It was a bleak day, and the gray overcast only trapped the cold brought on my the rain. Autumn wrapped her scarf a little more tightly around her neck and buried her nose in the soft fabric, keeping her eyes to the sidewalk as she continued forward to her parent's office on base. They had relocated to the countryside when Autumn was five years old and had stayed ever since. It wasn't a bad place, Margate, but Autumn couldn't help but wonder what her life would have been like had she grown up in her birth city of London. Even though the world hadn't fully recovered from the damage dealt by the Kaiju over 30 years ago, from what Autumn had seen, London seemed to be getting close to it's glory back in 2013.

She let out a sigh. It was all wishful thinking, anyway. Just a cruel reminder that she was trapped by the ghost of the modern world's past. Even Margate had been a coastal urban city back in the day. Now what was it? A handful of ports and a few hundred dedicated residents - most of whom were born here, and whose parents and grandparents before them were also born. In all her years of living here, Autumn couldn't recall anyone other than her family actually moving to Margate. But when she thought about it, she couldn't recall anyone moving from Margate, either.

When she reached the security check to the Jameson Military Base the guard on duty simply nodded Autumn in. She made this trip every day since her eighteenth birthday, when her parents decided it was time for her to begin shadowing them and learning the family trade as it were. A couple of decades ago, her mother told her, Autumn would have needed to attend college and medical school to even think about practicing medicine. But the times have changed, love, her mother's voice resonated in her mind. And people still need doctors to aid them. Your father and I can teach you better than any professor, anyway.

A small smile brushed at Autumn's lips, thinking of her mother's confidence. Autumn's mother, Janelle, had definitely earned every narcissistic thought when it came to her medical capabilities, as had her father Benjamin Kenneth Larson II. Though these days, her father spent more time in the scientific medicine field than actually practicing as a doctor. When Autumn questioned it, her mother simply said that it had to do with the very important project they were working on. Though even after all these years it doesn't seem like they've made any headway, Autumn thought and she loosened her scarf, making her way to her parent's office.

The soldiers around Autumn paid her no mind. After all, she stood only 5'3" above the ground. The boots she wore helped her slightly, boosting her an extra three inches, but she was easily missed in a crowd. She untucked her long, chestnut brown ringlets of hair from her scarf and hung up her coat when she finally made it to the office. Her mother glanced up briefly before returning to her paperwork.

"You're tardy, Autumn," Janelle said quietly.

"Sorry, Mum," Autumn looked to the ground. "I had a difficult time getting out of bed... You know I'm not one for stormy days like this."

"No matter," Janelle replied, removing her glasses and rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Why don't you go ahead and begin with organizing those charts I have over on the desk? While you're doing that I can check in on your father in Laboratory Four. He's been working since last night."

"Oh dear," Autumn exclaimed quietly. "Hasn't done that in a while, has he?"

Autumn's mother shook her head. She, too, looked as if she hadn't slept all night. Normally Autumn goes to sleep before her parents return home and wakes in the morning after they've left... She just naturally assumes that they come home. Whether or not they do is obviously a different story.

"All medical personnel, please report to Laboratory Four immediately," a flat, female voice announced throughout the building. "All doctors are needed to report to Senior Medical Chief Larson."

Grandfather, Autumn thought.

"Autumn, what do you think you're doing?" her mother asked as Autumn almost took a seat at her desk. "All medical personnel means you, too. We need to go now."

"Sorry," Autumn mumbled, following her mother out of the office and down the hall. Soldiers were clearing a path as they practically ran towards the laboratory. Hopefully no one's been injured, Autumn thought as reached the door to the lab.

She noticed a few other doctors and two of the scientists she's seen around the building, only ever meeting in brief passing. Janelle was pushing them towards the front of the small group of people, who were all crowding around the double doors to the testing room. None of them seemed able to move nor speak; as if they were in a state of shock. Janelle pushed through the double doors and into a dark room, illuminated by a light blue glow irradiating from the center of the room. Autumn could tell that her father and grandfather were standing there, surrounding a table. But she didn't know who the handful of other people were.

She locked eyes with the Asian woman standing next to a tall, blonde man and quickly turned her gaze to the floor. For some reason Autumn felt like she should have waited for her mother with the others in the main room. When Autumn looked up again, the Asian woman smiled and Autumn let out a small breath, tentatively following her mother to the group of people.

Everyone was muttering quietly amongst themselves, congratulations by tone of their voices, Autumn guessed. When she finally reached the table she knew why. She had seen his face many times - in pictures and old news coverage from the Kaiju war period. He looked the same as he had then. Short, light brown hair, pale skin. He didn't look a day over twenty-eight (twenty-nine, tops). But she knew this man's story...

How in the world was she looking at the sleeping face of Chuck Hansen?