[ Contents | 14. Surprise Encounters | 15. Trouble on the Waterfront, Redux | 16. Mothra vs.... ]
A vast reptilian shape strode through the waters of the bay toward the sea; it paused to throw its head back and scream at the darkening sky, a harsh metallic screech that grated the nerves and rang for miles in the still air. It sank into the deepening water until only the great ridged plates on its back were visible, then it began to swim.
At the end of the wharf, a grey-uniformed officer of the Dark Ribbon lowered the binoculars he'd been looking through and saluted Colonel Dark.
"Sir! Gojira has cleared the headland." The officer nervously tapped the headset draped over his head, awaiting his commander's response.
Colonel Dark smiled with satisfaction. "Good. Notify the captains of the Dark Field and the Shadow Warrior that they can move their ships from Dock Three to Dock One now. It's time to get them loaded up."
"Yes, sir!" The officer saluted again, and spoke rapidly into his headset as Colonel Dark turned away.
Colonel Dark strode over to the controller and its operator, Doctor Soliere. "Matheiu, I have changed the plan slightly. The attack force will not strike random civilian targets after our objective has been attained--I wish to rule a nation, not an ash heap. Your latest estimates for recall time are excessive."
"Ah, Jerome, you knew there would be some delay in determining just when my subjects have accomplished their objectives. It would be disasterous to recall them prematurely!" The short, brown-haired scientist fluttered his hands anxiously.
"Pie Pie's best estimate results in thirty- to fifty-thousand military and civilian casualties in reducing the High Command, the Army and the Politburo. That is acceptable, as most of them would be my enemies in any case." Dark raised one finger. "Leaving the monsters unchecked for the amount of time you now believe it will take to confirm our success and recall them could result in up to half a million casualties, as well as substantial damage to the capital's infrastructure and industrial base. That is not acceptable. I cannot build an army of conquest from corpses and rubble."
"But--" Soliere spread his hands anxiously.
"It is very simple; you will remain here at the controller with Tao Pie Pie to, ah, assist you, and I will take a chase vehicle after the monsters and monitor their progress myself, and notify you when they should be recalled." Dark whirled to face the other officer. "Lieutenant Fogg, when you are done with that, notify the airfield that I will need my jetcopter very shortly."
"Yes, sir!"
An expression of dismay spread across Soliere's face. "But that's extremely dangerous, Jerome! My subjects will be in combat, and any small aircraft will be a target--especially for Rodan! He's programmed to destroy the People's Air Force!"
Jerome Sebastien Dark smiled with cool amusement. "I appreciate your concern, Mathieu, but the risk is mine to take. This is the critical battle! Once I am the ruler of a nation, the Dark Ribbon Army ceases to be a band of terrorists and criminals--it becomes the legitimate security force of the state. Then, I will be the lord of a sovereign nation, and untouchable save by war of nation against nation--and those pacifists to the south would never dream of starting one!" Colonel Dark's blue eyes glittered, and one hand was half-raised in a fist.
"JEROME, YOU WORM!" An enraged shout interrupted Dark's dreams of conquest; soldiers dove to either side as Lunch strode in the main door, an automatic rifle brandished in each hand. "YOU'RE DEAD!"
"Eh?" Dark's head turned toward the shout. "Lunch! What is it now?" He strode toward the door and Lunch.
"Hmmmm." Tao Pie Pie's cybernetic eyes whirred, focussing on Lunch, and the knife blade in his artificial hand snicked open. A cruel smile crossed his face.
Lunch jerked back on the triggers of her guns, sending bullets spraying about the immense covered dock. The few soldiers who hadn't already sought cover dove behind the nearest solid objects.
"YOU LYING BASTARD!" she screamed, forcing the gun muzzles to point in Dark's general direction. "DIE! JUST DIE!"
Soliere cowered behind the controller; Tao Pie Pie simply dodged the bullets that would have hit him and ignored the rest. Dark did not deviate from his path, nor change his pace; a gentle glow surrounded him, and the bullets that struck him seemed to rebound harmlessly.
"Lunch! Cease fire!" he snapped commandingly. "I do not have time for your random fits of temper right now!" As he spoke, Dark walked up to her and snatched both guns away.
"You bastard!" she hissed. "You LIED to me! Tienshenhan is NOT dead!"
Jerome Sebastien Dark raised one raven-dark eyebrow. "Ah. You've seen the Cell Game videos. Now I understand." He smiled at her. "My dear Lunch, has it occurred to you I am a jealous man? It was petty of me, I know, but when I discovered that your former lover still lived, I was too jealous to tell you. I wanted no rivals for your passion, just as you have no rivals for mine."
Lunch relaxed slightly, and her scowl changed to a mild frown. She looked at him suspiciously. "You're a smooth one. If I mean that much to you...."
Dark shrugged and smiled tenderly at her. "Forgive me for my fit of jealousy. If you really wish to find Tienshenhan, I will give you everything I have on the man. Come; it's all in the Command Center."
Lunch still looked skeptical. "Fine! Let's go do that, and you better be telling the truth!"
"Of course." Dark put one arm around Lunch's shoulder, and with the other signed behind his back to Tao Pie Pie, warning the assassin off.
As they left, Tao Pie Pie frowned, looking slightly disappointed. There was a "click" as the knife blade retracted into his cybernetic arm.
"Well," he said, looking around at the cowering soldiers, "don't you fools have something to do?"
* * * *
Yamucha took a deep breath and let it out slowly, savoring the fresh sea air. "Man, I never thought we'd get out of that hell-hole!"
Saisei looked up at the building they'd just escaped from, a twenty-five-story office tower that would not have looked out of place in downtown Satan City. Here, alone on the central ridge of the island, it dominated the landscape, looming over the compound and warehouses lining the bay to the southwest--the bay where Saisei's village once stood. Roads ran down to the bay, and away west along the ridge of the island.
They'd had little trouble escaping; they had found the garages gaping open and empty.
"Where do we go from here?" Saisei wondered, fiddling with the headset and radio he'd taken from one of the dead soldiers. Yamucha was similarly equipped. "The soldiers drove their tanks and trucks away in both directions."
Puar squeaked excitedly, "Tao Pie Pie said he was taking the doctor to Dock Number Two. I bet's that's where they are!"
"Great, all we have to do is find Dock Two," said Yamucha.
"I do not think that will be too hard," said Saisei as he looked at the large sign planted at the meeting of roads. It said:
|
Barracks and Dock #1 Dock #2 <----
Airfield |
* * * *
"HIII-YAAA!" The main doors exploded inward and crashed to the ground, blown off their tracks. Saisei and Yamucha leaped onto the main wharf, both in fighting stance, both facing a great many soldiers.
Saisei grinned fiercely. "Right!" he yelled.
Yamucha grinned back. "Left!"
Light flared in Yamucha's hand as a ball of white energy formed there; then with a yell, he flung into the water in the middle of the left slip. It exploded, flinging torrents of water across the entire eastern half of the cavernous dock. Soldiers were flung into walls or washed along the wharves before coming to a stop, stunned and half-drowned. Some unlucky men didn't come to a stop before being dragged into the water by the backwash; of those, the lucky ones were still conscious and knew how to swim.
An instant later, Saisei did the same to the right slip, knocking out the startled soldiers gathered in the western half of the dock.
On the center wharf, Doctor Soliere clung to the black and gold box of the controller, shielding it with his body, and in turn using it as anchor to keep himself from being swept away. Tao Pie Pie leaped high into the air as the waves crashed down to either side and landed in front of Yamucha and Saisei.
"You are too late," he said, smiling coldly. Cybernetic eyes whirred and focussed first on Yamucha, then on Saisei. "The monsters have already been sent."
Saisei growled, "This one is mine, friend Yamucha. Only you can stop the monsters; go!"
"You got it, kid. He's all yours." Yamucha lifted into the air and hurtled out the vast open sea doors of the dock.
Tao Pie Pie's smile became a cruel smirk as he looked at Saisei. "Another young fool determined to die." Tao Pie Pie's smirk flattened. "A waste of my time, but it won't take long to oblige you."
Without another word or any ki-aii shout, Tao Pie Pie moved three swift steps forward, graceful as a dancer. One steel hand swept out, as if to balance and enhance the dancer's step--but the hand was tipped with a steel blade and aimed at Saisei's throat.
Saisei brought his arm across in a block while sliding backwards, out of Tao Pie Pie's reach. It was well that he did so, for Pie Pie's hand slid past Saisei's block, barely missing the young fighter's neck.
Around and around they went, Tao Pie Pie dancing his deadly ballet and missing Saisei by the narrowest of margins each time. It was all Saisei could do to dodge and block; he couldn't even risk a counterstrike.
I'm not centered properly, realized Saisei. I want to hurt him too much; thus, I cannot hurt him at all! I am in serious trouble...
Tao Pie Pie smiled evilly, sensing Saisei's dismay. Every step, every strike forced Saisei back, and back again, until he was at the wall; no more dodging.
Tao Pie Pie sneered, pivoted on one foot and whirled, lashing out with a savage snap kick to Saisei's head.
Saisei blocked it.
* * * *
CONTINUED IN CHAPTER 16. Mothra vs....
[ Contents | 14. Surprise Encounters | 15. Trouble on the Waterfront, Redux | 16. Mothra vs.... ]
Disclaimer: See Credits.
Copyright 2001 by Dragoness Eclectic
Last Updated: Mar 8, 2009