Chapter 9: Standing up again

It had been a few hours since the attack, this had taken place at 16:00, now it was 2am and the Apex bell was still ticking, the remaining fleet had rallied, picked up survivors and headed for Australia at risk of going straight to Melbourne, it wasn't the closest monkeys but it was close to the prison Jonah was in, they had to get him ready for the handover and possibly get some info out. A plan had to be conceived, Apex couldn't run around with a titan in control, let alone hand Jonah over, what could happen if he was back in control, Madison didn't want to imagine.

Even though it was very late, Madison hardly felt tired, whether that had to do with the energy drinks she was downing or the mood in general she wasn't sure, at least she figured she had to stay awake, not that you could really find a place to sleep here, they were still at the port, standing around in a small office building, just about a floor high, was very temporarily built building that served to coordinate the departures or so here. Chen and Mark were clearing something up one floor with the port captain, some things had to be regulated as it was not foreseen that suddenly several ships of the military came in, when the port was supposed to be for fishing and transport.
She stood next to a drink machine and sipped her last energy drink, meanwhile she was just, as usual, thinking.

Again and again she went over the moments with Tiamat and Manda, alone one of the Titans was already very strong enough, together they were almost unbeatable. It was that feeling again, where she went over the situation again and again, and came to different ends, some that made her a little uncomfortable.
Alone she might not have beaten either of them she thought to herself, even if she had proven herself well, Godzilla was weakened, but if he had been at full strength the fight would have ended much faster. What if Madison hadn't reacted quickly enough and Tiamat was able to lunge at a weakened, tightly bound Godzilla? A whole series of possibilities ran through her mind.

Madison grabbed her forehead and rubbed it a little, groaning loudly just as Mark and Chen came down with the port captain. A few words were exchanged briefly, but the matter was settled, for now the ships were allowed to stay here to care for and repair the survivors, it had been an emergency after all.

Mark immediately marched over to Madison to see how she was doing, rubbing her forehead, annoyed by the headache that was starting to subside.

"Are you okay Maddie?"
"Been better, I could really do without the headache."
"Should you be drinking an energy drink then?"
"At this point I don't care, besides," Madison took another sip.
"I've always had that after...well not exactly that, I've never had that big of a fight on that size, but afterward I've always had headaches and not in the head trauma kind. Whereas I've often had other pains that hurt more, or I've fainted."
"You shouldn't be doing all this."
Madison looked at him sharply but didn't answer, partly she agreed with him, however she couldn't just give up now, people close to her were in danger and she wouldn't abandon them, she wasn't that kind of person, even if it started all to scare her again, pressure her, she assured herself she would go through with this, but can she do that, or is she telling herself that? Mark was about to speak up again, but Madison raised her hands and made a gesture for him to stop.
"Dad, I know what you're going to say. Don't do it, now is not the time." Chen came over to them.

"Are you two ready? Castel Bravo contacted us, we need to discuss how to proceed now, meeting is on the ship." Mark nodded and waved for Madison to come along. When they came out of the port office, there was a lot going on despite the time, dock workers coordinating with and helping the military and soldiers, many exhausted and injured, Madison didn't dare look anyone in the eye and looked away, on the ground or in the water, as she felt partly guilty for it even if it had nothing to do with her directly, the ship was located just off the wharf, it was a huge ship and yet it had huge damage that would take weeks to repair, at least it could still float and communications still partially worked. As the three boarded they made their way through the long corridors again, but now some lights were out and it was all damp and cold, dripping from the ceiling here and there, puddles forming on the floor below. Maybe the ship had to be completely scrapped given the damage, but that was not the highest priority at the moment.

When they arrived on the bridge, a technician was working on the display on the wall, some others were trying to get the other communications working again.

"Did it break again?" Chen turned to the technician, who continued to work, but nodded and replied, "It was fine a few minutes ago, but it should come back on in a minute-"A loud hissing noise suddenly filled the room as the screen turned back on, the technician fell backwards when he was surprised, Madison immediately helped him up.

Ilene walked over to the main console and pushed around a few times, trying to change the settings to direct receive

"Hello? Hello? Castel Bravo here can you hear me?" The quality wasn't very good but it should do, it was Rick when the picture came in everyone was a little surprised, he was hurt, had a bandage around his head.
"Guys, where the hell have you been?"
"We were just on our way back from Skull Island, where were you?" Asked Mark.
"We got ambushed, but as far as I can see you already got the briefing from those guys."
"Yes, just before we were attacked, they contacted us and demanded that we hand over Jonah and $1 billion in exchange for the hostages and Hong Kong."
"Ah damn don't remind me." Moaned Stanton, gripping his head, Madison smirked slightly and just thought to himself "At least I'm not alone with the headache."

"What does Foster say?" Mark asked him, Rick shrugged his shoulders and sighed defeatedly.
"She said we have no choice but to do what they told us, with a Titan under their control, who has now defeated the big G as well...we're just putting the money together, you're in Melbourne aren't you?"
"Yeah right." Replied Chen.
"Okay, Jonah should be in the prison nearby, a helicopter will pick him and you up and send you to Hong Kong."

"But what about Godzilla?" Madison exclaimed, next to Jonah that was her main concern right now.
"What about him?" Rick was all confused, he didn't know yet, Ilene gave him a quick update.
"I'll send you more info then, but Godzilla seems to have fallen ill, a little weaker than before, which is what had allowed Kong to overpower Godzilla so quickly in the first place."
"That doesn't sound good, do we have a way to cure him? Why not drop another bomb on him?"
"That's the thing, it's the after effects from the bomb we set off back then that are taking away his power now."
"That makes it...well everything is complicated right now, but that makes it even more so, but it explained the strange readings we had."
Rick didn't seem to have an idea, but Ilene already knew what she could do, she looked over at Maddie, then down, thought, and said it.

"I think I know a way we might be able to stop both Apex and Godzilla's disease," Mark was surprised, while Madison got a slight smile.

"Well go ahead, we can use anything right now," Rick told her.
"With Godzilla weakened by man-made radiation, possibly naturally occurring radiation could heal him again, the only place we could find that for Godzilla would be Hollow Earth."
"And where did you get that idea?"
"From Madison."

Everyone turned to her, she took a step back, but Ilene nodded back at her, reassuring her that it was okay.
"When you went down in the submarine that time, it was said that Godzilla was resting at an ancient temple that emitted radiation, so he had survived and would heal himself. That's exactly what he has to do now, we have to go into the Hollow Earth."

"Assuming that's what he would have to do, why would we go?"
"We have to watch it, maybe there is another temple down there that works differently, maybe again one like on Skull Island that had given me my powers, then I have to activate it again, I saw something again."

"Back in one of your dreams?" Rick asked her.
Madison looked away, "Yeah, but-" "It's fine, I trust you there, but how do you plan on finding an energy source like what you need?"

Mark had already thought of that.
"Godzilla sees the whole planet as his territory, plus he has a very strong instinct, he could just track them down and Madison could guide him and us along with him."
"Foster and the others seem to be dead set on us just handing over the money and I don't think these guys are going to be convinced," Rick asked, which was something to consider. Mark stroked his beard and already had an idea.

"Monarch is facing a difficult situation, I will have to put my word in later. We don't have much of a choice, we didn't have it when Ghidorah broke loose and freed the Titans, so we had to take some risks and find a way. How we get there I already know, I heard Dr. Lind finished the HEAV?"

"I can check that out." "Then we could run it as a test and expedition. "
HEAV, Madison hadn't heard that before, it made her curious.
"What's a Heav?" Rick was about to answer, but Ilene beat him to it.

"HEAV are machines developed by Dr. Nathan Lind, Hollow Earth Aerial Vehicle. It has 4 special turbines that generate enough energy to manipulate gravity and the Earth's magnetic field, only with something like this can you go into the Hollow Earth. Gravity gets weird as soon as you go deeper down into the core of the Earth, besides it will protect us against possible environmental influences."

The "us" that Ilene said made Madison smile slightly, since that made it official, they would be going downstairs.

"Well, Rick you contact Dr. Lind and tell him to get us ready for an expedition and send an Osprey to pick us up. I'll clear it with Foster in the meantime, I'll contact her via satellite phone."
Rick just nodded nervously, taking notes along the way.
"Well, let's hope it works out. Jonah is about to be picked up, you should be there than better be on your way, the prison isn't far."
"Thanks Rick."

Finally he said, "I think this will be the last time we all see each other, I wish you good luck guys, whatever happens, it's been an honor." Mark nodded to him. "Same to you Rick."

It was only a short drive through Melbourne by car, half an hour or so, but for Madison it felt like they had been driving through the city for hours, she had put her head against the window of the car and was just looking at things, it was so quiet, maybe one or two people were just passing by on the sidewalk, otherwise there was nothing, everything was dark, isolated maybe lights in stores and apartments, where only the yellowish lamps of the streetlights offered a light. Mark was on the phone with Foster, she wasn't really listening to what he was saying and Chen was sitting next to her with her eyes closed resting.

When they arrived the mood continued to rise, Madison as usual snapping out of her thoughts again. The three got out of the car, they were parked right in front of the prison. Mark said something else to the driver while Ilene waited with Madison on the sidewalk, behind them was a metal fence surrounding the whole complex, chicken wire was attached at the top, would anyone have thought of climbing up them.

It was a fairly old but large complex that had been overhauled only a few years ago, Madison didn't know much about it except that it was specifically for non-violent criminals (though the people who sat in there would still get their fingers dirty, but they weren't prone to violence), partly members of some organizations. For them, it was too lenient than what Jonah had done, but at least he got life.

Mark waved the driver off briefly before he drove away. Madison didn't feel quite right and Mark spoke to her about it. "You two are okay." Chen just nodded and rubbed her eyes, Madison said nothing and just looked at the ground, Mark sighed and put his hand on her shoulder. "I get it this isn't easy, it isn't for me either, but we'll get through this, we've been through worse." Madison said nothing, but she smiled thinly, not happy but not bitterly sad, and nodded, which at least reassured Marks.

"All right, we should move on, we don't have forever." "Let's hope it's quick." Said Ilene, that was probably Madison's interest in it too.

The three continued along the fence to a gate, Madison looked up, it was iron, just as high as the rest of the fence and painted black it was securely gated, a switch on the right side where someone sat watching them, two guards behind the gate.

Both had helmets on, their faces completely covered with goggles and masks, looking like special forces, however they had a Monarch symbol on their shoulder plates, Madison looked at it, the outfit of the soldiers looked quite appealing to her, except for everything she had on her head.

"You are Dr. Russell and Dr. Chen I presume?" Asked a guard. "Yes exactly, we were agreed to be picked up here." "Right, there was a little change of plans though?" "Yes we are being picked up by an Osprey according to the info, he is currently undergoing interrogation with Dr. Morrison?" "Right, we're bringing you in."

The second guard waved over to the man at the counter to open it, the two of them moved a little to the side. Slowly, the iron gates slid aside automatically as there came a short sound, like a doorbell.

Madison held back for now, even though the surroundings here and everything around made her a bit nervous, it was one of those forbidden places. She hid in her thoughts again and thought about some things, then the uniform of the two guards caught her eye again, and the monarch symbol on his shoulder, she imagined what it would be like to have one herself, how she would look like in it, it gave her more self-confidence than she imagined in it, it felt like armor insulating her, even if it wasn't exactly the same.

The guard noticed how the girl next to him, stared at him, but as soon as he tilted his head to her, she hastily looked away again.

In the building itself the mood was no better, it was a bit eerie in the middle of the night as not many lights were left on. It was a cold pale place, they walked through corridors where coat pipes were on the ceilings, years old lights that sometimes flickered, a very hard floor, walls to which the facade was easily scraped off already, it was not a nice place to live, but it should not be.

Finally they arrived in a room, two people were already inside, seemed to be high-ranking personnel of the prison, maybe even the director, he was a bit overweight, maybe 50 or 60 years given his hair, close to retirement probably, wore a fine, but very old suit. Somewhat darkened with a window on the right side, it was an interrogation room and on the other side of the glass sat none other than Jonah. When Maddie saw him all kinds of feelings came to her mind, her heart started pounding again but she tried to keep herself under control but god what feelings were boiling up. He looked a little worse for wear than the last time they had seen each other, though she had given him quite a whack on that occasion, so that was no wonder, but that could be because they had kept him up so long. Right now he was being interrogated by two people, a guard and someone from Monarch, you could hear him sighing loudly.

"Gentleman, as I said before, I don't know anything about Apex or their plan, I suspect my assistant has been carrying on my vision in my absence."
"Bullshit why would she call her the head of the organization."
"Like I said, she continued to work on my behalf, apparently I am needed."

The director scoffed at this statement. "Do you believe him?" He addressed Mark, who just grabbed his chin as if he was thinking.
"It's possible, what else have you found out?"
"Not much, it's been going on for hours, all we got out of it is that he doesn't know about their plan and didn't even know about Apex itself, I suspect he's lying."
"I don't think so." Madison interjected, the director raised an eyebrow, he had heard that someone's daughter was coming along, it was strange.
"Why do you think that?"
"When I was with Jonah's group with my mom, we had never heard of Apex or any name, he didn't want a name for his group, especially since it made them easier to track down. The rest of it doesn't seem like something he would plan either, it must be exclusively from Belvera, even if it's in his interest."
The Director seemed very puzzled as to where this teenager got this information, Ilene looked over at Mark who was scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment, he knew it wasn't good to drag her into this and confront her, but they had no other option right now.

The man who worked for Monarch walked out of the room with Jonah and over to the room with the rest of the group, he greeted them all with a New Zealand accent, then turned to Mark.
"Unfortunately we didn't have time to question him further, we couldn't find out much."
"Don't worry Dr. Morrison, we will figure it out, we have to hurry though time is running out, is everything ready." Morrison nodded, extending his arms to point at the two guards.
"The two of them and I will take him to our posts in Hong Kong, and deliver him only 1 hour before the given time runs out, should they not return in time. Let us pray to God that this will not be the case."

Mark glanced at his watch; there were still a few minutes before the helicopters arrived.
"We should get up to the roof." The director stood up, "Understandable, follow me please," meanwhile Morrison and the two guards walked into the room with Jonah.
"Are we done yet?" he asked mockingly as one of the two guards put his arms behind his back and handcuffed him, then pulled him out with the others.

Then in the hallway he spotted the other group, especially Madison, to whom he immediately turned. "Madison, what a surprise, didn't think I'd see you again."

Not a word left her lips, but in the brief eye contact Jonah could tell how angry she was, so much hatred, so much power he thought was wasted.

"Too bad you decided against me like that, with your powers you could have done a lot of things." She was almost boiling over, she clenched her fists almost trembling, but someone put his hand on her shoulder, she believed it was Mark, it brought her back into focus, she exhaled briefly and saw the two guards pushing him away and pulling him further ahead into the hallway, Dr. Morrison right along with them.

The director of the prison wiped his head, he had become quite nervous with such high monarch people all around.
"I'm very sorry, this wasn't planned."
"I hope so."
Said Mark, a little angry himself that something like this had to happen, he walked behind the others with the director, Madison and Ilene were the last two in the back, only now did Madison realize the one grabbing her shoulder was not Mark, but Ilene. She turned to her, not saying anything, carefully Ilene took her hand away. "Thanks,"
murmured Madison, Chen nodded and the two went after the group again, two by two through those cold and uncomfortable hallways, but quickly they found their way back, up a stairwell they went until they finally arrived at a door to the roof.
"Oh, excuse me." The director pushed his way forward, searching in his pocket for the key.

Jonah knew Madison was true behind him, so he spoke to her again. "I get why you might not want to talk to me Madison." "Shut up," said the guard who Madison had looked at so strangely before, but to everyone's surprise, Madison seemed to answer him this time, "Let him." "Why the sudden sympathy?" Jonah asked sarcastically, tilting his head to the side so he could see her in the corner of his eye.

"That you think you can intimidate me, to use my memories to manipulate me, forget it, I have become stronger than you could imagine, I am not afraid of you anymore, you are just an old, cynical man, with insane plans. And I will do everything I can to make sure that these plans will never work out again, that you will never again manipulate and threaten someone like me or my mother, never again put innocent people in danger just because you think you are someone above them. I have no sympathy for you, I want you out of my life and away from people you could harm."

It had gone quiet after what she said, Mark and Ilene standing with Madison, the two guards and Morrison just trying to do their job, even if the situation was a little awkward to be in, the director still looking for the keys.

Jonah said nothing and turned his head away again, muttering something to himself. Maddie exhaled deeply, she had trumped him, she was nervous and her heart was pounding, but she had sat down against him and not by force. Whatever was coming her way, she was feeling safe.

"Finally," the director said and opened the door, it had started to rain, the cold wind and wetness was coming in, the helicopter was already waiting for them, it was not an Osprey but another helicopter made by Monarch as well, more like a regular one in shape but much more robust. the rotor blades were causing a strong headwind despite being set to shut down, it was so loud.
Dr. Morrison followed by the two guards who had grabbed Jonah by the handcuffs escorted Jonah into the helicopter, getting him in before getting out themselves, Morrison doing another salute where he waved two fingers away from his forehead, over to Mark and Dr. Chen before getting in as well.

Immediately the helicopter took off again and lifted off, away into the night sky, the director briefly shut the door again so the remaining wind wouldn't get in, and Madison got one last look at the helicopter.

Well this wraps up Chapter 9 and I have to deeply apologize for the delay, I had massive writers block and this was supposed to be a smaller filler chapter originally, done in December last year. I hope I can pick up again quickly. I have some private issues that have been pressing on me and I've started to just play games more and such, feeling too uninspired to write often. It's not that I don't wanna continue this story, I do, I love it with my heart and soul, but I'm seriously behind what I originally thought would be it's end. I hope you can forgive me - Madison.