Atomic Rex rolled over onto to his stomach to see Odin running toward him with both of his fists clenched and glowing orange with power. Atomic Rex stood up a moment before Odin was able to reach him. The saurian monster sprang forward with his jaws agape in an attempt to bite into the god’s arm. Odin countered by striking the beast with an uppercut that snapped his jaws shut. Odin then landed punches to Atomic Rex’s ribcage and the right side of his jaw. With each blow that Odin landed, the energy that was emanating from Odin’s fists burned Atomic Rex where they struck him.
Atomic Rex shook off the blows of the god king and then sprang forward toward him. The kaiju wrapped his powerful arms around Odin and then threw the giant to the ground. Odin landed hard on his back but as he hit the ground, the ancient warrior instinctively threw his arm up in front of his face to protect it. Odin had no sooner lifted his arm up then Atomic Rex closed his jaws around the Asgardian’s forearm. Odin screamed in pain as the nuclear theropod shook his arm from side to side, driving his teeth farther into the giant’s forearm with each movement. Atomic Rex pulled back hard on Odin’s arm then he kicked the god hard in the ribs with his clawed foot. The kaiju’s toes pierced the right side of Odin’s abdomen, causing a stream of blood to flow down his side.
Odin grimaced then he landed three punches to Atomic Rex’s side that forced the kaiju to release his grip. Odin then brought his fists together and once more fired twin beams of energy that knocked Atomic Rex to the ground. The Asgardian stood and grabbed Atomic Rex by the legs while he was still flat on his back. Then, in a display of his awesome strength, Odin pulled hard to his right and threw Atomic Rex several hundred feet across the desert. The saurian kaiju landed face first into the sand and skidded to a stop. The kaiju was in the middle of standing when Odin grabbed him by the tail. The god then pulled back hard on Atomic Rex’s tail and tossed the kaiju to the ground once again.
Atomic Rex was still on the ground when Odin wrapped his muscular arms around the nuclear theropod’s throat. Odin saw several news helicopters now swarming around him. The arrogant god wanted the humans to know how helpless they were before him and he knew that killing Atomic Rex would prove that point to Parsons in particular. Odin looked at the helicopters as he screamed, “This is how you die, monster! Helpless in my grasp! Unable to even utter your death moan as I crush the life out of you! Know that of all the creatures and constructs you have battled, it was Odin who—” Odin stopped boasting when he felt the skin on the arm he was using to choke Atomic Rex burning. He looked down to see the monster’s scales glowing a familiar bright blue color. The god released his grip on Atomic Rex’s neck just as the Atomic Wave exploded from monster’s body. Odin was directly next to Atomic Rex when the kaiju unleashed his Atomic Wave and he caught the full fury of its power. The god king was carried the full distance that the blue dome of energy traveled before he was dropped to the ground a half mile away from Atomic Rex.
Odin found himself lying face down in the desert sand as a burning sensation wracked his entire body. He looked at his right arm to see that the skin had been completely burned off it. Odin’s bicep had been completely destroyed, leaving only a gaping hole with visible bone at the bottom of it. His left arm was badly burned as well but it was still functional. The injured Asgardian was making his way back to his feet when Atomic Rex closed his jaws on what was left of Odin’s right arm. Odin screeched in agony as Atomic Rex tore off a piece of the hanging muscles and tendons that were still connected to his disabled arm and swallowed them.
Odin’s pain turned to rage at the thought of Atomic Rex eating him while he was still alive. Odin held up his left hand and he fired a bolt of energy into Atomic Rex’s face that drove the monster back from him.
A storm cloud started to form around Odin and the god felt a wave of both relief that Zeus was saving him and shame that Atomic Rex had defeated him so soundly. Odin was in the middle of being teleported when he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. He looked down to see Atomic Rex biting into his chest and shoulder. Odin yelled, “Do not send us to Asgard!”
Chimera Base
Parsons was watching the battle from the feed provided by the helicopters that were following Atomic Rex and Odin’s battle. He saw Odin and Atomic Rex vanish when they were both teleported away from Africa. Parsons yelled. “Dammit, where did they go!”
Diana rushed over to the soldier who was managing the feed from the helicopter. She put her hand on his shoulder. “Playback the last part of that video. I thought I heard Odin shout something.”
The soldier compiled. As they listened to the recording Diana shouted, “I knew I heard something! He said not Asgard!” She turned to Parsons. “Start scanning the woods of northern Norway where Chimera battled Thor. That’s where the portal for the Rainbow Bridge was that connected Earth and Asgard. If Zeus was trying to send Odin back home, it’s possible he was going to retrace the path of the Rainbow Bridge. If Zeus had to stop teleporting Odin and Atomic Rex halfway through the process, then they may have been dropped back in those same woods!”
Parsons nodded. “Good thinking.” He yelled out to everyone in the hangar, “Start scanning northern Norway for any signs of radioactive blasts! If Atomic Rex is fighting Odin up there, that’s the best way we can find them!”
Norway
Odin came crashing down into an area of a vast forest where all of the trees had been crushed flat from the battle between his son and Chimera. Thor had survived his fight with Chimera but as Atomic Rex tore out a mouthful of flesh from his right shoulder, Odin began to suspect that this might be his final stand. Atomic Rex was in the middle of swallowing another mouthful of Odin’s flesh when the god kicked the reptile in the stomach. Odin then threw a left hook that slammed into Atomic Rex’s jaw and knocked the monster to the ground.
Odin was standing above Atomic Rex and he was about the kick the monster when he suddenly felt dizzy and fell to one knee. The god king looked at the blood pouring out of his body and he realized that he would not live much longer. Atomic Rex stood and he was glaring at the god king, waiting for him to expose his throat.
Odin tried to scream but the most he could muster was a barely audible whisper as he reached up with his remaining hand and grabbed the patch that covered his missing eye. “I traded this eye a long time ago, monster. I traded it for knowledge. Know now that knowledge is indeed power.” Odin lifted the eye patch and from beneath it a vortex of swirling black energy shot out and totally enveloped Atomic Rex.
Atomic Rex roared in anguish as what physicists know as Dark Energy tore into his body. Odin’s body tilted from side to side as he tried to stay alive long enough for the Dark Energy pouring out of his eye socket to slay Atomic Rex. Odin whispered, “For Asgard, for my children, though I may die, today you fall, monster.”
Atomic Rex was experiencing a level of pain that exceeded anything he had felt before. He could feel his scales being torn off his body. The vortex of Dark Energy was pushing him backward and destroying everything around him. The very ground on which Atomic Rex was standing on was disintegrating beneath his feet, causing the monster to lose his balance and fall over. Atomic Rex was completely surrounded by darkness and overwhelmed by pain. The saurian monster roared in defiance of his own demise and then he unleashed his Atomic Wave in attempt to free himself from the agony he was in.
Odin watched as a bright blue light formed within the all-consuming darkness of his attack. The god king sighed in disbelief as a blue dome of energy began to force its way out of the vortex of Dark Energy. The last thing that Odin saw was his own Dark Energy being pushed back onto him by the Atomic Wave. A wall of Dark Energy backed by nuclear power moved toward Odin. Through his one eye, the god king briefly saw the overlapping wave of nuclear and Dark Energy take on the form of a giant wolf’s head with its jaws open. Odin’s last thoughts were of Ragnarok and the prophecy that he would die in the jaws of Fenrir the wolf. The wave of opposing energies washed over Odin, destroying what was left of his sk
in and ending his supposedly immortal life.
Atomic Rex opened his eyes to find himself half buried in dirt and rock. The kaiju had bad burns and deep wounds all over his body. He pulled himself out of the pit to see the remains of Odin laying on the ground. As he was walking toward the dead god, the mutated dinosaur could already feel his advanced healing abilities beginning to repair the wounds he had suffered.
The healing process was costly on Atomic Rex’s body and he knew that he would need rest and food in order for his body to completely recover. The monster walked over to what remained of Odin and began devouring the remains of the Asgardian. After he had eaten his fill, Atomic Rex laid down in the quiet woods. He could still sense the other presence like those that had tried to control him to the north. The monster pushed the thought of the other creature aside and drifted to sleep.
Chimera Base
Parsons and Diana were standing at the control center of Chimera Base, waiting for any sign as to where Odin and Atomic Rex may have been transported to. In front of them, dozens of soldiers silently searched the incoming information that would indicate the location of their targets. After several minutes of silence, one of the soldiers shouted, “Sir, I have a reading of a small radioactive blast from the woods of northern Norway!”
Parsons nodded. “Put it on the main screen.” When the feed came up to reveal Atomic Rex devouring what looked like the charred corpse of Odin, Diana pumped her fist in triumph. “Yes, they are in the exact spot where Chimera battled Thor.” She turned to Parsons. “At least we know that Atomic Rex is in a spot where it will take him a day or two to reach any highly populated area.”
Another soldier called out, “Sir, I have Luke Davis calling in from a ranger station in Yellowstone Park. He confirmed what we saw through the satellite video. Chimera has slain Surtr and retrieved his sword. He also says that with Surtr’s death, the super-volcano seems to have returned to its natural state and that many of the fires burning in the park have gone out.”
Diana smiled. “There’s some good news that we can build from!”
A call came from soldier manning a computer station on the far side of the hangar. “General Parsons, I have an abnormal energy reading coming from the Arctic! I am patching it through to the main screen now!”
Parsons looked over at Diana. “Isn’t it you who is always telling me not to talk about Fight Club?” Diana smiled and shrugged.
An image appeared on the screen of the dragon Tiamat standing on the Arctic ice near the shoreline. The ancient dragon was moving across a glacier and blasting it with fire. The fire spewing out of the dragon’s mouth suddenly split into two beams. At first, the people watching from Chimera Base couldn’t understand how the split flame was occurring. It wasn’t until Tiamat’s neck and head began shaking that they saw why there were twin beams coming from the dragon. Tiamat’s shaking head and neck suddenly split into two separate and unique heads. The flames coming from the two heads suddenly split into four beams as the heads split once more into four distinct heads. The heads continued to split until Tiamat had seven unique heads all spewing fire in a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree radius.
Everyone watching the screen could see what was happening as the ice around Tiamat turned to first to slush and then to water. Once he had melted everything within reach of his fiery breath, the dragon began moving forward and melting more ice.
Parsons voiced the concern that everyone was thinking. “We need to know how long it will take him to melt enough of the polar ice caps to cause catastrophic damage to the planet.” Several soldiers and scientific advisors began running calculations and simulations on the effect Tiamat was having on the ice caps.
Diana was staring at the screen as she shook her head in disbelief. “He has seven heads. Just like the dragon in Revelations.”
One of the advisors came running over to Parsons. “Sir, if Tiamat continues to melt ice at the rate he is now, the world will face dire consequences in forty-eight hours for coastal regions and worldwide flooding within seventy-two hours.”
Parsons sighed. “We haven’t seen Zeus since he and Odin betrayed us. Even if he did show up, we can’t trust him anymore, which means that we can’t just teleport Chimera up there to battle Tiamat.” Parsons looked at the map to see that Hudson Bay and the nearly finished Hudson carrier were between Chimera and Tiamat. Parson called out to the people who were tracking Luke and Chimera’s movements. “What if we could get Chimera to the Hudson? Would it be able to reach Tiamat before it was too late?”
Several more simulations were run and one of the advisors yelled back to Parsons, “No, sir. We would still fall short of our deadline by five hours.”
Parsons shook his head. “We can assume conventional weapons won’t stop Tiamat. There is the nuclear option, but would dropping a nuclear bomb up there cause even more damage than the Dark One?”
Diana ran over to Parsons. “There may be another way! A small nuclear attack that we could send toward Tiamat. Atomic Rex is already in Norway. He could reach the Arctic in a day if we were to lead him there!” Diana smiled. “It’s a classic monster movie theme! If you have two monsters that are a threat, bring them together and have them fight each other! At worst, eliminating one and weakening the other or at best killing them both!”
Parsons frowned. “Tiamat is one of the Dark Ones who were trying to control Atomic Rex.”
Diana shook her head. “No, we can bring back up the audio of when Odin was talking to Atomic Rex. He said the Dark Ones tried to control you and they have failed. Atomic Rex is no longer under their control. Everything that we know about Atomic Rex suggests that he is extremely aggressive. I firmly believe that if we draw Atomic Rex to Tiamat, they will fight. Atomic Rex just tore freaking Odin to pieces! If there is anything on this planet that can stop Tiamat, it’s Atomic Rex!”
Parsons was staring at Diana as he considered his options. The mythology professor threw her hands up in the air. “Look, you can always nuke the North Pole if this doesn’t work, but it’s the safer option and could kill two birds with one stone.”
Parsons nodded as a plan formed in his head. “All right, this is what we are going to do. We are going to address all of our remaining issues in a two-phase plan. Phase one, have Chimera continue to head in a northwest direction toward Tiamat. We also attack Atomic Rex and draw him to the Arctic and into what is hopefully a confrontation with the Dark One. If Tiamat kills Atomic Rex, then we use the nuclear option. If Atomic Rex wins, we continue to track his movements. The limited intel we have on the monster suggests that his ultimate goal is still to come here to North America. Should that plan hold true, we will already have Chimera on an intercept course with Atomic Rex. Also, we load our portal to Asgard on a cargo plane and have it fly on an intercept course with Chimera.”
Parsons stopped and took a deep breath. “Phase two of our plan will go as follows. I want our portal to Asgard up and running as soon as possible. With Odin dead, we can assume that Thor is now in charge there. We will contact him and inform him of my intention to carry out the threat I made to his father for betraying us. We are either going to have Chimera force, Atomic Rex through the portal or if Atomic Rex dies fighting Tiamat, then we are sending Chimera through the portal. If Atomic Rex fights Chimera and defeats him then we will try to use helicopters to lure Atomic Rex through the portal to Asgard. Thor can then either deal with consequences of his father’s betrayal or if it’s within his power, he can send whichever monster goes through the portal directly to Cronus.”
Diana nodded. “Now that is a plan right out of a monster movie.”
Parsons smiled and shouted, “All right everyone, now we all know the plan. Diana, I want you with me and the squad that is prepping the portal. Have them load our portal onto a carrier jet. We are heading directly to Luke. When we reach Luke, we’ll secure Surtr’s sword and inform him of the plan. From there, we will follow Chimera until he engages Atomic Rex, or we hear that the dinosaur is dead. Either way,
make sure the portal is ready to send a kaiju through it.”
Diana nodded. “On it! I just need to grab a few things while they are loading the portal onto the plane!” She then turned and ran out of the hangar.
Parsons then yelled out to his communications team, “I want whatever aerial forces we have in Northern Europe making a bombing run at Atomic Rex to draw him to the North Pole ASAP! Have a second retrieval unit ready to go in and get Thor’s belt as soon as Atomic Rex has left the area.”
The general scratched his head for a moment and then he added one more command, “Also, keep an eye out for any atmospheric anomalies that could be Zeus. He has a lot to answer for and I doubt that his part in this war is over yet!”
Chapter 14
Norway
Captain George Travis was stationed at the joint Alconbury RAF/USAF Base when he was contacted by General Parsons and given the order to fly over Norway and to attack the kaiju designated Atomic Rex. His job was to lure the monster to the Arctic and lead him into a confrontation with the Dark One known as Tiamat who was trying to melt the polar ice caps and effectively end the human race.
Travis relayed the orders to his team. He didn’t have to explicitly tell them that the fate of the world depended on their success. Travis took some small comfort in the fact that he and his squad were not trying to kill Atomic Rex but rather just to anger him and point him in the right direction. He had already seen the footage of the kaiju slaying both the Griffin and the Phoenix. The last images that they had of the monster’s battle with Odin seemed to indicate that he had just about killed him as well.
Travis had seen Chimera live and he had an appreciation for how powerful the hybrid was. From what he heard, Chimera had barely managed to defeat Thor when they fought several years prior. Travis figured that Odin had to be as powerful if not more powerful than Thor. It was clear to Travis that Atomic Rex was far more powerful than Odin, which in Travis’ mind, suggested that Atomic Rex was even stronger than Chimera. Any creature with that type of power was something that Travis wanted to avoid directly engaging if at all possible.
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