The Avengers vs. Godzilla Pt.9

The Triskelion, Washington DC. One Week Later…

Director Fury overlooked a number of monitors showing all types of news broadcasts covering the situation in New York City. Everything ranged from reconstruction efforts of over half of Manhattan underway with support from a number of companies, including Stark Industries, to the initial reaction from the public about the revelation of creatures like Godzilla and Ghidorah existing. The footage showed things such as the shots of Godzilla coming out of the sea and battling the heroes from the Daily Bugle, coverage of Ghidorah’s body being fished out of the Hudson by serval helicarriers, shots of the Avenger’s Mansion destroyed along with other important areas around New York, and even interviews with citizens who had been evacuated. And through it all Fury could hear all the comments and statements being made.

“If something like that exists, I think we should move away from the oceans as much as possible.”

“That monster wound up saving everyone. He’s like the Thing or the Hulk, only way bigger!”

“Current information about the location of the creature known as ‘Godzilla’ has been classified, as well as the remains of the other creature that had been called ‘Ghidorah’. S.H.I.E.L.D. authorities were not at full liberty to disclose the information.”

“That thing is a menace! It’s just another freak, like half the other ones we have running around our city! If there’s no other giant monsters for it to fight, how long before it decides to go skipping through another city and causes millions of dollars in property damage?”

“I think if we just leave it alone it probably won’t bother us. I mean he never came around before, right?”

“Some veterans from World War II claim that Godzilla was responsible for a number of submarine disappearances around the Pacific Ocean.”

“This isn’t a monster, but an angel sent by God! If we anger him then he will send his wrath in the form of a mighty dragon that will see us all burn for our sins!”

“Superheroes are one thing? But giant monsters? C’mon.”

“Soon Tony Stark will speak on behalf of the superhero community on their response today with congress on Capitol Hill.”

As he watched Fury was interrupted when Agent Maria Hill walked up behind him and said “The Council is waiting, sir.”

He turned and nodded before silently walking off. Maria Hill only watched as he did, Fury still keeping his silence as he passed other staff. Eventually he reached a dark room with serval large screens above and a small desk with a single screen in the center. Each screen soon showed the figures of the members of a secret World Security Council. All but one were men, each with distinct accents to show they came from America, Asia, England and the Middle-East.

“Director Fury.” The leader of the council addresses him. “We’ve been made aware that you and Tony Stark, as well as other members of the superhero community, had a private conference without our acknowledgement.”

Fury, despite keeping a calm demeanor, answered sarcastically “Well a lot happened in one week and I sort of lost my scheduling book. Felt it was an issue to get out of the way as soon as possible.”

The female member of the council retorted with “This is not a game, Director. You’ve allowed Mr. Stark to speak not only for the heroes but S.H.I.E.L.D. as well. We’re unaware of what critical choices you’ve made regarding this…creature.”

Pointing at the screen he said “I think you’re about to see for yourself, councilmen.”

From where he stood he watched as live footage was being shown from inside the congress building. The council members could see as well as Tony Stark approached the middle of the room where everyone’s eyes were focused on him.

“So, Mr. Stark, we understand you and your compatriots have chosen action to take regarding this monster referred to as ‘Godzilla’?” the head of congress asked.

“Yes.” Stark simply answered.

“Let the records show that Mr. Stark had agreed to these terms.” He said before adding “Also, further references of the creature should be kept as Godzilla. If we’re going to give it a name it should be addresses as such.”

“‘He’, Sir.” Stark corrected before explaining “Godzilla’s a he. Not that I wasn’t looking for that long to notice, he just happened to be very tender with me after we kissed and made up.”

A few people chuckled at this before the congressmen banged his mallet and called “Order.” After that he said “Have that last part stricken from the record. And you, Mr. Stark, will not continue with your deplorable antics in this hearing.”

“Sorry, mom.” Stark joked yet again.

Despite this the congressmen asked “Now what exactly have you come here to tell us, Mr. Stark? What have you and other members of the Avengers decided upon?”

Stark began with “Well more than the Avengers, sir. We’ve consolidated with heads of the Fantastic Four, X-Men, and even some of the smaller street-level groups. And we’ve all come to a consensus.” When asked to clarify Tony answered “We’ve agreed….to disagree entirely.” A small outbreak of murmurs erupted before he was asked to explain. “We know you’ve got plans to try and bomb him or any other sort of hostile action, but let me be clear in saying all you’re going to do is piss the guy off. Godzilla wasn’t attacking us because he was hungry. We misunderstood his actions as hostile acts of aggression and we revealed on the real threat. One which we’ve ultimately seen dealt with.”

“You are referring of course to this other creature.  This…‘Ghidorah’?”

“Yes, sir. Which, I don’t know if you kept up with the news, but is currently a few pounds lighter and probably won’t be destroying anymore planets anytime soon.”

“So you and the other heroes are just going to ignore this possible threat?”

“I think ignoring real problems is more your department, senator.” He joked, getting a few more murmurs from people. “But in fact we, as I’m sure everyone else, will be keeping an eye on Godzilla in case he gets out of hand. And thanks to a close, personal fishy friend of mine we’ll be updated if he so much as sneezes. But unless we perceive it as a threat, we will not act against it.”

“Based on what exactly? You think this creature is friendly?”

“Not unless you plan to blow up his home.” Stark clarified. “But we’d be pretty foolish to think Godzilla will come and help us with every problem we have. For now its best we just let him be. Like the guy we rent the basement out to, we don’t bother him and he won’t bother us.”

“And if he does attack, if Godzilla returns with an aggressive nature, will the Avengers respond?”

Stark was silent for a moment before sighing and saying “We’ll do what we always do, sir. Save the world and protect the ones who want to keep it safe.”

With that Stark turned and walked out of the room. News press and reporters all tried to get a word from him as he left, Tony only taking in the limelight while deflecting any and all personal questions or those trying to pry into more information regarding Godzilla.

After that the council looked back to Fury who shrugged and said “Not the best way I’d have put it, but I’ve never been good with talking in front of crowds.”

The leader asked “So this is your response? You allow a creature that’s caused damage to a major city to just walk away to not be bothered ever again?”

“To be fair, councilmen, we’ve had to deal with the Hulk causes all sorts of collateral damage during his mood swings within the past 12 months. And even then he was still there standing by our side when both Godzilla and Ghidorah caused destruction to the Manhattan. As was Godzilla.”

“Are you trying to say this thing is a hero of some sort?” another council member asked.

“All I’m saying is he was an ally when we needed it, and right now he’s not bothering anyone. And now that S.H.I.E.L.D. currently has Ghidorah’s body, as per confirmation by the Guardians, I’d say it’s a fair trade.”

The female member then pointed out “While we can obviously benefit from whatever we can gain from studying it, the corpse of a space dragon seems a hard compensation next to the millions of damage caused in the fighting. Not to mention a number of overseas businesses are now considering to drop their dealings out of fear this thing will return.”

Fury spoke up to answer “We’ll try to give them the same statement as Stark did, that Godzilla won’t be a threat at this time. Whatever they do then is on them.” Everyone was silent with Fury then saying “You all have my answer. S.H.I.E.L.D. will aid in monitoring Godzilla, as well as future counter measures to be taken should he become hostile. But until then we’ve officially considered the matter closed.”

With that Fury cut off connection with the council. He turned, leaving the room, before seeing both Maria Hill and Agent Coulson standing and waiting for him outside.

When they asked how it went he sighed and said “Starting to wish I didn’t quit smoking.”

“At least they’re content for now.” Hill said. “Without full support from S.H.I.E.L.D. or the Avengers, no one’s going to start sending nukes at Godzilla.”

“Not unless they’re stupid enough.” Fury retorted. He looked to Coulson and asked “Is he still where we last spotted him?”

“Our monitor’s last readings confirmed Godzilla’s last location off the coast of the Solomon Islands. He hasn’t moved since then, but we’ll keep surveillance on him 24/7. But if I may say so, Director, while I do agree Godzilla’s not a threat we should consider the possibility of other monsters of his type showing up again.”

“I know.” Fury smirked. “Which is why I left that sort of planning with the people I know to trust with such an issue. I just hope they come up with a better plan than anyone else does.”

*****

Stark Tower, New York City. A few hours later

From above some the assembled Avengers, as well as a few of the reserve members and other heroes, were looking down at the reconstruction of the city going on. All manner of construction work was being done to remove debris and start rebuilding the foundation for others. Others were simply waiting until Tony returned from the business in Washington, or any other word from Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D.

The ones looking out the windows including Steve, T’Challa and Bruce. The other assembled heroes, who were doing their own business to await Tony’s return, were Janet, Hank, Carol, the Vision, Wanda, Clint, Natasha, Roddy and even Scott.

Looking downward Bruce said “I can’t but feel a little better knowing I wasn’t responsible for all the destruction this time.”

“And I doubt Godzilla has a conscious regarding a few toppled buildings.” T’Challa added.
Steve, finally turning away, said “Give it time. Things will be back to normal.”

“Normal isn’t exactly something we deal with every day, Cap.” Bruce joked. “Speaking of, any word from Thor?”

“He’ll be back once the healers on Asgard can help fix him up.” Steve answered. “Might be a while though. I think he’s the only one I know who can take direct hits from two monsters and still keep on kicking.” He then looked to Bruce and corrected himself “One of the only ones at least.”

The three walked over to the main room where everyone else was, Logan saying “Just got off the phone with Scott. Jean’s going to be fine. A little woozy for a few days, but after having a giant space dragon in your head I wouldn’t blame her.”

“First bit of good news I’ve heard all day.” Roddy replied. “Been getting chatter here and there about the secretary of defense planning to mount a little monster hunt. Thankfully Tony’s little speech has a few other heads thinking differently.”

“Good.” Steve said after hearing that. “Last thing we need is more fighting after things have just started to calm down. Even for a little bit.”

“Let’s just hope it lasts long.” Carol said. “Pretty soon people are going to get curious. Next thing you know they’ll be hunting the big guy down just to get a picture with him.”

The Vision then said “I looked through the web and have already discovered several sites devoted to Godzilla and whether he should be considered an omen of destruction, a sign of a new savior, or altogether a new species of animal.”

“Well we can’t say any of them are wrong.” Wanda commented. “It’s the extremists we’ll need to worry about.”

As the sound of a helicopter could be heard Natasha said aloud “Speaking of people who’re a little too extreme…”

The private chopper with “Stark Industries” on the side landed on a nearby landing port on Stark Tower. Tony exited, making his way inside where everyone else waited for him.

As he did he threw off his jacket, letting it land wherever, while saying “Well aside from the camera adding ten unwanted pounds, I’d say that all went pretty better than I thought.”

“Really, Tony?” Scott had asked. “If anything I think you pissed them off.”

Hank then explained “Which, in Tony’s book, means it went well.”

Steve walked up and asked “What’s the plan now?”

Walking to the bar and pouring himself a drink Tony explained “Like I told them. We’re staying out of it so they’ll need to be extra careful with whatever they do next. Which, given the stuff we’ve dealt with in the past, it’s a pretty good assumption they’ll just keep their heads down for now. At least the smart ones will.”

“I get the feeling there’s a deeper joke in their somewhere.” Jan commented.

Despite this Bruce spoke up and said “They’re not wrong though. We should at least prepare for some sort of contingency or something if Godzilla, or something else, comes around again.”

“My thoughts exactly.” Tony pointed out. “Which is why I’ve been thinking on something of a new project.” With more attention on him now he smirked a bit and said “You all know me, always making bigger suits to fit the occasion. Right, Bruce?” he nudged, implying the creation of the Hulk-Buster Armor. “So I guess you could call this something of a ‘big, giant monster-buster’ outfit.”

Roddy then spoke up and said “If you’re planning something like that, it sounds bigger than a suit.” He then huffed and said “Going to be tough to handle that sort of thing.”

“I know.” Tony said before taking a sip. “That’s why I’m letting you do it.”

There was a collective silence from everyone for a moment, surprised by this, before Clint had to ask “Wait…what?”

Even when Roddy asked Tony explained “Something this is going to need to be piloted. Not worn. So logically I need a pilot. And I can’t think of anyone better.” He smiled and then added “Hey, at least you finally get your own big suit, right?”

Roddy, still taking it in, finally huffed a “Thanks.” Before being led by the shoulder by Tony into the other room.

“C’mon.” he said. “Let’s me show you some plans I was working on last night. I’ll let you color in the lines if you want.”

“Don’t start.” Roddy’s said before they disappeared.

After that Clint said “Well at least things feel back to normal. Though did anyone else here the stuff Professor Xavier talked about when he looked into Godzilla’s mind?”

“I did.” Bruce said. “We talked about it the other day when we had another session. He told me some of the visions he saw in its mind showed other creatures like it. Other gigantic animals that existed long ago. Apparently so much they’re deeper than what any fossil record has uncovered yet.”

“Which means?” Janet asked.

T’Challa then answered with “Which means that if something like Godzilla could survive for so long, then perhaps there may indeed be others as well.”

Steve sighed and nodded before saying “Could be. And we’ll be waiting.”

*****

And thus the heroes of the world all kept to their word. They did not attack or interfere with the now slumbering beast. Even now I watch as he sleeps at the bottom of the ocean, resting peacefully and waiting if his home should ever face such a great plague as Ghidorah ever again.

But this is only the beginning….

*****

On an island far out in the Pacific Ocean, untouched by man for thousands of years, a presence had begun to stir. As if a signal had been made with the arrival of Godzilla this presence became aware of his coming and now knew this was the start of a great change to the world.

Two small figures knelt before a great alter where they began to sing their song of worship before an old and ancient god. They sang her name and prayed for her return, for it would be needed now more than ever.

Uatu hovered in the air above them. Either they were unaware of his presence of chose to ignore it. He did not mind either way as his attention was looking towards the very thing the two small figures were praying to, the apparent symbol or perhaps resting place of the god they waited for.

Sitting atop a large stone opening to a cave was a gigantic egg.  

End….for now.