Hannibal Chau let out a dark, rumbling chuckle as he viewed the photos his contact had sent him - photos of five new Kaiju, standing proudly on the sands of a Panama beach, that bastard cub romping at their feet like some overgrown Labrador. As he flipped through the photos his mind began to calculate, mentally weighing each beast and estimating how much hide and bone he could harvest from each beast, how many tons of flesh and fat and offal he could siphon from their bodies, how many skin lice and teeth he could pluck from their carcasses. And those numbers shifted to other numbers… dollars, yuan, yen, euros, pesos, rupees, coins, whatever currency his wealthy, hungry customers would hand over.
Walking wealth, he thought, zooming in on Otachi's wings to admire that flawless membrane - membrane worth its weight in diamonds to the right market. There's a fortune sitting right there in Panama. And if those Jaegers won't put 'em down and let us harvest… well, there's a few anti-Kaiju missiles still in storage…
He shook his head and squashed those thoughts, reining in his greed. No, that was thinking too short-term. At the moment, these Kaiju were worth far more to him alive. They represented more than wealth - they represented the future of his empire.
Keep me updated, he texted back to his contact, then set the phone down and turned his attention to his computer. A few new files had cropped up on Tendo's computer, and he quickly browsed them for any pertinent information. So far, it seemed, the PPDC had opted to simply monitor the situation - all Jaegers had been sent to Panama just in case violence broke out, but they wouldn't harm the beasts unless they attacked first. Interesting…
Though if the contact's to be believed, their scientists have some whacked ideas about these critters being sentient. That's gonna throw a wrench in things. Gotta figure out a solution to THAT little mess… but something'll come along. For now, though… let's go check on the project.
Hannibal got up from his desk and headed for the jade statue of a half-woman, half-Kaiju creature in the corner of his office. He looked it up and down appreciatively, marveling at how the sculptor - a former Kaiju cultist who he guessed had joined said cult less out of devotion and more out of some kind of weird Kaiju fetish - had managed to create something so sensual-looking and monstrous at the same time. Then he gripped the statue's chin and twisted, turning its head ninety degrees on a nearly-invisible swivel joint.
A panel on the wall slid aside, and he returned the statue's head to its original position before stepping inside. The wall slid shut, and the hidden elevator dropped him down beneath the squalid streets of Hong Kong… down beneath the public Kaiju bunkers and the subway tunnels, down lower than even the bravest urban explorers ever dared to go…
The lift door opened, and he stepped into a facility the size of a small Shatterdome that bustled with activity. Workers hauled bags of animal feed and barrels of Kaiju waste to and fro, checked fences and restraints, and carried massive quantities of zoo-grade tranquilizers. Massive pens with concrete barriers, electrified metal paneling, and chains thick enough to keep the Titanic moored and anchored lined the walls, but all but two of these pens stood empty. Those two, however, were the focus of all the activity in the chamber, holding the prizes Hannibal had fought so hard to obtain.
A shark's grin crossed his face as he gazed upon the two Kaiju - the horned, bull-like bulk of Scunner and the lanky, almost cone-headed Karloff. Scunner screamed and rammed herself against the sides of her cell, sparks flying from the electrified walls, and personnel shouted and cursed as they tightened her restraints and ordered more tranquilizers pumped into her veins. Karloff, in stark contrast, slumped in his own cell like a puppet hanging loosely from its strings, not even stirring as one of Hannibal's zoologists rammed a hypospray the size of a javelin into his neck to draw ichor.
Hannibal tapped his chin in thought. Scunner still had some fight in her, but Karloff was broken... which, while it made him manageable, was going to make things difficult. Too bad it hadn't been the other way around - it would be easier to manage a successful mating if Scunner were the placid one and Karloff the spirited one.
It had been a complete fluke for his Kaiju-harvesting teams to come across not one, but two Kaiju on a remote South Pacific island, sprawled out on the rocky beach. At first they had assumed they had made landfall on the wrong shoreline and died of natural causes, but closer inspection revealed that they were alive but sleeping. And while it might have been smarter to simply slaughter the beasts and ship them home in pieces, Hannibal had other ideas.
Getting two live Kaiju subdued, shipped to Hong Kong, and installed in his facility - all without alerting the authorities - had been a herculean task, one that had cost him twenty men and far too much money. But if all went well, perhaps it would be worth it.
"What's shakin' so far?" he called out, striding closer to the two cells. Scunner spotted him and shrieked her outrage, but Karloff just blinked his double sets of eyes at the sight of the man in red.
"No successful attempts to breed thus far," his head scientist - a woman who had been fired from the Taipei Zoo for performing illegal experiments on the animals - noted. "Scunner seems receptive to physical attention from Karloff but rebuffs actual attempts to mate. And in all honesty, Karloff is having a hard time getting it up without chemical assistance."
Hannibal snorted. "Great, even the freakin' Kaiju need Viagra. What other bad news ya got?"
"Actually, we had another option we wanted to float past you," she replied. "Artificial insemination could work where traditional breeding methods are failing. We just need to harvest from Karloff and implant it in Scunner and we're good to go."
"Then get on with it already!" he snapped.
The scientist nodded and hurried off, barking orders. Hannibal grinned as he watched Scunner toss her horned head like a spirited horse and Karloff blink stupidly at the bustling humans at his feet. The Kaiju breeding program was finally getting off the ground. The resources he'd poured into live-capturing two Kaiju, making sure they were of compatible genders, and getting them to copulate would finally pay off and make this whole dangerous, expensive, lunatic venture worth it.
If he could breed his own Kaiju, he could keep his empire going without having to lick the boots of the PPDC or depend on the Precursors to keep making ill-fated attempts to take over the planet. He could expand his empire across the globe, making himself the wealthiest man in the world. And with wealth, anyone and everyone would bow to him… including governments.
It felt good to win. And if he could rub his success in the faces of the PPDC - and get revenge against that stinking Kaiju bastard-cub in the process - so much the better.
The Panama City Shatterdome was a relatively large Shatterdome for such a small country - though given that it had to defend a vital waterway from Kaiju infiltration, perhaps that wasn't surprising. But even the massive Jaeger bay was beginning to feel crowded now, with six Jaegers currently present and more arriving every minute. The fact that plenty of much smaller but far more numerous humans kept gathering around to gawk at the monsters gathering outside wasn't helping matters.
Under normal circumstances the Jaegers would have unplugged from their battle chassis and joined their Rangers on the ground, rather than wandering about the Shatterdome in their massive frames. But the presence of the Kaiju had them all on edge, despite Mustang and Mammoth's assurances that they were harmless. Every Jaeger present opted to stay in their larger forms, just in case one of the leviathans they'd called foes for so long chose to go violent. These Kaiju might not have caused any harm yet… but no one was taking any chances.
Gipsy Danger allowed Raleigh and Mako to disembark from her Conn Pod before moving to join her comrades at the bay doors. Mustang, Hydra, Mammoth, Brawler, and Striker were watching the Kaiju settle in on the beach, and Striker instinctively scooted over to make room for her. She sidled up to his side, unconsciously leaning against him as she took in the sight.
They look so… tame. Maybe that was the wrong word to describe monsters the size of mountains, but it seemed to fit. The Kaiju were digging in the sand and circling about like dogs settling in for the night, getting comfortable on the shore. Otachi had her cub snuggled under one wing, while three of the other four Kaiju opted to huddle together as if for warmth. Raiju curled up in a forlorn-looking lump some distance away - evidently he wasn't in the rest of his pack's good graces at the moment.
Bugger all, Striker muttered, draping an arm around Gipsy's shoulders. Just when we think we understand these pikers, somethin' new comes up.
They're critters from another world, Brawler pointed out. Didja honestly think we could learn everythin' there was to know about 'em?
We learned th' important stuff, Striker retorted. Namely that you can punch 'em to death. But now the blighters're sentient! Who'd've thunk?
Does that mean that before… when we fought these creatures… we were killing thinking, feeling creatures? asked Mammoth with a nervous rumble.
My uncles doubt it, Mustang replied. They think it's only this new batch that's gained sentience, and not even all of them. The Wendigo clone was just a normal Kaiju.
Normal Kaiju… that's an oxymoron if I ever heard one, Hydra muttered.
Gipsy shivered, unable to take her eyes off the beasts as the settled in for the night. We're just trusting them? Letting them sleep out here? What happens if they attack in the night?
We'll be ready, Brawler assured her. Jaegers don't need to sleep. We'll keep a watch out, an' alert the others if any of 'em try anything funny.
I don't like this waitin', Hydra growled. Don't like the enemy campin' at our base. We need to wipe these mobs!
If that means we need to go out an' kick some ass, then for once I agree with you, Striker told him. Sentient just means they can actually think about just how they're gonna-
No, Mustang replied, far more firmly than Gipsy had ever heard him speak before. We're not going to kill them.
Mustang, they're still monsters! Gipsy told him. They may not be animals, but they were still created by the Precursors. They could have some kind of sleeper programming and turn on us without warning, or they could be actively planning something like Striker said.
And even if they don't mean us any harm, they're still huge, Brawler pointed out. Is there even room for them in this world?
There's room for US, Mustang insisted. They said the world was too small for us, and humans made room for us. Why not for the Kaiju?
Because we became smaller for the humans, remember? Gipsy reminded him. You can't do that with the Kaiju. They're organics - you can't just transfer them into smaller bodies. They're stuck like this.
...oh. Mustang gazed out at the Kaiju, watching a ripple of bioluminescence shiver down a muscular side. Still… there has to be a way. They're communicating with us, that's a start.
I don't care if they start solving quadratic equations, Striker retorted. They're still bloody dangerous! They could attack us at any moment for no reason! We really want these things on our doorstep?
Tendo says- Mustang insisted.
What Tendo insisted, they wouldn't find out that night. For one of the Kaiju chose that moment to raise its head and emit a low, rumbling yawn, illuminating the night with a glowing blue maw like a jagged-edged moon. The blue light glinted off a long saber-shaped muzzle, crescents of shark-like teeth, and a powerful muscled body streaked with veins of yellow.
It was a terrible visage to behold… one that ignited a firestorm of fury and horror and grief in Gipsy's core. For she'd seen that monstrous face before - twice in the flesh, and countless times in terror-stricken memories in the drift.
Pain searing through her chassis as claws ripped at her armor, as a massive blade-like snout punched through her chest… her Conn Pod rent open like an egg, exposing her brothers to the storm-thickened air outside… the agony of Yancey being torn free, of his life being crushed from his body by a paw the size of a city block...
She slipped out from under Striker's arm and strode onto the beach, her chain sword sliding free of her armguard.
Gip, what're you doin'? Striker demanded.
Gipsy, get back here! Mammoth called out. We have orders-
Hang orders, she shot back, storming towards the knot of Kaiju. All desire to follow Marshal Choi's orders had drained away - only fury and hatred remained. Only the desire to avenge her brother, to pay Knifehead back for the pain he had inflicted on her and her brother.
Knifehead finished his yawn and shut his mouth, then swung his head around to regard Gipsy. For a moment he stared blankly at her, tiny eyes blinking away the last vestiges of sleep. Then his gaze rested on her chain-sword… and he froze, every muscle in his titanic body locking up in shock.
For my brother, she rumbled, and raised the blade high.
Knifehead gave a startled bark and stumbled backwards, stepping on one of Slattern's tails in the process. Slattern awoke with an angry growl, half-rising from the sand as Knifehead continued to scramble away, making for the surf. The third Kaiju in their little cluster, a crablike monstrousity that Gipsy recognized but couldn't bring herself to dwell on yet, scuttled out of the way, grumbling to herself.
No! The thought came clear as day, resonating through her mind and bright with terror. No! No! Nononononono!
You killed my brother! she retorted, storming after the saber-faced Kaiju.
A burst of confusion - either Knifehead had no recollection of killing her brother, or he simply had no idea what a "brother" even was. It didn't matter to her, though - either way, Knifehead was going to pay for his crimes…
A low-slung form shoved the other Kaiju back a few paces, placing itself between Gipsy and his comrade like a living shield. Raiju's head hung low like a puppy expecting to be scolded, and a high warbling cry almost like a whimper issued from his throat, but he didn't budge. He just gazed up at Gipsy with pleading eyes, his expression almost comical in its earnestness.
If the Kaiju hoped to change her mind, it was mistaken. If anything, she was just more determined than ever to push forward. She'd slashed Raiju in half once before, she could do it again…
"Gipsy! Stop!"
That voice, thin and frail and barely audible in comparison to the bellows and rumbles of the Kaiju, stayed her hand. She kept her arm raised but turned just slightly to face the speaker.
Raleigh?
Raleigh had been running down the beach towards the standoff, but he slowed to a walk as he approached her feet. Somehow, despite interacting almost exclusively with her smaller chassis over the past two years, he wasn't afraid of her titanic size and power.
"Gipsy, stop," he urged. "Don't do this!"
Raleigh, they're monsters, she insisted. Knifehead's a monster. He killed Yancey… he almost killed us! Who's to say he won't do it again?
"I know… I know, girl," he murmured, resting a hand on her massive foot. "But these aren't the same Kaiju. They're different. I know you're hurting and angry, I can feel it… but killing Knifehead won't fix it. It'll just start a war right here on the beach."
There are six of us, and more Jaegers are coming, she insisted. We could take them!
"Don't pull a Striker on us, girl," Raleigh urged. "Gipsy… these Kaiju aren't the ones who hurt us. Who hurt humanity. They're different - you don't have to be a scientist to see it. Please, stand down and don't do anything stupid."
Gipsy keened, but she lowered her sword-arm to her side. You really believe that, Raleigh?
"I don't want to," he confessed, "but Newt and Hermann have a good track record for these kind of things. Gipsy… put your sword away and come back to the Shatterdome. Please."
She shuddered and retracted her chain-sword, letting it slide back into its sheath with a rattle of metal links. Anger still pulsed through her core, rage at a copy of the very Kaiju who had literally torn her family apart walking these shores… but she trusted her brother. And her love and trust towards Raleigh was far stronger than her anger.
The five adult Kaiju watched Gipsy as she stepped away from them - the cub had somehow slept through the whole debacle. Slattern and Onibaba glared distrustfully at the Jaeger, while Otachi huddled low over her sleeping cub like a mother hen brooding over her chick. Raiju looked terrified and defiant at the same time, while Knifehead gazed after her with a strange mix of confusion and regret.
Regret… how can a Kaiju feel regret? Maybe they were more intelligent than Kaiju of the past - maybe they were even sentient. But capable of emotions as complex and developed as regret and concern? How was that possible?
The other Jaegers waited for her at the door to the Shatterdome, and Striker pulled her into a tight embrace while the others crowded around her.
Ya all right, sheila? Striker rumbled.
Gipsy nodded. I'm going inside. I can't look at Knifehead right now. He might not be the same one, but… he brings back memories.
I know, luv, he soothed. I ain't got an individual Kaiju I have a grudge against, but I can guess it's hard seein' him again. Wish we coulda gone out there an' shanked him together.
We need to give them a chance, Mustang insisted. I know we're all still angry at them, but… we need to try to understand them better. Not just write them off as monsters.
It's not like their predecessors left a glorious legacy behind, Brawler pointed out. Kaiju wrecked this planet good and proper. You can't expect us to welcome these beasties with open arms all of a sudden.
No… but we can give them a chance, Mustang replied. We can not judge these Kaiju for the destruction their predecessors inflicted on the world. Let's give them a chance, at least until the scientists understand them a little better.
That was asking a great deal from all of them - especially those who had lost something precious in the Kaiju War. And Gipsy wasn't sure she could do it. But at least she could stay out of the way until the scientists figured something out.
She retreated into the Shatterdome, making for the bay that was to be hers during their stay in Panama. All she wanted right now was to unplug from her battle chassis and go hug her brother and sister until her troubled mind eased. Raleigh and Mako had both lost much to the Kaiju. They would understand her turmoil.
Not for the first time, Tendo Choi wondered what Stacker Pentecost would have done in his place. Yes, Pentecost had dealt with impossible odds and strange situations during his tenure as Marshal of the Jaeger program, but he had somehow been able to handle every crisis with grace and serenity. It was a deep shame that he hadn't lived to see any of the Jaegers besides Coyote Tango achieve sentience, but Tendo was sure he would have handled that with his usual calm, capable methodicalness.
And perhaps Pentecost would have been able to approach Slattern, the Category V Kaiju who seemed to be the leader of the sentient Kaiju, without feeling like he was on the verge of fainting dead away into the sands.
The titaness gazed down at him, seated on the Panama beach as regally as a cat with her tails curled around her forelegs. Her Y-shaped head tilted slightly to the side as she regarded the fleck of a man approaching her, a man who might as well have been an insect or a grain of sand as far as she was concerned. Her monstrous facial structure made it difficult to gauge her expression, but Tendo almost imagined she was looking at him contemptuously, as if she might crush him into the sand at the slightest provocation. That thought did nothing to quell his nervous nausea.
Tacit Ronin gave a rumble like distant thunder, the white Jaeger looming high overhead as he trailed after his Ranger. I'm here if she tries anything. Have courage. You can do this.
I'm about to have the first diplomatic meeting with a Kaiju in history, Tendo retorted. Gods, that sentence sounds insane, but what about this isn't? How do I have courage in the face of THAT?
Courage isn't the absence of fear, Tacit assured him. It's being afraid but doing what you must anyhow. You can do this. Just remember what Newton and Hermann told you.
Tendo gave the slightest of nods, wondering if Slattern's eyes were keen enough to catch that movement. The two scientists had taken great pains to explain that the kaiju didn't communicate in words, but in thoughts and images. They had already picked up a few basic words - mainly the names the Jaeger program had given them over the years - but there was still a considerable "language" barrier to overcome.
Slattern twitched the tips of her tails, and a single thought pulsed in Tendo's mind - not his own, not Tacit's, but something alien. It was a burst of confusion… directed at him.
Who? That was the closest he could come to pinning a translation to that concentrated thought. Who are you?
"Tendo," he said aloud, then thought the name as clearly as he could for her benefit. Tendo.
Slattern nodded, and two words sounded in his own mind, slightly garbled but still understandable. Slaaaa-tern. Leader.
Tendo nodded, then touched his chest. Human.
Human?
Human. He focused on the image of a group of humans, trying to include as diverse a mix of races, ages, and genders as he could. Humans.
Humans. She bobbed her head, as if she'd seen his nod and correctly interpreted it as a gesture of understanding. Human Leader?
No. He wasn't sure how to explain the convoluted business of this world's multiple governments to her, so opted to save that lesson for a later time. Jaeger Leader.
Slattern rumbled softly, and a burst of amusement passed through his mind… amusement coupled with the image of himself standing before a Jaeger, arms raised in a commanding gesture. Leader! Tiny Leader!
Tacit gave an amused rumble of his own. I think she just cracked a joke. If we needed further proof that they're sentient, there it is.
Despite his fear, Tendo managed a smile at that. Let's just hope they take a tiny leader seriously. He took a moment to collect his thoughts, then formed another question in his mind.
Why? he ventured, trying to mold the words into a feeling of inquiry, of curiosity and expectation. Why are you here?
Slattern huffed and tilted her ponderous head towards Otachi, curled tightly around her offspring with a wing obscuring most of it from view. Cub. Find cub.
No… here. He thought of the Earth, a blue globe swirled with white, but that just earned a burst of confusion from the kaiju leader. Instead he focused on an image of the sea floor. This… world. Not the Anteverse.
Slattern went mentally silent for a long moment. Then she crouched, her great head lowering down towards Tendo. He backpedaled several steps, and behind him Tacit raised his arm blades, ready to take a slash at the kaiju should she get too close to his Ranger…
But Slattern just rested her chin in the sand, as if trying to get down on Tendo's level. Her eyes - tiny in comparison to the rest of her body, but still bigger than Tendo himself - met his, and for the first time he saw the gleam of intelligence in them.
Then images assaulted him, images accompanied by pain and fury and wrenching terror…
Thick stony restraints pinning her limbs… needle-thin blades carving into her flesh to take samples… jolts of pain to subdue her whenever she struggled too much… watching as others of her kind were loosed and pitted against one another, with the losers harvested for spare parts… watching as the survivors were herded into a glowing throat of a rupture between worlds to serve as living weapons… finally snapping her bonds and fleeing, leading others, watching in horror as a straggler was caught and killed on the spot… bursting from a rift into water pure and clean and free of the taint of her Makers…
Tendo reeled back, held upright only by a massive finger against his back to keep him from toppling over. He shook his head, struggling to shake off the lingering pain and terror of those visions, and met Slattern's gaze again. And this time he saw something very like himself in those eyes - the weary determination of a leader who carried a vast weight on their shoulders, and was struggling to do the right thing for those in their charge.
Here, she replied. Escape. Freedom. Life. Away from… that.
Tendo's gaze moved from Slattern to her titanic charges - Otachi curled up around her cub, Knifehead and Onibaba huddled together, and Raiju pacing in front of the Shatterdome doors like a nervous dog. Then he blew out a sigh. Slattern's request wasn't entirely unexpected - but raised a whole slew of new problems.
He took a deep breath, steeling himself. Give me courage to do this… And he stepped forward.
Tendo, that's not courage, that's stupidity! Tacit protested.
Tendo didn't reply, just kept walking towards Slattern. The kaiju tensed, shoulders hunching, but made no move to pull away or raise a paw to strike. She only watched as the Tiny Leader approached her, closing the distance between them a step at a time.
He raised a trembling hand… and rested it on Slattern's chin. The hide felt warm and rough under his fingers, as if he were touching a living rock… and despite how miniscule and delicate his touch must have been, he felt the muscles beneath that thick hide tremble.
"I understand," he murmured.
Slattern shut her eyes, a low purring rumble drifting from her throat. Emotion welled up in Tendo's chest - Slattern's emotions. It took him a moment to recognize it as hope - hope that, perhaps, their kind stood a chance on this strange new world.