The One Who Lost His Way

AN: So this one's a bit different. It doesn't go into the battle quite yet. Rather, every single character we've had POVs of before, plus Rodan, have a short scene that sets up what's about to happen. They all happen chronologically, but the difference between the first scene with Rodan and the last scene with Maddie is about an hour. Maybe a bit less.

Hope you enjoy!

Key:

"Titan speak"

"Human speak"

Character's inner thoughts

"Telepathic communication"

Disclaimer: I do not own Godzilla: King of the Monsters or any characters.

Rodan:

Since leaving Ghidorah, he'd been hanging out around one of his favorite places in the northern reaches of the world. It was a land of extremes, of ice and fire. The volcanoes there weren't as grand or desirable as others he knew, but that's sort of why he liked it. Back when there were other members of his species flying around, very few of them came up this way, so it was a nice place to go to just get away for a while. Most times, that meant he needed to think.

This time was no different.

He felt guilty, and even ashamed, about leaving Ghidorah to fight Amhuluk himself. He knew they could have handled the other titan easily even without his aid. He could have just flown around, kept his distance, and allowed them to handle the fighting. But no... He had to act like a yellow-bellied, spineless coward and leave!

How much lesser did they think of him because of that. He had his reasons, but would Ghidorah understand them? Did they have a family?

Amhuluk had killed his when he was very young. His parents had nested further northwest on the mainland. Even back then, Amhuluk had been an aggressive titan, so when it wandered into their territory, his parents had tried to chase it away. Instead, it'd killed them and went on its way, unknowing or uncaring of the young chick the two adults had.

That's why he decided to start living on an island. If that thing could kill both of his parents, what hope did he have if he came across it? He was allies, even friends, with Godzilla, but the King couldn't always be with him.

He'd just started flying south, heading back to his island after figuring out what he would say to Ghidorah when the sound hit him. It was a distress call! And it sounded like...

He changed his flight course when he recognized the voice. "Hang on, Mothra, I'm coming!"

Godzilla:

He'd been brooding about his fight with Tiamat the whole trip so far. He'd almost died, and his opponent had verbally sided with his rival. It made him question his position and his power. Tiamat was strong, certainly, but he shouldn't have been so helpless when fighting her. And if he struggled and nearly died against her, did he have any chance against Ghidorah if it came down to it? He didn't want to fight them. He knew their power firsthand. But he was uncertain if a rematch would happen or not.

Mothra, of course, was more worried about the signal they heard right after the fight. It sounded like her, as if she was in distress, but since she had been fine next to him, he decided to ignore it and head back to Rodan's island.

The humans were probably trying to lure him into a trap or something, which was absolutely stupid. Maybe they should use their eyes and realize that she was actually with him. Did they think there was more than one Mothra? As in another of her kind? Because there wasn't. There was only one at any given time unless they counted the egg, but she assured him that the egg was safe. It wouldn't hatch until she died, anyway.

In other words, there was nothing to worry about. The humans were just being stupid. He'd let them sort out their own problems. Right now, they were nearing the island, and he couldn't help the small growl upon seeing who was there, waiting for them.

Ghidorah:

"Will they shut that thing off, already!? No one's falling for it!" Ni snarled. That human device had been going off for nearly ten minutes now. At first, admittedly, Mothra's cry for help had taken them by surprise. Ichi, however, detected the falseness in the signal, so they were just ignoring it. "It's so annoying!"

Mostly...

San was asleep, a miracle with Ni making so much ruckus. Ichi, however, was more annoyed with his brother than with the continuous signal. "Will you stop? It is a beautiful, sunny day. Just go to sleep."

Ni snarled, "Easy for you to say! Nothing seems to annoy you!"

Ichi's response was both immediate and scathing. "You annoy me." Ni snarled again, and Ichi just huffed, closing his eyes as he tried to ignore both Ni and the human signal. He was just about to fall into blissful unconsciousness when familiar, earth-trembling steps made him open his eyes in deadpan annoyance. "You have got to be kidding me..."

So much for trying to nap. Godzilla was walking up to shore, waves of water being kicked up with every step. Mothra landed next to them and in front of him specifically. "Hello, Ghidorah. How are you?"

"And where's Rodan?" Godzilla asked with a huff, looking around the island. "He's supposed ta be with you."

"He flew off like a coward before we even made it to our destination," Ni replied with clear disdain for the absent titan.

"We know not where he went after that," Ichi finished, raising his neck and yawning. "And to answer your question, we are fine. We spoke to a human and agreed to help him find his daughter."

"Well, that was nice of you!" Mothra replied cheerily. "Where was she at?"

"The humans responsible for the awakenings have her," he replied, studying Godzilla. The alpha titan had been shooting occasional glares at them ever since he arrived. "So we have not found her yet."

Ni was the one who voiced Ichi's observation. "What's your problem?"

Godzilla bristled at the question and was about to respond, possibly violently, when another signal joined the first one. And that one wasn't fake. Ichi stood, waking San in the process, and watched as Godzilla's glare turned northward. "She's awake..."

With no other words, the King made for the water as all four of them watched him go. "He seemed grumpier than usual," San pointed out. "Or was that just me?"

"What happened?" Ichi asked Mothra, more curious than anything.

Mothra didn't answer at first. She appeared to be debating whether or not to tell them, but after a few minutes, she relented. "His fight was a difficult one, and...his opponent said she supported you."

All three of their gazes snapped to her in surprise. "Us?" She nodded, and Ichi narrowed his gaze at her, thinking this was a trick of some sort. Why would any titan support them over Godzilla after the events of twenty-five thousand years ago? "Why?"

"Because you are stronger than Godzilla, and everyone knows it." She gazed out to sea, spotting the shrinking form of her King. "Including him. He fears you."

He felt Ni's satisfaction and San's confusion, but Ichi was the one who responded. "As he should. We follow him by choice. Remind him of that before he does something stupid. Should he decide to challenge us, we will not bow."

Mothra remained silent as she studied them and flew off without a word. With a short glare at the moth's retreating form, they took flight, too, quickly overtaking her as they all traveled north.

Jonah:

The sound of gunfire was pretty much constant now. His team was holding back the police for now, but time was running out. They'd be able to push through eventually, and his men didn't have unlimited ammunition.

He hadn't expected a response so quickly, and more cops were arriving every few minutes. Some civilians must have reported the shooting. Then again, the loud cries from the ORCA weren't exactly subtle.

Dr. Russell was sitting at the announcer's chair, the device plugged straight into the stadium's speaker system. She was making a clear effort to not pay attention to the gunfight happening below. The police had made it into the field, but his men had secured the perimeter around the box. As he watched, yet another of his men took a hit to the shoulder and collapsed behind cover. He was alive and moving but hurt.

With a frown, he picked up his radio. "ETA?"

"Three minutes," came the immediate reply.

Cursing the pilot under his breath, he switched his radio channel. "Three minutes until exfil. Hold them back until then." Another of his men took a shot to the head just as he finished. There were only five left now. He quickly realized that they couldn't hold that long. "Pull back and find us an exit." Despite the sudden change in orders, his men complied immediately, each covering the others' retreat. "Shut it off," he ordered the Doctor. Switching back to the pilot's channel, he informed him of the situation as they quickly packed up and ran through the stadium towards street-level. "Can not hold position. Will exfil by ground. New extraction point will be marked with red smoke. Copy?"

"Affirmative, sir. Circling the area for now." The sound of the craft's rotors could be heard in the distance, but the police were filing in already.

He switched to a third channel just as the cops rounded the corner ahead of them. His men opened fire without hesitation, gunning them down before they could even fire back. "Coming out on the south side. Have our ride ready."

"Copy that." He always made sure to have backup plans. This one just so happened to come with an attached .50 cal.

There were a few cop cars there already, but a quick round from an underbarrel grenade launcher cleared the way. The cruisers were engulfed in flames as the explosion sent them skidding across the street. The surviving cops were gunned down mercilessly just as their armored Humvee rounded the corner. They piled in, and the driver was off before the doors were even shut.

They had to weave through parked cars, but they were able to get through. Sirens sounded behind them as the cops wised up to what they were doing. One of his troops got on the gun. "Use that ammo sparingly," he warned the man. "We may need it later."

The man in the passenger apparently got a call through his comms, which meant it was a status report from the bunker. "Sir, intel reports a new titan emerging in New Jersey."

"New Jersey?" Dr. Russell repeated in confusion. "Monarch has no intel about any titans in New Jersey."

"They say it looks like the female MUTO from five years ago, just much larger," the man continued.

"Well...this is unexpected but highly welcome. If Godzilla wasn't on his way before, he certainly will be now." Plus, two titans were better than one when it came to destroying a city.

As the bunker continued to give their report, the man nodded along. "Rodan is less than twenty minutes from the city. Godzilla is on his way, but he'll be several hours. Monster Zero and Mothra are heading this way, too. Both of them will be here in less than an hour."

"Excellent!" This was the best news he'd heard all day. "Take us to the river. We'll extract from there."

"Yes, sir," the driver acknowledged, taking a hard right. The sound of squealing tires behind them meant they'd lost some of their pursuers with that move. Or at the very least, gained some ground.

As much as he wished he could witness this foul city's destruction, it was probably best to get while the getting was good. As soon as that MUTO got too close, extraction would get a bit tricky.

Mark:

They'd returned to see the Argo in a state of mass confusion. They'd just gotten off the osprey after having docked with the airship off the Virginia coast, and they could instantly tell something was wrong. All five of the rushed into the bridge to hear status reports being thrown back and forth. Foster and Serizawa were both pale-faced, and even Rick seemed serious for once.

"What the hell is going on now?" Mark asked as the others came in behind him.

It was Foster who answered. "A terrorist attack in New York came minutes before the ORCA was activated. According to Dr. Chen, they're mimicking a distress call from Mothra. Rodan is headed straight for the city."

"And if that wasn't bad enough, momma MUTO just woke up in New Jersey, flattening a mall in the process, and now Godzilla and co. are heading right for her," Rick finished, his eyes never leaving the screen in front of him.

"So there's...five titans heading straight for New York?" Sam asked hesitantly.

No one answered him. No one needed to. The tracking information laid it out plainly. One titan was already tearing up the area, and four more were heading that way. "What's our options?" Barnes asked after a moment. From his tone, he wasn't expecting much.

"Call coming in from Admiral Stenz. Probably wanting to know the same thing." All eyes turned to the vid screen as the Admiral's face appeared. He did not look happy.

Then again, he didn't look angry, either. He was more tired than anything. "As I'm sure you're all aware by now, we have a situation brewing in New York City. One titan is already there and four more are on their way."

"Do we have a plan, sir?" Foster asked.

Stenz sighed and nodded. "We have been developing a new weapon. An...oxygen destroyer. It's designed to kill all life in a two-mile radius. We've never had five titans in the same area before, and this could be our one chance to kill them all."

Everyone was silent. Horrified. Mark was the one who replied first, hoping beyond hope that the Admiral wasn't seriously considering this. "You're talking about detonating a WMD in the middle of New York City. That's like what? Twenty million people? Look, I don't like titans, either, but it doesn't matter how many you can kill with that bomb of yours if that's the cost."

Stenz looked at Mark for a moment before looking off to his left for a few seconds and nodding. "For the record, I agree with you," the Admiral responded, making everyone breathe a sigh of relief. "And the President does, too. We've just gotten clearance for Plan B. Using what we learned five years ago, we lure this new MUTO away from the city with a nuclear device. Godzilla is sure to follow, and we're hoping the others will, too. Once away from the city, we send the oxygen destroyer in and kill them all."

"Admiral..." Serizawa tried desperately. "They are not the evil ones here."

"I know, doctor, and I respect your opinion. Alan Jonah will be captured in time, but these titans are not as innocent as you think they are. Rodan has attacked human populations twice now, and Godzilla destroyed San Francisco five years ago. And Ghidorah, you tell me, is even more powerful." He shook his head, and he did genuinely appear apologetic. "It doesn't matter what their intentions are, not when a mere hunt costs billions of dollars and tens of thousands of lives."

The head of Monarch took a seat in defeat, taking his glasses off and placing them on the desk with a sigh. It was the same old argument he'd been having with the Admiral for years. Until now, however, it had all been theoretical. With their direct threat to the largest city in America, the military was finally taking action against them, and there was really nothing they could do to stop it.

Mark had never seen his old friend so defeated. He'd always been so passionate about titans that it didn't feel right to see him just give in. So, surprising even himself, Mark tried one last argument. "Sir? May I speak freely?"

Stenz looked away from the screen, probably to get a status report or something before looking back at Mark. He seemed uncertain, though in the end, he nodded. "Go ahead."

"I was in San Francisco five years ago, sir." Before he even continued, Stenz appeared to realize where this was heading. "I lost my son there. For the longest time, I blamed Godzilla. Hated him. I still do. I used to think Serizawa and everyone who shared his opinion were naïve optimists, that they only believed the best in the titans because they'd yet to see their worst." Mark sighed, realizing that every was silently staring at him. Here was the guy that had been all for the titans' destruction actually defending them. "Ever since this whole mess started, I've come to realize that my anger was blinding me to the truth, that there are two paths we can take. Sure, you can spend time and resources in trying to kill them, but how much would that cost? How many innocent people and good soldiers would you lose in the process?"

"Dr. Serizawa has tried to convince the world to coexist with the titans for five years now, yet I have never seen nor heard of any plan to accomplish that," the Admiral countered.

"We have that plan now, Admiral." The man looked as intrigued as he did skeptical, but he nodded for him to go ahead. "Ghidorah can speak." The Admiral's skepticism grew, but Mark continued. "I myself have spoken with him, and we have video and audio evidence to prove it." Mark looked over at Rick. "Send the files."

"You got it," he complied, instantly getting to work.

There was a soft beep from the console on Stenz' end, and the Admiral looked to the other screen. After a few moments, his expression shifted from skepticism to disbelief to slight fear. "We can communicate with him, and he can communicate with the other titans. He is the key to coexistence, Admiral."

Admiral Stenz looked at all of them in turn before sighing. "I'll send these files to my superiors, but I make no promises that they will be as sympathetic as I am." With that, he cut the call.

Silence continued to reign on the bridge as everyone tried to process what just happened. Serizawa stood and walked up to Mark, studying him for a moment, before holding up his hand. Mark glanced at it briefly before shaking it. "Thank you, Mark."

"Yeah, man, thanks," Rick was the next to speak.

"I would like to know why," Dr. Graham wondered. "If you're willing to share, that is?"

Mark shook his head and stared at the tracking screen, eyeing Ghidorah's blip in particular. "I'm not really sure myself. One titan killed my son. Another promised to save my daughter. I don't really know how to feel about that...so I guess I'd like for them to be alive until I do."

The others had took their turns to thank him, but it was Foster that reminded them all of the situation. "They're not safe yet. We've still got titans congregating in New York, and a potential doomsday weapon on its way to kill them. Right now, we need to focus on Jonah and Emma." The screen turned to a satellite image of a baseball field. "Now, the last ping from the ORCA was here in Yankee Stadium..."

Maddie:

She'd been listening to the news through the intercom system ever since she wandered into the control room and saw the destruction taking place on the monitors in there. "Reports are that this new MUTO is larger than the one seen five years ago in San Francisco. So far, we've not been able to get any good imagery of it due to its 'sphere of influence', a phenomenon that knocks out all electrical devices within a five-mile radius." The reporter went on to talk about some other stuff about the MUTOs that Maddie already knew and then mentioned that the military would not comment on anything right now other than to say nuclear weapons have not been ruled out. "Hang on...we're just getting new information... oh my God..." A familiar roar sounded through the intercom. "A new titan has just arrived on the other side of the city. Oh God...cut the feed!"

A different voice, probably the anchor himself came through. "To anyone in the city, I would advise you take cover underground. Our sources say that three more titans are headed your way." There was a pause, and when he spoke again, she could hear the thick emotion in his voice. "May God have mercy on us all..."

This was it. The last straw. She couldn't, in good conscience, stay here even to collect evidence. These people were barbaric and monstrous, and she wasn't going to be a part of it anymore!

She already had a bag of supplies that she'd filched ready to go with food, water, an emergency blanket, some first aid supplies, binoculars, bolt cutters, and a pocket knife. She factory reset the iPad, wiping all of its data. Then, she grabbed her journal and phone, putting it on silent. Taking it was a risk since they could probably track it, but she needed it. For now, at least. There were recordings of the ORCA on there that might be useful. Plus, she could listen to the news once she was out of here.

And now was the best time to get out. Her mother, Jonah, and most of his men were gone. There would be no better opportunity than now to leave, so that's exactly what she planned to do.

Navigating her way through the vents without making too much noise was the hardest part. Not only was she trying to be quiet to prevent anyone from shooting her, but the claustrophobic feelings of the metal walls all around her was...horrible, to say the least.

Once out of the bunker itself, she walked down the tunnel until the gate, then used the bolt cutters to break the padlock and release the chain. Hopefully, nobody heard the loud clank of the chain falling to the ground, but if they did, she should be long gone by the time they came out to investigate.

She was about halfway to Boston, having walked through a good bit of woods already, when she decided she was far enough away and turned on the news on her phone. "...believed to be the actions of eco-terrorists Alan Jonah and Dr. Emma Russell that lead to the titan attack. Both were seen at Yankee Stadium moments before the signal that called the titans began."

Madison stopped walking at that. It was official. Her mom was a terrorist. What did that make her? An accomplice? It was just another reason to find her dad. He had to be so worried by now. She never should have abandoned him in Antarctica.

There was one other thing that caught her attention, though. The reporter was still talking, but she was more interested in the tracking map they were showing. The MUTO was in New Jersey. Rodan was in New York. Godzilla was swimming in the ocean off the Florida peninsula, Mothra was over Georgia, and Monster Zero was over North Carolina. "The baseball field..." She could see the massive stadium through the trees. That was about the only place a titan could land in the city without causing too much damage. If she got there in time, maybe she could call Monster Zero to her. Monarch wouldn't be far behind.

"Oh...this is such a bad idea..." How much trouble would she get in for doing this? She needed a quick way to Monarch, though, and this was one of the fastest. She couldn't call her dad with her phone in case Jonah's men were monitoring it, and Monarch's entire communications system was compromised, so even if she called with another phone, they might still be able to find her. Of course, that was probably some part paranoia talking.

And it was stupid to think they couldn't track an additional ORCA call. As soon as she started broadcasting, they'd know something was up. What she needed was someone to get her out of the city in the least amount of time possible. She had no idea where her dad or the rest of Monarch was right now, but the news was giving her a real-time position for the dragon. If she activated the recording right when Monster Zero arrived in New York, he could be in Boston in about thirty minutes if her math was right.

Shutting her phone off to hopefully prevent anyone from tracking her, she continued into the city with a clear time limit and a single goal in mind. She was going to summon a dragon.

AN: And the scene I've been absolutely dying to write comes in two chapters! Next one's going to be the battle (and destruction) of NYC.

Until Next Time

AdmiralCole22