A rescue party was sent to the Okinawa base to dig out the survivors. A medical tent was set up, and Honda and the others were carried there on stretchers to be evaluated. Once they had all been deemed fit to leave, Conway departed in a hurry on his private plane while Kashirin left with Arkoff in custody. Martin remained in the tent with Yuma and Honda, asking the staff for some privacy with them.
"Doctors," said the general, slouching on his cot, "I, uh…I know now that this was a mistake, and I owe both of you an apology for putting you through all of this…"
Yuma cut him off angrily. "An apology? How about an explanation first?"
Martin hung his head sadly. He explained to the doctors where MechaGodzilla and M11 originally came from. He talked about how they had searched for the machine's scattered parts, especially the long-sought Xilien power core, for over two years before finally finding them all. He described the plans to use the technology to defend the world not just from earthbound monsters, but from the entity called Zero. Yuma sat slack-jawed throughout the entire story. Honda listened patiently, reassured that the others had not heard everything M11 said. She was not ready to share the revelation about her own nature.
When Martin was done, Yuma jumped to his feet in a fury. "General, I thought I'd seen the worst of what you were capable of, but now I don't know if there's any limit to the horrible things you might do. I've changed my mind about keeping silent. I'm going to tell it all! I'll make sure they bury you for this!"
Honda put a hand on Yuma's shoulder. "Adam," she said softly. "Please, wait."
Yuma looked at her like he wanted to shout at her, too, but she caressed his shoulder lightly and he calmed down.
"General," said Honda, "I think you should tell everyone the truth about M11 and MechaGodzilla. Nothing more, nothing less. Then you should resign before your presence makes things worse."
Marti nodded understandingly. "I think that's fair."
Yuma grumbled, "But what about Gargantua? The G-Cells? There's so much more to tell."
"I know, Adam. Hear me out. It's not just you I'm worried about. The most likely candidate to take Martin's place is Colonel Omori. Does that sound correct?"
The general nodded again. "Yes; he's probably the most qualified."
"Okay. He was involved in Gargantua as well. If word of that gets out, not only will his reputation be tarnished, but he might take Project G down with him. We can't let that happen."
Yuma folded his arms and sighed in resignation. "I suppose you're right. I hate having to keep silent about this, but if it's necessary, I will."
"Thank you," said Honda. She walked over to Martin and shook his hand. "And thank you, General."
Martin gave a short, bittersweet chuckle before standing up and walking out of the tent. "Please, call me Stacy."
"Alright. Thank you, Stacy."
After the general had left, Yuma chuckled to himself.
"What?" Honda asked. "What is it?"
Yuma shook his head and managed to grunt out between laughs, "Stacy! That's a girl's name! They couldn't have just called him Steve or something?"
Honda lightly rapped his shoulder. "Don't be rude!"
"Okay, okay," Yuma said, taking a deep breath to let it out of his system. "I'm done. Ahem. So, uh, what now?"
"Now? Well, first I…" Honda stopped herself. Yuma was her best friend and she wanted to be able to tell him about herself, but she did not know if she should. Was it even true? Would he believe her? Would he be disgusted? She decided not to find out the hard way. Instead she changed the subject. "Uh, I was going to say, I have some ideas for improving Project G."
Meanwhile, Arkoff sat in silence in the plane with Kashirin and their pilot. They were about halfway across the ocean to Russia when Kashirin gave the pilot a nod before grabbing the radio and shouting into it, "Headquarters, come in! This is Lieutenant Colonel Kashirin. We have experienced engine failure! We are going down!"
He ripped out the cord of the radio transmitter, then the pilot took the plane into a nosedive.
"Kashirin!" shouted Arkoff. "What are you doing?"
Kashirin bared his teeth in a sinister grin. "Come, now, Mister Arkoff. We both know who I really work for! He wants you."
Arkoff gulped fearfully. "You mean…?"
"You know exactly who I mean! Now, hang on. We're in for a bit of a jolt."
The airplane abruptly stopped moving. It was surrounded by a strange light and began to descend slowly. Arkoff looked out the window and saw below a vessel, a submarine of some kind, with a large hatch opened in the top, just large enough for the plane to fit inside.
Kashirin produced a pistol and aimed it at Arkoff. "My apologies, sir, but we prefer that you not see any more than we need you to." He pulled the trigger and fired a tranquilizing dart into Arkoff's neck, knocking him out cold. The tractor beam pulled the airplane into the submarine's hatch and the doors closed with a loud metallic rumble before the vessel disappeared beneath the waves.
The fallout from the MechaGodzilla disaster was felt immediately. As promised, General Martin stepped down and was succeeded by a newly-promoted General Omori, but not before revealing the truth about Project M. Once the word was out, along with news that Conway had rushed the project and defied United Nations orders, there were calls for his resignation, if not impeachment; though neither came to be, his administration never recovered and his reelection campaign suffered a resounding defeat.
The Xilien power core was salvaged from the wreckage of MechaGodzilla. The United Nations took it into their possession and announced that every nation would have access to this new form of power, but that first they would make good on the promise to let Russia use it to rebuild. Arkoff's disappearance was kept secret while others took over his work.
Instead of scaling back Project G, the UNMCC made plans to expand it. Rodan would take up residence on Kirk Island, while Anguirus swam between the Hawaiian Islands, resting and eating where he could while patrolling the area. The Shirasagi was refitted with an Xilien power engine, and a second plane, the Griffon, was built and stationed at a new base on Kirk Island, with Dunham serving as the main pilot. As a result of these expansions, the average response time to a monster attack was reduced by two thirds.
Godzilla also got his wish for more freedom. The doors to his pool were kept open wide so that he could traverse the sea at his leisure. He finally had, as he said, respect and not just gratitude.
Honda was proud that her program had reclaimed its respect, but M11's words were never far from her mind. She remembered that it had told her to ask Godzilla, so one day while on the Iwato base, she visited him and they communed. In his simple language, he told her that he always knew there was something different about her, and that if she wanted to know more, she could find all of the answers in the Adona Islands…
