~ Every 100 Power Stones = Bonus Chapter! Your votes keep this climbing. Thanks!
"What?"
Jared froze for a moment.
Something underground?
This stretch of San Francisco was where Godzilla and the MUTOs had fought. If there were Kaiju eggs buried down there, there was only one possibility: MUTO eggs.
There were still Titans here?
"Are you serious?"
"No. How is that even possible?"
"How would you know what's underground?" Jared looked at Natsuki, his expression more serious than it had been all night.
Any Titan waking from its slumber could level a city. Those massive creatures had power that made human imagination look small. He had seen firsthand just how helpless people were when standing in their shadow.
"Call it a special ability."
"If you don't believe me, we can go down and see for ourselves," Natsuki said.
The target was six kilometers underground. A slight release of his Ultra Psychic was enough to pick up that intense life signature. He hadn't been actively scanning when he first arrived, but now that he'd noticed it, he had the position locked.
"Wait." Jared's eyes shifted to the organization members Natsuki had knocked back. "They know about this too. That's why the surveillance on me jumped up so fast."
He thought it through. Monarch was fractured right now, multiple factions pulling in different directions, and other groups were circling, waiting for a chance to move in. A MUTO egg could be exactly the kind of leverage that decided who came out on top.
The radiation in this area had vanished over the past two years. That lined up perfectly with what Natsuki was saying. Jared knew MUTOs fed on radiation.
"Your old position wasn't low, was it." It wasn't a question. "Based on what you told me, they want to bring you back. Probably some internal faction trying to consolidate control before the others can react."
Nineteen thousand years of experience, and Natsuki had already mapped out Jared's situation and exactly why the organization had come for him.
"And of course," Natsuki added, "they'd want to grab the alien full of mysteries while they're at it."
On this planet, the Titans weren't the only ones fighting. Humans were tearing into each other just as hard.
"Shit."
"A MUTO egg. How has no one found it until now?"
"Don't tell me someone's actually trying to control Titans..."
The egg wasn't just a Titan anymore. It meant someone out there was deliberately cultivating one. Jared's wariness sharpened into something colder.
Were those maniacs actually trying to run the world?
Was it a call from Monarch's upper ranks, or some outside organization making a desperate play to knock Monarch off its perch? He'd need to find out.
"Hell."
"Thinking about it now doesn't change anything."
Halfway through the thought, Jared laughed. "Right now I'm just a homeless drunk."
What did any of this have to do with him?
He'd quit. A long time ago.
What he needed to figure out was how to get out of this area fast. Because this place was going to become a battlefield, and humans trying to stand in front of a Titan with their own two hands wasn't bravery. It was a death wish.
"You don't want to go check it out yourself?"
"After hearing all this, you're really just going to walk away?" Natsuki looked him in the eye.
A few hours. That was all it had taken to read this man clearly.
"Of course I am."
"I'm pulling out." Jared held his gaze.
Natsuki smiled.
He pointed at Jared's chest.
"You can fool other people. You can't fool me."
"I can hear your heartbeat. I can see the tiny shifts in your eyes. I can feel the change in your breathing."
The man was fighting himself. These were details no ordinary person could catch, but to Natsuki they were obvious. Something like a sense of justice was stirring in him, pushing against whatever had happened in his past and the cold logic of the present. He was trying to smother it, this flicker he probably thought was too small to matter.
"It's fine."
"I'm not going to force anyone to play the hero."
"I'm more than enough on my own." Natsuki left the choice where it belonged, with Jared.
He already knew MUTOs attacked humans. And if this egg was connected to organizations trying to tear the world apart, then this vortex was exactly where he needed to be. In his experience, a mess of shadowy groups like this almost always had interdimensional travelers buried somewhere in the mix.
He didn't know yet how strong this world's Kaiju were. He was ready to find out.
He drained what was left of his whiskey, set the glass down, and walked out of the bar.
Outside, the sky was still locked behind dark clouds. This part of the ruins still had a few buildings standing, but the distance was another story. The structures that had collapsed years ago were swallowed in green moss, slow and patient as a grave. One look at that horizon and you could feel the danger waiting in it. Cross over there and you were stepping into the middle of this world's war.
Natsuki didn't slow down.
He'd come here for exactly this.
The bar door opened behind him with a creak.
Jared walked out looking every bit the vagrant, pockets stuffed with pistols and stun guns stripped from the organization's people, a bottle of cheap beer hanging from one hand.
He let out a BURP and patted his chest. "Fake liquor really does hit harder." He'd made his choice somewhere between the last drink and the door, and the alcohol had probably helped him get there.
He stopped beside Natsuki and looked out at the ruins.
"You're right. I can't just let it go."
"After that battle, I saw how small humans are. I saw too many people die. And I still ended up here."
"I can't forget the ones who didn't make it. And I can't forget what happens when a Titan wakes up."
"I have to do what I can."
He hurled the bottle out toward the ruins. It hit the ground with a sharp crack, fake liquor splashing across the broken concrete. When he turned back, his eyes were clearer than they'd been all night.
"Let's move."
"Whoever these people are, we're going to blow up every plan they've got."
He looked at Natsuki, a grin pulling at the corner of his mouth. "I can trust you, right? Alien kid?"
"Does that even need asking?"
The wind caught Natsuki's floral shirt and sent it rippling. He was already walking.
➤ Next: You Have Disturbed
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
Read up to (50+ ) advanced chapters on Patre\on
Visit us here: patreon.com/DarkGolds
Happy reading, everyone!