Pacific Rim: The Furies: All for One
Eun and Trent have a new ally. But the Kaiju are becoming more dangerous.
[Author's Note: This story takes place three months after the story Pacific Rim: The Furies.]
"You know, I used to own a Hyundai sedan that was more reliable than you," said Eun, as she struggled to lever the servo into place. She finally picked up a hammer and whacked it until it was where she wanted it.
"The way you talk to it, one might think you didn't like it," said Sao.
"I don't," said Eun. "Goddamn piece of junk."
"And yet you and Thunderstruck here, and Trent and Hell's Bells, have taken down three Kaiju," said the engineer. "Which is more than any other Fury drivers can say."
"Well, the second one, the one near Shanghai, had already been wounded by the Chinese bombers," said Eun. "At least my gun didn't jam that time. And I didn't lose an arm. Came pretty damn close, though. And the third one was as dumb as a brick. Practically asked me to put my gun down its throat and pull the trigger."
Their work on the Thunderstruck's servos done, they got onto the little elevator and started on their way down. When they finally reached the floor of the hangar, Commander Albright was waiting for them.
"Ready for action?" she said.
"As we'll ever be," said Eun. "I hear that the Back in Black is nearly complete." She nodded towards the new Fury at the other end of the hangar.
"Another week, maybe. I wanted to tell you, Ms Park, that the Shishio and the Koryu went down this morning. Defending Vancouver, or what was left of it after the first hit."
"The pair of Furies that the Japanese survivors built in Canada?" said Eun. "I'm sorry to hear that."
"Even worse, the Kaiju then went after the construction base. Most of the people got out but the base itself was destroyed. So no more Furies from that part of the world for a while."
"But that was in the safe zone," said Sao. "Three hundred miles inland."
"I guess no-one told the Kaiju that," said Eun. "They're getting bolder. And tougher."
"That is the view of the UN PacRim Crisis Committee as well," said Albright. "They've put more resources into the Jaeger project. Unfortunately, they took the money out of the Furies program. Might make sense, in terms of strategy, but doesn't make our life here any easier. On the plus side, the Australian government has increased our funding, for what it's worth. I guess Trent's idea of taking Hell's Bells for a little walk around Canberra was a good PR move. All the politicians wanted to have their photo taken with it, apparently."
Eun laughed – something she didn't do very often, these days. "Yeah, well, maybe they'd like to face off with a Kaiju next time around," she said. "Might be some votes in it."
"We don't have a pilot for Back in Black yet, so maybe I'll make them an offer," said Albright. With a grimace that said that her job had way too much politics in it, she limped away.
Eun turned to Sao. "So no-one else has tested as suitable for the pilot job?" she said.
"Apparently not," said Sao. "And they've double-tested all the military guys."
"Then perhaps we'll have to look further afield," she said.
As she made her way to the bar, she thought about the things that had changed and the things that had not since she and Trent had brought down Wanderer. No-one had thought to give her a new pair of overalls, for example. She had been offered a room to herself in the hotel but when she had learned that it would mean kicking a family out of it she had said no. So she was still sharing with eleven Japanese women. They seemed to treat her with a bit more respect now, but that didn't translate into any more time in the bathroom.
On the plus side, word had got around that she didn't much like men hitting on her, which was something she was grateful for. She received lot of fan mail, but the novelty of that had quickly worn off, and now she threw it away without opening it. Only so many marriage proposals a woman needs to hear.
As she took a seat at the bar and ordered a beer, she glanced at the muted television on the wall. She was surprised – although she told herself that she shouldn't be – to see the face of Trent. He was on one of the talk shows. The barman noticed her watching and turned up the volume.
" – the first time, I was so scared I just froze," he was saying. "It was my partner, Eun Park, who really deserves the credit. She's back at Uluru Base at the moment, probably having a beer after doing maintenance work on Thunderstruck."
"Huh," said Eun.
"Huh," said the barman. "Well, nice of him to mention you. And us. Good for morale."
"I'll leave the public stuff to him," said Eun. "He likes it. I just drive the tinkertoy."
A woman came up to her. It was Summers, Albright's new assistant. After Bellows had … left. She handed Eun a large package.
"These are your clothes for tomorrow," said Summers. "Good trousers, blouse, jacket, shoes. We'll be wanting them back."
"What?" said Eun.
"You know, for our trip to Adelaide," said Summers. "You and me. Of course, you're the one who has to shake hands with the Premier and everything. Pose for some pictures. My job is, well, the boss said that I was to make sure that you didn't get into any fights. Any more fights."
"I thought I'd got out of this," said Eun. "Like all the others."
"Apparently not," said Summers. "Anyway, we fly down tomorrow morning, you do the PR thing, and then we get to stay in a decent hotel. With real beds, probably. Fun, eh? So I'll swing by your room at seven." With a smile that was so cheery it was depressing, she left.
"You know, I think I preferred Bellows," said Eun to the barman. "I wonder if I could I get away with pushing her out of the plane."
"Well, maybe you'll get lucky between now and tomorrow morning, and there'll be another Kaiju attack," said the barman.
"I'm not that lucky," said Eun.
So they went to Adelaide and did the photo-op thing, and Eun did her best to not feel really, really stupid. Summers announced that she was going somewhere or other, and now Eun was sitting at a café in Rundle Mall. At least there was real coffee here, not the stuff that they had at Uluru Base.
She noticed a little crowd forming nearby. There was a street performer doing something, apparently. Eun picked up her coffee and went to see.
The performer was a young woman, working for credits from the audience. Most of the performers that Eun had seen usually made some sort of effort to dress the part, but this woman was wearing ordinary, somewhat ragged clothes.
The woman was juggling a set of balls, five or six of them, throwing them up in patterns. Then she let them fall to the ground, and she caught them as they bounced up. She showed the audience her hands: the balls had disappeared. Gone. Not easy, given that she was wearing a sleeveless tank-top shirt.
But someone in the audience was not impressed. "Is that all you've got?" said some guy. "And you want money for that?"
"You don't like it, then fuck off," said the woman.
I like your attitude, thought Eun.
The woman opened a wooden chest and took out a knife, a meat cleaver, and a mini-chainsaw. She put them aside and opened a small cardboard box. She took out a black-and-white kitten. It meowed. The woman stroked it, and then put it back in the box.
She started up the chainsaw, and proceeded to juggle it, the knife and the meat cleaver. She looked down at the box.
"You can't – " said someone in the crowd.
"Sure I can," said the woman. She put one foot into the box and flicked the kitten into the air, and caught it. So now she was juggling a kitten and three very sharp things. The kitten was going meow, meow, meow.
"Stop!" cried someone. "You'll hurt it!"
"You'll kill it!" shouted someone else.
The woman nodded towards the hat on the ground where the money went. People started to throw notes into it.
When she was satisfied that the pile was big enough, the woman flicked the knife back into the chest. Then the meat cleaver. Then she caught the chainsaw in one hand and the kitten in the other. She turned the chainsaw off.
"Ta-dah!" she said. She bowed.
"Thank god!" said someone in the crowd.
"How could you be so cruel?" said someone else.
"Don't worry folks, it's all part of the act," she said. She held up the kitten. Except it wasn't a kitten. It was a doll. A kitten doll.
"But I heard it meowing!" said someone.
The woman made meowing noises, without moving her lips. She tipped the cardboard box a little, showing that the real kitten was still there.
The crowd started to break up.
"I don't know if that was the best show I've ever seen, or the worst," muttered someone as they passed Eun.
The woman was packing her equipment away. Eun walked up to her. "You make enough money with this?" she said.
"Actually, I'm secretly a wealthy heiress who does this for kicks," said the woman.
"What's your name?" said Eun.
"Grace. Or Grace the Magnificent, if you prefer. It's sort of a stage name. Hasn't really caught on, though. Can't think why."
"I'm Eun. You want a job?"
"Doing what?"
"Stuff. Saving the world. That sort of thing. There's some travel involved."
"Uh-huh. Can I bring my cat?"
"I don't see why not."
"Okay, then."
"Surprisingly, she tests out as suitable," said Albright. They were watching Grace, who was standing in front of Back in Black, staring up at it.
"Not so surprising, after you've seen her juggling act," said Eun.
"But she has serious problems with social interaction at all levels."
"Also not surprising, after you've seen her juggling act. Look, Albright, all the Furies that have gone down so far have been piloted by by-the-book military types. The pilots that have survived are the ones with … issues."
"Well, Grace certainly has issues."
"Bottom line: you got anyone else?"
Albright sighed. "I guess we can try her on the training course," she said.
Eun nodded. She walked over to Grace.
"And there it is," she said to her.
"I've seen these things on tv," she said. "But I hadn't realised they were so … so … "
"Believe me, there are things in the world that are bigger. And much nastier."
"You know, when you said that this job was about saving the world, I thought … well, I didn't think that it would be about this. Actually about saving the world. I thought you meant doing working for some sort of charity."
"Believe me, it wasn't my first career choice, either. By the way, have you been allocated accommodation yet?"
"Yeah, a room … well, I think it was once an air-conditioning vent or something. Believe it or not, it's better than where I used to live in Adelaide. When a city built for a million people suddenly has an extra three million jammed into it, decent places to live get pretty hard to find. I've spent more than a few nights sharing beds with people I didn't much like, so Uluru Base is not that bad. And Herman seems to like it."
"Herman?"
"Cat."
Eun smiled. "Then tomorrow we'll find out if you can do anything more than party tricks," she said.
Eun in Thunderstruck and Trent in Hell's Bells – recently returned from their PR tour – were standing at the edge of the training course, watching Back in Black's first outing. Grace had fallen twice, but now she seemed to have the hang of it. She walked to the end of the runway, turned, and came back, and stood in front of the bunker.
Then she bowed.
"Applause sign flashes," said Trent over the radio.
"Or just throw money," said Eun. "But then, anyone can walk."
In fact, as they watched Back in Black, still in a bowing position, began to totter forward. There was a weird flailing of giant-robot arms as Grace tried to regain her balance. And then it crashed down, its head slamming into the bunker. Fortunately, the bunker was strong enough to withstand the impact.
"Automatic fail," said Trent, as the dust began to clear.
"But you have to admit, it was sort of funny," said Eun.
"Actually, I got so bored that I fell asleep," said Grace.
Albright sighed. "All Furies pilots," she said, "are miscreants. And possibly insane."
Over the next few weeks, as Grace ground through her training, news of more Kaiju attacks filtered into Uluru Base. The Panama Canal was destroyed, and coastal cities in Vietnam and Ecuador were levelled. A Chinese team of Furies trying to defend Macau, and an American team in Mexico, were defeated.
"Basically, we're losing," said Eun, as the three pilots were sitting in the bar.
"The Kaiju are knocking down Furies faster than we can build them," said Trent.
"But we're okay here, aren't we?" said Grace. "There haven't been any attacks on Australia for over a year, and none south of Brisbane. I mean, where Brisbane used to be."
"Yeah, we're made in the shade," said Trent.
"Eventually, the Kaiju are going to run out of targets on the Pacific Rim," said Eun. "And then they'll start looking elsewhere. It's what they do. It's all they do."
"But not even a Kaiju can beat three Furies," said Grace. "Not three. According to the simulations."
"Right," said Trent. "According to the simulations."
At that moment, all of their phones beeped. Text message. From Albright.
GAME TIME.
Part II
"So how many people are in Surabaya?" said Trent over the thud of the helicopter rotors.
"Before the Breach, about 3.2 million," said Summers. "But with the refugees from the rest of Indonesia, plus ones from the Philippines and elsewhere, it might be triple that, or more. You know, I went there for a holiday once, years ago. Nice place. Some very attractive temples."
"Please shut up," said Eun.
Grace was looking at tourist guidebook. "But according to this, Surabaya isn't on the coast," she said.
"Nevertheless, according to the satellite tracking, that's where he's going," said Albright. "Once they've decided to go somewhere, they move in a pretty straight line, and you can extrapolate their course."
"She," said Trent.
"What?" said Albright.
"She," said Trent. "Kaijus are female."
"Huh," said Eun. "And how do you know that?"
"I was married to one."
The four women exchanged glances, and then rolled their eyes.
"Whatever," said Albright. She unrolled out a military map. "Anyway, it will have made landfall by the time we arrive. The plan is to engage it here. That's only about twenty miles from Surabaya but it's the best terrain for us, pretty flat and open."
"Pity we can't take the Kaiju on in the water," said Trent.
"The Furies aren't built for that," said Albright. "But I understand that the Jaegers will be able to do it."
"How do they know where to go?" said Grace. "The Kaijus. I mean, it's not as if they just wander out of the sea anywhere. It's always near cities or something."
"Interesting question," said Trent. "Maybe they can smell large populations."
"Or maybe someone is … guiding … them," said Eun. "Maybe they're not just dumb animals that follow their instincts. Maybe they're … something else."
The three pilots looked at each other.
"Oh, that's just fucking great," said Trent.
They were approaching the island of Java from the north, having re-fueled at a US carrier in the Banda Sea. They crossed the coast.
There was a massive furrow of flattened jungle leading southwards, heading towards Surabaya.
"You think we'll have any trouble finding her?" said Trent.
They flew over the Kaiju. It was built almost like a bear rather than a marine creature, but it had the armour-like exoskeleton that they all had. And extra layers of sloped armour on its shoulders, angled sharply at the end.
"Codenamed Stuka," said Albright. "Because of the shoulder-pads, I assume."
They could see the three Furies now, standing in the middle of a complex of highways that fed into the city. The helicopter landed and they ran to where Sao was waiting. There was an Indonesian man with him.
"I'm Ade Johan, the regional governor," said the Indonesian. "It is very good to see you."
"Can the Indonesian military provide any assistance?" said Albright.
"Since Jakarta, there has not been an Indonesia military," said Johan.
"Has the population been evacuated?" said Eun.
"Where would we go?" said Johan. "We have nowhere else to run. So we will fight. With sticks and stones, if we have to."
"I admire your courage," said Trent.
"Let's go," said Eun. She led the way to the Furies, where the prep teams were completing their work.
"Sao, did you finish the gun upgrades?" said Trent.
"Yes, Thunderstruck and Hell's Bells now have forty-five shells each," said Sao. "Back in Black's primary weapon is more like a shotgun. Ten shots. Good for close-in. We think. Never really tested it."
"Oakey-dokey," said Grace. "I'll let you know how it works out."
"And if we fail, ten million people die," said Trent. "No pressure though, guys."
Albright was speaking to Satellite Control on her phone. "Kaiju ETA, twelve minutes," she said.
Eun, Trent and Grace were strapped into the Furies. Johan, Albright and the rest of the Uluru Base team retreated to Surabaya in helicopters.
Eun activated the radio link with Grace.
"Status report," she said.
"Absolutely fucking terrified," said Grace.
"Me too," said Trent, "if anyone's interested."
The three Furies were lined up shoulder-to-shoulder, Back in Black in the middle.
"We concentrate our fire," said Eun. "Trent and me first, Grace when it's closer. That should wound it enough so we can take it down with hand-to-hand."
"Sounds simple enough," said Grace.
"Well, for a while the military types tried to draw up complex tactical plans," said Trent. "None of those survived an encounter with a Kaiju. Straightforward and brutal is all that seems to work."
"And we just have to hope that they don't get any bigger," said Eun.
"Or smarter," said Trent.
"You're not making me any less scared," said Grace.
"Wait, it gets worse," said Eun.
At that moment, Stuka came into view. It saw the three Furies and gave an ear-splitting roar.
"There, you see, I told you," said Eun.
"Fuck," said Grace. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck."
"Couldn't have put it better myself," said Trent.
The Kaiju started towards them, in a lumbering run.
"In machine-gun range in five seconds," said Eun. "Trent, you and I go combat mode in three, two, one, now."
Thunderstruck and Hell's Bells raised their guns and fired. And fired.
The bullets smashed into the Kaiju. It began to slow in its charge, and blood began to spurt from the wounds.
"Grace, go combat on my mark," said Eun, over the storm of gunfire.
The Kaiju had almost stopped now.
Eun glanced at the shell counter. She had fired thirty eight bullets. Trent had probably done the same.
"End fire at forty shots," she said.
The Kaiju was tottering in its tracks when Eun and Trent ceased shooting. Slowly, it fell backwards. Its mountainous chest heaved, and heaved again … and then stopped.
"Well, that wasn't such a chore now, was it?" said Trent, as he and Eun switched out of combat mode.
"I didn't get to do anything," said Grace. "Not that I'm complaining about it."
They approached the Kaiju, sprawled across the tangle of wrecked roads.
"I guess it just wasn't as tough as the other ones we've seen," said Eun. She prodded the Kaiju with Thunderstruck's foot. "In any case, it's not breathing."
"There's … something … wrong," said Grace. "This feels like … like … we're watching the wrong kitten."
"Get back!" shouted Eun. "Go combat!"
Suddenly, the Kaiju moved. The second of warning from Grace's intuition had let them get out of its reach but they were still in what now seemed like a very dangerous zone. Stuka lashed out with one huge arm, sweeping Thunderstruck's feet from under it. It kicked, catching Hell's Bells on the chest and knocking it down.
Grace had been able to switch to combat mode but before she could do anything the Kaiju punched at her. She reeled backwards but stayed on her feet. She struggled to bring her gun up but then the Kaiju was lunging at her.
But it didn't reach her. She saw that Hell's Bells was holding onto one of its legs, holding it back.
"Shoot the fucking thing!" shouted Trent.
Grace lifted her gun and fired but the Kaiju managed to turn, and its extra-armoured shoulder took most of the blast. It gave another roar.
It was kicking at Hell's Bells with its free foot but Trent was holding on, knowing that if the Kaiju was able to fully get back on its feet it would be hard to stop.
Thunderstruck came in from the side, punching, aiming for the bullet wounds. Stuka howled. Eun extended her knife and started to stab, opening a massive gash in the Kaiju's chest.
It lashed out, knocking her away. Finally, it managed to shake itself free from Hell's Bells.
Grace fired again, and this time Stuka took the shot directly in its face. It staggered backwards.
In Thunderstruck's cockpit, Eun glanced at the timer. Two minutes twenty gone.
"Trent, Grace, status!" she shouted into the radio.
"Still in the fight, but I've taken heavy damage on both sides," said Trent. "Five bullets left. And tick tick."
"I'm … okay," said Grace.
"On its feet, it's too strong for us," said Eun.
"Then … the bar thing?" said Trent.
"Worth a try," said Eun.
She charged at the Kaiju, punching and slashing. It grabbed hold of her, meaning to push her back. With all her strength, she smashed her head into the Kaiju's face. It reeled backwards again.
To where Hell's Bells had a foot out.
The Kaiju fell back, landing with an earth-shaking crash.
"Now, Grace!" said Eun. "Get in close and shoot!" Both she and Trent fired the last of their bullets … but the Kaiju was already trying to get up. It was clearly wounded, and badly, but it was not finished yet. It punched at Hell's Bells and Thunderstruck, sending them both down.
Grace came running forward, gun up. She fired.
The Kaiju started coming towards her.
She fired again. She started to back up. She fired again. And again.
"It's … it's not stopping," she said.
"Keep firing!" Eun shouted, trying to get to her feet.
Back in Black kept firing.
"How many shots is that?" said Trent.
"Nine," said Eun. Both Thunderstruck and Hell's Bells were heavily damaged but they struggled towards the Kaiju and Back in Black. Out of ammunition, they extended their knives.
"One left," muttered Grace.
The Kaiju was almost close enough to grab her.
Then she saw the gash in the Kaiju's chest, from Eun's knife.
Last chance. She rammed the barrel of the gun into the wound. And fired.
The Kaiju screamed. Blood gushed from the wound. And then Stuka, enraged, charged at Back in Black again.
"Grace, knife!" shouted Eun.
Grace extended her knife and thrust out her arm.
0.00
System freeze.
If the Kaiju saw the danger, it paid no heed. The force of its charge drove it onto the knife. The blade sliced into the creature's throat. And out the other side.
Back in Black went down with a crash, the Kaiju on top of it. There was a massive explosion of blood. The Kaiju howled, convulsed … and then was still.
Eun and Trent had both managed to switch from combat mode a few seconds before freezing, and were operating on minimum power.
"Grace, are you still alive?" said Eun.
"I … I think so," said Grace. "All my controls are dead. Can you get this thing off me?"
"Er, not really, no," said Trent. "You might be stuck there for a while."
"Your hatch has a manual override," said Eun.
The three of them climbed out of their machines and eventually met at the foot of Thunderstruck. Trent glared at the Kaiju.
"And that's what you get for playing dead on us," he said to it. "You wind up dead for real."
"These things are getting way too smart," said Eun. "Grace, you did well. Very well."
Suddenly, Grace vomited onto the ground between them. Some of the brown-green muck splashed onto their boots.
"Well, hardly the worst thing that's happened today," said Trent.
"Sorry," said Grace, wiping her mouth.
The helicopters with Albright and the others were landing.
"You think we'll get a raise out of this?" said Trent.
"Unlikely," said Eun.
"Wait, you mean we get paid?" said Grace.
"Yes, but not much," said Eun.
"Before the boss and the techs get here, there's one question I want to ask you guys," said Trent. Both Eun and Grace looked at him.
"What was that thing about the kitten?" he said.
END