Chapter 2: The Calvary/The Pilot

Baltimore was gone. Even from here, many miles outside its limits, Micheal could see the city was leveled. The many gleaming skyscrapers, busy subdivisions, and congested roads were nothing but ruins and broken rubble. Only a small handful of buildings were still standing and even those were heavily damaged. Smoke from still burning fires covered much of the ground while pools of that green shit congealed in various places. The entire area looked like a warzone from a sci-fi movie, not a city.

"We're really going down into that? The fuck do they expect us to find?" Martin, the airmen next to Micheal, said.

"Survivors. Some of our people. Someone who saw some weakness to that monster. Jesus himself, if we are really lucky," Micheal said, trying to lighten the mood. It didn't work. Doubly so because they really could use divine intervention.

The entire home guard, along with much of the northeast's National Guard, had been sent to try and save Baltimore. The fact that the only unit even capable of search and rescue was them; airmen, flight crews, and even some desk jockeys, said everything about how that went. Thousands of soldiers, hundreds of tanks and planes... and the Beast shrugged them all off before crushing them. His Jesus comment had been a joke, but they really could use his help about now.

"We're ten minutes from the drop site. Check your weapons and seals. Make sure you are airtight. Remember, that shit gets on you and you'll wind up like those poor bastards in Rhode Island," Captain Stal ordered as he moved through the helicopter. Micheal made sure his suit was sealed and then did the same for Martin, who then did his. Both were fully sealed and Micheal went back to staring out the window.

That freaky green shit... that was the worst part of this mission. Seeing the destruction was terrifying, and the thought of having to dig through it to find what was left of people turned his stomach. But imagining being mutated like some of the people who survived Rhode Island... Micheal let a shudder go through him as the horrors flashed back through his head. As if the Beast's size and power wasn't bad enough...

"Everyone checked? Good. Alright, keep your weapons ready and your ears out for survivors. Remember, that green crap can mutate animals too and they might not be so friendly after the change. You see one, put it down. I don't care if it looks like someone's dog, put a bullet into it. As for any people..." Stal trailed off as everyone looked at him. He gulped before putting on a determined face.

"As for any people, contain them or... or put them down."

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The helicopter sat down in what had been the southern evac area. Almost nothing was left of it save a few wrecked helicopters and some leftover signs. Dead bodies were scattered about the area and a horrid silence hung over the place, only broken by the occasional metallic groan of the rubble. Micheal climbed out along with the rest of the group, leaving the helicopter pilots to start setting up a joke of a triage center. It was the best they had, though.

"Alright, everyone split up and start searching. If you find someone, stabilize them as best you can and move on. If their buried, you can try to dig them out, but if you can't manage it just mark them and move on. Remember, we're just here to find as many survivors as we can as quickly as we can. The real clean-up crew is following us, so don't get bogged down helping just a few people," Captain Stal ordered as everyone nodded. No one was thrilled by the idea, but they needed to cover as much ground as possible. And if they kept having to come back together to save one buried person, well...

Heading off in his assigned direction, Micheal couldn't help but gape at the destruction all around. Seeing it from the ground was just...surreal. Entire buildings had been flattened like pancakes while skyscrapers had been torn in half like paper. Dead bodies littered the entire area, some half-buried others only half there. Moving through the carnage, Micheal began to wonder if they were being sent on a mission of futile hope. How could anyone have survived this?

"Hello! Anyone out there?!" Micheal yelled, forcing his mouth open despite his failing hope. There had to be SOMEONE still alive... right? Sadly, there was no answer save the wind and shifting rubble. Micheal felt his spirits fall as he continued forward, but yelled out, nonetheless. He needed to at least try. Had to, at least, pretend there was some hope.

Micheal was about to yell out again when a bit of rubble shifted. He was about to rush over when he remembered the warning of mutated creatures. Taking out his gun, Micheal moved a bit closer while flicking the safety off.

"Hello? Is that someone? Please let it be someone and not something," Micheal said, mumbling the last part to himself.

"Y- He-" a female voice said, much of it drowned out by the rubble. Holy shit, someone had survived! Putting his gun away, Micheal rushed over to the rubble and started to toss bits of debris off.

"It's OK! I'll get you out!" Micheal said as he got most of the rubble off the shifting part. However, the shifting part was a massive slab of concrete and Michael, even with his suit helping, was unsure if he could lift such a huge thing. He wasn't about to give up without trying, though, so he grabbed the slab and started to lift. He grunted in effort as his suit whined in strain, but the slab barely moved. Dammit!

"Hold on. Let me try again," Micheal said before shifting around. His suit groaned as he pushed it to its limit, but the slab only moved a bit. Come on, he wasn't going to leave the first survivor he found buried alive!

Suddenly, a strange cracking and groan came from inside the rubble. Micheal was about to stop to ask what that was when the slab began to shift. Seeing his chance, Micheal threw everything into one last pull and felt the slab shift. He held it up as his suit blared warnings, but a figure slid out from under and into freedom. With a gasp of held breath, Micheal let the slab crash back to the ground and stumbled backward to fall onto his back. He stayed there a minute before looking over to who he had saved.

Beside him was an Asian woman in the uniform of an army soldier. The uniform had several tears and cuts on it, but she looked to have avoided any scrapes herself. She gasped to regain her breath before glanced over to him.

"Th-Thank you..."

"No problem. Private Micheal Young," Micheal introduced himself, holding out a hand. The woman accepted it.

"Private Mei Xing," she answered as they shook hands. Micheal had recovered enough, and let his suit cool, to risk standing and he offered to help Mei up. She took his hand and rose up, and up, to be almost eye level with Micheal. Damn, she was huge for an Asian girl!

Mei seemed a bit confused about something, but never got her question out. Another muffled yell came from their left and Micheal rushed over to find it. Mei and whatever was on her mind would have to wait.

"I hear you, keep yelling so I can find you!" he said as he tried to track down where the yelling was coming from. The uneven rubble made that a complicated task as the voice distorted and bounced off the various debris.

"Over here, she's right here!" Mei yelled and Micheal hurried over. She was right as the woman's yelling was clearest at that spot.

"Good job. You can stop yelling, we found you! Stay calm and we'll get you out!" Micheal ordered before tossing more rubble away from the spot. Mei joined in and proved surprisingly strong. With her help, Micheal cleared most of the rubble save a large block. Thankfully, it was much smaller than the one Mei had been under. Micheal was sure he could move it in his suit, but Mei got to it first.

"Mei, le-" was all Micheal got out before Mei started to shift the thing. But that was the least shocking thing as that strange cracking noise came again, only now it was obviously from Mei. Mei grunted as her head started to rise and her arms covered more of the rock. Her arms expanded into toned, modest, biceps and her legs filled with muscle they lacked seconds before. Her torn uniform ripped a bit more as she lifted the boulder and tossed it aside. As if to hammer the truth home, a few spots of scales began to appear on her arms and her legs. Oh no...

The woman crawled out of the hole and dived into Micheal's arms. She thanked him like mad before planting a big kiss on his helmet, but Micheal barely noticed. The woman followed his eyes and went wide-eyed as she saw Mei as well. Micheal glanced over to where Mei had been buried and, finally, noticed the green glow coming from it. Dammit, no!

"Oh God... a mutant! Keep away from me!" the woman yelled as she took off running. Micheal was going to grab her, but stopped as he remembered that was the hand he had used to help Mei up. He turned back to Mei and saw her watch her the nails extend to resemble thin claws.

"No... NO!" Mei yelled before falling to her knees. Micheal thought of moving to comfort her, but the scales expanding along her arm checked him. Fuck, what if his suit had a breach? What if he got that... that horror on himself? He cou-

Micheal's thoughts were interrupted as he heard more yells and calls for help. Mei's yell must have been heard and got others to start calling out. Putting Mei to the side, Micheal moved toward the closest and started to dig them out. It wasn't long, however, that he found his progress stopped by another large block he couldn't move. He was about to go to the next when he heard that strange crackle from Mei. Glancing over, he caught the tail end of her latest growth as she neared ten, maybe more, feet. God, she was getting big and stro- wait…

"Mei! Mei!" Micheal yelled, but the mutating woman paid him no mind. He swore under his breath before getting another idea.

"Private Xing!" Micheal yelled in his best imitation of a drill sergeant. Reacting like any soldier, Mei snapped to attention. Her sudden movement caused most of her uniform to rip apart leaving only tattered remains to cover her crotch and some threads clinging to her chest, but not covering a damn thing.

"Sir, Yes-" Mei stopped as she realized Micheal was the one who had yelled at her and gave him a confused look.

"Stop staring and help me, dammit!"

"Help? You wan... but I'm turning into a monster! Look at me!" she said showing the scales that were spreading over much of her arms and legs. And her swollen breasts, though Micheal did his best not to stare.

"Who cares?! These people are dead if we don't get them out, and I can't do it. YOU can, though, so get over here and help, dammit!" Micheal said as he tried, and failed, to lift the slab of concrete. Mei looked unsure and mouthed something only she heard. Micheal swore at her before focusing on moving the block. He was starting to make a bit of head way when it, suddenly, was lifted away. The man trapped under the block crawled out and flopped to his back, sputtering out thanks between breaths. Micheal smiled as he looked up to see Mei put the block back down.

"There are more over here," she said and Micheal nodded as they headed for the next voice.

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Night was starting to fall on the ruins of Baltimore. The ruined evac site was beginning to return to its original state with various tents and jury-rigged landing pads scattered about. Help had, finally, arrived a few hours ago and the next wave of troops came with dozers, jackhammers, and other tools to help clear the area.

A few survivors were being led through the area to various craft to airlift them out. All of them were wounded in some way, but most were still capable of walking. Those that weren't had to be kept in the tents as they were stabilized and made ready for more specialized transportation. However, the vast majority were kept well away from the area...

Micheal sighed as he looked down at the less... well put togeth- oh fuck it, the prison most of the survivors had been put into. The "walls" were nothing more than stacked up rubble and debris, but did the job well enough to keep those mutated penned in. Most of them were less than happy about it, but the soldiers guarding the only exit were armed and unmoved.

Micheal understood the need to keep the contaminated away from those lucky enough to avoid it but putting them into an ad-hoc prison seemed a bit much. Doubly so when most of the mutated were only minor changes like hair color or skin color. Yeah there was that guy who looked to be turning into some kind of bull-human hybrid and the woman who had like seven arms, but still, they were people! And it really wasn't fair to someone who was most responsible for there being so many survivors... Mei.

Mei's changes had yet to stop and neither had her growth. She was now at least twenty feet tall with arms that would make a weight-lifter jealous and legs to match. Scales had spread over most of her arms and legs, save for their inner areas, and even her breasts had seen their lower half scaled. While this did mean her nipples were hidden away, she kept legs drawn up and her hands covering her crotch. It was about the only way she had to stay somewhat modest.

Micheal wanted to say something to her to cheer her up, something to make that worry fade from her eyes, but couldn't think of anything. The only reason she wasn't in that pen too was simply her size. That and no one being brave, stupid more like it, enough to try and force her inside. Instead, she'd been left to sit off on her own, with nothing but stares and whispered words to keep her company.

"I'm not stopping," Mei, suddenly, said, breaking the silence. Micheal snapped out of his thoughts and looked up at her.

"Huh?"

"The changes... They’re not stopping. I can feel it," Mei said as she looked at her hand. As if summoned by her words, Micheal watched it expand, scales move further along its length, and her nails grown closer to claws. She let out a long, depressed sigh as she buried her head into her knees.

"I... Lo-... It's not so bad. I mean... you're not a freak o-" Micheal stopped as Mei gave him a withering look.

"Not a freak? LOOK at me! What am I if not a… a mutating freak?!” Mei said motioning toward herself. Micheal winced at her anger and had to fight not to back off. He knew that would only make her feel even worse.

"That-... OK yes, you look like a monster on the outside, but what does that matter? You're still you on the inside!" Micheal said, trying to find the right words and thinking he had failed. Mei scoffed and had a mini-spurt as she shook her head.

"Easy for you to say, you're not the one still growing and mutating," Mei responded with a snarl.  Micheal swore as he was proven right. Of course, that old cliché wouldn’t work. Besides, she wasn't wrong, HE wasn't turning into a giant monster so what comfort could he really provide? He cursed inwardly before turning back to the evac are- Of course!

"I'm not. But I'm not the one who saved all those people. I'm not the one who ignored their body mutating to pull survivors out of rubble. I'm not the one who nearly everyone down there owes their lives to, even if they don't want to admit it," Micheal said, finally finding the words he had been looking for.

"And... and even if they do ignore that fact, I won't. I'll know you were the one who saved them. And you aren't just some monster. You’re… You’re Mei, the girl who saved hundreds from being killed," Micheal finished. Mei unburied her head and looked down at Micheal. She gapped as if to say something before looking out over the area as well. She lowered her head and a she sniffed as tears started to flow down her face. She buried her head again as she wiped her face off.

"Just... just leave me alone," Mei said. Micheal wanted to say something, but Mei shifted away. He sighed and swore as he started to walk away. Dammit, he had been su-

"Thanks," Mei whispered out. Micheal turned to see Mei smiling at him, before turning away again. Micheal smiled to himself before leaving Mei to her tears.

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Micheal did a few last-minute checks as Gesila hooked herself into the harness. He waited for her to give the thumbs up before beginning their ascent. Looking over the readings of the four crafts, Micheal eased them upward, keen to keep them all level with each other. Even a slight difference between the craft could cause major problems once they got going as the differences piled up. It wouldn't take long for the off-aligned craft to veer completely off-formation leading to a near unavoidable disaster. But Micheal was an expert at the process and done hundreds of flights, he wasn't about to make a rookie mistake. He corrected and re-corrected each craft as they ascended making sure each stayed in proper alignment and his transmitted controls would properly translate.

With the four VTOLs at cruising altitude and all four properly aligned, Micheal switched them to flight mode and they began their slow acceleration to cruising speed. With the dangerous part taken care of, Micheal activated his headset and let the computer take control for a bit.

"Welcome to MCP flights, uhhhhhhh, please keep your arms, legs, and tails close to the harness and don't, uhhhhhhh, rock the planes too much. We'll be flying through beautiful Maryland to the, uhhhhhhh, coast an-"

"Please stop before I throw myself head first at the ground," Gesila said, interrupting Micheal's horrid mimicry of an airline pilot. Unlike Micheal, who needed the intercoms hooked to the VTOLs to be heard, Gesila was more than loud enough to be heard without any assistance. Micheal let out a chuckle before he answered.

"Alright, alright. Wouldn't want to have to explain to the Commander why you decided to imitate an ostrich," Micheal said as a call appeared on his instruments.

"Speak of the devil," Micheal said before patching the call in. Commander Maxwell's stern face appeared on the screen and on a projection between the VTOLs so Gesila could see as well.

"You can fool around when you are back on base, Pilot," Maxwell said giving a stern eyeing to Micheal. Micheal nodded but rolled his eyes inside his head. Damn sourpuss...

"We received a request for aid from a US recovery team near the coast of Maryland. A kaiju, code named Promethean, has been spotted north of the ruins of Baltimore. Containment teams have already engaged, but we need this kaiju put down ASAP. This Red Zone is well on its way to being downgraded to Yellow and I don’t want us being blamed for slowing that effort. Kill the kaiju with as little contamination as possible, understood?" Maxwell said as he shifted back to pure business. Damn, a Red Zone being downgraded to a Yellow. No wonder MCP were sending their best to deal with this.

"Yes, sir. Target will be neutralized with minimum collateral," Gesila answered and Maxwell nodded in approval.

"Good. Pilot, I'm sending all the data we have on this kaiju. Brief Gesila on it while I coordinate evacuations. Maxwell, out," Maxwell finished as his image vanished. No sooner had it gone did a mass of information appear on the screen. Ugh, Micheal hated when he dumped this part on him.

"Always dumping this part on me. Oh, for fucks, would it kill him to at least try and organize the data! Fucking, bastard," Micheal said as he started to try and get the information in some kind of order.

"You know he can still hear you, right?" Gesila asked as Micheal scoffed.

"Good! Besides, he knows damn well he is a BASTARD every time he does this," Micheal said yelling the bastard part to make sure Maxwell heard it. He was sure to but wouldn't care in the least. Doubly so as he would gladly admit to being a bastard and dumping the job onto Micheal.

"Alright... Think I got these reports in order. Let's see... OK. so, this Promethean looks to have been a shellfish before it mutated. Maybe a crab or a lobster from the look of it," Micheal said as he started to go through the reports, making some corrections with their flight here and there as needed.

"Any natural weapons?" Gesila asked.

"Yeah. Got the obvious big pinchy claws you would expect, but with serrated spikes lining it for extra nastiness. Its backside has expanded out kinda like a spider, only with a giant spiked plate to cover its big butt. I thi- oh wait, here's one saying it spits out bubbles that might be corrosive. Pretty vague on details, though. Think that's it," Micheal said, not seeing anything else important in the various reports and transcripts of frantic calls for help.

"Doesn't sound too bad. Would have preferred a straight fish, though. Shellfish doesn't have enough meat," Gesila said as Micheal chuckled.

“It does have a readymade plate for the feast, though," Micheal countered as Gesila shrugged. Her shrug turned into a full on stretch and Micheal couldn't help but stare. It was still hard to believe that tall Asian girl he had pulled out of the rubble twenty years ago had turned into Gesila.

Little of that Mei was left now that her kaiju mutation had reached completion, physically anyway. The most obvious changes were her size and muscle mass which had both increased exponentially. Her skin had changed radically too as most of her body was covered in hard, black scales now. Only her face, parts of her chest, and inner arms were still skin, and even that had a darker tint to it. Her crotch had been plated over with scales as well, though they could be opened to reveal her pussy. He was a bit embarrassed how he had found that out and hoped Gesila would never learn that he did know. Her nipples were the same way and were hidden away. She had, also, let her hair grow out and it hung down her entire back like a second layer of plating. It wasn't too far off, either, as her hair was insanely strong. But nowhere near as strong as she was as her powerful arms and legs attested too. Her hands and feet had become true claws with massive talons on each and her teeth were like something out of Jaws. All in all, Gesila would have been absolutely terrifying if she wasn't on their side.

A small alert shook Micheal out of his thoughts and he saw a new distress call had arrived. He read through it and swore as it painted a bleak picture. Seemed Maxwell hadn't been such a bastard dumping the briefing on him considering how badly the evacuation was going. Shit, they needed to be there yesterday.

"Gesila, did you see that new call?" Micheal asked.

"Just read through it. Do it," Gesila said, already guessing Micheal's intentions. Micheal smiled as he sat up in his chair and cracked his knuckles. He took a deep breath as he grabbed the throttle and began to push it to the max. Each VTOL sped up as Gesila's harness swung further and further back. Going full out was stupidly dangerous, but it would get them to their target in a few minutes rather than nearly thirty. It also meant any course corrections were almost out of the question and made it all but certain the VTOLs would start to drift out of sync, hence the stupidly dangerous part.

Regardless of the risk, Micheal pushed the VTOLs past their safe operating speed and ignored the various warnings and alarms blaring. His hands and eyes flew across his controls and readouts, making adjustments here and there as the VTOLs began to get unbalanced or out of formation. It was a constant, and losing, battle but the goal wasn't to keep it up forever, just long enough to get Gesila to the operations area. He knew he would get an earful from Maxwell for doing this and the crews were going to be more than a bit annoyed, but they'd get over it. People couldn't get over being killed by a rampaging kaiju.

As the alarms and alerts began to pile up, Micheal finally saw their target in sight. The massive crab-spider kaiju was rampaging through a large open plain near a clean-up operation, explosions blossomed over it. The weapons were ineffectual to the huge thing but weren't meant to be. They were simply to distract it and keep it chasing the speedy vehicles till Gesila got here to deal with it properly. Sadly, there were quite a few wrecks where some of those vehicles hadn't been quick enough...

Knowing it was now or never, Micheal activated the drop sequence and the countdown appeared before Gesila. The VTOLs were become more and more unaligned and Micheal swore as the countdown seemed to take forever. Finally, it hit zero and the harness de-hooked dropping Gesila to the ground far below. While it was massively high up for a person, it was nothing for Gesila who landed and skidded to a halt through a small forest... and a road that had been hiding in it. Fuck...

Gesila glanced up at the VTOLs as they zoomed past and pointed at the road accusingly. Micheal would have flipped her off if she could have seen as she tossed him squarely under the bus. Fucking dammit, Maxwell was going to have his hide for this... Ignoring speed regulations AND trashing a road. Dammit, dammit, dammit!

Still, Gesila had arrived in the area and the various vehicles near Promethean sped away. The kaiju looked about to pursue them, but Gesila let out an earthshaking roar and it, instead, turned to face her. The crab-spider thing answered back with slamming claws and a roar of its own before moving toward Gesila. Gesila slammed her tail against the ground as she got into a fighting stance, an eager grin spreading over her face.

 Monster Containment Protocol Information Section A

Echidna Blood: Currently the greatest threat to human life. Echidna blood; called Typhon Blood in Europe, Mutagenic goop to laymen, or corruption to some, is the blood of the original kaiju to attack the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. Originally called the Beast, it was renamed Echidna after the effects of its blood on complex organisms was found.

Echidna Blood is a highly mutative, highly contagious, liquid capable of mutating any multi-cellular organism it comes into contact with. The result of this mutation varies wildly from simple changes to outward appearances (changed skin/hair/eye tone) to mutations so violent and wild as to be lethal. So powerful is the agent that simple skin contact is enough to cause its full effects.

Due to the use of conventional weapons when fighting Echidna, much of the Eastern seaboard has been contaminated with Echidna Blood, spread via the many missile, shells, and other weapon impacts. The result is a wide spread of its mutagenic effects to a wide variety of creatures, including people. Worse, these same mutated organisms can spread the mutagen with their own blood as well, making a situation that could, in theory, spiral out of control. Thankfully, this threat was contained after the death of Echidna and the quick response of various groups, including our own MCP.

Due to the self-defeating nature of using traditional weapons on Kaiju-level threats, as these will simply spread more Echidna blood, MCP controlled Kaijus have become the go-to response for kaiju threats.