Chapter Sixteen: The Final Battle

 

Chapter Sixteen: The Final Battle

            The overwhelming scent of steel welcomed Si, Alicia, Jake, and the Doctor as they stepped out of the Doctor’s TARDIS and into their destination: the Shatterdome hangar bay in Hong Kong. It had been forever since Si or Alicia stood among the titanic Jaegers stationed there. The last time either of them had was when they were in their past eleventh incarnation, from an accidental arrival brought on by the pacific rim rift.

            “The face and body – and even gender – may be different, but the color’s still the same,” a commanding voice spoke from behind the team. Si and Alicia knew it right away as the voice of Stacker Pentecost. They turned to see the marshal, appearing much older and more seasoned than in their last trip, accompanied by an older Mako Mori, who looked to be a woman with more purpose, wearing an official uniform and a scowl that was far more intimidating than her adopted father’s.

            Alicia realized that he was specifically addressing her in his statement. “Yep, I’m just as black as last time,” she joshed.

            Pentecost shook his head. “Hard to believe I’m staring at the same alien I nearly banished from the Shatterdome, all those years ago.” His sights then set on Si, and he inquired, “I take it this is another version of your father?”

            Si tried not to take too much offense from the mistaken identity. “Hardly.”

            Alicia restrained a chuckle. “She’s me also. My future self.” Looking past the marshal, she gave a friendly wave to Mako. “How’s it going, Mako? How’ve you and Raleigh been?”

            “Things have been good.” Alicia’s greeting managed to break through Mako’s stoicism, a smile developing on the middle-aged Japanese woman’s face. “The kids have been a handful. Whenever they are, we send them to their grandfather.”

            “And I have quite the time, telling old Jaeger stories,” Stacker beamed.

            “Awwww!!!” Si and Alicia gushed.

            Clearing his throat, the marshal brought things back to business. “Jake brought us up to speed on the latest, regarding the Cthulhu situation. We have fresh new Jaegers ready for deployment, piloted by our new cadets.” He led them to where a group of young men and women were gathered. One by one, Stacker introduced them, “Amara Namani, Nathan Lambert, Jinhai Ou-Yang, Suresh, Viktoriya, Ryoichi Hatayama, Renata, and Ilya.”

            Si nodded in approval of the cadets, most of whom looked younger than she physically did. “What about Godzilla?” she queried.

            “He’s waiting along the rift,” Mako replied.

            “But there’s someone else you all should meet,” the marshal added. “Another visitor, like Godzilla, that we received while Jake and the Doctor were away.”

            “Who?” Alicia asked.

            “Follow me and I’ll show you.”

            They did as the marshal directed and follow him out of the warm hangar bay and into the cold, rainy night towards the helipad. Through the rain and the darkness, they perceived a colossal shape sitting along the helipad, making it look smaller in comparison, in spite of its spacious design.

            “Is that…a very large gorilla?” the Doctor squinted.

            Si and Alicia were stricken as soon as they were able to identify more of the titan gorilla’s features. “Not a gorilla, but an ape,” the former said.

            “And not just any ape,” Alicia stated. “That one’s named ‘Kong’!”

            “Kong,” Stacker repeated the name with approving interest. “So that’s what he’s called. Mako and I weren’t sure which name best suited him.”

            “It’s the name that he associates with across the multiverse,” Si told him.

            “What I’m more focused on is if he’ll work with us to fight Cthulhu,” Jake said.

            Alicia shrugged. “There’s only one way to find out.”

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            “Sober as I am right now, I sure wish I was drunk.”

            That was the one thing that came over Debbie’s mind as she looked out of Maureen’s TARDIS with Ruth and Samuel. Even though the trees in the Forbidden Forest were tall enough to obscure all of Hogwarts Castle, they weren’t enough to obscure the behemoth that was Cthulhu. The mythical beast roared to the heavens before it began slamming its tentacles – balled up into gigantic fists – down upon what Debbie and Ruth presumed to be Hogwarts Castle. Their collective hearts skipped, believing that Cthulhu had destroyed their friends and everyone else there. Samuel believed it as well, clinging and sobbing into Debbie’s hip.

            Her motherly instincts kicking in, Debbie knelt and comforted the crying child. “It’s O.K., baby. You didn’t hear a crash, right? That means they’re still alive.”

            Ruth realized she had a point. She coupled that with Cthulhu’s rage, as it continued hammering on the castle to no effect. “They must have some sort of forcefield or something,” she gathered, feeling like she was acting in one of those fantasy shows that only lasted one season, with the way she talked.

            “Hogwarts is just full of tricks, ain’t it?” They heard Skeeta speak behind them. They turned to see him and Penz dressed in what looked like futuristic scuba gear, putting the final touches on the last pylon – a five-foot tall, high-tech chrome antennae that was alien in design with strange hieroglyphics etched along the casing. Skeeta and Penz had made six of them altogether.

            “What’re these things gonna do again?” Ruth asked the Time Lords.

            “If we’re lucky, once we’ve positioned them underwater, around Cthulhu’s feet, it’ll activate a containment field and send Cthulhu to an inescapable pocket dimension,” Skeeta reviewed.

            Debbie approvingly nodded. “I may not understand all this science jazz, but I’ll believe anything to get that unholy monster out there as far from us as possible.”

            “Alright, that’ll do it,” Penz finalized her end of the pylon work. “We’re ready.”

            Skeeta went to the control console and dematerialized Maureen’s TARDIS from the Forbidden Forest. Debbie, Samuel, and Ruth looked out through the open door, watching as the forest outside morphed into a lakebed with the two mountainous pillars that were the feet of Cthulhu, embedded in the bed. The three passengers deflected from the change, under the belief that all the water was about to flood into the ship.

            “It’s O.K.,” Penz calmed them. “It’s all being kept out by an invisible barrier.”

            “You ladies stay with Samuel,” Skeeta instructed, as he and Penz put on their diving helmets. “We’ll be right back.” They headed out of the TARDIS, walking through the water walled up at the doorway, without making any splashes. Skeeta displayed the remarkable strength that came with his tall, broad-shouldered physique, carrying six of the heavy pylons, whereas the petite Penz only hauled one.

            Of course, once submerged, the pylons only got heavier.

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            Everyone within Hogwarts Castle was amazed to see that Cthulhu was having very little success in penetrating the shield cast by the wizards – the only thing that stood between them and the Great Old One. “It’s not gonna hold for very long,” Maureen warned her allies, having regrouped in the Great Hall.

            Suddenly, the colossal beast ceased in its hammering.

            The castle residents then heard the magically amplified voice of Voldemort speak throughout every corner:

            “I know that many of you will want to fight. Some of you may even think to fight is wise, but this is folly. Give us H.P. Lovecraft. Do this, and none shall be harmed. Give us H.P. Lovecraft, and we shall leave Hogwarts untouched. Give us H.P. Lovecraft, and you will be rewarded. You have one hour.”

            Soon after Voldemort gave his demand, one of the Slytherin students in the Great Hall – a girl by the name of Pansy Parkinson – pointed to where Lovecraft stood and shrieked, “What are you waiting for?! Someone grab him!”

            “Typical.” Maureen rolled her eyes, shaking her head.

            “Seriously?” Susie glared at Pansy with judgmental eyes. “That’s low, even coming from me!”

            The students of House Slytherin inched towards Lovecraft, only for all of Gryffindor House to rise in a mass, almost immediately followed by all of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. They drew their wands, indicating their willingness to fight for the famed author.

            In the end, Professor McGonagall had the final say: “Mr. Filch, if you would, I would like you, please, to lead Miss Parkinson and the rest of Slytherin House from the hall.”

            “Exactly where is it I’ll be leading them to, ma’am?” Filch asked.

            “The dungeons would do,” McGonagall settled to the cheers of the students from Houses Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff.

            As Filch proceeded to lead the Slytherin students out of the Great Hall and to the dungeons, Harry pulled Dumbledore aside. “I don’t understand,” he consulted with his headmaster. “Voldemort’s only interested in Lovecraft. Not that I’m complaining, but…why not me?”

            “Let’s not look a gift owl in the mouth, Harry,” Albus advised. “Instead, let’s figure how we can use it to our advantage, based on the information Lucius gave us.”

            Overhearing them, Maureen marveled over the events that were transpiring before her. They were almost beat-by-beat how the Battle of Hogwarts came about in another reality, with a few major differences: Dumbledore was still alive, Snape was working against the Death Eaters (as he always did, just not in secret this time), and the odds were much more in their favor. Of course, the absence of Godzilla and the Jaegers worried Maureen.

            That anxiety wasn’t quelled all that much when she, Will, Dustin, and Lucas returned to the Room of Requirement to check back with Eleven, Mike, Max, and the restrained Billy. Before they reached the wall hiding the entrance, it suddenly exploded with Eleven’s body tumbling among the rubble. “Whoa!” Dustin cried, as Max and Mike checked on the barely conscious Eleven.

            Through the debris cloud that billowed from the hole in the wall emerged Billy, freed from his binds. His veins pulsated through every inch of his skin, from his face to his hands, clearly possessed by some greater force. Maureen drew her wand, taking aim. Billy merely cackled and said in a hollowed voice, “The pathetic magic of this world will do nothing to me!”

            “You underestimate how powerful it is, mate,” Maureen challenged. “So, I take it you’re the vessel Cthulhu’s chosen.”

            Billy shook his head. “No, not Cthulhu. Something else. Someone else. And you cannot stop him, Gladiator. All the forces of good in this multiverse won’t protect you from the Twilight Phantom! They see you…all of you…in every universe, in every regeneration…to your very last! YOU CANNOT STOP THE INEVITABLE!”

            He charged for Maureen, only to freeze just as a recovering Eleven telepathically got a hold of him. Despite her battered state, she flung him against another wall with enough force to send him through it. Maureen checked for his body once the dust cleared, but it disappeared.

            “We can’t let him leave this castle!” She urged Max, Mike, Will, Dustin, and Lucas to assist in the search.

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            An hour had passed, and with no sign of Lovecraft being surrendered to the Hierarchy, Cthulhu recommenced in pounding down on the shield protecting Hogwarts, each blow from his colossal might weakening it, cracking through the shimmering, translucent orange-gold infrastructure.

            “Where are those giant robots we were promised?!” Joyce griped in panic.

            No one was able to give her a direct answer.

            Maureen, Max, and the boys were M.I.A., leaving Hopper, Jonathan, Nancy, and Steve as the only other members of their Hawkins team standing in the Great Hall, armed with whatever weapons they could gather.

            Lovecraft was escorted to a hiding spot.

            As far as the wizards and witches of Hogwarts, those of age were welcome to stay if they wished. No Slytherins remained, but a number of older Ravenclaws, a quarter of Hufflepuff, and half of Gryffindor did stay to fight.

            The shield was ultimately destroyed, giving Cthulhu clearance to the castle.

            “We don’t stand a bloody snowball’s chance against this thing!” Ron whimpered.

            Just when it seemed Cthulhu was about to bring down all of Hogwarts Castle in one fell swoop, he was struck from behind by a barrage of missiles. His attention driven away from the castle, he turned to see a gathering of giant bipedal machines, matching in height with his own, along the other side of the lake.

            Jaegers. Six in total.

            The one codenamed “Gipsy Danger” was piloted by Si and the Doctor, both donned in “drivesuits” (a type of body armor used to interface with the Jaeger). Being Time Lords, they were able to meld their minds through a drift – a mental process necessitated for synchronizing with the Jaeger itself.

            With their comms connected to the five other Jaegers (Gipsy Avenger, Guardian Bravo, Saber Athena, Bracer Phoenix, and Scrapper), Si gave a single command: “LET’S KILL THIS THING!”

            “GERONIMO!!!!” the Doctor cheered as all six Jaegers engaged with Cthulhu.

            Each blow they were able to land on the Great Old One sounded like thunder to the ant-like spectators below, including the enraged Voldemort. His hand forced, he and the allies he had in the Death Eaters and the Whisper Men infiltrated Hogwarts Castle, putting all the wizards and their otherworldly compatriots on defense.

            Although the Death Eaters were easily vanquished with enough wizardry experience, the Whisper Men were more of a nuisance than imagined. One manifested after another was bested. “Anyone ever fought a Hydra?” Willow questioned his comrades (Susie, Hellboy, Batson, Ben, and Newt).

            “Once,” Hellboy verified. “Got my tail handed to me.”

            “Can’t say I’ve had the pleasure,” Newt said.

            “Because this feels exactly like fighting one,” Willow clarified on his metaphor.

            “How do we stop these guys?” asked Ben, who melted one Whisper Man into a puddle while in his “Heatblast” alien form, a plasma-based life-form whose body was composed of a super-hot inner plasma body covered by dark reddish brown volcanic rocks.

            “The Great Intelligence,” Susie surmised. “He’s the heart!”

            Among the attacking Whisper Men did Batson – in the adult body of his “Shazam” alter-ego – spot the one human that he figured to be the leader…the “Great Intelligence,” as Susie referred him. “Found him! I’m takin’ him out now!” He bolted straight for the Intelligence, only to be snared by the throat and slammed to the floor, in an extraordinary display of inhuman muscle.

            Hellboy made an attempt to blindside the Intelligence with a devastating tackle, yet he ended up only tackling thin air, as the Intelligence altered his human form, leaving Hellboy smacking into the nearest wall.

            Newt summoned a few spells, none of them having any effect on the Intelligence.

            Advancing on the wizard, the Intelligence swatted Newt’s wand out of his hand and then clasped the magizoologist’s face, lifting him off his feet. “Your face,” the Intelligence analyzed. “It reminds me of someone…someone I despise.”

            VWORP! VWORP! VWORP!

            His analysis was disrupted as he heard that familiar humming/grinding noise. Dropping Newt, he expected to see a blue police box when he turned. Instead, it was a big, black rectangular solid – the Gladiator’s TARDIS. Out of it stepped Alicia, who stared right in the face of the Intelligence and yelled, “Catch!” She then tossed something that the Intelligence caught in his gloved right hand.

            A sovereign.

            The Intelligence frowned, unable to discern what sort of trickery this was.

            As he continued staring at the sovereign, he sensed something pulling him towards it. The sensation intensified, with every part of the Intelligence’s human avatar disintegrating piece-by-piece, sucked into the sovereign. It glowed in a bright golden hue and floated momentarily before clinking to the floor.

            The Whisper Men vanished without a trace.

            Willow, Susie, Hellboy, Batson, Ben, and Newt were as relieved as they were curious over what Alicia had done.

            “What sort of magic was that?” Willow asked her.

            Alicia smirked. “Not magic. Science.”

            “Alright, what sort of science was that?” Susie reiterated Willow’s question.

            “The type that fuels a basic sovereign coin with enough nuage energy to trap a specific target with a specific bio-signature into a pocket universe from where it’d be powerless. It’s just a shame that it can only hold one target at a time.”

            Alicia retrieved the sovereign from the stone floor and pocketed it away.

            Watching her do so, Batson snickered, “Pocket universe. Now I get it.”