The One Who Lost His Way

AN: Ever since I started writing this fic, this is the chapter I've been waiting for. Now that it's done, I'm just as excited to continue through the next chapters as I was writing this one. Hope you all 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.

Fenway Park, Boston:

The baseball stadium was surrounded. She could hear the sirens from all the police cruisers, and it sounded like there were at least two helicopters out there. It'd been almost twenty minutes since she turned on the ORCA signal, and the police had started showing up minutes after. If they thought it was a terrorist attack, shouldn't they have—

BAM!

That thought was cut off when she heard the door to the box get kicked open. "Clear!" someone shouted. A beam of light was swept around that room. She could see the light shining through the bottom crack of the door at the bottom of the stairs. "Someone shut that thing off! Command says there's a titan coming!"

She'd been holding her breath since she heard the door get kicked in, but that final statement caught her interest. Hopefully, it was who she thought it was and he got here before she was arrested and thrown in jail for life.

"Which one?" a younger sounding voice asked.

"Why the hell does that matter?" a third, female, voice asked.

"I'm just saying that I'd rather come face to face with a titan like Mothra over Godzilla. You know what I mean, right?" the second voice responded.

"Cut the chatter!" the first voice, probably the leader, ordered them. "How much long 'til that—"

The ORCA signal stopped broadcasting. "And the signal is toast," the second voice reported.

"Good. Overwatch reports no activity on the roof," the leader reported. "The other teams are coming up clear, too. Still have about half of the stadium to sweep, though."

"The hell? Are we playing hide-and-seek or something? Where'd they go?" second voice wondered.

"Is it possible they're not in the stadium anymore?" third voice asked.

There was a moment of silence before the leader responded. "The police blockaded everything within a three-block radius, and they're sweeping that area now. They're also questioning the crowd that had been evacuated in case the suspects are among them."

There were a few more seconds of silence before third voice broke it. "So what now?"

"We stay here. Make sure no one sneaks back in and turns the signal back on," the leader replied.

Maddie just snorted quietly at that. She wasn't going out there while SWAT teams were sweeping the building. Well, not unless there was a three-headed dragon that could—or would, hopefully—prevent her from being shot.

"So..." second voice began hesitantly. "Which titan is it again?"

Third voice groaned in annoyance, and she could just imagine the glare his superior was giving him in that brief moment of silence. Surprisingly, however, he did answer. "The three-headed dragon. Whatever that one's called."

"Right, right..." A short pause. "And uh, that signal calls titans to it, and it was last broadcast here, so..."

"Are you wondering if there's going to be a titan falling on our heads?" the leader guessed. There was another few minutes of silence, and Maddie assumed he was checking in with his superiors. "It hasn't changed course yet, so yeah, probably."

"And are we seriously going to just sit here and wait for it?" third voice asked incredulously.

"Well—" the leader started only to cut himself off. "Yes, sir. Command says we're pulling out. Monarch is inbound, so they'll be taking control of the situation. We've been ordered not to antagonize the titan." Monarch was on their way here, too? Maybe her dad was on his way. Wouldn't that be funny? She lures Monster Zero here because she didn't know where Monarch was, and he ends up showing up, anyway.

There were a pair of confirmations from the other guys at the declaration, and then footsteps. If those guys were pulling out, then Monster Zero had to be close, and the helicopters didn't sound as loud as they were, either. She just needed to be ready for when the coast was clear.

She sighed in relief that they hadn't even thought to check the roof access, and she put her hand on either side of her as her posture finally relaxed. However, she'd forgotten that she put her phone down next to her instead of putting it in her pocket, so when she moved, the phone went sailing down the metal staircase, impacting each with a loud bang on its way down. She froze in place, not even daring to breathe. Maybe they didn't hear that?

The door exploded inwards as it was kicked open, slamming into the concrete wall, and she screamed in surprise. One of the SWAT members came in, his gun instantly locking onto her, the light from its attached flashlight blinding her. "Don't shoot! I'm just a kid!" In emphasis, she raised her hands in the universal sign of surrender.

The gun lowered, thankfully, and that cop ended up being the leader. "Take her in for questioning." The other two came in and escorted her out, though they didn't put any handcuffs on her. While the two subordinates grabbed her, the leader picked up her phone and put it in his pocket. "Let's move!"

"Don't try to run," the woman warned her. Her gun was down, but she had a hand on her right shoulder. The other guy did still have his gun up. They probably weren't packing any nonlethals if they had expected well-armed terrorists.

She definitely didn't plan on running. Keeping calm and quiet on the outside, she was mentally berating herself for being so stupid as they hurried down the corridors Why hadn't she just waited!? She could have just waited a few more minutes before trying to move! Heck, she could, and should, have waited until Monster Zero was actually here! She hadn't been clear, even! The SWAT guys had been leaving; they hadn't left!

They were down on the field when she heard a soft crackle come from the leader's comm system. "Come again?" Whoever it was must have repeated what they said because he suddenly looked up. "COVER!"

The woman all but dragged her along as she followed her two teammates to one of the dugouts, but they hadn't even made it halfway there when it happened. First, there was a wave of shouts and screams from the rest of the people in the stadium. She could see some on the other side of the field. Others were in the stands. Likewise, she could hear even more from outside.

Second, she glanced up for a split second, and saw something huge heading straight at them before it impacted the ground so hard that the very Earth shook, sending her and the three SWAT members to the ground in a heap. A massive cloud of dust and dirt rose into the air, obscuring all vision on the ground for a few moments. The sound of rending metal came immediately afterward, and she could only assume some part of the stadium was no longer there.

She coughed and sat up, untangling herself from the woman. She rubbed her eyes to clear the lingering dust from them as the cloud began to dissipate and saw a massive golden-scaled foot within throwing distance. She gaped at it, her mind going blank at the sheer bigness of the creature before her. Yeah, she knew Monster Zero was big, but watching the videos hadn't prepared for what he was like in person.

Her gaze traveled up...and up...and up...and up until she was all but laying back down again as she looked straight up. Three heads, small relative to the size of their body, but still huge in comparison to her were looking every which way, taking in each person they could see. Never were the heads looking in the same direction or at the same thing.

No one was shooting, though, which took her by slight surprise. She'd heard the SWAT guy say something about it, but people tended to be dumb and unreasonable when panicking. The right head's gaze passed over her and the immobile SWAT team for a mere second before moving on, but she had never felt so small and insignificant in all her life than in that single moment where it was looking at her, as if judging her worth and finding it lacking.

Monster Zero made a strange sound, almost like it was choking on air. And then, "Who summoned us?" The young SWAT guy fainted, his head hitting the dirt. Maddie just stared in pure awe and growing excitement. A bit of curiosity, too. Monster Zero, or his middle head, at least, had a strange accent. Jonah had men from all over the world, so she'd heard a few accents in her time there. The closest she could think of was...a light Russian accent, maybe? It wasn't exact. There was some other element in there, but it was close. "Speak!"

With that second demand, it was clear he was becoming impatient, so Maddie stood, ignoring the two SWAT guys. The woman tried to grab her, but she was able to slip away. "I did!" She also ignored the string of curses behind her because all three of Monster Zero's heads suddenly swiveled around to stare straight at her.

The dragon took a small step backwards, trying to reposition his massive body within this relatively small space so he could better look down upon her. His wings flared to either side and came to rest within the stands, the entire stadium creaking under the massive weight yet holding steady for now. Each of the heads glared at the bleachers with suspicion before slowly lowering themselves down, careful to listen for any signs of structural failure. Once he was done moving, all three heads were about thirty feet in the air rather than several hundred.

The left head seemed genuinely curious about her. The middle head was more intrigued and mildly suspicious. The right head, however, seemed to be glaring at her. No, he was glaring at someone behind her. It made her realize one of the SWAT team members had approached her from behind and was reaching out to grab her. The right head growled. "Let her speak," he commanded. That one's voice was deeper than the middle head's but also rougher, gravelly almost, and had an underlying hiss to it. It definitely sounded more aggressive than the middle head for sure.

Speaking of which, the middle head seemed to be finished studying her. "And what reason have you for summoning us? What does a mere child expect to receive from us?"

Well, that was a condescending tone if she'd ever heard one. In response to the question, she squared her jaw and looked him defiantly in the eye. "I need your help."

The right head snorted derisively. The middle head simply blinked, and the left head was still just as curious as he was before. "You have the device that mimics titans?" middle asked.

It was her turn to blink at the seemingly random question. "No, I just used recordings. But I was with them for weeks! I know a little bit of their plans! I need to get to Monarch, but Jonah's men have hacked into their systems, so I couldn't just call them even if I knew their number, which I don't."

The left head's seemed to perk up when she mentioned Monarch, and even the right head stopped glaring at her. The middle's gaze never once left her. "What made you believe we would agree to help?" The left head was looking between her and the middle head, clearly antsy to say something. A quick glare from middle made sure whatever it was remained unsaid.

"I've seen the videos of you interacting peacefully with Monarch personnel twice, in Antarctica and in China," Maddie told them.

She was about to say more, but middle cut her off. "Three times we have interacted with Monarch," he corrected her. "You have studied us?"

"A little, yeah. I knew you could talk if that's what you mean." The sound of a helicopter was getting closer, but a glance to what little she could see of the sky revealed nothing. Right lifted his neck up to look around for a moment before lowering his head again.

"What is your name?" middle asked.

"I'm Maddie," she replied instantly. All three heads glanced at each other in what she could tell was clear recognition.

Before she could even ponder that curiosity, lefty spoke up for the first time. "You're Mark's daughter, aren't you? Mark Russell?" His voice sounded lighter, younger. But that wasn't really important right now.

Her jaw dropped at hearing her dad's name. "How do you—How do you know my dad?"

"Madison!" At the sound of her name, her head whirled to the source, and her breath left her. Her dad was running full speed across the field towards her.

"Dad!" she cried, running towards him. When they were a few steps away from each other, he went down on his knees and threw his arms around her, holding her tight. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry about Antarctica! I never should've joined mom! She's— I'm sorry!"

"It's alright," her dad whispered, kissing her hair. "You have nothing to be sorry for. I'm the one the wasn't there for you."

"Dad..." she whined but said nothing else.

"He asked us to help him find you." At the sudden declaration, he pulled away and turned to stare at middle in shock before looking to her dad in confirmation.

When he nodded, she hugged him again. "You got a titan to help you look for me..." That was just...unbelievably cool.

"I would've done a whole lot more if I needed to," he responded. Then, after a moment, he spoke again, this time louder. "Thank you. For finding my daughter."

"You are welcome," middle responded sincerely. She and her dad separated and stood up, though he still kept his arm around her shoulder to keep her close. The three heads seemed to be studying them and glancing at each other every now and then. Honestly, it was a bit weird to watch. Were they thinking? Or maybe their version of 'having a conversation with yourself' allowed them to talk between each other by thinking? What was the word for that again? Telepathy? Whatever it was, they seemed to have come to a decision. "We wish to offer further help," middle declared, taking pretty much everybody by surprise. "Where could we go that would allow for further conversation?"

It took her dad a few seconds to come up with an answer. "I'll get back to you on that once we figure something out, but feel free to follow us if you want."

Maddie interjected with something important that they both needed to know. "Wait! Jonah's hideout is an old bunker just outside the city! I can show you, but we can't leave until we take care of him!"

Her dad just nodded. "Dr. Stanton came up with the idea of checking the bunker once we got into the city and saw you on the drone footage. Colonel Foster and her team are already en route."

"Did you also know that they have a backdoor into Monarch's entire computer system?" At his stunned blinking, she assumed that, no, he didn't know.

"We'll talk about that once we get aboard the Argo," he promised her. "Among other things." He started to turn them away. "Come on." As they were walking towards the exit that her dad had come from, the various SWAT teams and cops staring at them in bewilderment, Monster Zero began to shift, standing up straight once again and turning his body to watch them leave.

One of the heads made a curious sound, and Maddie turned to look at what the titan was doing. Maddie and her dad were about halfway to the exit, though still in the middle of the open field, when Monster Zero shrieked in rage. Her dad spun around to see what was going on, and she screamed in surprise when Monster Zero's foot suddenly slammed down right in front of them. Before either of them could figure out what to think, gunfire erupted. Her dad grabbed her and pulled her close, the two of them taking cover behind the titan's foot as the SWAT teams mobilized. Several were gunned down in the first volley of the surprise attack. "Close your eyes, Maddie!" her dad shouted.

There was a roar from Monster Zero, and suddenly, half of the stadium was engulfed in yellow bolts of electricity. And just like that, it was over. Monster Zero's foot lifted away, went over their heads, and landed somewhere behind them where he'd been standing earlier. "Are you unharmed?" middle asked, and she swore she could hear some mild concern in his voice. Maybe that was just wishful thinking, though.

Then, her dad was there, looking her over. "Are you alright?" A little ways away, someone was calling for a medic. She tried to turn and look, but her dad stopped her.

"I'm fine," she nodded, still a bit shell-shocked that a titan had just intentionally saved her life. "Some of Jonah's men must've followed me." The two of them looked at the side of the stadium where the shooters had evidently been. It was nothing more than a smoking heap of twisted, half-melted metal now, the street visible through the debris.

Her dad looked up. "That's twice we owe you now!" he shouted up. Monster Zero nodded, sent one last look to them, and then took flight, his massive wings causing heavy winds to buffet them. They had to shield their eyes from any flying dirt, and once they opened them again, he was gone. "I'm starting to really like that dragon..."

Maddie snickered. "I thought you hated titans."

He shrugged as he led her along again. "All except that one. And maybe Mothra."

Maddie smiled at that, remembering her own experience with the moth titan before everything went to shit. "Mothra's cool. But Monster Zero is cooler, I think."

"Ghidorah," he replied, and she just had to stare at him in confusion at the strange word. "His name's Ghidorah." They were outside the stadium now, approaching a Monarch osprey that had landed in a rather tight space. She gave some mental kudos to the pilot that was able to pull that fit off.

"I have no idea what that means, if it means anything, but I think it fits him." Her dad just huffed and shook his head as he led her into the craft. "Can I be there when you talk with him again?"

They sat down, her dad giving a thumbs up to the pilot, and the osprey came to life. The cargo doors started to close, but he just studied her. Eventually, he looked away. "I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but yes. He did just save our lives, so I guess that's reason enough to trust him."

She pumped her fist in victory, and he just sighed good-naturedly. Her dad threw his arm around her shoulders again, and she leaned against him, suddenly realizing that she needed to tell him something that she hadn't in a long time. "I love you, dad."

She heard him release a heavy breath, as if he'd just been punched in the gut by those words. He squeezed her a bit tighter. "Love you, too, Maddie."

They stayed like that for the entire flight.

Boston airspace, just below the tropopause:

They were circling the city from a high altitude. San was tasked with watching Monarch's large airship far below, something that the clear skies allowed him to do with ease. They would do as Mark asked and follow them when they left, but since Monarch's ship was still hovering on the outskirts of the city, they were content with waiting until the humans were done.

Ichi and Ni were discussing the short conversation they had with Maddie. What do you think of the girl, Ni?

She wasn't afraid of us, to her credit, he grumbled, almost insulted that someone wouldn't be even the tiniest bit scared of them. Emphasis on almost. Even Mark was scared when he first spoke with us.

I noticed that, as well, Ichi replied. And what of you, San?

I liked her, was his simple response. Ni snorted at the childlike answer, mildly amused. Could she be our human, Ichi?

Oh, that's right...

Mothra had suggested they have a human of their own. Her initial reason was to have their human speak for them, something they no longer needed since they could communicate just fine on their own now. Of course...there were other meanings of that phrase to consider. Having a human friend might make them seem more approachable, more trustworthy. And there were places on this planet they could not go, like inside one of the human buildings, which meant they would not always be able to speak for themselves.

Maddie was not afraid of them. She had connections within Monarch, which was certainly a bonus. Yes, I think she would be a good choice, Ichi affirmed. Ni huffed but didn't say anything. Still, Ichi could sense his curiosity, as well. Maddie will be our human.

Outside Monarch bunker, Boston:

"Keep your eyes peeled. I don't want a repeat of Antarctica." They were on approach to the bunker now. Their twin ospreys had dropped them off a short distance away since there hadn't been enough space to land right outside, so they were on foot.

A chorus of "Copy that" and "Affirmative" were the only responses she got, but that was all she needed. Their intel of the size of Jonah's force was mostly speculation, so she rather hoped their twenty-man squad was enough. They didn't have many more than that after the disaster in Outpost 32, and they hadn't stopped in any one place long enough to take on more troops.

An old tunnel came into sight, a pair of rusty gates thrown wide open. She held up a fist in an order to stop. "Lights on." With a flick of her thumb, the flashlight on her gun turned on. Nineteen more beams joined hers to illuminate the mouth of the passage. After a few seconds of nothing happening, she motioned for the group to continue. "Argo, this is Foster. We're entering the bunker now." She kept her voice quiet as she reported in.

"Copy that, Colonel. We read you loud and clear." Stanton may be a pain in the ass sometimes, but he could be serious when the situation needed it—like now. "We're watching you through the headcams, too."

"Let's take this slow," she told the squad. "There's only one way in or out."

"Yeah...through us," Barnes commented.

For the next several minutes, there was no talking. The dank, dark tunnel seemed to go on for a while, a black void past the range of their lights. And then came the end. A large door, wide open, invited them inside, though there was nothing welcoming about the sight. "Coming up on the garage," she reported. "Spread out once inside, and make sure to check your corners."

Past the threshold, the atmosphere became more tense. If this was, indeed, Jonah's hideout, they were in enemy territory. There could be any number of traps here, so— "Got a tripwire here," a quiet voice on the comms said as soon as the thought entered her mind. "Rigged to a claymore."

"Watch your step," she responded. "Could be more." She swept her light along the path she was taking, two soldiers behind her and covering her back.

"Got another over here," Barnes reported. She looked around and spotted him in the center of the room. From what she could see, he'd been about to walk through a small space between a supporting pillar and a stack of crates.

"You know what I ain't seein'? Vehicles." Martinez' observation made her sweep the room again. Her light went from one side of the massive room to the other, but she only saw a few stacks of crates, some old tires, and the assorted tool cart or shelf with tools and other mechanic-related stuff.

All the vehicles were gone. The only clues that there had been at one time were some relatively fresh oil stains and tire marks. The faint smell of exhaust still lingered in the air. "They must have rigged some traps and then peeled out."

It was possible, but they didn't know that for sure yet. "Stay on alert until we know for sure," was her response to Barnes' theory. Then, she gave a new order. "Make for the interior door." Progress was slow since they were all still looking for traps. Three more had been found, but no one had set them off, luckily. Once inside, it didn't take long for them to come to a fork. On the wall, a sign reading 'Residential' pointed left. Another sign reading 'Control' pointed right. "Barnes, take a squad and search the residential area. The rest of you, with me."

Nine followed her down yet another dark tunnel. A large pipe ran along the right wall that emitted faint wisps of steam from some of the seals. Ahead, there was a room on the left, the sign denoting it as the radio room. She took cover against the wall to the right of the door. The rest stacked up on the left side. With her fingers, she counted down from three before reaching for the door handle. It was unlocked, and the door opened with a quiet creak. Martinez swept the room with his light and nodded. "Clear," he whispered.

There were a few other rooms down that hall: officer's quarters, a small cafeteria. At the end of the hall, there was another door, but this one, unlike the others, was wide open. Once inside the room, which turned out to be the control room, she lowered her gun. "Shit..."

Papers were scattered about on the tables and the floor. The left wall had a bunch of monitors on it, but every single one of them was smashed. Likewise, the old memory banks on the right wall were smashed. Every single piece of modern technology that had once been in this room was simply gone. "Search the room. See if they left anything behind that might hint to their new location or their plans." It was a longshot, to be sure, if the state of the room was any indication, but they needed to be sure. Lifting a finger to her comms system, she reported in. "Argo...they're gone."

AN: Yep, Jonah and Emma are still at large. Did anybody really think it was going to end here? Were it so easy, is all I have to say about that.

In other news, Mark and Maddie finally reunite. Maddie and Ghidorah finally meet, and our favorite three-headed dragon seemed to have taken a liking to her. Wonder what Mark's reaction is going to be when he finds that out...

Reviews are always appreciated.

Until Next Time

AdmiralCole22