At this moment, Godzilla and King Kong were staring at each other from over a kilometer away. Both could sense the threat in the other's massive frame. This was the first time either of them had encountered a being whose size matched their own.
Kong, restricted by the narrow passages that prevented the giant Skullcrawlers from escaping, had only ever managed to defeat Skullcrawlers over 100 meters tall since reaching his current colossal size. As for Godzilla, he had been captured by Clark the moment he landed, so for him, Kong was the first real opponent he had faced—other than Clark.
Thus, neither monster rushed into a fight to the death. Instead, they silently observed each other, locked in a tense standoff born of mutual fear, until Clark appeared.
"Hey now~!"
After Clark appeared between the two beasts, Godzilla seemed fine, but Kong—who had just fought Clark—couldn't help clenching his fists and beating his chest.
Kong didn't know why Clark was here, but seeing Godzilla's reaction, he instinctively assumed that the monster opposite him and this flying menace were in league together.
Although Kong was somewhat timid, he put on a fierce front, hoping that if he looked intimidating enough, his opponent might just back off.
"Godzilla, head back into the water!"
Assuming Kong could understand him, Clark thought it would be best for Godzilla to retreat for now. In fact, Clark hadn't expected Godzilla to make it through Skull Island's outer defenses on his own.
Then Clark reconsidered—it actually made sense. First, Skull Island's defenses were now in a semi-open state. Second, if Godzilla couldn't break through those defenses, it would have been a real shame. He was, after all, quite the formidable creature.
Sure enough, after Godzilla left Skull Island, Kong calmed down considerably and returned to giving Clark an indifferent look.
Clark, however, couldn't do much about it. All he could do was remain in front of Kong and let him gradually get used to his and Godzilla's presence. Clark figured that over time, Kong would grow accustomed to them and wouldn't react so strongly.
With the Godzilla–Kong situation settled, Clark landed in front of Diana and said with a mysterious look, "I'm going to show you something good."
"What is it?" Diana asked curiously, noticing the expression on his face.
"You'll see when we get there." Clark waved his hand in the air, tracing a circle that opened a portal to the underground world.
He stepped forward, leading Diana to the place where he had found Poseidon's trident.
"What's this?" Diana asked upon seeing the trident planted before her. As a Greek deity, her first thought was naturally Poseidon's trident—especially since the weapon was surrounded by a curtain of water, making it hard not to think of it as a water-based divine artifact.
"If I'm not mistaken, this should be exactly the one you're thinking of," Clark said with a smile.
"Why is this weapon here?" Diana wondered aloud. Then it occurred to her—if this was Poseidon's weapon, did that mean Poseidon himself was nearby?
So she asked Clark, "Is Poseidon here as well?"
Because Ares had previously told her that this world's Mount Olympus had been breached, Diana wanted to know if the three most powerful Olympian gods were still around.
"Poseidon placed this trident here a long time ago. He used its power to conceal this mysterious island so that humans wouldn't find it. The core of the island's outer defenses is this very trident.
As for Poseidon, I doubt he's here—he's probably left it here for at least a few hundred years."
Although she had suspected as much, Diana still felt a little disappointed at Clark's answer. After a moment, she looked back at the trident and asked:
"So, what do you plan to do with it? Are you going to take it?"
"No. I think it's better to leave it here. If it were taken away, the island's mystery would vanish, and its magical creatures would be exposed to the world—which might not be a good thing for humanity."
Clark reasoned that if an organization like Hydra got hold of the island, a real-life "Jurassic Park" scenario wouldn't be out of the question.
In fact, Clark planned to clear out the island and use it as his secret base. Of course, if living there with only Diana felt too quiet, renting it out to the Avengers was also an option. For the world's most powerful team, having such a base would be quite the asset.
He shared his idea with Diana—clarifying that he wasn't suggesting they turn it into a romantic little hideaway for just the two of them. After all, the island was far too large for just two people; it might get boring.
While Clark and Diana were discussing whether they could persuade Tony to set up a new Avengers base on Skull Island, elsewhere in the Vanguard unit, Killian was listening with a dark expression as Erik gave his report.
"Sir, Davis in Kuwait detonated the bomb on his body inside the Salem Air Force Base."
"What? Didn't you send him the follow-up Extremis virus? Why would he self-destruct?"
Hearing this, Killian rubbed his temples. If Davis had exploded somewhere else, it wouldn't be such a big deal—but doing it inside an air force base was a serious problem.
If it had happened elsewhere, it would have been seen as just another attack, something fairly common in a place like Kuwait. But bombing a U.S. air force base there? That was a different matter entirely.
Once a military base was attacked, the U.S. authorities would certainly focus on the incident, and they might investigate the cause of the explosion.
"We can't wait any longer," Killian muttered to himself before telling Erik, "Have Trevor get ready—it's his turn to perform."
To prevent the U.S. from conducting a deep investigation into the explosion, they needed something else to draw attention—preferably something that could cover it up entirely. And Trevor was a card Killian had been holding for just such an occasion. After all, nothing was more convincing than a terrorist attack as an explanation. That would be the "real" reason for the blast.
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