THE BONE SLUMS
HONG KONG
Meanwhile, in the raining weather, Newt was searching for this Hannibal Chau. All he was given was a red card with an invisible ink symbol on it of a Kaiju head.
He looks at it again with his flashlight. He looks around and sees the ribs of what was a Kaiju. Seeing them gave him an idea.
He checked a nearby sign with his flashligh and he found the same kaiju head with an arrow pointing towards the Kaiju ribs.
"Hello." Newt said to himself as he found the symbol.
He then followed the arrow. He soon ran up some stairs to a balcony. He looked around, but saw nothing.
Then, he checked a nearby pillar with his flashlight, and on it was the Kaiju head. Immediately, he enters the building and looked around. A man blocks the door behind him.
"Pss, pss" a voice whispers. Newt turns to see the shop's clerk.
"You looking for some Kaiju bone powder?" the clerk asked.
"Some...? Some bone...? Some bone powder?" Newt wondered, "Uh, no, why would I want that?".
"Male potency" the clerk said, and he did a gesture to where is would make you more buff, almost like steroids, "I take it myself".
"I see. Uh, no, thank you" Newt said, "I'm looking for Hannibal Chau". The clerk made a gesture and the man at the door locked it.
"Come" the clerk said.
He then walks over to a shelf with a bunch of specimens on it. He reaches behind it and clicks a button.
"You want Chau, huh?" the clerk asks as the shelf split apart, revealing more shelves, "Good luck".
The shelves split apart, opening the gateway to a completely different room.
"Oh, my God! Oh, my God," Newt said, "This place is heaven!"
All around him were Kaiju specimens, with scientists and specialists working on them.
"That's a lymph gland from a Category 2!" Newt said, pointing to a specimen in an ammonia tank. "
And what are you working on here? Is this a cuticle? In mint condition?" Newt said, suggesting to what looks like a piece of armor.
"Is that a Kaiju skin parasite? I've never seen them alive before!" Newt said, gesturing to an arthropod like creature, almost like a giant tick or flea, "They usually die as soon as the Kaiju falls! I thought you couldn't keep them alive!".
"You can if you soak them in ammonia" a voice said. Newt looked as an elderly man with weird looking glasses, golden rings on his shoes, and a red suit and gold tie turned.
"What do you want" the man asked.
"I'm looking for Hannibal Chau. I was told he was here" Newt said, showing the man the card.
"Who wants to know?" the man asked.
"I really can't say" Newt said.
It was a moment of them staring at each other when the man pulls out a flip knife and shoves it up Newt's nose. Newt yells in pain.
"Stacker Pentecost sent me!" Newt said and the man yanked it out of his nose. Newt jumped around in pain. Then, the man flipped the knife and put it away.
"Oh, that's great. That's real great" Newt said, not appreciating what the man did to him, "So I take it you're Hannibal Chau, right?"
"You like the name?" Hannibal asked. "I took it from my favorite historical character and my second-favorite Szechuan restaurant in Brooklyn. Now tell me what you want before I gut you like a pig and feed you to the skin louse".
Meanwhile, back at the Shatterdome, Herc, Chuck, and Stacker were in the room discussing the whole matter on Mako and Raleigh's failed Gipsy Danger test.
Raleigh and Mako patiently wait outside, along with the Monarch Team. They also saw the whole thing, but from a different part of the Shatterdome.
"She can't control her Drift, and he went out of phase first!" Chuck said.
"We all know what happened" Stacker said.
"We can't afford mistakes" Chuck said, "The Kaiju keep evolving, they keep kicking our asses! He's a has-been, she's a rookie. I don't want them protecting my bomb run, sir". Then Chuck walks out.
"You need to watch your tone, Mr. Hansen" Stacker said from the room.
"Hey, stay there" Herc said, "Give me a moment". Then, he closed the door. Chuck then turns to the 7.
"You all are a god damn disgrace" Chuck said.
"Wait, what did we do?" Sam asked.
"You two are gonna get us all killed, and you all tell us there's more monsters we have to deal with"
"Did you not here a word we said" Rick questioned.
"They are benevolent. Only if you attack them, they'll attack you" Vivienne said.
"Also, this world belongs to them. They were here before us. They are the ones that keep balance, and order, in nature" Serizawa said.
"I don't give a fuck!" Chuck said, "I don't like 'em. They may be friends to you, but to me, they're just more threats. Mankind shouldn't even know that things like them exist. Man is at the top. We do the dirty work so that people aren't afraid of things like them! And, when all this is over, I'm going to find every last one, and kill them all". The Monarch Team was totally offended by Chuck's comment.
Then, Chuck turns to Raleigh and Mako.
"And here's the thing, Raleigh" Chuck said, "I want to come back from this mission because I quite like my life". Then, he flicks Raleigh in the chest.
"So why don't you just do us all a favor and disappear? It's the only thing you're good at" Chuck said.
"Stop! Now!" Mako said, but Raleigh held her back.
"Yeah, that's right. You just hold back your little girlfriend. One of you bitches needs a leash" Chuck said. Then, that did and Raleigh socked Chuck in the face before landing another punch. Chuck punches back.
Then, Raleigh tries to knock Chuck in the head, but Chuck blocks. Then, Raleigh hits Chuck in the neck, knocks aside his leg, and sucker punches him in the side of the face, causing him to spit out blood.
A crowd now starts to form.
"Apologize to her" Raleigh said
"Screw you" Chuck said before he charged. He swung, but Raleigh ducked. Raleigh then punched him in the ribs, then across the face, before throwing him into a wall.
Raleigh goes for another punch, but Chuck blocks before he rams into Raleigh, charging Raleigh into the opposite wall.
He punches Raleigh in the ribs twice, but Raleigh locks his arm and twists it before throwing Chuck into some pipes. On impact, Chuck breaks the pipes, causing steam to fly out.
Chuck yells in pain, but he quickly recovers as he's fueled with adrenaline.
"I said, 'Apologize to her'" Raleigh said. Then, Chuck was about to charge again when, suddenly, Serizawa grips Chuck's shoulder in a nerve-pinch. Chuck yells in pain before he falls to the ground.
Everyone was impressed by that. Then, Herc and Stacker came out.
"What's going on?" Herc asked.
"Sir, Raleigh and Chuck got into a fight because he insulted us" Sam said. Chuck lifted up his head, but found he couldn't move. He then looked at Serizawa.
"What the hell did you do to me?" Chuck demanded.
"Nerve-pinch techinque. Learned it in a Marshal Arts class" Serizawa replied, "It only lasts a few seconds".
Then, Serizawa leans down and gave Chuck a sort of angry death stare before he lowers down to Chuck's ear and whispered threateningly in Japanese, "If you ever decide to push the alpha off the column, then you'll suffer the wrath of the loyal ones. Consider this your one and only warning, selfish brat".
Serizawa backed away as Chuck had a confused and scared look on his face.
"Becket, Mori, into my office" Stacker said.
"No, we aren't finished! And I'm sewing you for an 'unprovoked attack'" Chuck said as he got up from the paralyzation wearing off.
"No, this is over!" Herc said, blocking him, "You're a ranger, for Christ sake. Why don't you start acting like one? And as far as I'm concerned, you deserved that". Chuck then marched off, angrily.
Herc then looked back to Stacker before he entered his office. Then, he saw the Monarch Team walking away.
"Hey!" he shouted and the Monarch Team turned back.
"Thank you for giving my son a piece of your mind" Herc said. Serizawa smiled and bowed to him before they continued on.
"I went out of phase first. It was my mistake" Raleigh tried to explain to Stacker.
"No" Stacker said, "It was my mistake. I should have never let you two in the same machine".
"So, what you're grounding us?"
"Not you" Stacker said. He then looks to Mako. He could see tears in her eyes.
"Permission to be dismissed, sir" she said, shakily, holding back her tears. Stacker paused for a moment, feeling bad for Mako.
"Permission granted, Miss Mori" Stacker said. She then bows before she exits the room.
"Mako" Raleigh said. She looked back, but didn't stop.
"Sir, what are you doing?" Raleigh questioned, "She is the strongest candidate by far. What other options do we have? Huh? Tell me!
"Do not let my calm demeanor fool you, RANGER!" Stacker said, raising his voice, "Now is not a good moment for your insubordination! Mako is too inexperienced to rein in her memories during combat". Stacker then began to walk out
"That's not why you grounded her" Raleigh said. Stacker stopped to hearing this. "I was in her memories. I saw everything" Raleigh continued.
"I don't care what you think you saw" Stacker said.
Young Mako continues to cover her ears from the rampaging fight behind her. Then, just as soon as it began, it was over. Mako uncovers her ears and slowly makes her way to the street.
She picks up her shoe along the way. She peeks out, checking if the coast is clear. She slowly makes her way out into the middle of the street.
As she walked, she looked to her right to see the corpse of Onibaba with a huge gash in its belly. Then, she hears mechanical sounds. She looks to her right and sees a Jaeger standing in the sunlight.
At the top of the Jaeger's head, a hatch opens and one of the pilots climbs out. Behind Mako, Raleigh watches the whole thing. The pilot removes his helmet, revealing a younger Stacker.
Stacker looks down at Mako and smiles and Mako smiles back. But then, movement was heard. Mako and Stacker look as Mothra climbs over Onibaba's carcass. She screeches, spreading her wings.
They then begin to glow from luminescent cells in her wings. Then, she makes her way down to Mako and Mako walks towards the larger creature.
She shows that she's not a threat by being gentle and remaining calm. Mako and Mothra then come into close quarters with each other.
Mako then holds her hand out and touches Mothra's head, feeling her soft fur. Mothra replies with a purr-like sound. Mako couldn't help but smile as this was her savior and an amazing, gentle creature.
Stacker couldn't help but smile either. Then, Mothra backs away and spreads her wings as they glow again.
She then looks up to Stacker before she lets out a screeching roar before she takes to the air and disappears among the clouds.
Then, Mako and Stacker locked eyes with each other again as their smiles were even greater than before.
"I know what she means to you. I saw it!" Raleigh said, understanding his guardial connection with Mako, "Also, I know that I'm not the only one here who saw a Titan before now".
However, Stacker doesn't want to listen anymore. So, he exits the room.
"Hey! Hey!" Raleigh called.
"This conversation is over" Stacker said back.
"Marshal. Marshal, can we just talk about this for one second?" Raleigh asked, but Stacker still didn't listen. Raleigh ran up to him and grabbed him by the arm, stopping him, which Stacker didn't appreciate. They looked at each other for a minute before he walked over to the elevator keypad and pressed it.
"You rescued her. You raised her" Raleigh said, "You're not protecting her, now. You are holding her back".
"One: Don't you ever touch me again. Two: Don't you ever touch me again", Stacker said, "Now, you have no idea who the hell I am or where I've come from and I'm not about to tell you my whole life story. All I need to be to you and everybody on this dome is a fixed point. The last man standing. I do not need your sympathy or your admiration. All I need is your compliance and your fighting skills. And if I can't get that then you can go back to the wall that I found you crawling on. Do I make myself clear?". He finished, but Raleigh didn't comply. Then, he leaned his ear forward with two fingers to his ear.
"Yes, sir" Raleigh finally said.
"Good" Stacker said. Then, he entered the elevator and they looked at each other one last time before the elevator's doors closed.
Author's Note: And there you have it. The next chapter or so, we're gonna get some action...and the Big G himself, along with one more Titan.
Stay tuned, and I'll see you all next time. Dinopony2580 out.
