Chapter 3. I plan on at least putting up a chapter every week so I could have some time to think up where the story should and shouldn't go. Another thing is, Danes' past is gonna take the entire story to crack so if you guys stay, be ready for a long haul. I do not own anything.
Saturday (in the anime its Sunday in ep 9, but I changed it to Saturday to make more sense with Dane being in the Arena the day before.). 0630.
Dane changes into his IS uniform. He had gotten three hours of sleep last night due to having to travel from Sendai and back in a short time frame. But he still stayed on schedule and did PT at 0500. Even though Jake decided to fill out all of Jaeger teams post op paperwork, Dane had to fill out part of it, luckily on a later date. As he finishes up the final touches on his uniform, a scream could be heard from down the hall. He quickly turns.
Shit. Orimura.
Grabbing the Glock from under his pillow, Dane chambers a round and quickly runs down the hall, making sure not to be seen. As the boy approaches the room, he notices that the door is open. Taking cover, he peaks through the doorway. And what he sees, wasn't as bad as he thought it was. On the bed, a nude Laura Bodewig had pinned Ichika to the bed using a type of arm lock, and Houki, wearing her kendo outfit, looked pissed off.
"Married?! You'll DIE!!!" She yells angered. The childhood friend of the other boy starts ranting about bringing other girls into the dorm with him. Houki raises her practice sword. Ichika flinches, ready for the attack to connect. It never comes. He opens his eyes and sees that Dane had grabbed the wooden sword. Houki turns to him.
"What are you-?"
"Shinonono, may I ask that you hold back from attacking Orimura?"
Initially, she was drawn back by this, but realized what he meant. Houki leaves the room, irritated at the fact Ichika was hanging around another girl.
"Bodewig, could you give us the room?" Dane asks.
Laura huffs a little, puts her clothes back on, and leaves.
Ichika steps off his bed. "Thanks man. I don't think I could've handled-."
"Ok, self defense 101."
Ichika is confused as Dane goes to the curtains. Taking them off the window, he hands the bar that holds the curtains up and hands it to him.
"Attack me."
"What?"
"I said attack me."
Ichika sighs. "Fine. If you wish!"
He goes for an overhead slash. Dane takes a side step. The Japanese boy realigned his body with the American and goes for an underhand slash, but he dodges. Seeing an opening, Dane steps forward, putting his right arm over Ichika's right shoulder. With his left arm, he goes under the right shoulder and grabs his opposite hand. Before Ichika could understand what was about to happen, Dane had placed his right leg behind the other boy's legs. Using the little momentum he had, Dane sweeps his legs from under him. Before Ichika hits the ground, Dane let's go and grabs him by the shirt.
"I know you don't want to hurt them, so do this if they try to attack you."
"Y-yeah, thanks."
Dane pulls him up to his feet.
"Don't make me regret teaching you this."
"Got it."
The boy turns and leaves, leaving a shocked Ichika behind.
1130. Same day.
"This is Jaeger 4. Jackknife is moving to the tram station and point Alpha."
"Roger that. Keep a low profile unless things get hot. Jaeger 2 is on overwatch and Jaeger 1 is the get away driver. He is driving a black Tahoe." Says Jaeger 3 over the radio.
Dane was walking about 30 yards behind Ichika, also IDd as Jackknife, and Charlotte. Dane was wearing a somewhat casual outfit, black leather jacket, dark blue jeans, black baseball cap, black aviator glasses, and black boots. Over his shoulder is a black duffle bag. In it, is his Remington R5 and three full magazines. He had taken off the top receiver from the lower to make space and make it seem less like he was carrying an automatic weapon, along with the Glock in a shoulder holster.
"Jackknife has entered the tram, currently boarding myself." He whispers.
"Roger, Jaeger 2 is in route to his position on a parking garage 900 meters out, at the trams 2 o'clock."
A black Chevy Tahoe pulls onto the top level of a parking garage, and backs into a parking spot close to a metal rail, facing the tram station. Karter climbs into the back seat, all the seats down. Opening the back window he sets up a McMillan TAC-338 with a bipod. Grabbing a few pillows he sets his rifle on top of them and peers through the scope. He spots Dane 850 meters out.
"Jaeger 2 in position."
Another black Tahoe pulls to the side of the road in front of the tram station. Ichika and Charlotte walk out. About 20 seconds later, Dane walks out. The driver, Jake, gets onto comms.
"Jaeger 1 is also in position."
Dane continues to follow, but notices something in some bushes.
"Jaeger 2, you got eyes on this?"
"Affirmative."
The boy begins to reach for his handgun, until he sees a certain British, German, and Chinese girl in said bushes.
"False alarm, only civilians that have relations with Jackknife."
"Roger that. Standing down."
Before the teens could move from their hiding spot, they notice Dane.
"Hey! Get over here!" Shouts Rin quietly.
Calmly, the boy walks over.
"What are you doing?" He asks the girls.
"We are scouting the competition." States Cecilia.
Dane looks at Ichika and Charlotte crossing the street, two cars away from Jake.
"I see, competition for Ichika's attention?"
"Its nothing like that!" Rin says defensively.
"Yes, please don't get the wrong idea!" Says Cecilia.
"It's fine. I understand what you guys mean."
Laura glanced over with a surprised look, and the other girls looked surprised.
"You-you do?" Asks Cecilia.
"Yeah, I know someone like that and its happened to me too."
"Achoo! *sniffle* I heard that!" Says Audrey over comms.
Cecilia turns her body to face him and clears her throat. "Well, if you have experience with this sort of thing, would you mind accompanying us on this mission?"
Mission?
"Sure, I don't mind."
The four of them start their "mission".
"Jaeger 4, keep this up. This will be a good alibi if you are compromised." Says Jake.
Acting like he's scratching his ear, Dane confirms this idea.
"Roger that."
"You say something?" Asks Rin.
"No, sorry, just talking to myself."
"Just making sure you didn't say anything dumb."
Who is she trying to impress? He thinks as he casually takes his earpiece.
As Cecilia and Rin walk in front of them, Dane and Laura converse.
"I'm guessing this person you were talking about is Petty Officer Brooks?" She asks.
"Yes, it's been going on since before that mission in Bosnia two years ago."
"Oh, the one where you saved my life?"
"Yeah, that one." He says.
"I never properly thanked you for that. But, thank you."
"Try not to mention stuff like that. I'd rather my military record be kept a secret."
"But didn't it get leaked?" Asks Laura suspiciously.
"Only the part of me piloting an IS. Whoever had my file on lockdown is an idiot for not putting my IS capabilities hidden." Dane says to recover.
The other two girls slow down and join them.
"So Dane, when did you learn that you could control an IS?" Asks Cecilia.
Dane takes a quick second to think of a logical answer.
"About two months ago."
"Oh, do you mind if I ask how you figured it out?"
"I had gone to a friend's house. She can control an IS. I found where she kept it, and when I touched it, it responded."
The girls weren't as surprised. Almost the same thing happened to Ichika, except it was at a highschool and the IS didn't belong to anyone. However this was a decent cover story which shouldn't raise too much suspicion. Dane couldn't tell them that he's been able to use it as long as he could remember. And the story behind that.
As they continued following, a jumbotron on the side of a building played the news. A brunette female was reporting last nights raid.
"Last night, at around midnight, a military raid was carried out on a complex belonging to the Red Dragon yakuza about 150 miles east of Sendai. Over three and a half million dollars in explosives, firearms, and other weapons were seized or destroyed, including 3 IS units. In the ensuing firefight, 13 yakuza members were killed, and 36 were arrested."
The TV began showing footage of the scene. A large crater in the complex, the walls almost collapsed, and the building with broken windows, bullet holes and shrapnel. The four teens watch as it shows more scenes of the raid.
"Wow, that looks terrible. And I thought the ISA was crazy." States Cecilia.
Rin began to think. A boat leaves the academy a couple of hours beforehand? Am I over thinking?
"Rin! We're losing them!" Shouts Laura quietly. She snaps out of it and hurries to them.
Later that day, probably about an hour or two, the group eventually found themselves at a swimsuit store inside a massive mall. Jake and Karter had to change positions. Jaeger 1 was parked at the back, while Jaeger 2 was three stores down. They see Charlotte and Ichika run into the store.
"No we lost them!" States Rin.
"Let's move in." Says Cecilia.
"I'll stay here in case they leave. I'll give you a sign if they leave." Says Dane.
The three girls nod and they move into the store. The boy leans against a wall facing the store and Karter joins him.
"You took your earpiece out. Audry is shitting a brick." The older soldier says.
"It was so I could keep my cover intact." Dane responds.
"I hope you're right about this."
"Same here."
As they look into the store, they notice that Charlotte and Ichika had gone into the changing room and Chifuyu had caught him.
"Jackknife has been located." Karter says into his earpiece. After a second he nods.
"Got it. Audry says to put your earpiece back on."
Dane looks at him and gives him the bird.
"That's a negative, he's having minor difficulty with his equipment, but the mission can continue." With that, the Staff Sergeant leaves.
After an half an hour of Chifuyu scolding the two students, Ichika leaves with the girls (minus Houki) out of the mall and takes a back alley to get to the tram station. As Dane follows, he tries to hear what they are saying.
"Hey, what ever happened to Dane?" Asks Laura.
"Oh no! I can't believe we forgot about him!" Cries Cecilia.
"We should go look for him." Says Charlotte.
"Fine! I guess if we have to." Agrees Rin sarcastically.
"Alright. Let's go." Says Ichika.
Before they could head back, a trio of men between their late twenties and early thirties come out of another alley, between them and Dane. The other boy realizes this is not good and puts his earpiece back in.
"Jaeger 4 here. I have three unknowns between me and Jackknife.
"Are they hostiles?" Asks Jake.
"I don't think so. They might be some local gang looking for some cash."
"Understood. Subdue them, but do not kill them. Firearms are prohibited at this time. We'll inform law enforcement of what happened."
"Roger."
"Can we help you?" Asks Ichika.
"Actually, yeah there is one thing." One says.
"You could start by handing over whatever cash you guys have." A second one demands.
The first one pulls a switchblade. "We won't ask twice."
Laura's military training kicks in and she stands in front of her rivals and her "bride".
"I shall give you one chance to leave before someone gets hurt."
"That's a funny joke. Why don't you-?" The third one starts until he feels a hand on his shoulder.
"Excuse me."
The three turn to see Dane standing there.
"An American? Well kid, you got balls, for a kid. Why don't you run along before you shit yourself." One says in Japanese.
"Twenty ways." Dane responds in the same language.
Dane clears his throat. "There are currently twenty ways this can end. And it all depends on what you guys do next. Choose right and you all can leave without a scratch."
The second one flinches. "Man, fuck this guy let's waste him!"
They surround him, the blade user to behind him to his right, the second to his front, and third to his back to the left. The group of teens sweat.
"We have to do something! He'll get killed if we don't do anything!" Cecilia says worried. Before they can move Laura stops them. "I don't think we need too."
She knew what Dane could do without a gun or a knife, these guys would be better off leaving.
The knife wielder goes to stab Dane in the head, but the boy grabs the hand with the knife with his left arm. Using his right arm, he elbows him and now carries the knife. The man falls, knocked out cold. The third tries to charge him, but the knife goes through his shirt and pins him to the wall. Now to his right, the second goes for a punch. Dane side steps and punches the man in the gut. As he falls, the third, after some struggling, manages to pull the knife out of the wall and draws a .38 revolver, pointing it at Danes head.
"Watch out!" Shouts Cecilia.
The boy notices this and grabs the gun, using barely any effort to take it away, and points it at the thug. The man puts his hands up.
"Please don't-!"
"You shoulda hold onto it tighter." Dane says before striking the base of the neck with the revolver. The man hits the ground. Once checking to make sure that the men were unable to fight, Dane opens the cylinder of the revolver and unloads every round. Dropping the gun, the boy turns to see that everyone is surprised, even Rin.
"That. Was. Insane." Ichika gawks.
"This had to have been one of the most one sided wins in the history of one sided wins." Laura continued, knowing this was gonna happen.
"Where did you learn to fight like that?" Cecilia asks with curiosity.
"Yes, that was incredible!" Charlotte adds.
Rin huffs. "Ok, I have to admit that you do have skill."
The group leaves the alley, leaving the thugs knocked out on the ground. As they walk down the street, Cecilia and Laura match their pace with Danes.
"Are you going with the class on the beach trip serge- Dane?" Laura saves herself, remembering that Dane wants to keep his military life secret.
"After thinking it over, yes, I think I'll go."
Cecilia smiles. "Wonderful! You're gonna sit with us on the bus ride right?"
"Yes. Thank you for the offer." Dane agrees. This way he has a reason to be within securing reach of Ichika. They soon approached the tram and Dane stops.
"You're not coming with us?" Asks Ichika.
"Not yet, there's something I need to do real quick."
"Alright. We'll see you tomorrow!" Says Cecilia.
As they leave, Dane turns to see Jake and Karter with their vehicles.
"Good job Jaeger 4." Jake puts an arm around the boy. "So a beach trip huh? You gonna make the girls swoon for ya?" He continues.
"Very funny."
"Oh come on." Jake teases him. "You know you're gonna find yourself in the position to use that gift from Audrey. Believe me, I was the same way your age."
Karter jumps in. "And you say Marines fuck anything with two legs."
As they continue to talk about the raging hormones in teenagers, and the sexual capabilities of Marines, Dane sighs and heads towards the tram.
Thanks for reading! Review!