2017
Newton Geiszler, the newly proclaimed head of K-Science Biology, just had his not-so-happy butt moved from his cozy lab back at the Academy all the way to Sydney.
The Sydney Shatterdome was so new he could still smell the welding. Girders, concrete, and reinforced metal plating as far as the eye could see, and then some. It was fairly impressive in all honesty. Especially when you considered that just two years ago Scissure (Fascinating Kaiju, smaller and faster then it's predecessors. With a set of very rudimentary wings that had seemed useless both on land and in water. God, he wanted to get his hands on a part of them.) had to be nuked twice and the country was still reeling from the destruction.
Unfortunately, he had arrived before all of his equipment. Both what he was bringing from the Academy and what the PPDC had promised. So all he had to look at was blank walls. (Okay. He might have some posters in his travel bag, don't judge. It's his job to learn about the Kaiju, his Godzilla vs. Megalon poster is for science.) And the empty lab he would be inhabiting for the foreseeable future. There weren't even any over-eager grad students for him to order around with tyrannical joy yet. Just itemless counters and rolling carts to even imply this was a lab and not an empty aircraft hanger.
Well Dr. Gottlieb was close by in his own chalkboard covered lab. So that was something.
If worst came to worst he could always go bother the theoretical mathematician. It was an addictive hobby. Newt was waiting for the day Hermann would finally lose his cool, no doubt the screaming match would be fantastic. Only made better if Gottlieb stormed off and ran back to his teaching position in the UK.
That personal dream would have to wait though. Because, while harassing the other scientist was fun.(Fighting with people on his IQ level always was.) He had a slightly more pressing issue in front of him.
There was a kid in his lab.
Which, as previously stated, he had no interns/minions yet. So this was not a kid in the sense of 'Oh your a few years younger and just graduated'. No, there was a legitimate child curled up in the corner of his lab with a blanket, a school backpack in green camo print, and a portable DVD player that seemed to be blaring 'Finding Nemo'.
Everyone has seen the movie okay, just because he heard a turtle yelling "Righteous!" and instantly knew what it was didn't say anything about him as a person or an adult.
Obviously the kid didn't hear him come into the lab. His back was to the door. (Honestly he was just assuming it was a boy from the backpack. Kids all looked pretty uniform until puberty.) So it was likely the movie was loud enough to have covered the door slamming closed and his shoes echo as he wandered around the mostly empty room.
Wasn't today a Tuesday? He should be in school right? Did Australia have weird times that meant at noon on a Tuesday kids wouldn't be in school? Shit, should he go find an adult? Fuck wait, he is an adult. Okay a different adult, like the kid's adult. Parent. Whatever. Surely they're somewhere on base. The Shatterdome didn't have a whole lot of personnel yet so it couldn't be that hard to find someone missing a child.
Christ, but what if he left and the boy (still assuming) took off. Then he would be dragged around looking for the kid he would likely be blamed for misplacing.
Right so then.
He cleared his throat loudly.
The kid pretty much flipped out. Struggling to get out of the blanket and turning around at the same time so he. (Yep, that was a boy. Maybe. Hopefully.) could see who had snuck up on him. He had short blond hair and big blue eyes. Once the blanket was tossed aside he could see the kid was in a pair of cargo shorts and a blue t-shirt with a cartoon shark. Newt tried not to snort when he could finally make out the words "Jaw-some" across the kid's chest.
"Did I miss Dory talking to the whale yet?" he asks, in what he hopes sounds like interest, but mostly just makes him feel a little awkward.
"No." the boy whispers, holding his blanket in a white knuckled grip as Crush the Turtle prattles on behind them. He's staring at Newton. It's a little freaky.
"Mind if I join you then, that's my favorite part." Newt gestures to beside the child. Hell, what else is he gonna do? The kid looks two seconds from bolting and Newton does not do running unless it's away.
There is a tense moment before he gets a timid nod.
Newt flops down. He accepts it was mostly a graceless flail instead of a controlled stoop, but what'cha gonna do about it? The kid thinks it's funny, if the small giggle is anything to go by. So score one point for him.
They sit quit for awhile just watching the movie. The longer they sit the less tense the boy gets, though he seems to be watching Newt more then the movie. Which is fine, Newton's wiggling because of the cold concrete. Not a pair of icy blue eyes.
Finally the boy breaks the looming silence with "Am I in trouble?"
"Erm." Is his response. Six doctorates? None of them are in English or Child Psychology and it shows. "I dunno, did you do something wrong?"
The kid blinks like rapid fire. "You weren't sent for me?" he seems almost sad by that.
"Well, no..." Newt does not want this boy upset. "I just got here you see. This is going to be where I work." he scratched at his neck. "Are there people looking for you?"
"No...I guess not." The boy wasn't looking at him again. Blinking faster and looking at the DVD player like it held all the mysteries of the cosmos.
"Should there be people looking for you?" Newt knows he's pushing, and he really doesn't want the kid to cry. But this seems kind of important.
The boy's fist are shaking where he's holding onto the blanket still. "Dad and Uncle Scott are training. They forgot" he swallows hard. "They forgot I have school..." Oh shit that was a pre-cry hiccup. "They forgot I'm there."
"I'm sure they didn't forget you." He starts, but the big blue eyes mixed with tears and anger stop his dead from finishing the pandering he's about to give. "Or...well." He sighs and nods a little sadly. "Scott huh? Scott Hansen? Pilot for Lucky Seven?" It's honestly just a guess. There aren't many people here and the only Scott he's heard of is the Jaeger Pilot.
He's given a jerky nod, and the kids gone back to staring at Nemo.
"Okay, yeah I can see it." Because he could, back at the Academy training could start at two in the morning and run until six the next night. Times and preparation were erratic because the Kaiju were erratic, especially for Pilots who were expected to be on their toes at all hours. If Scott and Hercules (It was Hercules right? He was pretty sure.) got distracted every few hours thinking of a kid they probably wouldn't have made the cut.
Newt was staring at just another casualty of war. One child ignored for the greater good of mankind.
"Do you wanna go find your Dad?" He asks after a long stretch. Well after his self-proclaimed favorite part with Dory is done.
"No!" Is the snapped response. Which, while he had been hoping for a resigned yes. Newt had pretty much known the answer was coming. The kid is glaring at him and looks close to bolting again. So Newt nods and returns to the movie. The silence looms for a while and Newton is honestly four seconds away from pulling his cellphone out and playing a game or working on the bit of Kaiju DNA sequencing he has on a note pad when the kid settles down and whispers. "This time he has to find me."
Newton wanted to ask just how often this kid was left alone. How many times had the men on base forgotten that there was a child running around.
He didn't ask though. The boy probably wouldn't have answered anyway. Or he would, and would cry.
Instead he forced himself to sit through the ending of Finding Nemo. Quiet and calm on the concrete while the kid hogged the blanket. The little blond finally cracked a smile when the three sharks showed up with Dory, but otherwise stared blankly at his movie until credits rolled and the opening strings of 'Beyond The Sea' started to play..
"So...Wanna go get lunch?"
"What?" The boy squeaked. Like legitimate mouse squeak. It was goddamned adorable.
Newt grinned. "Food, I'm hungry and could use help finding the commissary." He nodded towards the door. "Plus, I bet your hungry to."
The boy just blinked for a moment. "You're not gonna drag me to my Dad, right?"
He should, he really should. But none could ever say that Newton Geiszler made good decisions. So he shook his head. "Nah, just food."
The boy smiled and nodded. Folding up his blanket and closing the DVD player while shoving both in the backpack.
"By the way. I'm Newton." He offered his hand with a wry grin as he stood up.
"Like the scientist!" the kid exclaimed, surprised delight making his small smile expand more.
Newt laughed even though he had heard the same thing his whole life. "Yep, but I prefer to just be called Newt." he winked "Keeps us from getting mixed up."
The boy took his hand, and instead of shaking it. He wrapped a loose grip around three of Newt's fingers. Idly holding hands.
"My name's Charles." He made a face of obvious distaste "I like Chuck better though."
"Then I promise to call you Chuck, if you promise to call me Newt. Deal?"
The kid nodded so solemnly it was more like they had made a blood-pact then exchanged names. He didn't let go of Newt's hand either as the camo backpack was slung up onto one shoulder. Instead Newton was pulled towards the door by a steadily tightening grip.
Newt was barely given enough time to turn off the lights and close the door before he was dragged down the winding halls of the Sydney Shatterdome.
Ah well, here's to hoping the kid knew where he was going.