It’s true, she signed, emphatically. She pointed at the mechanical monster. That is enemy. It’s true.
Mother was here, pulling her back again. Kong still looked dubious, but Jia thought maybe he believed her.
Please, she told him. Be careful.
Kong looked over to where the abomination-monster was beating down Godzilla. Then he pushed himself to his feet. He gripped his hurt arm, and then cracked his shoulder against a building. Jia felt the grinding crunch of his bone moving into place.
Then, battered, wounded, Kong went back to the fight.
* * *
Bernie, Madison thought, was losing it.
“I thought you were a hacker!” he yelled at Josh for the tenth time.
“I never said I was a hacker,” Josh said. “I said I took HTML at camp.”
“HTML?”
“Yeah. At summer camp.”
“I knew it! Tap Water! Hah.”
“Shut up and let me think,” Josh demanded.
* * *
Mark swore at his phone, punching redial for the fourth time. The number was unfamiliar, but he was certain he had heard Madison’s voice on the other end of that line.
And it was a local number. Was she here? How was that possible?
Because it was Madison, that’s how.
Madison, he thought. What have you gotten yourself into?
Outside, things were not going well for Godzilla.
Mark had seen him on the ropes before, but not like this. For every attack the reptile launched, the machine countered faster, better, stronger. Maybe if Godzilla hadn’t had to fight Kong first, if he had been fresh for this battle, things would be going better.
And Mark realized something then. Despite what he had told the director, he was definitely rooting for Godzilla. Why, he could not exactly say. Maybe for no better reason than because Madison would, because she believed in him.
The mechanical Titan knocked the reeling Godzilla back, and back again, stunning the Titan, dragging him across the city on his belly like a ragdoll. Then, with its mechanical hands, it grabbed Godzilla by the jaws and pulled his mouth open. Its fins began shining red, charging its own beam-weapon. Mark, feeling helpless, couldn’t turn his gaze away.
Then Kong was suddenly there, wrenching Mechagodzilla’s head back so the beam shot straight up into the sky. The construct heaved Kong from its back, but that gave time for Godzilla to clamber back up, and now it was two on one. They each took one of the mechanical Titan’s arms and rammed it through a building, scrubbing its face on the city floor as it had just been doing to Godzilla. But the metal monster fought its way back to its feet, even with the both of them hanging on to its arms. Kong leapt up and tried to kick its head off, but although the blow rocked it back, Mechagodzilla was undeterred. It fired a missile at Godzilla, blasting him back, then hurled Kong away, before turning back to pummel Godzilla relentlessly with its spinning claws. Godzilla, already weak, could barely continue to stand. The metal Titan grabbed the reptile and flattened him against a building, then arched its tail toward Godzilla’s face, like a scorpion—the tip of which was spinning, alive with energy.
Kong had vanished for a moment, but now he suddenly reappeared, once more wielding his glowing axe, grabbing the mechanical Titan’s tail and swinging his weapon at the machine-monster. Kong beat it back and even managed to knock it off its feet, but then Mechagodzilla rallied, jamming its spinning tail into Kong’s face. The ape strained, trying to keep it from biting into him, but his arms were trembling, while the robotic Titan seemed as powerful as ever.
* * *
Staring at the “security lock” message on the screen, Josh finally stopped typing. The keyboard was no longer accepting input.
“Josh, you have to do something!” Madison said, tearing her gaze from the battle outside. In seconds, the mechanical Titan would kill Kong with its tail, and then it would finish off Godzilla. Whatever Simmons had been planning after that was moot. Mechagodzilla now had plans of its own. She was certain of one thing; something that beat Godzilla and Kong in the same fight would not be stopped by anything else. Once they were dead, Mechagodzilla could do what it wished with impunity.
Josh shook his head in defeat.
“We tried to take down those Apex bastards,” Bernie said, “but looks like this is as far as we go.”
Madison looked at Bernie, and Josh, and realized he was right. They were at a dead end. There would be a new alpha, with the power of Godzilla and more, from whatever source Simmons had discovered and maybe the soul—if you could call it that—of Ghidorah. What if Mechagodzilla brought back Rodan, and Scylla, and some of the other really nasty Titans? The horror of three years ago might end up looking like a common cold compared to the bubonic plague.
And she couldn’t think of a single way to help.
Bernie sighed, and a look of resignation settled on his features. He reached to his holster and pulled out his flask. He uncapped it and looked skyward.
“Sara, my sweet,” he said. “You know we tried our level best. But I think this is as far as it goes. I was hoping to die with adults, but bottoms up.” He paused and looked down at Josh, who was still staring at the nonfunctioning controls.
“If you ever wanted a drink, kid, now’s the time.”
“Drink?” Josh said. He suddenly snatched the flask from Bernie.
Bernie jerked as if stung, and Madison didn’t know what Josh was doing.
But then she saw, as Josh poured the contents all over the controls.
“That’s your solution?” Bernie erupted. “I have to die in here with you and sober?”
The keyboard began smoking, then sparks spewed out.
Outside, Mechagodzilla’s tail suddenly stopped spinning and went limp.
Well that’s something, Madison thought.
But then, just as suddenly, the control screen sputtered back to life.
* * *
“Wait,” Mark said. “Something just happened.”
He pointed to the zoomed monitor. For a second, the glowing red eyes of the mechanical Titan dimmed, and
