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"Sierra Bravo, report to Bay 02, Level B24. Kaiju: codename Himada. Category three."

I woke up to some wild flashy lights going off on the screen beside my bed, making me squint, and I groaned as I reluctantly forced my body to turn towards it and process what it was saying. I blinked my eyes groggily, forcing my heavy eyelids to open. My vision swam, a hazy whirlpool of bright reds, blues and oranges, before it settled, and my brain made the connection with the warnings flashing on the screen and the fact that I needed to be up and alert incredibly quickly.

Suddenly, I was wide awake. Muttering to myself, I threw my blanket off of my legs, kicking it violently as it tangled around my ankles. Hoping I was awake enough for my legs to be fully engaged, I swung my legs over the side of my bunk bed, and pushed myself off. Mercifully, I landed lightly on the floor, avoiding any injury before I'd even managed to get into the Jaeger.

My sister on the other hand, looked shocking. She was still lying in bed, her pillow draped over her head in a pathetic attempt to block out the frantic bleeping of the alarm also going off beside her. I frowned and rotated my head to look at her. She had one arm flopped over her head, the other loosely hanging out of bed with her knuckles dragging on the floor. Her mouth was hanging open, full of her hair, which she was dribbling into.

"Bloody hell, are you dead?" I asked, before jogging over to our tiny kitchenette and whipping on the tap, automatically shoving a glass underneath it as water poured out of it, tinkling noisily in the metal sink. Cara groaned some unrepeatable oath, and languidly flopped onto her back, her eyes still closed.

"Cara, get up. It's a Cat three." I ordered her, quickly chugging half of the glass down and going back over to her. She held her hand out automatically, and I handed her the glass.

"Wha' time'sit?" She mumbled, pushing herself from her elbows into a sitting position, promptly forgetting that she slept on the bottom bunk, and smacking her head onto the wooden slats above her head. She groaned, and barked out another unrepeatable oath, rubbing her forehead viciously.

"It's just after four. Get up." I told her, snatching my jacket off the end of our bed. She glanced up at me with bleary eyes.

"Four in the morning?!"

I blinked at her, dumbfounded by her stupidity.

"No, four in the afternoon." I scoffed.

"Do you really think you've been asleep for eighteen hours? Now get up." I repeated, grabbing her jacket and shoving it in her general direction, before slumping down on a chair by the door and pulling on my boots. She allowed her jacket to land on the floor beside her bed, staring at it disdainfully, before slowly blinking up at me.

"I'm really not feeling this right now." She stated. I raised an eyebrow.

"Tough shit. Deal with it, and get up!" I snapped back. She raised a hand placatingly.

"I'm doing it..." She muttered in reply, taking a large swig of the glass of water, before reaching down and putting it on the floor beside her, grabbing her jacket, and torpidly swinging herself out of bed, hyper aware of the bunk above and ducking to avoid smacking her head again. Suddenly, there was banging on the door.

"Come on ladies, let's move out!" The voice demanded. I sighed exasperatedly and stood up, ready to go. I casually ran a hand through my hair at my natural parting, ruffling and tousling it with my fingers. I had long since decided to ditch my long locks and go with a short asymmetrical cut instead, as it saved me from a world of inconveniences, all of which I was reminded of as I saw Cara, miraculously now on her feet, fighting her way through her tangled mane of blonde hair. She had not given up her locks.

I sighed impatiently as she floundered around the room, snatching hairbands and pins off any available surface and shoving them into her head, the ever buzzing alarm getting more frantic the longer we were. This was situation normal. I was always ready to go ages before Cara, but today, I was fairly impressed with her reaction times. It was a hell of a lot worse if we got called earlier in the morning. Getting her up was as painful as doing surgery on an animal without painkillers. With the amount of protests and yells of stubborn refusal, it probably sounded like it too.

She shoved past me, giving me a nice view of her tonsils as she gave a huge yawn and slumped down in the chair, pulling on her boots and lacing them up. Her sleep fuddled brain couldn't make sense of how to do laces, so grudgingly, I crouched down in front of her, and did one of them up as she fought with the other one.

She gave a large sigh and another yawn, and stared at me through sleepy eyes.

"We need to go job hunting." She remarked, her voice gravelly and deep from sleep. I gave a small laugh and pulled her to her feet, dragging her over to the door.

"I promise, if there is one day when you are ready before me, then I will actively help you look for a new job." I swore, grinning, and pulling open the door to our room, leading out to the Shatterdome. She winced at the shaft of bright light it let in.

"Bite me." She grumbled, shoving past me and flopping down the stairs on the other side of the door. I smiled and followed her, pulling the door shut behind me.

It's pretty conclusive to say that, in those few moments when your stalking through your Shatterdome, about to suit up and get sent out to fight a gigantic alien monster and save the world in a giant chunk of metal which you are controlling, every pilot wonders how in hell they came to be the ones doing this job. For some, maybe it was easy, if they had parents working in PDCC, or who were even pilots themselves and had always been exposed to the Jaegers and this way of life. For others it may have seemed like an natural progression, like if they had been star athletes and had worked their way up to Ranger level gradually. For others, drift compatibility came first, which was a treasured skill, and then the necessary skills needed were built around that. For me and Cara, I have not a clue how in hell we managed to end up where we are now. Or rather, I have, but it doesn't make sense.

I was at University when we were approached by PDCC. I suppose it had come through me. I was studying Engineering at Caltech and writing a dissertation in the Drift technology, as well as studying and, albeit illegally, trying to build a neural link of my own. I had applied for work experience shadowing an engineer in the Shatterdome, and a week or so later, Marshall Jefferson arrived at my lab with a team of people from PDCC, and asked if they could have a chat.

Then the story gets elaborate.

I started to freak out, because I thought they were coming to arrest me for trying to mimic the Jaeger technology. It also happened to be the day when I'd finally convinced my sister, who was at fashion college, to drop by so I could show her what I'd been working on. So, I agreed to speak to the Marshall, and briefly excused myself to go and quietly throw my work out of the window to try to hide it, almost killing Cara who was walking past below in the process. This resulted in us both making up this incredibly elaborate story, with each of us delivering alternative lines of lies as we babbled an excuse as to why I had Jaeger tech in my lab.

I thought I was in such trouble. No one said anything, they just watched us babbling away in synchrony, probably wondering why the hell we were still talking. At the end of our little rant, Marshall Jefferson nodded, stood up, and threw a pen straight between us. We both grabbed for it automatically, and he gave us a smile as we looked down at the pen, half in my hand and half in Cara's. He told us that's all he needed to see, before offering us the opportunity to become Rangers.

I still don't know what he was thinking. At the time he probably thought we were twins, as we looked so alike, but he soon discovered that we weren't, due to our endless bickering. However, he was willing to overlook it, due to our unusually strong Drift compatibility, and eventually we worked our way up to be Rangers, training as much as we could, only of course when Cara didn't have her nails on.

Yes, we were certainly an odd pair. Very atypical.

As we rounded the corner to the Drivesuit room, I glanced over at Cara, who looked considerably more awake now than she did mere minutes ago.

"Great way to start the morning, huh?" She remarked drearily. I nodded my agreement.

"Definitely. Think about it - the sunrise will be gorgeous."

Cara frowned over at me for a second, one eyebrow raised.

"...oh my god, you're not even joking, are you?" She said, astonished. I shrugged.

"God Lex, you are so old."

"Excuse me?" I replied.

"Honey, I'm less than a year older than you." I reminded her. She rolled her eyes.

"You're still so old." She whined as we approached the door. I chuckled.

"Whatever. You're too young and naive to understand." I pitied, pressing the button to open the door to the Drivesuit room. Cara narrowed her eyes and glared at me for a moment.

"Touché." She grumbled as the door swung open, and we walked through it.

Our technicians were already waiting for us, and I straight away stripped down and pulled on the hideously unattractive black wetsuit thingy. I had long since lost my modesty. This was business, and I didn't have time for messing around, unlike Cara, who I could hear squealing behind me as she was forcibly bundled into the suit.

Muscle memory took over. Even though I had only suited up three times before when we had been called out, we'd spent a long time practicing to meet that crucial 9 minute mark in between waking up, and getting fully suited up and out if the Shatterdome. I briefly glanced up at the timer on the wall in front of me. We were already at 5 minutes and 38 seconds. Time to pick up the pace.

I stood with my arms out to the side and my legs apart as I was secured into my suit. I felt the chest plates click into place, as well as the armour tightly clamp around my arms and legs before I was allowed to relax. As I did, I was shoved my helmet, which I slid over my head no problem, seeing yellow gel as it cleaned the visor for me. I glanced over at Cara as the spinal exoskeleton was put in place, locking the back plates together so there was no risk of me coming loose of the suit. Cara was busy trying to stuff her hair up into a tight bun, whilst an impatient technician was hovering by her, waiting for her to take the helmet, which she eventually did, wrestling it onto her head and shoving any loose bits of hair up into it. She looked up and caught my gaze, rolling her eyes dramatically.

The doors in front of us opened, which led out onto gangways leading directly to Sierra's comm pod, where we would get harnessed up and be dropped down to couple with the rest of her body. I walked side by side with Cara, excitement squeezing my stomach, and it was all I could do not to smile and try and play it cool in front of the two techs who waved us through into the Comm pod.

Already, Sierra was live, and humming. She sounded excited, buzzing, and raring to go, just like I was. I crossed in front of Cara, favouring the right hemisphere, going straight to the harness which was lowering from the ceiling. Lining myself up, I clicked my feet into the bindings, which clamped shut around me, securing me in place. I let the technicians drill me to the back plate, whilst the rest of the harness automatically latched itself onto me. I held out my hand, and the hemisphere calibrator shot up from the floor and magnetically attached itself to me, seconds before Cara mimicked the same move.

I saw her look over at me, and I glanced back. She was grinning. So was I.

We were ready to go.

"Do my eyes deceive me, or are both Cara and Alexa Courville suited up, locked in and ready for the drop before the 7 minute mark?" Came a voice through my ear, laced with mock horror. I leant forward and flipped a switch so I could talk back.

"Better believe it, Hector. Make a note cause it won't happen again." I replied.

"Sure will. Great way to start the day, huh? Of all the things I could be doing at four in the morning." He grumbled.

Cara also leant forward and flipped a switch.

"Is it a nice day at least?" She asked, giving a big sigh.

"Sure is. Set to be seventy degrees and clear skies all the way." He replied cheerily. Cara brightened somewhat.

"Marshall Jefferson, on deck." Hector suddenly announced, and a few systems started to whirr around us.

"Comm pod prepare for drop."

It was a good thing I couldn't fidget, or I'd be jumping up and down on the stop. Butterflies were exploding in my stomach left right and centre, and I felt as if I was at the top of a very tall roller-coaster, about to fall over the edge.

Cara glanced up at the systems readout above our heads, clicking the comm button again.

"Okay boys, release for drop." She ordered, calm emanating from her voice.

"Sierra Bravo, ready for the drop." I said, flicking the release switches on the panel in between us. I glanced over at Cara as I felt the holdings disengage from the comm pod, before my heart flew to my mouth as the pod suddenly plummeted through the air. It was always a strange feeling, feeling as if I should be flying around the pod, but being kept in place by the harness. I was grinning manically, my whole body tingling as we fell, but I still managed to manoeuvre myself into a brace position for when we coupled with the rest of the Jaeger.

The ride was short, coming to a stop a few seconds later, just still jolting as we connected with Sierra's body. I felt the familiar rotation as the pod span around, locking into place with the rest of the body with a satisfying click, before the neck armour slid back into place, protecting its delicate and intricate wiring inside.

"Coupling confirmed." Hector's voice came over the com.

"Engaging pilot to pilot protocol..."

"Pilot to pilot connection protocol sequence...initiated." Came the bright, cheery voice of the computer, as the huge view screen in front of us illuminated, and came into action with a mechanical whirr, allowing us to see out over the Shatterdome hangar.

"You know what would be really cool?" Cara mused as the two giant metal doors of our hangar slowly started opening.

"Surprise me."

"If the computer had the voice of Angelina Jolie."

I glanced over at her, frowning.

"Who?"

"Angelina Jolie." She repeated.

"I don't know who that is." I told her looking up at the readouts above my head as we were rolled out of the door into the dull gleam of the early morning sun. Everything looked normal, and within standard parameters.

"Yes you do, she was really big like, 15 years ago. She was the go-to Hollywood person. I'm pretty sure she still lives somewhere around here."

"Never heard of her."

"Well maybe if you actually stopped working and went outside every now and then, you might have done!" Cara retorted jokingly.

"Hey! Excuse me if I actually want to go ahead and finish my doctorate. Then they'd have to call me Dr Courville." I boasted proudly. Cara made a disgusting vomiting noise. I shot her a look.

As I did, I caught a glimpse of something through the visor, behind her, and I frowned. She saw my expression, and also turned to look behind her.

"Why is Apostle out too?" She asked me, as if I would know.

"Don't tell me we're going to run backup." I groaned. Cara snapped her head back to face me.

"Awh hell no. I did not get up at this time to just be standing here doing jack shit."

Sighing, I reached up and activated the comm as we were lowered into the water.

"Sierra Bravo, ready and aligned." I said.

"Sierra Bravo, this is Marshall Harley Jefferson, prepare for neural handshake." Came the Marshall's voice, crisp and clear, through the comm.

"Neural handshake commencing in fifteen..." Hector began, reading out the countdown. I took a deep breath and prepared myself for the Drift.

"Anything you wanna tell me now?" Cara asked cheekily. I scoffed.

"No point. You'll be in my head in a few seconds anyway."

"Ten..."

"Suits me. Don't mind if I do a little poking around then?" She grinned.

"Don't you dare." I warned her.

"Why not? Is it even possible to chase someone else's RABIT?" She asked, frowning. I shrugged.

"Four..."

"Let's find out!" She said excitedly. I looked at her cynically.

"Two..."

"Let's not." I replied, before I closed my eyes and felt myself get sucked into the Drift.

"Neural handshake... Initiated." Chirped the computer.

The drift was a complicated thing for me to describe. When I saw you get sucked in, I really mean it. It feels like you implode on yourself, and there's a particularly unpleasant sensation of pricking that races up your spine and into your head, making you want to squirm. It felt like there were a million tiny fireworks going off in the very back if your skull, in the furthest corner away from your conscious mind. It was impossible to resist, and it felt as if, if you followed the sensation, you would be able to get rid of it, like you were scratching an itch. You could see faint lights, and sounds echoing all around you, as if you were suspended in the middle of a giant sphere.

Then came the memories. They came in tiny pulses to begin with, snippets of times past, such as colours, sounds or smells, and normally they pulsed so quickly that you couldn't individually identify them. Then you became aware that some of the things you were seeing or hearing, were not your memories.

These small tidbits suddenly in a rush became whole chunks and segments, as if so one had opened the floodgates and there was no limiting the flow of memories transferring between my sister and I. I saw our garden at our old house during fall, and Cara and I playing in the orange and red leaves littering the ground. I felt her pain during a tooth extraction, felt my joy at being accepted to Caltech, saw us both sat around a table with our parents...

If you knew how to handle the Drift, it was relatively easy. It was like watching a train go past, full of memories, and as long as you stood still and waited for it to go by, you were fine. It was only when you tried to board the train when you got in trouble.

I felt something click in my mind, as if someone had flipped a switch, and I became aware of another consciousness in my head with me, before I got sucked back out of my memories, and thrown back into real life with a jolt.

I blinked a few times and took a deep breath to readjust myself, and I glanced over at Cara, who was grinning.

"Neural handshake strong and holding." Hector's voice announced through the comm. Something in the back of my mind automatically told me to raise my right arm, and I did, in perfect synchronisation with my sister.

"Right hemisphere calibrating." I said, clenching my fist and pulling it into my side. Cara mimicked my action. My left arm then raised itself, and also clenched its fist, this time straight out in front of us.

"Left hemisphere calibrating." She confirmed, flexing her fist in time with me. It felt like we were one person, somehow, able to anticipate exactly what the other person would do and when they would do it. We were unusual, in a way. We barely had to speak to each other on missions, as we had such a strong connection in the drift. It was almost like we were able to read each other's minds, and therefore discussing out loud was pointless.

I grinned as we both moved together, raising one fist above our heads and holding the other in front of our faces, before punching out in front of us, and retuning our clenched fists to our sides. The rumbling and whirring underneath me told me that Sierra was copying out moves, ready to fight. I looked over to the side, in Apostle's direction. He was already stepped down into the sea, and was making a move out into the open water.

"Alright ladies." Came the Marshall's voice through the comm.

"Your orders are to follow Mammoth Apostle and hold the Miracle Mile of the West Coast of Hawaii. Do not engage unless the Kaiju decides to rear its ugly head in the direction of the United States, am I clear?"

Cara let out a groan and rolled her eyes.

"We are playing backup. I can't believe this..." She grumbled.

"Sir, with respect, if it's heading for Malaysia, why isn't the Australian Jaeger getting called?" I asked, looking at the map of the area we were headed to. It would be much faster for the Jaeger stationed at the Australia Shatterdome to be deployed, maybe even the one from Hong Kong.

"That is not your concern, Miss Courville. You have your orders. Copy?" Came his abrupt, sharp reply. I shared a doubtful look with Cara. Yet again, something we were being kept in the dark about.

"Copy that, sir." I replied with a sigh. I looked out at Mammoth Apostle, who was looking back over his shoulder at us, before he turned and started running off through the ocean.

"Should we follow?" Cara asked in a tired voice.

"I thought you liked going for morning jogs?" I replied, flashing her an innocent smile. She glared at me.

"I can't believe we're running backup." She grumbled as we both stepped forward, commanding our Jaeger to do the same. There was a jolt as she took a huge step forward and planted her giant foot down on the ocean bed.

"At least we're running." I countered, as we took another step.

"Whatever. I guess this is good exercise..."

"Gooooood morning, ladies." A familiar voice interrupted through the comm. I smirked and replied.

"Hey Tony. How are you guys?"

"Can't complain. You?" He asked. Cara flicked the switch to reply.

"Can complain, and will complain." She answered monotonously.

"C'mon Cara, lighten up!" Another voice said cheerily.

"Shut up Will." She growled back, flicking the comm off and staring stonily ahead.

"Damn. Have fun with little miss sunshine, Lexi. Rather you than me." Will joked.

"Now you following us, or what?"

I waved my hand at Cara, indicating we needed to pick up the pace.

"Right on your tail, Apostle. Race you to Hawaii." I teased.

"Challenge accepted. Last one there's a Kaiju." Tony replied.

"I'll bet on that. See you boys in Hawaii. Sierra out." I said with a smile, disconnecting the channel. I looked at the shrinking form of Mammoth Apostle in the distance, disappearing below the waves as it ran effortlessly through the water. I couldn't help feeling a pang of jealousy that Tony and Will had gotten to headline this mission. I tried to pick up the pace, but felt a block, as Cara refused and continued to stomp along, her face like thunder. I raised an eyebrow.

"They seem in high spirits." I mused, holding back a smile.

"Hmm."

"Oh come on. Let's at least race them to Hawaii." I tried to coax her into something that resembled enjoyment. She frowned and looked over at me.

"We are. I'm giving them a head start. They'll need it, after all." She replied, allowing a sly smile to creep onto her face. I grinned, and nodded in their direction.

"Reckon that's enough?" I asked. We both looked out in front of us. Apostle had disappeared below the water, the only evidence of where he had been was a foamy trail. Cara scrunched up her face, thinking.

"Yeah, I would say that's enough." She concluded. I laughed, and tried to start running again, this time meeting no resistance as we increased our pace, ploughing effortlessly through the water. Although Sierra was also a Mark IV and had the same acceleration as Apostle, she was smaller, not by much, but enough that meant that she could move faster, and was more agile and capable of sharper movements. It proved to be really handy in a fight.

I grinned with excitement as we fell into a steady momentum of running, and I allowed my mind to wander, imagining what it must look like from the shore to see our dark purple, almost black Jaeger charging into the sea, knowing that somewhere out there, there was a terrifying alien monster which could wipe out an entire civilisation. I felt proud, that we were the ones to protect our world, and that it was us who could say that we piloted a Jaeger and defended the human race. If anyone had told me three years ago we would be doing this, my eighteen year old self would've manically laughed and probably fainted.

"Well when you put it like that..." Cara muttered from beside me.

"...it does sound more impressive than fashion college." She admitted reluctantly. I raised an eyebrow.

"You think?"

"C'mon, sis. Let's do this."

Thank you for reading :) Please leave me a review and tell me what you think, and if you want me to write more!

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