Thanks for the reviews, faves and follows everyone! It means so much to me.
One thing I'd like to mention is that this story will be cannon to the movies only. Not the comics or the novel. If I see an idea from either that I like, I'll incorporate it, but I already have my own ideas for this fic and in a way its an alternate universe from the comics (and novel details not in the movie) if you know what I mean. If anything, I'm getting most of my inspiration from one of the classic toho movies wink wink!
Love you guys, mwah!
Breaking News
…
The following day, the four of them arrived to Monarch corporate headquarters in Washington.
Amara looked down through her room window. Below were two ever present groups of protesters separated by police and security guards. On one side were titan sympathizers and the other, anti titan. More of their focus was aimed at each other than Monarch itself.
"You're not worried they'll break in?" Amara turned back to Mi Sun who just let herself in.
Mi Sun joined her, dark eyes gazing out the window further out. "A little, but there's more guards here than employees."
"I can't believe they're trying to rebuild." Amara followed Mi Sun's line of sight.
Most of the horizon was obscured by cranes. The top of the newly constructed Whitehouse poked through the gaps of buildings.
"Not rebuilding it would be letting the titans win. Truly unacceptable." Mi Sun gave a wry smile. "Godzilla's radiation is the only thing stopping them from rebuilding the other cities," she added with a wink.
"Yeah, Pensacola and Hong Kong just got added to the list. Millions more upset with Godzilla for displacing them. Millions more wanting him gone."
Mi Sun sat on the bed, patting the spot beside her. "And you know for sure he won't go to the Hollow Earth?"
"It's not like I need to ask him to know that." Amara slumped down beside her.
"He's still not talking to you?"
"Not yet." Amara dropped her eyes to the dark carpet.
Muffled yelling from outside filled the silence.
"You said a need for privacy led you to train your connection. But to the point of turning it off completely…" Mi Sun paused. "Was there something more specific that happened?"
Amara leaned forward, resting her elbows on her thighs. Mi Sun was as acute as ever. Nothing got past her.
"A dream," she said.
"A dream?" Mi Sun repeated. "What was your dream?"
"Not mine. Godzilla's."
Mi Sun tilted her head.
"It started when I went back to school. I thought it would be a good distraction for me, take my mind off everything that happened. But then, in the middle of class I started seeing visions. Like a daydream that I couldn't snap out of. I was back in Tokyo, looking through Godzilla's eyes. Destroyer was there, but he wasn't going after Godzilla, he was looking at a building. I could see myself standing on the roof. And…I watched it kill me.
"It would make me so sick I had to run to the bathroom to throw up. At first I thought it was only a one time thing, but it kept happening day after day. That's when we both agreed to try to control it."
The visions of Destroyer's mouth consume her tiny form along with half the building still haunted her own dreams. There was something uncanny about watching yourself die from another's point of view.
And the feeling. Utter terror. Enough to make her puke, even if it wasn't hers.
"I'm sorry," Mi Sun said after a moment. "I suppose that explains why he cut off the connection when he sensed something was off. He was scared. Which is something I never thought I would say," she added.
"Yeah well it's not an excuse." Her head throbbed from behind her eyes. "He should know me better by now. I'm not going to rush into danger and get myself killed."
"You say that, but I think Godzilla knows you very well. You would absolutely run straight into danger. I watched you do it before."
"That was different. Destroyer was following me because of his distorted connection. I could have talked Godzilla out of fighting Kong."
"But it was the mecha that provoked him in the first place. And if there's one thing we agree on, it's that once Godzilla's provoked, there's nothing that can stop him."
"As soon as Dr. Russell told me Apex was using Ghidorah's skull, I knew that's what triggered him in the first place. It was bad timing between Apex and Kong, but I could have done something. Possibly saved at least Pensacola from him."
"No one said being connected to a titan was easy."
"I know, but I'm paying the price either way."
…
The lunch room was crowded with Monarch employees. Amara sat alone at one of the tables. Overwhelmed by the vast assortment of cafeteria food, a simple ham sandwich sat on her plate.
Mi Sun was in meetings all day. As one of the general overseers of all the titans, she did have a lot of say within Monarch. As far as Amara knew, they were planning the Hollow Earth trip.
"Hey, can someone turn up the TV, they're talking about big G!" Someone hollered over the chatter.
A lady's face appeared on the screen above a banner that read "Breaking News". The entire lunch room immediately quieted down, fixated on the television.
"…Appears Monarch is once again hiding crucial information from the public."
Word got out about the Hollow Earth already? But didn't the government also want to keep it on the down low too? At least until the expedition provided more information.
"We received a USB stick in the mail from an unknown source stated it belongs to Monarch scientist, Dr. Amara Rey. The USB contains countless files and images documenting the effects of Godzilla's radiation on the small Japanese island, Yonaguni Jima."
No.
"Instead of devastating radiation poisoning, Dr. Rey's research leads to the opposite conclusion; that Godzilla's radiation is, if fact, beneficial."
No, no, no.
"Photos and hospital documents show accelerated healing, slowed aging, and better overall health within the entire island population."
By now, eyes were turning from the TV towards her.
"If this is accurate information, millions of people have been needlessly displaced from their homes, some for as long as ten years now. What else is Monarch hiding?"
Amara stood, chair clattering behind her. Keeping her eyes on the floor, she marched through the lunch room ignoring the eyes and questions directed at her.
Outside, she bolted down the hall and didn't stop until she got into her room, locking the door behind her.
How—Who?
She pressed her back to the door and slid to the floor.
That information was on her personal computer. Nothing to do with Monarch, nothing to do with anyone in fact. Information never meant to get out. The world wasn't ready for it, good thing or not. Humans had a way of taking a good thing and twisting it into something else. They would take and take until there was nothing left.
Even if it would make the general population like him more, just as many would want to exploit him.
And now they knew where he was.
The door shook against her back as someone banged on it. "Amara, it's Mark. We need to talk."
She didn't move.
"Amara, don't make me get security."
She got up, her legs shaking under her weight. She put a hand on the cool doorknob. Slowly, she unlocked it and opened the door.
Dr. Russell's face was livid. "Conference room," he said.
She followed him down the hall, barely able to keep up to his brisk pace. Her head pounded. Her palms tingled.
This was it. The beginning of the end.
He all but slammed the conference room door behind them. "I need you to tell me everything right now before Monarch gets shut down."
"It was on my private computer. According to the law, nothing I've done is official and has to be released to the public. It also has nothing to do with Monarch. Just personal experiments never meant to get out."
"Godzilla's radiation can heal, and you never thought to tell me? Monarch needs to know this kind of information. Public relations with Godzilla and the other titans are at an all time low. They want containment at the very minimum, you know that. Yet you're hiding something as big as this? This could change everything."
"No one needs to know that kind of information. And I want to know who stole it from me in the first place."
Dr. Russell rubbed his temples. "It was on your laptop?"
He let out a long noise. Something between a growl and a sigh. He waved at the window and a security guard came in.
"Search Wade Emms room for evidence."
Emms? Of course. That prick. He didn't hide his disdain for her. He could have easily gone back to her place and searched her laptop. It didn't even have a password. It wasn't needed on the island.
Dr. Russell's phone rang and he answered it with a harsh tone. The conversation was short, merely telling whoever it was that he was "working on it" while giving her a pointed glare. He hung up only a minute later.
"I'm going to need a full written statement. Make sure you include the part where everything was personal and without Monarch's consent. The last thing we need is your little side experiments ending us for good."
Like everyone else, Dr. Russell only cared about Monarch and his personal reputation.
"I don't care about that," she blurted.
The security guard came in, placing a USB stick on the table with a loud click. "Looks like you were right. There were several copies on his desk."
Dr. Russell gave a firm nod. "Find him."
The security guard left with a nod.
Dr. Russell plugged the USB into a laptop sitting on the conference table. Amara filled out a statement as he navigated through screens, leaning closer.
"What the hell," he finally said. "Teeth scrapings, mouth tissue samples, tongue biopsies. Jesus, do you swim around in his mouth?" He looked up at her. The light of the screen highlighted the wrinkle of his brow.
Before she could form a plausible lie, the security returned with Emms in toe, not a trace of fear on the latter's face, just utter distain directed solely at her.
He wriggled out of the security guards grip and sat in a seat on the other side of the table. He glared at her the whole time.
"Emms, explain yourself. You single handedly through all of Monarch under the bus because of your jealousy."
"You think I'm wrong? We're all here doing hard work while little miss grad student plays princess of the island prancing around with the locals and doing illegal research without Monarch's consent. She deserves to be fired." Spit landed on the table at his vehement words. He turned to Dr. Russell. "She hasn't contributed a single thing since she started. I was supposed to be head of Godzilla research. It was supposed to be me at the UN meeting!"
Was he delusional? She contributed more than anyone before she was even an official employee. If it wasn't for her, they wouldn't know about Yonaguni. Everything else was a secret between her and the select few she trusted.
"Shut up, Emms. If anyone hasn't contributed a single thing, it's you."
"At least I don't have a secret agenda and doing secret experimentation on a titan like it's some science project."
"You're the one breaking into people's computers!"
"There was no password. Perfectly legal." Emms smirked, crossing his arms and leaning back. "You're the one in trouble."
Dr. Russell put a hand up to stop him. "Emms, you're fired. Get out."
When Emms didn't immediately move, the security guard walked over and forcefully helped him up from his seat. He struggled, yelling profanities all the way out of the room. "You're ruined little girl. Ruined!" He screamed as he vanished from the doorway.
"He's nuts." Dr. Russell's voice came from behind her.
Amara looked back in time to see Dr. Russell shaking his head. Emms may have been nuts, but he was right, but she wasn't the only one he ruined. The reality was much, much worse.
"I'm going to give you a choice, Amara. Go to the Hollow Earth and find a way to get Godzilla down there, or I let go of you, you go back home and have nothing to do with Godzilla ever again."
"Let go? Are you going to fire me? I haven't done anything wrong!"
"Even if your research is personal, you didn't receive clearance from me to gather those samples. I don't even want to ask about how you got hospital data."
"He sleeps with his mouth open." She raised her voice. "A doctor gave me the data with his patients consent."
"People aren't going to see it that way. They're going to see a Monarch employee hiding vital information, which is exactly what Emms wanted. He threw you under the bus and if we don't let you go, you're going to drag all of Monarch down with you."
"And what about Godzilla? I can't do anything if you fire me."
"I already sent out the navy to guard him. Who knows what people will do with this new information."
"They won't leave him alone. Yonaguni was the last place he had left to go and now everyone knows."
"Then help us help him. Go to the Hollow Earth."
"I will not!" She stood. "This is his home. I'd sooner send humanity down there than Godzilla. Goodbye Mark, I'm done with Monarch."
Without so much as a backwards glance, she left the room.
Unbelievable. Emms ruined everything.
The whole point of working for Monarch was to protect Godzilla with whatever power she had. They were the closest the world had to a pro titan organization. Perhaps that ended after Dr. Serizawa died. Sure, Mark respected the titans, or so others have said. Yet he didn't stand up for them.
She grabbed her belongings from her room and headed for the foyer.
Gold writing decorated the front reception area of the building. Discovery and Defense in a Time of Monsters.
The truth was right in front of her. It was never Monarch's goal to protect the titans. It was their goal to protect humans against them.
Only a select few had the titan's best intentions at heart. Too few.
The security guards attempted to dissuade her from walking out the front doors, but she walked past them.
She was immediately assaulted by the hollering of the two large crowds barely being restrained by police. Media vans joined the chaos, cameras swiveled towards her.
Both crowds booed, pushing against the police to get closer to her.
Still, she walked straight passed. Reporters rushed at her, shoving microphones in her face.
"Is it true you were hiding research from Monarch?"
"Do you feel any guilt for purposefully hiding such vital information to the public?"
"Whose side are you on?"
She pushed past them, eyes trained dead ahead.
Both crowds broke through the police barrier. They converged behind her. Fights broke out and she took off in a sprint.
What was this? Why couldn't Godzilla stay on Yonaguni?
Why couldn't humans and titans just coexist?
…