Chapter 9: Repercussions

Dr. Mafune's monitor finished it's scans and the findings were immediately uploaded to his HEAV's system. He reviewed the findings quickly, his brain rushing to take everything in. He began matching them with the research that he had already been working on. Different energy and signal waves flashed across the screen as he began typing his findings. Captain Turner's voice cut the silence.

"What's the eta on this doc? We need to get a move on."

Dr. Mafune grumbled and began the extraction process.

"Working on extraction now Captain. Give me a few more minutes."

Captain Turner rolled his eyes as the Super Xs continued to hover in position. It had been almost 10 minutes since the fall of Shimo and they hadn't encountered anything else since the Doctor began his work. Just a few more minutes and they would be able to head home. A sudden beep on the radar filled the cabin.

"Captain Turner! Looks like we have a bogey incoming. It's approaching from a northeastern position!"

"Anyone have a visual," the Captain asked.

Super X Four responded.

"We see it! It looks like it's the butterfly!"

The Super Xs all turned to face the direction of Mothra. Her shimmering form was streaking towards them through the sky, her screech faintly loud in the distance.

"Dr. Mafune, you need to get a move on. How much longer will you be?"

"Not much longer. I'm just trying to match everything up. I'm close."

"You better hustle doc. We've got incoming and it looks beautifully pissed."

Dr. Andrews ran through the crowd that stood before the pyramid. All of the villagers were gathered there after Mothra's sudden departure. Ilene searched all over for Jia, desperate to find her. As she approached the steps of the pyramid, she saw her. Jia stood with the village leader above the people. Though she couldn't hear them, she knew they were communicating. Ilene ran up the steps to them.

"Jia, what was that about? What's wrong with Mothra," she asked.

Jia and the leader both turned towards her. The look on Jia's face showed worry.

"Mothra says something is happening. Something that could cause an imbalance in nature between Hollow Earth and the surface," she said through her thoughts, "she went to try and put a stop to it."

Mothra approached the group of Super Xs at breakneck speed, her piercing shriek filling the skies. Captain Turner braced his squad against the oncoming Titan.

"Everyone spread out and try to lure it away from the doctor. We don't need to kill it, we just need to buy time."

The ships spread out, each one moving out and away from Dr. Mafune's HEAV. Seven fired it's maser as soon as Mothra was in range. Mothra screeched as she gracefully dodged the attack and rose higher into the air. She turned and began to follow Seven as it tried to outrun her. A shot of silk flew out from Mothra, latching onto the ship and sending it crashing to the ground. She rose into the air once more, searching for the other ships. Nine circled around, keeping low to the ground. He scanned into Seven's vitals and found the crew to still be alive. He thanked the heavens and then contacted another ship.

"Super X Six, come down here and get Seven's crew out of this mess. Four and I will cover you."

Nine then shot up with Four following behind, both launching a maser attack on her. Seven swooped in as the others distracted Mothra, landing near the fallen Super X. As the crew of Six worked at freeing Seven, the other two ships began to fire at Mothra. Maser beams flew through the air Mothra easily dodged each blast, moving swiftly through the air and spitting another silken blast. Nine and Four managed to evade before swinging around quickly once more. Captain Turner could see a visual of Six on the monitor, loading up the fallen crew members of Seven. Mafune better hurry the hell up, he thought to himself. Mothra made another turn, coming right at the two Super Xs. Four and Nine readied themselves when suddenly Mothra shot straight up, her wings flapping hard and sending her backwards. The force of the wings sent both ships spiraling out of control.

"Dammit! Get it together Nine," he shouted, throwing all his strength into the controls.

At the very last moment the ship righted, the underside of it's rear scraping the ground as it shot up. Four crashed to the ground, the ship bouncing along the ground as it slid to a halt at a 45 degree angle. Captain Turner prepared to descend towards them when Mothra began to descend upon them like a hawk. Nine dove to the left, narrowly avoiding the swooping Titan. The ship rocked as it was briefly caught in the current of it's large passerby. Captain Turner floored it as Super X Nine began to leave the area. Mothra began to pursue them. Turner kept his hands on the control, nodding to the crew expectantly. The Titan Queen was catching up quickly, her forelegs reaching out almost to grasp it.

"Now," shouted Turner.

The Super X u-turned and immediately fired it's maser at the creature. The beams met flesh and Mothra quickly swerved, barely missing the ship as it dropped and began to fly back towards the others. Just then, a voice came over the headset.

"This is Dr. Mafune. Extraction is complete and I'm heading back to the gravity well."

"Bout freaking time Doc! Time for us to get out of here!"

Six joined up with Nine as they followed behind the HEAV that was already ahead of them. A screech pierced the air once more as Mothra dove once more at the escaping ships. Several maser shots came from nowhere and hit Mothra once more, cutting her off from pursuit yet again. Four joined up with the others, the ship dented and damaged slightly but still funtioning. Mothra could feel the stings of each hit and, while they didn't hurt her much, they were enough to dissuade her from her current course. The ships continued heading to the gateway, each one moving as rapidly as possible to outrun the following Titan. the radar began picking up the approach of Mothra once more, bearing down on them quickly. The HEAV was the first to arrive at the well and passed into it's embrace immediately. The Super Xs were close behind. Mothra screeched once more as she drew near. Six reached the gateway and passed through. Nine followed right after. Four lagged behind, the gateway within reach. It would be close. Mothra fired another silken shot, the attack just barely missing the ship as it drove upward and through the gravity well. Mothra grasped onto the cavern ceiling of the Hollow Earth, screeching once more and unable to follow. She turned back and eventually made her way towards the fallen Shimo. Landing next to the body, Mothra began to chitter quietly as a foreleg reached out and seemed to stroke the Titan's flesh. Mothra looked on as her chitters turned into a mournful screech before she nuzzled her head against it.

The Super Xs set down slowly within the EDF base. General Gordon waited there, his arms behind his back. It had been a little over an hour since the operation had begun. He had hoped it would of been finished sooner but he also understood they were doing things no one had done before. Setbacks and issues were bound to happen. Things had been going too smooth for them not to. This fact was even more apparent when only 3 of the Super Xs and Dr. Mafune's HEAV had returned. The crews began to disembark and Gordon gave a sigh of relief when he saw one of the ships had double the crew. Captain Turner approached the General and gave a salute. General Gordon saluted back.

"Well Captain, you look no worse for wear. Well done," he said, shaking the Captain's hand.

"We completed the mission and brought back as many soldiers as I could sir. I believe we could have done better, but the enemy was more aware of us than we anticipated. She put up a fight."

"A valiant effort that was ultimately in vain it turns out. You and your men have done your country and this world a great service today. I want you all ready for debrief in ten minutes and then you can rest up."
The Captain saluted once more and joined the crew as they went inside. General Gordon's gaze followed them before he turned back as Dr. Mafune approached.

"Doctor. Do you have everything you need then?"

"Yes General. I'll begin synthesization immediately as soon as I finish downloading all the data from the ship."

"You do that Doctor. Seems we lost a lot of good people today and I'd hate for any more time to be wasted."

Mafune gave him a nod and headed back to the HEAV. Gordon turned and began walking towards the base.

It was some time before Mothra finally reappeared at the Iwi village. Her mournful cry echoed throughout the city as the Iwi felt her sorrow. Ilene had remained at the center of the Iwi civilization with Jia as they waited to find out more. Ilene didn't need to read minds to know something else was wrong. She could see it on everyone's faces. Sadness was showing. Jia held the hands of the Iwi Queen as a small stream of tears began to flow. Dr. Andrews drew closer to Jia, her face a veil of worry.

"Jia, what's wrong? What's going on?"

Jia couldn't bring herself to mentally say anything. She let the Queen's hands go and began signing to her mom.

"Something had been upsetting Mothra so she went to see what it was. Shimo is dead. But it wasn't natural. She was killed."

"What? That's impossible," she signed. The worry on her face grew more intense.

"The Iwis and Mothra are worried about this could cause an imbalance with everything we know. They're scared by this. I am too."

Dr. Andrews held her daughter for a moment, hugging her tight. Shock had replaced the worry on her face. She squeezed Jia once more and looked her daughter in her eyes.

"What could have possibly killed Shimo? There isn't another Titan we know of down here that could..."

She paused. Surely that couldn't be it. There was no way they would be so crazy to do that. Could they? And even if they could, how? Dr. Andrew's mind swam with ideas before she shook herself free.

"Jia, we have to go now."

"No, I can't. I need to stay here for now."

"Don't be foolish Jia. You need to come with me now," she signed.

"I'll be ok Mom. I need to be here. Maybe I can find out what happened and how to fix it," she signed back.

Dr. Andrews felt herself at a crossroads. If what she was thinking was true, she needed to get back immediately and inform the Director. But she didn't want to leave Jia right now. Not in her current state. She cursed herself inside as she realized she just needed to trust Jia. It's not the first time she'd been left alone in the village, but this time was different. She inhaled deep and began signing once more.

"Ok Jia. I'm going. I'll be back soon and when I do, we will be leaving together. Understood?"

Jia nodded and they hugged once more, squeezing each other tight.

"I love you," Ilene thought to her daughter.

"I love you too mom," she responded.

They let go of one another and with a sniffle, Ilene headed for the HEAV.

Kong felt the strange sensation grow more dire as he and the other apes drew closer to where he felt it originating. A pit was forming inside of himself with every step. They came up and over a rocky outcrop and Kong could immediately see what had filled him. In the distance was Shimo, the white of her body a stark contrast to the brown and green of the cavern floor. His pace quickened as his eyes grew wide. Kong leapt into the air, dropping down next to the body and immediately putting his hands upon her. He hooted as he looked over her, gently nudging her as if to wake her from sleep. Looking over her he finally came across her face and knew it was futile. A solemn but pained expression was all that remained. Kong clenched his fists in anger and roared as the other apes joined up with him. He put his hand on her once more and then began to hoot, pointing in different directions. the other 3 apes immediately set out and began searching. Kong himself began investigating as well, looking for signs to the cause. The search continued for several minutes before one of the apes came across a metal object on the ground. She picked it up and found it covered in a sticky substance. She sniffed it a couple times and then howled for the others. She showed Kong her findings. He took it from her, the silk pulling some of her hairs from her hand. He looked over the object. It's metallic hull was damaged somewhat and covered with a sticky residue. He recognized the silk to be Mothra's but the ship was new. It looked similar to the ones that Jia and the others had flown in but the design was different. He could smell a faint odor coming from it. The smell of something that was ignited. Memories of a time that seemed forever ago came to him. Gunfire and missiles that had fired at him from flying machines back home. Kong's anger rose once again and he roared, smashing the ship to the ground and hurling it away. The other apes drew back in fear. Kong's roar filled the valley. He could smell faint traces in the air and began to follow it. The other apes followed as Kong raced on.

General Gordon dismissed the soldiers as the debriefing came to a close. They had given him all the details on how the mission played out, including the sudden arrival of Mothra and their narrow escape. He was aware of Mothra's existence within Hollow Earth as it was detailed in Monarch's reports. But he hadn't expected her involvement. There must have been some kind of connection between the two or perhaps some kind of distress call? It didn't matter at this point. The point was that it happened and the EDF would have to pivot a little. If one Titan had been aware of what happened, then it's possible Monarch could find out as well despite their sabotage. Gordon made his way back to his room. Quarters had been established for all personnel on base and he was no different. He closed the door to his room and began to remove his uniform. Once he was dressed down to his undershirt, he picked up his phone once more.

"Dr. Mafune. I want you to finish uploading your data then get some rest."

The voice on the other line sounded puzzled.

"I'm about done with the data but why stop now? I thought you wanted me to rush this?"

"The reason doctor is because we're going to need you at your best. We can't risk any more surprises like the one we had this morning. And we can't risk Monarch figuring out what happened either. I'm moving our timeline up. So get your rest doctor. You're going to need it."

"How far up are you moving this General."

"I'll give you 16 hours Doctor. By then, we will need not only Project Atragon ready for deployment but we will need Project Millennium ready by week's end."

"Are you crazy? There's no way I can pull that off General!"

"As I said Dr. Mafune, get some rest today."

General Gordon hung up the phone without waiting for a response. He then turned it off and plugged it into the charger. He clasped his hands on his knees as he sat on the bed. He really didn't want to push things but he had no choice. The checklist of things to do took over his mind. So much to straighten out.

"It doesn't matter. The EDF will be ready. We will make this work. Just another step on the road to salvation," he said to himself before placing his face in his hands.

Gordon sighed once more and switched off the light to his room. It would be another two hours before he finally found his sleep in the darkness.