A few minutes later, the command center doors slid open as Dr. Ishirō Serizawa walked in, his expression already tense.
"What happened?"
Chen stepped aside and pointed toward the main screen. "You should see this yourself."
Serizawa looked up at the satellite feed. At first, all he saw was Godzilla moving across the Atlantic. Then Chen zoomed in. His eyes narrowed.
"A human?" he asked quietly.
"We've confirmed it with multiple satellites. It's not a camera glitch."
Serizawa stepped closer to the display. The figure lay peacefully across one of Godzilla's dorsal plates, apparently asleep, while the Titan showed no sign of reacting.
"That isn't possible," one of the analysts muttered. "Godzilla's radiation should be lethal at that distance."
Serizawa remained silent, carefully studying the image.
The timing couldn't have been worse — MONARCH was already dealing with a crisis. The ORCA had been stolen, Dr. Emma Russell had disappeared with the terrorists, and every available team was trying to locate them before the device could be used.
Now another impossible situation had appeared without warning.
Chen looked at Serizawa. "What do you think?"
"How did a human end up in the middle of the Atlantic?" he said, still watching the feed. "More importantly, how did he end up on Godzilla's back?"
"There weren't any ships or aircraft in the area before Godzilla surfaced. We've already checked."
One of the technicians nodded. "The nearest vessel is over two hundred nautical miles away, and none of our satellites detected anyone entering the water."
***
Ethan floated lazily on the surface of the ocean, staring up at the clear morning sky. "Well... Godzilla left me in the middle of the ocean, so now what?"
He let out a quiet sigh as the waves carried him along. No matter what world he ended up in, he somehow always became the person solving everyone else's problems.
Another disaster, another crisis, another enemy threatening the world — and somehow he always ended up dealing with it. After a while, people moved on.
Very few even remembered who had solved the problem in the first place.
"Honestly... I'm getting tired of this thankless job."
The peaceful sound of the waves was interrupted by the distant roar of engines. Ethan slowly opened one eye.
Several military speedboats raced across the water toward him, closing in from different directions before forming a circle around his position.
Armed soldiers stood on deck with rifles raised, every barrel pointed directly at him.
One of the officers picked up a loudspeaker. "Remain where you are! Keep your hands visible and do not make any sudden movements!"
Ethan looked around at the boats before letting out another sigh.
He leaned back until he was floating comfortably, making no attempt to escape or acknowledge the weapons aimed at him.
"I'm just trying to enjoy doing absolutely nothing for once. So unless one of you brought breakfast, I'd appreciate it if nobody bothered me."
The soldiers exchanged uneasy glances while keeping their rifles trained on him. Most people would have been terrified after waking up surrounded by armed military boats in the middle of the Atlantic.
This man wasn't trying to escape, wasn't negotiating, wasn't even asking questions. He was floating on his back as though they had interrupted his vacation.
"What the hell is wrong with this guy?" one of the Marines muttered. "Does he not realize we've got him surrounded?"
"I think he realizes," another soldier said, never taking his finger off the trigger. "He just doesn't seem to care."
That answer only made everyone more uneasy. A man who panicked was predictable. A man who remained completely relaxed in this situation was not.
The commanding officer picked up his radio. "Dr. Serizawa, this is Recovery Team One."
Serizawa's voice came through almost immediately. "Go ahead."
The officer looked back at Ethan, who had closed his eyes again as if intending to continue his nap despite dozens of rifles aimed at him. "I think we've found the individual you wanted." He paused. "...But he's kind of strange."
"What do you mean?"
"He doesn't appear concerned about his situation at all. Surrounded by armed personnel, acting like none of us are here." The officer watched Ethan lazily drift with the current.
"To be honest, sir, it feels less like we've captured someone and more like we've interrupted a man who just wanted a quiet morning."
The soldiers eventually pulled Ethan out of the water and transported him to MONARCH Outpost 54.
The entire trip passed in silence — Ethan didn't resist, simply following them with the same bored expression he had worn in the ocean.
As they escorted him through the facility, he sighed. "Can't you just let me go before this turns into a bigger problem? I'm really not in the mood for whatever this is."
Nobody answered. Following protocol, they led him into a reinforced containment room with thick glass walls and a heavy security door before sealing it behind him.
Ethan glanced around. A table. A chair. Not much else.
After a few seconds, he lost interest. He simply opened the containment door and walked out into the hallway as if it had never been locked.
The guards stared at the open cell in disbelief. Before anyone could react, Ethan had already wandered off.
"I skipped breakfast because your people dragged me out of the ocean," he muttered, following the smell of food. "The least I can do is find something to eat."
He eventually reached the staff cafeteria, mostly empty at that hour. His eyes landed on a bowl of instant noodles sitting inside a microwave.
"Well... whoever made these noodles, I bless you."
He took the bowl out, found chopsticks on the counter, and immediately began eating.
A few moments later, the cafeteria door opened.
Dr. Ilene Chen walked in expecting a quiet breakfast before returning to work.
Instead, she froze in the doorway — the man who had been asleep on Godzilla's back was now sitting in the MONARCH staff cafeteria eating someone else's noodles as though he had worked there for years.
***
A/N: And on Patreon, The Boys arc started.
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