Chapter X

Newton didn't know what to think the last time he'd seen Hannibal Chau he'd been eaten alive by a baby Kaiju in an event that seemed eerily similar to the one that Ethan survived in Los Angeles. As far as he knew the black market dealer was dead, he had no idea that he had a son although it may have been a safe assumption considering he was the owner of a Kaiju parts empire he might have actually had a lot of kids. Either way there was no telling who this man was since Newton could see absolutely no resemblance whatsoever. Where Hannibal had been a big man with broad shoulders and a commanding presence this son of his might as well have passed for an insignificant flea. He was barely over five feet looked like a native to the area had much darker skin and a face that came right off a starving man although he seemed to be able to feed himself because by clothes he had the whole deal. Snakeskin jacket a blinding pair of shoes and the most expensively embroidered pants Newton had ever seen.

After getting over the shock of who his captors claimed to be Newton looked around the room hoping to see something that might tell him where he was. There was broken planks stashed in a corner, shuttered windows and a staircase that he couldn't see the end of. That was wonderful, he was trapped in a building with a bunch of psychopaths and he had no idea where.

"You worked with my father." The man said "you knew him he worked with you why did you kill him?"

Newton couldn't answer straight "I. . .I don't know what you're talking abb. . .bout" he said shaking uncontrollably.

His captor smiled "well it's good to know at least you remember him!" his voice elevated in volume as he spoke then a fist hit Newton across the side of his face.

"gaahhhh!" he said "what the hell was that for?"

The man pulled out a knife that Newton knew all too well. "You'll remember me as Anon." he said "my father didn't use his real name and neither will I, you see I was his favorite son which is why he gave me the business when he killed himself!"

"b. . .bu. . .bu. . .but that's not possible. I saw him die. He. . .he got eaten right in front of me." Newton stammered.

Anon grinned evilly "ah well that's great you remember why." he paused then continued in a tone of mocking curiosity "tell me what happened after that? did you see him again? did you tell him how grateful you were? Why else would he have gone and put a bullet in his head?" one of the guards held Newton's head back while Anon passed the blade back and forth between his fingers. "Newton I know what you're after. A way to end this war right? Now I'm sorry but I can't let you do that. you see I have I business to run and the only way I can run that business is with dead Kaiju, if the war ends then I go bankrupt."

"Well I'm really sorry" Newton said struggling against the man holding his head "but you probably should have looked into a different market or at least thought about that."

"Shut up!" Anon screamed smacking Newton across the jaw "if I wanted another business I would have started one. Can't you see this?" he pointed to his pants and their billion dollar embroideries "I can do whatever the hell I want! And right now that has nothing to do with starting over. This business is going to go on until I am dead then I'll pass it along to my kids who will be just a clever as I have in keeping it alive." He backed up and took a deep breath. "Now normally I don't leave loose ends but right now I'm going to let you go and catch your flight because I know that after we've had this little talk you will be willing to help me. I want you to find a way to kill the Kaiju leaving them as intact as they can be and give that and only that information to Raleigh Beckett." He spat the name "once you have done that you will never hear from me again," Newton was about to say something but Newton silenced him with a wave of his hand "but in the event that you decide to relay any way to block our world from theirs forever I will find you and I will kill you. Do we understand each other?"

Newton had no choice but to nod yes. Anon didn't really seem to care either way but he didn't want to risk anything, or getting punched again.

Karol had never been more confused in his life. all this time he thought he had what was going on he tried recapping everything that happened at the end of the first war when he was about five years old to the present. It was only through the outstanding courage of pilots like Raleigh and Mako that the world had managed to survive. He knew about the past two Marshalls of the Shatterdome Stacker Pentecost and Hercules Hanssen, Pentecost had died in the attack on the breach and Hanssen eventually overcome with the grief of losing his son the same way resigned and disappeared. His body turned up about two months later in Siberia. He'd frozen to death. That was when Raleigh took over with Mako. Seeing how the Breach was closed the UN closed the Shatterdome about a month later and everything was quiet for pretty much all of Karol's life. He saw cities getting rebuilt from the attacks and met Jenna when he moved to the United States. They spent their time together designing windmill farms and other renewable energy sources to help the world rebuild. Then the Breach reopened they went into training and came out as pilots of Alpha Dog.

Jenna came into the room jarring him out of his thoughts "hey" she said.

"Hey."

"Is something wrong?"

Karol shook his head "no I'm fine, I. . .I just thought I knew what we were getting into when we signed up for this job."

"We did know."

"That's what I thought until today."

"What do you mean?"

"I thought I knew about the Kaiju and today proved to me that I was sorely mistaken everything I thought I knew about them was completely wrong. The way it always was they came through the Breach and attacked a city. That's how it was and I don't understand why so many of them came through today only to go back in. They're getting smarter Jenna, in the first war they were just developing new weapons and figuring out our strategies. You've seen the tapes. The last waves of Kaiju were specifically designed to destroy the Jaegers they went up against which is why they won. But now it's as if whatever it is that's ordering them around has decided to play chess."

Jenna didn't say anything for a while. She just stood there looking and him for several minutes.

"Karol." She said at last "I have a bad feeling that you're right."

Thanks again for reading all of you don't forget to follow/fav and let me know what you think in the comments and if any of you stayed after the movie for the mid credits scene you'll know what I'm talking about with Hannibal chau see you all tomorrow :)