Disclaimer: I don't own Pacific Rim or any of its characters.
Title: Child's Play
Rating: K+
Characters: [in this chapter] Chuck Hansen, Newton Geiszler, Hermann Gottlieb, Tendo Choi with mentions of Herc Hansen
Summary: When Herc once said that he would give anything to give Chuck back his childhood, he didn't think it would literally mean having to look after his four year old son again.
Warnings: Some disturbing imagery
Author's Notes: This takes place sometime after Raleigh arrived at the Hong Kong Shatterdome. I've always been a sucker for Kid!fics and I couldn't resist the chance to shrink our favourite Australian pilot.


Within two seconds of seeing what had become of his little experiment that he had haphazardly placed on one of his shelves weeks ago, Newton realized what a horrible mistake it was to have a mixture of chemicals and Kaiju parts that would have theoretically helped him with his studies but instead shrunk Chuck Hansen.

The four year old looked confused, staring at his suddenly over-sized and baggy clothing that was covered in large purple droplets. His jeans and boxers slipped off his tiny waist and the boy kicked and wiggled out of his two sizes too large shoes and socks. Tears began to well up in his eyes.

" Mommy?" he whimpered, turning his head this way and that to try to find some link of familiarity in this room entirely unknown to him and his eyes quickly settled on Newton. " Who are you?" he accused tearfully and Newton felt even worse when Chuck's bottom lip began to tremble and visible tears started their trek down Chuck's cheeks.

When he shot Hermann a oh god, what do i say, help me out here, Hermann merely pressed his lips into a tight line and glared back you are an idiot. Another meaning for you are on your own.

" Well kid, my name is Newt," he awkwardly said. They had a sort of wordless showdown where Chuck warily glared at him and he was trying to ward off his tears. He never knew what to say to kids, especially crying ones, and as Hermann was fond to reminding him, rambling to a thirteen-year-old Mako Mori who only wanted to find her adoptive father and not happy (in other words, possibly further traumatized) about the gory details of Kaiju parts and brains wasn't his best moment. Still, right now he should be given an "A" for effort for trying.

" Where's mommy?" Chuck demanded and Newt was internally screaming that the boy was rubbing his cheeks, smearing tears and snot all over his face and oh boy, he was going to mauled to death by one very angry Australian father.

He sheepishly scratched the back of his head and tried to keep the frustrated i-don't-know-what-i'm-going-to-say from his voice. He shifted closer to the boy as an act of showing Chuck he was harmless but Chuck's eyes are drawn away from his face, towards something over his shoulder and began to scream.

And that was when Newton remembered the rather lovely specimen of Kaiju liver that was splattered over the table and the other gorgeous Kaiju brain swimming in its container where his back had been previously covering from Chuck's view in all its glorious guts and blood.

Hermann finally decided to intervene to pacify the now panicking Chuck. " It's not what you think," he hastily said, which in Newton's humble opinion was not the best thing to say to a child who believed these two scientists are the kind to cut open his head and study it. In fact, Chuck was backing away from them, eyes wide and fearful.

" Hey kid, don't worry. We aren't going to hurt you," Newton soothed as kindly as he could, reaching out a hand to pat Chuck's shoulder.

It was a second later when Hermann hissed " Don't –!" and when Chuck froze like a cornered dog about to attack that Newton realized it was a bad move on his part.

His arm that Chuck sank his teeth definitely agreed so.

After that, things became a bit of a blur. He started yelling and cursing in every language he knew, yanking his arm back. Chuck took the opportunity to dart between their legs and ran past them like an Olympic sprinter. Hermann shouted after Chuck and tried to hobble after him but there was only a tiny retreating figure by the time Newton, clutching his possibly soon-to-be infected arm, reached the door.

Yep, he was so dead.

~.~.~

Tendo and the rest of the crew stopped and stared when a boy no more than four came running into the LOCCENT control room in an over sized t-shirt covered in bits of dull purple that went all the way down to his knees and hung loosely over his elbows and looking like he was being chased by something terrifying.

The boy hiccuped and sniffed, trying to clear his face from the tears he had been crying but his baggy sleeves made it hard. Somewhere behind Tendo, a few women sighed and cooed at the sight. " Mommy," he whimpered, almost too quietly to be heard. " I want my mommy."

Everyone was looking at him to do something. At times like this, Tendo wished he wasn't the only parent in this room. Or the nearest adult to the boy. " Hi there, little guy," he kindly said, bending down to be eye-level with the boy. " What are you doing up here on your own?"

He hesitated for a long time, biting the bottom of his lip, staring up at him with red-rimmed eyes. " It's all right," Tendo assured him. " We aren't going to hurt you. We just want to help."

" I'm looking for my mommy," the child finally answered, eyes nervously flickering from him to the others surrounding him. His hands twisted the front of his shirt and the poor shaking boy looked like he wanted to throw up. The strange purple material staining his shirt and nails made Tendo wrinkle his nose.

A rather thick Australian accent, Tendo noted to himself. Much like a certain two pilots. " What's your mommy's name?" he said out loud..

" Angela," was all the boy could offer.

Tendo racked his brains. There were two Angelas he knew in this Shatterdome. One Angela was one of the technicians for Crimson Typhoon but she was currently away on maternity leave, having given birth to a beautiful daughter two months prior. The other Angela was a doctor who's been there for ten years with three teenaged children. Still, there could be other women named Angela. " What about your dad?" he asked instead. " What's his name?"

The boy opened his mouth to say who but was interrupted by Newton and Hermann barging into the LOCCENT room, looking winded and out of breath. " Oh thank God, you've found him," Newton tried to smile but it turned out more of a panting, maniac grin that resembled a predatory shark.

The presence of the two scientists caused the boy to gasp in sheer terror and scurry away to the closest object he could hide underneath, which happened to be under Tendo's desk. Shooting them a questioning look, Tendo knelt down to the floor. The boy was huddled as far as he could away from them, knees up and burying his face as if not looking at them would make them go away. " Hey buddy, what's wrong?" he gently probed. " Why are you hiding there?"

" Stay away!" The boy's voice was wavering like he wanted to cry but he was trying hard to sound brave. " You're – you're all helping them. My – my dad is a soldier! He'll find me and kick all your arses!"

Tendo sighed and stood back up. " What's going on here, Newt?" he asked. " Who is this kid?"

Newt sheepishly scratched his head. " That ... is an excellent question. How should I put this? You see, there was one of my experiments – I mean, there just happened to be a container of Kaiju organs and parts that was lying on top of one of my shelves – no clue how it got there at all – must have been one of the techs. Really dangerous to leave such hazardous material up where it could have ruined my work (and – and potentially end my life, you know? Never know that certain people might want to strangle me for endangering their sons) But that's not the point! Because I had no part in – "

" The boy is Chuck Hansen," Hermann interrupted impatiently.

Several jaws, including Tendo's, collectively dropped to the floor.