Portals of Infinity: Kaiju

by John Van Stry

  "Central controlled," Joseph said. "These are pretty heavy doors too. We'll have to find another way out.

  "Command, the foreigners are not in their rooms, and ...." The voice broke up into static as Joseph did something with his radio.

  "The tower," I said.

  "What? Why there?" Evean asked.

  "The lower ring had windows; we can bust one out and leave through there."

  "Okay, Shin, take us there."

  "They'll have guns," he said.

  "We don't have a choice, now let's go!"

  We raced back down the ramp, and into the main hallway, the voice on the radio was declaring an alert and warning all guards to shoot us on sight. The main way was still clear, thankfully, and Shin led us down a series of corridors, then suddenly skid to a halt. We were all in our champion forms at this point, I had the top half of my jumpsuit off and the sleeves tied around my waist, otherwise I wouldn't have fit in it.

  "Armed guards around this corner," Shin warned us.

  "Okay, guns ready?" Evean asked and Shin and Joseph pulled theirs out as Evean, Gregory and I readied the other three.

  "Go!"

  We turned around the corner, there were two guards with carbines, and both of their eyes went wide. I guess the sight of three cat creatures charging them stunned them for a moment. I shot one in the head, and then moved to shoot the other one, but someone had already gotten him.

  We grabbed the carbines and the ammo each guard had, Suzona took one of them, I took the other and passed my pistol off to Jane. Teshes and Loomis had no experience at all with firearms, so we didn't bother giving them any.

  Shin led us through another doorway, then to a heavy metal door, but this one was secured like one on a ship, so we were able to undog it and move through, dogging it closed behind us.

  I looked around; we were standing on a concrete platform, supported by metal beams, which circled a large shaft that went both upwards and downwards. There were two stairways, on opposite sides that lead both up and down, and on the edge of the shaft were four thick rails that led up and down along the shaft. Taking a step forward I could see that they did slowly spiral around the shaft as Shin had mentioned earlier.

  It was sort of like looking up a giant gun barrel. Looking down was only darkness, but from the dank smell of the warm air coming up from below, I suspected that the shaft went down a very long way.

  "Up the stairs!" Evean ordered, and I ran over to the staircase and we started up.

  We made it past three levels before people starting shooting at us. Two more and Evean stopped us.

  "Shin, Joseph, go through the doorway and see if you can find a window on this level for us to escape out of."

  They both nodded and with Gregory covering them, they went through the door.

  "Will, Suzona, try picking off those snipers above us."

  "Sure thing," I said and using a cantrip to steady my aim, I started to pick off the shooters on one side, while Suzona started on the other.

  "There's no windows!" Shin said as he came out.

  "We're not above ground yet?" Evean said surprised.

  "Oh, we're above ground," Joseph said. "The whole floor is packed with explosives. Tons of it. We circled the exterior wall. We need to go up higher."

  "Explosives?" Evean pondered, "Can we grab any?"

  "No, it's all racked in huge canisters."

  "Will, Suzona, lead the way!"

  We nodded and started to move up the next stairway, by now we were drawing a huge amount of fire; I was picking up minor flesh wounds from shrapnel as bullets struck the beams around us. I grunted as I got hit with a bullet in the arm, healing myself immediately. Suzona had been hit twice so far, but then she'd been exposing herself more than I was. She'd also been hitting more of the shooters above.

  "Check this floor," Evean ordered again.

  Less than a minute later they returned.

  "Same thing," Joseph said.

  "Damn, keep going up!"

  For the next four floors, it was the same, on the fifth floor, we ran into something different.

  "There's only concrete on the other side of the door," Joseph said.

  "We're at the second section," I called out.

  "Keep going up!"

  "I'm out of ammunition," Suzona called.

  "I'm down to my last few shots as well," I said. "We need to get up to the guards we've shot, and restock."

  "Charge!" Suzona grunted and she and I did just that, with the rest bringing up behind us.

  The next ten levels were agony. The platforms were much farther apart here, and we were still under fire from above. However we were moving fast enough that they were having a harder time of hitting us at first. Of course they were trying to shoot all of us. Someone must have realized their mistake as suddenly they switched to just shooting at me and Suzona and we both started picking up gun shot wounds rather quickly then.

  When we got to the top of the final ring, I emptied the last four shots of my carbine into the men standing there, and then promptly fell down and burned the rest of my healing on my wounds. Suzona did the same, and Joseph, Shin, Evean, and Gregory opened up on them with their pistols, dropping all ten of them, then scooped up their carbines and opened fire on the ones on the far side of the shaft who were also shooting at us.

  Teshes and Loomis healed me and Suzona as the shooters on the far side were cut down and Jane picked up one of the spare carbines and moving over to the glass wall, shot it full of holes, and then knocked the panel out with one well-placed kick.

  "It's a long way down," She said looking out the window.

  "How long?" Evean asked.

  "Six, seven hundred feet, I'd guess, maybe a little more. We can probably climb down these external girders, but that will still leave us with five hundred feet or so from the top of the bottom section.

  I got up slowly and gathered up all of the spare ammunition I could find, reloading my carbine and putting the extra magazines in my backpack.

  "Hey, they've stopped shooting," Gregory said.

  "Probably regrouping," I said and walked over to the entryway from the level below. It was a large metal box with a door on the front. An elevator.

  "Hey, why don't we just use the cables from the elevator here and rappel down the sides?"

  "Hell yes!" Gregory said and we started searching through the metal cabinets for tools, which we found a lot of, and then started on taking the top off of the elevator motor housing.

  "What are they doing up there?" Evean asked Shin.

  "Watching us," Shin said peeking out from cover. Every once in a while someone up top would take a shot if we strayed too close to the shaft.

  "I suspect they're going to come up the stairways like we did, once they have an assault force ready," Evean said. "How much longer for you to get those cables out?"

  "Pulling them out now," Gregory said as he cut the car lose from the mechanism. The car dropped about a foot, but now that we had the top free we could start spooling it out. I grabbed the end of the cable and jumped of the top of the elevator structure, using my weight to start pulling it down.

  Loomis came over to help me and we dragged the heavy cable over to the window.

  "Okay, I'm going to jump out and use my weight to pull the cable out, once I hit the ground, lock it off, then start down," I told everyone.

  "Just be careful, and keep your eyes open. As soon as they see you go out the window, they're going to realize we're escaping." Evean said.

  "Got it."

  Getting a firm grip on the end of the metal cable I leaned out of the broken window and then pushing off I jumped.

  The ride down was fairly quick, but as I neared the top of the first level it started to slow. I hit with my knees bent, then dragged the end over to the edge of the other roof and jumped off again, it started to slow down to a crawl about halfway down the next section, and then started to pick up again. Looking up I could see why, Loomis, Teshes, and Jane were alr
eady starting down the cable.

  As it was, it still ground to a halt before I made it to the ground, but it was only about twenty feet left, so I just let go and rolled when I hit the ground.

  I took cover behind some equipment then, and watched for any guards or attackers as the others started down the cable.

  Loomis, Teshes, Jane, and Evean, had made it down, Gregory, Joseph, Suzona, and Shin were on their way down when guards started coming out of one of the exits at the tower's base.

  Jane, Evean, and I opened up on them with the carbines, and they all took cover immediately. A couple tried to pop up and shoot at the four still coming down, but we were able to pick them off before they killed anyone.

  "Everyone able to run?" Evean asked checking everybody.

  "I need to be healed," Shin said.

  "I got it," Teshes said.

  "Anybody else?"

  We all shook our heads and a moment later Shin said he was good to go.

  "Okay, circle around the buildings then run straight for the gate to the other compound. Let's go!"

  Evean took off at a jog and we all followed. It was still dark out, and as we moved away from the tower, the darkness and the shadows of the structures around it gave us cover. Several times along the way we engaged in running firefights with the people from the tower who were giving chase.

  Whatever guards might have been in front of us must have fled before we got there, because our trip to the gateway to the other compound was unimpeded.

  "How's it look?" I asked Evean as she peaked through the gateway.

  "The guards around the portal are fleeing."

  "Not very brave," Suzona said.

  "There are only two of them."

  "Well I forgive them, then," she growled.

  "Let's get going," I said and carbine at the ready I jogged through the gate and took up a defensive position about halfway to the portal.

  "Let's go everyone!" Evean said and made a beeline for the portal.

  I took a moment to start shooting out the lights, Gregory stopped next to me and helped, and then we both took a few shots at the fleeing guards to keep them moving.

  I watched as everyone went through, then Gregory and I ran for the portal, shooting back at the gate, just in case anybody caught up with us, to keep their heads down.

  "Well, can't say it's been fun," I said to Gregory as we ran up to the portal.

  "Oh, I don't think they'll be forgetting us for a long time!" He laughed as we stepped through.

  Thirteen

  2nd World

  Entry Station

  "Drop Your Weapons!"

  "Huh?" I said looking around. Everyone else was on the ground, arms out, hands empty, and we were being lit up by an extremely bright wall of lights in front of us.

  "I say again, Drop Your Weapons!"

  "Drop them!" Evean said from the ground.

  I shrugged and dropped the carbine, Gregory did the same.

  "Now, move away from them and lie down!"

  I moved away from where I'd dropped it, and dropped first to my knees and then lowered myself to the ground.

  "How many more are coming?"

  "That should be all of us," Evean called out.

  "Okay, now, one at a time, I want you to stand up, and move off to the right; I'll tell you what I want you to do."

  "Sure. Will, you first."

  "Gee, thanks," I mumbled.

  "Okay, standup."

  I did as I was told.

  "Keep your hands above your head, and move to your right."

  I slowly walked to the right, like he said. After a minute I moved out of the glare of the lights, and into a tunnel.

  "Stop!" the voice said.

  I stopped.

  "Turn around slowly."

  I did as I was told.

  "What weapons are you carrying?"

  "At this point, nothing. I have some ammo in my backpack however."

  "Move to the end of the tunnel."

  I walked down the tunnel; it looked a lot like a ten-foot wide concrete drainage pipe. When I got to the end, I was in a concrete box with metal rungs going up the side.

  "Climb up the ladder," the voice said, so I did. As I neared what looked like the top I heard the voice tell another person to stand and walk to the right.

  I climbed out onto a platform. I was on what looked like a forty by forty foot platform made of wood, without any walls. There were lights shining down from above, so I couldn't see past the edge of the platform. It felt like I was outside now, and there was a man in a uniform with a weapon pointed at me.

  "Strip please, and put all of your things in a pile, then sit on the ground over there."

  "Sure," I said and did as he said. As I was finishing up Suzona climbed up out of the hole.

  "Strip please, and put all of your things in a pile, then sit on the ground over there," he repeated.

  "Why?" Suzona demanded.

  "Because I will be very sad when I go home tonight and tell my wife I had to machinegun a woman."

  "Fine," Suzona grumbled and did as she was told.

  Evean was the next up, and she got the same treatment, not hesitating to comply. About that point a woman walked onto the platform and tossed me a small bundle, tossing a second one to Suzona.

  "Put those on please, and follow me."

  We stood up and did as we were told; we had both been given jumpsuits that felt like they were made out of paper. By the time we'd finished putting them on, Teshes was coming up onto the platform and the guard was telling her what to do.

  We were then led out into the darkness, but the pathway we were walking on was lit by indirect light, so I could see where to put my feet as we walked, but not much else.

  "What is going on here?" Suzona asked, not sounding very happy. I could understand the sentiment, I wasn't exactly happy with being herded around much either.

  "With the place you just came from, you really have to ask?" The woman said.

  "We were told nobody had gone through that gate in twenty years," I told her.

  "We get people sneaking out of there all the time, though you're the first big group in a very long while."

  We came to a series of small huts and she directed us into one, had us sit down at a wide table, on the far side from the door, and then closed the door behind her as she came in and sat down across from us.

  "Aren't you afraid of us attacking you?" I asked her.

  "You've had several opportunities to do so already. The platform with the single guard, the walk here through the darkness, and when I just closed the door."

  "Maybe we're just trying to lull you into a false sense of security," Suzona grumbled.

  "Well if so, it's working really well. So tell me, how high is the tower now?"

  "One of them said it was two hundred and six stories now." I told her.

  "Sounds like they're getting close then. I think two-forty-five is the goal."

  "Goal for what?"

  "First, tell me, why were you even there?"

  "We're searching for a weapon," I told her, "a special one used to destroy a monster."

  "And you thought they would have it?"

  "Stories of the weapon came to my world from a portal linked to that world. We saw the tower, felt the portal, and when they said they'd never heard of such a monster or such a weapon, we figured this was the next place to check."

  "You're all portal jumpers, or at least most of you are. Why didn't you just go to a high tech world and bring back a bunch of high tech weapons?"

  "Because it doesn't work that way," I told her.

  "Sure it does."

  "It's a gojira," I told her.

  "What's a 'gojira?'"

  "Look," Suzona suddenly sat up and stared down at the other woman, "we have cooperated, we have been polite, we have no interest in anything other than getting this device and leaving. If you don't know about the gojira, then take us to one that does or let us go find them ourselves.
<
br />   "This is obviously way out of your league."

  "Yes, but I am the one with the power here, so I guess you'll just have to wait it out and do it my way," She said with a pleasant smile.

  "Actually, no. We are the ones with the power here." Suzona was starting to look pissed now.

  "Suzona," I warned.

  "No, Will. I'm tired of this treatment. I put up with those people in the last sphere; I even slept with one of those bastards! But at least they didn't start shooting at us until we tried to leave! We have been honest, we have been polite, and I will be treated with the respect I demand, or there will be hell to pay!"

  I looked at the woman sitting on the other side of the table and shrugged, "It's been a rough day, and we've both been shot up quite a bit and well, we are on a bit of a timetable, so maybe ...."

  Just then everything kicked into high gear and I threw myself at the woman, figuring that would be the safest place in the room. Suzona obviously had the same idea and we both ended up on either side of her as a barrier came crashing down, neatly bisecting the table in two.

  "What ...." the woman started, her eyes wide.

  "Oh, we're Will and Suzona Blues, and we're on a mission from god." I deadpanned.

  "What the hell are you talking about William?" Suzona growled at me.

  "Old joke. Let's go outside and see how much trouble we've stirred up."

  "What about her?"

  I looked down at the woman, who was now looking rather worried.

  "Well, might as well bring her a long, maybe we can keep anyone from losing their heads and shooting at us."

  "What are you?" She said.

  "Champions. You know what a champion is, don't you?" I told her.

  Her eyes got just a little bit wider and she nodded slowly.

  "Well you now have nine of them in your world, and if you upset us anymore, we are prepared to wreak bloody havoc all across it until we get what we are after. Understand?" Suzona growled.

  Her eyes widened another fraction. Honestly, I was surprised she wasn't shaking in fear or terror. Suzona is one very scary woman when she's pissed.

  "Of course," I said in a milder tone, "We're not here to cause any harm or damage, we just want the Okishijen Desootoria, and then we're gone. If you don't have it, then we just want any help you can give us on finding it.