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The morning found the Kotkos despite their attempts to hide. Even with her time in the military, Ren had difficulty getting up before noon and Nikita had overestimated his ability to function at five in the morning when he'd spent most of the night on his laptop. Ren had eventually forcefully picked him up out of his chair and thrown him onto his bed, the clacking of the keys driving her insane as she tried to sleep. It was a taste of childhood for the both of them. Nikita eased his eyes open as the alarm blared, grumbling something under his breath as his hand slowly slinked out of the covers to address the noise that had awoken him. It felt like the gravity outside of his bed had doubled, the simple act taking an exhausting amount of effort as his eyes struggled to stay open.

"GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!"

The sudden outburst startled Nikita's eyes back open in time to see Ren leaping out of her bed on the other side of the room. They did not share nightstands or alarm clocks, and Ren had long since silenced her own. Before he registered that she had even moved, Ren had the alarm clock in her grip and was smashing it against the smooth wood of the nightstand several times before attempting to throw it across the room only for the power chord to snap it back, unplugging itself in the process. Nikita silently watched this, looking from Ren to his alarm clock which now lay on the floor and sighed. He would need a new one; he doubted it could function with that many wires visible from the outside.

"Ren, please-" was all Nikita had time to say before Ren grabbed the bottom of his mattress and violently flipped it, and Nikita, onto the floor.

"Shut up! Fucking hell! I gave you ten mother fucking minutes to deal with that goddamn clock and it pissed me the hell off you lazy piece of shit! I'm not doing this every fucking morning right before Burundukov dangles my freedom in front of my face!" Ren screamed before sifting through the blankets to find her brother, yanking his half naked body out of the pile and standing him up beside of her. Nikita was smiling despite being flipped onto the floor and simply looked at his sister. Albeit she was angrier now than she was then, this played out like many a morning before they had school, but where once Ren had long hair kept in a braid, she now had a short pixie cut which always looked like she'd just rolled out of bed. Where once she'd worn a nightgown covered in teddy bears, she now wore a dark tank top to show off her tattoos and gray sweatpants. She also didn't have the light scars scattered here and there from all the fighting she'd done.

"The fuck are you looking at?" Ren spat, though she shifted away at the same time and crossed her arms. Nikita couldn't stifle a chuckle before pointing at her shoulders.

"Just admiring the tattoos. Haven't seen the star you got on your shoulders yet because of the prison and ranger uniforms. Vera give you that one too?"

"Shut up. We can catch up at breakfast or something. Just get your ass moving before we're late to morning training." With that said, Ren stomped off towards the showers, leaving Nikita to clean up his bed. A smirk adorned his face as he eased the mattress back onto the bed frame. 'Stars,' He thought to himself, 'if I remember right, those mean that she won't kneel to anyone else. Fitting.' It made him wonder if their father would get a kick out of it as well. He thought it went well with the tattoo Ren had of the Russian saint on her back. His train of thought was interrupted when he noticed a large set of hands reach in front of him and grab the sheet for his bed; it seemed Aleksis had let himself in. The big guy was smirking as he gently tucked in the cloth, humming gently to himself as he focused on what his hands were doing. The sight threw Nikita for a loop and rather than help, he found himself crossing his arms and shifting his left leg back, unconsciously pointing his shoulder at the man now.

"I take it you heard all of that then?" Nikita muttered, jumping a bit at the deep laugh that came from Aleksis' throat.

"I may not have known her personally, but I did guard her in prison for several years. Several inches of steel can't hide her voice when she is upset. I'm just glad there was less blood this time."

Now it was Nikita's turn to laugh as he stepped forward and helped tuck the sheets in at the foot of the bed. "As am I. She'd never hurt me on purpose, but friend and foe are hard to distinguish when you're truly angry." Nikita mused, looking briefly over his shoulder to glance into the Cherno team's room but raising an eyebrow when he found no one else moving about within. "Where is your partner, Sasha? I think this is the first time I've seen you without her."

"She's taking a shower. She left a little after the yelling started in here." Aleksis replied, hesitating in spreading out the comforter onto the bed, looking up at Nikita. "Where did you say your sister had gone?"

One thing Ren never minded about getting up early was taking a nice hot shower first thing. The feeling of the hot water on her skin was ecstasy and a rare luxury in prison. For the first time in years she felt like she could let her hair down (so to speak) and unwind. Hell, she was one of the few people in this section of the living quarters that had to be up this early, so she'd have practically no one to share the facilities with. That thought put the early wake up time in a bit more of a positive light in Ren's mind. She thought this right up until she heard singing. It wasn't very loud, barely audible above the running water, but you don't survive in prison without paying attention to odd noises. Being that this wasn't Prison Camp 34 and the odds of her getting stabbed with a toothbrush were fairly low, Ren went against her usual instinct and turned off her own shower head in the lineup and looked around a bit. The showers were set up so that there was a wall of about Aleksis' height dividing the room nearly in half, holding a line of shower heads on either side, but there were also more traditional stalls along the sides of the room for the more shy bathers. Following the direction of the sound with her hair still full of shampoo foam, Ren realized a curtain on the right side of the room was closed. The singing was clearer now but Ren couldn't place the voice. Who the fuck was up this early and in the women's showers singing some slow, sad lullaby? Rather than wait to find out, Ren walked up to the stall and eased back the curtain. The singing came to a sudden stop as a very surprised Sasha turned around with a reared back fist to greet her peeping tom. She stopped for a moment upon seeing that it was Ren, relieved that it wasn't some pervert, but realizing Ren had been spying on her pissed her off all over again, which prompted the fist to fly anyway. Ren barely managed to deflect the blow with her forearm and hopped back, slipping onto her ass due to the suds Sasha had been rinsing off before she was interrupted.

"What in God's name do you think you're doing?! I didn't pull the curtain closed to entice company you idiot!" Sasha exclaimed, crossing an arm over her chest as she scrambled to wrap a towel around herself. Being the master of tact that she was Ren couldn't stifle her laughter at seeing Sasha, the only female guard for C Block and the reason that no one who'd been there more than a month grabbed their bars anymore, was this easily embarrassed. Ren eased herself back up as Sasha scrambled to cover up, the former inmate crossing her arms and widening her stance as a smirk grew on her face. The two women had similar builds as far as musculature, but where Sasha was taller, Ren was a bit more endowed and so as a sign of dominance she pointed her advantages at the former guard.

"I was just wondering who the fuck was trying to drown a cat in here, but it turns out you were just washing Aleksis' sweat out of your mouth. Hope you brought some mouthwash to finish the job," Ren taunted, scoffing and tilting her head forward slightly, glaring at Sasha and daring her to move. Sasha merely sighed as she finally fixed a towel around herself, looking back to Ren now with a calm, even disinterested expression on her face.

"This isn't prison you know. You don't have to pick a fight with me just because you believe I'm stronger than you," Sasha replied, enunciating her words and standing her ground. This game had lost its appeal back in the prison and Sasha was anxious for it to end. She was here to kill Kaiju, not get into a pissing contest with a naked psychopath. Ren's nostrils flared at Sasha's retort, her fists clenching as she unfolded her arms and stomped towards Sasha, jabbing her index and middle finger into her shoulder.

"You calling me weak you fucking cunt?" Ren spat, now in Sasha's face though the blonde woman didn't look too concerned. She looked Ren in the eyes for a moment before tilting her head up and made a show of sniffing the air before smirking.

"Your shampoo smells nice."

Ren's face turned red before she raised her fist, though as soon as she moved so did Sasha. Rather than swing her fists around, she kicked Ren's ankle out from under her and let the wet tile beneath them drag the woman down before the fist got the chance to move forward. Sasha then smiled before stepping past Ren, having managed to wash herself before her interruption, but stopped after about ten paces to look back and saw Ren crouched on a knee as she tried to hide her frustrations. Being well versed in prison culture herself, Sasha couldn't help herself.

"I also like the star tattoos. Try not to be late for training," Sasha purred before leaving the room. Ren howled in anger before slamming her fists down onto the floor. Sasha almost smirked again at the sound as it carried through the hallway. She knew that, while their altercation had been amusing for the moment, it was only going to exasperate whatever problem Ren seemed to have with her. Hopefully the savage would have enough control to wait until after they were dismissed to try this again.


The training room was nothing like what had been at the Jaeger Academy; it was less a simulation room and more a combination of three rooms. One was a more basic set up of the Local Command Center, or LOCCENT, that each Shatterdome used to monitor jaegers during deployment as well as monitor the breach and the sensors feeding them information on the Kaiju that crawled out of it. Another of the rooms and the only other one with a thus far apparent purpose was a recreation of a Conn-Pod complete with the mechanical rigging pilots were attached to while in jaegers to control them. There were even technicians at the ready to assist with suit up. Sasha, Aleksis, Nikita, and Ren all stood in the Pod room looking around in awe at everything. It was the second time any of them had seen the heart of a jaeger outside of simulations, only experiencing the sights previously when doing final calibrations in Cherno Alpha and Bravo Zver to make pilot adjustments and fine tune the programming on the Jaeger AI's. The jaegers had been activated with limited functionality, Burundukov boasting that the neural load was only a third of what it would become during a drop. That still felt like twice what they'd dealt with during simulations at the academy. The sightseeing for the pilots came to an abrupt stop when Samantha's voice sprang to life from the speakers in the corners of the room.

"Morning! I can't help but notice you admiring the set up in the simulation room. Remember how I said I was head of the technicians and wiring for the Shatterdome 'among other things'? Well, this is mainly the other things. Fun fact for you guys, due to my diligence and management skills, as well as a lot of yelling, my team and I got this built a month ahead of schedule. Impressive right?"

Her voice seemed supernaturally happy and chipper to Ren and Nikita for it being six in the morning. Neither believed it would bode well for them in the future. Morning people rarely did.

"Alright, our fearless leader is on the way here so I'm going to go ahead and have those techies suit you up. You may remember these little outfits as being your personal gear for your jaegers. 'But Samantha, Queen of All She Surveys, we've never needed this gear for drifting in simulations before' I hear you cry. Well that's because the room you're in isn't just designed to look like a conn pod, it is one. Neat right? Now instead of tedious simulations you'll have grueling physical training thrown in with the strategical pop-quizzes Minori has thought up for you. We got any volunteers for going first?" Sam beamed, enjoying this way too much for it to be healthy. At the last question, however, Ren immediately replied by stepping forward and pounding her chest one time with her fist, getting a chuckle out of Sam. "Enthusiasm. Enjoy that while you can… Alright, I'll load the Bravo set up and Minori here will begin preparing your scaly opponent. Any advice for Fuzzyface?" Sam asked, turning in her seat within the training room command center to look at Minori. She was still dressed in her doctor's coat and black blouse and pants, though today she wore her hair in a long ponytail held up with a pink ribbon which made it appear as though the hair were highlighted. The scientist couldn't hold back a chuckle at Sam's name for the Kaiju she'd designed for Bravo's first simulated drop before gently reaching out to take hold of the microphone Sam had been using.

"I had a lot of fun with its design. That's all I can say without ruining the training experience for you. I will be talking to you during the drops as well, simulated or not. I will say, though, that you four may have been a bit of an inspiration for me," Minori said sweetly, but paused as she realized something, "I don't mean how the Kaiju look!"

Samantha could be heard laughing in the background until she reclaimed the microphone from her friend. "Well you heard her, she thinks you're monsters. Better keep outta Tokyo then, I hear your king likes to hang out there." Sam's laughter was cut off by the sound of her chair's wheels squeaking as she leaped from her chair to avoid Minori taking a playful swing at her. None of the four pilots could resist a smile as they listened.

Not long after Sam and Minori calmed down and got back to work, Burundukov strode into the command center and began looking over all of the monitors on the wall. He was pleased to see one of the jaeger teams suiting up and that the appropriate programs were already primed for the simulation. It seemed even Ms. Thompson could get her work done when she took an interest in it. Upon seeing the commanding officer enter the room, Sam immediately announced it to the others, leaving her smart-ass remarks out of it this time. His mood was still soured from the engineering wing riots yesterday. The foremen of the two teams were ordered to wash the jaegers from head to toe with brushes and rags as punishment. He gave Sam permission to take a bucket of mud out to the floor to ensure they were not bored. A recently emptied bucket sat beside her in the control room, which managed to lift his mood a little bit. Once he was satisfied that everyone was doing what they were supposed to, he stepped forward so that he loomed over Samantha and Minori. Noticing that Ren and Nikita had finished suiting up and were stepping up to the rigging to begin the Brigadier General looked down at Sam.

"Instruct First Lieutenant Zolnerowich and First Lieutenant Kaidonovsky to report to this room for observation. Once they are here initiate Drifting so that we may get started," Burundukov asserted before Samantha began chuckling to herself. Raising an eyebrow in question the man looked back to the monitors to see that the Cherno team had already began leaving the room and Petya realized that the microphone did not function as a PA system where a button needed to be pressed to be heard.

"Sir, the microphone is voice activated when it's on. You can just bark your orders like normal," Sam chuckled, waving to Sasha and Aleksis as they entered the door at the back of the room. The room was shaped a lot like a large hallway with all of the equipment at the end. Where the real LOCCENT had a wall of glass in order to observe the rest of the Shatterdome, this smaller one had a wall made up of display monitors, all seemingly of uniform size though they had the ability to share and spread images across one another. This did not count the monitors embedded in the actual computers and equipment that operated the simulations and monitored the neural handshake during a drift. Combine this with the black floors and walls and it looked like you were walking into God's office. Sasha could see now why Sam had been bragging about it.

"Alrighty, Second Lieutenant Ren Kotko and First Lieutenant Nikita Kotko are strapped in and ready to go. Nonessential personnel are to clear the training room now. Drift initiating in three… two… one…"


For as long as Ren lived she would never forget the sensation of drifting with someone, the feeling of your consciousness expanding and eventually overlapping with someone else's. Your sense of self warped during a drift. I became We. Ren's aggression became Nikita's, and Nikita's tactical thinking became Ren's. They were Bravo Zver now, just two halves of that jaeger's brain. Ren and Nikita focused on their breathing as the neural handshake initiated, not latching on to any of the memories floating through their minds. Things as recent as Ren trying to pick a fight with Sasha in the showers played out in Nikita's head while Ren could see Nikita as a child looking out a window before their father yelled for him to resume his studies. Everything faded as quickly as it came, and the flashes of memory always stopped once the handshake was formed. As soon as they felt the click of that connection solidifying, the siblings opened their eyes and dropped into a fighting stance with their fists up like a boxer, but slid their left leg back a bit so that they pointed their right shoulder forward slightly. This was the stance Ren had been trained to use, and Nikita could do it perfectly purely from his sister's memory. Samantha smiled in the control room as she hit a few keys to launch the simulation, loading it up through the drift. Everything would feel real, as it had in the academy, but there was a key difference between the academy and this simulation; the academy watered down the Kaiju so that rookies could take them on without getting slaughtered, so that they could learn what the hell they were doing. Now that Ren and Nikita knew what they were doing, they were getting as close to the real thing as Minori could get them. Since this was day one they were getting an easier Kaiju, but only because Minori was designing several that made Trespasser look like a lost pet rather than a giant monster. Fighting them now would make any sane person quit the program.

"Simulation initiating. You'll be starting out on the ten mile mark in Russian waters, same as any drop you'd do in the future. Good luck and Nikita, try not to get puke all over those nice clean floors, okay?" Sam said, getting unintelligible grumbling from her victim in response. Seconds later and the room the siblings were in faded from view and was slowly replaced by the ocean during a howling storm. They could smell the salty air sneaking its way into the conn-pod and hear the thunder and rolling waves crashing up against Bravo's legs. They could see simulated monitors displaying visual feeds both from the cameras on Bravo as well as the helicopters struggling to stay airborne in the storm. "Kaiju is heading your way from northeast. Prepare to intercept and eliminate," Samantha advised, with the Kotkos nodding before turning to the left and taking a step forward. Nikita nearly lost his neural grip when he felt the resistance from the pod's rigging. He was going to be sore after this. Ren scoffed and looked at her brother at his worrying.

"We have another simulation before dinner. You're going to have to grow a dick if you expect to keep my pace baby brother," Ren teased, smiling when Nikita stuck his tongue out at her. Not because she thought the retort was cute, but because there was now a wet spot on the glass visor of Nikita's helmet and there was nothing he could do to get rid of it until the fight was over. Served him right for being a pansy. Taking a glance down at their instruments, Ren could see their radar had picked up a large mass moving towards them from straight ahead. Since they couldn't see a mountain moving in the distance, she supposed that meant it was swimming towards them. The water came up to Bravo's thighs which meant the Kaiju probably couldn't do a lot of damage fighting while swimming. Not with a name like Fuzzyface. So rather than go fishing Bravo stood its ground, resuming the stance it had taken when Ren and Nikita first drifted. Now they just had to wait for this bastard to get here and stand to fight.

Nikita kept an eye on their instruments while Ren scanned the horizon, waiting for any sign of movement. The sky was lit up with a streak of lightning in the distance, aiding in her search for a brief second. A split second before the sound of thunder hit them, however, Ren could see it. A silhouette of a beast from hell rose from the sea slowly, its presence announced by the rumbling skies. It reminded Nikita of what Lovecraft must have had wet dreams about. Ren smirked at the thought. Not long after the thing's head cleared the waves Bravo began moving again, much faster than it had before in order to take the initiative in this fight. Its back had finally straightened when Bravo got within striking distance and upon seeing the Kaiju at full height, Ren and Nikita hesitated. The Kaiju they had been fighting had been category ones according to that new scale they'd implemented not that long ago. This bastard looked like a category three. No Kaiju had been this big before. Fuzzyface at full height was looking down its nose into the eyes of Bravo Zver. Its skin was leathery and gray, blue streaks looking like cracks leaking the beast's power lined its armored back. Its face was large and round, an elongated snout like that of a wolf or bear with snarling teeth, but this wasn't what it used to attack. The beast was bipedal but the legs had to be short in order to be hidden as they were beneath the waves. Its arms were the opposite, massive with long sharp claws at the ends. The size reminded her of that comic book character Wolverine. They weren't used for gripping but for killing, and they were swinging right for Bravo's head.

"SHIT!" The siblings shouted as they jumped back to get out of range of the strike, Ren growling quite loudly as she heard Sam's laughter in her ear. There was no way they could lose this fight now. Bravo stood its ground as the beast roared at them, lurching forward and using its forearms to charge at them. Bravo charged as well, raising its fists as spikes erupted out of the knuckles and locked into place, giving it in essence a set of brass knuckles. They'd need them in order to damage its thick hide. The beast was powerful but slow, Bravo able to close the gap before it could rear back for another swipe which gave the jaeger a free shot. Rearing back as the Kaiju stood again, the left fist flew through the air and hit home on the beast's shoulder, the right hand rearing back to deliver an uppercut to the bicep the Kaiju was about to use. The Kaiju roared in pain as dots along the arm began leaking the blue goo that was their blood. They wouldn't cripple the arm, but it would hurt the Kaiju every time it struck with this arm, which gave Bravo more of an advantage in mobility. The combo came with a price, the siblings focusing so much on the arms that they forgot about the head, which lunged in and took hold of Bravo's left shoulder. Alarms began blaring in the cockpit about the damage but the pilots could feel the pain through the drift. Nikita cried out from it while Ren grit her teeth and snarled back at the beast. Bravo's left fist reached out to take hold of the beast's throat and tightened its grip as much as the hydraulics would allow, the left hand closing into a fist again but they hesitated before throwing a punch. Ren wanted this to sting.

"Activating claws. Thanks for holding still you piece of shit!" Ren shouted, the fingers in Bravo's free hand folding in at the first joint past the knuckle, locking into place so that they nearly looked like a paw. A split second after the hydraulic hiss signified the fingers were secured, blades slid out from the folded joints to replace the fingers with what looked like knife blades, completing the werewolf look with a functional set of claws. The process only took five seconds, with Ren laughing like a maniac before plunging the claws straight into the leathery neck of Fuzzyface. The blades weren't as long as the claws on the Kaiju, but at this range they didn't have to be. The Kaiju was still munching on Bravo's shoulder, trying to rip it off to loosen the grip on its throat while also preparing its good arm for another swipe. It barely had time to register the sight of the blades coming for its head, the grip on its throat loosening as Bravo let go only for the claws to take its place. It stabbed upward with enough force to fully close the Kaiju's mouth, resulting in Bravo's left arm being functionally useless. The pain almost caused Nikita to pass out, being unused to the sensation in his previous line of work, but Ren was all too familiar with it. She could fight the urge to crumple into a ball and cry, instead screaming as she jerked her right arm to the side and slit the Kaiju's throat. The pain was enough to halt the beast's arm before it picked up steam, choking as blood began gushing from the wound and spraying from its mouth as it coughed. Not taking any chances, Bravo swung again, the claws stabbing into the wound to deepen it and jerked its wrist to shred the meat inside before jerking the elbow again. Nikita and Ren knew they wouldn't survive a counter attack with one arm to defend with. Fuzzyface was motionless for what felt like an eternity, blood flowing from the wound in its neck before it slowly tilted forward and fell face first back into the sea. Ren smiled as she watched the ocean around them begin to glow blue with the blood of the fallen Kaiju and turned to look at her brother.

"Hell yeah! Category three dropped like a fucking bitch! You see that shit Nikita?" Ren shouted, still beaming as the simulation around them faded back into reality and technicians swarmed them to get them out of the harnesses. As soon as the two were on their feet, Nikita fell to his ass and began rubbing his calves, wincing because his arms were so sore. The academy simulations hadn't prepared him for the resistance the real harnesses would have. Ren was breathing a bit heavier than normal but seemed otherwise unaffected, laughing at her brother before reaching out a hand to help him back up.

"I would not celebrate if I were the two of you," Burundukov's voice boomed from the speakers, "The damage sustained by your jaeger from that one drop would take months to repair. The costs for materials alone could feed every man, woman, and child in Moscow for a year! Bravo Zver may be an extension of your consciousness on the field, but that Jaeger is mine, as was that arm you lost. You will strive to preserve my jaeger on your next drop or I will fire every mechanic on the Bravo team to give you proper incentive. Is this clear?" Petya shouted, veins visible on the sides of his neck as he yelled into the microphone. Ren immediately saluted and replied in the affirmative, but Nikita couldn't get his arm lifted in time.

"First Lieutenant Nikita, if one drop is enough to force your body into insubordination then you have no business in one of my jaegers. I have no use for weakness in my Shatterdome. Second Lieutenant Renata Kotko I suggest you get your partner into shape by tomorrow or the training for your team will double. Any objections?" Petya spat, with Ren gritting her teeth as she held back her anger.

"Only that double is not enough, sir. Permission to raise the stakes to triple!" She called back, which threw Petya for a loop. Sam's eyes widened in surprise as she looked from the monitors to her commander and watched as the red faded from his face. He had not been expecting that. It prompted Sam to smile.

"Permission granted. Report to my location so that team Cherno Alpha may thrill us with their performance."

With that Ren dropped her salute and snarled as she looked to Nikita before crouching down long enough to get her shoulder beneath his chest and lifted him off of the ground. She held him steady with a hand holding the back of his head and one gripping his pants before slowly walking towards the door. "Come on you pussy. I'm only doing this once so you'd better get your shit together. Got that?" Ren spat, glaring at her brother as she moved. They didn't pass Sasha and Aleksis until they were both in the hallway that connected the smaller command center from the simulation room. Ren, of course, shot Sasha a spiteful look but the former guard simply scoffed.

"Forgive me if I'm not that intimidated. I've seen you fight," Sasha said with a smirk, getting an elbow to the side from Aleksis immediately after but the damage had been done. Ren practically threw Nikita off of her shoulder before leaping at Sasha but her brother had grabbed her by the ankle to keep her out of striking distance. Ren snarled and looked down at Nikita but the look softened once she saw the stern look in his eyes.

"Sister, if you go through with that Petya will send you back to that prison. I'm not losing you again," Nikita whispered gently. The words seemed to penetrate Ren's anger and her features began to soften again, returning to neutral once Sasha and Aleksis vanished into the simulation room. The look in Nikita's eyes remained even as he stood on his shaky legs, putting an arm gently around his sister's shoulder to lead her into the control room. "What's your problem with her anyway?" Nikita murmured, glancing at Ren as he braced himself, but to his surprise she did not yell or hit him. Her eyes were distant now, staring into the past with an unfeeling gaze. When Ren did not speak after a few moments Nikita squeezed her shoulder and drew her in to remind her that he was there. "You don't have to answer. Let's go, okay?" Nikita cooed, receiving a slap for his troubles.

"Fuck you, acting like you're my goddamn dad or something. The last fucking person I need pretending to be something like that is you, you son of a bitch. Now get your ass in there before I get mad," Ren spat before shoving Nikita ahead of her. Nikita stumbled forward, unable to see the line of moisture falling down Ren's cheek. She quickly wiped away the evidence and pressed on as she always had.


Having witnessed Bravo's battle from the control room, the Cherno team were not warned or talked through the procedures as Ren and Nikita had been. At this point, if they hadn't been paying attention then it was their own fault if they failed. Based on how the fight with Fuzzyface had gone, Minori seemed to have been exploiting the weakness in the jaeger's designs. Aleksis figured this meant the tank that was Cherno would have a more agile opponent. They'd have to be cautious. Glancing over at Sasha as the last techie finished tightening some screws to secure the pilots, Aleksis saw a familiar fire in her eyes. Times like this were when his partner felt the most alive. She trained diligently for these moments, instincts honed by years in Russia's elite police squads called OMON. Aleksis hadn't met her during those years but he liked imagining her in uniform before they hit the drift. He believed the look on her face was the one she wore before kicking a door in and shoving a shotgun in a suspect's chest. The look suited her very well.

"What? Something on my face?"

The question startled Aleksis, having not realized Sasha had been glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. He simply smiled in response before looking straight ahead. "I was just thinking how beautiful you look when you've got your war face on. I didn't mean to stare," He said calmly, still smiling warmly as the visor of his helmet slid down to cover the top half of his face. Sasha was glad for it when her visor followed suit, hiding the rosy glow of her cheeks. The compliment had caught her off guard. Aleksis would have to be punished once this was over… maybe a few times to make sure he learned his lesson.

"Okay, initiating Drift. Just like with the last drop I'll be keeping minimal contact so you guys are mostly on your own. Petya's orders so he can see for himself what your natural instincts are. Minori also wants me to tell you that she thinks you two make a cute couple," Sam said as she tried to hold back the giggles at the last bit.

"What?! No, I said no such… not that you two aren't good together but… Sam!" Minori blurted, giving up on words as she lightly punched Sam, who had been laughing in the background, in the shoulder. The last thing the couple heard before drifting was Petya's voice demanding some professionalism out of his professionals. Neither knew how the mechanics of drifting worked exactly but they'd been told that their compatibility was one of the highest of any ranger teams to come out of the academy. Aleksis took this to mean he and Sasha were simply good at fighting together but it struck some deeper chords within Sasha. The intimacy scared her. She felt so at ease in Aleksis' mind and that vulnerability made her think danger was imminent. She had to be strong, always on edge or she would get hurt… but Aleksis made her feel things. She was more than a warrior to him. She wasn't sure she could be.

As reality warped to become that same hellish ocean that Bravo Zver had stood in, Sasha and Aleksis immediately began looking about to get their bearings. Aleksis checked Cherno's instruments through the display in his visor plate as Sasha scanned the horizon to make a mental map of their surroundings. They were in the open ocean with no ice to be cautious of but also with no signs of the enemy.

"Samantha, any sign of the Kaiju? I dislike walking into fights blind like an idiot," Sasha called as she smirked, receiving another elbow and frown from Aleksis. Sasha felt bad for a brief moment but the sound of Ren screaming in the background brought the smile back to her face.

"Codename Legaconda is approaching from the west. Roughly ten kilometers out. Also, as entertaining as it is I think it might be a good idea to back off of your fellow ranger. The only thing stopping her from running into the sim room is a few unlocked doors and about ten easily frightened scientists. Just saying, you know, wait till your hands and feet aren't strapped down to poke the psycho with a stick," Sam replied, whispering the last part. She didn't want to give Ren any ideas. Sasha replied with a nod before reaching out to activate their radar. She'd have to remember to have some more fun with Ren's psyche later. Aleksis simply sighed in protest.

"Eight Kilometers and closing. Do the helicopters have visuals yet?" Sasha asked as Cherno turned to face the west, fingers wriggling slightly before closing into fists. The breathing of both pilots slowed as they cleared their minds. It was what they'd been trained to do before a fight. Aleksis by his alcoholic uncle, Sasha by military instructors, both by a veteran pilot at the academy. Nothing else existed outside of the task at hand and their minds were to be clear of distractions. Distractions lost fights. They were as much an enemy as any Kaiju.

"Helicopters do not have visuals but are tracking it via sonar so head for the lights. Just like with Fuzzyface you'll be looking at a high category Kaiju, not a Trespasser or Karloff clone like in the academy, so prepare yourselves for anything. Minori was told to be very creative with these things," Samantha called back. Neither pilot responded verbally, but Cherno did begin walking towards the lights in the distance. You could only tell that they came from helicopters during the lightning strikes that illuminated the sky. Otherwise it simply looked like spotlights like you might find outside of a newly opened restaurant during its grand opening. It only took a minute and a half of walking before the Kaiju decided to reveal itself. Cherno stopped and watched as Legaconda sprang from the waves, the eyes of the pilots widening as they realized what the basis for this Kaiju was… a Centipede. It had no arms but made up for it with giant serrated mandibles and thick legs which came to sharp looking points. What worried the pilots the most though was the thick looking plates of armor which lined its back. Some bore spikes while some did not, but they looked as solid as stone. Cherno's fists could break it but not in one punch, which was not a good thing. Legaconda let out a high pitched roar as Sasha and Aleksis studied it, adding in one more bit of knowledge as it darted to the side; it could move much faster than Cherno could turn. Before the jaeger could react to the sudden lunge, the Kaiju had wrapped itself around Cherno and was attacking the head, or would have had Cherno not raised an arm to block the mandibles from reaching the reactor.

"Fuck! Damn this thing is fast!" Sasha shouted before grunting from the effort of holding the Kaiju back. It was strong but it had made one error in its attack strategy by not pinning down Cherno's other arm. Grabbing hold of a leg with the arm keeping the mandibles at bay, Cherno's left hand clenched tightly into a fist before swinging up into the only part of the Kaiju not covered in plates. The crunching sound of the exoskeleton cracking made Samantha cringe even in the control room. Cherno's left fist was covered in blue from the blood oozing from the wound, but as bad as it looked the jaeger had only crippled the legs surrounding the wound. The Kaiju let out a shrill cry as its body cringed in pain, letting go of Cherno and falling back into the raging sea. The strong currents and crashing waves distorted the Kaiju blue as quickly as it rose to the surface and since the Kaiju was not so much tall as it was long, it made tracking the creature visually impossible. Aleksis grunted in annoyance as he brought up sonar, leaving Sasha to shift Cherno into a defensive stance, arms raised as she waited for either the thing to show itself again or Aleksis to point her in the appropriate direction.

"Guys, the Kaiju is hauling ass towards Vladivostok. Might want to hurry up and catch it so you don't fail the simulation," Samantha called over the radio, getting an annoyed growl from Sasha in reply. She had no intention of losing to that woman. Every second it took for Cherno to turn ate at Sasha's psyche and every hesitation it made as it began to run caused her teeth to clench. Aleksis silently watched Sasha as she took command, moving in sync with her as she furiously ran to catch up with their target. It was his first time seeing her lose composure in the field and knowing the cause did little to ease his mind about it. He could feel her pushing everything out of her mind, including him, as she pumped her arms and legs.

"Sasha, love, are you certain you're focused on the right things here?" Aleksis delicately asked as they began to catch up with the Kaiju. Sasha at first simply grunted in response, not taking her eyes off of the sonar blip she was trying to crush.

"Aleksis, I'm so focused on killing this Kaiju I can taste sound. Stop worrying and help me!" She snapped back, yelling the last part as the jaeger stomped down onto the last segment of Legaconda's body, pinning it down under Cherno's massive weight. There were no cries this time to signify the Kaiju's pain but rather the churning of the sea around its head. It gave Cherno a target. Taking another step forward the jaeger lifted its foot out of the sea this time before sending it crashing back down into the waves, snapping the armored shell in half and crushing the exoskeleton beneath them. The waves around them began to glow blue with its blood but before Cherno could attack further, the simulation abruptly changed. The sea calmed and the skies cleared as the storm abruptly ended and the pilots could see the area around them. The coastline was visible now, and as Sasha looked from it to the writhing Kaiju beneath them she could not piece together what the problem was. The Kaiju had not made landfall nor had Cherno Alpha sustained significant damage. Even as the simulation ended and the drift faded away, both pilots were still confused. Figuring as much, Petya silently motioned for Minori to speak up.

"So far the Kaiju have differed greatly in appearance and size, but these are typically obvious things most civilians can tell, if criminally simplified, about these creatures from a glance. I am sure you learned in the academy about Kaiju Blue, yes? It too is a factor in determining what category best fits a Kaiju. Legaconda, though smaller than every previous Kaiju, was a category four based on its toxic blood alone. Your method of execution involved crushing its body, while a wise strategy on most opponents faster than yourself, it also was the bloodiest option you could have chosen. That blood would not have diluted at all before reaching shore, killing all sea life near the coast and infecting any beach going civilians or dockworkers. An outcome the commander has deemed grounds for simulation failure." Minori gently cooed, not excited to give the news to the Cherno team. Petya did not have the same inhibition.

"A little long winded but an excellent summary as to why the plug was pulled Ms. Fukatawa. The only acceptable casualties are for the Kaiju. Technicians, begin unstrapping 1st lieutenants Aleksis Kaidonovsky and Sasha Zolnerowich." Petya sighed, displeased at the performance of both teams but mostly in the haste made by the jaeger academy in spitting out pilots. They were ready to kill a Kaiju, not to wage a war with them.

"Rangers, all four of you will run these simulations again tonight. Each of you will get on your hands and knees in the meantime and beg Ms. Fukatawa to impart her knowledge into your thick skulls so that you will not die the first time you are deployed. My record will not be stained due to your incompetence, nor will Russians die as a result of piss poor piloting skills. Your new goal in life is no longer to survive fighting these Kaiju but to strive to meet my expectations. I promise you that if you do, you will live to see the last Kaiju fall. Am I understood?" Petya stated confidently, glaring through the monitors at Sasha and Aleksis as they saluted in response, nodding slightly as they shouted back in the affirmative in sync with Ren and Nikita. Minori was blushing at the attention she was suddenly getting as she attempted to shrink into her chair. The only thing stopping her was Sam, who'd thrown an arm around her friend and pulled her back into proper posture.

"Huh uh. Not letting you get out of being appreciated just because you're not used to it. Sorry dear." Sam whispered gently before squeezing Minori's shoulder. The scientist's cheeks reddened further but her back remained straight. Sam couldn't help but smile at the sight of her friend's shell of politeness slowly cracking. The exchange was unnoticed by the others in the control room, the Kotkos having been dismissed along with Sasha and Aleksis. Petya was staring at the monitors, screenshots of the simulations Sam had taken while monitoring them. He would need to do research as well if he were going to keep his word. Humans had never waged a war like this… not for millennia at least. The closest thing he could imagine were Neanderthals studying the tusks of mammoths in order to make spears, conquering the raw power of primal beasts with superior intellect. It's why he'd fought tooth and nail to get the best research team his budget would allow. Seeing the Kaiju Minori had designed from sketches in her notebook had validated those decisions.

Burundukov's thoughts were halted when Samantha inched next to him, holding her clipboard out and gently shaking it to get his attention.

"Sir, great speech as usual, but about that simulation tonight…"


Regardless of her quickened pace it did not take more than a few minutes for Ren to catch up to Sasha in the tunnel which lead to their rooms. Sasha knew without even turning around that the savage would be smirking like she had won and knew this was coming as soon as the simulation ended without a confirmed kill. Sasha did not stop moving but now there was little chance of escape.

"Sasha, my friend and fellow ranger! I couldn't help but notice after all that shit you talked before your simulation that you fucking tanked so hard that Petya pulled the plug on you. If I were a petty person I might be inclined to mock you. After some soul searching on the way here though, I learned that I'm not that petty. No, I'm more of a bitch and I'm going to break your teeth," Ren said, cracking her knuckles as she stared daggers into the back of Sasha's head. Sasha spun around and rolled her shoulders once to limber up and returned the look while sizing her opponent up. Her first thought was the curious lack of Aleksis. Ren probably left Nikita behind so he wouldn't talk her out of this and Aleksis with his bleeding heart had stayed behind to help him out. Sasha was glad for it. If Ren was this committed to a fight then this would be the only way to shut her up. She would be lying if she said she wasn't looking forward to a good fight against this annoying bitch.

Ren moved first, not the primal beast Sasha had foreseen based on that simulated fight but calm and controlled. She started to draw her left fist back like she was preparing for a left hook, but the strike was a feint as Sasha found out when Ren's right fist swung up into her gut. Ren had used the momentum from pulling in her left hand to put more power into the quick jab with the right. Sasha winced from the sudden impact, barely having time to tighten her stomach to avoid having the wind knocked out of her, then lunged forward herself and rammed her forehead into Ren's face. Blood stained Sasha's forehead from the blow from Ren's now busted nose but in the time it took Sasha to form a smug grin, Ren reached out and grabbed Sasha by the back of the head and yanked her forward to return the favor, slamming her forehead into the former guard's face once with enough force to bloody Sasha's nose. She was drawing back for another strike until Aleksis wedged his body between the two. He wrapped his arms around her and hoisted her off of the ground, a stern look in his eyes as he stepped away from Ren.

"No more! Neither of you will be satisfied until the other can't move anymore. I don't know what I was thinking in taking my eyes off of you two!" Aleksis shouted, showing no sign of duress from the struggle Sasha was putting up to free herself. Ren stared at the giant for a few moments, the same look she had given Sasha before the fight had started. She didn't seem fazed by the broken nose nor by the seven foot man telling her to stop. The only thing that kept her from dropkicking his legs out from under him was Nikita putting a hand on her shoulder. Ren snorted heavily before glancing back at her brother, the fire in her eyes dancing wildly as she silently demanded he back the hell off, but as her head turned the glare met a detour which extinguished the flames. Nikita had his phone out and held at Ren's eye level and on the screen was a very angry looking Vera's face. Vera looked to be wearing an apron from what Ren could see, standing outside near a truck.

"Are you out of your goddamn mind, Ren? Two fucking days and you're pulling crap like this when you know they'll throw you back in prison after one fuck-up?" Vera shouted, taking a drag off of her cigarette while she gave Ren a second to respond, though as Ren started to Vera squinted and pulled her phone in closer to her face for a moment. She did not look pleased at what she saw as Aleksis began carrying Sasha off.

"The prison guard? The one that kicked that bastard's ass? REALLY?! The hell did she do to you, Ren? What the fuck could she have done in two days to circumvent that and earn herself a busted nose?" Vera shouted, glaring at Ren through the screen like an angry mother. Ren looked off to the side before she said anything, wincing slightly as Nikita reached out with a handkerchief and dabbed gently at Ren's upper lip to try to clean her up a bit. Ren pretended to be distracted by it to avoid answering for a few more seconds.

"I got my reasons I guess. They aren't good ones but they're mine," Ren said calmly as she took possession of the handkerchief and used it to pinch her nose and stop the blood. Her eyes were distant again, a look Vera knew well enough that she calmed down a bit herself.

"I bet. Just remember the day I got out and that promise you made to me. I know you're better than this you dumbass," Vera sighed, taking another drag of her cigarette before a smirk tugged at the corners of her mouth. "At least tell me the other girl didn't come out as pretty as you did," Vera joked, which got a smile out of Ren.

"Bitch, that was the case before I started swinging."


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