Atlas in the face, snapping the titan’s head to the side.
With his opponent stunned on the ground beneath him, Grimm lifted his stone foot to stomp on Atlas’ head and end the titan’s life. Reacting on instinct, Atlas rolled to the side and avoided the blow, letting Grimm’s heavy foot crash down into the sand next to his head. Atlas sat up and punched Grimm in the midsection. While the blow managed to knock the golem back a step, it didn’t cause any damage to the rock monster. Atlas growled as he stood up. He then punched Grimm twice in the chest with enough force to shatter a building but against the stone giant, the blow only managed to shake off some loose sand and clay.
Grimm responded by bringing down a hammer fist down on top of Atlas’ head. The blow dropped Atlas to his knees. The groggy titan shook his blood-soaked head and face as his hands reached out and grabbed onto Grimm’s legs. Atlas slowly started to pull himself back to his feet, using the golem as a crutch.
Cabollo looked over at Parsons. “Why does Atlas keep trying to trade blows with that mountain? He could have tried to take out the golem’s leg and get him to the ground, but instead, he keeps trying to outmuscle it.”
Parsons shook his head. “Isn’t it obvious? Since the dawn of time, Atlas has been the biggest, baddest thing in existence. In every fight he has ever been in, he was able to use his size and strength to crush his opponents. He doesn’t know any other way to fight but to overpower someone. Atlas has one method of fighting and we got something that is better at it than he is. This fight was over before it even began.”
Atlas had managed to pull himself back to his feet and he looked up into Grimm’s face. The golem looked down at Atlas and then he landed a right hook to Atlas’ torso that c
racked his ribs. The titan bent over in pain and grabbed his bruised sides. Grimm stepped forward and then hit Atlas in the face. The force of the blow sent teeth the size of row homes flying out of the titan’s mouth and caused him to stumble backward for several steps before falling onto his back. The bruised and battered titan looked up through blood and tears to see Grimm standing above him with his foot raised. Atlas knew that he could roll to the side and avoid the blow again, but he also knew that doing so would only delay the inevitable. He knew that if he kept fighting, he would only increase and prolong his suffering. Atlas closed his one remaining eye as Grimm brought his foot down and crushed the titan’s head.
With his opponent defeated, Grimm turned and looked at the helicopter carrying Diana. The stone colossus then began walking toward the person who had created him.
Pressley looked at Diana. “I think you had better blow that charge now.”
Diana nodded. “Ya, I think that’s a good idea.” She pushed the button on her detonator and the charge blew up, destroying the paper with Atlas’ name on it. With the name of his target gone, Grimm crumbled into a huge pile of stone and clay.
Pressley smiled. “What was he going to do after he killed Atlas? Was he coming here for you?”
Diana shrugged. “I don’t know, and I don’t ever want to find out.”
Parsons’ voice came over the radio. “Great job everyone. We need to head to back to Fort Hood and see what happened with Chimera and the Griffin in their missions.”
Pressley was turning around his helicopter when Diana smiled at him and picked up the radio. “Parsons, do you have any connections with Fox studios?”
Parsons was laughing at what he could only guess Diana would ask of him when the Phoenix flew past the helicopters and over to the bloody corpse of Atlas. The giant bird landed atop of the gargantuan carcass and proceeded to devour it.
Cabollo pointed at the carrion-eating monster. “Sir, what are we going to do about the Phoenix?”
Parsons shrugged. “She did her job, let her eat. My guess is we will be sending her back into battle before too long.”
Chapter 8
Baltimore
The Argos pulled into the harbor of what had once been Baltimore. The ship that was large enough to carry a kaiju across the ocean cast a majestic and awe-inspiring scene against the turmoil that was occurring in Baltimore. At the sight of the ship, a few survivors who had managed to make their way to waterfront started to cheer. During the war with the gods, the media had covered the Argos taking Chimera to places like Greece and the Middle East. The public had come to associate the Argos as a sign that Chimera had arrived to battle whatever malevolent creature was on the prowl. This time, however, the Argos was not bringing Chimera, nor was it bringing hope or salvation to the few people who remained in Baltimore. Today, the Argos was bringing enough firepower to destroy a large metropolitan city and hopefully an ancient monster.
Baltimore was in ruins as the Hecatonchires continued to the ravage the city in a blur of chaotic motion. The Argos was captained by Charles Brand. Brand had over thirty years of naval experience, and yet today, he found himself faced with an order that he never thought he would be asked to carry out. Today, he was ordered to fire on an American city.
As the ship came to a stop in the inner harbor, Captain Brand turned on the ship’s communication system to address his crew. He took a deep breath and began speaking, “Men, the situation is as follows. The monster known as the Hecatonchires has destroyed more than fifty percent of the city of Baltimore. In the process of destroying the city, he has killed hundreds of thousands of people. Many of those people have died as a result of the Hecatonchires devouring them. The Army and Air Force have attempted to drive off the creature with a tactical assault, but their efforts have been in vain. We have been given orders to stop the monster here and now by using every weapon at our disposal, short of our nuclear arsenal. This order comes despite the fact that there are undoubtedly still US civilians alive in the target area.”
Captain Brand let the crew consider his words for a moment before continuing. “Now I know that carrying out this order will be a difficult task for you men. As we perform the difficult task before us, I want you to remember two things. First, that we are following orders. This decision does not fall on you. This falls on me and the people above me. Second, I know that if I were trapped in the target area, I would want that monster to be stopped here and now before it destroyed another city. I would also prefer to die in a bright painless flash instead of being eaten alive by a monster from ancient history.”
The captain looked at the stunned faces of his crew and he hoped that his words would help to ease their consciences. He doubted that they did because despite directing the speech as much at himself as he was at his crew, he still was having difficulty giving an order that would kill the citizens he was sworn to protect.
Brand made the sign of the cross over his chest and then he turned to his XO. “Target all weapons on the Hecatonchires and open fire.”
The outer hall of the Argos lit up as dozens of missiles shot into the sky. The missiles with the most powerful payloads rose high into the air, arching over the city before taking a downward turn and heading for the Hecatonchires. The smaller shells and lower-grade missiles rocketed over the ruins of the inner harbor. Several of the smaller shells crashed through the still-standing buildings. When Captain Brand saw the buildings falling, he reminded himself of his own words. He said to himself, “You’re just following orders too.” He then said a silent prayer that the buildings had long ago been evacuated.
All fifty of the Hecatonchires’ heads turned toward the oncoming barrage. The monster’s body was shook as the first barrage of shells struck it. Captain Brand watched as the monster convulsed under the first wave of the attack. Brand allowed himself a brief smile when he saw several of the kaiju’s heads look straight up at the larger payload of missiles falling toward him. At the realization that the larger attack was coming from above it, the Hecatonchires crouched down and put all one hundred hands and arms over its head and body.
When the larger payload of missiles struck the monster, the explosion tore through the remains of the city. Buildings that were still standing were reduced to ash in the blink of an eye. The Hecatonchires himself was completely engulfed in flames. Captain Brand kept his binoculars fixed on the inferno that was raging over the Hecatonchires. The shock wave from the blast raced across the decimated remains of Baltimore and into the harbor itself. Even a ship as large as the Argos felt the concussive force of the blast it had unleashed as the shock wave rocked the vessel from side to side.
After the shock wave passed, the sailors aboard the Argos began to cheer and congratulate each other. Brand held up his hand and screamed, “Quiet!” The hardened captain had served on the Argos in the first war with the gods and he was fully aware that the monsters they were fighting were incredibly durable.
For several minutes, the flames continued to burn on the spot where the Hecatonchires had been standing. The flames slowly began to die out and turn into a pitch-black smoke. Brand was straining to see the Hecatonchires or hopefully its remains at the epicenter of the blast. Brand continued to stare at the wall of smoke when he saw movement behind it. The captain cursed when she saw no less than thirty hands reach through the vale of smoke. As the arms of the Hecatonchires continued to emerge from the pillar of smoke, Brand could see numerous burns and chunks of skin missing from several of the arms.
A second later, the monster’s heads began to emerge from the smoke and all of them were screaming in an odd mixture of agony and anger. The screaming heads all looked out over the harbor at the Argos. Dozens of heads roared in unison as the Hecatonchires started running toward the harbor.
Brand gritted his teeth at the sight of the oncoming kaiju. He had already attacked the monster with the most powerful weapons aboard the Argos and all he had managed to do was to anger the beast. Brand grabbed the ship’s radio and
yelled into it, “I want all remaining weapons to fire on the monster. I want every sailor that is not controlling weapons, steerage, or communications up on deck and armed with a rifle firing on the beast! We are not retreating. We did not sacrifice a large section of Baltimore and the people within it to turn tail and run! We either stop this beast here or we keep it focused on us as long as we can until help arrives or we give our lives in service of the human race!”
A communal “Aye, Aye!” rang out over the ship as every remaining cannon on the Argos began to fire on the Hecatonchires. With each passing second, more and more sailors ran up on deck armed with rifles and rocket launchers.
The writhing form of the hundred-armed monster waded through the barrage and walked to the water’s edge. When the Hecatonchires entered the Chesapeake Bay, the beast began slamming its arms into the water and churning them both in the water and in the air above his heads. The motion of the kaiju’s hundred arms caused the water of the bay to shift back and forth, causing huge waves to slam into the Argos. In addition to water, the waves also bombarded the Argos with the remains of dozens of ships and docks that had been reduced to floating debris in the bay.
The rough waves rocked the Argos from side to side and forced the sailors on deck to stop firing their weapons for fear of pitching off balance and hitting their shipmates. The remaining cannons were still firing at the Hecatonchires with far less accuracy than they were able to on a calm sea, but even their limited effectiveness was soon countered by the second part of the Hecatonchires’ attack.
As the monsters continued to swirl countless arms through the air, a vortex began to form around them. The vortex quickly grew into a tornado that jumped off the monster’s arms and landed on top of the water. When the tornado hit the bay, it quickly filled with water and began moving toward the Argos. As the Argos rocked from side to side, the crew managed to fire several more shells toward the Hecatonchires, but they never reached their target as they were sucked into the waterspout. The first waterspout was halfway to the Argos, when the Hecatonchires placed a second a tornado on top of the bay. Behind the protection of two waterspouts and torrent of rogue waves, the Hecatonchires started making its way toward the Argos.
Atomic Rex_The Conquest of Chimera Page 10
