Invasion of Privacy

Dr. Yuji Shinoda drove through the busy Tokyo streets, seemingly getting stopped at just about every red light. He didn't like driving through Tokyo's streets, especially not at this time of day. His car had seen better days; it was scratched in a couple of places, the labels for the Godzilla Prediction Network - the privately-funded enterprise he was in charge of - fading away. The computer equipment in the back of the car had not been used for some time; not since last year, in fact. He still kept it all maintained, but he'd not had any reason to use it for ages. Godzilla had not surfaced in Japan for some time, and in any case Shinoda was retired from active G-Chasing, so he had little reason to use everything these days.

Still, at least he had a windscreen. He'd found himself driving without one once, an experience he wasn't keen to repeat. That had happened several years ago, when he, his daughter Io, and their reporter friend Yuki Ichinose had gotten especially close to Godzilla. The towering reptile had peered through the windscreen to get a better look at them, like some kind of curious child. Yuki had panicked, and jammed the shutter release on her camera. The sudden flash from the camera had driven Godzilla into a rage. He'd roared, smashing the windscreen, and Shinoda had been forced to beat a hasty retreat as Godzilla came tearing after them. He'd given up the chase when they were safely away from him though, and had gone back to taking a 'stroll' through Nemuro. That had been a highly dangerous occassion, but it was a memory Shinoda was rather fond of, given that he had never been closer to Godzilla before or since. Surely he had to be one of the few people who had looked Godzilla in the eye and lived to tell the tale?

Mixed among the detritus of the computer equipment was a variety of shopping bags; Shinoda's groceries for the week. He'd spent a few good hours in town, making sure he had everything he needed. Now that Godzilla hadn't appeared here for so long, Shinoda was starting to eat regular meals again, whereas before he often had to skip them as he went out G-Chasing. In fact, he felt like Godzilla's long absence was something of a mixed blessing; funds for the outfit were at an all-time low, though this was helped a little by Io's skilled management of his bank papers. They had enough funds to see them through for a while. Shinoda felt that he had been getting used to being a 'family man' again; able to find time for other activities, and getting used to running a household again. He'd been able to spend a lot more time with Io; they usually did anyway, but at least Shinoda now felt Io was able to grow up normally, like every other child.

He'd always found the idea of 'normality' stupid though. After all of the things he'd seen and experienced, life constantly threw surprises at those unprepared for it. So to try to lead a 'normal' life was pure folly. He still kept an eye on his tracking systems every now and then, just to make sure Godzilla was not making any more moves. Things had been very quiet over this last month.

Beside him sat ten year-old Io, her black hair tied back in a long ponytail, wearing a denim jacket over her yellow shirt, and a red skirt. No doubt she'll be ditching skirts in favour of jeans soon enough, Shinoda thought, knowing that she'd hit her teens before he knew what hit him. Io was smart beyond her years though; a habit born out of necessity rather than teaching. She'd been an enormous help in keeping the GPN running, and had often accompanied Shinoda on his G-Chases; Shinoda had never been able to find a sitter for her for obvious reasons. She had been forced to grow up pretty quickly in that regard. Yet she was still able to find time to just... well, be a kid, and her relationship with her father was a strong one. Shinoda was really glad that she was with him, and knew she'd grow up to be a fine, upstanding woman. Her mother would have been proud of her.

As he headed onto the highway, back towards the distillery that he and Io called 'home', he passed by a spot that overlooked the bay, which had long ago been reconstructed after Godzilla's last visit. He remembered this spot very well, especially of the people he had met; one person inparticular, who Shinoda had regarded as a friend for three years. He didn't know what his friend was doing now though. Hopefully nobody did.

Something of what Shinoda had been thinking must have shown on his face, for Io spoke up; "Yen for your thoughts?"

Shinoda snatched a glance back at her. He paused for a moment before answering;

"Oh, you know..." Shinoda said, trying to remain offhand, "Just thinking about the past. You know, everything we've accomplished. We've been through a lot together, eh?"

Io wasn't buying it though. She knew her father well enough to know when he was keeping his true feelings concealed. She had the feeling she knew what was bothering him, because she'd been thinking the same thing.

"You're missing Alan, aren't you?" she said, reasonably. Shinoda froze for a moment, before nodding. He knew he couldn't hide anything from his daughter, who seemed to have inherited her inquisitiveness from him. He knew Io had often looked up to Alan Tyler - a highly-skilled G-Chaser and photographer - as a sort of role model; though he often wondered if Alan was really such a good role model for kids after some of the things he had done. Often she'd been saying that the first thing she'd buy when she came into money was a motorbike like Alan's, even though that bike was now officially theirs now. Shinoda planned on giving it to her once she was old enough and had passed her tests.

"Yeah," he said. "It's just the way he left, having to practically flee the country like that. Leaving your old life behind must be a terrible thing for someone to go through. I suppose it's like that with those 'Witness Relocation Programmes'. Something terrible happens, and you have to leave everything behind to save yourself from persecution."

"But why can't the CCI leave Alan alone?" Io said indignantly. "It's not like anyone will believe what happened to him if he tells them, so they'd be wasting their time trying to keep him quiet."

"You'd think so," Shinoda said wearily. He had told Io everything that had happened to Alan, and of all the horrible discoveries he'd made within the CCI's walls. He saw no sense in leaving her in the dark; she was old enough and mature enough to hear the truth. "Thing is, not everyone thinks like we do. If they believe Alan will blab, they'll move to silence him. Besides, what if they find a way to use his abilities as a weapon? That would spell disaster for us all, for Alan and Gojira especially. Alan cares deeply about Gojira, probably even more so than ever now; he'd never do anything to hurt him, but he may be forced into it against his will, by people like those at the CCI. It's for the best that he remain away from Japan, where the CCI can't touch him. That way both of them remain safe."

Shinoda's fears were not entirely unfounded. A month ago, Alan had broken into the CCI building and recovered numerous damning files of some of the secrets the CCI had to hide. Amongst them he'd made a horrible discovery; the CCI had injected samples of Organiser G-1, a part of Godzilla's genetic code, into Alan and two of his friends. The cells merged with the humans' own, mutating them all by varying degrees. Alan was the least affected, aside from his mind. Through some unexplainable phenomenon, Alan was capable of sharing his mind with Godzilla, allowing him to see through the monster's eyes. This was not through Alan's choice though, but if anyone ever found a means by which they could get Alan to control Godzilla's mind altogether... It didn't bear thinking about.

That was Shinoda's biggest fear, that someone would find a way to use both Alan and Godzilla as weapons. Alan knew this all too well, and had been forced to flee Japan. No doubt he was still in hiding in the United States; he'd not even so much as posted a message on the G-Chaser Network, nothing to let anyone know that he even existed. Io folded her arms, scowling.

"I've never understood why people keep trying to hurt Gojira," she said, dispiritedly, "It's not like he deliberately sets out to hurt anybody! People can't hurt him, but they still keep trying. Now they tried to merge him with humans! That's the sickest thing I ever heard."

"I know, and I agree," Shinoda said, "There's nothing we can do about it now though, except pray that Alan doesn't get discovered." He shook his head, clearly troubled by the nagging possibility that Alan had been discovered. "It's times like this that make me wonder whether Gojira's attacks against humanity were justified all this time. I wonder how he felt finding out what we had done to his father. I know he and Kiryuu seem to have accepted each other for what they are, but I wonder how Gojira felt the first time he learned the truth; that his father had become the Mekagojira."

"I would think it would have been as big a shock for him as it would be for everyone else," Io stated. "Fancy meeting someone you'd long presumed dead! It would blow anyone's mind."

"I still can't believe Alan and Kiryuu actually met face-to-face," Shinoda sighed, "or that Alan stole those files for him. It's ironic that the original Gojira would want to learn about his death. Still, at least it meant Alan had been able to reveal the truth about Monster Zero to the world. I guess that's one thing we can thank Kiryuu for."

A month ago, only a couple of days after Alan left for the United States had been when the news had spread. All of the world's media stations had received incontrovertible proof of the cover-up that both the British and American governments had played to hide the truth of the creature most knew as 'Monster Zero' to the world. Both governments had inadvertently had a hand in summoning the monster; two scientists, Dr. Martin O'Brien and Dr. Lesley Jenkins, had discovered fossilised cells - M0 cells, they were called - that were later revealed to actually belong to Monster Zero. The theory was that the cells had called the creature here. Both governments tried to wash their hands of the affair, hence the cover-up that had lasted for over two years. No doubt they were even now trying to find the source of the leak, but if Kiryuu had recovered that proof, they had no chance, and Alan would've covered his own tracks far too well. It was scary what the bio-mechanical dinosaur could do.

"Speaking of Monster Zero," Io mused, "you have any idea what's been done to prepare for if he comes back?"

"Last I heard," Shinoda said, "Miyasaka said the Japanese government has been in talks with other countries, like Russia and Great Britain, to discuss anti-monster measures that may prove effective in driving him off. Kiryuu's really our best hope, though. I wonder if Gojira will fight too..."

Finally, Shinoda pulled up outside the distillery. He and Io got out of the car, and proceeded to start pulling shopping bags out of the back seat.

"Do you think there's any hope?" Io then asked. Shinoda just looked at her. He really wasn't sure how to answer that. From what Alan had told him about Monster Zero, the creature seemed even more powerful than Kiryuu and Godzilla combined. If they lost, then what could possibly fight against him? Was he being too pessimistic already, just thinking this?

"I don't know..." Shinoda said, quietly. Io looked like she'd expected an answer like that; she wasn't sure about the outcome of the seemingly inevitable battle, of how either Godzilla or Kiryuu could win.

"I guess..." Shinoda continued, "We'll just have to see what happens. Take things as they come..." He walked over to Io, and pulled her close to him. "We can't just give up though. All we can do is the best we can, no matter how hard things get."

Io just nodded. The battle to come would be hard, but they'd find a way to pull through. They usually did; why should Monster Zero be any different?

With that in mind, the two picked up their shopping bags, and headed back through the distillery.

***

Shinoda didn't often speak with the staff and managers of the distillery. Usually just a quick 'hello' or something, just to let them know that he acknowledged their existence. After all, if it wasn't for this place he probably wouldn't have an office or even a home. So it was quite a surprise for him when, upon walking across the noisy ground floor of the distillery, that the short, bespectacled, plump manager approached him and Io, seemingly panic stricken.

"Mr. Shinoda!" he yelled, running towards them, "Mr. Shinoda! It's terrible!"

The manager stopped just in front of them, gasping for breath. Shinoda was taken aback. The manager looked terrified out of his mind about something. He kept pointing nervously towards the back of the distillery, where the staircase to the GPN's offices was located.

"What is it?" Shinoda said, holding the manager's shoulders and trying to calm him down, "Just take it slowly... What happened?"

"They came...." the manager stammered, inbetween intakes of breath. "Men in suits... said they were with the CCI... said they had a warrant to search the place... your offices inparticular... I couldn't stop them... They'd've arrested me on the spot... They... they..."

Shinoda's eyes went wide. He had a horrible feeling as to what had happened. Without pausing, he dropped his shopping bags and ran for the stairs leading to the attic. Io followed close behind him. Several of the staff had paused in their work to watch the whole spectacle. When the two reached the attic, all of their worst fears were confirmed.

The attic offices of the GPN were completely wrecked, turned upside-down. Indeed, it almost looked like the CCI had detonated a bomb in them. Filing cabinets had been thrown open, charts and maps pulled off the walls, papers strewn all over the floor and surfaces. A couple of the little potted plants Shinoda kept in here were on the floor, the pots smashed and their contents scattered all over. Even the small kitchen and living areas had been raided, pots and pans and a variety of other amenities scattered. Jars full of liquid had been broken, their contents now dampening the papers. One of them, Shinoda noticed, was the jar he kept Godzilla's skin sample in, the sample itself visible, lying unprotected amongst all the papers.

Shinoda's breathing went ragged. All of his life's work, everything he had been working for; now much of it destroyed in one fell swoop. Io was quiet, trying to force back tears.

"They..." she said quietly, almost as if speaking was becoming painful. "They must have been looking for the files Alan took... But why here?"

"I..." Shinoda stammered, "Did they... Miyasaka... He wouldn't have..."

Dr. Shiro Miyasaka, a long-time friend of Shinoda and his contact in the CCI, knew about what Alan had done to retrieve the files from the CCI. Shinoda's biggest fear was that Miyasaka had talked, even after promising he wouldn't. Had he finally cracked and told them where they could start looking? However, Shinoda didn't have the files. They were safely out of the country. No doubt Kiryuu had them now, so they'd never be seen again.

It seemed the CCI had finally got a lead that they could follow up on. No doubt Katagiri was pleased; that man had been looking for an excuse to shut Shinoda's outfit down for a long time. He must have been thrilled to hear he could ransack the GPN's offices. Shinoda was sickened by the thought, but he wouldn't put it past the man. Io meanwhile was trying to salvage some order out of the chaos by trying to pick up the myriad files and sort them. Some of them were hopelessly drenched, and it looked like the CCI had torn some of them up. Others were missing entirely. Io looked back at her father in dismay.

"How could they..." she said, the bitterness in her voice evident. "Why? Do you think they could have found out about who took the files from their offices?"

Shinoda just shook his head, not sure how else to answer. He noticed his computer had been turned on; they must have been looking through his address books. He searched through all of his records, finding out several of his notes on Godzilla had been deleted. He didn't doubt that they had downloaded all of his data before deleting it. However, Shinoda had been very careful to ensure that all traces of his contact with Alan had been deleted. In truth, he'd half-expected something like this to happen, so had taken steps to ensure nothing could be found out about Alan from his servers. The CCI couldn't possibly have any proof that Alan and Shinoda were connected, could they?

"Oh no!" Io suddenly said. Shinoda spun around, finding Io holding up a box marked 'Videos'. The box was now empty. Shinoda knew instantly that the CCI must have taken the lot.

"You don't think they could find out about Alan from them, do you?" she continued fearfully. Shinoda feared they could. One of the tapes had been made by Yuki a few years back, showing Alan involved in a G-Chase. If they saw the tape, they'd know instantly who was on it. He held his head in his hands, hiding his face. Io knew instantly that Shinoda was answering in the positive to her question.

"Well, that's it..." Io said, looking utterly defeated. "They know that we're connected to Alan... They'll be figuring out what happened... They'll be wanting to talk to us about him, and who knows what they'll do... They'll be getting everything they need to know..."

Shinoda then remembered something. Even if the CCI did know about Shinoda's connections to Alan, they wouldn't know where Alan was, would he? He'd not heard anything about any further searches for Alan from Miyasaka; there wasn't any reason to panic just yet. Besides, they didn't know the full circumstances of the CCI raid. They didn't know about everyone that was involved.

"Not everything, sweetheart," Shinoda said. From an inside pocket of his sleeveless jacket he pulled out a piece of a glistening silver metal tentacle. This was a piece of the Utah Foundation's fabled bio-syntech, artificial muscle tissue that was a part of Kiryuu himself. Kiryuu had had Alan pass it on to him, as a gift, he'd said. Kiryuu had also emailed Shinoda himself a couple of times in the past, even phoning him and speaking to him once. Shinoda had been careful to erase any contact he'd had with Kiryuu. Just as he had done with Alan, he'd removed all traces of email contact. He'd kept the tentacle close to him at all times, not able to leave it here for fear of something like this happening.

"At least they still don't know Kiryuu was involved," he said, confident in what he was saying. If the CCI had gained proof of Kiryuu's involvement, then they would really be in serious trouble. It could even dangerously delay any efforts to defend the human race from Monster Zero, and if that happened they were all doomed.

"Maybe..." Io said faintly, knowing that they were not out of the woods by a long shot. "But what do we do? We can't keep protecting Alan now, and if they start questioning us they'll soon find out Kiryuu's involvement. What can we do?"

Shinoda sat for a few moments, in silence. He was turning things over in his head. What could they do? Somehow Alan had to be warned. Nobody knew where he was though. It wasn't safe for either him or Io to remain in Japan any longer either. There was only one thing they could do; it was drastic, but they had to do it. He looked back at Io, a much more determined look on his face.

"We'll beat them to it," he said. "We'll find Alan first. It's not safe for us to remain here, so what do you say about a trip to the United States?"

At first it looked like hope was dawning in Io's eyes. They'd go to the USA! They'd find Alan! Then a horrible doubt came into her mind that knocked that hope out of her.

"America's a huge place..." she said, doubtfully, "How will we know where to look? We may never find him in such a large country, especially since he doesn't want to be found."

"We've still got to try though," Shinoda said, more determinedly, "I hate to think what will happen if Alan is caught and taken back to the CCI. Besides," he paused for a moment, looking back at the tentacle still clutched tightly in his hand, "I want to return this to it's owner."

"You mean..." Io said, her eyes growing wider. "You're taking that back to Kiryuu?!"

"Not exactly," Shinoda said. "We obviously can't speak to Kiryuu directly, but I do know someone who may be able to help. An old acquaintance of mine - Dr. Katsura Yugami - is one of the key staff on the Mekagojira project. I'll return this to her, and she can pass it on to Kiryuu. He needs to be alerted of this as well. He may be able to find Alan when we can't." He paused for a moment, seemingly gathering his words. He wanted to ensure Io that all hope was not lost, even though he himself wasn't so sure. "I can't hold onto this anymore. I'm not about to give the CCI any help in finding out if Kiryuu was involved, and I'm certainly not going to help them to find Alan. We've got to do this, help any way we can."

Shinoda also had a slightly personal reason for going. He remembered he'd had a crush on Katsura for a long time during their college days, but he'd never gathered up the nerve to ask her out. He could understand that there wasn't likely to be any future with her, he just wanted to see her again for old times' sake.

For a moment, it seemed Io's spirits were lifted slightly. She was then brought crashing down to Earth with another realisation;

"But neither of us can speak English," Io lamented, "How are we going to get around that?"

For a moment, it looked like Shinoda was stumped with that one. However, an answer soon came to him.

"Last time I spoke to Yuki," he said, "she said she'd be out in the United States. It hasn't been that long since I last saw her, she may still be out there. She speaks English; she'll be able to give us a hand."

Shinoda couldn't help but wonder if they could persuade Yuki to help them. She'd put G-Chasing behind her long ago. This wasn't a G-Chase though. Surely she'd be able to make a concession just this once.

"Could you start packing anything you think you might need?" he asked. "I have the feeling we'll be staying out there for a long time. I'll join you in a minute; I've got a couple of things to do first."

Io nodded, and left the room. She figured she may as well start packing her father's stuff as well; he wasn't very organised when it came to this kind of thing. Shinoda meanwhile was about to pick up the phone, then remembered that the CCI could well have his phone tapped. He wouldn't put it past them to do this, to try and catch him out. They could be monitoring everything that came out of his accounts. That was why he wasn't willing to trust the post to get the bio-syntech sample to the USA, in case the package was lost or intercepted.

In the end, he abandoned the idea of the phone and instead pulled out his mobile. He knew he'd be using long-distance, he only hoped he had enough credit left as he dialled Yuki's number. After a while, the line connected.

"Yuki?" he began, "It's Dr. Shinoda here... Yeah, it's been a while... Listen, I can't talk for long, you know expensive it is to call internationally... Io and I are flying out to Salt Lake City in Utah... Are you still out in the States?... Thank God... Any chance we can meet up? It's really important... Really? Are you sure we're not interfering in anything?... Okay... Thanks a lot, Yuki... I've got to go now... I'll explain everything when we meet.... Alright, I'll see you in a couple of days... Okay... Sayonara."

With that, he hung up. Yuki had said that she would not be able to get much time off, but she had agreed, rather enthusiastically, to meet up with them about a day after their arrival in Utah. He wondered if she'd be so enthusiastic when she heard what she was about to get herself involved in, but right now they needed her help. Using his mobile again, he phoned Tokyo International Airport and arranged for a flight out of Tokyo to leave that night. He was thankful that Io had managed their finances enough to enable them to pay for the trip. He wondered how long their funds would last though.

He then pulled out a pen and a piece of paper, and started to write a letter. It was a letter to Katsura, which he intended for Io to get to her if the worst should happen to him. Hopefully things wouldn't come to that, but just in case they did, he thought it best that they had a backup plan.

Afterwards, he headed through to meet Io, to find that half of his packing had been done for him. Io had decided not to take much, so she'd found time to start packing his things too. Shortly after, the two of them were on their way to the airport. Shinoda began to understand how Alan felt when he had to leave that day, for he too had the feeling that he was being forced to leave his old life behind.

However, in that dark night, neither of them realised that they were being followed all the way to the airport.