Project 731 (28 page)

42

A shifting breeze lifted more dust and smoke into the air, obscuring the ruined city below Maigo, and hiding her target. The plan was basic, but not simple: land on Nemesis the way Jon and Lilly had done on the Tsuchi in Los Angeles, and then...she wasn’t exactly sure. If Lilly’s report, and her intuition, were right, Nemesis would take care of the rest, pulling her in, rejoining her to the monster.

Making her a monster.

Again.

Where are you?
she thought, her arms and legs splayed wide, stretching the wingsuit fabric taut. She glided in circles, looking for some hint of the Kaiju before she was forced to land on the ground.

But maybe the ground was where she should be. Nemesis had fallen, and was clearly still down. But not dead. Maigo could still feel her connection to the creature, though it felt hazy now. Had the blast knocked Nemesis unconscious? Was that even possible?

Maigo yelped in surprise when something struck her hand. She was a thousand feet above Salt Lake City, so what could have touched her? She looked left and found Endo gliding expertly beside her, matching her speed and altitude with the ease of a bird. She thought she’d been doing okay. Her strength made operating the suit easy, but she now saw how a graceful and experienced user looked.

“What are you doing?” she shouted over the rushing wind that smelled of a dead city, an odor she’d become familiar with over the years. Once upon a time, she had relished the scent.

“Helping,” Endo replied.

“Helping who?” She didn’t want to have to subdue Endo, too, if Jon had sent the man after her. The city below was the last place someone should be unconscious. Even conscious and running, the odds of escaping the Kaiju battlefield were slim...that was, if the two giants ever got back up. She stole a glance at the Tsuchi, still on its back, still clutched in some kind of rigor. But then, a limb twitched. The Tsuchi was waking up.

“Maigo!” Endo says. “Follow me!”

Endo banked to the left and dove, swooping down into the tan cloud of pulverized city. Not seeing any other clear path, Maigo did her best to mimic Endo’s maneuver and half glided, half fell after him. She nearly plowed into his back, but snapped her wingsuit open wide, caught the air and glided beside him again, just four hundred feet from the ground, which was steadily approaching.

“Look for...her light,” he said, coughing from the air.

The air didn’t bother Maigo, either because she was accustomed to worse—a Kaiju’s breath was repulsive in a way she couldn’t explain—or because her stronger body and lungs resisted the irritation better.

Maigo looked ahead, using her powerful vision to cut through the darkened ruins below them. Then she saw it. A faint orange glow. Then another, and another. Maigo finally recognized the glowing pattern as the side of Nemesis’s neck. On the ground. Unmoving. But still glowing. Still burning with unspent primal energy.

She motioned toward the light with her head. Endo looked, but didn’t see it until they had cut the distance in half.

They glided straight toward the massive neck. It wasn’t a small target to land on, but this was Maigo’s first attempt. Endo seemed to know that, too. “I’m going to deploy my chute first. I’ll need more time to land. But you can take a hit. Deploy at the last second, and you’ll hit your mark. Ready?”

Maigo glanced forward. They were just three hundred feet from Nemesis, moving at a 100 mph. She didn’t have a choice. “Ready!”

A hundred feet from Nemesis, Endo’s chute exploded out, catching the air and yanking him back. Maigo slapped her chest a half second, and half the distance later, when impact seemed unavoidable. The chute burst out, filled with air and yanked hard on her body for just a moment, before she collided with the armor-plated carapace that was Nemesis’s back. A strong, hot wind took hold of the chute and dragged her across Nemesis’s back, slamming her into the towering, bone-like blade extending from the creature’s shoulder blade. Maigo used the momentary pause in motion to detach the parachute.

Endo, smaller and weaker—lacking Maigo’s Kaiju blood—landed beside her, on his feet. He detached his parachute in time for the wind to carry it away from him. He did it with the same ease someone else might open a door and step through, but looking much cooler.

He smiled down at her obvious admiration. “Let’s move.”

A rumble of movement spurred both into action. Nemesis was waking up.

“Move it,” Endo said, running over Nemesis’s massive back, toward her head. He looked like an ant running over a person. As Maigo ran, she realized she was seeing the world through Nemesis’s eyes, her mind mentally preparing for the coming perspective shift. Right now, she was still just another ant.

She caught up to Endo as they ran over the rough folds of thick black skin and armored plates. Then she saw it, thirty feet ahead, at the base of Nemesis’s skull. It was an opening big enough for a person. Black tendrils were already stretching out toward them.

Before they made it another two steps, Nemesis took a deep breath. Her back flexed up into the air, pushing up on their legs. It felt like gravity had suddenly tripled. Endo and Maigo both dropped to their hands and knees.

“Hold on!” Endo shouted, extending the claws on the fingertips of his gloves and digging into the thick skin.

Maigo realized she was wearing the same kind of suit and extended her claws with a grin. This was what it was like to be Lilly. But then the ground fell out from beneath her. She shoved her arms down and caught hold before Nemesis’s exhale pulled the creature’s back out of reach. Maigo snapped down and slammed into the back, watching smoke and dust spiral away from Nemesis’s breath. With a constant vibrating rumble, Nemesis lifted off the ground. A moment later, the level floor beneath Maigo began angling up.

Nemesis was standing.

“Hurry!” Endo shouted, starting up the rising incline.

Maigo started up after him, but the shaking was so intense that each step was a battle. They were within fifteen feet now, the black tendrils frantically snaking. Endo paused, watching them slither back and forth. She couldn’t tell if he was horrified or mesmerized.

The angle suddenly sprang up to vertical. The sudden motion pulled Endo free with a shout. Maigo reached out, caught him by the arm and pulled him back. He dug in his claws, clinging in place.

“Thank you,” he said.

“Why are you here again?”

He just grinned, but then his eyes went wide. “Hold on!”

Maigo turned to see the Tsuchi slide out of the smoke, moving on its four back limbs, standing tall.

Nemesis still hadn’t turned around. The Tsuchi, despite its size, moved silently. Its mandibles twitched hungrily, eight eyes focused on Nemesis, and then...on them.

“It sees us,” Maigo said, remembering how quickly a Tsuchi could pluck a person up and eat them.
It could eat us both and still have time to catch Nemesis off guard.

She glanced up. She could lunge up once, maybe twice, and reach the tendrils, maybe in time to avoid the Tsuchi’s sneak attack, or at least to turn the tide of this battle. But she’d have to leave Endo to do that. She didn’t know him well, but she knew Hudson had a complicated relationship with the man. She didn’t know if they were really friends, but there was a mutual respect between them. And while Endo had his own goals, he’d been helpful in the past. He’d saved people. He didn’t deserve to die here.

During Maigo’s deliberation, the Tsuchi took one more step, two of its forelimbs clearly poised to strike out.

“Maigo,” Endo said. “Sacrifices have to be made.”

Is he telling me to leave him?

“But not always the way we expect. Or want.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying.” Endo digs his claws deeper into Nemesis’s skin. “You need to let her go.”

Before Maigo could react to the words, Endo struck out, his speed like that of a Tsuchi, striking the small button beneath her chin, twice, in rapid succession.

“Why—” Maigo started to say, but she was ripped away as the two rockets on her back fired for a full five seconds. She didn’t watch her rapid ascent. Instead, she kept her eyes on Nemesis, and the Tsuchi closing in. “No!” she screamed. “Turn around!” But it was too late. The Tsuchi launched its attack, burying its talons in Nemesis’s back.

But if Nemesis felt the giant blades slipping into her flesh, she didn’t show it. She stood there silently, and then, as though a dog irritated by a puppy, she began to growl, the throaty warble shaking the ground, which now raced up to meet Maigo.

Maigo deployed her secondary chute, which didn’t fully deploy, but added enough drag to slow her to a survivable speed. Her tough body, covered in high-tech armor, absorbed the impact from the landing and the sprawling roll that came next. And then, without missing a beat, she got back to her feet, running toward Nemesis. Endo hadn’t saved her, he’d doomed them all...unless she reached the monster, scaled her body and finished what she had come here to do.

43

“I can’t see anything,” I shout. “Take us lower!”

“Any lower and we might land on one of their heads,” Woodstock complains. “We’re liable to get slapped as it is.”

He’s right, I know. After Maigo and Endo jumped, he took us down to an altitude of five hundred feet. We’re dealing with three-hundred-fifty-foot-tall Kaiju, with hundred foot reaches and who knows how high of a vertical leap—not to mention the possibility of another explosive immolation. We are definitely in the danger zone.

The view outside is like a swirling desert with a blue sky above. The tan dust and smoke cover the city to an altitude of four hundred feet, hiding both Kaiju and any remaining buildings.

“There!” Alessi says, the desperation in her voice matching my own. As much as I care about Maigo, Alessi cares for her half brother. She points to our port side, where the dust cloud swirls, rises and disperses, revealing the Tsuchi. It stands tall, flexes its four upper limbs back and turns in a slow circle. Then it stops like it’s detected something we can’t see.

Like how it can find people without seeing them. Part of my mind considers that it might be able to detect electromagnetic fields like a shark, or a platypus, but the rest of me just doesn’t give a rip. Right now, all that matters is that it’s found something and is already closing the distance.

And then I do see it. A half mile away, smoke and dust billow up and away. A moment later, Nemesis stands, her head cutting through the smoke, facing away from us. Away from the Tsuchi.

She’s too far away for us to see Maigo, if she even made it. “Get us closer to Nemesis.”

“I’ll try,” Woodstock says. So far, all he’s done is lower our altitude. Flying a UFO-like aircraft that moves fluidly in three dimensions isn’t exactly the same as flying a helicopter. But he’s an experienced pilot and—

“Whoa!” The X-35 tilts sharply to the side, but goes nowhere.

“Figured out how to roll us,” Woodstock said. “Sorry ’bout that. This’ll be easier when both arms are working.”

We start moving sideways a moment later, without any detectable tilt.

“There we go,” he says, petting the console. “Good, Future Betty.”

The Tsuchi closes the distance in time with us, but thus far is ignoring our presence. Nemesis stands still, her back to the approaching Kaiju spider.

She doesn’t know it’s there. Is she still stunned?

“Turn around,” I say, but I lack the connection to the beast that Maigo has. I look for the girl, but between the smoke and filtered sunlight, I can’t see the back of Nemesis’s head clearly.

“I see someone,” Collins says. “On the back of her head.”

I squint, trying to see. Someone is definitely there, but it’s just a small, black-clad shadow moving over Nemesis’s skin, quickly scaling the neck. I place my hands against the large touch screen, pulling them apart to zoom in. The cameras mounted around the ship’s hull obey the command, focusing in on the action. I catch sight of the figure’s legs, but I moved too fast past it. When I sweep back, I stop at the sight of a thousand thin, black tendrils wrapping around the figure and pulling it back into Nemesis’s head.

She made it. God dammit, she made it.

The Tsuchi crashes into view, slamming into Nemesis’s back, driving them both to the ground and kicking up a fresh bloom of dust. Woodstock pulls up, keeping us above the cloud. The dust swirls beneath us, kicked up by furious movement I can’t see.

Is the Tsuchi still attacking?

Is it killing Nemesis?

Is it killing Maigo?

Maybe she’ll be expelled again?

Too many questions, and no answers imminent.

A flash of light filters out through the dust.

“Hold on!” Woodstock shouts, accelerating straight up.

The explosion isn’t as big as the previous immolations, but it kicks the dust cloud away, giving us a clear view of Nemesis, and giving Nemesis a clear view of her adversary.

That was smart,
I think.
Too smart for Nemesis
.

Maigo...

Kick its ass, kid.

The Tsuchi, being of small mind and infinite aggression, isn’t impressed by the explosion, or the way Nemesis is flexing her body, opening and closing her fingers, like she’s just getting warmed up—or simply getting used to her body.

Dropping down and scurrying over the blackened battlefield, the Tsuchi darts forward, standing suddenly and spinning around. Its massive tail swoops around, moving at incredible speed, directed at Nemesis’s side.

The ancient goddess of vengeance just stands there, calm as can be. And then with a burst of speed of her own, she snaps her hand up and catches the stinger, which looks small in her gargantuan hand’s grasp. The Tsuchi, perhaps thinking it has struck flesh, spurts a rhinoceros-sized larva into the air. The glistening white super-slug arcs toward the ground, where Nemesis grinds it under foot.

The Tsuchi attempts to pull its tail back for a second strike, but Nemesis holds it fast—and squeezes. There’s a moment of resistance, but then the stinger snaps and crumbles, spraying blood and viscous white fluid.

The Tsuchi writhes and shrieks, yanking its tail, but failing to free it. And then Nemesis pulls, dragging the Tsuchi back. But the Tsuchi falls forward, digging all eight legs into the ground. The two Kaiju have reached a stalemate, but Nemesis is already shifting tactics.

Thinking.

Adapting.

The berserker rage is gone, replaced by a cold, calculating logic.

Nemesis twists her body without letting go of the Tsuchi, pulling the tail tight and swinging her own tail, heavy and tipped with three large blades. She brings her tail down like an executioner’s axe, striking the Tsuchi’s long tail at the half-way mark.

The blow doesn’t sever the tail, but cuts half way through. The Tsuchi reacts by running forward. Nemesis leans back, her powerful fingers locked onto the tail as the sliced open wound stretches, and then tears. The Tsuchi, suddenly free, spills forward, while Nemesis falls back, the tug-o-war coming to an abrupt end.

The Tsuchi, still on its feet, spins around and scurries back at Nemesis, who is rolling over and climbing to her feet...too slow. The spider lunges, catching Nemesis in the side. Its four rear limbs cling to Nemesis’s leg while its mandibles bite into her shoulder, shuddering her body with a stunningly bright lightning display. All the while, the four forelimbs become a blur of frenzied strikes, shredding Nemesis’s thick skin and drawing blood from the softer flesh hidden beneath. Not even our most powerful bomb was capable of inflicting that kind of damage.

C’mon, Maigo. You can do this!

And then, she does.

Nemesis flexes her arms out, dislodging the Tsuchi and flinging it away. But before the Tsuchi can fall all the way back, Nemesis reaches out and catches the spider Kaiju with both massive hands.
What is she doing?
I wonder, and then all four occupants of the X-35 lets out a loud “Ooh!” like we’ve just seen a spectacular football hit. Nemesis pulls the Tsuchi in closer while thrusting her head downward, slamming her head into the Tsuchi’s face, delivering the world’s most brutal headbutt.

“Where did she learn to fight like this?” Collins says to me. I have no answer. I thought Maigo rejoining Nemesis might give the Kaiju a boost of intelligence, but this is more than I expected. Even if they’re sharing their brain power 50/50, Maigo is adding some serious fighting skills that none of us knew she had.

A burst of electricity flings Nemesis’s head back from the headbutt, but she doesn’t slow. She snaps forward, quickly biting one of the two mandibles and yanking. The small limb snaps and peels away, robbing the Tsuchi of its electrified abilities.

That was purposeful
, I think.
A calculated move.

The Tsuchi turns its half crushed face skyward and lets out a pained shriek. The tide has officially turned. And Nemesis proves it by raising both of her massive arms above her head and bringing them down hard, locking her fingers together as massive blades. The downward swipe catches the Tsuchi’s arms on both sides, severing all four and sending thousands of gallons of blood spraying over the landscape.

And then, strangely, Nemesis backs off. The Tsuchi makes a feeble attempt to strike Nemesis with its tail, but the phantom limb hits nothing. Nemesis circles her opponent, keeping a watchful eye on it. The Tsuchi attempts to retreat, dragging its limbless front through the ashes.

Nemesis lunges to the Tsuchi’s side, lifts her gargantuan foot and slams it down on the Tsuchi’s back.

The giant spider kicks and struggles, but can’t break free.

What’s she doing?
I think, and then I voice the question. “What’s she doing? Why isn’t she killing it?”

Collins shakes her head. “Maybe Maigo’s conscience is kicking in? Feelings of mercy?”

“No...” Alessi says. “That’s not it.”

Nemesis moves, cutting off Alessi’s comment. We watch as Nemesis slowly, torturously impales the Tsuchi’s back, and peels off a layer of armor. The Tsuchi quakes and squeals as the armor plate is torn from its back.

Maigo, no... Just kill it!

And then she does. Slowly. Nemesis slips her claws into the Tsuchi’s soft flesh, moving painfully slow, exacting her vengeance in a very personal way. Maigo is giving in to the rage now, giving in to the thirst for vengeance. She’s going to lose control, and then where will our plan be? I’ll have to order an attack on Nemesis and my daughter? I’m not sure I can handle that.

The Tsuchi spasms once, twice, and then falls still.

“How could she do that?” Collins asks, no doubt sharing my concerns for the girl who might have become her daughter.

“It wasn’t her,” Alessi says.

Collins looks exasperated. “Nemesis doesn’t—”

“Wasn’t Nemesis, either.”

We both stare at her.

“I’ve seen that before,” she says. “Once.”

The earbud in my ear crackles to life. “Dad?”

My heart skips a beat, and I jump to my feet. “Maigo?”

“I’m okay,” she says. “I’m two blocks east of the Tsuchi. Falling back now. Wouldn’t mind a ride.”

“But...” I’m stymied, my brain slowed by the revelation that Maigo is alive, well and
not
inside Nemesis.

“It’s Endo,” Alessi says, looking down at Nemesis. “He gave himself to her.”

Endo?

Endo!

My jaw drops.
That sonofabitch!
This is what he’s always wanted—proximity to Nemesis. A relationship even. He’d been jealous of my connection to her when Maigo was part of the Kaiju. And now...he’s got all of that in spades. I should have seen it coming. The question is, can he control it, and if he can, will he play nice?

“Take us down!” I shout to Woodstock. “Right in front of her face.”

I’m a little surprised when Woodstock complies without complaining. The X-35 drops down as I open the cargo hatch. Nemesis’s massive head slides into view, standing above the Tsuchi. Her giant eyes, no longer glowing orange, but reverted back to their brown, almost human gaze, stare back at me. I’ve stood here before, but I’m still unnerved by her size. That does nothing to stop my outburst.