Well, things couldn't be better. Gipsy smiled, her visor glowing bright as she followed their Turian escort.
When they had given their agreement to the job, the Turian, Kriln Vranus, had practically ordered them to follow him to Afterlife, wherever that was. She had to give him points for guts, though. Coming up to a Jaeger standing over a fresh kill and asking them for their services wasn't something people did on a regular basis. Still, here they were, heading off to this Aria's headquarters about a job.
A job.
For some reason that seemed incredibly funny to her. The picture of Striker walking into an office building with a briefcase and tie was so random it almost made her laugh.
A Jaeger with a job that wasn't killing Kaiju. Maybe insurance salesmen for everything they break?
She snorted as she thought about it, drawing looks from her brothers in arms as they walked along beside her.
They were passing through a maze of twisting corridors and passages, each one fulled with people. Or aliens, depending on how you looked at it. They all wore some kind of armor, had at least one gun on them and all backed away as the Jaegers approached.
Maybe it was their looks, their thick armor, glowing visors or the fact that they were, as Kriln had told them, were giant mechs. Though she never corrected him, saying that they were Jaegers, Crimson had said it would probably be easier to let that assumption stand. Less unwanted explanation and all that. Another reason was that their arms and chest plates were covered in Krogan blood. Whatever the reason, the people they past stayed well clear of them. She also noted that no one asked any questions. All they got were looks, either wary, fearful, challenging or down right covetous. But she did hear the whispers as they past.
New prototype mechs was the phrase she heard the most often.
Kriln was right, news did travel fast on Omega. Not ten minutes out of their fight and already a quarter of the station knew of their presence.
She sort of liked that.
She now had a reputation. Well... they now had a reputation. She couldn't forgot about Crimson and Cherno... Striker, on the other hand.
Before she could carry on with that thought the corridor Kriln had been leading them through ended at a door which opened up onto a wide boulevard. As they walked on, Gipsy couldn't help but stare at the surrounding sights.
One side a flat metal wall, interspersed with doors and windows but the other side was blocked only by a railing that stopped you from falling into empty space. Beyond that railing, she could see giant upside down skyscrapers lit with hundreds of glowing windows.
"Now that's a sight," Striker said over their radio, sounding amazed. "You don't see something like that every day."
"You don't see a Jaeger every day, either," Crimson replied dryly, eyeing the various aliens that lined the boulevard. It seemed that they were now the center of attention, the giant eight foot tall mechs that had just killed a whole bunch of Krogan with nothing but their bare hands.
Cherno rumbled, causing a few of the crowd to shrink back.
"No, I don't think they'll try anything," Crimson assured him."For all they know we're Aria's property, and the last thing anyone what's to do is mess with her."
Striker stiffened at the word. "Property?" he growled.
"It's the only proper word I could think of, relax," said Crimson. "Or rather, think about it as a dog marking his territory. Once an object is marked, the other dogs, if they consider him a big enough threat, will stay away."
"I'm not letting that bitch piss on me if that's what your saying."
"It was a COMPARISON."
"Well, she hasn't "marked" us yet so I think these wankers are just scared shitless of us. I like that."
"True, but we are being led by one of her men... but you know what, I think you're partially right."
"Uh yeah, duh? Look at us. A Kaiju would find us terrifying."
Sparing a glance back, Gipsy couldn't help but agree. Their entire lower arms were drenched in blood, seeping into their joints and clotting on the metal. She suddenly realized the logic of Crimson's argument of taking the job. They needed to find a place where they could wash it all off in relative safety and maybe this Aria could help them with that. But while she was divided about whether a Kaiju would run in fear, there was no doubt that their very existence sent shivers down the spines of all who saw them. Krogan in particular. The reason being that Crimson had pulled off one of the brute's head plates and was cleaning off the inside with his fingers. He said that while his side with the single arm had adequate protection, he felt the joints of his other side, the side with his double arms, were uncomfortably exposed, and until he found proper armor the headplate would have to do. If he could find a way to secure it.
Needless to say any Krogan who saw the red Jaeger wearing a headplate backed away for fear of becoming his next victim.
"Uh, quick question," Gipsy spoke up, still looking at the inverted towers. "If a skyscraper is upside down can it still be called a skyscraper?"
There was a pause.
"I don't know," Crimson said slowly.
"More like a grounddigger when you think of it," Striker suggested.
Gipsy was about to reply when something caught her eye. There, fast approaching, was one of the colorful buildings she'd ever seen. Suspended over the edge of the boulevard by thick support struts the giant can of a building rose above them like a Jaeger to humans, covered in glowing holograms of Asari... dancing?
"Well I'll damned if I came here for DANCE lessons!" Striker swore as they approached the large door out front, which had a surprising large line up of people waiting to get in.
"It's not... that kind of dancing," Crimson replied awkwardly.
"Really? Then what kind is it?"
"You'll see."
Whatever was said after that was lost to Gipsy as they shoved their way past the line. Well, Kriln did. Pushing past people who shoved back indignantly, thinking he was just another patron trying to butt in line. Soon the Jaegers found themselves to be an island in the churning mass, earning quite a bit of space as the crowd backed away, still making trouble for Kriln, who was trying to persuaded them that he was one of Aria's men. Apparently they had heard that many times before and didn't believe him.
Suddenly the door to the establishment opened with a hiss and a group of Turians staggered out, half of them drunk out of their minds. That would have been okay, if one of them hadn't caught sight of Striker.
"Hey... *hic* buddy!" the Turian slurred, brandishing a bottle of stuff as he stumbled towards the Australian, the crowd giving him plenty of room when they saw where he was headed.
Whatever he was going to say next was silenced as he tripped, catching himself on Striker's frame. Then he found himself on the ground and the last thing he saw was an armored foot heading straight for his face.
Stiker grumbled as he pulled his foot clear of the bloody mess, meanwhile the crowd stared on in horror.
"Do you make a habit of killing everyone you meet?" Everyone started and looked at Crimson, not quite believing that it was the mech that had spoken.
Before Striker could reply, Kriln finally fought his way out of the crowd, motion for them to follow, as he stepped up to the Elcor bouncer.
The Elcor stared at the Jaegers before saying in an emotionless voice, "With surprise and shock: Where did you find these, Kriln?"
"Out in the markets," Kriln replied. "Can you let us in?"
The Elcor nodded it's massive head before the door behind it opened, earning many protests from the lineup.
As they stepped in and the door closed behind them, Gipsy couldn't help but feel a bit nervous, and not the good kind either. The holographic flames licking the walls as they approached the main area doing nothing to quell her fears. Something very big was going to happen, she could feel it.
-LineBreak-
Aria didn't like this. She didn't like this at all.
It had only been ten minutes since she'd gotten word of the firefight in the market with the Blood Pack verses... mechs? She'd raised an eyebrow at that.
Mechs? Were the Eclipse losing their nerve? Sending in only mechs to fight their wars for them? There had been tensions between the two groups for a while now so she wasn't very surprised. Either that, or the Eclipse were saving up their man power to assault Afterlife directly.
Then the pictures had come in. Quick stills taken from behind cover of the strangest mechs she'd ever seen. They were big, almost, if not bigger, then a YMIR mech. And they were killing Krogan with their bare hands.
For a while she couldn't help but stare at the pics, wondering if someone was fucking with her. No, they wouldn't risk their lives over something like this. So what the hell were those things? The pictures were too blurry to make out any defining features so she decided to wait for more news. Then a message had come in from one of her men on the scene, a Kriln Vranus, and asked what to do about these AI.
At that she actually paused.
Were they Geth? On her station?
She impatiently read his explanation for using the term. Apparently they seemed to have their own personalities and voices. That, and they were so different from each other that he didn't know what to call them. Geth didn't have three arms or were a bucket headed cyclops armed with buzzsaws and swords.
So she sent out the order to bring them to her. Intact, or in pieces. Then Kriln said he'd gotten their cooperation by say she wanted to speak with them and they were on their way. She was peeved that he'd offered a job as a hit squad without her consent, but maybe, maybe if they were good enough she might just give it to them.
Then she caught herself. Giving mechs, AIs, a job? Did someone fuck with the galaxy and she didn't know it yet?
She was even more peeved when she couldn't find any trace of where they'd come from. Shipping manifests were a no-go as where all cargo and passenger entering Omega, and so far as she knew no one had the resources or the means to make mechs like that. It was like they had literally appeared out of nowhere.
Now she waited for the mechs to appear. The bright lights of the inside of Afterlife, coupled with the fantastic show her strippers were putting on entertained her for a bit before she saw the main door open. In walked Kriln followed by... a giant metal human. At least, it looked like a human in some of the heaviest armor Aria had ever seen. But as she stared she started to see things that counteracted that idea. In the joints, where there would usually be a thin layer of under-armor there was only thick servos and cables. Not to mention the engine turbine in it's chest.
Then the other three came in and Aria couldn't help but agree that none of them were the same, very unlike the uniform Geth she'd heard about.
One of them was silver and more more streamlined then the rest. Another was painted red, had three arms and a single eye that turned on it's neck, gazing at anything that caught it's interest. She happened to notice it tried to avoid the strippers if possible. Then there was a giant, green cyclops. All bare machinery, looking the least advanced one of all, with a single bright light glowing in the center of it's bucket like head. And they were all big. The green one, being the tallest, reaching almost nine feet high, and even the short silver one was only seven foot eleven.
She glared at them as they followed Kriln to her private balcony overlooking the club. When they reached the stairs up, her guards stopped them, insisting that only one be allowed up to speak with her. The mechs looked at each other, communicating silently before the first one stepped up, the blue one with the turbine. As it climbed the steps with her guards trailing behind it, the others were lead away to a booth. But she quickly lost interest in them as the blue mech walked through the open door, it's feet clanging on the metal floor benighted them. It must be heavy, she didn't hear footsteps like that, not even from Krogan.
As it stood before her, much to her surprise, the mech raised a hand and waved with a somewhat reluctant, "hi."
Her eye ridge shot up as she took a seat and leaned back into one of the couches that occupied the balcony. Then she stared at, hard and long, taking in every single detail. It went on for so long the mech actually started to fidget under her stare.
It fidgeted. Just like a normal human.
That was some AI.
"So I heard your the ones who started that fight in the markets," she began slowly, frowning.
The mech fidgeted even more. "It was an accident. Really."
The eye ridge went up even higher. "Oh?"
"Yeah, I never expected that frog to fly so far. Honest."
If it was possible, her eye ridge reached the top of her forehead. "Frog?"
"Sorry. Salarian, I mean."
There was a long pause.
"My men tell me that you "flattened" a group of Blood Pack with nothing but your bare hands," Aria continued. "Under normal circumstances I'd think they were trying to fuck with me. But seeing you... I find that's a reasonable explanation."
The mech perked up. "Really? Well, its a talent of ours. Taking down big things in the shortest amount of time, it's a running competition between us." It paused then, a deep hiss coming from it as it's vents opened to let in fresh air before saying "Is this an interview?"
"In a way," Aria replied. She was beginning to like this thing. Not the way it talked, but it's impressive combat record. If the reports were accurate, these mechs could do even more damage then a team of highly trained N7s. Something she would like to have under her command.
A small grin started to form on her lips as she looked it the visor. It's yellow frosted visage stared back, unblinking.
"Alight," she said at last, leaning forward. "I think I have a use for you. You want a job and I got one. What do you say?"
She left out the part where, if they refused, they'd be turned into spare parts. Better to get the jump on them that way.
"Okay," the mech said cheerfully.
Well that was easy.
"Good," she said, smile dropping as she leaned back. "Do you have a... designation or whatever?"
It seemed to bristle at the word. "I have a name, and its Gipsy Danger."
-LineBreak-
"So how long is this bloody thing gonna take?" Striker grumbled, shifting his seat as he tried to get comfortable.
Crimson shrugged. "I don't know. Could take minutes, could take hours."
"Dammit."
Crimson couldn't help but sigh as Striker swore irritably and leaned forward, resting his elbow on the table as he tried to keep his Angle Wings from getting squished. Annoying things, those Angle Wings. You couldn't sit right with them. Sure they helped with balance but he could do without them. That being said, Crimson leaned back into the soft cushions of the booth and let his joints relax. He'd never sat on anything like this before. It felt like he was sitting on a cloud.
As he felt the stress bleed out of him, he glanced about, eye scanning for danger.
After Gipsy had gone up to talk to Aria, Kriln had led them to a booth then disappeared, most likely reporting to his superiors. Still, it was a fine booth, giving a fantastic view of the whole of Afterlife. At least, that's what Kriln had said. To Crimson it seemed like it provided the best place to stare at near naked dancing Asari. Seems that there were different definitions of "fantastic view."
But other than that, the booth was quite simple. A circular couch with a round table in the middle. There were drinks too for whatever reason. Some random Asari had just come up put down four glasses of blue... stuff with a wink before walking away. Why she had done that they had no idea. They had even less idea what to do with them. They couldn't drink it, obviously, and Crimson thought it rude to dump them out and he didn't know what people would think if they just gave them away... so there they stayed. In fact Cherno was the only one who'd picked up his glass and it was rather amusing to see the tiny shot glass clenched between two of his massive fingers. It just looked so tiny compared to his mit-like hands.
The green giant purred as he stared down into the liquid, watching his reflection shift within it's depths.
"They're looking at us," Striker spoke up irritably, glaring at another group of assorted species as they passed by. They all stared at the Jaegers like animals on display.
Then Crimson began to reevaluate what Kriln had said about a "fantastic view." Was it the general view of the club or of them? As his eye roved the area he started leaning towards the latter. Their booth was set in such a place that it was easy to see from all angles. As he glanced to the other booths he saw people hurriedly look away, but some just stared back, evaluating them.
He didn't like it. It was too exposed. Also the "view" was getting rather annoying. The strippers just wouldn't stop dancing.
Finally giving up on keeping watch, he pulled out the Krogan head plate from beside him and set it on the table. It was a dull red, a bit duller than he like, but it would have to do. Now if only he could find a way to attach it. What little protection it offered would be appreciated, not to mention the intimidation factor to gave.
That was never more apparent as a trio of Krogan stalked by, giving them a wide berth and dirty looks as they beheld his trophy.
But would it work? He had to admit he hadn't really thought this through. In fact, his buzzsaw had gone through these things with ease. Did he really want something like that protecting him?
Probably not.
Whats more, why was he going through so much trouble to attach it if it was so weak?
With that, he set the head plate beside him once more and fell into looking around the club again, waiting for something to happen. He didn't have to wait very long.
"Hey there."
He turned to look at the Asari that just appeared beside their booth. Her cocky smile, coupled with her clothes, or lack there of, properly announced her occupation.
"Can we help you?" Crimson said slowly, shooting Striker the "let me handle this" look.
"I think the real question is can I help you?" the Asari replied, resting her hands on the table and leaning forward. Crimson kept his eye firmly focused on her face and not the twin orbs beneath it. He wasn't too sure where Striker or Cherno were looking but he hoped it wasn't down there.
"We're not interested," he said firmly.
"Are you sure?" she asked leaning even further forward. "You seem a little... tight under those plates. Maybe I could... help you undo a few bolts. Hmm?"
Crimson glared darkly at her, before raising his hand and shifting into it's buzzsaw. The Asari jumped back as the teeth started spinning with growing speed.
"I said: We're. Not. Interested."
"What he said," Striker cut in. "Besides, you're not all that impressive."
The Asari stiffened, face rather upset, before something dropped from her "clothes" and rolled behind her. She turned and bent down at the waist, giving them a good view of her-
Don't look at it, Crimson thought to himself, fixing his gaze firmly on the glass of alcohol in front of him. Don't look at it. There are somethings in the world that just scar you for life. Give me a Kaiju any day.
When he dared to look up the Asari was gone, Cherno was back to staring at his glass and Striker was staring off in the way that she had departed. Then his head turned to look at Crimson.
"Hey, Crimson," he began slowly.
"What?" the Chinese Jaeger replied reluctantly, getting a pretty good idea of the next topic.
"Are Asari suppose to have a big cut in between their legs?"
"W-what?" Crimson stammered. Even though he knew something like that was coming it was still rather a shock.
"Well, I just couldn't help but notice this big cut. Shouldn't she be bleeding out by now?"
There was silence. After a full minute Crimson sighed, resisting the urge to bury his head in his hands before saying, "you know nothing about women do you?"
"I know how to pick 'em up."
"Beyond that."
"No, not really."
"CRIMSON!"
Crimson jumped as Gipsy's voice filled his audio sensors. He collected himself for a moment before replying, "Gipsy, is everything all right?"
"I think so," she said, sounding slightly panicked."Okay, I got good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?"
"Um..."
"Well first we got a job as a hit squad. Yay!" she continued quickly. "Then I told her what you told me about that stuff we need to keep ourselves running and now she's staring at me with the KAIJU LOOK!"
"The what?"
"The Kaiju look," Striker interrupted. "The "I'm gonna take all your hopes and dreams and stomp 'em into the shit" look."
"Yeah, that one," Gipsy continued. "But now she's staring at me and I don't know what to do!"
"Punch her in the face, that should reset everything," Striker suggested.
"How is that suppose to help?"
"It worked the first few times, didn't it?"
"No it... wait!"
There was a pause on the radio, leaving Crimson holding his breath.
"Okay, she asked what do we need. Or... something like that. What do I say?"
Quickly, Crimson brought up his omni-tool and started reading from the list he had compiled, at least the things they couldn't buy with credits. That included a place with an adequate power supply, had at least nine hundred square feet of space and washing facilities. He left out most of the other items because they could be easily purchased in the market, and he didn't feel like pushing their luck after asking for a room, if the way Gipsy's panicked sounding delivery was be believed.
Unbelievable, he thought to himself. We face down Kaiju on a regular basis and now someone like Aria scares us half to death. Well... Gipsy, anyway.
Unfortunately they couldn't hear Aria over the radio, so it was a completely one-sided conversation with Gipsy seemingly talking into thin air. But from her responses it was apparent that things were going well.
After a while the radio fell silent, and before long they saw Gipsy stride down the steps to the Balcony and head their way.
It was rather amusing to Crimson the way heads turned to watch her, without a doubt no one in the club had ever seen a mech like her before. It was even more amusing to watch a Krogan step aside for her, probably after smelling the blood that drenched her lower arms. Another reason for the washing facilities. He could feel the blood drying in the joints of the fingers that formed his buzzsaws. They have to get that stuff out to keep it from rusting.
"So, what's the verdict?" he asked as she sat down in the booth.
Her vents hissed as she let out a relieved sigh. "Well, as I said before, we are the new heavy hit squad."
Cherno rumbled a question.
"It means we handle the jobs others can't," Gipsy replied. "I rather like the idea. We're still the same when it comes to big stuff."
"The bitch didn't happen to say what kind of stuff we'll have to do, did she?" Striker asked.
"Well, fight Krogan for one. Assault fortified buildings, settle gang wars, collect debts from reluctant debtors..."
"What do you mean by "settle gang wars?"" Striker interpreted.
"Don't know. I think it means just kill everyone until they don't have enough people to keep fighting anymore. Or they're all dead."
Striker chuckled. "I think I'm gonna like this job."
"And what about our quarters," Crimson asked, looking over to her.
"Oh, Aria said someone would come pick us up and bring us there. Should be here shortly."
"Are they... good?"
"I don't know, she said she would get us someplace and I thought that was okay." Her visor glowed in a smile as he looked about. "So, what have you guys been doing?"
"Not a damn thing," Striker replied as he motioned to the drinks on the table. "They gave us these and we have no idea what to do with them."
"Well you could drink them."
There was a pause as Striker gave her the "are you stupid" look before she relented. "Right, dumb thing to say, with us being Jaegers and all... not being able to drink... I just made myself sad."
Suddenly Striker perked up. "Oh I just remembered, we're going to need a name."
They all cast him puzzled glances.
"You know, like a group name. Something people say when we walk by like "oh look, here come the Strikers!""
"The Strikers," Crimson said dryly.
"What? Is there something wrong with it?"
"No. Not at all. It's just so... you."
"Yeah, I know, right?"
"Oh don't worry about it," Gipsy said cheerfully, poking her glass with a finger. "It's already taken care of."
"Oh." Striker seemed to wilt under the news.
"Yep," Gipsy continued, not noticing his anguish. "We are now The Jaegers. Perfect, don't you think?"
"The Jaegers," Crimson repeated, nodding. "I like it."
Cherno rumbled in agreement then straightened as a well dressed Asari approached their table. Her fashion was rather modest and she an air about her, the cranky landlady kind of air. She stopped before their table and stared at them with equal parts surprise and disapproval.
"Are you the Jaegers I was sent here to meet?" she demand.
"Yep," Gipsy chirped, standing up. She towered over the Asari by almost three feet.
The Asari stared up with a raised eye-ridge, taking her in before examining each one in turn and giving Crimson a long stare at his mixed up anatomy. "Well, Aria wasn't kidding when she said you stood out."
She motioned to the door. "Skycar is out back, follow me."
They followed her without question, out the door and into the raging line up, who again shrank back as they approached, giving Striker an extra wide berth then before. As they headed towards a row of parked Skycars, Crimson had only one thought in his head.
I hope one of those things can fit all of us. Being stuck in an inclosed space with a, possibly, claustrophobic Cherno was the last place he wanted to be.
Well, chapter four is here...
I must admit I wasn't completely satisfied with it, even after three rewrites. I just didn't think I got the right interactions between them and Aira but this is the best I got out the three. Hope you enjoy.
Also, Master of the Dark Abyss, cool name by the way, you ask what game is this in and will they join Shepard's crew? The answer is yes, they will join the crew at a later point. As for what game it is set in 2184, just a bit before Shepard comes back from the dead... at least I hope I got the date right. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Before that happens however I plan to have a short plot line involving their presence on Omega and also dip more into how they got there.
Thank you for reading and please review.
DJ out!
(Cherno rumbles from afar)
You mean I have to do it EVERY chapter.
(Another rumble)
Fine. I do not own Pacific Rim, Mass effect or any of it's characters. Happy?
(A Jaeger thumbs up, the best kind of thumbs up)