Author's Notes: Many thanks to everyone for the great feedback! Please keep it coming! Tonight is a double-update of both this fic and Tales From The Front Lines - check out Chapter Five to see how the Gage twins, the Becket boys, and three other Jaeger crews handle a Polar Bear Plunge! As for this fic, there are only a few chapters left! Enjoy!
Canon Note: Cascade Victor, Butterfly Sword, and Katana Eagle are original Jaeger characters, Mark-4's launched in 2019 from the US, China, and Japan.
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Endurance
March 11, 2019…
Lima Shatterdome…
Three more Mark-4's were slated to be launched in 2019, and the official word finally got out that there was a Mark-5 in the works in Brisbane. "So that's why none of the Mark-4's went to Australia," Yancy observed.
Once they were all confined to base by the orange alert, they spent a lot of their down time playing remote chess, and online games with the Hassans, Steffie and Kennedy, and their other fellow Rangers. And, of course, swapping Shatterdome gossip.
"There's a big dispute over who's going to get her," Devi told him. "We have some good candidates coming out of the Academy, but there's brass support for assigning the Hansens as the most experienced team and giving Lucky Seven to the newbies."
"That's interesting. What do the Hansens think? I dunno if I'd want to give up Gipsy even for a flashier model," said Raleigh.
"Scott's all for it. He'll take the new toy every time. Herc's more along Raleigh's line of thinking," said Devi. "Lucky Seven does have a few kinks in her old system. Caitlin thinks they should be able to get smoother response out of the pons than they do, and she's not as fast as the newer models."
"The Mark-5 had better be bloody magnificent," Suze chimed in. "They're already way over budget."
"Who's getting the last of the Mark-4's?" Kennedy asked. "Isn't one of 'em being built in Kodiak?"
"Cascade Victor," Yancy confirmed. "He'll be jointly owned by the US and Canada. He's launching this summer."
"So that's one and a half for Canada," Devi mused. "We're getting a lot more of the joint ownership for the newer models; they cost so bloody much. Japan and Korea went in on Katana Eagle, and China will have Butterfly Sword. They're going to replace Silver Lion and Tidal Dragon."
"Is Tacit Ronin not getting refurbed after all?" Yancy mused in surprise. "Or are they phasing out all the Mark-1's?"
"Dunno. You'd have to ask the engineers. Maybe Lea Franklin will have some dirt on it. Word on the street here is that they're going to lend us to Japan until they've worked out the coverage problems and have Katana Eagle launched. With Ronin still in limbo and Tidal Dragon pretty well scrapped, we're dangerously short up there."
Raleigh made a face over the top of his tablet at Yancy. "Really? What happened to that free-Jaeger-trade thing they had with China and Russia?"
"That's still in force, but neither of them will assign their Jaegers long-term to another country. That's what's got Admiral Yamamoto so nervous. They're just too damn close to the Breach to wait for special delivery. China might give Shaolin Rogue to them for an extended stay, but not until Butterfly Sword is launched, and that'll be this autumn at the earliest."
"We're not too bad on coverage on this side of the lake," Yancy told them. "After the next engagement, they're bumping us up to LA, and Amazon Delta's coming here from Panama."
Suze huffed loudly. "We told the CO's that they should borrow you. Hydra already had the chance to ride with you. We want a shot. See how Gipsy measures up here in the East."
Yancy grinned at his brother. "We're on board with that."
April 12, 2019…
The next attack did hit Japan, straining the beleaguered country's Jaeger resources still further. Still, it ended well.
Coyote Tango and Shaolin Rogue repelled the bogey from Kobe, and which bought Crimson Typhoon and Cherno Alpha time to get in front of it in Osaka Bay. Everyone was crowded around the monitors to watch the three-man Jaeger in action; Typhoon did indeed move on three axes. The kaiju was caught between a Chinese hammer and a Russian anvil, and dismembered and pulverized in broad daylight, to the glee of the whole world.
On the other side of the Pacific, the Ranger crews were sharing bowls of popcorn and even caught some of their superior officers smirking. A mad scramble of Musical Shatterdomes followed, as Gipsy Danger was reassigned to Los Angeles and Amazon Delta moved back down to Lima to even out the coverage.
"Romeo's still out of action," sighed Bruce Gage as they prepared to be shipped back to Anchorage. "Dunno how damn long it's going to take to finish those repairs."
The twins were down, not just from that and the deaths of their own strike troopers, but in sheer disgust over another way the PPDC had come up with to promote the Jaeger Program: Romeo Blue versus Hardship was to be the inaugural licensed video game.
"Out of all the engagements they could've picked, fuck!" Trevin spat, as the crews from Lima commiserated. "The only one worse would've been Guayaquil!"
"Ben and Felipe and Team Diablo know you weren't okay with this, right? They must know that," said Raleigh, no less appalled by the insensitivity. The idea of being the subject of a video game was pretty cool, but he was on board with the general sentiment - why did it have to be Hardship, the bastard who'd crippled two Rangers and killed hundreds?
Darrell Sullivan, Team Romeo's PR liaison, reassured them all. "Don't worry, Team Diablo is well aware that this wasn't our decision and that Bruce and Trev didn't endorse it. They're military too; they understand that orders come behind a lot of propaganda."
Yancy was scowling, standing close to the twins. "Are you under orders? Are they really going to make you trot out and smile and wave like you're happy about it?" He and Raleigh had been awestruck and envious during the early days when Romeo had been paraded around the world, but now? Raleigh wasn't sure how the twins would be able to stomach it.
Bruce shrugged and shook his head. "They haven't said. Probably. They have a lot of publicity stills and clips of us already; we've asked them to just use those if they have to. The second one's going to be the Kobe-Osaka engagement, and China and Japan and Russia are all over it."
"Well, that one makes a shred of sense, at least on the humanitarian side," Tendo pointed out bitterly. "All the Jaegers came through with minor damage and the death toll was one of the lowest - and, come on, that was a great, dramatic fight! Why couldn't they start with it?"
"Complete lack of scruples, I think," said Carolina. "At least they've shelved the Tacit Ronin and Silver Lion fights for now. The last Osaka engagement was a prime candidate for being turned into a video game."
The twins sighed in unison. "Yeah. Better us then them, I guess, small consolation to Duc Jessop. It'd probably hurt sales for people to remember that three of the four pilots from those mechs are dead."
The twins were visible with matching, fixed smiles at the launch of Cascade Victor from Kodiak in June 2019. The first line of official Jaeger Program video games was released as part of the promotions. Anyone who had actually had a few conversations with the Gages could tell just how forced their demeanor was, and they turned the subject anywhere they could when the press asked about it. Even so, the games sold like crazy, and everyone was relieved when some less painful engagements overtook Romeo Blue versus Hardship in popularity.
It never reached the media radar that even the gamer enthusiasts in the Jaeger Program - and there were a lot of them - didn't play the games on principle. It struck just a little too close to home.
PPDC Internal Network
SHassan: Online
RBecket: Online
SHassan: Hey, Rals! Did you know Russia actually is building an anti-kaiju wall?
RBecket: Seriously?! They really think that'll work better than Cherno Alpha?
SHassan: I think the idea's collaboration, or taking the stress off the Jaegers. The wall actually is cheaper than more mechs - they're going to string it in between the Kuril Islands to bar the Okhostk Sea and, they're in talks with Alaska to wall off the northern Bering Sea too. So that way Cherno, Eden, and Tigress can patrol that territory without the bogeys getting away from them, since it's so hard to keep the detectors in place in those seas.
RBecket: How come you always get this stuff before we do?
SHassan: Same side of the lake as them, love. And Ketteridge talks to Herc, and Herc talks to us. Are you settled back into LA?
RBecket: Mostly. We've got a full dep drill tomorrow afternoon, then in-person combat drills with Mammoth Apostle.
SHassan: How do you like Mammoth's Rangers? They're military too, aren't they?
RBecket: National Guard. They're cool, not as uptight as Caleb and Tanisha can be. Good poker players. Bobby Kanda's the best basketball player I've ever seen outside the NBA, and Ken Gould kicked Yancy's ass in the Kwoon.
SHassan: LOL! And Baby Becket cheered him on, didn't he?
RBecket: No, I was totally cheering for Yancy. Totally.
SHassan: Devi says you're a brat.
June 9, 2019…
Jaeger Academy, Anchorage, Alaska…
Vincent Gagnon had a heart attack shortly after Cascade Victor was launched. Stacker Pentecost turned over the command of Lima Shatterdome to Gabe Morais in favor of returning to Anchorage to take the pressure off Gagnon - and to try to drum up more than just popular support for the Jaeger Program.
"Coverage is still an issue," he told the UN and Secretary General Krieger. "We have three Jaegers per Shatterdome in the West, still fewer in the East. If the kaiju continue to appear larger and faster, we're going to need bigger, more rapid response."
One of the Homeland Security representatives (from the East Coast of the United States, Stacker observed sourly) insisted, "I think our funding would be better served adding to the walls that Russia and Japan have begun rather than building more robots for these monsters to smash."
Dr. Schoenfeld barely contained his disgust. "So you think funding would be better used building a wall for the kaiju to smash?"
"We can make it kaiju-proof."
"The Guam monitoring station was reinforced titanium, and the last kaiju twisted it like a tin can without even slowing down," one of the American generals snorted. "I get Russia's reasoning with the length of frozen ocean and severe weather territory they have to cover, but on our side of the lake, it's a waste of time and resources."
Secretary Krieger was hedging his bets, as usual. "I think further exploration of the topic - a wall as support and perimeter enforcement - is merited, so let's continue that. However, Marshalls, I've reviewed your request for funding, and I don't know that the entire UN has the financial resources you're proposing to add that many mechs to the fleet."
"It's four more Mark-5's," Stacker pointed out. "And refurbishing the ones previously damaged. Tacit Ronin and Diablo Intercept can be restored and re-piloted for a fraction of the budget of one new Jaeger, and even if the reactor and electrical system for Silver Lion have to be completely rebuilt, that will still be far below previous costs. With Katana Eagle and Butterfly Sword this year, that's ten more Jaegers - it could make a tremendous difference for every coastal population."
"The Australian Mark-5 is already severely over budget," said the British commander. "As are both of the remaining Mark-4's. Several of the Jaegers already in service have yet to see action."
"If the pattern of attacks continues to accelerate, they will. The scales will tip, and we need to stay ahead of this," Marshall Ramirez insisted. "That is the only way this program will succeed."
"Why not concentrate resources on more rapid deployment, even across the Pacific if necessary? We have faster choppers with greater lift capacity being built for a fraction of the cost of a Jaeger," suggested another of the Americans.
"Russia's trio now have Super Sikorskys; six of those things can move Cherno Alpha over five hundred miles at a time. China and Japan have already bought a fleet," said Marshall Ketteridge, sounding cross. "For the amount of territory we have to cover in the Southern Hemisphere, for our teams alone, we need them."
"The public wants to see the more popular Jaegers ready for deployment on a faster timetable," Krieger said. "We can certainly purchase state-of-the-art lift crews for them."
"Are we truly thinking of basing deployment on popularity?" muttered Admiral Yamamoto.
Stacker gauged the expressions on the UN representatives' faces, and resisted the urge to remark that that was exactly what they were thinking.
July 22, 2019…
Los Angeles Shatterdome…
The modified, heavier-lift Sikorskys were greenlit and the first batches had the Eastern Hemisphere Jaegers fairly well-covered by mid-July 2019. So as luck would have it, the next kaiju went in the opposite direction.
"K-Watch is predicting Mexico, maybe Baja," Tamsin tipped Stacker off.
Stacker flew to Los Angeles with the pre-deployment support teams, trying to provide still more backup to the Jaeger strike troops and bring down the PPDC's internal death toll. He was glad to observe that however immature he sometimes seemed, with the LA and Panama Domes on high alert, even Raleigh Becket was paying attention. The younger Rangers were eager, as always, but responded promptly to orders, and their crews were on task.
"We've got a Category III, codenamed Clawhook - about the size of Grindylow, quadruped, but extremely fast," came the official reports.
"We may have a problem with coverage from the south," Marshall Ramirez observed, studying the placement maps. "Panama is getting hit with severe storms."
Stacker frowned. It often rained there in the summer, but the images of the camera feeds at the Panama Shatterdome looked more like a hurricane. "Can they launch?"
"Jaegers, yes. Support choppers, no. Even the lift choppers are going to have trouble in those conditions."
"The Mark-4's can spread out on their own power, but that's a long handshake to even get them into position," said Marshall Quijano from Panama. "We're going to need back-up from the other Domes."
The COs on the opposite side of the Pacific exchanged glances. "Are you thinking this is the time to try crossover support?" Marshall Ketteridge glanced at something off his screen and smirked. "I happen to know Vulcan Specter's crew are all for it. They want to run with their American friends."
China's General Liang looked reluctant. "We would offer you one of ours, but we currently have a Category IV yyphoon between us and you. Bypassing it safely will add at least a day for that lift."
"You mean Crimson Typhoon can't handle a real typhoon?" Marshall Gagnon demanded, getting chuckles from the others.
"What's the bogey's ETA on the nearest land?" asked Pentecost.
"He's still circling between the Breach and Hawaii. Typhoon Hako is probably going to disrupt the currents and drive him away from the Eastern Hemisphere targets, as K-Watch is predicting, but it may be awhile before he picks up a scent," K-Watch reported. "If he heads straight for them now, he'd make landfall in approximately eight hours."
"We need someone waiting in Hawaii," said Marshall Ramirez.
"Agreed," said Stacker. He drew lines across the deployment map, deftly calculating the shortest distances and most efficient coverage. "What about Mammoth Apostle? Run Chrome Brutus down to Los Angeles to back up Yankee Star and Gipsy Danger, leave Cascade Victor in Anchorage on reserve. And Lima, run Matador Fury to Southern Mexico - you should have room to bypass the central American weather."
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Raleigh Becket bouncing on the balls of his feet as Team Mammoth made ready to take off for their drive suit room. From the way Ketteridge was looking off-screen, he suspected the Hassans were no less eager.
And Ketteridge wasn't immune to the prestige that a successful run - particularly one that broke new strategic ground - would bring to his Shatterdome. "I'll give you Vulcan Specter. Getting them across is going to be at least twenty-four hours, but we'll start the run now and see if we can't beat the bogey to your door."
"That's a go. Bring him to LA. We'll deploy him from here," said Ramirez.
"We're gonna ride with Vulcan!" Raleigh was bellowing as Team Gipsy assembled for deployment prep and watched Mammoth lifting off for Hawaii.
Cady Spencer looked at the bogey blip on the map east of Hawaii with a sadistic grin. "Motherfucker won't know what hit him."
As predicted, it was nearly a day before Clawhook even started moving in a definite direction, but to Team Gipsy's disappointment, Vulcan Specter was diverted to Hawaii to back up Mammoth Apostle first. Still, it did come in handy. The kaiju skirted the western islands before aiming at the north coast of Oahu. "Appropriate, though, our volcanic Jaeger defending the Hawaiian islands," Christian Warner decided.
"Look at that guy!" said Steffie Lanphier over the vidcomm as the crews sat watching the action in their prep rooms. Clawhook was zipping through the shallow reefs trying to dodge Vulcan's lava throwers and Mammoth's shells. "Most of them look like dinosaurs, he's more like... some kind of sloth."
"Well, he's a lazy-ass, that's for sure. He's not as aggressive as the last few," Chloe Warner reported from her station on the Big Island. Christian was anxious for his sister, but she assured them all, "Even if he hits the Big Island, he'll go for Hilo, not try to climb an old volcano. Our base has less than a thousand people." K-Watch Headquarters was up on the slopes of Mauna Kea with the astronomical observatories and weather stations.
To everyone's disappointment, Mammoth and Vulcan didn't manage to take Clawhook down, but they repelled him first from Oahu, then from Maui, then from Hilo without him ever coming close to making landfall. "This bogey has serious evasion skills," Team Mammoth warned. "We're almost out of ammo, and I think we only scored a couple of hits."
"Even so, good work, Mammoth. You protected a very vulnerable population," Marshall Ramirez told them. "Vulcan, what's your readiness for re-deployment?"
"We have no damage, drop gear fully operational, all weapons available, Marshall."
"Sub-surface stations showing the bogey moving deep and fast, east-northeast," K-Watch reported. "We've got a strong runoff current out of Tijuana, and Cabo San Lucas."
"All right. Vulcan Specter lift crew, bring him into Los Angeles. Yankee Star and Gipsy Danger, on deck."
In the six months since Hardship, Team Gipsy had gotten into the habit of saluting the fisherman's cap as they headed into the bay for deployment. Raleigh was almost at the point where he didn't feel a pang doing it anymore. But he shared a quick smile with Yancy as they headed into the drivesuit room and saluted in unison. Keep an eye on us all, mon capitaine. This one's for you guys.
Even Whiskey Gamma's new crew, led by Valentina Medina, a Marine Blackhawk pilot from Corpus Christi, Texas, took part in that little ritual. On the coms as they suited up, Raleigh heard her say to the other strike troop crews, "This one's for our predecessors."
"Got that right, Tina. Let's kick ass for the Gamma Twelve."
"Okay, Gipsy, we're lifting you to Tijuana," reported the Jump Hawk crews. "Yankee Star's being stationed at Cabo, and Chrome Brutus's staying in LA with Vulcan once they arrive."
"Is Panama completely out of action?" Yancy asked as they were running the pre-dep checks in the pod.
"The Jaegers aren't, but everything that flies is," Tendo told them. "Hurricane-force gusts, cloud to ground lightning, large hail. Hydra Corinthian's being deployed. She's running north to meet up with Matador Fury, but she's having to do it on her own power, no lift for at least a hundred miles."
Once they were airborne and moving south over the coast, they observed the heavy traffic below. "Where's our bogey?"
"One hundred eleven miles west-southwest of Tijuana, moving east-northeast at sixty-eight miles per hour. This bastard's one of the fastest we've ever had. Island evacuation is complete."
Yancy considered the mostly-barren islands near Tijuana's miracle mile. "That'd be a good spot to try and engage this guy. Just inside the ten-mile mark."
"That works for us if you can catch him, Gipsy," said Marshall Ramirez. "Be aware this kaiju seems to be very evasive. Do not expose the coastline."
"Copy that, ma'am. Permission to hail shipping traffic outside the miracle mile?"
"Granted."
They spent the ride passing along warnings to every vessel they spotted and dodging Coast Guard choppers running to rescue the ones that couldn't go ashore fast enough. "How close is that cabrón?" a frantic cargo ship captain asked them, trying to decide whether to abandon his load in favor of saving his crew.
"Less than an hour from your position, Captain," Yancy warned him in Spanish. "Your cargo isn't worth your lives. Abandon your ship and get out of here! We're deploying in ten minutes, and there will be waves if we fight him."
"Mierda. Okay, abandoning ship." Raleigh and Yancy watched faster Coast Guard cutters and rescue choppers picking up the crew as they prepared for neural handshake.
"I can see the kaiju!" a Mexican news broadcaster was yelling as they came out of driftspace into reality again. "He's on the surface, heading straight for the islands!"
"The big question is what's he gonna do when he sees us waiting for him," Raleigh said with a grin. Once he and Yancy too could see the churning water streaming towards them and the kaiju's spectral signature within a mile, he blasted the rescue horns.
The fucker actually stopped. Someone in LOCCENT let out a bark of laughter; it sounded like Tendo. "Aww, Gipsy, you scared the poor beh-beh!" cooed one of their spotters.
Even Yancy was grinning, but he turned the horns off. "Too bad we haven't got a fishhook to throw out for him. Spotters, ascend a few hundred for us, just to be on the safe side." Heeere asshole!
Kaiju wanna cracker? Raleigh added, and now Yance was barely managing not to crack up.
Clawhook was drifting back and forth right outside the miracle mile, as if having trouble making up his mind. It was funny at first, but after ninety minutes, it was getting really irritating. "Goddamn, this guy's skittish."
"He ran from Mammoth and Vulcan even before they engaged," Tendo pointed out. "Either he's skittish or he's smart; he knows the Jaegers are a threat."
They tried to keep their own movements subtle, not churning up the water or shaking the sea floor as they moved parallel to the indecisive kaiju. "He's not going to run at us inshore," Raleigh mused. "Not this asshole. Look at him; he's not as armored as the last few guys. If we can snag him, I bet we can get him good with the plasma."
"It still took a few tries to get a solid hit on Grindylow, and he wasn't armored either," Yancy said. "The swimmers have thick skin. LOCCENT, Tendo, did Vulcan actually hit him with the lava throwers?"
"Hang on... I'm pretty sure those shots missed... they only had him in range three times... that's a negative, Gipsy, no impacts for Vulcan. This bastard's got some flexibility too."
He's gonna run... "Charging rear jets. He's gonna run," Raleigh murmured.
"Gipsy, do NOT give him the chance to get around you!" Ramirez admonished.
"We won't, Marshall. We'll stay parallel to him," said Yancy, gearing up his jet controls. "We need deployments to the north and south to meet him whichever way he goes. We'll try and send him in to them, cut him off."
"Vulcan just landed in LA. He should be ready to re-deploy within two hours... we'll run him out to the west, in case the bogey tries to go deep again. Vulcan's built for deep water operations."
"Gipsy, this is Yankee Star, we're on the miracle mile off Cabo. We have Matador Fury and Hydra Corinthian coming up from the south, ETA three hours."
"Good deal, Yankee... wait..." Raleigh narrowed his eyes at the kaiju's outline, and Yancy saw it too.
"He's going north! He's gonna run northeast! Charging jets! LOCCENT, we need a perimeter on southern California!" Even as Yancy spoke, Clawhook flipped over and went streaking through the water like a shark, aiming mostly parallel to the shore, but coming ever so slightly closer.
Raleigh and Yancy fired the jets and aimed themselves forward, cutting a path through the ocean with their arms out like Superman again to keep themselves between the kaiju and the shoreline.
Off Tijuana's famous beaches, the kaiju veered east, getting an explosion of Spanish curses on the radio channels from the watching locals, and they had to push Gipsy's jets hard to intercept. But then Clawhook, now nicknamed Cabrón (Asshole) by the anxious populous, thought better of it and ran back out again.
"Ahh, fucker!" Raleigh fumed as they stood up on a sand bar three hours later and glared at the retreating trail in the water. Five hours of deployment and we haven't even had a shot yet!
Yancy got annoyed at the size of the crowds still in the vicinity of the beach, and called their R&R crews. "Tell those idiots they're not in any way out of the woods yet; they should be evacuating or in a shelter until this thing's dead!"
"Copy that, Gipsy One, we'll handle it," said Tina, the new pilot of Whiskey Gamma. In irate Spanish, she hailed the Mexican Coast Guard. "Hey, morons, this is not a spectator event! Get your civilians off the beach and into shelter!"
What the Coast Guard said in response, Raleigh didn't catch, because Cabrón ran for it again. "LOCCENT, we're pursuing. Crossing the border in three minutes!"
"You got jurisdiction," Tendo told them dryly. "Watch it, he's picking up speed!"
Inshore and out again, due north, then northeast, then northwest... they either looked ridiculous or awesome slicing through the water powered by their jets trying to stay between the shore and the kaiju. Vulcan re-deployed for the umpteenth time to San Clemente island while Chrome Brutus waited off Long Beach.
If he decides to run due west now, I'm going to scream my fucking head off, Raleigh fumed.
Right, we can't catch this piece of shit in the water... "LOCCENT, what's the status of San Diego?"
"Coronado and Point Loma are fully evacuated. Mainland is sixty percent clear one mile from the shoreline," said Tendo. "Smell something? Want us to run Chrome down there to drive him off?"
"No!" Raleigh exclaimed. He felt Yancy's surprise flicker around him, then his brother caught his intention. It was risky, yes, but the usual tactics weren't going to work. "We need to run this bastard inshore."
There was a pause, then Marshall Ramirez was on the com. "Gipsy, the point of these deployments is to keep the kaiju OFF shore."
"Respectfully, ma'am, the point is a dead kaiju," Yancy countered. "Raleigh's right; we're not gonna intercept this thing in the water, he's too fast. When he went over the islets in Hawaii, he was flopping around like a fish. We need to pin him on land."
Clawhook was starting to aim towards shore again. If he didn't change direction yet again, he'd go into San Diego Bay, and maybe they could cut him off from going back out to sea.
There was a long silence on the coms, but Raleigh was already starting to think it was time to let up on the jets and let Clawhook think he was getting away. Yancy was more inclined to wait for permission to try such a radical tactic, but they were running out of time.
"We've been deployed eight hours already. Something's gotta give," Raleigh said in frustration.
The com buzzed. "Rangers, this is Marshall Ana Ramirez, you have permission to drive the target ashore. Keep him out of the residential regions if at all possible; the lower peninsula of Point Loma or the airfields on Coronado."
Well, at least she wouldn't let them take the fall for it if this blew up in their faces. "Copy that, ma'am!" They veered to the west to cut off the kaiju's escape, and Clawhook finally took the bait and headed into San Diego Bay, leaving the open ocean behind.
Gotta catch him before he hits Shoreline Park - "Full power!" They threw everything into the jets, and the kaiju seemed to suddenly realize he was running out of water - and his speed advantage. He veered west towards the shore of Point Loma, and started to clamber up the beach, but the hilly terrain hindered him, and finally finally, they were on him from behind.
With a joint roar of challenge, they snagged back legs and fishlike tail and dragged the kaiju sideways into the sand. Clawhook roared in rage, or maybe fear, but he had no choice but to fight now, and his claws were indeed hooked. Yancy yelled in pain as the bastard folded himself in half and slashed across Gipsy's right hip, then sent punishing kicks into their stomach. Luckily, most of them struck below the reactor.
Coughing and grunting, trying to keep their breath, they fought to pin him down, and Raleigh slammed his hand down on Clawhook's upper arm while Yancy began charging his cannon. "Hit it! Hit him in the stomach!"
"Hang on - " The charge completed, but even at nearly point-blank range, the writhing monster twisted himself out of the way of most of the plasma, though he did roar in agony as he took burns down his side, and worse, the discharge so close unbalanced them off of him. "FUCK!"
Like a mutant seal, his body glistening wet and oozing blue, burned black where the plasma had winged him, the kaiju went flopping down the shore and lunged back into the bay. There was no time to think. They pushed off the hillside and simply jumped after him.
Slick, leathery hide slipped from their hands, but they managed to keep him from aiming at the mouth of the bay, and instead, he went across towards Coronado, its surface flat with runways. They plunged after him and tried to shove him up onto the shore, but he wasn't about to leave the water that gave him such an advantage in speed and maneuvering. They pounded him with their fists and tore at him every time they managed to close their hands on his flesh, but he kept squirming free.
"Gipsy, do you need backup?"
"Damn it, probably," they panted in unison. "Somebody fast, Vulcan or Hydra."
"Uh-oh... guys, you okay?"
"Huh?" They scrambled through the shallows and tried to physically throw the bastard onto land. At least it stopped him from getting past them back into open water, but they nearly got hooked claws in the face for their trouble. "Shit..."
" - been going over twelve hours, we're into the danger zone, sir!"
"Gipsy, we're bringing in backup. You're not going to hold this handshake for much longer," said LOCCENT.
"Hurry up, then," they mumbled and kept fighting. Couldn't let him get away, couldn't risk him running out to sea or going up into the city proper. They managed to pin him against some pylons and charged their left cannon - whose cannon? Well, didn't matter really - but he writhed free and they managed only another glancing blow.
But the pain of getting a plasma discharge to the shoulder threw the kaiju into a panic, and he simply rushed backwards - finally moving onto the shore over the flat runways. Yes, yes, here they - he - Raleigh - Yancy - they could...
"Gipsy! Raleigh, Yancy, you're starting to destabilize!"
"Almost got him..."
"Almost got him..."
They scrambled out of the water - flat ground under his/their feet again, but they felt off-kilter and off-balance, like they were drunk. But Cabrón wasn't suited to moving fast onshore either, and he was in pain too. They staggered after him and simply fell on him, trying to pin him with their full weight.
He writhed and slashed, and they had one hand desperately fending off his claws and they charged the other cannon - something seemed to be pulling from inside their heads - but so close, so close...
"Cannon charging..."
"Charging..."
"This is Chrome Brutus, neural handshake complete. ETA eleven minutes, hang on, Gipsy, just hang on!"
They planted Raleigh's foot on the kaiju's neck and jammed Yancy's cannon into its stomach - roaring in sheer effort, but the discharge hit, once, twice, three times, deep into Clawhook's torso.
... It wasn't moving anymore. They struggled to focus on the HUD display as it blurred in and out of existence in front of them... signature?
"Signature?"
"Signature?"
Out of synch. Off balance.
" - n you hear me, Gipsy? No signature! You got the bastard, no signature!"
"Rangers, this is Marshall Ramirez, I need you to move away from that carcass and power down immediately! Gipsy? Beckets, do either of you hear me?"
Couldn't... Raleigh - or Yancy - couldn't remember... what were they supposed to do now?
A calm, impersonal voice told them, "Warning: Neural handshake destabilizing."
What did that mean? "T-Tendo?" one of them murmured.
"Guys? Guys, I'm here. What do you need?"
Couldn't remember. Just... Tendo, his voice when they were... where were they? "D-don't... feel so good..."
"Oh shit, sir – "
" - out of – "
" - deactivate them remotely - off the controls – "
" - Raleigh, Yancy, I need you to focus!"
Something they were supposed to be doing now, but couldn't remember... but it was happening, something else was in control now... the drift draining away and they were so, so heavy... not floating like before... falling... melting, losing all shape and form... he wanted... they wanted... RaleighYancy...
The drift space was gone, and the pod silent around them - his hands moved automatically. He was dimly aware of voices, tinny in the distance in his his ears, but couldn't make any sense of the words - the rig bracing him upright detached, but without it, he had no chance - he fell, and plummeted into darkness before he ever felt himself hit the ground.
To be continued...
Coming Soon: Our heroes recover from their third kill. Destabilizing has an effect that even the experts didn't anticipate, and before he's even fully aware, Yancy Becket has some words he wants to say to Stacker Pentecost in Chapter Thirty-Eight: Set Thine House In Order.
PLEASE don't forget to review!
Original Character Guide
Devi and Susanti Hassan: Pilots of Vulcan Specter, Australia's Mark-3, Australian/Indonesian sisters in their late 20s, graduated Class 2016-B of the Jaeger Academy with the Beckets
Kenneth Gould and Robert "Bobby" Kanda: Pilots of Mammoth Apostle, America's second Mark-4, National Guardsman in their early 30s. Ken is African-American, Bobby is Japanese-American.
Jiro and Hayase Shindo: Pilots of Tidal Dragon, Japan's Mark-2 Jaeger, foster siblings. Severely injured from radiation poisoning in battle and retired for the same reasons as Stacker Pentecost and Tamsin Sevier. Jiro has now died of the complications.
Marshall Ana Ramirez: Commanding Officer of the Los Angeles Shatterdome, former US Army, Mexican-American in her 40s
Marshall Blake Ketteridge: Commanding Officer of the Sydney Shatterdome, Australian Air Force in his early 60s
Marshall Vincent Gagnon: Commanding Officer of the Jaeger Academy and Anchorage Shatterdome, former Canadian Air Force in his late 50s.
Carolina Olivares: Gipsy Danger's public relations representative, Mexican-American in her 60s, team den mother.
Darrell Sullivan: Romeo Blue's public relations representative, African-American in his 40s.
Christian Warner: one of Gipsy Danger's drivesuit technicians, African-American from Atlanta, Georgia, late 20s, attended the Jaeger Academy with his sister, Chloe, but was not drift compatible enough to make pilot.
Chloe Warner: Christian's half-sister, transferred to K-Watch in Hawaii after they failed to make pilot, remains a close friend of the Beckets
Valentina (Tina) Medina: successor pilot of Whiskey Gamma, one of Gipsy Danger's strike troop command choppers. Part of the crew that replaced twelve of Gipsy's support personnel who died in the aftermath of the battle with Hardship. Mexican-American from Corpus Christi, Texas, mid-30s, active duty US Marines.