A set of twins sat in a featureless elevator box, watching the lights go up with each consecutive floor. They were practically identical, despite their difference in gender; each with a young, face topped with chestnut brown hair. The male of the pair ran a thin hand through his short, mussed hair to alleviate his growing stress. He looked at the glowing, digital clock hanging from the ceiling. Monday June 19, 2020; 3:14 a.m. The woman sitting next to him put her hand on his shoulder for comfort.
"Ozzy, everything'll be fine," the woman spoke calmly.
"You don't know that, sis," his head turned to her, a grimace stretched over his pale face.
"Yeah I do!" Her voice became instantaneously perky. "Now just calm down!" The woman embraced her brother lovingly. Oswald sighed from his sister's excitement. She was always like this, even in the face of danger.
The twins sat for several long minutes, trying to enjoy each other's company, before the door opened up with an ominous digital beep. A large military type stepped into the box. He held a silver clipboard under his arm.
"Oswald! Penelope! We're ready for you. Please step into Drive Suit room! You will be briefed as you are outfitted!" The man stepped to the side.
Oswald looked at his sister with worried eyes. She smiled at him, showing all of her pearly, white teeth. Oswald noted how her straitened teeth looked under the fluorescents lighting the elevator. They looked so different without the braces. She'd already had them off for a few months, but it was hard to picture her without those bits of metal that lined her mouth.
"Come on! Let's do this!" Penelope exclaimed while pulling at her brother's arm. She yanked him up, pulling him into the Drive Suit room.
The room was much darker in comparison to the brightly lit elevator. Most of the light came from electronics and shining machinery lining the room. Penelope stared in wonder at the switches, screens, and other unknown technologies all over the chamber. Her brother's eyes were fixated on the two hanging rectangular cases at the end of room. Drive Suit containers. They began moving towards the twins, like they'd been waiting for them.
Oswald quickly turned to his sister as several technicians began to prep them for dressing. "I don't think I can do this," he whispered erratically.
Penelope's smile dropped from her face. She turned and grabbed her brother's shoulders. Her voice became very stern, "Oswald. Ozzy. Oz-Bro. You can do this. I can do this. We can do this, together. Just trust me. Okay?" She gave him a hopeful smile.
The cases stopped in front of them, opening with a snake's hiss. Oswald turned to the case, then his sister, then the case. He took a deep breath and looked into his sisters eyes.
"Okay," he mustered, "Let's do this."
"Yay!" Penelope yelped and gave her twin a crushing bear hug.
"P-Pen! Too hard! Too hard!"
A technician tapped on Penelope's shoulder. She gave them a raised eyebrow. "You both ready?"
"Oh!" she let go of her brother, "Right! Suit me up!"
"Y-Yeah. What she said," Oswald tried to copy his sister's enthusiasm.
The technicians motioned them to stand in front of the cases. Inside the hanging boxes were indigo, shell-like pieces of armor. The techs moved to and from the case, pulling pieces out as they went and attaching them to the twins. Each part slotted into place and was bolted into the under suits of the twins.
The techs efficiently suited each of the pilots up in remarkable time, only four minutes from start to finish. A helmet was handed to each of them as the final, centipede-looking, piece was slotted over their spinal columns. Both twins stretched and swiveled their arms around to get a feel for the suits. They had only put these on for training exercises before. They somehow felt different from then; like the safety the suits provided actually mattered for a change.
After their helmets were in place the twins were ushered to a large metal door. Hazard signs and warning labels dotted its surface. It opened slowly, its locks being deactivated by another, entirely separate, team. Inside was low lit chamber covered in computer screens. In the center were two piloting rigs, one facing the opposite direction of the other.
"You got my back, bro?" Penelope asked her brother.
"Always," he responded.
The techs helped them into the rigs' harnesses and then moved from the chamber as they finished. A control pad rose from the floor into each of their hands. Oswald gripped his pad tightly; he didn't have to, but it helped his nervousness.
Penelope ran her armored hand over her control yoke like she would an old pet. She had been waiting for this day for months. Her first combat with the only person she would ever even dream of doing it with. She arched her head as best as she could to look at her brother.
"You good?"
"Y-Yeah. I'm good. We can do this." He cracked a shaky smile at her. She returned it with a toothy grin.
"Okay boys! We're are ready to rock!" She yelled into the intercom overhead. The screens in front of both of them came to life, showing a series of readouts on their machines diagnostics. A voice called into the chamber.
"Hello Pen. Ozzy. You two ready for your first hunt?" The voice was warm and feminine.
"Jenny! I didn't know they'd let you do this operation!" Penelope answered.
"I pulled some strings to see my two favorite twins fight for the first time. How 'bout you Ozzy? You alive in there?"
Oswald rolled his eyes at the operations manager's sarcastic tone. "Yes, Jennifer. I'm fine. How are you? Still nursing that hangover from yesterday?" Oswald's voice was equally smarmy.
"Yep, you're alive," Jennifer sighed into the intercom, "I recognize that condescension anywhere." Jennifer was in a room filled with every sort of people that might be needed during the fight. Military commanders, technicians, and even more operation managers just waiting to help chime in with some kind of brake through, lifesaving advise. Jennifer wouldn't let them have that chance. She was better than to let some newbie intern take her job on the twin's first assignment.
The kindly woman straightened herself in front of the large display in front of her. A holographic display covered in every kind of information and statistic that might have been needed during a Kaiju fight. Jennifer pressed into the intercom.
"Okay guys, let's get started. Your target is a class two beasty, it's been code named Godhead. You'll find out why when you see it."
Penelope frowned in the Jaeger chamber. "Godhead? That sounds dumb. Is it a head, or a god?"
"Pen, does it matter? Let's just get on with this."
"But Oz! It's dumb!" she whined.
"Yeah, let's go. We can all debate on the Kaiju naming board's taste later, okay?" Jennifer said in an exasperated tone.
"Aww! Fine! But this isn't over! I want a new name!" Penelope defiantly yelled into the com. The sounds of servos starting up and clamps being released filled the chamber as she yelled. The chamber they were in, the head of their Jaeger, began to drop down the tube leading to its body.
Oswald closed his eyes as they fell. It didn't help his nerves, but he thought it might. His sister couldn't help but smile at the rush of falling. She always had loved the Hellevator at the carnivals back home, and this was ten times better.
Their burst of adrenaline faded when the head was slotted onto the Jaeger's body, completing it. Tornado Backstab was a Mark 2 Jaeger, built for speed and high damage, at the cost of less armor. Its gunmetal gray hull accepted its head openly and connected the necessary wires and clamps automatically.
The twins had been introduced to their Jaeger seven months ago. Once they had graduated their pilot training they had been moved to the Pacific City Shatterdome on the coast of Oregon, their home state. They had spent many a summer on the beaches of their home, hanging around their multitude of family members.
The head of Tornado Backstab spun into place and finally stopped as the last bits of metal stuck into each other. Each twin looked into their screen in anticipation. This was it. Their trial by fire.
An electronic voice came from the screens before them, "Initiating mental drift." The Merton twins felt their minds link into one as the emotionless AI spoke to them. The memories of long summer nights by the fire with their weird uncle passed through the stream. Penelope's several failed attempts at a love life fell back over her thoughts. Oswald's nights alone with old books, weird stores. and musty libraries came back to them. He never identified well with the other children around them like Pen.
Oswald saw his sister, a younger version of her. She was running through the woods with him. They were playing a game of pretend, trying to escape from an imagined threat. She was smiling at him. Showing off her brand new braces, and all the colorful rubber bands in the brackets. He saw the day she got them off. More friends appeared around her after they were removed. She went out more, leaving him behind…..
"Oz! Focus! You're drifting!" Penelope felt her brother's mind leaving the stream.
"Huh…. Uh, right! Sorry!"
"We can do this bro," her voice was sure.
"W-We can do this," he parroted.
Oswald shook the old memories from their conjoined psyches. Being bogged down by the mental stream was one of the first things they told you about when you became a pilot. How to block out the unneeded thoughts was the first lesson of class.
"We're opening the doors kids, get ready," Jen activated the door controls, and released the Jaeger into the world.
The gigantic door in front of them opened with the sound of grinding gears. Penelope noted it as another in a series of metal doors opening for her that day. She wondered if it was always like that. Her view screen showed her the Pacific Ocean in the middle of an early morning. The stars were still out, but the sun would soon rip back into the sky overhead.
Oswald watched from a much smaller screen behind Penelope. Tornado Backstab was built on a principle of "Never let them get behind you". It was given two faces, one on each side of the head. Both faces had two stacked eyes on the either right or left sides of its duel faces. One pilot watched the front, the other behind, looking out for threats on either side. Each pilot could see a smaller version of what the other could see from the camera's on the head of the Jaeger.
Oswald loved the sea, it helped him think. Looking at the blue expanse was one of the few things that truly calmed him down, the only other being his sister's calming voice. He began to sequence his movements with his twin as they moved out into the dark waters.
The double faced Jaeger had to be controlled very carefully by its pilots. Since one of the pilots was always facing the rear it became even harder to move in unison. It took several months before the PPDC could find a pair of pilots with enough compatibility to control the Jaeger's duel visage.
Penelope moved her left foot forward into the cold waters below. Oswald, completely instep, continued the pair's locomotion without a second thought. The twin's movements within the Jaeger was an odd sight, each looking like they were trying to move away from each other.
They moved deeper into the Pacific, looking for their quarry.
They heard the Kaiju before they saw it. A cacophony of shrieking entered the cockpit of the Jaeger, and bombarded their eardrums. Both twins felt the pressure from the heavy decibels on their bodies'; if this was a part of the Kaiju's attack than it was working. Oswald almost fell out of step because of the agonizing screams.
"This thing is killing me," Oswald moaned.
"You're telling me. I'm gonna need one of those ear implant, thingies after this," she moaned in similar irritation.
"A cochlear implant?"
"Ughgh!" She groaned, "That's it. Hey! Hey! I think I see it!"
In the distance a large shadow was bobbing the water like a misshapen buoy. The operators back at the Shatterdome enhanced the camera's view to see the beast. Its appearance was fitting to the name it was given.
A gigantic oval was floating in the water. It looked akin to a human head; that is if you squinted, and you were just hit with over the head with a brick. The greenish-blue carapace of most Kaiju covered its form. An uncountable amount of limbs jutted from its egg-like form in all directions. They were spiderlike, each leg ending in a long, oozing spike.
"This thing has been making erratic movements since it came out of the Breach. It doesn't even seem like it's trying to get to the mainland. But that doesn't mean it's not dangerous," Jen warned over the intercom, "It's already taken out three fishing boats since it came through. Scans show that, that slime coming from its legs is highly radioactive, and possibly corrosive. Try not to let it touch you."
"Yes Jennifer, we will definitely not touch the monstrous Kaiju and let it continue floating on like a beach buoy," Oswald sarcastically commented.
"You know what I meant!"
"This is the so called 'Godhead'? Uh-uh. I'm not letting that slide. That name so does not fit," Penelope said.
"Pen, we talked about this. Later."
"Nope, this has to be done now. It'll bug me otherwise." She thought to herself for a moment. And in the mental stream, Oswald got a glimpse of her name ideas.
"Really Penelope?" Her brother sighed, "Jimmy? You think that fits this abomination?"
"Yep! Jimmy! Jimmy Jimmersworth the 15th! It's perfect!" Both her brother and the operator's booth were silent.
"Oookay…. Well now that, that's out of the way," Jennifer said, taking control of the situation. Her voice became like the cold AI's, "Begin combat. Neutralize the target before it reaches land. Use any tactic you see fit to eradicate the threat." Both twin's faces hardened as their operator gave the kill order.
"Eject arm blades," Penelope said to the Jaeger's AI program.
"Arm blades ejected," the AI echoed. A small logo of two blades appeared in the twin's visual screens. Five thin blades ejected from the back of the Jaeger's hands and connected into a pair of flat wrist mounted knives.
Tornado Backstab was placed into a combat position. It moved toward the screeching Kaiju. One of the Kaiju's eyes, of which it had five, spied at the oncoming threat. Its shrieking halted suddenly, its oval body stopped bobbing up and became still in the water.
It rolled over onto what was probably its standing position and then charged the armed Jaeger. Its screams resumed from its gaping, toothless maw. "Jimmy" shoved four of its spindly limbs into the gray shell of Tornado Backstab, but was met with air as the mech quickly dodged the assault.
The twins moved around the Kaiju with the agility their Jaeger's small frame provided. It moved forward to the head and stabbed down into it. The interconnected blades cut into the algae colored carapace. The Kaiju's scream of battle turned into one of pain as it tried to rear around to the cause of its agony.
"Beginning throw," Penelope stated.
"Beginning throw," Oswald returned.
The Jaeger stabbed deeper into the flesh of the beast. It twisted its blades inward and began lifting the Class 2 invader. The hydraulics of Tornado Backstab strained to pick up the multi-ton beast into the air. "Jimmy" screamed even louder as it was removed from its aquatic home.
"Now!" both twins yelled. The Jaeger dislodged its blades from the Kaiju as it chucked it into the sea. The oblong Kaiju hit the water with a crash and sunk down deep into the waters. The twins activated its front and back headlights to search for the fallen monster.
"Why'd you throw it?!" Jennifer yelled incredulously.
Penelope shrugged, "It seemed like a good idea at the time! It was supposed to be like a wrestling move you know."
"You've been trained in three different forms of martial arts and you go for WWE!"
"It sounded better in our heads, I'll admit," Oswald conceded.
A large shadow moved around them to the "back" of the Jaeger. The Godhead sprung from the deep, its spider legs stretched forward, and lunged at the Jaeger. Oswald saw it coming.
"Switching sides," he stated.
"Switching sides," his sister agreed.
The lights on Oswald's side flashed instantly. The joints of the Jaeger swiveled and turned to face the attacking Kaiju. The Jaeger showed Jimmy its name sake. The blades ejected from its wrists once again and stabbed into the Kaiju. The Godhead's pushing attack stopped in its tracks and began shrieking once more in pain. The twins continued to stab in and out into the screaming Kaiju. It pulled the blades from its now punctured carapace and pressed its heavy, metal foot onto the beast.
It began pressing down on the beast as it screamed before it face and its entire body cracked and chipped into pieces. Tornado Backstab continued to press into the Kaiju until the twins were sure it was going to be getting back up again.
"And all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together again," Oswald quipped.
"You too with the names?" Jennifer sighed.
"Oooh! I like that one! Okay so its name is officially Jimmy Humpty "The Godhead" Jimmersworth the 15th Dumpty!"
Oswald face palmed, "I should have kept my mouth shut."
The Godhead's decimated carcass sunk deeper into the deep of the ocean, its oozing blood contaminating the water along the way. As it hit the sea's floor, the Kaiju's body began cracking and falling apart.
Inside the egg was a glowing blob, undulating in the water. It floated out of its, now dead, housing, and began moving across the ocean floor.