And All the World's Eyes Turned to Japan

Katsura walked into the main base, going through the glass doors. Behind her was Io Shinoda, holding her hand tightly as she glanced around fearfully at this strange place. To her, this building looked like nothing more than an office building. There was carpeting everywhere, broken apart by square sections of hardwood floors. For right now, she could not trust anyone here, save Katsura. Katsura could not trust her house keeper to keep Io safe either. She had no choice but to bring Io along to work. Katsura greeted the guard at the door, showing her badge.

"Dr. Yugami," began the guard. "The kid can't come with you."

"Please," Katsura began. "She has to. I can't keep her anywhere else. I don't want to leave her alone in my house."

"I'm sorry," he insisted in a more stern tone. "But children aren't allowed. The insurance doesn't cover it. You know the policy. What if she gets hurt? We could be sued."

"Trust me, we won't be sued," Katsura said.

"I'm sorry," the guard shook his head again. "But you'll have to take the kid home."

"No she won't," began a deep, rolling voice behind the guard. He turned around only to see Kiryuu's holographic form standing behind him. The hologram's arms were crossed and he had an expectant look on his face.

"Mr. Mechagodzilla!" he called.

"You will let Katsura bring the girl into the base," Kiryuu growled at him. "Or else."

"But, sir," the guard protested. "You know company policy. She could get hurt, or hurt some of the equipment inside."

"She'll do neither," Kiryuu growled at him. "This girl is under my protection, understand? I take full responsibility for her."

"But sir," he repeated. "You can't take her down there. The company policy-"

"Will change," Kiryuu glared at him, pushing him aside with his claw. "I hold 30% of the company's stocks now. I can get Gordon to change the policy this once to allow one child inside. Besides, even Gordon will realize how important this child is to us. I can't let her go."

"Y—yes, sir," the guard nodded finally, allowing Katsura and Io to pass beyond the gate.

"Arigato, Kiryuu," Katsura sighed with relief.

"Douitashimashite," Kiryuu bowed slightly. "O-genki desu ka, Io-chan?"

"Watashi genki desu, Kiryuu-san," Io bowed. "It's good to see you again."

"The feeling is mutual," Kiryuu smiled slightly. "I will meet you when you arrive in the hangar bay. I'm afraid I have matters to attend to."

"What kind?" Katsura asked.

"More hackers," Kiryuu replied. "I'm on full alert right now. I'm sorry, but there's no time to explain."

Kiryuu's image quickly faded away. Katsura sighed looking around the hallway.

"Hackers…" she breathed.

"It's Katagiri," Io whispered to her. "I know it. Because he knows that Kiryuu was involved with Alan. He's after Kiryuu too, just like papa."

"No jail can hold Kiryuu," Katsura smiled weakly. "He knows what he's doing. I wonder just how Gordon is handling this."

They walked down the long corridor and got into the elevator at the end. Katsura punched in her code in order to have the elevator access the lower levels. The elevator slowed to a pause and Katsura looked up at the lights. She had not even reached the floor she needed to go yet. The elevator stopped half way and the doors opened. In stepped a familiar face, a Caucasian man with blonde hair and sea blue-green eyes. She knew who it was, Manda the Guardian of the East. The Sea Dragon was in his human form. He had been staying at the base for a few weeks now. Katsura began to wonder if the MBPD was starting to miss one of their officers. Besides being the only remaining Guardian of Atlantis, Manda was also a policeman for Miami Beach.

The Dragon was dressed in ordinary looking clothing, a pair of jeans and a Hawaiian shirt with various palm trees and flowers decorating it. She could see a white T-shirt underneath his Hawaiian shirt. His faded, baggy jeans looked a little torn at the cuffs. His tennis shoes were also a bit worn around the edges. Manda held his hands in his pockets as he stepped through the door. Manda glanced over at Katsura, smiling warmly. His eyes shifted to Io.

"Hello," he began. "Who are you?"

Io shook her head, not understanding his words.

"She doesn't understand English, Manda," Katsura said.

"Oh," he said. "Uh…Gomenasai. Uh, watashi wa—Manda desu. Uh…hell…"

Katsura giggled at the Dragon's attempt at trying to speak Japanese.

"Sorry," Manda sighed. "I'm a telepath. We really don't need to learn languages. I can pick up what she says to me through her thoughts. And I could speak to her that way, if that doesn't freak her out too much."

"I wouldn't right now," Katsura said. "She's been through a lot. This is Io Shinoda."

"Shinoda?" Manda asked, his blue eyes widening. "Yuji's daughter?"

"Yes," she nodded.

"You know the FBI is helping the CCI hunt for her," Manda said. "Her picture is all over the news. I'm surprised you managed to get her out of Salt Lake City without any problems."

"And I'm more than surprised that you're still here," Katsura said. "Why are you still here?"

"Keeping my promise to Mothra," said Manda. "By keeping an eye on you guys. Mothra didn't want Alan to know about what's inside of him. I warned Kiryuu. He didn't listen to me! Now look what happened."

"Do you know what Kiryuu is doing about it right now?" Katsura asked.

"I'm no computer expert," the Dragon sighed. "But I think he's gonna do what he said he'd do to Katagiri if that jackass pulled a stunt like this. He's gonna get the CCI into more trouble than they've bargained for."

"I just hope he doesn't get us into trouble along with it," Katsura said.

"Mosura desu ka?" Io asked, looking up at the Dragon in human form.

"Huh?" Manda asked. "Uh, no. I'm not Mothra. She's my…boss, in a sense."

Io shook her head again.

"Uh…watashi no taishou desu," Manda scratched his head as he spoke. "Mosura wa watashi no taishou desu."

"Mosura?" Io asked again, still slightly confused. Manda just sighed.

"It's okay kid," he said. "She needs to learn English badly, Katsura. I only know three other languages; Spanish, Greek, and a dead language that hasn't been spoken for thousands of years. Maybe I should confuse her even more and speak Spanish to her."

"I wouldn't," Katsura said.

"I know," Manda sighed again. "I'd peer into both your minds to teach myself Japanese, but I don't like invading people's privacy."

"Good dragon," Katsura chuckled, patting him on the shoulder. The elevator finally came to a halt at the floor Katsura wanted to be on. She stepped outside, leading Io down the hall. Io turned around again, seeing Manda wave after her.

"Tenna' ento lye omenta, Io," Manda said, smiling as he walked in the opposite direction. "Katsura, if you see Maria, tell her I have some other information about the connections of King Ghidorah with other Grecian myths, especially about the myth of the hydra."

I'm sure she'll be interested," Katsura smiled.

"I'd tell Kiryuu," he began. "But right now he's too busy to listen. He may not even listen at all. He didn't listen to me the last time."

"I think he'll listen to you now," she said. "After what's been happening."

Manda chuckled, walking away from them. Io glanced up at Katsura, holding a very confused look on her face.

"Who was that man?" she asked Katsura.

"Manda," Katsura replied. "Mosura's servant."

"Mosura's servant?" she asked. "The—the moth, the one that appeared when the doppelganger appeared? Did it help Kiryuu fight that monster?"

"Well, that doppelganger was in fact another Mekagojira," Katsura said. "And that Mekagojira was controlled by aliens."

"Aliens?" Io asked. "You're joking right?"

"No," Katsura replied. "I'm not. Welcome inside the Foundation, Io. I'm sure you'll have lots to tell your father when we figure out how to get him out of there."

"So, he serves Mosura?" Io asked.

"Hai," Katsura replied. "He's a Dragon, the Guardian of Atlantis."

"Atlantis?" Io asked, even more confused. "He doesn't look like a Dragon."

"Well, he's a shape-shifter," she smiled. "You know those pictures of a blue-green dragon flying over Ft. Lauderdale? Someone caught that picture once. That's Manda."

"What is he doing here?" Io asked.

"Because of Kiryuu," Katsura replied. "There are things in motion that not even I can explain. You just have to take my word for it."

"Anything else I need to know about?" Io asked.

"That monster," began Katsura. "Monster Zero—King Ghidorah…Kiryuu wants to exact revenge upon him."

"Doushite?" Io asked.

"Because," Katsura replied. "King Ghidorah killed Kiryuu's family. Only Godzilla remained."

"He remembers all of that?"

"He remembers a lot," Katsura sighed. "The spirit of the original Gojira had long taken over the AI that was Mekagojira. Wouldn't Shinoda find that interesting?"

"He would," Io smiled. "He would a lot. All these theories that would pop into his head. You must know more about Gojira than papa does."

"I suppose it's because of Kiryuu," sighed Katsura. "He answers all of our questions. He's the one who knows his son best. And because he can talk to us, he can tell us about Gojira. I could write books on all the information Kiryuu has given me. But I know that might put Gojira in even more danger. His weakness would be exposed to people who want to destroy him. Sometimes, it's best not to know everything about a creature like Gojira."

She finally lead Io into the control room where Will and Gordon were monitoring Kiryuu's battle against the hacker onslaught. Kiryuu's eyes were closed, he was battling internally. Will assisted with his own skills, trying to keep up with the AI's great speed. Gordon paced up and down, glancing back from Will and then to Kiryuu's still form. Despite all these attacks that were happening, Gordon did not seem one bit upset. Even stranger, he was smiling and chuckling.

"Give them hell, Kiryuu!" Gordon smiled as he monitored the screen.

"What's going on?" Katsura asked.

"Ah, Katsura," Gordon said. "Come on in and join the fun. Kiryuu just sent another hacker spiralling into Saudi Arabia."

"What?" Katsura asked, completely stupefied.

"These hackers that are attacking our base," the wealthy man began. "We already tracked them down. They did come from the CCI. I suppose it was bound to happen, eventually, whether or not Kiryuu sent Alan after those files. It was a matter of time before Kiryuu's little excursions would rub Katagiri too many times the wrong way. And now we're paying for it. I think the CCI break in through our Shadowrunner was the straw that broke the camel's back."

"Okay," she sighed. "So what's this about Saudi Arabia?"

"Instead of fighting them off," began Will, swivelling around in his chair to face Katsura and Io, "he's redirecting them to other places; other governmental facilities, fooling them into thinking that these facilities are our own databanks. Once the world's governments trace these hackers back to Japan, the CCI will be in more trouble than ever. Katagiri might get the boot after this."

"Wouldn't that start a war?" Katsura asked, her face twisted in a mixture of horror and confusion. "Wouldn't places like Saudi Arabia think Japan's trying to steal their government secrets? I don't want my country to go to war. It can barely defend itself against Godzilla, let alone the rest of the world's armies."

"No," said Gordon. "Now just hold on, Katsura. It won't start a war. At the most part, the UN council will start an investigation of all these intrusions. No doubt they'll find the CCI's little dark secret in one of these investigations."

"But there is a possibility that Katagiri could have those poor men killed and the data erased, Gordon," said Will. "A nice little clean wipe of every server the CCI has and it'll be the perfect cover-up."

"There's still one file out there," Kiryuu's deep voice broke through the speakers. "The one that Alan carries. We have to find him, bring him back here and make sure the CCI doesn't get to him."

"I hate to say this, Gordon," began Will. "But Kiryuu's right. We have to bring Alan here. He has the proof all over his body, besides those papers. And if the CCI get a hold of him, they may kill him too."

"Bring that snot-nosed brat here?" Gordon's face became flushed with red. "He already hates Kiryuu for what he's done. Why should we help him?"

"Because it's the right thing," Katsura said. "I agree with Kiryuu, Gordon. He deserves that much. He deserves answers."

"Answers that could get us in trouble!" Gordon yelled. "I won't have it."

His eyes gazed down, seeing Io standing there beside Katsura.

"Okay," he began. "Who the hell is that?"

"Io Shinoda," Kiryuu replied.

Gordon's eyes bulged out and his mouth dropped. For several minutes, he did not even speak. Then, his brow began to tremble and his shoulders shook.

"What the hell is she doing here?!" he cried. "Katsura, are you insane?!"

"Yuji Shinoda was a friend of mine, Gordon!" Katsura protested. "And now because of Kiryuu—and you as well—Io's father is facing treason charges and a prison sentence."

"Me?" Gordon asked. "What the hell did I do?"

"You let Kiryuu hack into the CCI," Katsura replied. "You let him set this whole thing up; bring Alan here to Utah, provided the helicopter to the rendezvous place, allowed Kiryuu to hack into the CCI again to allow Alan inside the building and steal the information on the Oxygen Destroyer! And because of that, because of Alan's connections with him, Shinoda is now in trouble! His own daughter had to escape CCI agents and Katagiri. Who knows what that horrible man could have done to her? She ran, frightened, to my house in order to deliver this!"

Katsura reached into her pocket and took out the severed syntech flesh from her coat. She tossed it over to Gordon, who caught it.

"This is syntech," Gordon said. "Kiryuu's syntech... KIRYUU!"

"Yes, Gordon?" Kiryuu asked.

"You gave Shinoda a piece of your syntech?" he asked, his face now bright red. "How could you do that?"

"Collateral damage," Kiryuu replied. "Shinoda wouldn't listen to me, so I had to get his attention. I figured why not give him a piece that would answer all his questions."

Gordon growled, glancing back at Katsura.

"Did the CCI find this on Shinoda?" he asked.

"No," Katsura replied. "They never knew he had the syntech."

"So, Katagiri is hacking our base for no reason," Gordon sighed.

"He has reason," Kiryuu began. "I-"

"For no reason, Kiryuu," Gordon corrected him. "He thinks we're behind all of this. But he has no proof. Not even the syntech." He glanced back at the enormous bio-mechanical mecha, his face now becoming calmer. "You covered your tracks well, my boy."

"Thank you, Gordon," Kiryuu smiled.

"Continue redirecting all CCI hackers from our base," Gordon continued. "This time, have them pick on France, Russia, Cuba, Mexico, Britain, oh—hell and the US, why not. Make the one country they don't want angry to get angry with them again. Perhaps this could redirect the FBI's search for our new guest as well. If Katagiri is here, then once the FBI hears about what his CCI is doing to their servers and their databases, they'll turn on him promptly."

"What should I have them look for?" Kiryuu asked.

"Q's old weapon," Gordon replied. "The Dimension Tide. That'll really steam the FBI. They see the CCI's agents hacking into their weapons information and learn about the black hole gun, it'll get Katagiri arrested for breaking treaty laws. Have Katagiri's name written all over it too, while you're at it."

"Compliance, Gordon," Kiryuu's deep chuckle rumbled through the bay area.

"Now I know where Kiryuu gets his evilness from," began Will. "Because that's the most evil act I've heard you do, Gordon."

Gordon turned back to Io speaking to her in Japanese: "Gordon desu. Hai?"

"Hai," Io said, bowing respectfully to him. "Arigato."

"I suppose this place is the safest place than any for her right now," Gordon said to Katsura. "Maybe you should stay here too. They might connect you with Shinoda and come after you before Kiryuu can do his work on them."

"I'll use the south quarters then," Katsura said. She turned to Io, speaking to her in Japanese. "We're staying here until this is over. We'll find a way to help your father and Alan, okay?"

"Okay," Io said.

"Once I'm done with hackers," Kiryuu began. "I'll start my global search on every cell phone and LAN-line phone listed. Alan won't escape my eyes. And I'll work on getting Shinoda out as well. Once the FBI begins to turn on Katagiri, they might let Shinoda go, realizing he was some sort of distraction to avert their eyes from the real 'threat'. I want to keep Katagiri here in this country where I can get to him. The FBI will help me in just doing that, keeping him here. They'll find out."

"Is Katagiri still here?" Katsura asked.

"From the FBI server," Kiryuu began. "He hasn't left the country. He's about to though. But they'll learn soon enough before he has a chance to leave."

"Keep at it, Kiryuu," Gordon said. He walked over to Io and patted her head. "Welcome to the Utah Foundation."

"Don't think of her as a potential client, Gordon," Katsura said.

"Whatever made you say that?" Gordon asked. "Does she know English?"

"No," Katsura replied.

"Well, luckily we have the big universal translator over here," Will smiled. "And I know enough Japanese to at least have a small conversation with her." He knelt down to Io and began to talk in Japanese. "Watashi wa Will desu."

"Are you the one who programmed Kiryuu?" Io asked.

"That's me," Will replied. "Don't worry; we'll all take care of you. Even if some of us can't speak the language."

"Arigato," Io bowed. "I understand. I'm a guest in this country. I should know English. But I don't."

"I guess we could teach you some words," Will said. "Right Katsura?"

"It might help," Katsura shrugged, speaking in English. "But I'll be with her most of the time. I'll be able to translate for her."

"She's your responsibility, Katsura," Gordon said. "Don't worry about your duties right now. Just keep her out of trouble."

Katsura bowed slightly, leading Io out of the control room. Gordon sighed, glancing back at Will again. The computer programmer returned to his duties of helping Kiryuu redirect the hackers to other places.

"Sometimes I think I shouldn't have let Kiryuu get into this mess," Gordon said. "I shouldn't have allowed him to find what killed him. We wouldn't have gotten into this problem with the CCI and be left out of this battle."

"I know," said Will. "But no one should have files on something like that weapon that killed the first Godzilla, Gordon. In a way we did the right thing."

"Shit," Gordon sighed. "I'm knee-deep in lies and deceit right now I can't even tell what the 'right thing' is anymore. I just hope our little diversion will be what we need to get the CCI off our back and to finally put away that psychopath once and for all. I never trusted him. I don't know why I allowed him to talk me into all of this."

"Kiryuu?" Will asked.

"No, Katagiri," Gordon replied. "I wish I never had met that man."

***

Two hours later, Katagiri strode through the airport just outside Salt Lake City, amidst the crowds of people awaiting their next flights. He had decided to take Shinoda back to Japan first and foremost, get the information he needed, and then come back here to finish the job. Shinoda himself wasn't far behind, handcuffed, flanked by the two agents - Katagiri's two most trusted agents - so he wasn't going anywhere. He knew Shinoda wouldn't be stupid enough to try anything, given that the FBI believed him to be a terrorist. No-one paid any attention to the quartet as they headed through the airport; to them, they would appear to be just a group of Japanese men heading towards their plane.

Everything was going just as planned. He now had Shinoda right where he wanted him, and soon he'd be behind bars, on trial for treason and posing a threat to national security. Under the right 'conditions' he'd soon have the information he needed to come back here and finish his job. He'd find Alan, and eliminate that little runaway experiment. He wasn't taking any chances. Ifume didn't have to know everything. Who knows; with everyone out looking for Shinoda's daughter, Alan might show himself if he really knew the scientist. He wasn't worried too much about Io; the FBI was bound to have her before too long, if everyone was out looking for her.

Everything was arranged. They all had seats on a private flight back to Tokyo. Katagiri didn't like dealing with Americans; he felt he'd be glad to be back on home soil, where he could operate without having to run everything through the American government. He approached the right information desk, Shinoda and the other agents close behind, where the smiling blonde receptionist addressed them.

"Can I help you, gentlemen?" she asked.

"I'm Mitsuo Katagiri, with the Japanese Crisis Control Intelligence Agency," Katagiri promptly replied, showing his ID card. "I have a private plane scheduled to leave for Tokyo."

"Of course sir," the receptionist replied, "Just a minute."

She took Katagiri's ID card, and typed on her computer, checking his credentials and the details of his booking. What she didn't expect to see was a screen come up; a notification from the FBI themselves. It seemed this Katagiri was wanted for ordering his agency to steal confidential files from the FBI's databases, as well as hacking into the databases of numerous other high-security networks in a number of countries. The notice stated that Katagiri was not to leave the country under any cost, and that he was to be arrested for questioning. She looked back up at the men and smiled again, trying her best to not show her nerves.

"It will take just one moment," she said, trying to maintain her cheerful outlook. Katagiri's eyes narrowed slightly; they should have been able to go right through. There should not have been any delay. He immediately began to suspect something was wrong. If something served to hamper the shcedule, then it was never good news.

"Mitsuo Katagiri?"

Katagiri turned round, to see several suited men stood around him and the others. One of them, a young brown-haired man wearing sunglasses, approached him, flashing an FBI ID card.

"Agent Sellers, FBI," he promptly spoke. As it turned out, upon learning of what Katagiri was really up to, they'd stationed units in every airport and at every state border. Upon hearing notification that Katagiri was trying to leave the country, they were ready to pounce.

"You're under arrest, Katagiri," he continued, pulling a file out from inside his trenchcoat.

Katagiri's eyes widened. The FBI was supposed to be co-operating with him and the CCI, and he could not fathom how he was now under their arrest or what for. Several people at the airport had now stopped to watch the ensuing scene.

"Arrest me?!" Katagiri spluttered. "A few hours ago, you were quite willing to assist me in the search for the daughter of this terrorist!" He jerked his head over in Shinoda's direction as he spoke. "What can I possibly have done? What are the charges?" He wanted to believe that this was all some misunderstanding behind all this. He didn't know what was going on, and he didn't like not knowing things.

"Well, that's what you told us," Agent Sellers stated, almost sarcastically. "However, things have changed. We've discovered your little game. We have evidence that states you ordered your CCI to hack into a number of highly confidential servers belonging to other international intelligence agencies. MI6, the KGB, and the NSA are just a few of the names on the list, and all of those agencies corroborate with our findings. We now know that you ordered your hackers to gather information on Dr. Q. Terizawa's Dimension Tide project; highly confidential information for a highly dangerous weapon that was abandoned years ago. You and your friends here are to be held for questioning. You will accompany us now."

Katagiri was mortified. His mouth hung open, trying to comprehend what had just happened. He knew for a fact that he had given no such order. He was willing to bet though that the file that Agent Sellers now carried was the 'evidence' of this spate of hacking on the part of the CCI, and that he would use that to counter any arguments Katagiri made. Prime Minister Ifume would no doubt have been informed, and it was doubtful he would even try to help Katagiri out of this one.

He glanced across at Shinoda, who had a smirk on his face. From Katagiri's shocked tone he could guess what had happened, and gradually the light of understanding dawned in Katagiri's eyes. There was only one being on this planet that could have pulled a stunt like this. He turned away from Shinoda as his eyes narrowed, his face contorted in a mask of silent fury as he understood who had been responsible for this. No other creature could have caused so much mayhem amongst the world's servers and made it look like the CCI was responsible.

His hackers had tried to see if the files were on the Utah Foundation's servers. He knew the risks he was taking with that decision, but he never expected Kiryuu to retaliate like this; surely not if it meant he would risk triggering World War 3. He realised that Kiryuu's aim was to destroy him utterly.

As he was led out of the airport by FBI agents, he decided enough was enough. He did not care how, but somehow he would make sure that Kiryuu paid for this act of aggression, no matter who or what stood in his way.