(Chapter 12: Round 1)
(A few hours later...)
Kong and the others had finally made it towards a high point within the Hollow Earth, the mighty ape stood at the edge of a cliff. The primate looked down over the edge to see that he was thousands of feet within the air, Jia looked down and her stomach dropped upon the sight of the sheer drop.
Above them were some rocks that must have been caught between the two downs where the gravity inverted itself, these rocks pulsated and would glow with that violet energy that Apex wanted so badly. A curious Kong would outstretch his arm and lightly bop it with his fist to see the rock float upwards and connect with another rock that hung from the other down, the rock strangely looking like a finger of some kind.
The ape then did something spectacular, he hopped from the ledge as if he was intending to do a freefall but in reality he would end up floating upwards towards the other down! The Monarch personnel within the HEAVs watched on in astonishment as he seemed to be flying.
The HEAVS slowly followed after him until he managed to grab hold of the rocky finger and flip onto his feet, now landing on the other down right side up on his feet. Jia watched on in wonder as she was still riding on his shoulder and watching everything that happened.
"Where in the world is he taking us? He isn't going by that archway where his ax is located." Laura asked herself.
"The only thing I can guess is that his senses are guiding him." Dr. Andrews replied for Laura, and she would be correct.
Kong was drawn to the Hollow Earth by both curiosity and his longing for it due to his evolution as a species, his instincts and senses would guide him to various openings around the planet.
"I hope he's taking us to the Arctic portal, or else we could possibly get in loads of trouble depending on where else we would end up." Carson Michaels said to himself.
Eventually they would all come across a massive hole in the ground, as Kong peered into the chasm he would turn his head back to the HEAVs and nod his head as if to tell them all that this was the way out.
Kong would then throw himself over the side and go flying down into the chasm, the HEAVs would follow suit down into the darkness where another veil would await them.
"Brace yourselves, we're about to breach the veil!" Nathan Lind exclaimed as the HEAVs plunged into that strange pocket dimension where many colors flashed and high pitched shrieks whirred past the craft, another moment of feeling nothing but discomfort before they reached the surface of the planet yet again.
After punching through the vortex, Kong was spat back out to the surface world where he would end up crash landing into rocky ice within the cavern and the HEAVs soon came after him.
What the ape immediately noticed was that there was a strange odor to the environment around him, it still felt cold but this stench was strong and it also felt like some slight heat was being given off somewhere. The primate looked around curiously to try and detect the source of the smell and slight warmth, once he looked to the right, he noticed a large amount of smoke and fire coming from outside of the tunnel. The Monarch personnel within the HEAVs noticed it too and they were just as shocked and confused as Kong was.
"What the hell?" Laura gasped as she noticed the smoke and fire on the outside of the tunnel where a majority of the facility was located.
"Don't tell me we've been firebombed..." Carson Michaels groaned in annoyance.
Captain Gordon held his cool but he knew something had went terribly wrong.
"Hey what is that white tunnel?" Vergil Snow asked as he pointed to something off to their left.
Smoldering rubble was all over the ground within the icy cave, a large white tunnel was seen not too far behind the rubble as well.
"Was that ever built here?" One of the scientists that came along asked.
"If it was, I was never told of it." Dr. Andrews spoke up through a transceiver.
"No, as far as I know, Monarch has never used those tunnels before. So this had to have been built in secret by..." Laura said, coming to the shocking realization that one of their sworn enemies had crafted something that they didn't know until it was too late.
"Apex." Dr. Andrews finished for the blonde.
"Move forward." Captain Gordon gave the command.
"Wait, Kong is putting Jia down. We need to get her to safety just in case." Dr. Andrews suggested as she noticed Kong lifting his hand up to his shoulder where Jia would hop on so he could lower her to the ground.
The HEAV containing Laura, Dr. Andrews, and Carson Michaels lowered to the ground and allowed the Iwi child to get inside where she received loads of warmth. Afterwards, their HEAV would lift back up to rendesvouz with the others.
Kong could sense that something was up, evident as he bared his teeth angrily. The ape marched forward with his fists clenched tightly, the HEAVs followed alongside him as they headed into the cloud of smoke and emerged on the other side.
What they would see shook them to their core...
Standing there surrounded by smoke and fire as well as flaming rubble stood a cyborg version of Kong! It was like somebody had taken Kong and put cybernetic enhancements over his body to give him armor.
"You've got to be shitting me..." Captain Gordon gasped in shock as he gazed upon Mechani-Kong.
It stood there, still as a statue as it examined the beings that just emerged from the tunnel. Its scanners detected that the HEAVs belonged to Apex but Kong was an enemy that would need to be destroyed.
Laura suddenly remembered something that Maia Simmons told her of "titan armor" when she was interrogating the smugglers, could this be what they meant?
"This is what those damn smugglers were talking about, putting armor on titans. This is what they done with Kong's DNA!" Laura exclaimed.
"All Delta, open fire!" Captain Gordon screamed, seconds later, the HEAVs would unload missiles towards the cybernetic doppelganger of Kong.
The missiles would burst upon impact, but little to no damage was done to Mechani-Kong as conventional weaponry certainly couldn't damage it that much. The only sensitive locations were when the silver-metal plating wasn't coating its body such as its legs and lower body entirely with the exception of its waist where a "belt" was located.
Mechani-Kong was programmed not to attack anything that was Apex or ERR so it continued to stand still as a statue even after receiving a barrage of missiles. Kong, now having an understanding that this mechanical clone of himself was an enemy, pounded his chest twice before letting out a thunderous roar prior to charging forwards to attack!
Mechani-Kong would then spring into action as well, ducking down low and suddenly shooting forwards when slots opened up on his back to fire blue energy from them, boosting him forward so that his shoulder would slam right into the gut of his organic foe, Kong was sent flying into a large wall of ice that made him grunt in pain but the cyborg continued pushing. Mechani-Kong moved in with a gargantuan right hand of solid steel, rocking Kong's head against the cold wall that stunned him even more and then a left hand that snapped the primate's head to the right!
When Mechani-Kong cocked its arm back to go for another loaded punch, Kong would duck under it and dive behind his enemy, face first he would end up in the snow of the Arctic! The ape would quickly clamber back up to all fours and looked over at the cyborg which was turning around now. His world was spinning but with a growl of fierce determination, he bared his teeth and shook the wobbling feeling away as he rushed forward!
Mechani-Kong was ready and when Kong leapt into the air to go for a superman puch, his metallic hand would slap into the throat of the massive gorilla that would effortlessly bat his opposition out of the air. Kong coughed loudly as he rolled on the icy grounds before getting to a knee with a groan of pain as he gently massaged his neck where his enemy's hand had struck it.
Kong decided it was time to make use of his environment, and he picked up a large piece of burning rubble from the ground and hurled it towards his enemy! Mechani-Kong would shatter the rubble into smaller pieces of charred remains with a single throbbing punch. His eyes would then emit a bright blinding flash of light that caused even the people within the HEAVs flying above the two to shield their eyes.
Kong yelped in surprise and in pain as he was blinded for a moment's notice, this gave Mechani-Kong enough time to rush forward and clasp one hand around the throat of the primate, Kong coughed and gagged as he tried to pry the bionic hand from his neck but it was no use, Mechani-Kong had a legit iron grip on his jugular.
The rocket boosters would fire up again as the cyborg would go into a spin, hurling Kong into the ice wall of the canyon once more, Kong screamed as he flew through the air and hit the wall with a loud thud that shook some icy rocks away from the canyon's walls. Kong groaned as he noticed Mechani-Kong flying towards him to go for a punishing blow to the head, but again did the primate duck under it and immediately turned around with fury burning in his eyes.
Kong roared furiously as he swung a looping right hand right into the head of his mechanical enemy and he would send a barrage of several punches, some targeting the stomach, some targeting the head. As he struck the silver-metal plating, it dealt damage to his hands over time and he indeed felt it but he was too blinded by grit to realize it.
Mechani-Kong cocked its arms back and rocket boosters emerged on the back of its shoulder plating before the arms of the cyborg shot forward, its large mechanical hands pressing into the chest of Kong to forcefully shove him away, the push itself being so powerful that it had lifted the primate off of his feet for a moment or two and when the super sized simian landed, he stumbled back!
Kong pounded his chest with an enraged growl as he thundered forward again to continue his assault of strikes but he would see that Mechani-Kong was ready to counter him, so he ducked under the cyborg's attempted haymaker and would end up behind it. Kong would see that the mechanical menace would immediately spin around with its fist raised in the air as if it was about to send a hammer fist down, so Kong quickly zipped behind his foe again, using his speed to his advantage when in close quarters.
Mechani-Kong would turn around again only to get slammed by a massive uppercut from Kong, the fist of the mighty ape ramming right into its exposed lower jaw where metal plating wasn't protecting it. The cyborg reeled back some with a mechanical groan of pain, Kong noticed that his attack finally began to work and so he would continue to assault the lower jaw of his enemy.
The primate snorted as he moved forward again to jump up and ram his knee into the underside of the cyborg's jaw, which moved it further back from the impact. The head of the mechanical doppelganger snapping up and back.
Kong reeled his arm back to go for a massive right hand that a heavyweight boxer would be proud of but Mechani-Kong recovered quickly and flashed the ape with its eye lights, causing the primate to stumble back while howling in pain, covering his eyes with his hands, leaving him open for an attack!
Mechani-Kong surged forward with its rocket boosters to slap its large hand around the throat of Kong yet again and it would continue to move forward, slamming him against the icy wall forcefully before its boosters aimed towards the ground, lifting the two of them up all the way to the top of the canyon before sliding Kong down along the ground all while choking him!
The cyborg had built up enough velocity to release Kong and when it did, the ape went sliding along the ground all the way until he hit his head against a rock hard causing the ape to clutch the top of his skull in severe pain while groaning.
The primate was laying there in agony as his head throbbed and pounded like a migraine of epic proportions, his teeth bared, his eyes squinted shut as he groaned. Mechani-Kong would simply begin to march towards his downed enemy slowly like a villain in a slasher flic.
"All Delta, blow that bastard to Hell!" Captain Gordon commanded of the HEAV pilots and then another barrage of missiles were sent the cyborg's way, but again they did nothing against it as it was seen moving forward without stopping for one second.
"What the fuck are we going to do now?!" Carson Michaels screamed out of fear, knowing that there was almost nothing they could do to help Kong at the moment.
Kong would then clench his fist tightly and slam it against the icy ground of the Arctic, the cold began to hinder him now as his body shivered as he let out a groan of discomfort. He could hear his cybernetic enemy getting closer to him and knew he had to do something and fast!
Kong shakily moved to his feet as he removed a large rock from the ground, grunting as he would hoist it over his head, he began to walk forward as fast as his stumpy legs allowed him too. This was quite the heavy rock even for Kong to lift up, evident as his face showed signs of straining, but he wasn't about to go down to a clone of himself.
When Kong felt he was close enough, he would lean forward and hurl the massive rock of ice towards the cyborg with all the power he could muster within himself. This was only meant to serve as a distraction for when Mechani-Kong stepped away from the massive white boulder, Kong suddenly appeared and rammed his shoulder into the exposed stomach of the cyborg, driving it back and off the edge of the top of the canyon with a defiant roar!
The two titans would fall back down into the canyon with a massive thud, large amounts of snow being thrown over the two. This was Kong's last ditch effort to stop his foe, he had drained all of his energy throwing the large boulder at Mechani-Kong and this fall took even more wind from his sails. He had ended up on top of the cyborg but he would roll over and lay on his back while breathing heavily, looking up at the sky.
Mechani-Kong would lay there for a moment but unlike Kong, it would get back up only seconds following their fall, the head turning towards the tunnel before it made its way towards it.
"Kong's still on the ground, this isn't looking good..." Laura swallowed.
"Where is that robot bastard heading now?" Carson asked himself as he noticed the cyborg disappearing out of sight.
"That purple thing that is glowing on the chest, shoot at it with all the firepower we've got. I want all Delta to unleash missile fire on that glowing orb!" Captain Gordon exclaimed, giving them instructions on what to do next when Mechani-Kong shown up again.
When Mechani-Kong emerged, it was revealed that he was holding a stalactite in its right hand like a spear. The HEAVs took aim at the X-Accumulator and opened fire right when the cyborg hoisted the pointed rock in the air as if it was about to launch it towards the downed Kong!
When loads of missiles made impact, Mechani-Kong suddenly dropped the stalactite and took a few steps back as violet lightning crackled from the damaged power source within its chest.
CRITICAL DAMAGE the systems of the cyborg warned it and only then did Walter take control of the system.
"Mechani-Kong, I want you back to base immediately!" Walter screamed, his voice echoing into the computer.
The cyborg obeyed the commands of its creator and turned away from Kong, heading back into the tunnel to head over to the tunnel in which Apex had built in order to return back to the base within Seattle, Washington.
"We can't let it get away, keep shooting at that bastard!" Captain Gordon exclaimed but he was halted by Dr. Andrews.
"We can't just leave Kong here in the Arctic, he has to get somewhere warm!" The linguist protested with a raise of her voice.
"Are you kidding me?! Did Kong look like he was having his way with that robo Kong?! I think it looked like it was the opposite way around, Kong got his ass kicked, do you seriously think he can defeat that thing?!" Captain Gordon fired back.
Meanwhile, Kong was laying on the ground in disbelief at what just happened. He was defeated in combat by his mechanical doppelganger, none of his attacks seemed to phase it. The only thing that evidently worked was attacking the exposed parts of the body where metal wasn't located, but Kong liked to go for the head and upper body when he fought.
The gargantuan primate groaned as he rolled over onto his stomach with a deep breath, trying to think of a way he could defeat Mechani-Kong and actually deal damage and mere moments later he thought of something that was still within the Hollow Earth, his ax...
A growl of determination left Kong's lips as his eyes narrowed, sure, Mechani-Kong may have won this battle, but he sure as Hell wasn't going to win the war...