A.D. 1996, Approx. 15 days following Godzilla's Death, prior to the events that take place in Rebirth of Mothra.
I: Lack of Remorse
"You're here for a reason, Miss Saegusa. General Aso ordered you psychologically evaluated." A stern male voice reached from the darkness like a ghost-hand ripping Miki Saegusa from her nostalgic stupor.
Miki simply nodded, yet maintained staring at the plaque on the wall above the resident Psychologist's desk that paid heed to Godzilla's death that occurred two weeks before. The entire city seemed to be cloaked in the post-radioactive glower of Godzilla's end. Japan had been the center of the world for a few brief days as the possibility of Godzilla's meltdown condition destroying the world seemed inevitable. Now that it was over, everyone seemed obsessed with his death — like it was a good thing.
"Tell me how you're feeling right now, Miss Saegusa. I notice you've taken a fixation with that plaque on the wall." Dr. Takehiro Fukata noticed, bending his glasses downward in order to peer at the young woman over his lenses.
"I'm not feeling anything."
The doctor raised an eyebrow before writing a few short sentences on his notepad.
"Apathy is a common reaction after a death." He replied, hoping to induce more response from her.
Miki's dark brown eyes shot from the plaque and onto her therapist. Was he sensing her emotions telepathically, or was she just that readable? Regardless how he knew, the fact that he pointed it out callously seemed to stir her anger.
"No, apathy is how everyone else is feeling." Miki stammered, she couldn't look at Fukata directly in the eye when making her statements, "Apathy is everyone else's lack of remorse after Godzilla's death."
"Well technically apathy means to be 'without feeling.'"
Miki glanced back at her therapist, unsure as to whether he was mocking her or actually doing his job.
"I know what apathy is." She tried to contain her anger with all her might. "I'm grieving, okay? You can't possibly understand."
Miki rose from her leather seat and paced toward the door. Her purple floral-print dress waved in the wind behind her as she pulled it open and walked out of the room, ignoring Fukata's kind but stern demand for her to remain in the room.
Without hesitation the frazzled psychologist picked up his desk phone and dialed the extension to General Takaki Aso's office.
"Uh—hello? General Aso? Miss Saegusa left her session before it was over, and against my best wishes. I figured I should report this."
Miki paced down the marble hallways of the Counter G (G-Force) Building. The clacking of her matching lavender high heels seemed to echo in voiceless corridors as the activity in the building dwindled after Godzilla's threat was neutralized. Of course the commanders, generals and other higher ranked officers were being debriefed. She too had to attend a few debriefings since it was her task to oversee the finding and luring of Godzilla Junior—something she was not proud of. If she hadn't lured Junior to Destoroyah, and Godzilla to Junior who ended up battling Destoroyah, he may have not been driven to meltdown. Perhaps there would have been a solution that involved the beast's survival.
Amidst her thoughts, Miki found herself wandering into the courtyard where she had once convened with the Cosmos of Mothra the year prior. She sat on the bench beneath the poplar tree and gazed up into its canopy. Part of her wished the Cosmos were available for her to confide in. Of course, the further both they and Mothra flew into space the weaker her connection with them seemed to be. Regardless, she still wore her earrings marked with Mothra's cross insignia—a reminder that there was a bigger picture to all things natural, not to mention a power beyond that of her own.
"Miss Saegusa." A begrudging powerful voice broke Miki from her train of thought. She turned and found the military-adorned General Takaki Aso moving toward her. His hands clasped behind his back, an indication that something was bothering him—a slight nuance that she had picked up ever since meeting him three years before.
"General!" She yelped in surprise, "I wasn't expecting you."
Miki did not rise from her seat since she wasn't expected to. After all, Miki was only associated with G-Force through the E.S.P. Institute as a Psychic Specialist—a civilian operative. Much to her surprise, the General sat down next to her. The starchy freshness of his uniform made her wince a bit, and she found herself a bit uneasy in his presence. It didn't take a Psychic to know that he came bearing bothersome news.
"Well you should have expected me after skipping out on your scheduled counseling session." Aso bit his tongue, he wanted nothing more than to scold her for disobeying one of his orders, but he also understood that she wasn't bound to his command like other G-Force officers.
"Sorry sir… I don't really need counseling, I just need some time to think."
"Time to think about what?" Aso replied, his voice commanding a response.
"Where I go from here…"
"Funny you should mention that. I just got done speaking with the Director of the E.S.P Institute today, he authorized me to keep you here at G-Force as a continued specialist— especially with the threat of a new Godzilla on our hands."
Miki's eyes rose and met Aso's; a distraught look formed on her face.
"Junior…" She whispered.
"Yes, Godzilla Junior, but frankly…he's no Junior anymore."
Miki didn't need to be clairvoyant to sense the fear and disdain in Aso's voice. He, like many others, feared what Godzilla's offspring had become. After Godzilla's meltdown, Junior was resurrected after absorbing the intense amounts of radiation given off by the controlled nuclear cataclysm.
"He's not a threat to us. He's grieving…" Miki replied, almost channeling the saurian's emotions - though she knew that they were her own sentimental expressions.
Aso's usual angered expression transformed into one of sympathy. He understood that the past two weeks hadn't been easy on the Psychic.
"I know this is difficult for you; part of me feels it too. That doesn't change the fact that the United Nations views this new Godzilla as a threat. Remember, they help fund and maintain Counter G." Aso explained, hoping that maybe the technicality of the situation may sway Miki.
Miki rose from the bench and folded her arms across her chest. He was hiding something, that much she knew. Of course she could easily delve into his mind and retrieve the information but that would be a breach of Psychic Ethics—something well-learned after her years of mental training.
"And just what does the United Nations want us to do about it?" Miki enunciated her words.
Aso rubbed his forehead, carefully choosing his words before saying them.
"They want us to eliminate the threat."
"What!? Eliminate the Little One!?" Miki hollered at the top of her lungs, even though deep down she knew that that moment would come. "This is absolutely insane…and unfair, Aso!"
Aso nodded, but maintained his stern demeanor. He too rose to his feet and stared down at her. It wasn't difficult for him to express his influence enough to make Miki feel like an inch tall—after all he was the leading General of Counter G.
"I need you for this. I need your expertise if we're going to make this work."
Miki found herself in complete distress after Aso casually dismissed her emotions in order to declare his need for her.
"I will not participate if it means killing him." Miki stood her ground, yet turned her back to her commander.
Without hesitation Aso reached over and swung the young woman back around until she found herself within inches of Aso's distraught expression.
"If you don't do this… Junior will die an even more brutal death…"
"What, what do you mean?" Miki stammered, still having Aso's hands on each shoulder.
"The United Nations is funding a new project, one that'll make up for all our losses…" Aso explained, finding it just as difficult to divulge the information as it was for Miki to hear it.
"What new project…? Takaki, what is going on?"
He removed himself from Miki and inhaled deeply—the wrinkles on his face creased with each stressful word he was about to utter.
"They're funding the re-construction of Mechagodzilla."