Chapter Text
One morning, in a little house in the suburbs of Tokyo, William Jackson was having a chat with his girlfriend, Natasha. They discussed the usual subjects one would talk about in conversation; work, life, that sort of stuff.
"Anything wrong?" Natasha asked curiously, noticing William looking unnerved about something. She was a young woman with long hair, dyed with so many colours; red, purple, pink, and white, it looked like how a galaxy often looks in photographs, and dazzling blue eyes.
"Not much. Just dealing with work," William answered, giving a glance towards her. William Jackson was a fighter pilot in the military, famed for his skills in flying a variety of aircraft. He once took down three enemy planes with one missile while having to evade two more. And it wasn’t just planes he was skilled at flying, but also helicopters and even dragons.
"I hope everything’s going OK, Will," Natasha replied, trying to calm him down. She put her hand on his shoulder, a small smile on her face.
William was about to respond when his cell phone rang. He took the phone out of his trouser pocket and examined the message that appeared on the screen; "Meet me at 10:30 AM" the message read. He looked at the name of the person who sent the message, one that he didn’t recognise: Harry Lloyd, head of Lloyd technologies.
"Best be off to work!" William told Natasha, as he headed out of the door. Natasha looked at him, and she seemed to know he was lying about something. Wherever William was going, it wasn’t to work.
"Be safe out there!" she responded, a slight chuckle within her words. She waved goodbye to William as he left the house and closed the door behind him, walking back over to the sofa and sitting down, a laptop open on the rectangular wooden table in front of her.
William walked over to his Audi R8 GT and unlocked the door, climbing into the driver’s seat before setting off to wherever the message had come from.
His car was matte black with a decal depicting a wolf’s head on either side. It was fitted with a Liberty Walk widebody kit, giving the car an aggressive look, and a large rear-wing at the back. The engine had been tuned to 560bhp, giving the car a higher top-speed than normal, the exhaust upgraded to produce a low yet audible rumble.
He’d arrived at the building shown on the co-ordinates and went inside via the automatic doors, hoping Harry would be there. Walking up the reception, he saw a young man standing behind the counter and walked up.
“Hello, I’m here to see Harry Lloyd,” William said. The receptionist turned around to face him, William’s sapphire eyes glinting in the artificial light, which also illuminated his short, jet-black hair.
“I’m sorry, we don’t have anyone by that name working here,” the receptionist replied, “I think you might have gotten the wrong address.”
William gave the man a quick thanks before leaving the building, getting back into his car and making his way back home.
The minute he arrived, he saw the lights were on, something he found odd as they usually turned them off at this time of night. He knew from the get-to something was wrong, the smell of burning coming from within.
"Natasha! I'm home!" He called out, waiting for a response. No-one answered, so he tried again. Each time he called, there was no answer, no matter how loud he spoke. Anxious to find out what was going on, he opened the door and walked inside, coming across a sight that made him stop dead in his tracks; Most of the living room was in complete disarray, shreds of torn up paper and wrecked walls covering the floor like a white blanket. shattered ornaments were scattered across the room, water dripping onto the floor from one of the pipes that’d been exposed. It was as if a bomb had gone off inside the building, taking out the entire room.
"My god, what’s happe...?" He wondered to himself. He stopped abruptly, seeing Natasha's lifeless body laying on the floor. William knelt down to examine her body; there were various cuts and bruises all over her, buried under so much ash and debris it would be difficult to see her without paying close attention
"Natasha?" William sobbed, placing his hand on her chest to see if she had any pulse. Realising she truly was dead, he pulled his hand away, looking down to see it was covered in blood. There was one person he knew who could help him; Richard Jackson, his own father.
Richard Jackson was a world renowned combatant and a high-ranking member of a top secret military organisation named the Kaiju Termination Group, or ‘KTG’ for short. He and his team had taken down so many monsters he’d won several medals, all of which he proudly displayed on his jacket which he wore every time he went out to war.
He was a tall, bulky man who looked like he could take someone down with just a mere tap on the shoulder..
He was already in the heat of war, fighting several large kaiju at once. One of them was the king of monsters himself; Godzilla, and he didn’t seem at all pleased at what they were doing. He tried taking down several soldiers with his atomic breath, but they all managed to roll to the side, avoiding his attack.
"Father!” William called out, raising his voice so he could be heard over the sound of the conflict. He rushed up to Richard, panting for breath when he caught up to him.
"William, what’re you doing here?" Richard wondered, as he glanced at William at the same time as aiming his firearm at one of the monsters. His long, red hair and scraggly beard was becoming covered in dirt and debris that had been kicked up throughout the battle, several scars covering his face, showing he’d been working with the military for a long time.
"I need your help!" William told him urgently, ducking down as a Jeep exploded nearby, parts of it almost hitting him as they flew past.
"Can't help you, I'm busy!" Richard responded, firing his gun at one of the monsters, which refused to fall. The weapons used by the KTG weren’t normal guns, but rather energy cannons designed by a respected scientific research and technology company called XeTech. The cannons fired blasts of energy powerful enough to take down even the largest of monsters, although they sometimes had difficulty penetrating the thick skin of some of them.
William glanced in the region of the vicinity and noticed they were fighting near an immense skyscraper, the Xetech corporation logo emblazoned above the front entrance, large enough for anyone to see even if they were several feet away. He walked in the direction of the doorway and entered the building, having a suspicion the company might be involved. He knew XeTech, despite being well respected, had a reputation of taking out those who uncovered any of their secrets.
The instant he entered, he was swiftly knocked unconscious by an unseen individual and dragged into another room. Upon waking up, he found himself strapped to an operating table within a large room, surrounded by a variety of different tools, the kind one would see at a hospital, and strange looking contraptions (he guessed one of them was a generator of some kind). Two men stood over him, looking down as though trying to work out what he was. One of the men was youthful looking, long, light blonde hair and emerald green eyes. The other was a fair bit older, his short grey hair starting to fall out, revealing his smooth head underneath, his eyes concealed by dark shades. Both the men, whom William assumed were scientists of some kind, wore doctors’ outfits and surgical masks, which obscured the majority of their visage and made it nigh-impossible to see any hint of expression on their faces. The older one had a pistol holstered on his belt, which was bizarre for somebody of his profession, as it would usually be a guard who would carry any sort of firearm.
"William Jackson, my name’s Jacob Williams,” The younger man said, his voice low yet soft, trying to sound as polite as possible, “I’m the head of Xenon Technologies Corporation, or ‘XeTech’, as you might know them.”
"What do you want?" William enquired, shaking as he tried to break free of the restraints. They were too strong, however, so he remained where he was, awaiting whatever fate the two doctors had in store for him.
"We want to perfect you, William, to create a soldier powerful enough to take down the monsters that are fighting right outside our front door," Jacob replied, and William had the distinct feeling he was smiling, "By the way, this is Brian Johnson. He’s our top scientist and chief of security, a man I trust very much," he continued, gesturing to the other man. William now knew why he had a gun.
Jacob grabbed his walky-talky from his belt and held it by his ear, pressing a button on the side.
"Jacob, how's our deal going?" enquired a concealed person on the other end. This wasn’t a voice William recognised, although he assumed it was another member of XeTech, or someone associated with them.
"It's going well, my lord," Jacob replied, putting his radio back on his belt. He turned to face Brian, who already had a scalpel in hand, "let's commence!"
On the battlefield, Richard and the rest of the KTG were still battling against the monsters. Richard was just about to take a shot at one of them when he heard a loud shriek that made him drop his weapon to the ground.
"William!" He screamed, looking towards the XeTech building where the sound had come from. He needed to get inside, to rescue his son.
"Everybody stand down!" Ordered one of the soldiers, putting his hand out to signal the other soldiers to lower their weapons.
"Thank you, lieutenant Zachary!" Richard responded, seeing the men comply, pointing the weapons at the ground.
Richard sprinted towards the doors, trying to get in. Before he could enter, he was blocked by another, middle-aged man with jet-black hair and a scarred face; this was a man who had been in many battles throughout his life.
"Jeremy, what’re you doing?" he asked, trying to barge his way past the man. Jeremy was too strong for him, and pushed him back, preventing him from entering. Richard showed no sign of anger, however, knowing Jeremy was trying to protect him.
"You can't go in there!" Jeremy reacted, with apparent alarm in his voice. Jeremy Goldberg was the commander of the KTG, having led the group during its foundation approximately ten years ago, Richard having joined just a few years after.
"My son's in there!" Richard responded, looking up at Jeremy. His son was in danger, and he needed to get inside. He didn’t dare think about what they were doing to him, but knew from the screaming it wasn’t anything good.
"Then he’s lost to us! I'm sorry, Richard!" Jeremy said, giving a brief glance to the side as one of the other soldiers fired a shot at a monster with his sniper-crossbow, a weapon he had designed himself based on an old, scrapped XeTech design. The projectile hit its mark and exploded, ripping the creature to shreds. The monster’s remains scattered everywhere, blood covering the ground.
"I've got your back, sir!" the soldier notified Richard, readying his weapon for another shot at one of the monsters.
"Thanks, Michael!" Richard responded, wincing upon seeing the gruesome mess of skin and organ of what had once been a kaiju lying on the ground in front of him. He felt sorry for the thing; he didn’t want to hurt them, being an animal lover, but realised it was the only way to make the city safe.
William was in a clash with Jacob, who gained the advantage over him. Jacob was wielding a long, steel sword which he used with precision and skill. William, meanwhile, fought back using a metal rod he’d found lying around, blocking each attack Jacob made, while sustaining a few cuts from the sword. William brought the word up, knocking the sword out of Jacob’s hand. The sword fell down with a clatter, landing on the floor. Jacob bent down, trying to reach for it, but William knocked him across the head, making his stumble backwards into the building's generator, over a hundred volts of electricity surging through his body. William, growing weak and tired from the fighting, tried to gain stability. He had never felt this weak before in his life, his body starting to give way, something was happening, but he didn’t know what. He tried reaching for a syringe that was on a table, but fell down unconscious before he could get anywhere near.
Richard looked back, trying to think of what to do, how to rescue his son. Knowing the fighting would likely make things worse, he told his men to withdraw, dreading the worst had come to pass.
Before he could do anything else, a blast of energy caused the ground by him to explode, knocking back most of his platoon. He looked around, seeing a dozen corpses scattered around the field; only he, Jeremy, Michael, and Zachary, survived. They’d lost this fight, realising they didn’t have enough men to continue.
Richard’s gaze went towards the balcony of the XeTech building, where the energy blast had come from. There, a figure stood, obscured by the shadow. The figure, which Richard noticed was a man, leapt down, advancing towards him, a large cannon mounted underneath his right arm. This weapon was evidently more powerful than those used by the KTG, enough to penetrate even the thickest flesh.
As the strange man drew closer, Richard saw he was roughly his height. He was dressed in all black, a dark cloak flowing in the wind, his face concealed by a mask which resembled the head of a wolf.
"Who are you?” Richard demanded, looking up at the man who loomed over him. He looked up at the man, trying to see if he could make out any features that would give away his identity, but the mask concealed too much.
"You can call me lord vengeance!" He replied, his voice deep yet quiet, sounding like a creature that had come from the depths of the underworld and was ready to claim some poor soul. There was also a hint of panic in his tone, however, as if something bad had happened which had scarred him for life.
"What do you want?" Richard enquired, still worried about what might’ve happened to William. He wondered if this man, this ‘Lord Vengeance’, had anything to do with it.
"I want all of you dead!" Lord Vengeance replied, firing a blast of energy next to Richard; this was a warning shot, not intended to harm anyone.
"What did you do to my son?" Richard requested, glaring at Lord Vengeance, his breath becoming heavier, a grimace visible on his face.
"I haven’t done a thing, Richard,” Lord Vengeance replied, folding his cannon back so it was now up against his upper arm, “Your son’s still alive.” Richard looked back down; there was truth to his words, now he wanted to find out where his son was, where XeTech had taken him.
Lord Vengeance, deciding Richard and his men weren’t worth killing, marched away from the battlefield as Richard looked on. He didn’t look back, not even when Richard called his name.
“Take out Lord Vengeance,” Jeremy yelled to the surviving soldiers. He seemed to have more dislike for the man than Richard did. Richard couldn’t blame him, however, as the men who had fallen had all served under him, “He’s a dangerous suspect and must be eliminated!”