Travis had been leading his fellow pilots over the vast and beautiful forests of Norway when they saw the destruction caused by their target ahead of them. Travis decided that it would be prudent to fly past the target once before attacking him. Flying over the monster would give Travis and the rest of his fellow pilots a chance to see with their own eyes exactly what they were up against. Travis shook his head in disbelief as he flew past Atomic Rex. The monster looked absolutely terrifying and the sense of dread that the beast gave off was accentuated by the burned and eaten remains of Odin that were lying on the ground next to him.
After flying by the target, Travis began to circle back around. He called out to the pilots under his command, “Okay, boys, let’s piss that thing off and get him to chase us to the freaking North Pole!” Travis then armed his bombs and began decreasing in altitude. Travis’ hands were sweating as he pulled the release for his payload. The deadliest creature on earth was asleep below him and it was Travis’ duty to wake up the monster and aggravate it enough to chase him to the end of the world. Travis bowed his head and said a quick prayer for the success of his mission and the safety of squadron. As his bombs were falling toward Atomic Rex, Travis wondered how much sense it made to pray for protection from a monster that had already killed a god.
Atomic Rex had been sleeping for roughly two hours when he heard a high-pitched noise coming from above him. The nuclear theropod opened his eyes and looked skyward to see roughly a half dozen jets flying overhead. He also saw smaller objects falling from the jets as they flew over him. Atomic Rex stood just as the first bomb exploded against his back. The first explosion was followed by dozens of other explosions that occurred both on and around him. None of the explosions were capable of injuring the near indestructible monster, but they did cause him pain and anger him.
Atomic Rex roared in anger at this newest attack as the jets flew past him. The monster’s anger grew as he watched the jets circle around and head back toward him. As the jets were approaching for a second time, they opened fire with their machine guns. The large-scale bullets bounced off Atomic Rex’s thick hide without penetrating it, but once more, the attack caused the monster pain. Atomic Rex watched as the jets circled around him and headed north. The jets were racing over the horizon when Atomic Rex roared in defiance and then sprinted after them. The second that Atomic Rex sprinted away, a blonde woman with the figure of a supermodel stepped out the trees. Allison walked over to the still-smoking corpse of Odin. The nymph knelt down next to the remains of the god and she smiled. “With you out of the way, and Chimera fighting the Dark Ones, everything I planned is falling into place. All of that time I spent on my back for you and the other gods, you never put any thought into what I was capable of.” Her thin hand reached out and grabbed Thor’s belt. “With this is in our possession, Zeus will come looking for me.” Allison stood up and laughed. “When he finds us, he is going to fall as well. With the gods out of the way, the other players on the board will weaken themselves to the point that we shall sweep in and destroy the victor. Then the world will be mine to deal with as I see fit.” Allison then disappeared with the belt, leaving only the charred remains of Odin behind.
Travis and the other men in his squadron were tracking Atomic Rex on their radars after they had flown over him. Travis called out over the radio, “Okay, boys, we may need to slow down a little. We want to make sure we are not moving so fast that Atomic Rex can’t follow us.”
One of the other pilots responded to Travis’ direction. “I don’t think that will be a problem, sir. According to my radar, the monster is actually gaining on us.” Prior to coming to this world, Atomic Rex was able to run at incredible speeds for long periods of time, but since he had consumed both the Phoenix and Odin, the monster’s speed and stamina were beyond belief. The monster was leaving a path of crushed trees in his wake as he sprinted after the fleeing jets moving at a speed of over five hundred miles per hour.
Atomic Rex chased the jets for roughly a half an hour, until they reached the coast of the Norwegian Sea. The monster took two steps into the water and then he stopped while the jets continued to fly in a northern direction.
Captain Travis noted that Atomic Rex had stopped moving. He called out to the rest of his squadron. “We are going to have to loop back around and engage that monster again to get him to follow us into the water.”
Travis decreased his altitude to only a few hundred feet above sea level. He then flew directly at Atomic Rex and aimed two missiles at the nuclear theropod. Travis pulled back on his trigger and watched as his missiles went streaking toward Atomic Rex. His missiles were quickly followed by those fired by his fellow pilots. Travis watched as Atomic Rex’s body was rocked with explosions. Travis flew his jet directly over Atomic Rex as the smoke from the attack was clearing. For a brief second that seemed like an eternity, Travis found himself looking into Atomic Rex’s eye. As he was staring into the monster’s eye, Travis could see the monster’s rage at their continued attacks. At that point, the pilot had no doubt that Atomic Rex would follow them to the Arctic and beyond.
Travis led his squadron back out over the sea and called out, “Fly just above the water, boys. We want to make sure that Atomic Rex can see us so that he can follow us to the target.”
Atomic Rex watched as the jets flew out over the water and this time, the monster dove into the sea after them. The monster was now determined to destroy the tiny machines that had attacked him. Atomic Rex dove into the water in pursuit of the jets, unaware that once again he was being drawn into a battle with another creature with the fate of the human race hanging in the balance.
Once Travis was sure that Atomic Rex had followed them into the water, he called back to base, “Atomic Rex is on his way to intercept Tiamat. You can send the retrieval team in after the secondary target, over.”
North Dakota
Luke and Chimera were following Parsons’ last orders and continuing to head north. Chimera was still carrying Luke in one hand and Surtr’s sword in the other. They had just about reached the Canadian border and Luke was beginning to worry if there would be an issue with Chimera entering another country carrying a giant sword. Luke was trying to decide what he would say to the Canadian border patrol when he saw a US military transport plane fly low past Chimera. The plane shot out flares that Luke was pretty sure was a signal for him and Chimera to follow. Luke looked up from the palm of the Chimera’s hand at the kaiju’s face. He was glad to see that Chimera was looking down at him for direction. Luke grabbed his megaphone, pointed at the plane and shouted, “Chimera, follow.”
The monster grunted and then he began lumbering off in the direction of the plane. The plane was flying as slow as it was able to and it occasionally circled around so that Chimera could follow it at a leisurely pace. At full sprint, Chimera might have been able to keep pace with the plane but if he was moving that fast, he would have inadvertently crushed Luke to death.
The monster followed the plane to the Grand Forks Air Force Base. The plane landed and Chimera walked up next to it. Then at Luke’s command, the kaiju placed his hand on the ground so that his trainer could climb out of it. Luke slid out of Chimera’s hand as five forklifts pulled up to the back of the plane. The plane lowered its rear hatch and a horrible but familiar smell wafted out of the back of the plane. The second the odor reached Chimera, the monster began salivating.
Luke looked at Chimera to see the monster staring expectantly at him. Luke smiled as the first forklift drove onto the truck and came out with a pallet full of the massive cubes of beef, squid, and bamboo that were Chimera’s food source. Luke grabbed his megaphone and shouted, “You did good, Chimera!” He then pointed at the growing pile of food being dropped off by the forklifts. “Eat! You have earned it!”
Chimera sat down and began devouring the food cubes as Diana Cain came walking out of the plane with her hands behind her back. When Luke saw Diana, he immediately ran toward her with his arms open to hug his friend.
Diana saw him coming for her and she held out her right hand and yelled, “Stop! I have orders that you need hear before you come any closer to me!”
Luke stopped running and raised his eyebrow as he addressed his friend, “Orders from Parsons?”
Diana shook her head. “No, he is getting ready to have a chat with Thor. Your orders come from a higher authority!” She pulled her other hand from behind her back to reveal a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, and a flannel shirt. She said, “Your wife says that you need to take a quick shower and change while Chimera is eating before you talk to me. She said she can only imagine how bad you smell after being in Chimera’s palm all day, and that there was no way she was going to let you walk around smelling like that!”
Luke laughed and he quickly sniffed his shirt which had the fish-like smell that Chimera gave off. He jogged over to Diana and took the clothes from her. “Can I assume that when we return home, you will inform Melissa that I followed her orders explicitly?”
Diana laughed. “That depends on how much you get on my nerves for the rest of this mission. So, you had better be on your best behavior if you want me to give her a good report.”
Luke smiled. “I’ll try.” He then ran toward the base for a much-needed shower.
Luke was able to shower and change his clothes in just under fifteen minutes. Luke quickly slapped his sneakers on then he jogged back out to where Chimera had been eating. He was slightly surprised when he saw Chimera’s back toward him and about three dozen armed soldiers standing in front of the kaiju also with their backs toward him. It was clear that they were all looking at something, but Luke couldn’t see around Chimera to determine what had their attention. Luke could tell that Chimera was tense and the soldiers were obviously at the ready as well. When he finally reached Chimera’s leg, he was able to see what the soldiers were all looking at. The portal to Asgard had been set up and it was functional. The portal consisted of two forty-foot-tall pillars which created some kind of space bridge between Earth and Asgard. In between the two pillars, Luke could see a bit of a distortion. He walked closer to the distortion and when he saw who was on the other side of it, Luke knew why Chimera was on edge. Parsons was standing on the Earth-bound side of the portal with Diana next to him with the soldiers and more importantly, Chimera behind him. On the other side of the portal was the god that Chimera had battled several years ago and the new king of Asgard.
Luke realized that he had walked into the middle of the conversation when he heard Parsons yelling, “That is what we are going to do. The previous king of Asgard broke our treaty with him and we shall follow through on the consequence we gave him for breaking that treaty. If you are able to redirect the attack toward another mutual foe of ours, then we are fine with that course of action. Be assured, however, that as soon as the threat of Tiamat has been addressed, we will be sending a kaiju to Asgard.”
Thor grumbled, “You are being a fool, Parsons. Return my belt to me. Then I shall work with your monster to battle both Tiamat and Cronus. Together, we shall crush the Dark Ones and Atomic Rex!”
Parsons shook his head. “Then with your belt, you can attack us again. I am sorry, we are not at liberty to give you that opportunity. Make whatever preparations you see fit, but I would highly advise that you find a way to send the kaiju that comes through the portal to Cronus. When you had your belt of power and all your monsters, you were not able to defeat Chimera. I shudder to think what he or an uncontrolled Atomic Rex would do to Asgard now. We suspect that you have roughly twenty-four hours before a kaiju is at the gates of your city. Be thankful that we gave you the warning that you didn’t offer us.”
Parsons then signaled for the portal to be closed. After the portal had closed, Luke had made his way up to Parsons. “Wow, I want to be sure that I never piss you off.”
Parsons only nodded in reply as another soldier came running over to him. “Sir, we have a report that the retrieval team has reached Odin’s body, but they are reporting that the belt is not there.”
Parsons shrugged. “Were there any signs of weather anomalies around Odin’s body?”
The soldier shook his head. “No, sir. No anomalies of any kind reported. The belt is just gone.”
Luke jumped into the conversation. “So, we don’t think it was Zeus then who grabbed the belt?”
Diana nodded. “As far as we know, every time that Zeus has teleported us or anyone else, he has used a mystical storm cloud.”
Parsons rubbed his temples. “Does this mean that Cronus has the belt now? Are we looking at fighting an enhanced version of him now as well?”
Diana sighed and frowned. “We will know soon enough if Cronus took the belt, but there is another possibility. Allison could have taken it.”
Luke eyes went wide. “Allison, as in the nymph who kidnapped all of those men to breed with goddesses? Allison who turned Toombs against us? Allison who kidnapped all of those women who were pregnant with demi-gods?”
Diana nodded. “The one and the same. If it was her, she now has a man capable of making a monster as powerful as Chimera, twenty-some, two-year-old demi-gods who we don’t know how fast they reach maturity, and a belt that makes anyone who wears it infinitely more powerful. Oh, and did I mention that we have no idea where she is?”
Parsons nodded. “We will worry about Allison later. Right now, we have to make sure that Atomic Rex engages Tiamat and then worry about the next step of dealing with both him and the Dark Ones after the conclusion of their battle.” He turned to the soldier who had given him the information about the belt. “Get me an update on the progress of luring Atomic Rex to Tiamat.” The soldier saluted and then ran back to his communications post.
The Arctic
Travis received the communication just as a massive swirling pillar of fire came into view. The flames presented an odd sight with the white Arctic ice and the grey sky it was set against. He radioed back, “Tell General Parsons that we’ve arrived in the Arctic, we have visual on Tiamat, and Atomic Rex is in pursuit.” Travis then changed his radio over to the channel his squadron was using. “That’s got to be our target, boys. We are going to circle around him and draw Atomic Rex right into him.” Travis flew over the ring of fire and he looked down as the seven heads of Tiamat spun in all different directions, spewing fire everywhere and melting the ice around him at an alarming rate. The one good thing for Travis and his men was that Tiamat appeared to be so preoccupied with what he was doing that he didn’t notice the jets circling above him.
Atomic Rex was doing his best to move through the now slushy terrain of the Arctic. The kaiju had chased the jets that attacked him across a forest and a sea. Now the objects of Atomic Rex’s anger were circling above a wall of fire and the nuclear theropod was determined to finally destroy them. Atomic Rex roared and then charged fearlessly into the raging wall of fire. Atomic Rex passed through the flames relatively unscathed, but the moment that he came out of the wall of fire, he slammed into Tiamat and knocked the serpent to the ground.
Tiamat was both stunned and surprised that something had passed through his flames and attacked him. All seven of the serpents’ multifaceted heads sprung up and hissed at whatever had dared to attack him.
Atomic Rex was shaking his head to try and clear it from the unexpected impact when he suddenly found Tiamat’s heads hissing at him. The kaiju was immediately able to detect that this creature was not only challenging him, but that it was also the creature he had sensed previously. This creature was like the other one which had tried to control him.
With the knowledge that this creature was like the one that had tried to control him, Atomic Rex forgot about the jets that had pestered him. The kaiju reared back and roared at Tiamat. The saurian kaiju then leapt forward and closed his jaws on the closest of Tiamat’s seven necks.
Travis radioed back to base. “We can confirm that Atomic Rex has engaged Tiamat.”
By this time, Parsons was live on the other side of the radio. “Good. Move away from
directly over the monsters but circle the area for as long as you can and keep us posted on the battle.”
Travis acknowledged Parsons orders and then he carried them out.
Chapter 15
The Arctic
Atomic Rex bit down into one of Tiamat’s necks that ended in a goat-like face. The goat face bleated in pain while the other six heads all turned on the saurian kaiju and unleashed their flames on him. Tiamat’s mystical flames scored Atomic Rex’s scales and the monster realized that he would not be able to withstand them for long. Refusing to withdraw from his attack without making it worthwhile, Atomic Rex bit down hard on the goat-head neck and used his claws to slash at it. Atomic Rex endured the barrage of Tiamat’s flames for several more seconds during which he continued to ravage the goat-head’s neck. When the kaiju could no longer stand the mystical flames, he pulled away from Tiamat with his jaws still latched onto the neck.
There was a wet popping sound as Atomic Rex tore the goat head from Tiamat’s body at the midpoint of its neck. The six remaining heads of the monster looked up into the air and shrieked in pain at the loss of the other head. Atomic Rex pulled the dead goat head from his mouth and then charged his injured opponent. The nuclear theropod slammed into Tiamat’s torso with enough force to move the ancient dragon back nearly fifty feet. Atomic Rex then bit down onto another of Tiamat’s heads at the base of the neck while simultaneously using his claws to rake the dragon’s chest.
Atomic Rex_The Conquest of Chimera Page 16
