Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Location: Cambridge, England, United Kingdom

Timedate: 15th December 2012

By the rising light of another new dawn, a glimpse of snow could be seen settling down upon the road and pavements in the out-skirted town, already lit up by a vast display of colourful lights and ornaments outside the houses and out in the public for all to see. Inside one of these houses, living contently and happily alone, was a middle-aged man, fifty-three years of age to be exact, sitting back comfortably on the sofa and sipping from a mug of hot chocolate.

Just then, the peace and quiet was disrupted by a faint sound of buzzing and vibrating. Looking about, the man turned his head to see his phone on the coffee table, its screen lighting up with a ringing symbol in it. After a few more buzzes and vibrations, the man moved over to set down his cup of cocoa and pick up the phone itself, swiping at the screen and putting it close to his ear.

"Hello?" The man asked and answered.

"Dr James Bowen?" A young-sounding male voice asked back from the other end.

"Lin San wishes to speak to you".

"Okay, is she there with you?" James questioned.

"Speak to you as in face-to-face", the other voice specified.

"I figured", James exhaled before grabbing his drink and taking a brief sip. "Has she at least named the time and place?"

"Her office, after Christmas", the voice answered.

"Sounds like a good date", James accepted. "I'll be there and ready".

"Take all the time you need, sir".

"Will do, bye", James nodded before hanging up and putting down his phone back on the table.

After the short call had ended, James' mind already started to wonder about with a few rising questions: What would Lin San of all people, let alone of all the higher-ups of Monarch, want to call James over for? Why now at this time and not sooner, earlier, or later? Was it to do wit certain "monster-hunting espionage missions" that he had engaged with back in the past? Or would it be to do with something that could possibly happen within the very near future?

Only fate itself might be able to answer such...

Location: Monarch Field Office Tau, Location Disclosed

Timedate: 26th December 2012

Only eleven days have passed, and here in this dimly lit room with mirror-like walls, James Bowen sat alone on a simple chair with only an equally simple table to rest his arms on. Casually and without suspicion, he looked around lightly tapping his fingers on the table in the near-silence. James still kept on wondering if he was in trouble for any reason, or if someone was in need of his help and knowledge, or some other reason entirely.

Soon enough, after what felt like an eternity of relentless silence and nothingness, a nearby door opened behind James, causing him to look behind and see a rather familiar face. The somewhat youthful yet stern face and weary eyes of an otherwise elderly woman, presumably in her late sixties, wearing a white shirt within a black suit jacket and trousers of matching black. Her long smooth black hair was tied in a simple enough ponytail, while her stiff lips seemed to be pasted with lipstick of a deep shade of ruby-crimson-red.

"Ah, Lin San, I presume?" James recognised with a smile and an extended hand. "Nice to see you in the flesh".

"Good to see you too, Dr Bowen", Lin San replied, sitting down without even taking James' hand to shake.

"So how are Houston and Aaron Brooks?" James asked as he pulled back his hand.

"Houston's retired", Lin San recalled what had happened earlier in the year. "As for Aaron..." She briefly paused, remembering what she had been told about her son. "...he's been staying somewhere tropical for some time now, we might even have a reunion".

"Aww, that's nice", James complimented. "So are we here to really talk about?"

"I wanted you here so I could ask you about something", Lin San went straight into the point. "Something that happened seventeen years ago, around the same time my son left".

"Yes...?" James leant forward with intrigue.

"We know you had discovered at least two islands similar to Skull Island around eighteen to nineteen years ago", Lin San explained. "'Frankenstein Island' and the 'Devil's Island' as you called them".

"The natives in the latter called it 'Letchi Island' but yeah", James nodded.

"And you encountered a few massive organisms", Lin San continued.

"Putting it mildly", James stated. "The Rose Dragon, the Gargantuas, a giant condor and a giant shrimp".

"But afterwards, you found two more islands, haven't you?" Lin San questioned.

"Yes, yes I have", James confessed without hesitation. "And yes, they too have their own beasts and secrets".

"Including a giant ape similar to Kong?" Lin San asked.

"There was..." James inhaled and exhaled. "Maybe..."

"Talk to me about it", Lin San requested.

Chapter Text

Location: Unknown

Timedate: 22nd July 1995, Seventeen Years Prior

Out far into the vast and restless ocean, a lone ship ventured across with slow determination, not even deterred by either the sloshing and clashing of waves or the rapid pouring of torrent rain. A brief flash of light could even be seen, soon to be followed by the distant sound of crumbling thunder. Somewhere inside the hull of the ship, gathered together and standing around in a hall of sorts dimly lit by greyish-yellow light, were a group of various people of different looks yet wearing very similar dark-grey garb and gear with a distinct and familiar M-shaped symbol etched and printed on their shoulders. Among this group was Dr James Glenn Bowen himself.

"So, Doctor Bowen", Commander Carl Nelson, the eldest of the main group, thirty-seven years of age, had spoken. "Would you care to go over this one last time and remind us on this mission of yours?"

"Will do, Commander", Doctor James Bowen replied. "Once we hit the shore, we'll settle in and establish an outpost on the island, assuming we don't get hit by a storm beforehand".

"We realise that, Doc", Ritrav Zschau, a self-proclaimed 'cryptogeologist', stood up and said. "We don't exactly need another lecture".

"I've no doubts either", Joachim E. Evrensev, a mythologist, expressed while twitching his thin moustache.

"Yeah, we're about thousands of miles out in the ocean, searching for an island that may or may be infested with monsters and creatures that may've been rejected by god", Urve Xanthos, a specialist in survival from the Royal Navy, fair-skinned, blue-eyed and blonde-haired, shrugged. "Why should we worry?"

"Hang on, Doctor Bown still has a point", Risa Znenahlik, MD and PhD, dark-skinned with long hair of black, spoke up and reasoned. "He's taking just as much a big risk as we all are. We still need to be sure".

"Right", James nodded to Risa before continuing to speak to the overall group. "My friends at Monarch want to keep these creatures and worlds secrets forever, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't continue venturing into the unknown and possibly exploring new discoveries. We land, we search and study as much as we can, then we leave. Ninety-six hours, max. You lot are about to have your place in history, even if the rest of the world won't know about it".

"Sir, the storm seems to be clearing, I can see the island", the pilot, Pruzzo, stated. "We're about a few more kilometres away but we're closing in".

Hearing this over the speakers, James, Carl, and the rest of the crew immediately rushed on their way towards the bridge, where Pruzzo was steeling the ship at the wheel. Out through the wide front windows, they could see the ocean easing back down to normal and the clouds parting to unveil the rising of the morning sun as well as what they were search for, the island itself. But not only just that, they could see two islands, about a mile or two apart from each other. While most of the crew gazed and stared with stern faces and narrowed eyes, James watched with a subtle smile, hoping to find massive terrestrial organisms in the Twin Islands.