Chapter 29

"You would too if you were him" Barnes replied.

Antarctica – Outpost 32

Gunfire echoed through the frozen outpost, sharp and chaotic against the howling winds. Small explosions rocked the compound. Monarch personnel screamed, scattered, and fell as Jonah's men swept through the facility with ruthless precision.

Moments later, the side door of a black helicopter swung open. Allan Jonah stepped out into the cold, flanked by Emma Russell and her daughter, Madison. Armed mercenaries surrounded them as one of Jonah's lieutenants approached, his breath misting in the air.

"All clear," his lieutenant said.

Jonah nodded once and turned to Emma.

"Let's go," he said with a jerk of his head.

The trio moved quickly through the now-silent outpost, stepping over shattered glass and the bodies of Monarch agents. They reached an industrial elevator embedded into the snow-covered ground. It rumbled to life and carried them downward into the earth.

The deeper they descended, the more ancient the structure around them began to look—walls carved with strange markings, a cold mist clinging to the air like something that never left.

The elevator came to a halt and the doors opened.

Before them stretched a vast subterranean chamber. Ice coated everything, glowing faintly under mounted lights. And in the heart of the cavern, suspended within a colossal wall of ancient, frozen ice—

A silhouette. A monstrosity.

Three heads. Two wings. A towering presence. Still and silent, but radiating menace.

The creature slept… but it was time to wake it.

Jonah stared up at the behemoth, eyes glinting with something between awe and conviction. "Monster Zero," he murmured.

Behind him, mechanical arms activated with a metallic whine, drilling into the thick wall of ice. Clusters of small explosives were inserted near pressure points along the frozen mass.

Jonah turned to Emma.

"You have everything you need?" he asked quietly.

Emma nodded, clutching the ORCA device tightly in her arms.

"Excellent," Jonah replied, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. He looked up again at the creature entombed in ice.

"Let's save the world"

-----

Castle Bravo

Monarch HQ Outpost 53.

---

Mark sat alone in the dark, a faint blue glow from the laptop screen illuminating his face. The video playing was one he'd seen countless times—his family together, laughing, alive. Emma's hand on his shoulder. Madison feeding a squirrel. And Andrew…

He froze the frame. Andrew's smile stared back at him.

Then the room shook.

A low, rumbling tremor passed through the walls, followed by a blaring siren that shattered the silence. Red lights flashed as a voice rang out over the intercom:

"All personnel to Command. Code Red. Immediate."

Mark snapped out of it, slamming the laptop shut and sprinting out of the room. The hallways were a flurry of motion as soldiers and scientists rushed through. He pushed past them, breath heavy, until he reached the command room.

Inside, chaos.

Dr. Chen stood at a console, rapidly typing as data flooded the screens. "What's going on?" Mark asked, slightly out of breath.

"He's never been this close before," she replied, her voice tight with concern.

"Who's he?" Mark asked, moving beside her.

Chen didn't look away from the screen. "Who do you think?"

The main monitor switched to a top-down sonar display. A glowing blue form pulsed in the ocean, steadily moving toward them.

"Trajectory?" Serizawa asked calmly as he entered.

"1,200 meters and closing fast," Dr Stanton answered, eyes glued to the readout.

Outside, the outpost lights flickered on. Coastal turrets rotated into position, targeting systems coming online as soldiers took aim toward the water.

"Heartbeat and respiration spiking. He's agitated," Vivienne Graham reported, scanning telemetry.

The outpost trembled again as a massive shape circled beneath the water just offshore. Godzilla. His towering dorsal fins glowed ominously as he passed, casting flickers of blue across the ocean surface.

"Cannons locked," a soldier called. "Awaiting orders!"

"Hold your fire!" Serizawa snapped. "We don't know if he'll attack."

"I agree," Mark said, stepping forward. "I hate that thing more than any of you… but unless you're sure we can kill it, firing will just get us all killed."

"Stand down!" Colonel Diane Foster ordered. "Shut down all external systems. Everything. Now."

The outpost powered down. Lights dimmed. Consoles went dark. For a long moment, silence reigned—broken only by the distant thunder of waves and Godzilla's low, guttural rumble.

Everyone held their breath.

Then he swam past again, a shockwave rippling through the facility as he moved. His glowing spines gradually dimmed as he slipped back beneath the waves.

"He's leaving…" Chen whispered.

Mark turned toward the main display. "Show me his territorial patterns."

"Why?" Dr Stanton asked.

"Because animals don't leave their hunting grounds or get this riled up unless something's threatening them," Mark explained. "It could be the ORCA. That's what Emma's using."

Chen tapped a few keys. "Every recorded pattern shows the same recent destination."

The map highlighted one location. A frozen, remote continent.

"Antarctica," she said quietly.

Mark's brow furrowed. "Then that's where we go."

But no one moved.

He turned, sensing the tension in the room. "What? What's in Antarctica?"

No one answered immediately.

Serizawa stepped forward, expression grim.

"Monster Zero."

---

Some time later…

Outpost 32 was in chaos.

The ground trembled, lights burst overhead, and warning klaxons blared into the cold Antarctic air. Emma Russell's betrayal had just reached its climax. The blast she'd triggered to free Monster Zero had reduced the lower levels to rubble. Now, the entire outpost was collapsing in on itself—dragged toward the massive crater carved into the glacier.

Snow and ice cracked violently beneath the feet of fleeing soldiers and Monarch personnel, scrambling toward the waiting helicopters. A deafening creak echoed across the frozen expanse as another section of ice gave way.

Three soldiers, just seconds too slow, screamed as the ground vanished beneath them—swallowed by the yawning abyss.

Then the rumbling began.

It started low, almost like thunder trapped beneath the ice. Then it grew—deeper, more primal. Lightning flickered in the heart of the storm forming within the crater.

From the shadows below, something stirred.

A long, spiked tail slithered out first—impossibly massive—and lashed through the air, sending chunks of ice flying. Then a colossal shape emerged from the storm inside the chasm.

One head rose from the mist… snarling and scanning.

Then another.

And then… a third.

Golden scales shimmered in the lightning flashes, each head crowned with curved, horned ridges. Glowing eyes burned with ancient malice. The beast spread its wings wide, blotting out the sky, as gales of hurricane-force wind erupted from the pit.

Ghidorah had awakened.

The storm above intensified, spiraling around the creature like a crown. The temperature dropped sharply, breath frosting instantly as Monarch's team watched in stunned silence.

---

"What the hell..." Sergeant Barnes breathed, eyes wide as he stared at the impossibility rising from the ice.

The squad ahead of him didn't wait. Guns were raised. Bursts of gunfire cracked through the cold air—bullets bouncing harmlessly off shimmering golden scales.

"Fall back! FALL BACK!" someone screamed, but it was too late.

Ghidorah's three heads reared back, glowing from deep within—bright, electric light building in their throats until—

KRRAAAK!!

The sky exploded in yellow.

Three jagged beams of pure gravitational energy tore across the glacier. The squad ahead vanished in an instant—engulfed in blinding light, reduced to ash and molten snow.

The impact blew Barnes off his feet. He hit the ice hard, skidding across its surface, the shockwave ringing in his ears.

Mark Russell barely kept his footing as he sprinted toward the waiting helicopter. The air crackled with static, the rotors of the chopper spasming, then sparking—shorting out completely.

"No no no—!" Mark cursed under his breath as the engines died, the blades slowing to a halt. The EMP from Ghidorah's beams had fried the entire system.

Behind him, Ghidorah shrieked—a deep, echoing, otherworldly sound that rolled across the ice like thunder. The storm above churned faster, lightning lashing out in every direction.

Everyone ran. Some screamed. Some fell,they had to leave the place as soon as possible before Ghidorah comes for them.