Varan defeat

"What's that ahead of us?" Kip demanded over the radio.

Aboard Raptor-Two, Lori checked her navigational maps. They were over Galveston once again. Pier 22 and the Galveston Ship Channel were right below them. Lori could see the Elissa, a tall wooden ship that dated from 1877, moored to the pier.

She tried to discern what Kip was referring to. Then she saw a line of huge fuel tanks on the far shore and a small tanker moored near them.

"It's a tank farm," Lori replied a few seconds later. "Diesel fuel for ships... and it's been evacuated."

"Good," Kip grunted, fighting the control. "I'm going to force Varan down right there."

"What the hell -" Pierce snapped. But Martin grasped Kip's plan immediately.

"The scientists think Varan has sacs filled with flammable hydrogen!" Martin cried. "Kip's going to try to ignite Varan's internal gases."

As Martin spoke, Kip maneuvered the Raptor so that he was behind and above Varan. He switched to the cannons again and opened fire.

The shells ripped into the creature's hide. Kip concentrated the stream of armor-piercing projectiles on just one small section of Varan's torso. The creature suddenly lost altitude, until its soft, unarmored belly was directly over the largest of the fuel tanks in the depot.

Quickly, Kip switched menus and called up the Raptor's Hellfire missiles.

He aimed, not at Varan, but at the fuel tank underneath it. Six missiles leaped from their wing pylons and streaked toward the metal tank.

The fiery explosion lit up the dusk and rocked Raptor-One. A column of fire shot into the sky, completely engulfing Varan. A huge secondary blast followed the first, and more fire leaped into the air. The tremendous explosion could be seen from miles around. The blast shattered windows in downtown Galveston, and knocked down power lines, toppled a radio tower, and capsized the tanker moored to the pier.

In the middle of the conflagration, Varan bellowed in agony. As the fires spread, another tank blew up, sending more smoke into the air.

Hovering over Galveston, the occupants of Raptor-One watched in amazement as Varan rose, phoenix-like, from the destruction. But as it limped into the air, Kip could see that the monster was wounded, perhaps mortally.

Turning, Varan floated toward the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The creature was burning in the sky as its shattered gas pockets leaked hydrogen, which continuously fed the flames.

Cautiously, Kip followed the monster, but he did not attack again. When Varan was miles from the Texas coast, another explosion rocked its body. As the crews of Raptor-One and Raptor-Two watched, Varan dropped out of the sky and into the Gulf, where it vanished beneath the waves.

Dead or alive, Varan was no longer a threat.

G-Force had fought its first battle - and won.


Godzilla 2000, Chapter 22