(Chapter 8: Peril)

(Location: Monster Island, Outpost 62)

Jia sat at the kitchenette table with Dr. Andrews sitting on a couch, watching television. The young girl happened to be playing with a tablet that the linguist had gifted her, the Iwi child was currently watching something on YouTube while eating some goldfish as a snack.

Suddenly though, something hit her. Not physically, but emotionally. A vision of Kong being dragged away by vicious looking humanoids had flashed through her mind. For half a second, she was stunned by this, but only mere seconds would turn her initial shock into fear for her beloved ape, so much so that she began to weep.

Ilene Andrews turned towards her adopted child and was taken aback when she noticed that she was weeping from out of nowhere, mere moments ago she was content and one would even say she was happy.

"Jia?!" Dr. Andrews cried in a mixture of confusion and sorrow for the child, she began to weep harder as time went by, deeply concerning the linguist on what was going on at the moment.

She sat in a chair next to her adopted daughter and gently stroked her hand down her back, this would do little to calm Jia down. The child would turn to face her foster mother, her scared, depressed brown eyes staring into the worried one's of the person she called her mother.

What's wrong? Andrews signed with a look of confusion contained on her face.

It's Kong, he's in trouble. He needs our help. Jia replied, tears streaming freely down her face, she even wiped a few away from her cheeks.

Dr. Andrews paused for a moment, this was the reason that her adopted child started to cry from out of nowhere, she could sense when he was in trouble. The linguist had a hard time to believe it, Jia read the emotions on her face and could tell that her own foster mother wasn't believing her. Then the child began to weep even harder, her sobbing becoming loud as she wailed for Kong.

He's hurting and he is sad, what the humans of the Hollow are doing is despicable. We must stop them before it is too late. Jia signed rapidly and with force, her eyes bloodshot from how hard she was sobbing. The look on her face showed painful amounts of sorrow, as well as fear and anger.

Okay, okay- Dr. Andrews started signing, wanting to go out on a limb and assume her adopted daughter would be right.

I'm going to go get your warm blanket to help you calm down, I'm going to call Monarch to see if we can help our buddy in any way. Dr. Andrews finished as she patted Jia on the back before getting up to go get the electric blanket for Jia who started to calm down some, but she was now acting depressed, lost in her thoughts with a broken heart.

Moments later, Ilene would return. The linguist plugged in the cord of the electric blanket into the outlet and would set it on the highest heat level which was five before draping it over the shoulders of Jia. A groan of pleasure and satisfaction came from the child as a sign that the warmth was soothing, but it didn't help much, Jia was still afraid.

Dr. Andrews then went into the bedroom, contacting Vergil Snow who was still located at Outpost 04. Within the linguist, a horrible feeling told her that there was something truly wrong and that Monarch were oblivious to it.

(Location: Outpost 04 "The Inner Sanctum")

Laura Belinsky, Vergil Snow and Carson Michaels were in a control room with Captain Gordon who was looking over a screen. Three green dots were seen traveling at a high speed towards Seattle, they were well within state limits now.

"Strange, their trackers are moving at an incredible speed. What the hell could be causing this?" Captain Gordon asked himself, getting suspicious about whatever was going on within the ground at what Apex called "Sub-level 33."

The phone within Vergil's pocket began to ring and he would leave the room to step into the hall to answer it, upon looking at the screen, he would discover that it was Ilene Andrews from the outpost at Monster Island. She was strongly related with studies involving the Iwi and Kong and for her to be calling...something had to be up.

"Hello?" Vergil asked, curious as to why Dr. Andrews was calling him during these times.

"Hey, I've got some bad news to tell you unfortunately." Dr. Andrews said on the other line, this caused Vergil to become worried.

"What, what is it?" He asked.

"Jia has been weeping for a few minutes, she started crying from out of nowhere. When I asked her about what was wrong, she told me that Kong was in trouble and we need to help him." She replied, when Vergil Snow heard this, his heart jumped into his throat and it was stopped there for a moment.

"What the hell is going on? What's wrong with Kong? He's fallen off the radar and he has been like that for hours as of now." Sam asked, his questions coming out lightning quick and his voice nearly stumbling over as he tried to get his words out as fast as he could.

"Kong must have taken a journey into Hollow Earth and Jia has told me that bad humans of that place are doing something terrible to him." Dr. Andrews responded with a sigh, hearing this sentence made Vergil's blood run cold.

Vergil had found out through word of mouth that Ren Serizawa, the traitor, was in control of the ever expanding Sagoth empire of the Hollow Earth. Puzzle pieces had been put together that they were also the mastermind behind the invasion of Bagorah and the Gryphon. If they could somehow contact aliens from far out in space, he could only imagine what technology they possessed within the Hollow Earth, he began to fear for Kong's life, but kept his emotions under control where as Jia could not.

"Al-alright. I'll inform Captain Gordon of what is going on." Vergil said.

"Please do, it is greatly appreci-" Dr. Andrew's was stopped when she noticed Jia was trying to sign something to her.

"Dr. Andrews? Is there something wrong?"

"Y-yeah...she said we need to hurry."

(Location: Apex Base, Washington)

"Hey, this thing seems to be slowing down now." Kenny said as he noticed the MPH meter on the routing information appeared to be slowing down over time.

"Finally, I felt like I was gonna barf." Sam said with a sigh of relief.

"So we're going to have another base to infiltrate." Madison said, she dreaded this after what happened back at the base in Los Angeles.

Everyone get ready, we're coming to a stop." Kenny alerted as he noticed that the MPH meter said that they were below 50 now.

Eventually the maglev car would come to a complete halt and a loud droning buzz was heard as the iron door opened up for the crane to grab hold of the pod and place it into the docking bay.

Kenny picked up his rifle and aimed it at the window of the pod, ready to open fire on any personnel that didn't have those guns which the guards had back in Los Angeles, but he had a growing feeling that things would go wrong soon.

Sam picked up the rifle as well and stood up on his feet while Kenny remained relaxed in a laying position, Madison took cover behind the large piece of machinery contained within the pod.

Moments later the window would open and an entire squadron of guards stood there with high-tech guns aimed directly into the pod, Kenny screamed in surprise, dropping his rifle. The man recognized those same guns and his gut feeling was correct once more. Madison let out a terrified scream but immediately shut up.

Sam still had his rifle trained on them, his eye twitching, struggling to contain his anger as he noticed one of the men that were standing with the guards was Floyd Sanders, the man responsible for the death of his father.

It wasn't only Floyd Sanders that stood with the guards, it was also Alan Jonah, Walter Simmons, and his daughter, Maia Simmons with Alison Ford at her side.

Kenny turned his head to Sam, seeing that he was still aiming his rifle at their enemies, he became frustrated.

"Drop the fucking gun, dick." Kenny growled through his clenched teeth, Sam was hesitant at first but dropped it, acknowledging that Apex had them beat when it came to technology.

"If only Brayden Snow was still with us, perhaps we could best these suckers..." Sam sighed in defeat.

"Welcome to Apex, is this the dream team?" Walter asked nefariously, a grin spread across his lips.

"Yeah, it's the dream team that is going to put your ass in jail and have you executed by firing squad!" Kenny screamed in defiance, but this only caused Walter to chuckle.

"Temper, temper Mr. Anderson..." Walter said while laughing, every guard and superior standing there all had devious grins, knowing that they had the three right where they wanted them.

"How the hell did you know we were coming?" Sam asked aggressively, but not raising his voice. His eyes staring daggers right towards Floyd Sanders, hate wasn't a strong enough word to begin to describe his feelings towards that bastard who murdered his father in cold blood.

"You didn't think we would find out?! That's cute, Mr. Brody...We received a call from Outpost Angel that three people from Monarch infiltrated the base at Sub-Level 33, and used a transportation pod to escape. We were ready the whole time!" Walter said aloud, he was acting all confident and like he was having fun.

"Don't get too cocky, bastard. Monarch will find out what happened to us and they'll come for you..." Kenny grumbled, Walter noticed a small device attached to their forearms like a watch, recognizing them as trackers.

"Oh, they won't know what happened to you when we take those off. Guards, dispose of those trackers." Walter said as he pointed to the tracker on Kenny's wrist.

The guards stormed the pod and forced everyone out of it aggressively, ramming the butts of their assault weapons into their backs to get them moving. Alan Jonah removed Madison's tracker, Floyd Sanders removed Sam's tracker and Alison Ford removed Kenny's tracker.

"You still aren't going to win, we saw those vials of titan DNA, and now it's all gone. Your plans have been foiled, you son of a bitch." Kenny growled towards Walter with hate in his voice.

"Oh really? Such a shame, it would be terrible if we didn't have laboratories filled with DNA, besides those plans are a backup if what we have going on right now fails." Walter said, Kenny's eyes widened at this revelation. Apex already had labs filled with titan DNA just like Monarch, stolen from around the world, or purchased from the black market.

When Sam heard of the titan DNA being used as a backup option or a Plan B, he began to wonder what Plan A was...

"Let's lead them to their new cells." Walter said with a devious smile as he spun around to lead the way, the three wanted to fight back against their enemies so badly, but they knew they couldn't. Fighting back at this point would be a death sentence, brave but foolish.

As they marched towards the prison wing of the base, which wasn't very large. They happened to enter a large observation deck. Around the same time of their arrival to this room, Sam finally gathered enough courage to ask about what Plan A was for Apex.

"Hey, you said that the titan DNA was being saved for something else. How about you show us what it is? We already know your dirty secrets. We're bound to find out more now that we are here. What is there left to hide?"

"You make a good point, Mr. Brody. Allow me to show you what playing God can do for the human race." The mad scientist answered him with only cold intentions behind his voice.

The three were brought to the long window of the observation deck, with a few flicks of levers on a control panel a bright red light flashed on within a gigantic chamber outside of the window. The light was dim within the room, but the three noticed a massive amount of liquid sloshing around inside of it.

"This is called the artificial womb, we've already used some DNA of your furry friend to experiment with it to see how it works." Walter explained, a massive shadow of a hand suddenly swept past the window...

"Son of a bitch..." Sam said to himself in awe as the large form of an ape began to rise from the liquids, removing slimy placentas off of his body with its hands while its face shifted in confusion and anger.

"Activate the LED lights." Walter commanded while looking over to his daughter, who carried out his order. A loud click was heard and then bright lights began to illuminate the entire artificial womb, the lights being as bright as those used in a sports stadium. What was revealed was shocking.

An exact clone of Kong was seen standing in the liquid, the water...or whatever the liquid was, happened to be up to the clone's waist. It looked younger than the current Kong, looking like how the guardian god of Monster Island looked back during the 1973 expedition. Clone Kong didn't have scars on his chest, his left ear didn't have a piece clipped off, nor was his hair grown out and shaggy. Clone Kong didn't have a beard either, but he was just as big and bulky as the current Kong that everyone knew.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me... Kenny said in shock, shaking his head in disbelief while Madison could only gasp in horror at such a sight.

"The miracle of genetic engineering is here, with titan DNA, we can bring back species from near extinction, create whatever we want and so much more. This is only the beginning..." Walter explained before turning to his guards that still held the three captives in their clutches.

"Bring them to their cells now, as for the rest of you, put Clone Kong to sleep while the others prepare the armor. We're going to be receiving some of the Element X soon enough." Walter ordered, the guards turned the three away from the observation deck and continued to guide them to their cells.

"Playing God will get you nowhere, you asshole! Your day will come, it's only a matter of time!" Kenny was heard screaming down the hall, this only brought a smile to the face of Walter Simmons.

"Who is going to stop me?" The scientist asked, his voice was arrogant in tone.

(Location: Outpost 04 "The Inner Sanctum")

"What the fuck happened?!" Captain Gordon screamed at the top of his lungs after pounding his gloved fist on a table, seeing the trackers of the three infiltrators he had sent out to the mission go off infuriated him.

"Don't tell me they got that far just to fuck up!" He continued, slamming his fist into the table again with a loud bang that silenced everyone in the room.

"Have hope, Captain. We always come out on top in the end." Carson Michaels tried to tell his superior but he wasn't having any of that at the moment.

"Don't try to give me false hope, my main goal was to turn the tide in the war against those dicks that stand against us and now they have probably taken our best three troops out!" Captain Gordon thundered back in response.

"I don't think Madison is considered a troop..." Carson replied nervously, it was then that Captain Gordon stormed over to him and forcefully jerked him up by the straps of his tactical vest, pinning him against the wall while getting face to face with him.

"She isn't a fighter, but her life shall not be viewed as disposable!" Captain Gordon screamed, intimidating Carson as he knew he couldn't fight back.

Laura wanted to step in, including Vergil, but both of them would swiftly be bested in combat by this grizzled veteran.

"I just need something good to happen, we can't have things start fucking up now! Is Kong back on the radar yet? Please tell me the monkey is back on the satellite coverage." Captain Gordon boomed, hoping that Kong had somehow come back to the surface, but things looked grim on that side of the situation.

"Sir, he's still not been detected by our satellites..." Vergil sighed softly.

"Goddammit!" Captain Gordon roared as he grabbed the table, flipping it over like a madman with his face red as a cherry with rage, veins bulging out of his head and neck. The captain's blood was boiling as everything seemed to be going wrong and collapsing in on them all.

The room fell silent while the captain went on a rampage, unlike Ford Brody he would lose his mind whereas Ford would be calm and collected the entire time. They all wished he was still alive right now even Captain Gordon. As bold of a man the captain was, he never wanted to get involved with the war for the planet going on against the titan supporting organizations and those that want to destroy them. Captain Gordon felt that this whole situation from the beginning in 2019 with the Mass Awakening event has been a hell of a mess.

Eventually, Captain Gordon came to a halt, taking his visor cap and hurling it on the ground as he brushed his gloved hand through his hair all while looking at the ground while taking in deep breaths.

"I fear that we may have no hope of finding Kong given the range of the Hollow Earth, we must find Kenny Anderson, Sam Brody, and Madison Russell before it's too late. We must act quickly." He said, doing his best to remain calm.

"Sir, I believe that we have an option at finding Kong." Vergil spoke up, all eyes shifted to the young man now.

"Please tell me, enlighten me." Captain Gordon scoffed.

"Jia." Vergil said before falling silent.

Captain Gordon let out a cynical laugh before shaking his head in disbelief while looking at the floor.

"You're a fucking idiot." He replied to Vergil.

"Explain then, captain!" Vergil screamed, shocking everyone in the room at this act of bravery to stand up to the captain like this. Gordon raised an eyebrow at this action before approaching him, staring him eye to eye.

"Jia's a damn child living in a fucking fantasy world, thinking that Kong is her best buddy. Kong is the ally to all the Iwi of Monster Island, not just her..." Captain Gordon explained silently while not taking his gaze away from Vergil Snow.

"All of the Iwi are dead, well...most of them. The village was ransacked with only Jia being left behind, I think she's special. The bond she has with Kong is unlike anything else and something tells me that they have a telepathic bond as well." Vergil replied calmly.

"You're fucking joking me..." Captain Gordon chuckled with the shake of his head.

"I'm not, captain. I have a theory that she can lead us right to Ko-" Before Vergil could even finish his sentence, Gordon cut him off.

"Yeah, a theory. A fucking theory is going to be what saves our asses and Kong's hairy ass! I want the truth, I want facts, I don't want theories!" Captain Gordon boomed, his voice filling the entire room.

"It has a chance to be right." Vergil replied.

"Bullshit." Captain Gordon replied aggressively.

"Can you quit being a hardass for one day? We're starting to run out of options here with Kenny, Sam, and Maddy gone. We need to take this chance even if it is wrong, we don't have much left to give." Vergil retorted.

Captain Gordon sighed as he walked away from the young man, still disappointed that Jia was thought of like a saving grace when she was only a child.

"Fine, this better work. If it doesn't, I'm demoting you to last in command, hell, I may even fire your ass." Captain Gordon replied with a threat as he went down the hall to his quarters to call Ilene Andrews.

(Location: Monster Island, Outpost 62)

Ilene had been worried for Jia's sake the entire time she had been crying. She would have spells where she would weep uncontrollably and then she would fall silent, just sitting there with a far away stare in her eyes as tears fell from them every now and then. The poor child's soul had been shattered by the visions she was having and the heart within her was broken apart. She didn't deserve any of this, from losing her entire people when Alan Jonah and his men ransacked the village, to now what they were doing to Kong in the Hollow Earth.

It's going to be okay, we always win in the end Ilene signed to Jia with a calm smile, hoping to brighten the mood up.

I'll believe it when I see it Jia replied as she wiped away a tear from rolling down her cheek.

Suddenly, Dr. Andrews' phone began to ring. She checked to see who it was only to discover that it was none other than Captain Gordon of the G-Team, her eyes went wide as she answered it.

"Hello?" She asked, wondering why the captain of all people would be calling her.

"Hey, I've just been told by one of my troops that this Jia of yours has some type of bond with Kong and that she can be used to help find him within the Hollow Earth. Saying that they have some type of telepathic bond...I personally think that side of the story is a bunch of BS, but we're running out of options here. If you don't mind, please consider coming by the Inner Sanctum. We need to hurry if we want to help Kong." Captain Gordon said on the other line.

"Yes. We-we're on our way." Ilene replied before the two hung up.

Jia cast a curious glance over to her foster mother and when she went to ask what was going on and who called, the linguist had beat her to it.

Captain called, let's go Ilene signed, Jia took in a deep breath and nodded her head.

It was crunch time now.