by Greg Keyes
And in all of this horror, amidst all of the chaos and weirdness, in the stink of fire and the burning of unnatural things there were only two things she recognized as familiar—her mother and Kong. And Kong needed her.
She reached where he lay collapsed; she pressed her hand to the earth that wasn’t earth. And there she felt it. His heartbeat. Slow. Getting slower, fainter.
* * *
Ilene found Jia next to Kong, her palms spread against the ground. She knelt by the girl.
What are you doing? Ilene signed.
His heart is slowing down, Jia replied.
Nathan caught up just then. “What’s happening?” he asked.
“She can feel his heartbeat,” Ilene told him. “It’s slowing down. He’s dying.”
Nathan looked away, toward the ongoing fight.
“There’s nothing we can do,” Ilene said. “To start his heart, we’d need to produce a charge big enough to—”
“—light up Las Vegas for a week?” Nathan finished. He had a gleam in his eye as he looked back toward the HEAV.
TWENTY-ONE
The sun darkens,
earth in ocean sinks,
fall from heaven
the bright stars,
fire’s breath assails
the all-nourishing tree,
towering fire plays
heaven against itself.
Völuspá, circa 1270 (an account of Ragnarök, the Old Norse Apocalypse),
trans. Benjamin Thorpe, 1865
Hong Kong
Josh typed frantically at the keyboard as Bernie crowded over him.
“Is that a password?” Bernie asked. “Is that a password?”
“I don’t know!” Josh replied, exasperated. “It’s all just evil jargon. I’m not used to this; I’m used to pirating movies online!”
“Do you see ‘settings’?” Bernie demanded. “Look for ‘settings.’ Control-Alt-Delete. I thought you were a hacker!”
Meanwhile, Madison was working the phone. She finally figured out how to get an outside line and entered her father’s number. The phone rang…
And he picked up.
“This is Mark,” he said.
“Dad!” she said. “Can you hear me? I’m in Hong Kong.”
“Madi … son…” She heard his voice break up and then the phone went dead.
“Hello?” she said. “Hello?”
But the connection wasn’t coming back. She looked over at Josh and Bernie, just in time to see “security lock” appear on the monitor. Josh was still typing, but nothing was happening anymore.
* * *
Nathan made it back to the HEAV and climbed into the cargo hold. He popped what he thought was the right panel. He rewired it, hoping against hope he was doing it right. Then the light on the panel changed and it closed.
That … looked promising.
“Okay,” he told Jia and Ilene, “you two better get some distance.”
Nathan saw Jia hesitate. Tears streaked down her face.
“You’re a very brave little girl,” he said. He made the sign for “brave” as he remembered her making it what seemed like an eternity ago.
She smiled; it was like a little burst of sun in the middle of a storm. She shook her head and pointed at him.
“I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe we both are.”
He watched as Jia and Ilene climbed out. Then he made his way forward to the controls.
* * *
Ilene watched the HEAV lift off, then turned her attention to the gargantuan battle still unfolding.
It wasn’t going well for Godzilla. As she watched, he tried to swipe the mechanical monster with his tail, but his foe caught it, spun to gather momentum, and hurled the Titan across the city, where he crashed into Victoria Peak.
Godzilla wasn’t out, though. He planted his feet and unleashed the energy beam that had tunneled through the Earth’s crust and mantel to Hollow Earth. But the robot thing let loose its own energy beam—a red one—meeting and overpowering Godzilla’s, blasting the Titan back through multiple buildings.
* * *
Nathan landed the HEAV on Kong’s chest. Then he went to work on the anti-gravity engine, rewiring it, directing the immense charge that powered it to his purposes. He was just finishing up when he felt a tremor of movement. He looked over to see Kong’s eyes were slightly open.
It wasn’t the Kong he had come to know. He looked sad, beaten. Dying. He was glad Jia wasn’t there to see it.
He made the final connection.
“All right,” he said. “Good luck, big fella.”
He flipped the final switch and ran like hell as a high-pitched whine began building up behind him. He’d made about two blocks when the engine exploded. He looked back and saw electricity pulsing through the Titan’s body. Then his own muscles spasmed, seized up.
Oh, crap, Nathan thought as his knees buckled. All I’ve done is electrocute him.
Then everything went black.
* * *
Jia saw the HEAV explode, felt the distant lightning on her face. She saw Kong twitch.
Then he jerked up, eyes wide, huffing frenetically. He opened up his mouth and she felt his roar on her skin. She broke away from her mother and ran back toward him. She didn’t know what the man Nathan had done, but she could feel Kong’s heartbeat again, even through her feet; strong, alive. She ran up to him, waving her arms to get his attention.
Finally he looked down at her, squinting. She started telling him.
Godzilla. Not. Enemy.
He snorted at her, roaring his disapproval at the very thought. He didn’t believe. How could he? Their kinds had been at war for so long. Godzilla—like Jia, like Kong—he was an orphan now. The last. But this other thing—it had no people, and never had. And it was not right, not a thing that should be in the world. She could feel it all the way to her marrow.
It’s true, she signed, emphatically. She pointed at the mechanical monster. That is enemy. It’s true.
Mother was here, pulling her back again. Kong still looked dubious, but Jia thought maybe he believed her.
Please, she told him. Be careful.
Kong looked over to where the abomination-monster was beating down Godzilla. Then he pushed himself to his feet. He gripped his hurt arm, and then cracked his shoulder against a building. Jia felt the grinding crunch of his bone moving into place.
Then, battered, wounded, Kong went back to the fight.
* * *
Bernie, Madison thought, was losing it.
“I thought you were a hacker!” he yelled at Josh for the tenth time.
“I never said I was a hacker,” Josh said. “I said I took HTML at camp.”
“HTML?”
“Yeah. At summer camp.”
“I knew it! Tap Water! Hah.”
“Shut up and let me think,” Josh demanded.
* * *
Mark swore at his phone, punching redial for the fourth time. The number was unfamiliar, but he was certain he had heard Madison’s voice on the other end of that line.
And it was a local number. Was she here? How was that possible?
Because it was Madison, that’s how.
Madison, he thought. What have you gotten yourself into?
Outside, things were not going well for Godzilla.
Mark had seen him on the ropes before, but not like this. For every attack the reptile launched, the machine countered faster, better, stronger. Maybe if Godzilla hadn’t had to fight Kong first, if he had been fresh for this battle, things would be going better.
And Mark realized something then. Despite what he had told the director, he was definitely rooting for Godzilla. Why, he could not exactly say. Maybe for no better reason than because Madison would, because she believed in him.
The mechanical Titan knocked the reeling Godzilla back, and back again, stunning the Titan, dragging him across the city on his belly like a ragdoll. Then, with its mechanical hands, it grabbed Godzilla by th
e jaws and pulled his mouth open. Its fins began shining red, charging its own beam-weapon. Mark, feeling helpless, couldn’t turn his gaze away.
Then Kong was suddenly there, wrenching Mechagodzilla’s head back so the beam shot straight up into the sky. The construct heaved Kong from its back, but that gave time for Godzilla to clamber back up, and now it was two on one. They each took one of the mechanical Titan’s arms and rammed it through a building, scrubbing its face on the city floor as it had just been doing to Godzilla. But the metal monster fought its way back to its feet, even with the both of them hanging on to its arms. Kong leapt up and tried to kick its head off, but although the blow rocked it back, Mechagodzilla was undeterred. It fired a missile at Godzilla, blasting him back, then hurled Kong away, before turning back to pummel Godzilla relentlessly with its spinning claws. Godzilla, already weak, could barely continue to stand. The metal Titan grabbed the reptile and flattened him against a building, then arched its tail toward Godzilla’s face, like a scorpion—the tip of which was spinning, alive with energy.
Kong had vanished for a moment, but now he suddenly reappeared, once more wielding his glowing axe, grabbing the mechanical Titan’s tail and swinging his weapon at the machine-monster. Kong beat it back and even managed to knock it off its feet, but then Mechagodzilla rallied, jamming its spinning tail into Kong’s face. The ape strained, trying to keep it from biting into him, but his arms were trembling, while the robotic Titan seemed as powerful as ever.
* * *
Staring at the “security lock” message on the screen, Josh finally stopped typing. The keyboard was no longer accepting input.
“Josh, you have to do something!” Madison said, tearing her gaze from the battle outside. In seconds, the mechanical Titan would kill Kong with its tail, and then it would finish off Godzilla. Whatever Simmons had been planning after that was moot. Mechagodzilla now had plans of its own. She was certain of one thing; something that beat Godzilla and Kong in the same fight would not be stopped by anything else. Once they were dead, Mechagodzilla could do what it wished with impunity.
Josh shook his head in defeat.
“We tried to take down those Apex bastards,” Bernie said, “but looks like this is as far as we go.”
Madison looked at Bernie, and Josh, and realized he was right. They were at a dead end. There would be a new alpha, with the power of Godzilla and more, from whatever source Simmons had discovered and maybe the soul—if you could call it that—of Ghidorah. What if Mechagodzilla brought back Rodan, and Scylla, and some of the other really nasty Titans? The horror of three years ago might end up looking like a common cold compared to the bubonic plague.
And she couldn’t think of a single way to help.
Bernie sighed, and a look of resignation settled on his features. He reached to his holster and pulled out his flask. He uncapped it and looked skyward.
“Sara, my sweet,” he said. “You know we tried our level best. But I think this is as far as it goes. I was hoping to die with adults, but bottoms up.” He paused and looked down at Josh, who was still staring at the nonfunctioning controls.
“If you ever wanted a drink, kid, now’s the time.”
“Drink?” Josh said. He suddenly snatched the flask from Bernie.
Bernie jerked as if stung, and Madison didn’t know what Josh was doing.
But then she saw, as Josh poured the contents all over the controls.
“That’s your solution?” Bernie erupted. “I have to die in here with you and sober?”
The keyboard began smoking, then sparks spewed out.
Outside, Mechagodzilla’s tail suddenly stopped spinning and went limp.
Well that’s something, Madison thought.
But then, just as suddenly, the control screen sputtered back to life.
* * *
“Wait,” Mark said. “Something just happened.”
He pointed to the zoomed monitor. For a second, the glowing red eyes of the mechanical Titan dimmed, and the tail, set to drill through Kong’s forehead, dropped. But even as he said it, the eye flickered back on, blazing as brightly as before, and the tail swung back. Kong, taking advantage of the slight lull, pushed back, raising his axe, but the machine began overpowering him again.
In the background, Mark saw blue light. Godzilla lifted his head.
Azure light blazed from the Titan’s mouth, but it didn’t strike Mechagodzilla. Instead it burned by him and hit Kong’s axe, which suddenly took on a life of its own, absorbing and then transcending the now-faltering beam.
Kong roared, pushing back on the Mechagodzilla, wrenching free of the machine’s grasp, and hewed his weapon straight into his opponent’s arm. Sparks flared and red lightning snapped as the weapon sheared off the appendage as if it were a palm frond.
Without pause, the mechanical Titan launched a punch at Kong’s face with its remaining arm, but Kong, it seemed, had had enough. He flew into a berserk rage, whaling away with the glowing axe, cutting the mechanical Titan into pieces. It tried to charge up, to blast Kong one more time with its energy weapon, but Kong buried the edge of his weapon in the monster’s face. Then he let go of the axe and leapt on the pile of metal. He put both hands on the mechanical head and wrenched it off, holding it up like a trophy for the world to see. He roared again, savage, triumphant, as the red glow in the metal skull faded.
Then Kong swayed on his feet and stumbled. Blood hemorrhaging from a dozen wounds, he sat down heavily against a building, his eyes closing.
* * *
For a moment, Madison wasn’t sure what she was seeing. She switched her gaze from the hole in the wall to the monitors with closer views to be sure she understood. And it finally sank in; Mechagodzilla was destroyed, and Kong was holding up its head like the statue of Perseus and Medusa. Then she started to yell, and Josh and Bernie joined her wild cheering. They celebrated, and they laughed, hugging one another. It was over, and they had won. Somehow.
Madison realized, after a moment, that she was maybe hugging Josh for too long. It was getting weird. She let go, stepped back—and with a grin hugged him even harder. Let it be weird.
Bernie looked skyward again. “Thank you, my sweet,” he said.
* * *
In all of the tumult of the fight, Ilene realized she hadn’t seen Nathan since he had used the HEAV to start Kong’s heart back up. She had seen him leave the vehicle, but he had never made it back to her and Jia. Of course, they had also been a moving target running toward Kong. Maybe he’d just lost sight of them. But she feared much worse.
She and Jia made their way through the debris, circling toward where Kong has been laid out. In the wake of the fight, an eerie stillness had settled over the wreckage of the city. The quiet after the storm.
It was Jia who spotted Nathan, face-down in the street.
You stay here, she signed to the girl. I’ll go see if he’s okay.
Jia shook her head stubbornly. I know what dead is, she signed. I’m not a little girl anymore, remember?
Tears glistened in the girl’s eyes, but they stayed there, contained. Ilene wasn’t sure she could be so controlled. From here, things didn’t look so good. If Nathan was dead, it might be a little more than she could handle at the moment.
So she approached slowly, looking for some sign he was okay, for a twitch or the rise and fall of his ribs. But the nearer she got, the less promising it looked.
She knelt next to him, Jia by her side. She gripped the girl’s hand. Then she prodded Nathan. She felt for a pulse at his throat.
She found it, and carefully rolled him over. His eyes popped open; he looked confused, disoriented.
“Nathan,” she said. “Nathan, are you okay?”
He seemed to recognize her, then he looked at Jia, who was smiling wider than Ilene thought she had ever seen the girl smile. He nodded.
“Come on,” she said, helping him to his feet. Around her, the ruins were coming alive again as helicopters arrived, bringing military and rel
ief workers into the stricken city.
Jia’s sunny disposition broke a moment later, when she saw Kong still slumped senseless or dead against a building.
Kong, she signed. Make better again?
“We’ll see,” Nathan said. “Maybe you two can fill me in on what happened?”
* * *
It took a while for Madison and the others to squirrel their way through the Apex headquarters, but they didn’t encounter any resistance in the way of guards; the place was almost entirely empty. Once on the street, Madison guided them toward the area where the Monarch control and relief process was most evident, near where Kong had fallen. As they approached, she saw who she was looking for.
“Dad!” she shouted.
He turned, saw her running toward him.
“Madison,” he shouted. “Madison!”
“Dad! Dad!” she yelled back.
She bounded across the distance, and a moment later they were wrapped up in a hug.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“Me too,” he replied.
“Mr. Russell,” Josh interposed, “It was Madison’s idea to—”
“Shut up, Josh,” he said, gently.
“Okay,” Josh agreed. “I’ll shut up.”
Madison pulled back a bit and saw Bernie standing there, looking somewhat lost.
“Dad,” she said, “I want you to meet the man who saved our lives. Bernie. Meet Dad.”
The two shook hands.
“Bernie, Dad,” Bernie said. “It’s an absolute pleasure to meet you. I have a podcast and I would love to have you on to talk about the Monarch facility in Roswell. I have some theories—”
“No, stop,” Madison told him. “Is this the right time?”
