89ᚾ
"We exist together now, two corpses in one grave..."
The dreams she had in Outpost 32 were nothing compared to this.
She's in a museum.
Vivienne recognizes it from when she was around Madison's age; a school field trip to the Natural History Museum in London. It's her favorite childhood memory. It had felt like the trip was ending too soon for her, so she stealthily separated from the group to properly explore alone. It was so exciting, like going on an adventure! That's what she wanted to grow up to be, like Indiana Jones, only she'd be an adventuring paleontologist instead of an archaeologist. Her passion for dinosaurs went above and beyond a child's fascination or obsession, as her frantic mother discovered after rushing to the museum and finding her sound asleep at the foot of a brontosaurus skeleton.
The place is completely devoid of life now. No security. No visitors or tour guides. No starstruck children like she was. No lights from outside the windows, not from street lamps, the stars, the moon, not even the sun. Nothing. Like this is all that's left of the world and she's the last human being. But she feels right at home here with the bones and fossils. The skeletons are talking to her and that doesn't seem strange at all.
"How did you get here?" the tyrannosaurus asks. He's always been one of her favorites. She shrugs. "Doesn't matter. Remember how you used to play dinosaurs with the other kids' army men? Wasn't that a grand time?"
"I remember."
"There's army men coming now. What do you say we go play with them? For old time's sake?"
"The dinosaur always wins," she says and climbs onto his back. The army men don't stand a chance. Vivienne points out their targets with a spear and the tyrannosaurus knocks them aside with great swings of his head and tail, crushes them under his feet, crunches them between his mighty jaws. There's a clap on her back and Vivienne turns to see herself sitting behind her like a twin she never knew she had. Other Vivienne is bleeding from her left side, sharp teeth piercing through her cheeks and horns sprouting from her head.
sister your flank is open Other Vivienne says and it's in San's voice. they've already come you left yourself wide open
The floor cracks open and corpses latch around the tyrannosaurus' legs and tail like vines, dragging him down. San takes Vivienne and they jump off the great saurian's back just in time for her to see him turn into Godzilla plummeting into the yawning chasm. Vivienne wants to help him but San pulls her back.
"He's my favorite," Vivienne protests.
should have watched his back then
The corpses slither up from the hole and surround them. San looks at her expectantly and she looks at the spear.
why won't you use the storm
"I don't know how. I don't even have a storm."
how do you know to use that
"I don't know."
you will know it's in your bones it's in your soul the head is the seat of the soul
The dead are closing in and San encourages her to fight so she skewers one with her spear, only to look up and see the guard who listened to Ghidorah. Langley, she remembers, his name is Langley, and she just ran him through. Now why did she do that? She doesn't even know how to fight. Langley tries to talk, but his head and throat are full of holes from gunshots, so all that comes out are wet gurgling and gulping sounds. Vivienne looks around and the dead are all people she knows, from Outpost 32 to Janjira. One of Janjira's containment crewman, Yukimura, whose insides where turned to pulp by the MUTO, is vomiting and leaking from every orifice and moves like he's boneless. Little Andrew Russell's mangled, crushed body drags itself forward. Soldiers from G-Team come up turned to ash, like the reanimated husks of Pompeii. She knows all of them and they are all screaming at her.
"Where were you, Dr. Graham?"
"You said you would be there to help us!"
"You left us to die!"
"Why didn't you stay with us?"
"You promised we would go home and see our families!"
"YOU PROMISED!"
"You promised I'd see them again," Mark whispers.
The Philippine miners shuffle blindly, rasping at her in Tagalog, "Demon! Demon!" The roof breaks off and the sky is a swirling cauldron of eldritch power, sickly clouds, and the laughter of bloodthirsty dragons. The floor collapses under her feet and she sinks into Cocytus itself. San doesn't look quite like Vivienne anymore when he wraps his coils and wings around her and everything explodes in a green light.
we have listened waited dreamed through ice and rock and time
Vivienne snaps awake into a darkened chamber, dimly illuminated by the blue containment barrier. Part of her had been hoping she'd wake up in the Argo's medical wing, or at her room in Castle Bravo. She just sighs and drops her throbbing head back down to the floor.
awake you are awake you were dreaming
God, what a thing to wake up to; her stomach churns and shudders roll up her spine hearing that stilted animal voice echo in her head and yet not in her head - how the hell does that even make sense?
"Were you sleeping?"
awake never sleep must keep watch for sister
Could it please stop calling her that? Vivienne idly traces the clawed tips of her fingers down her body, trying to examine the extent of what that thing has done to her. Breasts are gone, nothing in their place but a skeletal torso. The fresh keloids replacing her wounds have calcified into bone. She tries stretching and is met with searing pain from skin and muscle trying to move with the new, inflexible bone tissue and being pulled taught.
hurts it hurts something is wrong something went wrong
"What were you even trying to do?!"
make you stronger you can heal like this one regrow regenerate but something is wrong something went wrong all wrong
So Ghidorah has - had? - a regenerating factor? Brilliant. She doesn't want to know what it would cost to put it down, let alone what put it under ice in the first place. But at least Godzilla was victorious, if Jonah's comment can be believed (and she doesn't trust that old bastard for a second).
"So if your... what, your brothers? If they're beaten and dead, what now?"
A pause.
this one didn't know they were dead
"How do you not know? Weren't your minds connected?"
the link was severed by the deep one he cut off our head shameful defeat the worst kind of defeat the link was cut and then the green glow this one doesn't know what happened after
It keeps mentioning this green glow. Could Mothra have achieved her imago form and arrived to battle alongside Godzilla?
no not the life bringer that one is life and rebirth the green glow is death it killed many many little things nearly killed you nearly killed the deep one
Vivienne freezes up at this news.
"I... beg... your fucking pardon?"
Obviously Godzilla survived it, but unlike that nuke the U.S. was planning to kill him and the MUTOs with, this one could have done irreversible damage. It can't have been another nuclear warhead. Was it tested in a controlled environment? She doubts it; something like this must come with all manner of ethical questions attached. Did anyone stop and consider the environmental or economic effects such a thing could have, and was it detonated in a populated area? How would it react to its surroundings? Her mind swirls with possibilities, the humanitarian and political nightmares that could make the fallout of 2014's events look like a Sunday picnic. And who in god's name would approve of—
Stenz.
Vivienne is not violent or vindictive by nature, but... she doesn't know what she'd do to him if they ever met again. Rick Stanton and his penchant for nicknames had affectionately dubbed the man "FUCKING" Stenz, and she's always been inclined to agree with him, albeit privately. Who else would think to develop such a thing? Who else would be so desperate to kill something he can't wrap his head around? Who else wouldn't accept the Titans for what they are, or the possibilities they provide?
If Vivienne were still a human, she...
If she were still human...
What's happening in the world? If a Titan-killing weapon can be developed, what does that mean for humanity and the Titans? The idea of coexistence and balance that she and Serizawa so strongly believe in? Vivienne's thoughts turn to friends and family. Is Madison safe? Jonah implied that Boston was completely destroyed in a battle between Godzilla and Ghidorah. Did Emma use the ORCA again? Were any other Titans awakened? What about Dr. Serizawa, Ilene and Ling, Rick, Sam, Colonel Foster, or G-Team? Her mother back home in England? Oh god, her mother...
"I have to get out of here."
yes we do we want out but many obstacles many little ones with toys that hurt you
Vivienne rubs the spot where she'd taken an anti-tank round to the face. Of course it would call something like that a toy. Her eyes fall on the blue barrier.
"You said there was a storm inside of us, that we could use it to break free. Why didn't that work?"
...don't know
Well, damn it.
but this one needs you to need this one what is word don't know the word need you to need this one what is word
"Trust?"
trust yes trust need you to trust this one
Her knee-jerk reaction would be to laugh. Trust a part of Ghidorah? After all it's done to her? After what it must have done to the world? She doesn't laugh, though, held back by a feeling of trepidation that isn't hers. That creature growing from her back like some cancerous, assimilated conjoined twin is asking her to trust it - and seems to be anticipating such a reaction. It's almost... nervous to ask.
She recalls something Colonel Foster told her; it'd been after Mark had stormed out of the briefing room all but demanding Godzilla's head on a platter. How circumstances may force you into the company of someone you don't like, or had a falling out with - you might even hate each other - but each needs the other to cooperate so they can work together and achieve a shared goal. A mutual need.
"I don't trust you."
No response. Something deflates inside her - it's that creature's feelings.
"But I do need your help, and you need mine. Am I right?"
yes
"Okay. Let's find a way to get out of here."
yes together we will get out together this one will fix this this one promises
Guilt lances through her gut and pieces of that nightmare flash before her eyes. Vivienne clenches her fists, ignores how the clawed tips stab into her palms.
"You shouldn't make promises if you don't know you can keep them."
this one promises sister promises bone singer
Forget it. She studies the barrier. A thought occurs to her and she shuffles to the nearest wall. Jonah had expressed some surprise it was functional, and looking at it now... yes, now she remembers. This is a much earlier version of Monarch's current containment fields, but even the latest models can be bypassed. This facility couldn't be one of Monarch's old bunkers. Perhaps an older, abandoned outpost? It would have to be. Looking around, the walls and corners look as if they haven't been properly maintained in quite some time. One thing at a time - first, the barrier.
"Hey." What did she call it again? She can't keep calling it things like 'creature'. "San? We should keep an eye on this. I think this model emits the barrier at certain points in the walls and floor, maybe even the ceiling. But it can't be kept on forever. We'll be able to see anything when the cleaners come in and the barrier shuts off."
yes this one watches this one listens as he did for brothers this one does for you but what then with no storm inside we cannot take power from the barrier
"You can do that? Like how the Titans can grow stronger through radiation?"
yes brothers and this one can take power from constructs dead things and living things yes it makes us stronger
Right. Without this 'storm' San keeps talking about, their options are limited. Jonah's armaments don't seem capable of killing them, but they can still do enough damage to incapacitate them. Vivienne covers her mouth, thinking. Until they can figure out how the storm works, maybe their best bet for now is to just wait things out, bide their time and conserve their strength. San makes a vaguely agreeable sound from his hunch.
Security footage, containment chamber, ██-██-2020
8:00:00 am: Subject G appears to be sleeping.
8:01:09 am: Cleaning crew enters containment chamber accompanied by armed escorts. Several cleaners express revulsion and horror at the sight of Subject G.
8:02:13 am: Cleanup begins.
8:07:51 am: Subject G stirs, becoming agitated. One cleaner becomes curious and approaches. Subject G wakes up and cleaner recoils, guards form a firing line.
8:09:06 am: Subject G seems confused at first. Shuffles away from guards and cleaners to far corner, sits in fetal position facing the wall. Vestigial head watches the cleaners and guards.
8:10:38 am: Cleanup finishes. Cleaner complains of the vestigial head watching him and (translated from Russian) "creeps him the fuck out".
8:10:50 am: Subject G requests food, startling the cleaning crew. Guard B-01 comments about "not eating the civvies". Cleaners grow agitated and hasten to leave containment, one cleaner snapping she doesn't want her children anywhere near "fucking Baba Yaga".
8:11:28 am: Cleaning crew exits containment. Guard B-04 █████████ asks what Subject G would like to eat, lists stereotypical British foods in Cockney accent. Subject G grows annoyed and responds that it will "have your mum".
8:12:04 am: Guard B-04 takes a shot at Subject G, which roars in irritation. Containment field turns on and guards exit.
End footage
Addendum: Guard B-04 █████████ is to be reprimanded for antagonizing Subject G during cleaning.
Audio recording, surveillance, interview with Mariko [DATA EXPUNGED], ██-██-2020
Foreword: Dr. Mariko [DATA EXPUNGED] was assigned to Outpost 58 in the Tingua Preserve, Brazil, where she barely survived Titanus Behemoth's containment breach after sabotaging the security measures. She has been living off the grid since then. Colonel Jonah had made contact with her in the months during Subject G's gestation period, believing he needed someone with experience in observing Titans to provide greater biological insight.
Jonah: So glad to have you to join us.
Mariko: I'm not joining you. I'm still Monarch.
Jonah: Of course you are. I'm sure the fact you're still listed as K.I.A. has nothing to do with your current situation.
Mariko: Sarcasm does you no credit. Emma was in the right - I'm proud of what I did.
Jonah: Proud to get your friends and allies killed?
Mariko: Proud to release a god from his prison. Are you going to keep antagonizing me, or is there a purpose to this?
Jonah: It's like I said before. We need an expert on Titan biology. None of us know as much as we should about our new subject.
Mariko: You... really have a new Titan? Here?
Jonah: A newborn. Would you like to meet her? It's about time for her to eat.
Mariko: (Nervous chuckle.) Well, as long as I'm not dessert... am I? I hope I'm not dessert.
Containment chamber, Subject G, video recording
[Lights are out. Jonah, Mariko, armed escorts, and a forklift carrying (4) four steel barrels (two containing water and two containing raw bovine carcasses) enter the chamber, doors closing behind them. Containment field is active. Wheezing is heard. Jonah addresses the source.]
Jonah: We have a new friend for you. She's going to be providing us with insights to keep you happy and healthy.
Mariko: Is that her? I can't see...
Jonah: Command, lights on.
[Lights activate, barrier shuts down. Mariko screams at the sight of Subject G, rousing it. Subject lies on the floor exhausted and dehydrated, wheezes.]
Mariko: What is that?! WHAT IS THAT?!
Jonah: Don't you recognize her?
Mariko: You sick monsters - is this a joke to you?!
Subject G: (Unintelligible.)
Guard B-04 █████████: Wakey-wakey, Grammy, eggs and bacey.
Jonah: For god's sake, █████████, stop teasing her.
Mariko: Grammy?
[A long pause. Subject G tries to push itself up, speaks louder.]
Subject G: ...water... please...
Mariko: Oh my god. Oh my god.
Jonah: Time to eat.
[Forklift lowers barrels beside subject and reverses. Panting, Subject G reaches inside one barrel. Realizing it contains water, begins to desperately drink from it.]
Mariko: What the hell is this...?
Jonah: You really don't recognize her? Surprising. She has a very distinct profile.
Mariko: What are you talking about... (Watches subject closely. Backs away, realizing.) Oh god... no... the reports... Dr. Graham...?
[Subject G pauses, looks up, tilts its head.]
Subject G: Who...?
Mariko: (Hushed.) What did they do to you?
Jonah: I wouldn't recommend getting friendly. She's already killed some of my men and eaten one. What's more, I doubt she'd be in a friendly mood, considering your definition of allegiance.
[Mariko protests. Subject G leans in and scrutinizes her.]
Mariko: ...I'm Dr. Mariko [DATA EXPUNGED]. I was... assigned to Outpost 58. We all heard about what happened at 32. Read the reports. It was so awful... but after everything else happened, I guess we sort of... forgot. I'm sorry.
Subject G: (No response.)
Mariko: But Dr. Russell... she broadcast her plans through our satellites. We heard everything. And, well. When Monster Zero woke up the Titans, I...
Subject G: Wait. What... was Emma's plan?
-FFW/-
[Mariko recounts Dr. Emma Russell's declaration. Subject G sits quietly, oddly calm, examining the contents of the remaining three barrels.]
Mariko: I helped Behemoth escape. The Titans are gods. They don't belong in cages. We had no right to lock them away from a world that's rightfully theirs. I know you wouldn't agree with her actions, but I did - I still do. Emma was right.
Subject G: (Growls.) How... many.
Mariko: W-what?
Subject G: How many... died... when you...
Mariko: Everyone.
Subject G: Do you... remember... their names?
Mariko: I... there was Erik, and...
Subject G: Outpost 32. Langley. Santiago. Lagunov. Kinnaird. Dahlman. Metharom. Tran. Hirschel. Singh. McCraw. Benti. Del Rio. Kurosawa. I remember. They were... my friends. Had families. Memories. Hopes. Now... they have none.
Mariko: They died for the greater good. Humans have made sacrifices to gods - material offerings, animals, even human lives—
Subject G: THEY WERE MURDERED! BY HIM AND HIS!
[Mariko flinches, guards raise weapons. Subject stands as tall as bodily mutations will allow, bares teeth in a snarl, fingers clawing. Mariko shrinks away.]
Subject G: Sacrifice... has purpose. This? Senseless. Unnecessary. Wasted. Do you... even care?
[The chamber falls silent. Mariko stares at her feet. Subject G makes a low noise, turns away.]
Subject G: Guess not.
End recording
sister is angry she is very angry with the little female but she does not thrash and bite no she shows her teeth like elder brother used to good this is good elder brother always said anger is a tool must not let it consume like a disease sister is wise sister learns fast but she is sad she remembers many names remembers many dead she feels responsible for the dead he doesn't understand she didn't kill them why would she feel responsible
the little ones have gone they leave food and water sister is so thirsty she drinks good very good she is hungry too so very hungry but she doesn't eat why won't she eat must eat she tries but feels sick he can feel her sick bubbling inside the meat reminds her of little ones they killed and ate before why does that bother her the little ones have meat they contain us but little ones are prey are food why won't she eat
they come back in their strange garb that hides their faces they bring things full of the power that fuels us fuels the old gods the ones sister calls titans good that will help us but it is not food it is not sustenance she needs to eat
M. [DATA EXPUNGED], Medical Report G-01, video recording, ██-██-2020
[Recording begins in the middle of Mariko ranting to herself. She is badly disfigured from the aftermath of Behemoth's containment breach.]
-like a freakshow, not to mention how they treat her...
[Takes a breath, slicks back her partially shaved hair.]
Okay. Okay. To start with, let's recap with what they've decided to share with me. Dr. Graham— excuse me, Subject G— has a rapid regenerative factor several times faster than what Godzilla has demonstrated. Subject was reported to have suffered at least three instances of cardiac arrest during the gestation period inside Monster Zero's head, most likely due to the sudden growth spurts and Subject's organs - at the time - being unable to keep up with the rapid changes. Organs were already being grown to fit the new body shape, but at some point after the third heart attack subject has developed a secondary heart, what looks like a third lung, a "pre-" stomach probably meant to filter out toxins in food, and a vestigial head at the spine containing fully functioning eyes and brain. In addition to these are glands of indeterminate function.
Subject's skin still has raw red patches from radiation burns but these are slowly healing into a darkened leathery hide. Time will tell if it will develop bulletproof scales. Skin and exposed bone spurs possess very few traces of gold, not enough to conduct electricity like Monster Zero did.
Unfortunately, something in the regenerating factor has caused a mutation resulting in what is, frankly, the most horrifying case of fibrodisplasia ossificans progressiva I've ever seen. It seems that after the latest regeneration, regrown muscle has hardened into new bone tissue and protrudes from the skin. The condition renders movement both difficult and painful, as subject can neither fully bend nor fully straighten some limbs without potentially breaking her own bones. It looks excruciating, and from the surveillance footage shows, it is. Christ, that screaming...
[Shudders. Runs hands down face, sighs.]
As of this recording, subject is approximately 35 or 40 feet long from head to tail, roughly the same as an average Skullcrawler. She's strong enough to... ugh, rip people apart, and teeth - of which she has grown an outer layer of sharp teeth meant to puncture flesh like a cat or snake - are evidently able to... well, do just that. These mercs were all too happy to show me what happened.
[A pause. Mariko drinks from a cup, glances over her shoulder.]
Mentally speaking, she's... well, speaking. You can barely recognizes it's her talking, though. It's like she has to force her vocal chords to work, and Sergeant Travis has reported her sometimes talking to herself in a different voice. They're saying it's her and the vestigial head communicating. I haven't seen it for myself, but... maybe.
They're also saying she displays typical symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, the first clue being the day she "hatched" and entered a violently agitated state, triggered by the sight of Monster Zero's head. Subject has become insomniac, and when she does sleep experiences nightmares. Just activating the containment field makes her jump. I've seen that look in her eyes. That haunted look, like she's staring right through me, at something only she can see. She's so quiet most of the time, but her eyes are howling.
I don't know what these people want me to do to her, or what they want to do to begin with. They won't tell me. What's more...
[Mariko lifts a leg into view, shows a security collar around her ankle.]
This is to ensure my "Titan sympathizer tendencies" don't get in the way of things. I asked them if this was really necessary and they offered me a shock collar instead. I went with this. "Titan sympathizer tendencies." Am I the only one who can see the fucking sunrise around here? I look at the Titans and I see gods. Her, though... I don't know what to think.
Dr. Graham never wanted to talk about Monster Zero, like she was scared of him. I always thought that strange coming from her. She loved the Titans. She understood how essential they are to us and the world. But the only thing I heard her describe Monster Zero as was... the Devil.
Looking at what's happened to her, I don't think I can argue against that.
End recording
Vivienne knows she needs to eat before the meat goes sour. But every time she tries it just reminds her of the taste of... and she feels nauseous all over again.
This is ridiculous. It's not human flesh. It's just cow. It's goddamned steak. She's not even vegan, or a vegetarian. It wouldn't taste the same as... cannibals say that human meat is like pork. If she'd thought that was just some morbid 'tastes like chicken' hyperbole, she knows better now. Vivienne hopes they don't bring in pig next time, or else she really will get sick again.
But she's starving, and food is right. Damn. There.
Her stomach cramps weakly. Isn't one's body supposed to start digesting itself at some point in situations like this? Regardless of whether she can regenerate anything if that's the case, she needs to get over herself and eat.
So hungry.
must eat
Her thoughts turn to Serizawa. Recalls the lines on his tired face, the gray hairs in his beard, the way he holds his father's watch. For a moment she feels lighter, her muscles forming a smile. How many times has she had to remind him to take a break from work and get some food? She remembers something from when she first joined Monarch; how she'd fallen asleep at her new desk taking in all the knowledge she could and woke up with a blanket covering her. Serizawa had given her a knowing look, the first of what felt like the rare smiles he would reserve for her, and she felt something stir in her heart.
Did she ever tell him...?
Vivienne staggers to the barrels.
She stares at the raw red flesh. Like it came straight out of a butcher's freezer. Just imagine it smoking on a grill, a burger patty. Her mouth waters. Fresh, juicy meat. With some effort she pulls the carcass out of its barrel - one of her arms is stiff and is difficult to fully bend or straighten.
Vivienne takes a breath. Leans in, opens her mouth. Her new teeth pierce the meat. Tastes its juices on her tongue. Eyes water. Pull back with a chunk in her mouth, chew.
Swallow.
Despite the shivers rolling up and down her body, San praises her in taking this first step. She licks what's left of her torn lips and takes another bite. They're going to grow stronger. Heal this twisted body, escape this wretched place.
She's going to see Serizawa again.
ᚾ - Naudhiz. "Need." The tenth rune. It represents the principle of necessity; ordeals and hindrances, but also that which can overcome the current difficulties.