"Mister Serizawa. What seems to be causing the delay?" Simmons asked as he burst through the doors.

Ren turned around from his multi-monitor station and stood up.

"The delay is power." He replied softly.

"I'm sick of that excuse. We have billions of watts of electricity to draw from throughout our personal power grids. And you keep saying that it's not enough!" Simmons growled angrily.

"That's why we need the power source from the Hollow Earth."

"To perform a basic test? No, mister Serizawa. To perform a basic test where it stands on its own and uses at least one of the weapons it has doesn't require the source. I want to see my Mecha standing on its own two feet within the next ten minutes, or you're going to find yourself in the back seat of a Hong Kong police car. Understood?"

Simmons left the room in a huff as Serizawa sat down and slowly shook his head.

"That man's impatience will be his undoing." He muttered as he turned to his monitors.

Behind the monitors were several glowing cables connected to a skull. But not just any skull. The skull left behind by the severed head of Ghidorah from its battle in the ocean with Godzilla five years prior.

Having been harvested by fisherman from the sea and purchased by Alan Jonah, the skull had been acquired by Apex through a not-so-friendly "transaction" with the eco-terrorist. Parting with it was a bitter pill to swallow. But the resources and weaponry of Apex were not to be denied. Jonah never stood a chance.

What happened to Jonah afterwards is anyone's guess, as Simmons actively refused to tell anyone the details of that event.

"No matter." Ren whispered as he recalled his first attempt at getting the information.

Ren pushed a button and a series of images connected on his monitors showing the Apex power grid system.

"You want it to stand and use a weapon? So be it."

Ren began hastily clicking the keys on his keyboard and the images began lighting up as various sections of the power grids were digitally connected to one another. Once they were all lit, he activated the power transfer and the Mecha's body jolted with electricity as power surged into it from the cables attached to its head, shoulders, and hips. The eyes flickered and flashed brightly before the light solidified.

Meanwhile...

You won't escape!

Godzilla roared furiously with his head above water and blue light and sparks of energy arced wildly above and through his spines all the way down his back and tail.

But suddenly, all went quiet in Godzilla's ears.

The sounds of the sea. The echo of his roar. The wind rushing past. It all vanished. And in its place he heard a soft tribal music resonating throughout his being. He knew immediately what this meant and slowed his pace before coming to a stop and floating waist-deep and idling in the water as his tail swished left and right to keep him afloat.

To the South, back from whence he'd come, he saw a bright light shimmering on the nighttime horizon.

The light grew brighter and brighter as the source grew closer and closer. Within moments the music swelled as the body of the Queen of the Skies, her body glowing like the sun turning night into day for miles around them, rushed up and slammed her wings forward bringing her momentum to a grinding halt. The massive gust of air rushed past Godzilla who didn't flinch in its wake despite the waves of water rushing past his hips.

Her wing beats slowed and she hovered about two hundred meters above the water's surface.

So you've come.

Of course.

This is not your fight.

Your fight is my fight. So it has always been. So it will always be.

Godzilla took a breath and a puff of steam emerged from his nostrils upon exhale.

You remember our last encounter with the Intruder. I will see no such sacrifice happen twice.

It is not your place to make such a demand. The Intruder takes wing. It enters my domain. And I will see it brought to Earth that you may finish it once and for all.

Godzilla blinked slowly and turned his head towards Hong Kong.

It feels different.

It is different.

His head snapped back to Mothra.

How so?

It no longer has a body of its own. It controls another. One not natural to the world we know.

Godzilla snarled.

Does its disrespect for this world know no boundaries?

Is that meant to be answered?

Godzilla huffed.

No.

He turned fully towards Hong Kong.

If it takes wing, I will aid you in bringing it down. But once it's feet touch Earth the battle is mine to finish.

Of course, my friend.

Then let us away. This time the Intruder will breathe its last. Natural or otherwise.

Godzilla leaned into the water and raced forward with Mothra soaring above him in perfect sync.

Back inside the facility the giant mechanical being had made it to its feet with Ren staring at it with a sense of pride.

A bipedal stance. A long tail. Spines along its back. And a mouth pair of cold, dead eyes staring perpetually forward without lids to blink. A mechanical Godzilla. Red light pulsing through its body in anathema to Godzilla's blue. Being mechanical it was far more slender and its joints adjusted for a more human-like flow of movement.

"You may be the most powerful Titan, big brother. But you'll fall to our creation… To my creation." He said calmly.

Returning his gaze to his monitors he typed away at the keyboard and a massive door to the side of the mechanical leviathan opened up revealing a captive and fully-grown Skullcrawler. The creature scurried out from behind the door with saliva dripping from its mouth. Starved and in desperate need of sustenance it looked towards the mechanical Godzilla and lunged.

Ren's mouth curled into a smile.

The Skullcrawler suddenly found itself being lifted into the air with both its front arms held out to the sides by the mechanical beast. Its mouth opened revealing some kind of tube which began arcing with red light and energy. The Skullcrawler flailed violently. But it was no use. The whips of its tail garnered no reaction. No flinch. No indication of pain. And at last the tube released a powerful beam which tore through the skull of the creature in the mecha's grasp before being trailed downwards splitting it in half before being unceremoniously dropped to the floor.

And within moments, the mechanical monstrosity lost power and all the lights dimmed.

Ren stood up and walked to the window to look at the carnage. And while the found it disgusting and somewhat saddening to sacrifice an innocent creature such as this, if it meant shutting Simmons up for a few minutes then it would be worthwhile in the end.

Speaking of…

"That was fantastic!" Simmons cried as he burst through the doors again.

"You see? I knew you could manage. Apex's power grid had more than enough juice to-"

The facility power suddenly went out including the lights in the room they stood in.

"Eh?" Simmons muttered.

"We overtaxed the grid. It should return power shortly." Ren replied.

Sure enough, a few seconds later the lights flickered back to life.

"Ah. Much better." Simmons said as he walked over to the window.

"Look at that. It's beautiful." He said with outstretched arms. "My Mechagodzilla. Superior to your originator in every way. Stronger. Faster. More deadly weaponry. You will be the instrument of humanity's liberty from the tyranny of the Titans."

"Is that what you think we face?" Ren asked.

Simmons turned around looking rather incredulous.

"Mister Serizawa. Do you truly think that we do not live beneath the feet of the Titan's tyranny?"

"How could we? Tyranny is brought by deliberate suppression and threats of violence."

"And what do you think it means when the Titans attack our cities, destroy the landscape around and within which we live, and constantly go wherever they please leaving a trail of bodies in their wake?"

"I call it natural selection. The Titans are-"

"Trying to find where they belong. Yes, yes. I've heard that all before. But I believe it was your father who last said that. Was it not?"

Ren's voice caught in his throat and he glanced away.

"Hm. Seems you're more like your father than you thought."

"I am not like that man." Ren growled.

"Oh?" Simmons asked with a sly smirk.

"Well, either way mister Serizawa, I think that will do for today. Make sure Mechagodzilla is primed and ready to receive the power source we synthesize once my daughter completes the mission."

"Of course."

Simmons left the room, and Ren sat in his chair. Fiddling with the controls he primed Mechagodzilla for the charge. Saving his work, he left through another door and headed down the corridor to his personal chamber where he locked the door, sat on his bed, and heaved a deep sigh while resting his elbows on his knees.

"I'm not like my father." He muttered.

"He was never around. But if I had a son, I would always be there for him."

His fists clenched as he shook his head with tight lips.

"He didn't even come to mother's funeral. He didn't care." He growled.

"Gojira was more important than family."

Ren suddenly stood up and slammed his fist into his desk cracking the wood. Again and again he slammed his fists into it causing the entire thing to splinter and fall in half before he turned his rage on the metal walls. But a single slam of his fist into metal sent a wave of pain through his hand and brought him back down to Earth. Sitting back on the bed gripping his fist in pain, unable to open it, he grit his teeth and looked at his now rapidly swelling and bruising hand.

"Why?" He asked weakly.

"Why was Gojira more important?"

His eyes began welling up and he slouched forward.

"Gojira, Gojira, Gojira… That's all he'd ever talk about." He whimpered.

The sound of a teardrop hitting the metal floor echoed through the room.

"I know my accomplishments in school basically meant nothing as a child. But he didn't even say if I did a good job. I'd have taken harsh criticism over silence!" He screamed as more tears fell.

"So why? Why does his haunt me? Why do I still care about this? I've moved on. I severed all connections with him a long time ago. So why? Why does this still hurt so much?"

Ren wrapped his arms around himself as he slumped off the bed and to his knees, touching his forehead to the floor.

"Please. Make it stop." He sobbed.

"Just make it stop."

Ren continued crying quietly on the floor of his room as an alarm blared to life throughout the facility.

Elsewhere, in the Hollow Earth, the team had managed to follow Kong through the Hollow Earth to a massive mountain beneath the "sun" of this subterranean world. Up ahead as they slowed to a stop with Kong walking forward in a bipedal fashion were a pair of gargantuan doors which made Kong look like a toy.

"Holy shit." Ford whispered.

"Incredible." Mark added.

"Is this it?" Doctor Andrews asked.

"It has to be." Doctor Lind replied.

"Kong's home." Doctor Chen said quietly.

Maia nodded slowly with a subtle smirk on her lips. And Jia smiled as she watched quietly with her Kong doll clutched tightly to her chest as Kong put his hand up to a red hand marking on the door.