The sensation of a drop of cold water falling on the back of her neck managed to make Madison react, the effect of the chloroform having gradually faded. Emerging with difficulty from her torpor, she was unaware of how long she had spent asleep. Her hair falling over her face, she raised her head and opened her still sticky eyes. Still a little dizzy, she waited a few seconds for her vision and senses to recover. It was cold and a strong smell of humidity and rust permeated the air. It was rather dark too, the only visible source of light being that of a crack in the ceiling letting daylight filter through. Looking vaguely around her, Madie noticed that she was in a square room, medium in size but above all with a deteriorated appearance. The walls and floor were dirty, waste and dirt being scattered everywhere, like some kind of squat abandoned for a long time.

Then, she noticed human shapes, standing still in the darkness that surrounded her on all sides. By watching better, she could distinguish their appearance, guessing vaguely military outfits, black and faces hidden by masks. Suddenly, everything came back to her like a flash of what had happened before. Madison reacted and wanted to step back, but a sharp pain in her arms made her moan and she quickly realized the more than delicate position she was in. Her arms, held above her head, were firmly attached at the wrists by chains hanging from the ceiling. Her ankles had also been chained, preventing her from moving around. She pulled on the chains, in vain, only able to emit a muffled groan of frustration because of the piece of adhesive tape that covered her mouth. The two guards present with her, members of the Alpha Breed, remained perfectly impassive and silent, knowing full well that she had no way of freeing herself.

Despite the stress, Madison did everything she could to stay calm and her thoughts even turned to Bernie, Josh and Goro. Where were they now? She really hoped they weren't... She didn't even dare consider that possibility, quickly pushing it out of her mind. But while she was lost in her thoughts, the creaking, metallic sound of a door made her look up. The two guards stood at attention as another individual entered, advancing with a confident and firm step. He was quite military in style too, wearing a black hooded jacket, fatigues and combat boots. Under his coat, on his belt, Madison even noticed a Beretta 92 pistol stored in a holster. His face was however impossible to identify because it was covered by a balaclava. From the way the guards reacted, he was no ordinary soldier.

_"Ah, finally the sleeping beauty deigns to wake up." he commented in a confident voice. "My men definitely didn't skimp on the dose of chloroform."

That voice... Madison was convinced she knew it. Despite this doubt, the young woman remained wary as the man approached, still walking with that firm step, slowly going around, checking the restraints with his eyes before returning to stand right in front of her. He was tall, easily dominating her by more than a head. Madie, however, did not want to be intimidated, refusing to give him this pleasure and defied him with her gaze despite her disadvantageous position. This seemed to amused the man who gave a short laugh.

_"Always that same look, that same strength of character in the eye..." he said. "Your mother had the same, as well as your father. It must be believed that it is a common characteristic to the Russells."

Madison was even more disconcerted at the mention of her parents, wondering how the bastard could know them so well. The man then brought his hand closer to her, grabbing the end of the tape.

_"No need to scream, no one will hear you here." he warned. "And besides, if you get too loud, we have something to calm you down."

With this last sentence, he pointed at the two guards who showed electric batons attached to their belts. Madison swallowed softly but did not let fear take over, continuing to stand straight. The hooded man then yanked the piece of tape out of her mouth, making her wince in pain but finally allowing her to speak.

_"What did you do to my friends, you bastard?" Madie then asked with contained but very real anger. "And who the fuck are you?"

_"Now, now, what a language. That's not the way to greet an old acquaintance."

With that, he removed his hood, leaving Madison in shock, as if she had just seen a ghost.

_"You!" she gasped.

_"Me." he added with a smirk.

It was him... Alan Jonah! The last time she had seen him was in 2019 after fleeing his lair, shortly before the Battle of Boston between Godzilla and Ghidorah. A former colonel in the British Army and former MI6 agent, Alan had become an eco-terrorist, a scumbag of the worst kind. Cold, calculating, obsessed with the return of what he considered the natural order, even if it meant causing chaos and mass extinction of the human race in the process. Madison had thought he was dead for a while but judging by the large scar he now sported on one of his cheeks, Alan had had a tough time with Monarch's forces who were relentlessly hunting him down for his past crimes.

_"So all this time you were the mysterious leader of the Alpha Breed." Madison breathed with a more than palpable contempt. "I see that you continue to waste your time with your so-called solution to restore the natural order. You should rather go buy yourself a life."

_"Young people really don't have any sense of respect these days." Alan laughed softly, not at all affected by the young woman's acidic words. "Your friends have been much more docile. Yes, they are alive, for the moment anyway."

_"But what the hell do you want from us?" Madison then got angry, pulling on her chains in frustration.

_"From you? Oh, nothing in particular." Alan admitted, pacing back and forth. "Let's just say that after the Boston fiasco and losing everything because of Monarch's raids, I was very angry with you and your mother for betraying me like that, and I admit, I'm rather resentful. But I made new friends, and they charged me and my men with a mission of the utmost importance, one that will finally allow humanity to rise as a species of a new order. As for you, well, you're kind of a bonus."

New friends? A new order for humanity? What could this lunatic be talking about? With him, Madison feared the worst knowing what he had already tried to do in the past and visibly his mental state had not improved over the years. Alan then brought his face closer to Madison's, looking her in the whites of her eyes with icy assurance.

_"For now, you and your friends would be our guests to witness with your own eyes the rise of humanity as a new species. After which, I will send you to join your poor mother in the afterlife."

Despite this promise of death, Madison remained defiant but angry, gritting her teeth at the mention of Emma from the mouth of this son of a bitch. If her simple look was capable of killing, Alan would have already been sprawled on the ground a long time ago.

_"Go fuck yourself." Madie hissed between her teeth as a response. Alan smiled grimly, still completely calm, and delivered a violent and painful punch to Madison's stomach, knocking the wind out of her, leaving her staggering, held upright only by the chains.

_"Let's go." Jonah then ordered, motioning to the two guards behind him.

They obeyed without question, coming to undo the chains from her wrists and ankles, letting Madison fall to her knees on the dirty and wet ground. Still suffering from the blow received, her wrists bruised by the steel of the chains, Madison tried to catch her breath. Her arms were grabbed and placed by force behind her back, one of the terrorists handcuffing her firmly while the other kept the young woman at gunpoint with his weapon.

_"I'll kill you one day... that's what I should have done the first time..." Madison moaned between two breaths.

_"Shut her up. We've wasted enough time." Jonah then ordered, completely ignoring her.

Madison tried to struggle in vain, held by one of the guards while the other took charge of gagging her with a white cloth between her lips.

_"Come on, move!" one of the armed guards ordered brutally, pushing Madison in the back with the barrel of his gun.

Knowing that it was useless to try to resist for now, the young woman obeyed and escorted by the two guards, was forced to follow Jonah through a series of equally dilapidated corridors, noticing other members of the terrorist organization grouped in different rooms, most of them busy preparing military equipment or gathering resources in supply crates stolen from different armies of the world. After long seconds of walking through this maze, they finally arrived in a much larger room but just as empty and in ruins, nature having reclaimed its rights. Immediately, Madison gasped when she saw Bernie, Josh and Goro, all three lined up and on their knees, their hands cuffed behind their backs and closely watched by armed men. They too showed the reaction and also a spark of relief to see Madison alive.

_"Madison!" Bernie and Josh said in unison as they tried to get up but were immediately forced back to their knees.

Relieved to see her friends alive, Madison was brought and forced to kneel next to them, she too held at gunpoint by the terrorists' assault rifles. Meanwhile, Alan Jonah received a call on his walkie talkie and after a few words exchanged with probably one of his henchmen about the arrival of expected people, hung up and turned to everyone.

_"Good. Now that our bonus guests are all gathered, we will be able to properly welcome the real star of the day." he announced.

Everyone's attention was drawn by the entry into the room of two new people that the guards let pass. Two Japanese, a man and a woman. The man was young and dressed in an elegant suit and tie while the woman was dressed in a traditional Japanese dress. Madison and her friends recognized the latter as Nami Kunigami, the famous heiress of the Kunigami company that the media had recently talked about. Firmly bound and gagged, a deep distress on her face, Nami was brought by force by this man who held her by the shoulder, while carrying under his arm an ancient craft box. Jonah smiled and came to meet them.

_"Mr. Shinichi I presume." he said addressing the man, then looked at Nami. "Miss Kunigami, sorry to solicit you in this way but your participation in our cause is of capital importance and we did not have time to try to convince you. Please, have a sit."

Shinichi, with a terrifying impassivity, as if he had lost all emotion, then confided Nami to two of the terrorists who then forced her to sit on a chair placed in the middle of the room. The gaze of the young Japanese woman in distress was drawn to the group of hostages, wondering who they were and why they too were in this situation. Jonah and Shinichi continued the discussion between them.

_"Won't your leader join us?" asked the leader of the Alpha Breed.

_"He's taking care of the last details concerning Godzilla and will join us when the time comes." Shinichi replied in an almost mechanical voice. "As for you, I was happy to see that you have carried out your mission successfully. Be assured that my lord was delighted and that we will discuss our arrangement with joy. But enough talking, it's time."

Jonah nodded and with a gesture, ordered one of his henchmen to bring a suitcase that contained within it the fragment of the jade tablet stolen from the Miami museum. Shinichi then revealed the second fragment of the box belonging to the Kunigami family. Madison, Bernie, Josh and Goro couldn't hide their surprise and worry at seeing this, but in their situation, they could do nothing but observe. Now holding the two fragments of the ancient tablet in his hands, Shinichi advanced towards Nami who was freed from her bonds and gag and was forcibly given the two fragments.

_"Now, Miss Kunigami, reunite the two halves." Shinichi ordered.

_"Listen, please, I don't..." Nami stammered, her eyes moist.

_"Don't take me for a fool!" Shinichi cut her off firmly. "You are the last living descendant of the Azumi and you alone are able to locate the temple of the ancestral protector of Japan. And you will lead us to him. So reform the tablet, now."

_"No... I... I refuse..." moaned the young Japanese woman.

_"In that case... Mr. Jonah..." Shinichi then said.

With that, Alan Jonah pulled out his gun and shot Josh in the shoulder, who collapsed backwards before other prisonners's horrified eyes.

_"Oh fuck, but you're completely nut!" Bernie yelled, who was then hit in the face by the terrorist behind him.

Madison was in shock, unable to speak because of the cloth gag between her lips and seeing, helplessly, her friend Josh screaming in pain, his shoulder bleeding. But with the horror of such an act, Madison was also overcome by anger and wanted to get up to attack Jonah, but the guard right behind her brutally held her back, forcing her to kneel down again. Nami, trembling, had covered her mouth in horror and looked away, but Shinichi forced her to look at the young man suffering.

_"Every mistake has its consequences, Miss Kunigami and here is yours." He said in an inhuman tone. "This was only a first warning but refuse again and we will execute these prisoners one by one. So what do you say? Do you want to have the blood of all these innocents on your conscience? The choice is yours."

Nami, her lips trembling, her eyes in tears, could not bring herself to see these people die before her eyes in such an atrocious manner. Her grandfather would never have wanted it like this, not even to save his own life. Finally accepting reluctantly, she took the two fragments of the tablet and put them together, to the satisfaction of Shinichi and Jonah. As soon as the tablet was complete again, Nami immediately felt a shiver run through her blood, like something awakening and entering into perfect resonance with the artifact. Once again, visions of this mysterious temple assailed her, but also, images of large cliffs of volcanic origin bordered by the ocean. Seeing her like this, Shinichi proceeded to the next phase and deployed again his techno-organic outgrowth of his artificial human arm. Madison and the others opened their eyes wide in amazement at this vision but Jonah and his men remained perfectly calm, proof that they were aware of the true nature of this Shinichi. So it was true... aliens, thought Madison and Bernie.

Shinichi, or the alien who had taken his appearance, ordered with a nod to one of the Alpha Breed to firmly hold Nami's head. The alien's cybernetic fingers deployed into thin and long small tentacle extensions that came to rest on the young Japanese woman's forehead and a synthetic blue glow emanated from the phalanges. The alien entered as if in a sort of trance, receiving little by little the information collected from Nami's brain, in particular the location of these volcanic cliffs. Once the brain scan was complete, Nami was freed as the alien's cybernetic extension reshaped into a normal human arm.

_"So that's where he is... Perfect." Shinichi commented. "Mr. Jonah, warn your men and begin preparations. We're leaving."

As the alien left the room, followed by two guards who took Nami and the jade tablet with them, Jonah turned to the group of prisoners, especially Madison.

_"We're taking this one with us." Alan ordered, pointing at her. "The others stay here until we get back. If they try anything, kill them."

_"Understood." One of the guards replied.

Madison was picked up and taken away by force by the leader of the Alpha Breed under the helpless eyes of Bernie and Goro while Josh was barely conscious and taken care of by the terrorists.

_"Don't worry Madie, I'll watch over Josh, you have my word!" Bernie said, trying to reassure her as best he could. "Come on Josh, hang in there buddy."

Goro had remained silent since the beginning, his gaze dark and gloomy, as if he had lost all hope. Madison took one last look at her friends as she stepped through the doorway, hoping with all her heart that they would stay alive and that she could find a way to save them. Meanwhile, Shinichi, or Za'ar by his real name, entered into communication with the other alien in black armor whose holographic projection materialized on his henchman's wrist.

_"My lord, I have excellent news. We have managed to locate the location of the ancestral king's temple. I am sending you the coordinates."

_"Excellent." replied the deep, cybernetic voice of the armored alien. "As for me, I will make sure that Godzilla continues to follow my instructions. Everything is going as planned. Soon, our emperor's vengeance will be accomplished."

_"May his will be done." Za'ar then added fanatically before ending the communication.

Next destination: Cape Manzamo.