Daikaijuzine

“Can you make them larger?”

Dr. Sdravko Nieczuja looked up from his lab table at the pair of slobbering mastiffs General Fitzsimmons had in tow.

“You’re the big specialist in making things grow, aren’t you?” Fitzsimmons said. “Yes, I get it, there’s lots of technical mumbo-jumbo behind the growth serum. I’m interested in results, not in a bunch of egghead theories. What I want to know is whether you can make them grow?”

General Butch Fitzsimmons’ mastiffs sat in two identical slobbering heaps, staring up at their master with a mixture of fear and adoration.

“I suppose I could, although I don’t see the point. They’re already quite big.”

“Yes, but they could be bigger.”

“General Fitzsimmons, bigger isn’t necessarily better,” the scientist replied.

“Of course it is,” the General snapped, “This is America, dammit!”

“But, what use would they be?” Nieczuja protested. “I’m here to create weapons, not perform plastic surgery on your pets.”

“Pets?” The general’s moustache bristled with anger. “Professor, these aren’t pets! These are efficient killing machines.”

The mastiff on the right drooled.

“Yes, I can see that. If they’re so efficient, why do you want them bigger?”

“Because then they’d be more efficient! I didn’t make General by talking out of my ass, professor. I know weapons, and I believe that giant animals are the future.”

“General,” Sdravko said, “it’s not that simple.”

“Of course it is!” Fitzsimmons replied. “I’ve seen your first test subject, in fact, I’ve had it brought here.”

#

“I thought that maybe we could have a nice local ceremony,” Captain Manly Savage said.” I know that you were thinking about a destination wedding, but the money we would save on logistics could go a long way if we diverted it towards flowers. I know a great florist downtown and–Jen? Are you listening?”

Jenny Nieczuja looked up so fast her glasses slid down her nose. She had been poking through the cabinets in the kitchen of the couple’s suburban Chicago home.

“Have you seen Pansy?” She asked.

“Why are you looking there?” he said. “She’s much too big to fit in the cabinets.”

“She hasn’t had her shot,” Jenny said. “I’m worried that she may have gotten small again. No, don’t roll your eyes, this is important!”

“So is our wedding.”

“Yes, but that’s not for months yet. My Panzersloth is missing right now!”

“I don’t see why you don’t just let the scaly thing shrink back to her normal size.”

“Papa has explained this to you countless times. He only tolerates us living together so long as Pansy is here to protect me.”

Manly thought about reminding her that a pangolin, even one two meters long was hardly a good guardian. Panzersloth (Pansy for short) had huge claws, but they were designed for digging, not fighting. She was a slow, armor-plated beast whose best defense was to roll into a ball at the first sign of danger.

The truth was that Pansy had been Jenny’s friend since her father had worked in connection with the Sarajevo Zoo. When the violence in Yugoslavia had claimed her mother, and forced her father to flee the country, Pansy had been a great comfort to the terrified girl. Dr. Nieczuja had made the armored insectivore his test subject to ensure she could always be with them.

“Manly Savage, stop day-dreaming!” Jenny said. “Are you going to help me or not?”

He cringed. Manny was a sensitive soul who had struggled all his life to cope with a name that was so unbearably… manly. Jenny knew this and only used it when she was annoyed with him.

“It’s not my job to keep track of that ridiculous anteater,” he muttered.

“Pansy’s not an anteater. She’s a pangolin. They’re not even in the same mammalian superorder,” she said, sounding frustrated.

Manny shrugged. For him, anything that looked like it stuck its tongue out through its nose was an anteater, science be damned. “I don’t know why your father makes you keep it,” he grumbled. “After all, you’ve got me.”

“He’s just very protective.” Jenny stood up and straightened her clothes. “Maybe she’s upstairs.”

“No, she’s not. Some soldiers came by earlier to pick her up. They said that she was needed down at the lab.”

Anticipating her reaction, Manny moved so that the kitchen table separated them. They had been together for almost three years, long enough for him to know what was coming.

“What? Papa said that Pansy was done with testing! That she was retired! What’s he taken her for?”

“I don’t know, honey,” Manny replied. “All I know is that they had orders from General Fitzsimmons–”

“The General!” her eyes flashed with the look he knew so well. Manny was a strong man who towered over his fiancé by a full foot but, when she was this angry, she terrified him.

Jenny stormed out of the kitchen. By the time he made it outside, she was already on her bike and building momentum.

“Wait! Jen! What about the florist?”

“You deal with the florist!”

“Will you be home for dinner? I was going to do braised salmon!” She was already too far away to hear. With a sigh, he got in their car and set off for the lab.

#

Over at the lab, Pansy appreciated the enclosure she’d been put in–the fire ant colonies were especially good–but she didn’t like the situation. It upset her to be away from Jenny this long. Besides, the General was there. She had never particularly liked the short, stocky man with the large handlebar moustache. There was something strange about him, something Pansy didn’t like. He was the kind of man that she would have kept away from Jenny.

She ate a few fire ants, but didn’t really enjoy them. All she could think about was going home.

Then the door opened and the General entered, but Pansy felt nothing but joy. This time the awful little man had brought her friend, Dr. Nieczuja, with him.

#

General Fitzsimmons shifted his gaze to Pansy and his eyes gleamed.

“Back when I was in Afghanistan, we could have used one of those giant scaly things to dig out those A-rabs when they started hiding in caves. Of course, it’d have to be a damn sight bigger, but it definitely has potential.”

“That’s hideous!” Sdravko said. “A giant like that would have no way to distinguish terrorists from innocent people. Human beings would seem like nothing more than ants to her.”

“And what’s your problem with that?”

“Look, General, that pangolin is a member of my family, and I will not have you treating her like a potential weapon. Even if you did get your way and she was given another dose, the chances are she would die. She was the very first animal to be treated successfully, and the serum has changed considerably. We have no way of knowing how she would react to the new chemicals!”

The General glared at the professor. The man was short and frail, but he exuded great confidence. Anyone with more imagination than Fitzsimmons would have found him intimidating. As it was, the General was unaffected by Sdravko’s reasoning and passion. All he saw was a short man with unruly white hair and a foreign accent.

“Listen, professor, can you make my dogs grow?”

“Yes.”

“Will you make them grow?”

“Not if I can help it.”

“Very well then,” the General said. “In the interests of national security I am assuming personal control of the project.”

“You can’t do that!”

In response, the General snapped his fingers, and two MP’s stepped forward.

“Escort the professor out of the building, gentlemen. I’m sure that his assistants here will be able to provide me with all the help I need.”

#

Manny had beaten Jenny to the lab and was helping his future father-in-law to his feet just as his fiancée arrived. She threw her bike to the ground and rushed over to her father, trembling with rage.

“What’s going on?”

“It’s the General,” Manny said, keeping an arm around Sdravko’s shoulders. “From what I just gathered, he’s had your father expelled from the facility. He’s left orders that all non-military personnel are barred until further notice.”

Sdravko liberated himself from Manny’s worryingly affectionate embrace.

“Are you okay, Papa?” Jenny asked.

“I’m fine, my dear,” the scientist said as he gently probed his skull, wincing when his fingers touched a sensitive spot. “I got a bit of a bump when they tossed me out and it’s scrambled my thoughts, but that’s not important. It’s the rest of the world we should worry about. That maniac now has access to some of the most potent technology on the planet. I shudder to think what he’s going to do.” He turned to Manny. “It’s time you showed me that you are worthy of my daughter’s hand in marriage.”

“Huh?”

“You’re the General’s second-in-command. I demand that you march in there and stop this. I need to get back in there before he does something disastrous!”

Manny squirmed. He was the tallest, strongest, and most imposing of the General’s officers. If anyone could break through the man’s fortress of ego and insanity, it was him. Manly Savage was the kind of man that the General had always wanted to be. At least, he looked like the kind of man the General wanted to be.

Unfortunately, though he had a position of command in one of the Army’s most elite units, Manny had an aversion to conflict. If not for the pressure of coming from a military family, he would have remained a civilian. Secretly, he’d always imagined he would have been much happier as the editor of a lifestyle magazine.

“I doubt he’ll listen to me, sir,” Manny said.

“Why’s that?” Jenny eyed him suspiciously.

“Because… I’m off duty?”

“Come on, man up!” She grabbed hold of his collar and pulled him down to eye-level, turning the look on him full force. “Believe me, I’d rather sort things out myself than leave this up to you, but we’ve got no choice. You’re our only hope!”

“But–”

“No buts! You go in there and get this sorted out… be manly for once.”

Manny hesitated a moment, looking at her in mute appeal, but she was resolute. She crossed her arms and watched him slouch into the building. When he was gone, Jenny let herself soften. “Help her, Manny,” she whispered. “Please save Pansy for me.”

“There was something I meant to tell that boy,” Sdravko murmured, rubbing his sore head.

“What was it Papa?”

“I can’t seem to remember,” he replied. “I hope it wasn’t important.”

#

Pansy was experiencing deja-vu of the most unpleasant kind. Pangolins are surprisingly intelligent, and Pansy was one of the brightest ever discovered. She had no problem recognizing this feeling: the General had poured a full vial of a strange-smelling liquid down her throat, and now she was growing again.

The last time this had happened, she had had Jenny there to comfort her. Now she was surrounded by people she didn’t know and didn’t trust.

Luckily, the General had left the room. Pansy wasn’t sure she would have been able to stay quite as calm if that awful man had been there.

One of the remaining soldiers approached Pansy’s enclosure. He pointed at her, screaming. The noise made her head hurt. She tried to reach out to the soldier to make him be quiet, but she wasn’t used to her increasing size. She swatted at him with claws that had grown to more than two feet in length. The man fell with a scream and scrambled away.

Another MP drew his pistol and began to fire. The bullets ricocheted from the heavy scales that covered Pansy’s entire body but one nicked her nostril. She let out a bleat of pain, instinctively lashing out with her armored tail and collapsing a wall.

The rest of the scientists and soldiers panicked. Pansy didn’t like this. It made her feel scared and alone. What she really wanted was Jenny–she always felt better when she was there.

She heard more loud noises and felt sharp burning pains in her chest as more MPs began firing their rifles. Without thinking, she curled up into a ball, allowing her heavy outer scales to form an impregnable defense.

The noises continued and she began to feel faint pain even through her armor. She had to leave.

She pushed off with her tail, feeling the enclosure walls shatter beneath her as she rolled through the room. She crashed through three walls before she felt fresh air on her scales. She unfurled herself and looked around. There was the lake that Jenny liked to take her to. Feeling comforted by this connection with her friend, Pansy trundled her ever-growing body toward the water.

#

“General!”

Butch Fitzsimmons turned away from the window. He had been observing an experiment which, mystifyingly, involved a basket of kittens and an ominous-looking ray gun.

“What is it, soldier? Can’t you see I’m busy?”

The soldier couldn’t help but stare at the scene. “Kittens, sir?”

“SOLDIER!” the General bellowed. “Are you aware that we are in a war on terror?”

“Yessir! But, sir–kittens?”

“Terrorists might be scum, but they’re not stupid. They know that their best weapon is surprise. I suppose you think they look innocent?”

“The kittens or the terrorists?” Confusion was plain on the soldier’s face.

“What if Al Qaeda had infected them with anthrax? Did you think of that?”

“Nossir, I–”

“What if the Taliban has trained them as suicide bombers? They could be a basket of cute, furry little hand-grenades.”

“General, I’m not sure you could strap enough explosives to–”

“Have you forgotten about the BASKET?” Fitzsimmons bellowed. “That’s big enough to hide a suitcase nuke!”

“But, sir, surely you could take the kittens out–”

“And risk losing American lives to those diseased claws?” The General’s eyes drifted off; focusing on something only he could see. His right hand went up to his neck and rubbed some extremely faint scars.

“You may think that ‘cute’ animals are harmless soldier, but I know better. Don’t ask any more insubordinate questions,” he leaned closer to the young man and spoke in a low voice. “Not unless you want people to think you’re a terrorist sympathizer.”

“Yessir,” the soldier answered weakly.

“Now, what is it? I’m a busy man.”

“It’s the pangolin, sir. The growth serum worked.”

“Excellent!”

“It’s grown, but it was able to escape.”

“From its enclosure?”

“From the building, sir. It’s swimming away through Lake Michigan. So far as we can see, we’ve got no way of controlling it, sir!”

“General Fitzsimmons, sir!”

The General turned to see that Manny had entered the room, looking both terrified and determined. “General, I need to speak to you!”

“Not now, son, there’s a giant pangolin on the loose!”

All the color drained from Manny’s face as the General turned to a soldier.

“Mobilize the troops immediately,” the older man commanded, his eyes suddenly bright. “We’ll need tanks and helicopters to bring the monster down. We may even need an air strike.”

“But sir–”

“If we can’t control it, we’ll have to destroy it! That’s an order, soldier! Now, get moving!”

The man saluted and made a hasty getaway.

The General turned back to the kittens as they frolicked with each other in the basket.

“It’s about the pangolin, sir,” Manny said, not daring to get any closer.

“Ah, a man after my own heart. Of course you can join me in the chopper. Just as eager to bring the beast down as I am, eh, Captain Savage?”

Manny’s mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out.

“You!” the General shouted to the kitten-handlers. “Pause the experiment! I’ll be back later to oversee.” He walked over to Manny and strained to put a fat, hairy hand on the Captain’s shoulder. “Come on, son, get dressed for battle. We’ve got a city to save.”

#

Manny and Jenny ran into each other in the chaotic hallway.

“What are you doing in here?” he asked.

“What are you doing in your uniform?” she returned.

Soldiers and scientists were rushing around. The soldiers moved with purpose, the scientists with desperation.

“Look, I haven’t been able to talk to the General yet,” Manny said. “That is… I haven’t been able to convince him to give Pansy back. You see, there’s a bit of a problem.”

“Yes, I gathered that. All hell broke loose and we were able to slip inside. What’s going on?”

Manny put his hands on Jenny’s shoulders, bracing her. “Fitzsimmons used the serum on Pansy.”

Jenny’s mouth worked, just as ineffectually as Manny’s had a few minutes before.

“Not only that, but he used a ridiculous amount. She escaped from here, was last sighted swimming through Lake Michigan. The last we heard she was a few hundred feet long.”

“Savage, let’s go!” Fitzsimmons bustled past the young couple, followed by three soldiers carrying portable rocket launchers.

“Wait, what does he mean?” Jenny asked, grabbing her fiancé.

“Well, I’ve sort of been recruited to help bring Pansy down.”

“Bring Pansy down?”

“Look, I’m confident that once I’m in the chopper I’ll be able to reason with him. This is all part of my plan.”

“Bring Pansy down?”

“Okay, so maybe ‘plan’ is a bit of an exaggeration.”

“Bring Pansy down?”

“Savage!” the General barked. “Now!”

Manny smiled apologetically, gave Jenny a thumbs-up and scurried off. It was strange to see a 6′7″ man scurry, but he managed it nonetheless.

“Jenny, are you okay?” Sdravko had joined his daughter, and held her hands in his.

“Did you hear that, Papa?” she asked, tears streaming down her face. “They’re going to kill Pansy!”

He nodded. “If I had had a chance to speak to that idiot General, I would have been able to tell him about the antidote.”

“Antidote?”

“Yes. That’s what I was trying to think of to tell Manly earlier. I have some vials in the laboratory.”

Jenny was already running down the hallway. She knew how to find her father’s lab through all the chaos. She had spent much of her childhood and working life there.

“Watch out,” Sdravko called as he caught up. “There’s growth serum spilled on the floor. The last thing we need is for you to start growing too.”

The two desperately searched through the rubble. After a moment the scientist held up a box filled with vials of blue liquid.

“The antidote!”

Jenny breathed a sigh of relief. Just then she felt a burning pain in her ankle. She reached down, catching something hard and squirming. It was the biggest ant she could remember seeing, nearly as long as her thumb.

“Is this what they were feeding you, Pansy?” she murmured. “Poor girl.”

“Jenny, we must go!”

“Yes, Papa.” She tossed the ant away and followed him.

#

Pansy came out of the water at the Navy Pier. The small peninsula had once been a military base but had long since been converted to a shopping area. She trundled inland on her hind legs. Her massive tail swung side to side, crushing many of the shops that the pier housed.

People streamed out of the shopping area. Their screams seemed tiny but she recognized the sound of upset human voices and tried to avoid them. As she did, her tail struck the pier’s giant Ferris wheel, sending it rolling into the lake.

The people looked so different, and that was the worst part of being big. They looked more like ants than people, and she was so hungry! She’d never been this hungry before.

A loud whirring noise came from behind her and she felt a series of stings across her back. Pansy looked around, and saw two helicopters hovering over the pier. One of them fired again, sending a rocket into her belly.

Pansy howled in pain and lashed out with her tail, swatting it away. The chopper fell like a broken toy into the green water. She was about to do the same to the second one but it whirred up and out of range.

Pansy grunted with satisfaction, she hadn’t wanted to fight the strange little machines. All she wanted was to find Jenny, and get something to eat. The giant pangolin turned and headed inland.

#

“Move in on that thing,” General Fitzsimmons barked at the pilot. “We may be out of rockets but we’ll bring it down with our cannons.”

“General,” Manny protested, “I don’t think that’s going to work.”

“What do you mean?” Fitzsimmons snarled. “This bird is equipped with two M61 Vulcan cannons. There’s no animal that can stand up to that.”

“But sir–”

“Blast it man! I’m telling you it has to work. That anteater’s armor is made out of…” he stumbled for the word.

“Keratin, sir,” Manny supplied.

“Right. Keratin, that’s the same stuff fingernails are made of. Do you expect me to believe that United States military hardware can’t handle fingernails?”

“Nossir, but the tissues are much stronger. Professor Nieczuja says a creature this size would be crushed by its own weight otherwise. Her bones and scales are harder than steel.”

“Really?” The General smiled and twirled his moustache. “Then those scales will make the world’s best tank armor after we kill the brute.”

They followed Pansy south, firing as they went. The guns annoyed her enough that she turned into the city at Millennium Park. In moments she passed into the relative shelter of the giant buildings of the section of North Michigan Avenue, known as the ‘Magnificent Mile.’

She left the park in ruins. The metal web of the Pritzker Pavilion lay crushed and torn, and the Cloud Gate sculpture had been knocked loose to roll through the street like a colossal chrome kidney.

“My God,” cried Manny, who was a great admirer of abstract art.

“Don’t worry son,” Fitzsimmons said, pointing. “Here come the tanks.”

#

The tank shells hurt Pansy more than the helicopter attacks. Desperate to get away, she curled up and rolled. She peeked out of the space between her front legs, doing her best to avoid the buildings. It didn’t do much good. Her colossal body flattened cars and busses, and her protruding scales shattered glass panels of nearby buildings.

The tanks pursued at a distance, but they did more damage to the city than to the pangolin.

As she reached the North Michigan Ave. Bridge, Pansy stopped and unrolled. Her massive tail whipped back, shattering one of the tanks. The others quickly retreated, but Pansy had another trick for them. She raised her tail and untold hundreds of gallons of thick yellow fluid, sprayed across the Army forces. This skunk-like display wasn’t a tactic Pansy had used often in her life, but she was desperate.

As the troops reeled and gagged in the potent pee, Pansy lurched into the Chicago River and splashed away from the battleground. She was frightened, upset, and hungrier than ever when she trundled ashore on the far side.

She looked around, and to her surprise, she saw what looked like a gigantic glowing ant hill. Hardly able to believe her luck, Pansy made her way towards the large structure. She could see herself in its reflection, as if it was a giant mirror. She stared at the image of her claws as she sank them into the glass and ripped it open. There were a few of the tiny funny-smelling creatures inside but she ignored them as they fled. For the moment at least the need to get away from her tormenters was stronger than hunger.

#

“Sweet baby Jesus, it’s eating the Trump Building,” one of the soldiers gasped.

Manny hadn’t been paying much attention to the giant pangolin. Since the helicopter had landed he had been too busy trying to convince the General not to kill his fiancée’s pet.

“It’s eating the people inside!” the man gibbered. “It’s licking them up with its tongue!” Manny peered at the giant building but couldn’t see what the man was talking about. Pansy had burrowed deep enough that all he could see was her scaled back. It was impossible to tell what she was doing, let alone see any humans. He recognized the certain brittle tone in the soldier’s voice that indicated an impending mental breakdown.

“Sir,” another soldier said, “we need to do something.”

“You’re right private,” the General replied “We have to save those people!”

“General,” Manny interjected. “The building isn’t scheduled to be finished for months. I don’t think there’s anyone in there except a few construction workers.”

Fitzsimmons scowled.

“Maybe not,” he said, “but it’s the principal of the thing. We can’t let that creature ruin a symbol of American free enterprise. Fire everything we’ve got, keep it occupied. And get me Scott Air Force Base. We’ll see how the bastard handles a cruise missile…”

The rest of the General’s command was lost in the sudden explosions as the order to open fire swept through the assembled forces. There were a number of small explosions on the pangolin’s back, but it didn’t seem to have much effect other than annoying the beast.

#

Jenny and her father pulled up on her bike. Casting it aside, she headed toward the lead tank. That was where Fitzsimmons would be.

Her heart sank as she saw Pansy burrowing deeper into the residential skyscraper. Then she saw her fiancé staring slack-jawed at the scene, and she felt a glimmer of hope. A faint glimmer, but a glimmer nonetheless.

“Jenny!” Relief washed over Manny’s face.

“Where’s Fitzsimmons? We have an antidote!”

“An antidote?”

“We can reverse the effects of the serum!” Dr. Nieczuja said.

“How did you know where to come?”

“A 400 foot pangolin is easy to follow.”

“Oh,” Manny said weakly.

“What are you two doing here?” The General had spotted the Nieczujas and had gotten his hands on a bullhorn that magnified his voice to epically annoying proportions. “I told you to stay out of here!”

“No, you told us to stay out of the lab. You can’t tell us to stay out of Chicago,” Jenny countered.

“It doesn’t matter,” Fitzsimmons broadcasted. “The two of you are interfering in a military operation. I’ll have my men place you in irons!”

“But we’re not interfering,” Dr. Nieczuja said. “We’ve got the antidote. You don’t have to kill the pangolin.”

The General looked baffled and furious for a moment.

“You could have saved us all some trouble by telling me about this antidote earlier, Professor,” he bellowed. “I’ll have to add ‘withholding vital military information’ to the charges against you. In any case, it’s too late now. I’ve called in a missile strike.”

It was at that point that Jenny decided to go for the only remaining option: attack Fitzsimmons. She moved so quickly that she was able to get in a couple of good punches before he caught her hands.

“Get this madwoman away from me!” the General growled.

Before the soldiers could restrain her, Jenny brought her knee up to strike Fitzsimmons at the juncture of his stubby legs. He gasped and sank to the ground. Jenny grabbed the megaphone and ran toward Pansy. The soldiers raised their rifles.

“Don’t fire!” Manny cried. The strength in his voice startled even him.

“But, Captain Savage…”

“I gave you an order, soldier.”

Hearing that made Jenny want to smile, but there wasn’t time.

“Pansy!” she shouted, the megaphone sending her words out at deafening volume. “Get out of the building, Pansy! They’re going to blow it up!”

#

Pansy heard the cries. The sound was still too small to make much sense to her in her gigantic state, but she recognized Jenny’s voice. She extracted herself from the building and shambled eagerly toward the group. Soldiers panicked and ran in the face of the approaching colossus.

The voice was coming from one of the ant-creatures, which was very confusing. Just the same, it sounded like Jenny and that was what mattered most. Moving very carefully, Pansy leaned down and nuzzled her friend with the tip of her nose.

The two soldiers holding her jumped back, terrified. Jenny grabbed the bag full of antidote and latched on to Pansy’s muzzle.

“RETREAT!” the General shouted. He had found another bullhorn and was using it to good effect. “We have to be a safe distance from the monster when the missile hits.”

Pansy made the matter easy for them by backing away. She didn’t want to fight. She had Jenny and, ant-sized or not, that was what she wanted most in the world.

It was then that Pansy saw the missile. She didn’t know what it was but recognized the danger. She couldn’t let it hurt her friend. Pansy curled into an armored ball around ant-Jenny. The last thing she noticed as she tucked her head under her tail was the loud little human who had climbed on top of one of the tanks.

A moment later a terrible burning pain wracked her body as the missile struck.

#

Manny sobbed uncontrollably. Dr. Nieczuja attempted to comfort the young man, but acted more as a handkerchief than a shoulder to cry on. He stared at the devastation stretching out before him with tears running down his face.

The exploding cruise missile had shattered the remaining windows in the Trump Building, transforming the area into a sea of soot and broken glass. Enormous pangolin scales had been hurled in every direction to topple trees and damage buildings. One of the scales had actually embedded itself in the tank where the General had been standing. The only thing left of General Fitzsimmons was a beefy arm holding a megaphone.

Sdravko’s vision was so blurred that at first he didn’t believe his eyes. Once he had wiped away the tears, it became undeniable: Jenny was walking toward him, holding a regular-sized pangolin. A pangolin with a mangled tail.

“Jenny!” He pushed the young man away and ran toward his daughter, quickly followed by a still-sobbing Manny. “What happened? Are you okay?”

Jenny carefully hugged her father, minding not to hurt Pansy. “I’m fine. Poor Pansy will need a trip to the vet, though.” She looked down at her pet and gently stroked her head. Pansy closed her eyes happily.

“Jenny! Pansy!” Manny planted sloppy kisses on the young woman and the animal. Pansy licked his face–leaving a trail of extra-sticky pangolin saliva–but he didn’t mind.

“Pansy curled up once I had hold of her.” Jenny explained. “I was able to pour the serum into her mouth. The scales on Pansy’s tail were able to take the blast.” She looked at the pangolin, who seemed extremely pleased with herself.

“Captain Savage!” It was one of the soldiers who had been in the chopper with him and the General.

“Not now, soldier. I’m having a personal moment.”

“This is important, Captain. The professor will probably want to see this too.”

They made their way over to the communications van. He pointed at one of the television screens.

An attractive but panicked blonde was reporting from outside the lab.

“…No one knows exactly what this building was used for, but it’s now the cause of a wide-spread panic as reports of monsters persist.”

The reporter caught the arm of a frightened-looking soldier as he hurried past. The man was carrying a basket of kittens.

“Sir, can you comment on the reports of giant monsters?” she asked. “Is the military in control of the situation?”

He briefly gibbered at her before running away.

“It appears that there’s something coming out…” she said. “Oh dear Lord RUN!” The camera jerked wildly as the news crew ran for their lives, but not before transmitting a clear picture of man-sized fire ants emerging from the wreckage.

In Jenny’s arms, Pansy started to twist and grunt, her eyes glued to the screen.

“Papa,” Jenny said, “do you have any more of that serum left?”