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"Alright, looks like we've thoroughly pissed off the military."
Jared watched Natsuki hand the headset back to the shaken squad leader, a wry grin pulling at the corner of his mouth.
"Who cares." Old De crossed his arms and shrugged from the side.
They'd chosen this road. They didn't care about anything anymore , not even their own lives. All they wanted was to let whatever was left of their lives burn down to the last ember.
"Though ending up on a wanted list could get complicated."
"Looks like we'll be owing more favors." Old De stroked the stubble on his chin.
Natsuki had torn the encirclement apart piece by piece. No casualties, but every last piece of military hardware was now scrap metal. If the brass wanted another shot at him, they'd have to think a lot harder about it first.
"A wanted list?" Natsuki swapped out of his Defense Force Suit in under a second, floral shirt back on, and glanced at the two of them. "That's nothing."
Being wanted was hardly a new experience.
He'd just come off a wanted list in the last world. And back home, scattered across the countless planets of every major star system, there were probably a few old warrants still floating around with his name on them. When he was young he'd been careful, law-abiding. Then he got older, and the wanted notices started piling up.
"Next we'll probably need to head to Antarctica."
"Before Godzilla left, he told me something might be happening down there," Natsuki said.
If it was enough to put the planet's guardian on edge, it wasn't going to be small. He figured it was worth going to check in person before anything else.
"Antarctica... that's pretty far."
"We'll need to find a better plane." Old De turned it over in his head for a moment.
Their modified Osprey hadn't survived the battle. But between the two of them, they'd spent enough time inside Monarch and the military to know how to get their hands on something capable of reaching the South Pole. As for Natsuki flying there himself , he needed to conserve his strength for whatever came next. That wasn't an option.
Just as they were working through it ,
VROOM ,
An engine roar rolled across the open ground. A dark, flat-hulled sky carrier settled onto the clearing in the distance, and the wave of wind and dust it kicked up swept straight toward them.
"Pah!"
"There's more?" The other two got a mouthful of grit, faces twisting as they squinted at the carrier. Natsuki didn't flinch.
How many people were going to come looking for a fight today?
But when they made out the figure stepping down from the carrier, both of them went still.
"Dr. Serizawa?"
"What's he doing here?" Jared's brow furrowed.
They knew Serizawa was high up in Monarch. They'd had history with him. Was he here to pull them back into the organization?
The answer walked toward them shortly after , Dr. Serizawa himself, hair gone mostly white now, with Dr. Vivienne Graham at his side.
"It's been a long time."
"Jared Gardner. And... Dmitri Andreyevich Petrov." Serizawa Ishiro still had their names. Of course he did. These were men he'd fought beside.
"And..." He turned to Natsuki last, extending a hand with a friendly smile, though he clearly didn't know the name.
"Natsuki's fine." Natsuki could tell the man hadn't come looking for trouble. He took the hand and shook it.
"A pleasure, Mr. Natsuki. I'm Serizawa Ishiro — Serizawa is enough." His eyes held something like genuine admiration. What Natsuki had done out there — stopping Godzilla and Rodan, pulling an entire town back from the edge — it had left a mark on him. "This is Dr. Vivienne Graham, my assistant. We've spent a long time searching for a way for humans and Titan to coexist."
He introduced Vivienne, and let that last part hang there , his philosophy, plainly stated.
It was close enough to the Space Garrison's own principles that Natsuki's first impression of the man landed on the right side.
"Living with nature, not trying to conquer it." Natsuki shook Vivienne's hand and nodded. "You're thinking about it the right way."
"Thank you for saying so." Vivienne smiled.
It was a strange thing to sit with , an alien who could repel Titans without breaking a sweat, standing here having a genuine conversation, agreeing with them. Remarkable, really.
"This isn't the best place to talk. Please, come with me." Serizawa looked out at the wreckage of the battlefield around them and gestured toward the carrier.
Jared and Old De exchanged a look. Neither of them moved right away.
They'd walked away from Monarch. They weren't looking to get pulled back in. This road they were on , fighting Titans, burning bright for the people who were already gone , that was theirs. They didn't want it complicated.
Natsuki, on the other hand, had no objections. They needed a ride to Antarctica anyway, and the carrier was a solid option. He also wasn't worried about anyone trying anything on board. If someone wanted to make a move on him inside that ship, every single person on it was going to have a high-altitude problem.
"I won't ask you to come back to Monarch." Serizawa read the hesitation on their faces and said it plainly. "Just old friends talking."
He'd seen what they were doing. He understood.
"Fine." Jared was the first to move. He clapped Serizawa on the shoulder. "I hope that bottle you've been saving is still sealed."
Then he turned and walked toward the carrier.
Old De exhaled slowly and followed. They were going to Antarctica regardless. Catching a ride wasn't a problem.
---
The carrier lifted off into the last of the evening light.
The central hall was busy , holographic displays glowing at the center, technicians at their stations keeping contact with Titan outposts across the globe. Serizawa pulled out a chair and sat at the conference table, opening his laptop and scrolling through data.
"Antarctica..." he murmured, searching.
The three of them settled into seats across from him. Jared and Old De cracked open bottles of whiskey and got comfortable.
"The only thing Godzilla told me before he left was 'Antarctica.'" Natsuki kept it simple, trading information with Serizawa directly.
"Mr. Natsuki." Vivienne Graham leaned forward slightly. "Why did you come to Earth?"
It was the question they'd both been wanting to ask since the beginning. Chances to sit across from an alien and just talk didn't come around often. If Natsuki was willing to stand on the same side as them, a lot of things could get easier going forward.
"To catch some people," Natsuki said. "And to deal with whatever disasters your planet has going on while I'm at it."
➤ Next: Monster Zero — Face to Face
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