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During the long
flight to Washington, Max mulled over the events in Hawaii. ( He
had plenty of time, after all. ) Why did Crazy John Stanton
ask for him? Even if Stanton did like him, Max didn't feel
any better about it. Putting it aside, Max settled in for
some shut eye... As he drifted off, Tamara haunted his thoughts.
After landing, and
another fun filled romp through Reagan International Airport, Max was
met by a tall, quiet man in black. Said person led him to
a stretch limo. Max was ushered in, and the car was off.
This alone, made him feel uncomfortable... Yes, the work he did,
was for the government... But he seldom had to deal with the
formal feds. The car sped on through D.C... Ending it's trip at
an ugly, rundown looking industrial complex. There were no lights
in the buildings, the whole place looked dead. Max felt increasingly
uneasy with all of this. Now, the car drove toward one of
the larger, darkened buildings. As it did so, part of the
wall slid up... revealing a brightly light interior. Max watched through
the windows as the car entered. He had heared of places
like this... Hidden think-tanks put in plain site. But why had he
been driven here? This answer would come soon enough.
Max was escorted
from the car, through this large hidden parking bay... to an
elevator. He entered, The driver / escort did not. This was
super secret, Max thought as the door closed. (In places
like this, No one knew the other's job. The escort could
drive him to the elevator, but had no idea what went
on here.)
The Elevator door
opened... To a small room with another set of doors. Max noticed
a camera above them, as well as scanning wands built ito
the room's side walls. This was extreme security, Max thought as
he stood there. Now, the scanning wands moved down the walls.
When they hit the floor, The doors opened. "Welcome to FendTech,
Mr. Harrison." said the man standing behind them. Max looked
to him, puzzled. "... Ahh, FendTech?" "Defense Techologies Unlimited, Sir."
The guard replied. "I see." The guard led Max down the large
hallway to yet, another set of doors. When they opened, Max
saw a huge room filled with screens, consoles and other high-tech
equiment. Above the main floor, there were balcony offices, tied
together with catwalks. It was very impressive. ( Although, Max
likened it to all those spy movies. ) "So, exactly...What am
I doing here?" He asked the guard. "You're here by my authorization,
Mr. Harrison." Max winced. It had been years since he had
heared this voice. He scanned the giant room once again, finding
it's owner. John Stanton stood near the center console... He looked every
bit, the megalomaniac. Dark and forboding. Max took in a deep
breath. "Ah,.. begging your pardon, sir...But why?" He repeated. Stanton let
out a quick chuckle... No doubt, meant to disarm. "Why, you ask?
Because you have potential, Max!" Now very confused, Max slowly walked
toward his old professor. "I'm not sure, I follow you... Of what
potential are you speaking?" Again the man laughed. "You possess one
of the greatest, thinking minds I have ever seen... Along with
an equilly matched, stubborn streak." "Nobody's perfect." Max offered.
" Come with me, Max... Let's talk about Hawaii." Stanton motioned for
Max to follow... Max did so, carefully.
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Max trailed Stanton
up the stairs, to the balcony offices. Alowing himself some room
to move. Stanton led him to a large office at the end
of the catwalk. Max noticed the brass nameplate on the door
as he entered. "At least, you can't forget who you are..."
He mumbled. The room itself, was large. There was a heavy,
modern looking desk at center... With two leather easy chairs facing
it. The walls were covered with paintings. All dinosaurs. (This
struck Max as odd, considering the nature of this place.)
Stanton sat down
behind the desk, motioning Max over to one of the chairs.
He sat down, very confused over all of this. "...So how
exactly, does one go from simple college professor...To super secret
shadow group,.. Anyway." Stanton chucked again, Then replied. "I'm surprised at
you Max... You haven't figured it out, Yet?" Lighting a cigar
as he went. "Well, I'm kinda out of my leauge, here." He
answered. Stanton paused, chewing over this. (And the Cubin. ) "Yeah,
I suppose you would be... College is a daytime occupation, Max."
He seeded. Max mulled this over...Then it hit. Stanton wasn't
a new addition to this place. He had been here all along.
Even when Max was listening to his lectures! Stanton watched the
expression, "Now, you get it." He said with a smile, pulling
a thick folder from his desk and handing it over. "Here's
something else, you can chew on." Max took it, then saw
the "Eyes Only" warning. Now he hesitated. "Go ahead, you
got your clearence." Barked Stanton. Max opened the document, and
started thumbing... Tokyo, Japan. 1952. 14,000 killed, another 25,000 injured
or unaccounted for. 250,000 effected... Mostly through long term
radiation exposure. All of this accompished, in roughly 45
minutes time. All the result, of a one creature. No bomb,
no super weapon... NO EARTHQUAKE... A single, living animal! The Japanese
called it Gojira. Roughly tanslated to Godzilla. Max got to the
photos. Horrifying images of the aftermath. Scatterd, burned and broken...
He felt sick, just looking at these.
Stanton watched
him as he did this. "Kinda adds new meaning to the words,
' natural disaster,' don't it?" He said, somberly. Max looked up,
still incredulous. "Unless something can be done about it, That'll be
Honolulu!" Stanton stressed, pointing at the folder Max held. "...Pretty
much, the rest of the islands, for that matter." He added.
Max put the
folder on Stanton's desk. This was quite an awakening, but it
presented bigger questions. "Ok, so it did happen the way you
taught it... Why doesn't it, show up in the text books?" He
inquired. "That's a fair question, Max." Stanton said. There was
a pause, as he figured out a way to explain.
"Ok, it's 1952, You just found out, Tokyo was flattened by
a giant monster... And, they couldn't stop it. You, and the rest
of the world powers, are busy trying to 'one up,' each-other
in the nuclear supremacy game. Now, Godzilla breaks headlines, and
the world panics... Itchy trigger fingers all over the globe, come
to the same quick solution... Vaporize Japan!" Listening to the explanation,
Max picked it up. "... So the story was white washed, by both
Governments. In order to save the country... That makes sense."
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