A/N: This chapter's a wee bit shorter, but don't worry, I still plan on putting this in three parts. Only time and this next chapter will tell though.


Three days passed.

Three very tense days.

There was much to catch Basil up on when it came to the inner workings of the Hong Kong Shatterdome. Of course, when he was an active Jaeger pilot, all the PPDC bases were operated in the same manner for ease of the quickly-transferred personnel, yet now it was all ad hoc and thrown together with the last surviving fragments of the Jaeger Program. The man spent his hours sparring with Clara, eating much more than he was afforded while on the Wall, and cannibalizing old Jaegers for their tech at the request of Kate. Being a scientist-pilot had its perks in the beginning, when everyone was filled with wide-eyed idealism, yet now it was just a promise… a promise by the kaiju to come once more, and soon, ready to tear them apart quicker than a half-rotted wooden pier.

Sparring, however, was at least something that was mind-clearing and relaxing, in its own way. Basil and Clara would go to a private room, one of those set aside for Jaeger copilots to train in alone, and would test themselves to see how long it would take for one of them to land a point. They were soon passing the fifteen minute mark, twenty, thirty, and were edging closer to forty-five minutes without so much as a wavering fault from one or the other.

Sitting down on a bench, the pair quietly recouped from their latest bout, drenched in sweat and being careful to not gulp too much water at once. They were quiet, pensive, until Clara broke the silence.

"Secondary school literature," she said. He glanced at her, raising an eyebrow. "That's what I taught before enrolling in the Jaeger Academy. I worked in Shoreditch, which was less trendy and more annoying than one would imagine."

"Think you'll go back?" he asked.

"Maybe…? I'm not sure." She wiped the sweat beading on her forehead with a towel and shrugged. "It was my dream job, to be honest, but if I do go back, I can't go back to my old workplace. It would have to be a clean start."

"So that no one knows you as the one who left?"

"No, because Danny taught maths across the corridor," she said, exhaling sadly. "What about you? Is the door still open for you back in Bristol doing… whatever it was you did?"

"I was a multidisciplinary lecturer with backgrounds in engineering, aerospace, biology, bioengineering, scientific research, and general uselessness. My wife was an archaeologist and anthropologist, while doing some sociology on the side. Being hopeless academics, we picked up plenty of each other's concentrations over the years and, after Drifting as frequently as we did, I've now got most of her subjects in my head to the point where I can confidentially run introductory courses in them."

"That's… insane."

"If you come back from fighting a kaiju with a bunch of nonsense about the fourth dimension and carbon dating protocols in your brain, don't tell anyone," he chuckled. "Drifting is too dangerous and fickle to be used as a general knowledge transfer device."

"I wouldn't dream of it," she replied. Clara took a deep breath and allowed herself to lean on Basil's shoulder, which she sensed made him tense up. "What? You scared?"

"No," he huffed, glad she could not see the blush inching up from under his collar.

"No wonder Kate said you're a pain in the arse," she chuckled. She sat upright, however, as her attention was almost instantly drawn towards the door being slammed open in an irritated fashion. Both Clara and Basil looked to see Vastra of Paternoster Glory coming their way, with Jenny—though lacking Strax—not far behind.

"It's been a long time, Doctor," she hissed. The twin snake tattoos that wrapped around her tan arms almost seemed to slither in response to her anger. "Stewart said she found you on the Anchorage Wall."

"Hello to you too, Vastra," Basil said. He glanced around the irritated one to see her wife, who was ready to pull the other woman back more than anything. "Jenny; good to see you again."

"Likewise."

"Don't play cute with us," Vastra snapped. "You don't just vanish off the face of the earth for nearly five years and think you can show up to save the day without answering any questions first. No social media, no paper trail—we thought you walked into the ocean and killed yourself."

"Do you really think that poorly of me?"

"As someone who hopes they never lose their wife that way? Yes."

"Vastra, dear, I told you we should leave him alone—there's not that much time for them to work on their Drift compatibility before the next event."

"He still needs to know that he's pissing me off," Vastra replied. She allowed her wife to tug at her elbow, though she did not move, instead, turning her attention to Clara. "Don't let his baggage drag you down, nor the reverse, or I will kill you both if the kaiju doesn't first."

"I have no baggage for him to deal with."

"We all do," Vastra said, "and I know you've never Drifted properly before. I know you, Clara, and you need to make sure that what you meet in there is not any preconceived notion or it will get ugly." She turned back to Basil and narrowed her eyes into a glare. "I gave you enough time to gather your thoughts—what do you have to say?"

"Was I not allowed to mourn in peace?"

"Not if it meant that the rest of us had no idea if we needed to mourn you as well!"

"If you were so concerned about me, then why are we talking now?"

"…because if it wasn't for Jenny, I would have murdered you the moment you stepped foot back in the main dojo," she growled. Basil stood and looked her in the eyes, his extra height not cutting her ire and menace in the slightest. They looked ready to throw down, and might have too, had an alarm gone off that pierced all of them.

"ACTIVITY IN THE BREACH; REPEAT, THERE IS ACTIVITY IN THE BREACH," a voice said over the intercom. "PATERNOSTER GLORY, IDRIS VORTEX, DARK WATER, REPORT TO YOUR BATTLE STATIONS."

"Time to get to work," Jenny said, successfully pulling Vastra towards the door. The four made their way towards the Jaeger bays, soon joined by Missy and her copilot.

"It certainly is a lovely day for a dismemberment," Missy said cheerily as they walked down the corridor. "What do you say, Chang? Have you seen a more perfect day?"

"As long as what you plan on dismembering is a kaiju, every day is perfect," her copilot replied dryly. The fact there was detectable sarcasm in his voice made most of the others feel better about Missy's comment, but only slightly so.

The three teams split and went to their respective Jaegers. Strax was already waiting for Vastra and Jenny, while the other two pairs suited up in silence. The new suit felt odd, Basil noted, and figured that there had been some significant upgrades since the last time he piloted a Jaeger. A tech was standing by with a water bottle so he could wet his hair and slick it back in order to fit properly in his helmet—Kate forgot none of the details.

"Remember: don't damage the mechs too much or there won't be enough to repair it," a voice said in his earpiece. Basil looked towards the command bridge to see a strange woman standing next to Kate, waving excitedly at him.

"…and you are…?"

"Osgood, the numbers freak; big fan," she replied. "I didn't even know you were in until five minutes ago! I've been so wrapped up in my work that I—"

"Cool it," Kate warned.

"…but Commander… [I've been waiting to meet him for years!]" Fluent Cantonese, Basil noted, having nearly stopped walking the moment he heard her; now he knew which of the new staff was the British Hong Konger.

"[Keep it to yourself until after we take care of it,]" Chang groaned, already connected via his own commlink.

"[Shut up, Edwin.]"

"[Colonizer.]"

"[Last I checked, the Chinese were too.]"

"[Children, behave or I will turn this kaiju loose, so help me,]" Basil interrupted. He turned off his outside channel and switched to the one he shared with Clara. "Are they always like that?"

"Old schoolmates last I heard, so yes; their insults are fangless," she chuckled. They went into the ConnPod and snapped their feet into place, wiring connecting itself as they locked into Idris's control system.

"All Jaegers, standby for Handshake initiation," Osgood announced into the commlink. "Paternoster Glory, systems are go."

"Oh, this is exciting," Clara said. Basil couldn't help but agree, even a little bit.

"Dark Water, systems are go."

"Alright, you can do this…"

"Idris Vortex, systems are go."

In an instant, Basil and Clara both felt their consciousness pull back before catapulting into one another, crashing and mixing in their mental landscapes with vigor. They saw one another's childhoods, stubborn teenagerdom, and young adulthood tangle with one another. She now knew crumbling industrial Glasgow and he understood the looming influence of the Blackpool Promenade. Moving away to London for school. Excelling. Gaining knowledge and sharing the joy of such with students over years…

Idris Vortex's pilots opened their eyes simultaneously, their brains fully synchronized. They we one cohesive unit, able to share thoughts and knowledge with one another in an instant, and it was fantastic.

"I'm sending all of you out together as a test-run," Kate said. Basil and Clara couldn't tell if they were hearing her in their earpiece or via the other's. "Don't screw this up and we might be able to get some of our funding back."

"You know how much I like that word," Basil chuckled.

"What word?" Chang asked, clearly confused. The Jaegers all jerked slightly; they were being pulled up by military-grade helicopters, an airlift to the Miracle Mile. "Test-run?"

"No, funding," Clara responded. "It's an educator thing."

"…not because you're in his head?" Missy purred.

"Don't make me mute you, or it'll mean I have to mute Chang too, and I don't want to do that to the guy unless I really have to," Basil scowled. He glanced over at Clara and she instantly knew how being irritating was more than just a recent phenomenon—Missy's life mission was to irritate and annoy.

"I appreciate it," Chang replied. "Just because we're Drift compatible doesn't mean I feel safe alone with her."

"The sacrifices we make for the good of the world," Missy added sweetly.

"Enough chit-chat—we've got visuals on the bogey," Vastra said, voice clipped. Clara began to activate some things from her side of the Conn-Pod, bringing up all sorts of screens and readouts.

"If Paternoster Glory's advanced sights have a lock on the kaiju, we should be getting it in three… two… one…"

Just as she finished, a low rumble shook the Jaegers—the roar of a kaiju. Idris Vortex's sensors picked up the creature's form, showing them what they were dealing with. It was a couple dozen stories tall and then some, with huge teeth gnashing in a jaw that seemed to take up most of its head, blunt ornamental horns set above each eye, a set of four hulking legs, and a thick, strong tail, the only good feature of which being that it was nearly too short to even be used for balance.

"It's got a center of gravity nowhere near where it should," Jenny observed. "Get it on its side or back and it will be so concentrated on attempting to get back up that we can dispatch it no problem."

"Don't make it too easy now, or the PPDC will think that fighting kaiju is simple," Missy warned.

"Getting it on its side… that is going to be the difficult part," Vastra admitted. "Strax! Are those cannons operational yet?"

"I need five more minutes, and then we shall show this creature what we are made of," he replied.

"Then we can give you six," Basil said. He looked to the right, seeing that Clara was closing out of the varying displays. "Got it?"

"Got it."

The Jaegers were dropped off and Dark Water was the first to attack using the erratic light from the helicopters now on standby. It lumbered towards the kaiju, which stood on its hind legs and met the Jaeger, claws-in-hand, roaring aggressively at its enemy. Dark Water pushed against it, letting go once the kaiju began to wobble backwards. It stumbled slightly, then was propped up by its tail, grunting before pushing itself back on all fours.

"It's a bloody Weeble," Clara frowned.

"Language," Basil warned.

"I'm in your head; don't tell me you haven't said a ton worse."

"That doesn't mean that you shouldn't use such language."

"You're a bloody hypocrite, you know that, right?"

"Do as I say, not as I do."

"I'm going by what you said alright…"

"Ew, stop flirting or I'm going to vomit in my helmet," Missy gagged. Clara and Basil moved their right arms together, flipping Missy two fingers via their Jaeger. "That's still considered flirting."

"I hate you," Idris's pilots said in unison. They then turned their attention to the kaiju and saw that it was using a paw to attempt to scratch at its left eye—it was distracted.

"A big enough fish must've gotten caught in its eye," Basil noted.

"More likely a school—this area is off-season, but it is still a fishing ground," Clara reminded him. "Dark Water, guard Paternoster Glory! We'll get the kaiju—!"

She had just finished the order when Dark Water sped past them, grabbing one of the kaiju's horns and attempting to twist its neck. The kaiju shook it off and roared, stomping about. Its horn impaled Dark Water's right elbow, causing sparks and an entire shutdown of that limb once they disengaged it from said horn.

"WHAT DID I JUST SAY?!" Clara shouted.

"We don't have the time to just idly sit around; the potato's weapons systems needs two and a half more minutes," Missy stated, voice extraordinarily calm.

"That was not my idea," Chang piped up.

"I DON'T CARE WHOSE IDEA IT WAS," Clara snapped. "IF IT DIDN'T WORK THE FIRST TIME, THERE'S LITTLE CHANCE THERE WILL BE A SUCCESSFUL SECOND."

"Well, there's no need to get snippy, just—"

Missy was cut off when the kaiju turned around and hit Dark Water with its tail. For it being such a small appendage, it was able to hit the side of the Jaeger's knee and bend it inwards, stiffening the limb and making the machine immobile.

"[Shit!]" Chang shouted. "[I can't move the left side!]"

"Now things are getting interesting," Missy said.

"No, it now means we have no backup," Basil said. He and Clara squared up Idris Vortex in front of Dark Water, ready to take the hit should their opponent charge. The kaiju roared, sending a shiver down Clara's back. Basil turned off the shared commlink frequency for a moment, looking her way.

"We've faced kaiju before," he reminded her.

"Yeah, but you always had the Jaeger," she retorted.

"Fair enough."

The kaiju then charged, with just enough time for Idris Vortex to be put into a crouch stance, catching the creature by the horns in the most literal sense. Just barely able to throw the kaiju to the side, Idris Vortex stumbled slightly before catching her balance again. Aiming for the creature's middle, Clara and Basil charged, knocking it over onto its side.

"We've got thirty seconds!" Vastra snapped into the commlink. "Get Dark Water out of the way or the kaiju won't be the only thing hit!"

Without a retort, Idris Vortex went to the immobile Jaeger and hooked its shoulders into the carrier cables attached to the waiting helicopters. The moment Dark Water began to rise from the ocean, Idris Vortex began to move, all while ignoring the kaiju that was struggling to get up. By the time it got on its feet, however, the path between it and Paternoster Glory was clear.

"It is an honor, great beast!" Strax said, rather gleefully in fact, as he hit the button that fired Paternoster Glory's main weapon. The photon cannons in its shoulders both blasted, hitting the kaiju firmly. It let out a dying wail as its flesh was burned to a crisp and its blue blood oozed into the ocean. Basil switched through the channels until he found the Shatterdome.

"Kate?"

"Yes, Basil?"

"Send out the clean-up crew—this almost was too simple."


The Jaegers returned to the Shatterdome to much applause from their coworkers. Everyone cheered and there was much back-slapping and high-fiving once the pilots came out of their Conn-Pods. Missy quietly vanished during the celebration, while the remaining pilots were all treated to more food and congratulations and it felt as though they were truly showing the world that they could still do it despite it all…

…they could still defend the world, Wall or no Wall.

Many drinks were poured that evening, though not enough that Basil and Clara couldn't walk back towards the barracks area with their wits about them. They navigated through the corridors together, glad that there was no one around, as everyone was either on-duty or already asleep.

"You handled yourself extremely well back there, Clara," Basil admitted once they were in the correct corridor. It was nearly time for them to part, as his room was only a few paces away. "I don't think I've ever Drifted with someone like that."

"Really?" she smirked. "Coming from someone who used to pilot with his wife, that's saying a lot."

He shook his head at that. "River and I were married, yes, and we had a fairly strong Handshake, but we still had problems. We weren't perfect. I wasn't as good to her as I could have been, and she was more mercurial than one should be when in a marriage."

"…how so…?"

"If it wasn't in the dossier you read, then it's not important."

"It is though." She held his hand and looked up at him through her lashes. "What am I going to find in the Drift, or do I need to discover that myself?"

Basil paused before opening the door to his room and allowing her into his quarters. It was already messy, full of spare parts and junk, and the only places that were truly clear was his desk chair and bed. He had Clara sit on the chair, while he perched himself on the edge of his mattress, leaning his elbows into his knees.

"I was Basil Song for twenty-four years, and not all of them blissful," he explained. She remained silent, waiting patiently for him to continue. "Things fell apart after we found out that River couldn't have kids. It wasn't long after that I began a lecturer's residency in Bristol, despite the fact we didn't live anywhere near there at the time, and we had long periods were we didn't even talk, let alone see one another. We both handled it poorly—I shut people out of my life and she let more into hers. Before I knew it, she was on a string of affairs and I was sitting alone in my academic tower without any company aside from a fussy secretary who was only there because he annoyed everyone else in the department. We were attempting to repair our relationship when we got an invitation to join the PPDC from Old Lethbridge-Stewart himself, an acquaintance of ours from back when I worked on a couple military contracts. The change in scenery and objective helped for the short-term, but I don't even know if we'd still be married at this point if she were alive."

"Really? You were able to keep all that away from me in the Drift?"

"It wasn't easy, but yes. Out of the memories I have with her, I only concentrated on the good ones, and was therefore able to bring those with me instead. You can build a Handshake by concentrating on only a few memories or emotions, so that's what I did."

"Then I would like for you to do me a favor," she said.

"Anything for my copilot."

"Don't do that again." Clara stood and crossed the short bit of distance between them. She sat down, straddling his lap, running her fingers through his hair and holding his face still with her forearms. "I want all of you, do you hear? Every last bit. Give me everything about you."

"Clara…" Basil put his hands on her elbows, trying to not shake. "I told you: I'm not a good man. No matter how hard I try, I'm still the same man who drove his wife to seek out comfort in others because I was too distant. You want none of that."

"If she were wholly blameless, then she would have found you in Bristol first thing and tried to repair your relationship then," she replied. "You both messed up—I don't care. Did you at least learn from it?"

He nodded.

"Good."

Taking that as her moment to move, she leaned in and began to kiss him. His mouth opened for her and she could feel his hands tremble as they moved from her elbows to her face. They remained like that for a while, kissing until she broke the contact and gently pushed on his shoulders, pinning him down into the mattress.

"Clara, we shouldn't be doing this."

"Says who?"

"Uh, protocol…?"

"You're a liar." Well, he had to give her that. He failed to stifle a moan as she shifted her hips, grinding against him just so and resurfacing a feeling he hadn't experienced in years. "That, however, isn't."

"It's a purely physical reaction, with nothing to do with if I lie or not," he claimed.

"Then what was that kiss?"

He was quiet for a bit, his pale, blue eyes staring into her dark, brown ones, before closing them. "Testing myself… not knowing if I really can or if that part of me has also died."

"I see." Clara disentangled herself from Basil and stood, smoothing his hair before placing a kiss amongst the greying fluff, now leagues more chaste and gentle. "When you're done with your survivor's guilt, you know where to find me."

"You… you're leaving…?"

"Just down to my room," she said, making her way towards the door. "I'm not a ghost or specter—I want your undivided attention, and we're not going to get there like this." She opened the door and glanced at him over her shoulder. "Get some rest, Basil. We have training in six hours."

Like that, she was gone. Basil slumped to the side and laid on his bed, frustrated with not only himself, but the entire situation. Was this right? Was this fair? Did he make a mistake in coming back? She did not know—how could she if he didn't let her—and yet the question was, should she know? They were so very much the same that he feared the consequences… both of letting her in and of shutting her out.

He went to bed that night yearning for the first time since before his marriage and he wasn't entirely sure how to handle it.