My brother, Felix, was one of greatest people I knew. He was strong, courageous, and brave. We've had each other's backs since the beginning. He might have seemed like a rather cold, bitter person on the outside, but he was always my shoulder to cry on or the first person I went to for advice. He had is fun side too. Teasing me was common, as is with brothers. I couldn't ask for anyone else to be my brother.
I woke up that morning with a terrible feeling burning in my gut.
"Rise and shine, pretty boy!" Sang out the loud, deep voice of Adrien's older brother as he ripped the sheets off his body.
"5 more minutes.." Adrien sighed, rolling over to try and compensate for the lost warmth. Felix wasted no time in grabbing Adrien's ankles and pulling him off the mattress to the cold concrete floor below them.
"You don't get 5 more minutes, it's already 4 am. You were supposed to be dressed and ready 15 minutes ago."
Adrien sat up quickly to escape the freezing floor and rubbed the arm he fell on, "Then why didn't you wake me up before then!?" He hurriedly recovered from the fall and started rummaging through his belongings for a clean shirt and shoes as Felix laughed.
"You're such a dork. I'll see you out there," Felix gave his brother a casual salute before jogging out of the room.
With his boots still untied and his shirt halfway over his head, Adrien stumbled out of their quarters after his brother, mumbling, "He better wake me up tomorrow at the right time…"
Adrien and Felix were suiting up for their usual patrol of the coast. Every able country since the Kaiju's presence had been made known went on high alert. Although France was not bordering the Pacific Ocean, there was always the possibility that a Kaiju could come up into the Atlantic.
The two had been training for years once they were recruited for the job. It was no easy task, not to mention they were probably one of the few pairs even capable of executing a Neural Handshake without a hitch. Being so close made it easy. Not to mention knowing just about everything about each other, making it simple to anticipate each other's thoughts and executing tasks with ease.
"The Cats are on the floor, I repeat the Cats are on the floor. Alright people let's look alive." A voice rang out over the speakers in the hangar as Felix and Adrien walked into a large open room.
Going through their usual routine, the two were dressed in metal plating and given their signature masks. It was their own unique tradition, to feel more like heroes protecting their country. Felix wore a black mask, covering his face from his eyebrows to his cheekbones. Even his suit was black. Adrien wore almost identical attire, but his suit and mask were a pearly white. They looked completely different when preparing for patrol, some thought it funny because they were very similar when they were dressed down. They had similar hair and eyes, the only difference being height and build. Felix had at least a good 5 inches on Adrien, and had more muscle. Adrien was only 18 and hadn't built up quite as much muscle as his older brother.
They were given aliases based upon their personality and ability, both having cat-like reflexes and acute senses, thus the nicknames Chat Noir and Chat Blanc. It fit with the whole superhero initiative they had going for themselves.
Once they were suited up they were sent onto a walkway leading to a large mechanical door. Inside were their stations. Some mechanics followed them onto the bridge and hooked them up to all the cords that would record their movement and brainwaves, synchronizing them with the machine they were going to be piloting.
"Good morning, My Lady" Felix said with a grin as he took up the right hand side of the two consoles. This always made Adrien chuckle a bit. His brother treated their Jaeger like he would a sports car. It was his pride and joy. Adrien could still clearly remember the first day he was introduced to their Jaeger. Felix had already been working with another pilot before his brother was able to join him, and was eager to show his younger sibling the weapon.
"There she is, buddy, La Dame en Noir" He had said, an arm wrapped around Adrien's shoulder. The Jaeger didn't look especially feminine to Adrien, but it didn't matter to him. He was just as much in awe at the sheer size of it as the 270 foot tall war machine towered over them.
Now he was working with his brother in the bridge, the control center of The Lady in Black. They had gone out and patrolled the coast line before, but something about today felt a little different.
The mechanics finished quickly and left, the mechanical door behind them closing. "Are you ready?" Felix asked, turning his head to look at Adrien.
The smaller of the two blonds laughed, "Of course!" and before he could say any more, a voice from the control room of the base came on over the speakers on the panel above them.
"Let's get a move on boys, ready to attach and secure."
Felix reached up towards the panel, pressing and holding a button, "Ready when you are, sir."
The voice came back shortly after Felix released the button, "Preparing to Drop."
Adrien felt a sudden jerk, his body swaying slightly as the room moved, before it felt like he was falling.
He braced himself for a rough landing as their room came to an abrupt standstill. The voice came back to life, "Drop successful, the bridge has been attached and secured. Just remember to head south along the coast and turn back, don't go looking for trouble. Stay within the two mile radius from land."
Felix spoke again, "Understood".
"Alright, prepare to drift in 10 seconds" The voice said again.
Adrien and Felix fell quiet, the only sounds were the rhythmic humming of the machine around them and the countdown.
"…3, 2, 1, Initiating Neural Handshake"
In the blink of an eye, Adrien could read his brother's mind, flipping through his memories like they were a sped up movie. He saw himself, and watched as he quickly changed and grew from his brother's eyes.
He was jolted from his dream-like state when the link between him and his brother had been connected. It didn't take long, but reliving each other's memories always felt like an eternity. The whole process only took about 6 seconds.
"Neural Handshake is strong as ever and holding, setting up to calibrate."
Adrien eased into the familiar movement with his arms, bringing them up to chest level and pushing back so his elbows were in line with his back, "Left hemisphere calibrated."
His brother did the same, confirming his control over the right hand side, "Right hemisphere calibrated."
"Looks like you two are all set, good luck out there today boys," The voice encouraged one last time before they were sent out on their own.
Adrien couldn't help but smile a little bit to himself as they began to move again. He was always a little bit excited to go outside for their watch.
It was still early in the morning, the sun had not risen yet, but the moon lit up the water in a way that caused it to sparkle radiantly. The lights of the coastal cities also reflected off of the waves that gently rolled across the surface of the ocean.
The calm morning was interrupted by the large splash created by the Jaeger as it was released into the water by large cables that extended from the open hangar door to their base.
There was another slight jolt as The Lady in Black's feet hit the ocean floor, causing Adrien and Felix to sway again. They recovered swiftly, standing upright and taking a step forward, each with their right leg, and moving in sync as the Jaeger mirrored their actions.
The two made small talk as they scanned the space between them and land, and the expanse of water on the opposite side for any unnatural activity.
After reaching the end of their trek south, feeling satisfied with finding nothing out of the ordinary, the pilots turned around to head back to their base.
By now the sun was starting to rise, casting a pink and orange glow along the horizon.
Adrien opened his mouth to say something, but his brother beat him to it, "Hey, do you see that?"
They both stopped in their tracks, causing the Jaeger to stop moving as well. On their display there was a blot of green, just hanging out above the surface of the water about a quarter of a mile from where they stopped.
"Looks like some kind of heat signature, but it's not very strong, probably a small algae bloom or something," Adrien thought aloud.
"Maybe, but I think we should check it out." Felix mused in a low tone.
There was that bad feeling again.
Adrien complied with his brother, both of them turning to approach the unidentified substance.
At this point the Jaeger was in water a little more than knee-deep, making Adrien even more uneasy.
"Felix, something about this doesn't feel right…" He said quietly, as if he was worried someone would hear them.
Felix remained silent as they bent down to scoop up some of the water where the strange matter had been floating.
"What is it?" Came the voice from the speakers again.
Felix held the button down again to respond, "I don't know sir, it seems to be thicker than the water. I think we might have also picked up some…. Scales?"
There was a sickening silence on both ends for what felt like a good 10 minutes before there was another reply, "We're checking for any movement now, keep your eyes peeled."
Now Adrien wasn't second guessing his gut feeling that something would go wrong today. He glanced down at the radar on his display just in time to see something blink out of view.
"Felix-"
"I saw it too"
They stood in silence a little longer, anxiety building as they anticipated the light to show up again on the display.
Before they saw it coming, the light reappeared, but a moment too late. The Kaiju was already on top of them, latching onto the Jaeger's back.
It all happened so fast, Felix and Adrien immediately going on the defensive. They were able to throw the Kaiju off their back, but it resurfaced before they could activate a weapon.
Adrien was starting to panic. He was trained for this, even put through countless simulations to prepare for the possibility of encountering one of the malicious creatures. They had the skill to take it down, but now everything seemed too real to comprehend.
"Adrien! You need to focus!" The voice of his brother brought him out of his stupor, giving him a quick boost of confidence as they brought their arms up to push the Kaiju off of them.
The second knock back allowed them enough time to activate a weapon to switch to offensive tactics. They used a long staff, reinforced with a combination of steel and titanium to deflect the next blow.
The next couple of hits came quickly, and Adrien was worried that they wouldn't be able to keep up until they saw their opening.
With a strong jab to the Kaiju's exposed underside, they were able to flip it onto its back and step into it's shoulder.
"Look, this bastard is missing an arm. He must have been wounded in a fight over in the Pacific and wormed his way up here." Felix surmised, pointing out the wound that was leaking out the bloody substance they had observed earlier.
They bent down to wrap a free hand around the monster's mouth, clamping it shut. The other hand still held the staff, which was now flattening out into a double edged sword. It was up to Adrien to finish it off, he was controlling the left hemisphere of the machine. The left arm was holding the blade.
"Alright, you can do this, Adrien! Let's put this thing out of its miser-"
Felix didn't get to finish his sentence. The rest of his sentence was drowned out by the thunderous sounds of creaking and bending metal as it was ripped from the Jaeger. Something blotted Adrien's vision, covering one side of his visor.
When Felix didn't say anything else, Adrien turned to look at his brother, sensing next to nothing from him in the drift.
He could feel the terror creeping up the back of his throat when he saw his brother, impaled by the sharp tail of the Kaiju. It was still thrashing beneath the weight of the Jaeger, but Adrien wasn't paying any attention to it as he watched the tail flail around erratically inside the bridge. It appeared to be stuck, having stabbed its way through the metal, and his brother, and was lodged in the front of the Jaeger's head. He came to the realization that the blood of his brother was what had obscured his view.
Adrien didn't have the energy to do anything but watch as the tail successfully freed itself and slid out of sight quickly.
It was as if he were watching in slow motion as his brother was dragged away. He could see his black mask fall from his bruised and broken face, small fragments of glass askew, even some jutting out of his forehead and cheeks from his shattered visor. The mask had diminutive smudges of his blood spattered around the edge, and was now adorned with many scratches from glass where smooth black leather once was. It matched the look of Felix's skin. His eyes were glassy and empty, and his mouth hung open in a way that suggested his jaw had been broken. Then with wide, petrified eyes, Adrien watched the barbed tail and his brother disappear. He was gone. Of course, black cats were always known for having rotten luck.
An earsplitting scream bubbled up from Adrien's chest as he cried out for his brother, "FELIX!"
The Kaiju now had enough leverage from its surprise attack to push the Jaeger off and stand again.
Adrien was thrown around in his position, being hit with now loose and live wires that were dangling from the ceiling. When he was able to steady himself there was another lurch as the Kaiju leapt up and latched onto the front of the Lady in Black.
The tables had turned for him. He was now the one at the mercy of the monster as it clawed and chewed on the left side of the Jaeger, attempting to destroy it.
The damage done to the machine was causing wires to short circuit, and effectively shocking Adrien.
Every inch of his skin burned as the electricity was fed to each of his nerves, forcing his body to constrict itself. He cried out as he attempted to reach for the panel to contact the base. There wasn't any point to it though, the panel was damaged when the Kaiju broke through with its tail.
White hot rage burned through his mind as he began to relive seeing his brother being taken from him, seeing the look on his face and how his eyes had already started to glaze over. He wouldn't be able to forgive this vile beast for what it had just done to him. His brother was the only person he had left. Now he was going to make it pay.
With whatever strength he had left, Adrien forced his body to cooperate with the Jaeger over the short circuiting system. He was trying to take on the ability to pilot La Dame en Noir solo as he mimicked gripping the blade still in the Jaeger's left hand tightly.
Adrien's mind became foggy with anger and despair, fueling him with determination as he shouted at the Kaiju, "Eat this you son of a bitch!" and swiftly brought the blade up into the Kaiju's belly. He began to drag the weapon upwards towards its neck until he had finally cleaved the screeching titan in half.
He was breathless as the monster's carcass slid off of him and into the water, bleeding out more toxic fluid.
Adrien was exhausted, but didn't know what else to do. So he disarmed the Jaeger and grabbed half of the Kaiju, and began to drag it behind him as he forced himself and the Jaeger to limp back to base.
Upon arrival, Adrien collapsed in front of the large hangar door, not able to feel anything except his racing heart. His brain felt fried as he slumped in his suit against the wires that had him suspended. He began to black out when he heard the mechanical whirring of the devices used to haul the Jaeger back inside.
He was grateful for the darkness and welcomed it as he lost consciousness, wanting to forget that he just lost his brother, his only friend, Felix.