"Pilot, this is Command. Do you read?" The voice crackled through the comms, steady despite the urgency.

"Loud and clear, Command," I replied. However steady I may have sounded on the comms, my hands shook even as I tightened them around the controls. I was the top of my class, I should have been prepared for this, but inside the cockpit I was quaking despite being nearly inside a nearly 300 foot tall mechsuit. "Initiating reconnaissance now."

The mech's sensors scanned the upcoming threat. I already knew what I would see. I'd seen the creature before.

Speed: 50 knots. Weakness: Unknown. 

Not the most comforting intel but this was a new threat. Taking a deep breathe the inside of the mech suddenly felt chilled even though the readouts read in at 72 degrees Fahrenheit. From the cockpit of the mech, I could see the horizon trembling as the colossal creature emerged from the ocean, its eyes glowing red like twin suns of destruction. 

I gulped. This was my first mission, the first line of defense between the beast and the millions of lives in the city behind me. They told me I wouldn't be ready until it happened. 

They weren't wrong.

 I maneuvered the mech towards the city's outskirts, where panicked crowds surged through the streets. Activating the external speakers, my voice boomed over the chaos, calm and authoritative. "This is Pilot Alpha. Please proceed to the designated evacuation zones. Follow the markers for your safety."

The mech felt solid underneath me, moving stiffly so as not to injure anyone. But humans are just as panicky in a situation with a large predator as any form of wildlife. They wanted streets cleared before engaging. From the seat of my cockpit I began to realize how impossible that would be.

I punched the comms: "Permission to engage the target?" 

"Negative Pilot, crows still evacuating."

"It's not going to fucking matter," I snapped before I could stop myself. "Switching to close-combat protocols."

"Neg--" I cut the comms. 

Godzilla, as the creature had been named was upon us. It was baffling how earth had managed to hide such a creature from existence from the modern world for so long. 

I clicked a series of commands, engaging my heads up display. My heart sank as the creature crushed throngs under its feet. We were little more than ants.

I clicked a set of codes and the mech's missile bays slid open with a mechanical hiss, launching a barrage of explosives towards the approaching monster. It's attention switched to me in an instant. The missiles detonated against its thick hide, slowing its advance but not stopping it. A second salvo followed, each impact lighting up the darkening sky, but the creature kept coming, relentless and unharmed.

And Angry. 

I braced myself as the mech's arms transformed, deploying energy blades crackling with blue plasma. With a leap, the mech closed the distance, meeting Godzilla in a clash of titans. The mech suit was large but bulky. Blades slashed through scales, and the beast roared in pain, swiping with its massive claws. I thought I would be fast but he was faster. 

The fight was brutal, a dance of destruction as the city. Sparks flew, and the ground quaked beneath our battle. But I could feel it—the mech's power, the precision of its movements—this was my moment.

The hit came just when I thought I had it, just when I thought I could win. The sickening feeling of being turned head over heels, as the mech was pushed up into the sky and flipped over. 

Comms erupted, voices screaming in my ears. The creatures jaws descended onto my face. I cried out in terror -- even as I lost view of heads up display. The mechs head was torn from its body leaving a broken machine with myself inside.

"Shit," I yelped as my body whipped back and forth inside the mech. 

I am going to die. 

I blacked out to the sound of metal shrieking around me, my whole world a mass of twisted metal and blood.

Silence followed, broken only by the crackling of fires and the distant sound of sirens. I exhaled, my hands trembling with adrenaline. My body ached.

I'm alive. 

It hit me even as the sound returned to normal. I could hear people shrieking around me, sirens going off. It was dark, my left arm was in pain. I glanced over and saw that it was dislocated.

I'm alive.

Abruptly a flashlight blinded me and I raised my good arm to my face, as the panels of metal slip away. Stars shone above me. 

Stars that I hadn't seen in years living in this city. The lights were always so bright and knocked them out.

"Hey, over here!" A voice that I recognized stood over me. I couldn't get the name in my head but I relaxed in my harness. I was alive, I couldn't believe it.

"Hey Connor, you did good man, we'll get you out soon."

"What happened?" I asked, my voice was strangely hoarse.

"He went back out to sea, we think to recover from his injuries."

I sank back and stared up at the stars, more grateful in my life than I'd ever been before that I could see them.