Operation Pitfall

Thank you so much to everyone who convinced me to carry on writing this. It has been so long since I updated, since before last christmas, that you're probably gonna need to go back and re-read a lot of this...sorry. But special thanks to AsianVegetablesLLC, bluenotepad, Pixie Star Fire, whoever that Guest was, and a big thank you to Dis Kid and of course the ever faithful knightphoenix2.

"How sick are you?" Stacker shouldn't have been surprised by the question from behind him. Raleigh hadn't believed him, but then Stacker Pentecost wasn't a fool and hadn't expected him to.
"Didn't we already have this conversation? You asked if I was alright and I said yes..." Raleigh bored a hole into his back with his eyes and Pentecost turned around with a low growl. "What's to tell? Those Mark 1s, well, those bad boys were scraped together in 14 months. That's not time to be worrying about radiation shielding." He threw the towel to one side and carried on in his routine whilst keeping eye contact with the Ranger. "I ran nearly a dozen missions, stayed under the medical radar for a while, but the last time I jockeyed was Tokyo. I finished the fight solo but for three hours, I burned." Raleigh flinched ever so slightly. "They warned me if I ever set foot into a Jaeger again the toll would be too much. You and I are the only two that ever ran solo combat." He explained as he sorted out his new shirt. "That's why I brought you here."

Just as they had finished staring at each other and were about to start a more casual conversation, a holo screen made itself known, flashing brightly to get their attention as it formed itself. On the other side was Tendo, flanked by Quinn. Quinn had pure yellow hair, electric blue eyes, a sharp face and tanned skin. Even if you hadn't known he was an elemental, it wouldn't take much to guess. They had a nasty habit of looking like their element.
"Sir, its started." Tendo told them. "I've got two signatures coming from the breach. Unprecedented dilations sir, 40 metre spikes."
"What category?"
"Category fours, Marshall."
"Where are they headed?" He ordered, glancing at Raleigh, who had his lips pressed tightly together.
"Thats the odd thing sir." Puzzlement didn't sound right in Tendo's savvy voice. "They aren't going anywhere. They're circling around the Breach, almost like they're...protecting it or something." Pentecost was only half listening. Sometimes, he thought, you had to do crazy things to survive. He had to pilot alone. Raleigh had to be put back into action.
Monsters had to be trusted with a human mind.
"Get Gipsy and Striker ready." He ordered Tendo.
"Herc can't pilot. His arm..."
"I know." Pentecost nodded. "I know. You heard me."

"No, I'm not suiting up til I know who my co-pilot is!" Chuck was shouting. Their attentions, therefore, were instantly caught when the doors began to open. What they saw wasn't what they were expecting. Tendo and Pentecost were walking either side of Louhi, who was wearing his other uniform. His jaw dropped.
"It is more flexible than I am used to." She commented dryly as she came to a stop in front of him. He gaped for a couple more seconds then turned to Tendo and Pentecost.
"You can't be serious. You want me to initiate a Feral Drift with her?"
"Boy, I piloted a Mark 2 for 8 months before they stopped Parahumans getting in Jaegers. I'll be fine." She assured him.
"You? Have piloted a Jaeger?" Mako asked curiously.
"Yes, with my mother." She nodded. When she caught Chuck staring at her she quickly expanded, "Eerika Noita." Chuck nodded absentmindedly, then his eyes widened.
"That's the queen of the Lappi-Klann! Some of the most powerful witches in the world are from there...and you're her daughter!" Even the Marshall seemed a little taken by surprise. She frowned in response.
"You did not know? Oh well, no matter now."
"No matter?!" Chuck practically screamed. "You're really powerful! No wonder you could freeze all those people in place."
"Not as powerful as my mother. I passed out afterward." She pointed out far too cheerfully.
"There isn't enough time to do this now, you can sort it out in the Drift." Pentecost didn't quite snap in that unique way of his. "Chuck, go get ready. You'll be moving out soon."

He looked around inconspicuously then jumped onto a nearby scrapped Jaeger claw.
"Everyone, listen up!" With everyone's attention on him he spoke fervently, voice carrying clearly to them all. "Today. Today...At the edge of our hope, at the end of our time, we have chosen not only to believe in ourselves but in each other. Today, there is not a man nor woman, be they human or not, in here that shall stand alone. Not today. Today we face the aliens that are at our door, and bring the fight to them! Today we are cancelling the apocalypse!"
"Hey, before we get in that Jaeger..." Louhi's soft voice brought him down from his awe at the speech. He could still feel the effect of it fizzing in his veins, but her next words dampened the feeling a bit. "Speak to your Dad." With that she moved past him to wait in the lift.

So here they were, stood opposite each other, but there was a distinct lack of the usual animosity. With the danger ahead, the atmosphere was much more sombre and tired, though still a little awkward.
"Hey now." Herc muttered, voice rasping, and Chuck just couldn't deal with that so he smiled slightly and looked at Max. No, he wasn't fighting back tears. Of course not. "When you Drift with someone..." He slowly raised his eyes back up. "You feel like there's nothing to talk about. I just don't wanna regret all the things that I never said out loud." There was that timbre to his voice that spoke of coming tears and Chuck quickly cut him off.
"Don't." He glanced away for a second and sighed. "You don't need to." Now his voice was trembling with the same timbre and that just wouldn't do. Showing he cared, fair enough, but he didn't want his Dad's last- he almost choked at the thought but resolutely carried on. He didn't want his Dad's last real memory of him to be him crying little a lost sheila, so took a deep breath to steady his thoughts. "I know them all. I always have." Max's bark gave them a good risen to break their reddening gazes and crouched down next to the bulldog and cupped his cheeks. "Hey. Hey, handsome. Oh, I'm gonna miss you." Giving the dog a final kiss on the head and a ruffle of his head he stood. "You look after him for me." And without waiting for a response he strode away and joined Louhi in the lift.
"Louhi!" They looked up as the doors began to close. "That's my son you have there. My son." The last sentence was a breath. She gave Chuck a sideways look at the doors shut off his view of the corridor but didn't speak.

"How do you know we're compatible?" Chuck asked her quietly as they rose toward the Comm-Pod.
"Of course we are kid," She responded just as quietly with a small smile, "We're both lost in the real world." He nodded, then scowled.
"Don't call me kid. You're barely older than me."
"I'm 26." She just had the time to snigger at his put-upon expression before they were pulling their helmets on and entering the Jaeger. Time for business.
"Drift initiating." The AI's cool voice informed them, before they were pulled down and apart. Chuck was knocked off balance by how much more vivid her memories were than his Dad's. Because she was younger, or because she was a monster? Although the rush was intense he never felt the luring pull of chasing the R.A.B.I.T for either of them. What he did feel was his mental 'blocks' that always held up against his father just melt away without her even seeming to notice they were there. That might be because he was used to how Herc's mind worked- or again simply because she was a monster. He felt more than saw his Finnish vocabulary gain about 100 words even as some of her fighting moves settled into his bones; at the same time he knew she'd learnt a few more english words and idioms and had settled slightly into his style, adjusting easily to it. One important thing was she wasn't nosing around in his head purposefully, and was also rather carefully holding back her mind enough so she didn't fry his brain. That was nice. He rather liked his brain, no matter the cracks people made about it.

"Drift stable and holding." Tendo informed them as Chuck blinked a few times and Louhi let out a breath. "You two alright?" Still no response. "Guys?"
"And I thought I had problems." Chuck grumbled, looking across at her.
"Count yourself lucky you've never met her." Louhi grumbled right back.
"I don't want to know what you two are talking about." Pentecost decided. "Make sure you get that payload delivered safely, Striker."
"Yessir." There was an obvious grin in Louhi's voice.
"Oh gods, keep those thoughts out of my head!" Chuck cried.
"I'm beginning to think this wasn't such a good idea..." Pentecost muttered to Herc, getting a rueful grin in response.
"I dunno. They compliment each other nicely I reckon."
"Maybe. But I just know that clash of accents is going to drive me crazy." Tendo informed them under his breath.
Almost at the same time, Pentecost felt a crushing wave of fatigue, swiftly swallowed by a prickling burning. No. Not now. This was important goddamnit.

Vick twisted in and easily caught the slumping Pentecost.
"People really need to stop fainting." He muttered.
"What was that?" Raleigh asked.
"Er..." Tendo intoned, before slowly covering the mike. "Get him to the healers!" Then he spoke to Gipsy again. "Pentecost isn't feeling too good. Um. He's been pulled off by overprotective witchy healers."
"Good. You don't understand how many bloody carbs it takes to heal someone. Half of us fainted." Louhi didn't seem too worried, although Chuck was oddly quiet and the noises coming from Gipsy were less than happy. Then again, he had no idea what she was talking about.
"Crazy witch." He said quietly as he stepped away.
"I heard that." Came her dry voice. A vampire working on one of the consoles giggled, then ducked his head as Herc glared around.
"Just keep going."

The comms from both Jaeger's switched off. Fair enough.
"So...ya all helped heal the pilots eh?" Chuck asked Louhi.
"Oh shit." She cursed, glancing across at him. "I forgot about that. You know witch secrets now."
"Nah." He shrugged, she moving effortlessly with him in the same movement. "I don't know why you did it." There was a warm flush in his head, which was slightly concerning, and a grunt from Louhi.
"Yeah you do." And he did. He was slightly worried by her ability to push information into his head, which had to be a witch thing, and also really excited.
"Can you teach me to do that?" He muttered as he sifted through the information, turning it into words. When there's a big accident in a witch clan, a certain call is sent out, different one for each clan. All witches follow it and help with the healing, because all witches know basic healing at least.
"No. I'm not sure how I do it myself."

"He's not sick." Mako said quietly.
"I know."
"He would never go away. He'd never leave me."
Raleigh didn't even bother verbally responding to that one. In the Drift, thoughts were shared 100 times faster than speaking, or so it seemed. Good partners could have a sophisticated debate in the time it took to blink. Right now, they were having a bawling conversation, and within a few seconds Mako was calm and determined once more. "Let's get this over with."

Tendo's voice came through the Comm lines, warning them they were about to be dropped. Effortlessly they began to walk, powering through the ocean as it began to rise up around them.
"LOCCENT, all ports sealed. Ready to submerge." Chuck reported, and Raleigh repeated the message. Even as the final changes for complete submersion were being made, the Jaegers dropped below the surface, moving ever closer toward their goal. In LOCCENT, an Xana called out,
"Both neural handshakes at 100%." As Herc finally entered, giving in to his duties as the temporary Marshall.
"Neural handshake is confirmed sir." Tendo reported as he came up next to him.
"Two actives still in circle formation in the Guam quadrant." Herc told the pilots. "Codenames Scunner, Raiju. Both category fours. Look alive out there."
"Roger that." Louhi answered for her co-pilot before turning to talk to him. "Only half a mile until the ocean cliff, and the jump! It's 3000 metres to the breach!" She had to yell to be heard.
"Half a mile? I can't see a damn inch ahead. How are we supposed to deliver the bomb?" He responded with disbelief.
"I dunno, I don't even know how far an inch is." A rush of incredulity ran through the link. "Hey buddy, Europe uses the metric system!"

"Visibility zero." Raleigh snarled in Gipsy. "Switching to instruments now."
"I can see something..." Mako noted, and he turned to her.
"What was it?"
"I don't know. Like a seal?"
"Gipsy you have movement on your right!" Herc's anxious voice blasted through the Comm line. "3 o'clock! 3 o'clock!" The AI instantly began scanning but found the right to be clear, which Raleigh reported back.
"I got nothing." He added, and Tendo responded instantly as the two pilots kept looking around.
"Left now, and moving fast! Fastest Kaiju on record." Something brushed past and they turned to look, but it was gone by that point.
"I don't see anything. It's going too fast!" Raleigh cried.
"Eyes on the prize, Gipsy." Chuck reminded them through the Comm. "600 metres from the drop." Soon they reached the cliff edge and both Jaegers jumped down, synthetic bodies easily taking the weight of the sea and the shock of the impact. "400 metres and closing."

"Striker!" Herc yelled through the Comm. "Bogeys are stopping. One o'clock." Herc and Louhi instantly dropped into a defensive stance and scanned the waters but saw nothing.
"Louhi, what are you doing?" Herc snapped, but he'd moved as she did.
"They've stopped. Why have they stopped?" She whispered.
"I don't give a damn!" He hissed at her. "We're 300 metres from the jump." But she shook her head and refused to unlock her muscles.
"Something's not right."

"Two Kaiju!" Newt heard Hermann yell behind him again. "Two Kaiju signatures, not three like I predicted!"
"Hermann, I haven't exactly had a very good day!" Later he would wince at his sharpness with the hunter, and fret over every word, but to be honest his irritation was kinda justifiable and he made up for it a minute later by sympathising with the man, albeit absentmindedly. "I've got about five minutes-" The brain probe slid in with a disgusting sounding splat as he paused, which Hermann used as an opportunity to mutter about how there should be three Kaiju before Newt continued. "-Until brain death occurs here, I don't want to spend it talking about your theories!"
"They're wrong!" Hermann told him hotly. "There should be three Kaiju, not two."
"There should be three, there's two, I'm sorry." See, sympathy. "I'll be happy to debate anything wrong with your model in the future but right now the neural readings are off the charts so if you want to help, help with that!" He was programming the pons unit at the time and wasn't aware of Hermann blinking at the absent apology before determination wrote itself over his face and he too began to mess with the programming.
"Newton I am not wrong." He declared, pulling away from it and standing up straight. "And there is only one way to make sure. That is to do this together." Newt spun around comically fast with his mouth gaping, only just noticing the changes he'd made. "I'll go with you. That's what the pilots do- share the neural load."
"You're serious." Newt blinked, and something in his deadened mind was going strong enough to verbalise his thoughts. "You, you would do that for me-" Damnit, abort, sounded too mushy and romantic. "I-I mean y-you would do that with me." Hermann grinned at him but it was quickly covered up by a smile of nobleness. Newt felt himself blush at that- surely there was no way the Hunter felt the same way as he did?
"Well, with world-wide destruction a certain alternative, do I really have a choice?" The Hunter joked- actually joked- with a smile.
"Then say it with me my man!" Newt crowed, holding his hand out and hoping against hope Hermann would take the hint, so they could touch hands if just for a second. "We're gonna own this bad boy!"
"By jove, we are going to own this thing for sure!" Hermann agreed enthusiastically, and whilst Newt was a bit disappointed by the lack of prolonged touch the cuteness of Hermann's dithering, awkward actions more than made up for it, and he let out a long (totally not manic) laugh at it.

Both strapped in, Newt called back to him.
"You ready for this?"
"Oh, yes." Hermann's voice was stronger than he'd been expecting but he shouldn't be surprised at this point.
"Initiating neural handshake in five, four, three, two...one." He pressed the button, the brain jerked inside the Kaiju, and they were both pulled along on the ride.

Flashes of images from both their lives intermingled. Newton as a child playing with a toy plane, cool helmet firmly on his head as he spun it happily around...Hermann finishing his math equation in front of a young crowd of glaring faces...Newt being taught how to control the urges to kill, being locked in his own little cell, the pain of his first change...Hermann curled up to ignore the harsh words of his sister, his mother trying to awkwardly comfort him...Newt working his way through college, protesting against something that flickered past too quickly for them to know...Hermann cradling a dying Vanessa, trying to stop the blood gushing out of the wounds in her neck...Newt crying at the funeral of his friend...Hermann's first vampire kill...Newt getting his first tattoo... And then suddenly the Kaiju, the Anteverse, so many memories and feelings and emotions and ideas from an entire race at once.

Newt gasped and pulled the Drift helmet from his head, not noticing the blood dripping from his and Hermann's nose.
"Are you okay?!"
"Yes, of course." Hermann croaked out, making Newt nod. His mind was flying with all they had learnt even as Hermann staggered over to a toilet and was sick. With a sigh he stumbled over and placed a handkerchief in Hermann's flailing hand so he could straighten. "The Drift. You saw it?"
"Yeah-"
"Did you?!"
"Yes, I saw it. Listen, we have to warn them. The Jaegers...the Breach...the plan!" He struggled to get the words out.
"It's not going to work!" Hermann finished viciously for him.

Somehow Newt managed to flag down a helicopter, driven by an elf. It took Hermann only seconds to convince him to take them back the the Shatterdome at the fastest speed possible. In the relative privacy the two scientists settled back opposite each other and thought over what they had seen. Not just of the Anteverse and the creators, the horrors of the cloning factories and the domination fights, the animalistic pounding fury that still rang through their heads. Newt was remembering killing Vampires and Werewolves, Witches and Fae, avoiding his family and their bitter words and isolating himself away, whilst Hermann was remembering fighting with rival packs and snuggling up with a lamb toy as a wolf and befriending mon- Parahumans that he later went to their funerals and no-one knew what had happened... They both threw up at the same time, noses still running, eyes bloodshot as they met for half a second before Hermann miraculously managed to produce some dry cotton wool and shared it without looking into the revealed werewolf's eyes.

The helicopter hit the ground smoothly and they rushed out, relieved to not be battling against the wind and stinging rain to get inside. People scattered in the way of their mad dash because they needed to get to LOCCENT, this was important so bloody move! They arrived in time to hear Hansen order,
"Striker, take the leap now!"
"Don't do it!" Newt yelled, racing down to the monitor with his arms waving. Hermann wasn't too far behind. "Don't do it! Its not going to work! Get out of the way, you fascist." He pushed Hansen out of the way.
"Hey!" Louhi snapped, obviously picking up on the fascist comment with her creepy witch sense.
"What do you mean, what's not going to work?" Chuck demanded.

"Just because the Breach is open doesn't mean you're going to be able to get a bomb through."
"The Breach genetically reads the Kaiju like a barcode at the supermarket and then lets them pass." Hermann took over.
"Okay so you're going to have to fool the Breach into thinking you have the same code like hacking a web portal." Newt finished in a rush.
"And how are we supposed to do that?"
"By making it think you are a Kaiju." Newt answered.
"You have to lock onto the Kaiju and ride it into the Breach. The throat will then read the Kaiju's genetic code and let you pass."
"If you don't do it the bomb will just deflect off the Breach like it always has and the mission will fail!"
"So, now all of you heard all that-!" Hansen shouted, pushing them out of the way. "Striker, take the leap!"
"Sir, I have a third signature headed through the Breach!" Tendo cried, leaning closer.
"Third signature coming through the breach." Hansen relayed, the two scientists anxiously watching Tendo as he enlarged the signature.
"A triple event." Newton breathed.
"Oh God, I was right." Hermann murmured.
"How big is it?" Louhi questioned frantically. "What category?"
"Category five." Tendo lowly told Hansen. He somberly relayed it.
"Codename Slattern." He added. The two pilots took an instinctive half-step back, both at the warning and the roar Slattern made as he rose from the Breach before twisting it's head down to look at Striker. They took another half-step back before aggressively settling back into their defensive stance and pointing their blades at it.
"Striker, we see him." Raleigh informed them. "We're right behind you buddy, about 100 metres."
"We're going to come around your 3 o'clock, try to flank him." Mako added determinedly.
"Standard two team formation." Raleigh continued, unaware of Louhi's head snapping around in Striker. "Just keep him busy for-"
"DUCK!" Louhi's voice seemed to arrive in their heads long before they heard it over the Comm and they were already moving when Scunner tried to slam into them. Sweeping their fist out as the Kaiju came at them they were still knocked off their feet but were able to get a few good hits in before grabbing it by the horns and slamming their heads together once, twice, before pinning the screaming monster to the floor.

Striker were facing their own problems. Inside the Conn-pod Chuck shook his head at the slight ringing he was hearing.
"What was that?" He snarled at his co-pilot, but she was staring ahead with wide eyes and he turned to look. Slattern was spinning his tentacles with increasing speed and Chuck roared, "Brace for impact!" A couple of seconds before the Kaiju struck out. They were spun away by the strength in it and smashed against a rock. Gipsy, about to impale Scunner, was slammed into by Raiju. He tore off the left arm and Raleigh screamed inside the Conn-pod, but the two were able to slice the sword through Scunner's skull and drag it over to one of the underwater volcanoes, burning its face as it shrieked. Bucking wildly, it was able to throw them off, and they struggled to stand by using the sword. "Gipsy, coming up on your 12 o'clock!" Chuck warned them, Louhi busy trying to run diagnostics. "Full speed! Get out of the way!" Raiju was swimming straight for them, snout open in anticipation. Reacting at just the right second they raised their right arm and the sword sliced right through the middle of the Kaiju. Grunting, they held it up until the sword cleared the tail then sliced about in front of them, focusing on Scunner.

"The release is jammed." Chuck was telling her as they managed to stand. "So that means we're unable to deliver the payload. But we're still armed."
"The hull's compromised and half our systems are offline." She reported back. "That was one hell of a hit, Chuck. Oh, shi-"
He turned just as Slattern slammed into them, picking them up with its claws and dropping down the cliff face before ramming them into the soil as it went, lifting them up so it could swipe them across the face with it's claws. Working in tandem the two leapt for it and were able to impale it with their right sword, viciously pushing it in further the second they got the chance. Pushing it backed they snarled together as it threw back its head and roared. Gipsy could only watch as Scunner turned from them and began to speed back toward the sound.
"Hang on, Striker. We're coming to you!" Raleigh called as they began to limp after the Kaiju.
"No!" Louhi snapped, and they paused in surprise before continuing. "Gipsy, do not come to our aid."
"We can still reach you, we're still coming for you." Raleigh protested as the two dragged the Jaeger closer.
"Raleigh, listen, you know what you have to do." Her voice wasn't overly loud or firm, but maybe that's why he listened. "Gipsy is nuclear. Go to the Breach."
"No, we won't-"
"...Do as she says." Herc intervened through the Comm, and he paused before slowly acquiesced.
"I hear you sir. Heading for the Breach." He looked at Mako, who still looked conflicted. He understood why, due to the Drift. Bakeneko took a long time to trust someone, but once they did they were loyal protectors for life. Leaving behind her best friend was tearing at her instincts. "We're a walking nuclear reactor." He reminded her quietly. "We can destroy the Breach." Eventually she nodded, and working together they turned Gipsy around.

In Striker, Louhi and Chuck turned the Jaeger to face the growling Slattern.
"We're clearing a path for the lady." Louhi told Chuck as they watched Scunner arrive. LOCCENT went quiet at that- they didn't need Tendo's words to tell them what was going to happen.
"Well, my father always said: If you have the shot, you take it." He gave her a sharp nod. "So let's do this!"
"Take your helmet off." She ordered him even as she unclipped herself and moved toward the console.
"What?" Chuck's brow visibly furrowed.
"Now!" Hastily he tore his helmet off as she pressed a few symbols onscreen, but her body was blocking the way so he couldn't see what. It was only when she moved closer to him that he could make out a radioactive symbol with a countdown superimposed over it, steadily ticking down from ten. "I promised your dad you'd survive this." She seriously informed him before reaching her bare hands out and gently taking hold of either side of his neck.

Gipsy could only watch as Striker exploded outward. The nuclear force ripped through the too close Kaiju and evaporated the water, rushing toward them. They braced against the faint force that was left of it, enough to evaporate the water still but doing nothing to them. Even as the water surged back in, they frantically searched the water for something, anything. But there was nothing there.
Through the comm unit there was a sound almost like a sob.
"Fuels leaking, right leg's critical- everything's critical." Raleigh reported, before looking the Mako. "So let's finish this."

"What are they doing?" Newt demanded, and it was an overly calm Herc that responded.
"Finishing the mission."

Step by dragging step they pulled themselves closer and closer to the Breach, picking up one half of Raiju as they went.
"LOCCENT, we have the Kaiju carcass. You better be right about this." Raleigh told them. "One way or another, we're getting this done." Suddenly they were forced to stop as Slattern landed in front of them. They took in in their stride, and with a silent thought released the rear jets and let the Jaeger fly forward. Smashing into the enormous Kaiju they ruthlessly sliced through its back and held on, falling toward the Breach. Slattern responded by repeatedly stabbing at the Jaegers back, severing one of Mako's oxygen lines. Feeling her plight Raleigh reached forward and purged the reactor, sending a burst of intense heat straight into the Kaiju's chest and eventually through it, resulting in its final death.

"They're in. They're in!" Tendo reported and the entire LOCCENT breathed out even as Newton cried,
"It worked!"
Gipsy continued to fall, releasing Scunner's corpse, but it wasn't over yet. Mako's eyes rolled back in her head as her depleted oxygen levels finally gave up and reached critical levels. Raleigh didn't hesitate to give her his own oxygen, something Tendo reported to them all.
"It's okay now Mako." Raleigh told her. "We did it. I can finish this alone. All I have to do is fall. Anyone can fall."
"Raleigh, your oxygen levels are critical now. You don't have much time." Tendo told him urgently as Raleigh began to evacuate Mako. "Start the core meltdown sequence and get out of there. Do you hear me? Get out of there now!" Mako's pod was ejected and Raleigh began to respond.
"LOCCENT, if you can hear me...I'm initiating...reactor override now." He was struggling to breathe and the fact he had to now activate it manually didn't help. Releasing himself he stumbled over to the reactor, almost falling in due to Gipsy's tumbling before he managed to heave himself up, open the hatch and set off the manual override. Hurrying back to the pods he straightened Gipsy before evacuating himself. The explosion pushed his pod up and he blacked out.

"Direct hit. The Breach has collapsed!" LOCCENT erupted into cheers and cries at Tendo's announcement but it wasn't to last.
"To the choppers, now!" Herc ordered fiercely and they rushed to obey, Hunters clambering in and starting the machines quickly before taking off.
"Visuals on the first pod." Tendo reported quickly as Mako's pod surfaced and opened. "Tracking solid. Vital signs are good." Mako took off her helmet and looked about at the smooth surface if the ocean.
"Okay, where's the second pod?" Herc asked, mirroring her thoughts.
"I'm tracking it but...I'm not getting any vital signs." Tendo responded. Now standing, Mako spun as the second pod surfaced and didn't hesitate in leaping off the side of her own. Relying on the adrenaline rush given to her by her Bakeneko side as she rushed to her co-pilot's side, she was able to stay afloat in the heavy armour til she made it to Raleigh's pod and pulled herself up. Tearing the safety cover and his helmet off she searched along his neck.
"I can't find his pulse." She reported shakily. "I don't think he's breathing." Ignoring what they were talking about she began to call his name. "Raleigh? Raleigh?"
"Mako, listen to me, the sensors could simply be not working." Tendo tried to assure her. "We can't be sure." She wasn't listening though, and heaved the human up to rest against her as she hugged him, unwilling to abandon him again.
"No. No." She sobbed. "No, don't go. Please."
"Mako." Tendo called to her, but she wasn't listening.
"Don't go. No, don't go, please."
"...You're squeezing me too tight." Raleigh rasped and she pulled back to stare at him joyously as he coughed and carried on more normally, "I couldn't breathe." She simply laughed and continued to stare at him as LOCCENT once more broke into cheers, this time continuing unprevented as they celebrated. Newt and Hermann even hugged gladly while Tendo and Herc shared glances before pulling back, both grinning. Oh later, later there would be arguments, conversations and revelations, but now they were celebrating. Newt moved to give Tendo a one-armed hug as well while Hermann patted the technician on the shoulder, and Herc moved to the microphone.
"This is Deputy Marshal Hercules Hansen. The Breach is sealed." He paused, and looked at the floor for a second.

"Stop the clock!"

They turned to watch the group of screaming technicians and Tendo tactfully moved away when Hermann shifted closer to Newt. Sharing smiles, Newt flung an arm around his shoulder and pulled him in tight. And if Hermann snaked an arm around his waist and they held onto each other for a few seconds longer than was entirely appropriate for friends, well that was nobodies' business. Max began to bark and Herc looked down at him with a soft smile before nodding at the sight of the starting celebrations. They'd earned it. Letting out a soft sigh, he turned back to Tendo.
"Mako, Raleigh, the choppers are on their way." He was telling the pilots. "Just hang tight, they've got your position."
Raleigh and Mako simply grinned at each other as he continued. "Are you okay? Do you copy?" Still grinning they leaned their foreheads together, listening to the approaching sounds of the helicopters. "Uh, guys?"