A/N The underlined portions are dialog I borrowed from the movie. The rest is mine, and I own nothing. Please R and R.
Chasing shifts in Alaska was the way of life on the Wall of Life. It was not much but it was a living and Tommy was thankful for it, hard as it was. It had been a long day and Tommy was beat. Exhausted and chilled to the bone, he made his way to the worker barracks after sticking around to chew the fat with some of the other guys to blow off a little steam after their shift. Morning would come way too early in the dark Alaskan fall. Thoughts of a hot shower quickened Tommy's steps toward his room in the East Barracks.
It was not a bad room for what it was. It even had a working television and a small kitchenette in addition to the basics in furniture: a bed, a nightstand, and a desk. A room to himself was always nice, even if he shared his bathroom with another man. In the last city he worked, he had to share a bathroom with a roommate as well as two other guys, and life can get pretty rough when four grown men are using the same bathroom. Tommy had taped some of his favorite pictures to the wall and placed a framed picture of his parents on his desk, just to make it a little homier. He had even taped up an old Rolling Stones poster.
As he walked he planned out his evening. A nice long shower to ease his muscles and warm him up, and then a can of soup for supper sounded perfect. Then he might just head to the bar for a drink or two. Thinking about the evening ahead he nearly tripped on a small snow drift in front of the barracks' side door. He welcomed the warmth from the hall as he made his way to his door down the quiet, cracked tile hallway, which echoed the sounds of work boots most hours of the day. Halfway down the corridor, on the right was his door. The next door down belonged to the man who shared his bathroom. His name was Raleigh Becket, and that was pretty much all anyone knew about him.
Tommy liked Raleigh well enough. He was almost always polite even if he always looked as though he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. Tommy would occasionally drag him to the bar where they would be surrounded by drunken women taking advantage of the large number of men in Sitka. However, it was always Tommy who would be the one staggering back to the barracks after a long night and early morning of debauchery. Raleigh preferred to get drunk alone and brood.
He rarely talked about himself. On the quiet evenings when they would play poker it was Tommy who did most of the talking. It had taken him more than a month to get an answer about the only two pictures he displayed, but Tommy knew he had a stack at least three inches thick that he looked through whenever he was drunk. There was a picture of his family taken when Raleigh was about ten. The other was a candid shot of a happy teenaged Raleigh kneeling next to a large dog of the mutt variety. Both he and the dog looked as though they had been swimming in mud puddles. Tommy thought that for a moment his neighbor had looked almost happy as he recalled that story of his muddy adventure. Then that wall of weight came back to his face as he mentioned the dog dying a few months later. Tommy let the subject of Raleigh's past go feeling the pain the past brought him. Every man had his own reasons for coming all the way to Alaska to work for rations on the Wall, and more often than not, they were running from something. He figured Raleigh was no different so he chose not to pry into the other man's business again. That did not mean Tommy was no less curious about his neighbor than everyone else.
Out of the hundreds of men working the Wall, Raleigh was the one that was most likely to be the topic of speculation. Some of the rumors about him were wild and varied. Depending on whom you asked, he was an escaped convict or he was hiding from the mob. The first couple of times he had words with some guy at the bar, who would inevitably take a swing, Raleigh dropped him without breaking a sweat. After that the rumors that he was ex-military or a former cop starting circulating and no one picked a fight with him again. If it bothered him that people were perpetuating these rumors he never said. Everyone liked to talk about themselves, especially after a few drinks, but not Raleigh, which was all the more reason the men talked.
Every day Raleigh would show up with the other guys to work another day on the Wall. He had been working the same section as Tommy for the last three weeks after some guy had accidentally been blinded by his welding arc. No one was really sure how that had happened. Since then, Tommy had noticed a sharp increase in the gossip, like old men at an old time country store.
One night about six months ago Tommy had convinced Raleigh to have a couple of drinks with some of the guys. A jaeger had stopped a kaiju attack on Luzon earlier that day and it was playing on the news on all the televisions in the bar. Raleigh had looked a little sick as he downed his drink. A couple guys were asking where that was when Raleigh slammed his glass on the bar and said, "Philippines," before storming out, taking a bottle of Jack with him. After that the most prominent rumor was that he had been with the Rangers, because Rangers would know all about all those cities in the Pacific that the kaiju would attack. Not to mention, Raleigh just had that kind of air about him. After that, Tommy suspected those rumors were true.
Raleigh was coming in from the other end of the hallway about the time Tommy made it to his room. Unlocking his door and waiting on the other man, he said, "Hey man, did you hear about the guys working the Top today?"
Raleigh looked grimmer than usual and replied, "Yeah. You know how many?"
"No. I just heard it through the grapevine at lunch. It sucks."
"Yeah. See you tomorrow." Raleigh said as he entered his own room.
Tommy smiled even though the conversation had been short and on the depressing topic of men dying. That was the longest conversation he had had with Raleigh in at least a month. Over the last nine months Tommy had made somewhat of a game with himself. The goal was to see how many words he could coerce out of him before he retreated into his room.
By the time Tommy had stored his gear and shed his outer layers he could hear water running in the bathroom. His shower would have to wait. He shrugged to himself and got his soup out and turned on the news. As he prepared his soup he began to feel his toes again as they warmed up, so by the time his supper was ready he was on his way completely ridding himself of the chill from the Alaskan fall. While he was eating he heard the water in the bathroom turn off and shortly after that the light from under the door went off as well. He could finally get that shower before heading to bed.
The next morning Hobson, the foreman, was gathering everyone to the break area to make his usual announcements.
"Ration cards guys. Come on. Come on. Let's go. Now I've got good news and I've got bad news. Which one you wanna hear first?"
"Bad news," Tommy said, deciding that he would rather get the number of dead men out of the way first.
"Bad news: Three guys died yesterday working the Top of the Wall. The good news is I've got three new job openings, Top of the Wall," Hobson said holding up three ration cards.
The idea of working at the Top made Tommy slightly queasy. Three hundred ration points was not enough to make him go all the way to the Top. Middle of the Wall was as high as he could stomach, but Raleigh jumped on the opportunity. Later that morning Tommy looked up to rest his eyes when he spotted Raleigh at the very top of the structure. He was just standing on the I-beam with his safety harness unhooked looking out on the horizon. It was the most peaceful he had ever looked. Some people just aren't right in the head, liking heights like that. Tommy thought shaking his head as he got back to work.
When the whistle sounded lunch, he followed the throngs of men toward the break area. The banks of microwaves were already working hard by the time Tommy made it there. Tommy was trying to talk Raleigh into going to a nearby bar after their shift was over when a special report came on the television over the microwaves near them. The men all huddled together in order to hear the report. A kaiju had attacked Sydney. The men started to get worked up. Some of them started questioning why they were working so hard to build this Wall. Others were unashamedly showing fear over the kaiju basically walking straight through the Wall like it was made of paper. Fear rippled through him at the sight. He looked to Raleigh thinking he might have some input on the situation, since Tommy really thought the Ranger rumors were true. At that moment the sound of a helicopter broke through the men's voices. Why was there a helicopter landing here? No one moved, but Raleigh. Tommy saw him take a deep breath before making his way through the crowd of men gathering at the large doors. Whether out of curiosity or fear, he did not know, but Tommy followed his neighbor.
"Who is that?" Tommy asked when an imposing black man in uniform stepped from the helicopter.
"Marshall Stacker Pentacost," Raleigh quietly replied as he left Tommy standing with the men and walked straight up to the man.
Everyone just stared as Raleigh confidently made his way to the Marshall. He was obviously a powerful man and definitely there to see Raleigh, since he had not even looked at anyone else. Tommy thought it seemed as if they actually knew each other and not just in passing. Their conversation could not be heard over the roar of the helicopter, but the group of men strained to hear anyway. Raleigh looked angry, and everyone knew he was the best fighter around. No one would go near him when he was half as mad as he now looked. Slowly, the anger left Raleigh's face and he shook his head slightly before turning on the man and walking away.
The crowd around the door was astonished that Raleigh would just turn and walk away from such a powerful man. Who was he really, if he could do something like that? Why would the higher-ups come all the way to Sitka just to talk to Raleigh? And why was he mad about that? Anyone in their right mind would be happy to be noticed by someone so powerful. It was even more amazing that the Marshall followed him without comment.
There were so many questions running rampant through the men as they dispersed to go back to work. They did not get paid unless they worked, and break time was over, no matter how interesting it had become. As Tommy headed back to his section he saw Raleigh and Marshall Pentacost talking. Tommy could only guess it had something to do with that kaiju attack on Sydney.
After the shift Tommy was only too glad to share the name of helicopter man with everyone as they headed out to the bar. Those working closest to Manufacturing said that the helicopter took off ten minutes after lunch with Raleigh on board carrying his green duffle bag over his shoulder.
"Hey, isn't Pentacost the name of the guy in charge of the jaeger program?" someone asked.
"Yeah, I saw him talking on the news about it shutting down," another guy spoke up.
"Why would he take Becket? Do you guys think maybe he really is a jaeger pilot? Hey, Tommy! What else did you hear?"
Tommy hated talking about people behind their back, but he figured he might as well tell them what he knew. "He just told me the guy's name when I asked. He never talked about anything that would make the head of the Rangers want to hunt him down personally."
"Did you see the look on his face? I thought that guy was a goner when Becket walked up to him. And the guy just stood there like he was waiting on the bus! That guy's got some stones."
"Why would Becket be chasing shifts when he clearly has other options? I mean if I was someone who was worth the jaeger Marshall's time, I would not be climbing to the Top every day."
With everyone making wild assumptions and questioning every minute detail of Raleigh's life Tommy finished his drink and called it a night. He slowly made his way back to the barracks thinking about the day. Tommy chose to let all the speculation go as it was still none of his business, and it would serve no purpose. Opening his door, a ration card on the floor caught his eye. He picked it up and noticed writing on one side. Enjoy – Raleigh. Now where in the world was he going that he would not eventually need his ration card? Shaking his head Tommy put the card in his wallet. He was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. He just hoped his neighbor would be okay.
Four days later Tommy was making his way through the break area to the microwaves when men started hugging and jumping up and down. They were shushed by those further from the television so everyone could hear the special news bulletin playing.
"According to Marshall Hercules Hansen, the mission to close the Breach was a success. All the world's remaining jaegers were lost in the assault, but Ranger Raleigh Becket and Mako Mori, pilots of Gipsy Danger were pulled to safety earlier today:. Marshall Stacker Pentacost, Ms. Mori's adoptive father and head of the jaeger program, and Marshall Hansen's son, Chuck, were lost in the assault. Again, for those of you just tuning in, the Breach is closed."
A bit dazed, Tommy quit listening after that. Of course he had heard of Gipsy Danger years ago. You could not live in Alaska for more than five minutes and not know of her. He had not, however, known who her pilots were. At least the rumors could be put to rest. No one had talked of anything but Raleigh's departure for days. Now the only question that remained was why he had been working the Wall in the first place. Tommy guessed they would never know and he was fine with that. He was just glad he had not lost another person he knew to the kaiju. That night he would be drinking a toast to his neighbor.
Wait. If the kaiju are gone, there's no need for the Wall. If there's no need for the Wall then I'm out of a job. Great, now I'm going to be drinking more than one drink.
Tommy was pondering his impending unemployment as he made his way to the group gathering in front of Hobson. When everyone had quieted down Hobson spoke up. "I've got good news and I've got bad news. What do you wanna hear first?"