He was the cavern's only occupant.
Towering eight feet above the cavern floor, Thor steadily approached the man. Thor's ice-green eyes blazed with pain and his red hair and beard dripped with dark sweat. His white bearskin was blackened by the crawl through the shaft and blood fell heavily from his left hand as he held the gigantic battle-ax in the other.
Finally he stood over the man, frowning down.
The young man trembled before Thor's colossal, mythic aspect. And Thor knew that the paling scientist would have fled if he could have only found the strength.
“Who are you?” the young man whispered.
Thor gazed down, smiled.
“No one you should fear.”
* * *
“Oh no,” whispered Chesterton, backing up.
“Don't move!” Frank said tensely.
Blinking sweat, Connor froze in place. He felt his face cold and wet, the skin on his back crawling. Not just because the beast stood before them. It was because the growl that came from the depths of the darkness was more than bestial; it was supernatural and hateful.
The growl continued a long moment before it descended to a horrible, trembling threat. And then with a quickness that made Connor almost leap back, Frank took a solid step forward, boldly making a stand in the middle of the tunnel.
The scientist stared dead center at the ominous shadow.
Connor watched in absolute horror as Frank raised clenched fists to his sides, staring at Leviathan with no aspect of fear whatsoever. The scientist held the defiant, weaponless position as if he would never move, as if he could kill the beast with a glance. Connor was shocked almost as much by the suicidal stand as the beast crouching in the darkness less than three hundred feet away.
Leviathan's growl, angry and suspicious, rumbled from the blackened section of the passageway. Then Connor stiffened his trembling knees and somehow managed to speak: “Frank! What are you doing!”
The scientist’s reply was shockingly loud.
“It doesn't understand!” he shouted.
Chesterton jumped.
“Frank!” the colonel hissed through clenched teeth. “Are you insane! It will kill you!”
“It doesn't understand!” Frank yelled and took a very small step forward. “It doesn't understand how one man would come against it without a weapon! It suspects a trap! That's how it's programmed to think!”
Frank held his fists at his sides, glaring utterly without fear. Then in a challenging movement that caused Connor to curse out loud the scientist pointed dramatically at the floor.
With a volcanic growl Leviathan retreated a single step.
“God in Heaven help us,” Chesterton whispered, closing his eyes. His sweating fist trembled on the .45.
“Back up!” Frank yelled. “Connor, set that trap! Fast!”
Connor and Chesterton stepped back without thinking. But even as they moved, the creature responded, clearly understanding retreat. It leaped forward from the darkness, covering a hundred feet with a bound. Growling more angrily, Leviathan crouched long and low in the tunnel, tail sweeping left and right, balancing the gigantic dragon form.
A green-black horror in the full light, the Dragon lowered its massive reptilian head toward Frank and roared, causing a shock wave that reverberated along the tunnel, quaking the walls.
Chalky white dust fell from the ceiling, and overhead lights trembled, swinging. But Frank continued to glare, defiant and challenging, pointing theatrically to the floor. He held an aspect that promised sure and swift doom if Leviathan took another step forward.
Leviathan growled gutturally, head tilting. Its vengeful eyes glowed brighter, like light. Connor was mesmerized by the standoff but somehow managed to take another cautious step until he had backed around the tunnel door.
Shocked, he looked down to see the steel walkway near his feet, and he suddenly remembered. He was actually startled to find the 100,000-volt line still in his fist. A panicked breath escaped him. He had completely forgotten the line during the standoff, and he was lucky that he hadn't grounded it to himself by touching the bare copper ending. Chesterton backed around the corner, lifting a trembling hand to his face.
“He can't hold it there,” Chesterton whispered. “In another second it's going to figure out that he’s bluffing.”
Connor didn't bother to reply.
Angrily scattering cold sweat from his eyes, he bent to study the walkway. He saw that the soldiers had done a good job. They had separated a small section right in front of the vault, and the middle section appeared to be completely insulated from the ground with thick sheets of plywood, two-by-fours, and fiberglass paneling. But still, Connor wasn't sure whether it was enough insulation. He worried that the current would still be able to leap through the wood to ground out without the beast stepping on it. This entire stunt was wildly dangerous, he knew, but it was all he had.