A Desperate Plan

Nicholas landed on the school roof, had Sensei give him coverage to power down and slipped inside.

He quickly returned to the dance and tried to find his friends. He found Peter (and Carol) first, and they were able to take him to Sandra. He joined the group she was with for the rest of the loud song that was playing at the time and then indicated for her to come with him.

She frowned but nodded and complied.

As soon as they were somewhere they could talk quietly, she asked: “what happened?”

He answered with: “I killed a few Dreadswarm and rescued the submarine. I think Pugh’s mom is their commanding officer.”

“Cool. But why…” she began to ask, and he spun around, meeting her eyes.

“Sandra, I may be wrong about this, but I think I can share this power with you, make you a Protector too.”

She blinked at him, surprised, and he continued: “I don't have the power to face them without taking a great risk, but the Dreadswarm is heading this way, and someone has to stop it, or at least slow them down, as I make a desperate ploy to recharge.”

“But how?” she asked, puzzled.

“I gained an ability called ‘Recruitment Drive’ - I think that, because you can hear Sensei, you are compatible and can become something like my armored form.”

She met his gaze, held it for a few seconds, and then smiled.

“One thing first and then we can try this,” she said.

“What one thing?” Nick asked.

She again smiled, reached up, and pulled his face down to hers, pressing her lips to his. She gave him a quick kiss and then released him. “If this does not work, I wanted to give you one last kiss. If it does, I wanted to thank you for the chance.”

“Then let’s do it right,” he said, and pulled her close, giving her a deep, passionate kiss of his own.

As he was about to break contact, Sensei spoke to both of them: “Recruitment Mode Activated.”

Sandra felt something slide off of his neck and onto her hand. It felt like a cold insect and she almost flinched away as it moved very quickly along her arm, then she felt a sharp pain in her neck and staggered back from Nicholas.

Nick watched in a little surprise that his plan worked, as silvery metal formed around her body. When the armor was finished forming around her, it looked a little shinier than his, only had one head fin, and had two tone blue accents instead of the green ones on Nick’s own armor - that and it was definitely designed for a female form.

“Wow. Not as pretty as the dress, but still beautiful,” Nick said with a smile.

Sandra heard a voice similar to Sensei but not quite the same speak to her: “Armor mode enabled. Optic Blast enabled. You may choose Gargantua Mode, Flight Mode, Aquatic Mode, Turbolasers or Advanced Sensory Array. Each time Nicholas gains an upgrade or new mode you will be able to select another option or two upgrades “

“Optic Blast?” She asked out loud.

Nick’s eyes widened. “I don’t have that.”

The new voice said: “I am a copy of M78, tailored to your armored mode. You may use your eyes to shed beams of light or to fire laser-like blasts wherever you aim your gaze. It is less effective but easier to target than Turbolasers.”

“Nick, should I take Gargantua or Flight Mode?”

Nick glanced around and activated his armor. “Call me Protector when one or both of us are powered up.”

“Maybe I should be called ‘Guardian’ then?” She suggested.

“Sounds good to me. Now I need to try to reenergize, and I need you to head to the beach and keep the Dreadswarm busy for as long as you can.”

“I think Flight sounds best, then,” Sandra said and headed out to engage the approaching monsters.

Nick watched her leave and then looked around. He could see the flow of electricity in the walls and followed it to a junction box. “Okay, Sensei, let me know if I’m doing something wrong - and if you can shut things off if it gets too bad, do so!”

“I must protect the Candidate,” Sensei replied.

Nick opened the junction box and took a deep breath. “Here goes nothing,” he said, and poked a finger into an outlet. He felt a brief bit of numbness starting at his finger as he broke the plastic of the socket, and then he felt like fire was coursing through his entire body. He hoped he was not screaming.

***

Sandra would have been surprised to learn she was flying better than Nicholas, as she had a tough time going in a straight line. She managed a degree of control as she came to the beach and saw several shapes rising up out of the water.

“Let's test these eyebeams,” she said.

The mechanical voice in her head said: “just select a target and focus on it."

“You seem to be a good guide - why don’t I call you that: Guide?” She asked as she was able to make out the closest Dreadswarm and just focused. Bolts of energy appeared in front of her and tore into the giant bug.

“If you remain airborne, we can do about twenty such blasts. Land and we might be able to do twenty-four or five,” Guide informed her.

“I think it's best to stay airborne, though I do need to learn to maneuver better,” she replied.

She blasted three more of the monsters in rapid succession, and then a group of about twenty surges from the water into the air. “Oh boy,” she muttered to herself in dismay.

Then she heard something that sounded like screaming, and saw a glowing object shoot past her.

It looked like there was a human-shaped core to the glowing object, but she could not look at it long, and it moved too fast. It headed straight into the center of the still growing group of Dreadswarm - and then suddenly lightning shot out of the glowing object in all directions, creating a momentary, blinding sphere of electricity. When she could see again, Sandra saw Nick - well, Protector, dropping rapidly towards the water - dozens of immobile Dreadswarm plummeting with him. She tried to head forward to catch him, but he suddenly grew to giant size as his feet hit the water. She pulled up short and used her eye beam on a Dreadswarm that had been airborne and was apparently angling its stinger for Protector's head. Her blast separated the creature’s abdomen from the rest of its body, and it spiraled down to the water below.

Meanwhile, the giant swept its hands though the water and came out with two Dreadswarm in one hand, a third in the other. He swiftly smashed the bodies together, then plunged beneath the water.

Then both Sandra and Nick heard Sensei’s voice: “Can only detect seven active Dreadswarm in the area. That is the good news. They have shifted their angle to head to the mainland. The bad news - they seem to have attracted something larger. It is too far out to identify yet but is moving rapidly and airborne.”

“And I used most of my energy in that electrical field,” Nick admitted.

“I have used about seventy five percent of my energy as well,” Sandra said. “Hey - we are talking normally, aren’t we? This is different. Kind of cool.”

Nick laughed. “At least you have a much nicer voice than Lord Kao.”

She landed on his shoulder. “Think we can take out whatever is coming?”

“We don’t have a choice. I don’t think anyone else can,” Nick replied.

“This is dangerous, but really cool,” Sandra commented. Nick just laughed.

In the distance they saw a few flashes of energy and explosions, as the approaching monsters moved closer to the armed skyscrapers.

“Let's engage it there. We will have to dodge the attacks of the city itself, but that will force whatever is coming to fight defensively.”

Sensei and Sandra both recognized the approaching creature as additional explosions illuminated it: “Arachdyl!”

Sandra continued, a little bitterly: “I lost a cousin to one. News ran clips of it taking down their plane for a week.”

Nick nodded and began walking as quickly as he could to the shore. He saw the seven Dreadswarm emerge from the surf and attempt to spread out A beam of some sort fired from the head of the flying creature, and webs formed around one of the Dreadswarm. A rocket struck the flying Arachdyl and it extended one long leg to knock the rocket launcher off of the building that fired it

“Most of the body is protected by a strong carapace,” Sandra said. “We need to get closer and attack its joints and the gaps between its segments.”

“Maybe The wings, too? Nick suggested

“No, somehow those are the toughest parts of its body,” she said, sadly.

The monster noticed Nick’s approach and fired its web-ray at him. Nimbly he dodged the first two beams it fired, but a third beam struck his left leg and bound him in place. Nick clapped his arms together - almost dislodging Guardian from his shoulder in the process - and then locked the Turbolasers in place as another web-blast bound his right leg.

The Arachdyl then landed on the ground. Standing on its rear four legs, it towered over Nick’s armored form.

Sandra dropped down from his shoulder and used her eye-beams to cut one of his legs free as the giant spider thing let out a loud, shrieking roar before trying to fire another web blast at him - Sandra managed to cut his other leg free just as the blast would have hit Nick - but his acrobatic skills allowed him to dodge it, barely, and he tumbled forward, coming up underneath the creature and thrust beneath its head, cutting loose with both Turbolasers. Green ichor exploded outward from the point of impact as the monster's head was severed from its massive body. The Arachdyl spun around, its wings and legs flailing. Several nearby buildings opened fire, with some weapons striking Nick while others cut into the dying monster. Nick moved under the body and strained to lift it.

“Energy reserves are low. Where are we taking this thing?” Sensei warned.

“Need to get it out of the city - maybe dump it in the bay?”

“Should work, but hurry.”

Nick flew out as fast as he could, almost dropping the body twice, and skimming the water once, before he was far enough out to dump the body safely.

“Power depleted. Sorry, Nick,” Sensei said.

He immediately shrank to normal size and began plummeting towards the water where he had just dropped the Arachdyl.

“You are not getting out of this date so easily, Mister,” he heard Sandra’s voice, as she caught him before he hit the water. She managed to just barely avoid crashing into the water herself and sped back toward the beach. Nick’s armor had already retreated before she made it to shore, and she just barely managed to land - clumsily, but safely - before hers vanished too.

Nick stood up first and helped her back to her feet. “Thanks for the save, Sandra.”

“That’s what your Guardian is for, dear heart,” she said, smiling

“We need to get some sand out of our clothes and hair and then get back to the dance,” Nick replied.

“Sounds good,” she said, leaning against him.

Faintly they both heard Sensei’s voice: “you managed to level up, but I need more energy to access data files “

“That’s okay,” Nick replied. “I think we all need a rest “

***

Interlude:

It was roughly an hour later. The High Lord of the Exerians sat on his bizarre throne. Light shone down on his alien form. Several figures were concealed by the darkness of the chamber.

“So, what have we now learned about the Prototype?”

The shrill voice of Destrax chimed in first: “It appears the humans have named him ‘Protector,’ and he seems to be connected to the artificial island they call New San Francisco.”

“More than connected,” another voice spoke out of turn, “this ‘Protector’ seems tied directly to one of the schools on this island. And there may be a second, a female one, now.”

“That last bit of data atones for your rudeness, Toxus. If the Prototype has unlocked the ability to create more warriors, our efforts may be in peril. How would you propose we deal with this?”

“Well, fa… er, High Lord,” the voice of Toxus began, “I would see if we could find a way to infiltrate this school, either as a teacher or a student, and see if we can identify the Prototype in its depowered state to either recruit or destroy it. I could…”

“No,” the High Lord interrupted. “Your plan is good, but you are not the one to carry it out. If the Prototype is connected to this school, then he may be a teacher, a student or a parent there. You could only pose as one. Ghios? This shall be your assignment.”

The form that had remained silent, suddenly spoke in three simultaneous voices: “Understood sir!” and scintillating energy filled a section of the dark room. A massive form stood out as a silhouette against the shimmering radiance - and then the radiance faded as another light came on in the chamber, focused on where the form had been.

“As they have given you the name ‘King Ghidorah’, they will not know your real name - and they expect you to be entirely male,” the High Lord explained.

A stunningly beautiful teenaged girl with long silver hair and violet eyes rose up from being down on one knee: “I am Trinity Ghios, transfer student from Jersee.”

Beside her, also rising on one knee, was a handsome, heavily muscled man with black hair, a mustache and deep brown eyes: “I am her older brother, Salvador Ghios, teacher of Environmental Sciences.”

And the third figure, who had been standing, leaning heavily on what appeared to be a staff of white wood the whole time, said: “I am Mamma Rosa Ghios, their mother. We shall infiltrate their school as a new family in the area and learn all we can.” She was short, broad shouldered, with long, unruly white hair, ice blue eyes that seemed too large for her wrinkled face, and a few missing teeth.

“Yes, I think this plan will succeed - but maybe, in case the prototype might recognize the name, just go by ‘Gee’ instead of ‘Ghios’ as an added level of security? My son, you had a good plan after all.  Return to your disease studies - you may be called upon to support Salvador in his research… And they will all report to you, Destrax, as the overseer of the American continents.”

Five voices replied, in unison: “It shall be as you command, High Lord!”