Forged in Fire, Chapter 28

Mako and Raleigh's hotel room

June 10, 2025

1845

Mako flopped onto the bed, exhausted and emotionally spent from the trip to Oblivion Bay. "That was hard, seeing all those Jaegers again."

Raleigh walked out of the bathroom, still wiping grime from his face after an impromptu scramble into the Conn Pod of Tacit Ronin. "Yeah. It's like walking through a graveyard with all the bodies on display. Kinda creepy."

Mako sat up slightly to look at Raleigh. "Says the man who went sliding into a Conn Pod, whooping in delight."

Raleigh opened his mouth to protest, paused, and then closed it. "Good point."

There was a knock at the door, and Raleigh padded over to answer it. He opened the door to find Herc and Miranda standing there, and Miranda held up a six-pack of beer.

Herc's face was sad, but determined. "Raleigh… can we come in? We need to talk about Manila."

Raleigh stiffened and nodded, then allowed the two Australians into the room.

Mako sat up, every muscle tensed as she felt Raleigh's unease about the situation. I hate it when one of us gets a fight-or-flight reaction. It affects both of us.

Herc sat down at the small table and cracked open a bottle. "C'mere, you two. I'm not going to bite."

The two Rangers looked at each other and shrugged. Raleigh grabbed a nearby t-shirt and pulled it on, then joined the others at the table.

Herc handed a beer to Mako and Raleigh before he began. "Right, Raleigh was there for this, so if I forget something, make sure it gets covered, okay?"

"Sure."

Herc took another hit from the bottle. "So… Manila, 2019. Last drop of both Horizon Brave and Lucky Seven. First time we lost two Jaegers in a single fight."

Mako nodded, remembering the enormous controversy over the decision to classify the mission, especially the situation that had erupted after the mission had ended… and the rumors about what had really happened afterwards.

"It was a three Jaeger drop. My brother Scott and I jockeyed Lucky Seven, Raleigh and Yancy were in Gipsy, and Lo Hi Shin and Xichi Po in Horizon Brave. We were tasked with stopping the first Category IV Kaiju."

Raleigh took a swig from his bottle and picked up from his viewpoint. "Yance and I were standing on the left flank, watching this thing come out of the water. We'd never seen a Kaiju that big before. No one had. And it had this barbed tail, kinda like a giant porcupine out on the end of a tentacle. And we all just… stood there for a minute, staring at it."

"I remember that. Scott took one look at that tail and just went, 'Well, that's pleasant. How do we deal with that?'"

Mako could feel the storm of emotions swirling inside of Raleigh. Fear, excitement, surprise, panic… everything she had felt during the fight with Otachi.

Miranda took a drink from her iced tea and looked at Raleigh. "Then what happened?"

"Well, Horizon Brave was the senior team on site, so they got overall command. So when they just waded into the water to engage the Kaiju without talking with us first, Yance and I just… froze. We were not expecting that at all."

Herc's gaze grew distant as he recalled the fight. "Scott and I looked at Gipsy, then at Brave, and just waded into the fight. We figured that the Beckets were planning something."

Mako turned to Raleigh. "So… were you?"

"No." Raleigh hung his head. "We kinda just… stared. Horizon and Lucky were notoriously slow Jaegers, so we were blown away at the thought of them trying to take on the Kaiju alone. It wasn't until the tail arched over and just… crushed… the left side Cryo Cannon of Horizon Brave that we jumped into the fight. But by then, it was too late for them."

Herc nodded slowly, gaze distant. "Yeah, when the Cannon let go, it sprayed liquid nitrogen everywhere, especially all over the Conn Pod. The crew just… froze. Instantly."

Mako shivered at the thought of dying that way.

"Then, the Pod was shattered as the Kaiju hit the frozen area. There was just nothing left."

Raleigh looked at the ground. "That's about when Lucky Seven entered the fight. Fists flying, cannons firing, feet smashing… it was a sight to behold."

Herc grinned. "That was a fun fight while it lasted."

Miranda's left eyebrow quirked up as she sipped her iced tea.

Raleigh's smile vanished. "The tail had lost its spines at this point, courtesy of the combination of the liquid nitrogen bath they'd received and an impact into the wreckage of Horizon during the fight. That didn't keep it from being a highly effective club. Yancy and I were just warming up the plasma cannons to try and get a good shot when the tail came around and smashed into the groin area of Lucky, sending them reeling."

Herc's gaze returned to the room as the ball once again rolled his way. "For some reason, the guys who built Lucky added some damage sensors there. So Scott and I felt it as a kick in the crotch. Painful in the extreme… but it triggered a RABIT in Scott that I've never spoken of to anyone other than Stacker and the Marshall of the Sydney Shatterdome at the time."

Herc took a long pull from his beer bottle, draining it. "You have all seen the official report. Scott RABITed from the pain, and we couldn't get out until LOCCENT pulled the plug." He paused to crack open a fresh bottle of beer, then took another long pull from the new bottle. "What really happened was that what I saw forced me to kill the Drift. I couldn't understand why Scott would do what he did… and be proud of it."

The three others looked at Herc, profoundly curious, and a little afraid.

Herc looked at them, tears in his eyes. "Scott had raped a woman. I know it was a rape because of how she fought back. Eventually, she'd delivered a powerful kick to Scott in the family jewels, and he'd been knocked back much the same way we had in Lucky. The similarities were so strong that he'd RABITed, and I couldn't shake him."

Raleigh watched the blood drain from the faces of the two women. "Sir… If we'd known…"

"Raleigh, we were in no position to fight at that point. I'd lost every ounce of trust in him. I was horrified to call that man my brother. Afterwards, the test showed that we were no longer Drift compatible, the first time that had ever been documented. So far, it's also the only time it's been documented."

Shaken, Mako looked at Raleigh. "We've seen what happened for the rest of the fight."

Raleigh nodded, glad to be able to change the topic.

Herc drained his second beer before continuing. "After I killed the Drift, Scott was furious. He knew I'd seen it, and he knew that I was going to report him for what he'd done. So he was going to try to do something even more heinous: he was going to try to kill me. Thankfully, that was about the time that the Kaiju fell dead onto the legs of Lucky Seven, throwing Scott across the Conn Pod, knocking him out cold so I didn't have to."

Raleigh and Mako looked at each other, then Mako handed her second beer across to Herc.

"Thanks." Herc cracked it open and took a pull, then continued. "After I was cleared by medical, I went straight to the Marshall and told him everything. I expected him to question if it had been real, if it was a fragment of the Drift. But he didn't. He simply called the law enforcement and told them to run Scott's DNA against the rape database. Got three hits right off the bat." Another sip. "I never even bothered to say goodbye. I just ignored him as they marched him to the helicopter for the flight back to Sydney."

Miranda finished her iced tea and chimed in. "Chuck told me the rest."

Herc nodded at his daughter-in-law to continue.

"Chuck also told me that he watched the fight in Manila with great interest, and was extremely upset that Gipsy froze up during the engagement. He always interpreted it as the Beckets stalling so that the Kaiju would be worn out enough that they could finish it off with ease and look like the heroes." Miranda nodded at Raleigh. "I knew that there had to be some other reason, and I told Chuck as much. He still refused to accept the fact that maybe Raleigh and Yancy just froze up. After all, you guys didn't have the same experience as the two older crews. But Chuck insisted on saying that you two weren't rookies on a first Drop, so you shouldn't have frozen. That you hadn't frozen on that Drop against Yamarashi, so you shouldn't have frozen at all when it went south."

Raleigh took Mako's hand. "But then we saved him in the Battle of Hong Kong."

Miranda nodded. "And then he realized that you weren't a glory hound. You actually did freeze up… just like he did right after watching Crimson get taken out so quickly. He didn't freeze for long, but then neither did you. Just a few seconds is all it takes, right?"

Mako nodded. "It's amazing just how fast it goes."

Raleigh smiled. "I figured that I had done more than just go onto the Wall for five years to piss Chuck off that bad."

Miranda laughed. "Oh, you have no idea just how hard it was for him to change his opinion of you, Raleigh. Mako, however… He'd always had a soft spot for you."

Mako's eyes bugged and she nearly choked on the beer she'd been drinking. A few moments of coughing and sputtering later, she turned to Miranda, clearly confused. "Say that again? I swore you just said that Chuck had a soft spot for me…"

"I did. You remember that sweater that showed up on your doorstep from 'A friend in the 'Dome'?"

Mako's jaw hung open. "No…"

Miranda grinned. "Uh-huh."

Mako looked at the particular bag that held the sweater in question. "Wow."

Raleigh and Herc burst out laughing at the exchange… until Raleigh's phone rang with the tone Mako had come to understand indicated a call from an unknown number.

Raleigh walked away from the table and took the call. "Hello?... Speaking… Uh huh… Darn… Really? Hmm… one sec." Raleigh covered the mic of his phone and looked at Mako. "Hey, one of the places we called yesterday just called back. All the studio apartments are waitlisted, but there's a two bed, one bath available."

Mako looked at the petite Australian woman. "Want a room for cheap?"

Miranda looked at them, thinking. "Well, as long as you two keep it down…"

Mako blushed.

Raleigh grinned. "No promises on the nightmares, but otherwise, sure."

"Then count me in."

Raleigh uncovered the mic. "Yeah. We'll take it… and we've got someone in mind for the other room." A pause. "Yeah, we can be by tomorrow. What time?... Sounds good. We'll be by then… Okay, thanks."

Raleigh hung up and tucked his phone away. "We've got an appointment tomorrow at 10am with the landlord."

Mako ran over and hugged Raleigh. "That's great!"

Miranda, however, looked thoughtful for a moment. "Wait… what about once the baby comes?"

Mako and Raleigh looked at her. "Well cross that bridge when we come to it."

Herc smiled. "What about furniture? All three of you need some."

A knock came from the door, and Mako walked over to open it and let Jazmine in. "You know, you have the most uncanny sense of timing."

Jazmine cocked her head, intrigued. "How so?"

"We need to go get some supplies for an apartment."

Jazmine jaw dropped. "An apartment."

"Yes."

"You two got an apartment."

Miranda spoke up, grinning. "Four."

Jazmine's face worked for a moment, trying to process the sudden shift. "Well, then. One trip to the West Sacramento Ikea coming up."

Raleigh froze, remembering the last time he'd been in one of the famed furniture stores.

Mako, Herc, and Miranda all looked at Jazmine, confused. Herc spoke the question on all of their minds…

"What's Ikea?"

-.-.-

Author's notes: I usually don't do a whole chapter as a single scene, but that's how this wound up playing out. And yes, I'm going to briefly touch on the visit to Ikea later, with comedic results.

I'd also been planning on doing a chapter dedicated to the visit to Oblivion Bay, but just couldn't make it work out. So, I decided to skip that over, and possibly come back later as the museum opens as a flashback to remember them choosing the Jaegers.