The world was spinning. Sounds from all around were washed out as if under water. And a high pitched ringing filled the air. Ford blinked over half a dozen times to clear his eyes and tried to push himself up onto his hands and knees, to no avail.

The vibration in the ground of thunderous footsteps drew his attention, though he could do little more than lift his head to try and see what was happening through the hazy windows that were his eyes. But he spotted a large dark shadow soaring over him followed by a much larger one which came dangerously close to stomping into next millennium before disappearing behind him.

The Male landed beside the nest and was shoved out of the way by the Female who placed her arms to either side of it and knelt down for a closer look.

All of the eggs had either burst or were burned black. For all the protective mucus covering them, the explosion seared it all away. Not a single orange orb was left unscathed. And not a single embryo which had remained intact did more than sizzle as smoke rose from their tiny bodies. The Female could smell them. Her offspring. She called to them quietly, hoping for an answer. But silence was her only reply. She called again… Nothing.

The Male's head dipped as the Female continued calling in vain to her children.

Ford's head finally cleared enough for him to force himself to stand up and move to a more secure location between some buildings to watch. And as he observed the Female's anguished cries and desperate attempts to wake her children he couldn't help but sense a sharp pain in his chest. And his first thoughts turned to Sam.

Is Sam safe? Did Elle made it somewhere safe? What about dad?

The Male tried to come closer to nuzzle the Female, but she used her shoulder to shove him away and roared harshly at him before continuing her efforts to get a response from the nest. And the more Ford heard her cries the more he thought about Elle. And one other question popped into his head…

Why did I blow the nest?

It was easy to make the argument that it was so ensure they didn't create more of these creatures which could send humanity back to the Stone Age. But he made the choice so easily. He didn't even think about it. He just did it. Titan or no, and dangerous to humanity or otherwise, these were still defenseless babies he just slaughtered. Hundreds of them. If not thousands. And he set off an explosion to annihilate them… Just like that.

Ford's hand gripped the side of the building as he leaned against it and felt a sickening feeling building in his stomach with the female's mournful cries echoing around him.

But Ford didn't have much time to think about that as a blue light began creeping up through the streets. Initially he didn't take any notice of it. But as it grew brighter he could no longer ignore it. Looking up the road towards the source that feeling in his stomach vanished and was replaced by an urge to run. But with his left leg injured from the explosion the best he could manage was a slow jog with a bit of a limp into the alley and around the back side of the building he'd been hiding behind as he headed towards the rendezvous point to help the others deal with the nuke.

The Male was the first to notice the light creeping up on them and sounded an alarm before opening his wings to leap up and back on top of a large building nearby. The Female whipped around and shrieked at the top of her lungs while stomping her legs repeatedly into the ground.

Godzilla's eyes, neck, mouth and spines flickered with blue energy and steam as he stomped towards them through the already trampled and broken streets of San Francisco. The Male MUTO began raising both his arms as a red pulse flew through his body, but Godzilla let fly and caught the Male's front claws mere feet from the surface of the building roof it was seated on which almost immediately burned and blew them clean off turning them into pathetic little stubs as the male stumbled forward and fell off the building from the lack of frontal support following the momentum of his swing.

Watching her mate fall and screech in agony while now lacking the front claws he used for the EMP threw the Female into a frenzy as she further slammed the ground and raced towards Godzilla at full speed. Godzilla let fly once more with his atomic breath and aimed low to catch the Female's legs. But having seen the same strategy against her mate she leaped up and over the breath and raised her front arms ready to slam them into his neck. Godzilla's head lifted, and the beam trailed upwards searing her lower legs, followed by her stomach and slowly stopped her forward momentum before lifting her higher into the air and sending her flying backwards into the ground right on top of the ruins of her nest.

Godzilla's breath came to an end and he huffed a cloud of blue smoke while shaking his head with a snarl and a growl.

The Female immediately rolled over, despite her seared legs and chest, and instinctively checked her nest only to be reminded that there was nothing there anymore. The Male managed to make it to his feet, but had to stand in an awkward position to avoid putting the now charred stubs of his front arms directly on the ground. Luckily they were severed below the knuckle, so he was able to turn the knuckle and use the still intact bone and flesh to balance just enough to stay up. The Female took a deep breath, fighting the pain in her chest, and slowly turned to look at the Male who was also having trouble catching his breath. But Godzilla wasn't having any easier a time catching his breath as he readied himself for when they turned his way.

Even from a distance and running through the smaller streets in the residential zones towards the docks Ford had felt the release of Godzilla's atomic breath through the vibrations in the ground. Something big had hit the ground too. What it was, he didn't know. Nor did he care. Up ahead he saw the others loading the nuke onto a small sailing ship and prepping for departure.

"Hey! Wait!" He called, waving his arms.

"Lieutenant! Hurry up!" The squad leader shouted back.

Ford did his best to break into a full run. But his leg wouldn't let him do more than speed up his jog by about another mile per hour or so. It took an agonizing fifteen seconds for him to reach the boat and get pulled in before they shoved off and turned the boat out to sea.

"Lieutenant. What's happening back there?" Another soldier asked.

"I blew up the nest."

"Seriously?!"

"Yeah. It's gone. Last I saw Godzilla was heading towards them again."

"Fuck, that lizard's something else!" The squad leader chuckled.

Ford smiled.

"Yeah."

"C'mon gents. Let's get this thing on a set course and get the hell off this thing."

It took a moment to line up the ship with the open ocean and stick the wheel so it would continue straight, as they couldn't access the remote controls on the boat without the owner's password. Once the boat was set on course they all jumped out and started swimming to shore.

Meanwhile, back at the nesting site Godzilla was engaged in a shoving match with the Female as the Male flew around looking for an opening. Exhausted and all but out of power, Godzilla struggled to gain any serious ground while she used her secondary arms to bash his stomach and sides. But weakened as she was, she couldn't pierce his hide as she'd done earlier. And much to her chagrin many of the earlier wounds she and her mate had inflicted had already long since stopped bleeding.

Godzilla's arms and legs trembled as the two combatants tried to shove each other backwards. And the Male at last saw an opening as he got behind Godzilla and took a dive towards him. Hearing this, Godzilla relaxed and let the Female push forward into him as he stepped backwards and then willfully fell onto his back while lifting the Female up onto his chest as the Male MUTO slammed into her. The impact knocked both of them off of Godzilla who rolled aside and made it to his feet while the MUTO pair got entangled and began snapping at each other in their attempts to get up and get out of each other's way. Seeing this made the corners of Godzilla's mouth turn upwards.

Ford and the others managed to make it back to shore and helped haul each other out of the water as they watched the boat getting smaller and smaller.

"How much time?" Ford asked.

The squad leader checked his watch and his face paled.

"Sir? How much time's left?" Ford repeated.

"… Two minutes." The squad leader replied.

"Oh shit."

"It's not gonna get far enough in two minutes to be outside minimum safe distance!" One of the others exclaimed.

"What're we gonna do? We'll get caught in the blast if we can't get far enough away!" Another one shouted.

"Calm down!" The squad leader bellowed. "We did what we could, and the nuke's on its way out to see with that boat at full throttle. So stop whining. We knew what we were getting into when we got on that transport plane. End of story."

Ford nodded and looked back to the city as he heard and felt the rumbling of Titans in combat, and the echo of Godzilla's roar.

"Hey… Is it me, or are those sounds getting louder?" Another soldier asked.

Ford glanced his way, then back to the city as another roar from Godzilla was indeed louder.

"Ooooh, shit." Ford whispered.

Godzilla's spines appeared from behind a skyscraper as he was shoved off his feet by the Male and Female in a double team effort against him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Ford exclaimed.

"Let's move! Get away from the docks!" The squad lead shouted.

As Godzilla fell it sent a wave of air pressure at the soldiers which knocked some of them into the water forcing their comrades to stop and help them back out. Meanwhile the MUTO's both moved to the open space between Godzilla and the water to prevent his escape and prevent him taking any aquatic advantage over them. And both came in close as he tried to rise to bash him as hard as they could to prevent him from getting up.

"What do we do, sir?!" One soldier screamed.

"Take aim and fire at those ugly things!" He called back.

"All of em?"

"No, you idiot! The two bug looking ones!" He barked.

All of the soldiers checked their weapons, brought them up, and opened fire. Bullets flew rapidly through the air and struck the Male and Female MUTO's in the legs and torso's, but did nothing to deter them from their attacks on Godzilla. Ford was the first to run out of ammo and hung his gun over his shoulder as he watched the action continue. And he noticed Godzilla's spines weakly flashing blue.

"Cease fire! Cease fire!" Ford shrieked.

Everyone paused and looked at Ford.

"We gotta get out of here! That blue glow is Godzilla charging his attack, and it's radioactive! Let's go!" He shouted.

The soldiers all slung their rifles and hauled ass as fast as their legs could carry them down docks away from the battle as the light in Godzilla's spines increased its intensity. Everyone heard a whirring sound like some kind of electric wind up, and ducked for cover behind the nearest building while peeking out the side right as Godzilla unleashed his atomic breath. But contrary to the might burst stream Ford had always seen from him before it was much smaller, thinner, and looked a bit more like a flame than it did a stream of pure radiation. It lacked the punch it carried before as well, and only just managed to push the Male and Female back to the edge of the water before Godzilla nearly fell to his knees, just catching himself at the end to stay on his feet.

"How the hell does he do that?!" One soldier asked.

"Long story! Just stay away from the area he used it unless you wanna melt!" Ford shouted.

The MUTO's stood closer together and glanced to each other before looking out to the water and catching sight of the boat which was just barely visible in the darkness. The Female roared to the male who immediately took off and headed towards it. And as the Female turned back to Godzilla she got a close-up and personal look into his eyes before she was shoulder-slammed off her feet and into the water by the charging Titan.

Godzilla charged ahead and stomped over the Female's body, stepping on the side of her head, and dove into the water and swam as fast as he could after the Male.

"I put $50 on the lizard!" Another soldier cheered.

"Really?!" The squad leader yelled. "You're betting on this?!"

"Sorry sir. Just wanted to lighten the mood."

"… $100 on Godzilla." The squad leader grumbled.

"You're on, sir!"

I'm betting everything on Godzilla. Ford thought.

After shaking off the shock of Godzilla's charge the Female dove into the water and swam after her mate and Godzilla, who was now streaking through the water and disappeared beneath the waves as a large mound of water trailed above and behind him. The Male, meanwhile, had just reached the boat and dove down on top of it to grab the nuke in his mouth just as he had before in the San Francisco Bay by the bridge. But this time, as he turned back towards shore he was met with the sight of Godzilla, mouth agape, charging at him as he frantically tried to reach the surface. But it was no use. Godzilla's jaws clamped down on his shoulders and neck and dragged him down under the water before it could catch a breath, and the nuke was dropped from its mouth on the way down.

The Female, with such thin arms not meant for swimming, could only dog paddle as fast as she could and dove down to take a look. But all she saw was darkness. She could hear the faint sounds of Godzilla's roar, along with her mate's screech. So they were still fighting somewhere down here.

"Sir?" Ford asked.

"What is it Lieutenant?" The squad leader replied.

"How much time?"

Looking at his watch the squad leader made a face that practically screamed "how convenient," and held up one hand to count 4… 3… 2… 1…

The Female MUTO's vision went white as the nuclear device detonated down below. Almost immediately she was caught in the concussive burst and ensuing fireball, and the flesh on her arms was seared to bone from the hotter-than-the-sun temperatures which accompanied it as she tried to protect herself from it.

Back on shore, the explosion shook the ground before the infamous mushroom cloud appeared from the sea causing a massive wall of water to emerge and rise into the air before almost immediately evaporating from the heat. Ford and the others covered their eyes until the light died away enough for them to look again as the rumbling continued on for several long seconds as the cloud rose higher and higher into the air.

"Does it look… Small?" One soldier asked.

"Now that you mention it, yeah. It does." Another commented.

"The MUTO's." Ford remarked, drawing everyone's attention. "They feed on radiation. When they put it in the nest the babies must have sucked a lot of the potential energy out of it."

"Is that how it works?" Another asked.

Ford shrugged. "Just speculation. But I'm willing to bet on it."

"How much?" The squad leader asked with a smirk.

Ford chuckled and shook his head.

"So what happened to the monsters?" Asked another.

"Hopefully they were all vaporized." Said the first.

"Nah." Ford replied.

"What makes you so sure? I mean, even weakened it's still a nuke." The squad leader asked.

"Just watch." Ford said calmly with a firm nod.

Several long moments passed, but they could all hear it. The Female MUTO's cry out to sea. It was weak. Quiet. But it was there. And then…

"Hey. That last one was the lizard, right?"

Ford nodded with a growing smile.

The waters of San Francisco Bay turned bright blue as Godzilla's atomic breath, now fully energized, shot straight into the air lifting the body of the Male MUTO up higher and higher before searing it in half and sending both pieces tumbling down unceremoniously into the water.

"Holy shit!" Screamed the squad commander.

Ford chuckled and shook his head.

You really are something, aren't you Godzilla? He thought.

A moment later the waters turned blue again as Godzilla's glowing and flashing spines emerged, followed soon by Godzilla himself as he held the Female MUTO's mouth open and unleashed his atomic breath directly down and through her throat. It took a second. But the back of her head and neck slowly turned blue until they too were burned away completely as her body went limp, and then detached from the head falling into the water as Godzilla held the head up to inspect it before dropping it and roaring to the skies in victory.

"So, that's a good thing, right?" Asked another soldier.

Godzilla turned to look towards the shore and spotted the human soldiers, and Ford, the latter of whom kept eye contact despite the distance with a silent nod of affirmation. Godzilla huffed through his nose and turned out to sea and cruised through the water with only his spines visible as the group heard the sounds of a helicopter making its way around the skyscrapers which still stood and landing nearby. Emerging from it was Doctor Serizawa, who greeted the soldiers and Ford with a firm handshake.

"Lieutenant, come aboard!"

Ford nodded and bid farewell to the others who agreed to wait for a pickup from a transport, and hopped aboard with Serizawa who directed the pilot to follow Godzilla.

"So, what now?" Ford asked.

"Call me crazy if you want, but I have a feeling Gojira has more to show us." Serizawa replied.

"Like what?"

"We'll find out soon. And once we do, I'll have the pilot take you home."

Serizawa reached out to shake Ford's hand, and Ford returned it with a smile.

"Thanks doc."

Serizawa nodded and the two watched Godzilla as he continued his relaxed swim through the ocean before lifting his head above the waves and released a roar.