Chapter 123: Arc 4: Chapter 11: Serizawa’s Choice

"Who exactly are you?"

On the edge of the swamp in Skull Island, Professor Serizawa with dirt still in his hair looks at Merlin and asks seriously:

"For what purpose did you approach us?"

Merlin's expression didn't change when he heard this question, in fact, Merlin knew his cover had been blown the moment Professor Serizawa woke up earlier than expected.

But for a good agent, having their cover exposed doesn't mean that the mission is over.

A disguise is just a part of an agent's abilities, not all of it.

"I'm Merlin."

Merlin keeps the blood sample and photos of Kong in his backpack, he replied while working:

"Level 5 agent of SHIELD. Other than that, I am indeed an official sent by the WSC to evaluate Project Monarch, and, I'm somewhat of an irregular biologist."

Merlin presses his glasses and says to the doubtful Professor Serizawa:

"Quite unfortunate, since I was almost done with my evaluation mission."

"Unfortunate for me too, you're an intelligence officer!"

Professor Serizawa says in a low tone:

"You almost had me fooled, Mr. Merlin, the NSA has been trying to send agents and spies into Monarch over the past few years to permanently take over all the research results of Monarch. You were the one who got closest, and it took you just 2 days to do so. What's crazy is that I actually tried to invite you into Monarch before."

"So, you think I cheated you?"

Merlin finishes packing up his backpack, pats off the non-existent dust off his clothes, then says to Ishiro Serizawa:

"What did I cheat you? Your confidential information? The truth about those giant creatures? I'm just doing my job, Mr. Serizawa. I need to finish it whether I like it or not."

"And after seeing Kong and Rodan for myself, I believe even more so that this information should be handed to the WSC, especially when you have no effective way to control these ancient titans, all of Monarch's projects will have to be supervised by a third-party.

Merlin says:

"Trust me, I've seen how destructive Kong can be. Once a flaw appears in your monitoring plan, you have no way to solve, let alone control the problem with your current defensive measures."

"Rather than waiting to think of a way to control those ancient titans when they go out of control, it's better to make plans and precautions beforehand."

Merlin glances at the mountains that truly lead into Skull Island and says to Professor Serizawa:

"And quite coincidentally, the SHIELD I belong to right now is very good at controlling and monitoring these dangerous factors."

"But you already know what happens when a third-party interferes! Merlin!"

Professor Serizawa suddenly becomes agitated, he steps forward, grabs Merlin by the collar, and shouts:

"The nuclear explosion in Bikini Atoll! The massacre of Skull Island in 1973! These are what happens when a third-party interferes! You think we don't know what happens when Project Monarch goes out of control?"

"We're biologists, we work together to study titans!"

"We know better than you what consequences there'll be if they storm into the world of civilization! But we still choose to isolate ourselves from the outside, because we've seen worse situations. Project Monarch's purpose has changed since its founding!"

The Japanese scholar stares at Merlin and says word by word:

"Monarch is the last barrier between humanity and those titans, once this wall collapses, our civilization, everything we've known would be subverted! What's sad is that the ones in power have never changed their minds!"

"From Eisenhower who tried to kill Godzilla using nukes, to the Vietnam veteran who was mad enough to set a minority of Skull Island ablaze, back to NSA a few years ago; regardless of how much we tried to persuade them, their first idea is to destroy them, control them and use their power for themselves."

"Does the SHIELD you speak of have any new ideas?"

Professor Serizawa shakes his head in despair, he takes a step back and aims his shotgun at Merlin, he seems to have decided as he says:

"The arrogance of those in power will ultimately doom everything, they can't control the titans, they can't destroy them, they'll just infuriate them and bury the entire world just because of their foolish ambitions."

"Sorry, Merlin, I can't let you bring this information back to SHIELD."

"So you're going to kill me?"

Merlin looks at the trembling muzzle in Professor Serizawa's hands, he looks to the biologist in front of him and says calmly:

"If you've seen the fight just now, you should know that with this thing's fire rate, it wouldn't even hit my shadow! Secondly, how are you so sure that our methods will end up like those failures before us?"

"Enough of that, Serizawa."

Merlin says expressionlessly:

"You don't know us, you don't know SHIELD. But I know you, you're a true scholar, you dare to dive into danger, but that doesn't mean you have the courage to shoot. You made the worst choice over all possible choices."

"Let me tell you this, on the day Godzilla emerged, I was 30,000 meters away from the surface battling an alien race known as the Kree. They sent an entire armada here to destroy Earth. You should've heard of the countless explosions and alien weapons above the North American Continent that day."

Merlin looks at Serizawa and says:

"You want to keep titans a secret as to keep them from harming your kin. So are we, on that day, we made a lot of sacrifices to repel the invading aliens, including the titan you tracked, Godzilla; it had participated in that battle and protected the Earth from being destroyed."

"You're right, Serizawa, this planet isn't ours alone, it belongs to titans as well. There's not just war and hostility between humans and titans, when necessary, we can join forces to fight an external enemy, and that we have already done."

"I accepted this mission to come here and evaluate Project Monarch is because SHIELD had taken notice of the performance of the monster Godzilla which Monarch had been tracking during the war."

Merlin steps forward and presses the muzzle in Serizawa's hand, saying softly:

"The evaluation mission I accepted is not just to evaluate Monarch's potential purpose, but it's also to investigate these large ancient creatures' attitude on our civilization...I can't evaluate Rodan's performance since it's still asleep, but Kong..."

"I saw the possibility to live in harmony on Kong, if necessary, I would suggest my organization work with you...I mean, give you financial support and help you acquire more resources in the WSC, transforming your organization to one that's officially recognized by the government."

Professor Serizawa's expression becomes sluggish, he looks at Merlin, who then snatches from his hand, and still acts sluggish.

He looks at Merlin in a daze, his mind seemingly had been greatly impacted.

Until a few minutes later, he raises his head and asks:

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"Are what you say...true?"

"Of course."

Merlin flings the green blood off his fingers and says:

"We realize after our war with the Kree that the threats towards Earth's civilization do not come from our internal conflicts, but outside...in the stars, space creatures, aggressive civilizations we've never heard or seen of, the dangerous creatures that come from space!"

"Those are the real threats, we need all the powers we can amass in the face of such an opponent. Why can't the ancient titans become one of those powers?"

Merlin pats on Serizawa's shoulder and says:

"With the power Godzilla had shown that day, if we can converse with it, if it's truly protecting Earth instinctively, then we can help you cover the existence of these ancient titans..."

"There aren't just control freaks and warmongers in the WSC, they'll choose a different way of cooperation when they know they can't handle the situation."

Ponder flashes in Ishiro Serizawa's eyes, moments later, he looks at Merlin and asks:

"Are your words trustworthy? Or to say, can you represent the WSC and SHIELD? Can I trust you?"

"You see, I'm just an agent."

Merlin shrugs and says in a pity:

"I'm just a member on a mission and not a decision-making member, I can only tell you everything I know, as for whether or not it's trustworthy, I'm unclear, even my superior may be cheating me."

"So after I finish this time's evaluation, I will try to arrange a meeting."

Merlin moves and adjusts the watch on his wrist, he then says to Professor Serizawa:

"I'll persuade my boss to drop the work at hand and go to a place you believe to be secure for a talk. Persuading you to believe and join in is his job, and my job is simple, and that is to finish my evaluation mission."

Merlin looks at Serizawa and says:

"So, do you think that my suggestion can be taken? Are you willing to risk trusting SHIELD a little bit? Wanna take some time to talk to my rigorous superior?"

"I..."

Professor Serizawa was hesitant, he was somewhat tempted by Merlin's speech.

As one of the most experienced ancient titan research biologists in the world, as the leader of Monarch, Ishiro Serizawa too hopes for the day when titans and humans can live in harmony, despite knowing that this hope is nearly impossible to accomplish.

But no one would know whether or not a miracle would happen if he doesn't give it a try.

After hesitating for a dozen seconds, Professor Serizawa lifts his head, looks at Merlin, and says seriously:

"This is not something I can decide by myself, Monarch was never dictated by one person, I need to discuss this with my companions. I'll give you a reply once we reach a mutual agreement!"

"Alright."

Merlin didn't push, he looks at his watch and says to Professor Serizawa:

"I'll stay here for around 2-3 more days, I hope that you waste no time."

As he finishes, merlin with his backpack walks towards the deeper parts of Skull Island. Behind him, Professor Serizawa shouts:

"Merlin, what're you doing?"

"Leave me."

Merlin waves his hand without looking back and answers:

"I'm going to do a field inspection on Skull Island as part of the evaluation. Help me take care of Dorris, I'll go find you in the villa 2 days later."

"You need some weapons!"

Professor Serizawa says:

"The deeper into the island you get, the more dangerous it is, you don't know this place at all!"

"No."

Merlin looks back at Professor Serizawa and says softly:

"I've already signed an 'agreement' with the king here, on Kong's turf, I'm a VIP!"

As he finishes, Merlin's figure vanishes before Professor Serizawa's eyes, this magic-like scene made Professor Serizawa rub his eyes subconsciously, yet when he looked again, there was no trace of Merlin.

Later that day, on the highest mountain peak of Skull Island, Merlin works on the communicator-like device. Due to the typhoon which surrounded the island and the effects of the strange magnetic field here, the newest satellite phone issued by SHIELD had malfunctioned, it could hardly maintain communication with the outside.

Merlin used simple words to describe everything that had happened on Skull Island to Fury in words, at the end of the message was the promise he made with Professor Serizawa.

Merlin then sits by the cliff and gazes down at Skull Island's beautiful scenery while blowing the cool breeze.

Standing on such a high spot made everything below look like a landscape painting.

Merlin felt like he was Kong, perhaps, that terrifyingly large titan would view the world from this height?

The cool breeze, the beautiful nature's view, and the isolated silence; all of it made Merlin relax. He sits by the cliff and takes out the magic textbook he was still learning and begins to memorize the precious knowledge.

There was less than a month to 1995...

This set of gifted books will soon have to be returned, there was not much time left for Merlin to learn magic.

After 2 whole hours, Merlin who was immersed in magic knowledge was alarmed by a sound, he looks back and sees Fury's reply on the satellite comm.

"10 days later, Thailand Bangkok, I'll be waiting for him at the dock."

"Continue your evaluation on Kong's combat prowess, stay safe."

 

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