Chapter 11: Into the deep

She slept a little on the flight, but still she couldn't really rest, Madison had to try to guide Godzilla in her dream and guide him over to Antarctica. As she slept she felt some impressions of him, he was going into underwater tunnels that had been used by him for a long time. They were not direct entrances to hollow earth, only a few led down very deep and were much more part of ordinary cave systems and the ocean.

Of the few entrances Godzilla could have used, the closest was in Antarctica: the old Outpost 32. All the others were too far from his position near Australia, besides Madison had to come along, this was only possible at the Outpost.

Just as Madison felt Godzilla begin to receive cold, she woke up, but she didn't have to guide him anymore, they had arrived. She blinked a few times and felt someone squeezing her shoulder, it was Mark. As she rubbed her eyes she realized he was wearing a winter jacket and slowly she realized how cold the environment had become. In the corner of her eye, Madison looked through a window saw the white surface of Antarctica, covered with snow and ice. "Here Maddie, put this on." Mark handed her a winter jacket, not her size, but it didn't really matter, it could be as low as minus 25 degrees Celsius even here in the summer. As she put on the jacket Chen walked straight out from the cockpit and turned to Mark.
"We should be landing soon, Godzilla has dived off the coast but should be close to us, Dr. Lind wants to go over a few more things with us and also prepare, the HEAVs are already ready and just going over a few more checks." Ilene sat down again, right next to Maddie this time.

"That sounds comforting." Said Madison to herself and sighed once deeply, staring down into her lap, shivering with one leg, however she wasn't really cold as she snuggled further into the jacket. Despite everything she had experienced so far, it made her nervous to be back here, here began one of the most critical moments of her entire life, throwing everything out of whack. Even overcoming everything, she wished that the whole thing had never happened, that she had done something earlier, before it all collapsed one after the other, her world shattered like ice that was already cracking. But she hadn't done anything and so she let many lives suffer, she didn't know how many times this had gone through her mind, even in the time she lived "normally", not a day went by where Madison didn't feel guilty, didn't feel like the world was resting on her shoulders, she told herself that others also had this thought, but in her case it was just right somehow, with the role she had taken on and especially now, the world was resting on her shoulders. At least she wasn't all alone, but it was a double-edged sword, without these events and her actions, she might never have met Abby, Miki, Jia, might not have seen Mark, her father. Nor Godzilla, but it made her question again, should she have met him at all? Was it right?

Moreover, there were also Jonah and Belvera, people who influenced her in a whole other way, one way or the other. Should someone as old as she was, practically still a child, come into contact with such people? Of course not, would be the logical answer, but then would she have met the other people in their lives? Who knows, maybe not at all, maybe anyway. It was these questions and thoughts that ran through her like a stream of water, constant and endless.

As the Osprey flew further down she became more and more nervous, she pinched her skin, no real idea why she did it, maybe just something to combat her nervousness or not think so much again. She sighed deeply once again, Mark noticed but didn't say anything because he knew roughly what the whole thing here would mean for her, it wasn't entirely pleasant for him either, he brought his share of unpleasant memories here with him. Something he argued with himself in his mind, should he say something or should he give Madison her space? Before he could say anything though, the pilot announced, "Please stand by, we will be landing in one minute."

Everyone got ready to move out, Madison got up right away, Mark looked surprised, but now thought there was no turning back, now she would rather run in and get the whole experience over with, she was scared and nervous, but she said to herself, "Where am I going to go now, I can't back down, it was my idea, I will got through with it now." Other than that there was only the Hollow Earth in front of her, a place she knew nothing about and where they would be one of the first to enter it, it was scary but in a very strange way calming, a part of her thought of this place and something inside her said it would all be fine.

Ilene and Mark stood next to her, someone grabbed her left shoulder, but it wasn't her father as she would have expected, when she turned her gaze in that direction it was Ilene. She smiled at Madison and said, "Whatever happens, we both have your back. "

Somewhat on the hopeful side again she took a deep breath just as the plane landed, a slight thud sound was heard, then the ramp was lowered, someone was already waiting for her.

There was a man in winter clothes and a board or tablet whatever Chen had, a few meters to the side from the landing area, they had landed above at the edge of the crater, there were some buildings, a specific one that had an elevator that would lead into the hangar and the rest of the facility. The soldiers who had flown with them immediately went in to the elevator to report to the central office and get ready.

Immediately Madison went out as she could, ignoring the freezing wind, Mark and Ilene right next to her, but she was in the lead, hadn't even put on her hood, the sun was just a little bit blinding, the wind was blowing at her face, it was freezing, her hair was blown around, but she didn't care, she was going right to this man and wherever they had to go now, she suspected he would lead them somewhere. He beckoned the three over to him.

"Dr Chen, Dr Russell, welcome!" He welcomed them, shaking hands with both of them, also Madison, "I take it you are Dr. Russell's daughter? Madison was it right?" "That's right." She said, somewhat quickly and coldly. "Come with me, I'll explain everything on the way, HQ already gave me hell that we should do it hastily."

Madison was distracted for a moment, she saw the crater, it went in very deep, Godzilla would be just about half way up if he stood upright, she walked a little to the edge and knelt down, touching the ice underneath her, feeling how cold it was, Madison looked down, there was a hole even deeper on the wall, a Titan would fit in there, behind it was a large cavern, followed with a connection to the hollow earth.

The man was a little perplexed, but Mark walked over to Madison and knelt down with one leg to her. "And what do you think, do you think you can do this?" Madison thought, not about the many things this time, but just what her father said. She balled her hands into fists and gave a clear answer, "Yes."

The two went back to the man who had just received them, he directed them to the building with the elevator, they got in the one on the left, the one on the right was already on its way.
"I take it you are Nathan?" Chen asked him. "Oh yeah right hadn't introduced myself at all, I'm Dr. Nathan Lind, head of the HEAV program along with my brother David, we also run the outpost and its reconstruction after... iii think you all know that already."
"You could say that." Gave Mark in a whispering tone.
"Then of course I don't want to repeat the whole thing, anyway when Monster Zero broke out we found an entrance into the Hollow Earth during recovery. Who knows why he was there, Dr. Chen, you probably know more about it?"
"Well, I've only scratched the area so far in my research, but I suspect it was a critical point between him and Godzilla's last fight, maybe he was trying to get in or out and was stopped, we may never know."
"Too bad, would have liked to know how the snake got frozen."

A familiar ding went through the room and the elevator door opened, a hangar opened, on the right side of them was immediately the hangar opening where vehicles could fly in and out. They were on a catwalk that was a little higher and ran all along the wall, directly across from the elevator were stairs that would lead down. Lind stepped forward, gripping the railing, pointing to the other side of the hangar, "There are the HEAVs, designed by me and my brother and after a few checks they are as good as ready. All that's missing is us."
He turned to the group.
"Us?" Madison asked, Lind nodded "Right, follow me." He waved them on down the gangplank, Madison just followed behind with Mark and Chen, she looked at the hangar as she walked by, it was large, modern, the planes and osprays that were here were being tinkered with and repaired, stuff was being taken down or loaded up, forklifts were taking them or bringing them. On the whole, quite a hustle and bustle. The old outpost was big too, but nothing like here.
Madison wasn't sure how it would be possible, it had been just under a year, again Monarch had to release some and could probably operate much more freely than before, it gave her a funny feeling.

It gave her slight doubts if she would stay with Monarch, here and there the thought came up and when it came up another question was always in her mind: should Monarch even exist, should anyone "control" the Titans, do humans even have a right to imprison and monitor nature like that?
"You're starting to think a lot like Mom." Madison said to herself, arguing with herself about it, she hated it.
Sometimes she briefly thought to herself that maybe Emma wasn't wrong, if it hadn't been for Ghidorah the plan would have gone much better, she was well aware that it was wrong to think that way, given how many lives would be ended anyway, something her mother had sugar coated for her back then instead of telling her the full truth.

To tear herself away from these thoughts, she pinched her arm, so hard that it irritated the skin. It hurt and only now did she really realize where she was again, they had landed at a door, Dr Lind put a card on a surface, the door opened. "...This is my office and lab here."
As he led the three in was a rather strange room, at the half about turned down, the office part was made of wood with book shelves and rustic, with an old looking desk with lots of stuff on it, the back half was a fairly modern looking lab area, white table in the middle, stuff on it with a work surface set up, a door in the middle on the right, where on the sides were new shelves with other stuff, on the left side was a blackboard on the wall with all kinds of stuff written on it, at the end of the room was a window, there you could see the rest of the room, with lab chambers and corridors to walk around, similar to Castel Bravo.
It was very warm, Maddie was almost starting to sweat.

"You sure are comfortable here."
Mark commented, Lind smiling at the statement as he hung his jacket on a coat rack.
"Well, as a leader and full time employee here at the outpost, I am allowed to arrange my personal work space as I wish, the office part here still belonged to my father for the most part, had him sent here. Please, sit down, jackets can be taken off."
Nathan sat down on the chair facing the wall by the old looking office desk, three chairs were opposite where the group sat down.
"So her father has also worked at Monarch?" Chen asked, her family had also been with the organization for 3 generations after all.

"Yes, my family has been there from the very beginning, it was my grandfather actually one of the first to theorize that the monsters move and are located underground, any cave systems we haven't found yet and actually the Hollow Earth is nothing more than that, the largest cave system on our earth, is located between the surface and the mantle."
"So not the old model?" Madison had little experience with it yet, all she knew was that it existed.
"Old model? Oh, you mean what used to be believed. No no," Lind had to laugh briefly, "That the earth is completely hollow to the core is insane, a conspiracy theory and fantasy stories, nothing more, gravity doesn't even allow that."
"And the real hollow earth is?"
"Well some modern calculations were a little off and by that I mean only a little."

"I'd hate to interrupt, but I'm pretty sure there was something else we're here for," Mark interjected, to which Lind agreed.

"It's not much, I just wanted to go over this with you guys before we get started, we're going to do a little crash course in HEAV technique. The basis is to always keep strapped in and stay calm when flying, as soon as we fly down it gets 10 times worse than a figure eight ban and gravity gets completely flipped once, it can definitely make you sick, so better not eat anything now."
Maddie remembered the energy drink in Australia, but that should be it, Lind stood up and walked over to the other part of the room with the board, the three turned over to him as he showed the board.

Many drawings of buttons, the HEAV itself, arrows pointing up and down in directions
"The HEAV itself is quite easy to operate at its core, I only say this in case the pilots and I fail, there is an autopilot mode that sets it at an altitude from the ground, this also regulates the speed, it is not too slow but not too fast. The wheel has all the necessary controls, buttons are on the sides," he pointed to the drawings with a pencil, explaining what meant what, how to adjust it exactly should it come to that, but he kept reassuring that the autopilot mode would make it easier even for people with no experience flying it for the first time. For Maddie, it felt like school again, not where she was now with Abby, but how Emma had taught her, which had given her a big head start over her classmates, practically back in college.

You would think it would be more fun, more relaxed because you already knew everything, which was only half true. If it wasn't for Abby, she would have hated it completely, it was boring, she could do everything and therefore hardly did anything, still felt guilty for not doing enough and except for Dr. Cutter there would be no one there with whom she got along.

"...And that's really all, otherwise here comes her suit now."
"Suit?" Said Ilene, Maddie snapped back out of her thoughts and came to attention.
"Right, we're about to go into the locker rooms, her HEAV jumpsuit isn't well insulated, so that's either going to be pretty cold or hot, but at least it's tear resistant and can provide some protection in the possible event then an attack, a small built in GPS and compass on the right arm, a couple of brackets for the seats in the HEAV should we need to accelerate, all clear so far?"

The three looked at each other, there were no questions and hardly anyone could back down now. "Great, follow me again."

Nathan stood up and took the group over to the door, it was all happening so fast, a slight feeling of being run over came over Madison.
The room they needed to get to had been right next door, it was a pretty simple locker room, lockers on the sides, benches in the middle, but there was a coat rack with wheels in the middle, on it were 4 suits, Madison was already pretty sure what it was.
"Here are the suits, you can change in the back around the corner in the booth," he pointed behind him with his thumb to the left sides, that's where the room went a little further, "Dr. Russell's, Dr. Chen's and mine are standard issue, yours is a little different." Said Lind, lifting the heel on which the suit hung and showing it to Madison. The others were a pale orange almost golden with blacks dividing them, Madison's was all black.
"We had to make it quickly for your size that's why it's only one color."
"I don't think that's the most important thing right now, I still like it."
"I agree, okay, then everyone change once here, things can leave them here, we see and then again in 15 minutes, here we go."

Madison was the last to finish, at first it felt weird, but she quickly got used to it. There was a mirror in the dressing room, she looked at herself in it. It fit her very well, not only from the size where she could move perfectly, but also from the look, it felt like it was designed just for her, as she had put it on, the fabric on her skin was soft yet still feeling robust. It had some plates on her shoulders, arms and knees, kinda like some biker uniform. The others had Monarch signs on them, her did nothing, maybe she could get a symbol of her own.

Briefly she looked around her, there was no one there, good. Carefully she released her powers, let her hair light up blue, her aura unfolded again first to Mothra's wings, then to Godzilla's back plates, she made poses like she was fighting, some she had seen from movies.

It gave her some confidence, some freedom. At first she didn't want to admit it and rush into anything, but she loved this outfit, it was like a part she was missing, with it she could get the rest. Maddie smiled in the mirror and felt good, she felt ready for what was to come.

Someone knocked on the door.
"Madison are you okay?" She quickly turned her aura off again, even though there was really no reason to hide it.
"Yeah, what's up?" she called back to Mark.
"We and Lind are done, how about you?"
"Done too, I'm coming out now." Quickly she grabbed her clothes from a chair and walked out, Lind and Chen were talking, Mark had stood by the door and walked with her. On the center bench were the clothes from the others, so she went right there and put her clothes down.

"Well are we all ready?"
"I think so Nathan." Answered Mark and looked at Madison, he noticed how pleased she looked, she smiled.
"The suit suits you."
"Thanks. It's more comfortable than I expected...I know this doesn't fit right now, but can I keep it?" A bit of an odd question for Mark, but Lind didn't seem to have a problem with it at all.
"Nothing wrong with that, he was made for you and we don't plan on bringing any more kids to HEAVs."
"I think- " "Thank you Dr. Lind." Madison cut Mark off, she really wanted to keep it, it was hers now.

"Well, now it's just a matter of waiting for Godzilla, meanwhile we haven't gotten any sign of him yet." When he ducked into the tunnels he could no longer be located by Monarch, but Madison knew exactly where he was.

"Madison, are you sure he's coming here?" "He should, unless something happened that disturbed him on the way here, but I doubt it. If I'm here, he'll come too."
Maddie noticed that Nathan was relatively calm about the matter, to some this might have been unusual or seemed unprofessional, but it just seemed to be his way. However, this subsided as a tremor went through the base and the ice outside was heard to groan.

"Speak of the devil." Whispered Mark, the group went out into the hangar, much commotion was going on there, but something was coming down into the pit. Godzilla stomped past the hangar, his head reaching just to the ceiling.

With a suspicious look he looked around, he remembered this place, the reawakening of his rival, the smell was still in the air, traces that only Godzilla could pick out.
Anger came over him, other memories came to him, some of them he had learned from his partner that humans were to blame for freeing him and yet they came here, in part it made him angry.
It twitched at his cheek, puffing once loudly not because of the cold, the wind and the ice despite his reptilian ancestry made him little mind this icy environment.
With his big paws he scratched his neck, there was something else, a kind of round gate opened in front of him, big enough that he could fit in, a tunnel where he could fit in, from this tunnel he felt something seeping out, the smell and sound of an old home, a part of his territory he hadn't entered in a long time and didn't have so much control. The last time he had felt something like this was when he met his mate and brought her to this island.
Curious, he approached the hole as if it were calling to him.
Then came another voice, from the side.

On a kind of high perch that was a little higher than the hangar were Madison and the group, when Godzilla caught sight of Maddie he turned to her and let out a roar, it sounded similar to the sounds he made when he was hurt. As he got closer every person up there backed up a bit, everyone except Madison, she crouched down, one knee on the bode, close to the edge, he had gotten really close, Madison could reach him with her arm. "Hello there big guy."
First she grabbed him by the chin, scratched him a little, the way he liked it, to calm him down a bit.

"You know exactly what this place is not, we both do." A short shout came back, an answer you might think. Maddie stood up, ran her hand up over a tooth, he tilted his head down slightly so she could stroke his nose.

"How are you?" Trying to determine how sick he was, she put her right hand against his muzzle and closed her eyes, directly feeling the whole thing was still inside him, but filled more than ready to fight, practically itching to take on Kong.
But instinctively Godzilla and Maddie knew they had to get down there, heal him, and besides, there was something else, maybe Maddie's last test.

"Ready?" A growl came from Godzilla, he took a few steps back again, turned towards the entrance to his old home, and roared towards the sky.

Maddie turned over to Nathan "We're good to go." He nodded and whistled everyone along with him, "Okay everyone, here we go, everyone take your places, go, go, go." Quickly they ran through the hallways, everyone thinking Godzilla would just take off and then they would be on their own again.

But he walked slowly, waited until his partner came to him, up to the entrance he went, just before the titan stopped. Even if what lay down there called for him more and more, he remained steadfast and waited.

Madison and the other ran straight down the hangar, she was right on top and almost passed them all, the HEAV suit was agile and allowed her to get everything out of her new found agility.

She skidded across the black bare ground past one of the HEAVs, the design was quite simple, a sort of flying ship, cockpit like that of an airplane but without wings or propellers, but jet engines on the sides that could be pointed down or back.

Maddie was a little unsure exactly how it worked, but anyway she wasn't very interested in technology. The rest of the group finally arrived, Nathan grabbing him by the shoulder as they passed and telling her somewhat breathlessly "You...pretty quick...ayweh." "Thanks."

He turned to everyone and assigned them to their respective HEAVs, last was just Maddie, Mark and Ilene "You group come with me, my co-pilot is already inside."

One HEAV had already taken off, the second was getting ready for takeoff. Similar to an Osprey, the entrance was in the back, it was also quite similar in size. Once inside, Nathan immediately sat up next to the co-pilot and buckled his seat belt. There were two seats right behind them, where Madison immediately sat behind Nathan and buckled up.
"Um that seat was actually for Dr Chen-" "That's alright Nathan, I think it's better if she sits up front."
Said Chen, Mark didn't interject, he just scratched his head in displeasure. Godzilla needed to see Madison, so she had to sit there, even if he wasn't entirely comfortable with it.

Mark sat down next to Maddie, Chen in the back in one of the side seats. "Is everyone buckled up?" Nathan asked, looking to the back and everyone nodded at him. "Well then, we're good to go."

The aircraft took off and out of the hangar, a strange humming sound could be heard, it must be the engine, Madison thought. The Arctic sun briefly passed through the cockpit windows, but then a shadow was immediately cast over them as they flew past next to Godzilla and stopped in midair. Madison leaned against the window and looked over at him. It took him barely a second to see her and he leaned his head in her direction. Tension was high among everyone, Nathan kept in touch with the others over the radio, they were a bit nervous and worried.

Maddie and Godzilla looked at each other for a moment, then he fixed his eyes forward again to the entrance and roared loudly. Suddenly he charged forward, the trampling of the ton of heavy Titans was felt and audible.

"Into the deep we go!" Lind said and the HEAVs followed Godzilla.

As he made his way through the cave crushing ice and rocks under his feet, Madison looked over Nathan's shoulder, wanting to see everything where he was going. It was getting darker, but around gave Monarch constructions some light, they came to a section with crystals, a cave full of crystals, the kind she had seen on Skull Island on her first night, it had to be the right trail, because they reacted to Godzilla very much like they did then, flashing slightly blue.

"It's going downhill in a minute." Shouted Lind, and indeed a slope could be seen ahead. Godzilla didn't stop though as he shattered crystals under his feet, maybe he didn't see it or didn't care, still he slid, it was steep downhill, straight into the Dark Deep where no more light penetrated, where no one in Monarch had ever dared, they would make new ground, like astronauts to a planet.

As Godzilla slid down the slope, he rolled to the side and slowed his fall a bit, he rammed his left hand into the wall and scratched deep furrows in the rock, his tail, he rolled forward to continue slowing down, still he picked up more and more speed, it was getting darker, but there was some kind of light, some crystals flashed again, he let go a bit further, that was the barrier they had to overcome, then soon they were down.

The HEAVs were close, making it straight down, red lights went on inside, the G forces kicked in, despite the protection of the machine this was more than they had experienced for all of them, but they would survive, at least they hoped so.

Madison felt nauseous, not from the forces that were acting on her, in fact she felt less of them than she expected. It just reminded her of bad times, from Outpost 32, as she closed her eyes those memories came up. Where she was sitting in the Osprey with Emma, and Jonah's people were just shooting everyone down there, the red light in it, the vibrations coming from the gunfire, how loud it was.

Just as it was now getting louder and louder, lights flashing, she squeezed her eyes tighter and hoped that it was over soon. When they penetrated the barrier she felt pressed by everything, even noises around her were barely audible, only a loud beeping. When she tried to yell, nothing came out.

But when they were above it, the machine was in free fall. Madison noticed how everything changed again and when she opened her eyes, a whole new world revealed itself to her.