Chapter 35: Long days
Mercy San Juan Hospital
July 8, 2025
0802
Mako woke slowly to the sound of the beeping of her heart rate monitor. I have not missed that sound. She rubbed her eyes and stretched with a slight moan as her right arm protested the movement. "Mmmhhhhnnn…"
At her side, Raleigh sat bolt upright in his chair, instantly awake. "Easy there…"
"Mmm?"
"You're still wired up six ways to Sunday. Let me go get a nurse."
"Nuhhh…"
Raleigh stopped. "You gonna be okay for a few minutes?"
Mako just nodded and waved at the door.
Raleigh went out and grabbed a passing nurse. "Hey, who do I talk to in order to get some non-emergency help?"
There was a reply, but Mako couldn't hear it. Instead she focused on trying to sit upright. However, before she could finish the task, a nurse darted in. "Hold on, ma'am. Let me unhook you from the monitors first…"
Raleigh put his hand out to stop the nurse. "Can you get her some water first? I know she's been on an IV overnight, but that doesn't mean your mouth doesn't feel like it's been stuffed with cotton once you wake up."
The nurse bristled, but she did go grab a cup of water for Mako, who eagerly drank it. "Oh, that feels so much better."
"Now can I unhook you?" The nurse scowled at Raleigh.
"Please."
The nurse was apparently fresh on shift, because her reaction upon seeing the circuitry suit burn scars was pure shock. "Ma'am, what happened to you to cause those scars?"
Mako sighed. Every damn time. I'll never get used to that. "Drive suit overload. Tends to happen when your Jaeger takes heavy damage."
"Wait…" The nurse actually paid attention to Mako and Raleigh. "No. Way. You two? Here?!"
Raleigh grinned. "Yep. Planning the return of the Jaegers."
"I watched the President on Saturday. It's really going to happen?"
Raleigh nodded sadly. "Yeah. They'll be back."
"Where do I sign up? To be a medic, that is."
Raleigh opened his mouth to respond, paused, closed it. "I don't know, honestly. I'm laying out the Ranger Academy coursework, not arranging recruitment of the other spots. God knows we'll need nurses and medics, though."
Mako yelped as the nurse removed the IV needle.
"Sorry! Didn't mean to hurt you." The nurse applied a bandage to the spot where she had removed the IV and handed Mako her clothes. "I'll be back in five minutes with the release paperwork and a prescription for some Epipens."
"Thanks."
The nurse nodded and headed out.
Raleigh headed towards the door. "I'll be outside."
"Stay. Please."
Raleigh stumbled for a moment. "What?"
"Raleigh, we've seen each other's most intimate memories and deepest secrets. And you're nervous about being in the same room as me when I'm changing?"
"No, it's not that…"
"Then hush." Mako peeled off the hospital gown and pulled on her pants. Raleigh let his eyes wander over Mako's back, taking in the extent of the circuitry suit burns. "I didn't realize they made it down to the small of your back…"
Mako grimaced. "Remember Slattern's last attack? That's when my suit really started to let go. The burns go all the way down on the right side… just like yours. Something to work on for the next set of suits. Along with backup oxygen systems." She pulled her shirt on. "Not going to let that happen again."
Knockknock.
"Come in."
"Here we are… release forms and the prescription for the Epipens."
"Thanks." Mako quickly filled out the forms and handed them back.
"Thank you for your service… both past and future."
Mako bowed slightly and followed Raleigh out to the waiting room where everyone else waited.
Miranda ran up to hug Mako. "You had us all so worried! Thank god you're okay."
Sergio came over. "Tough break about the allergy. Good thing the Kaiju haven't figured out how to unleash bee venom."
Caitlin smiled. "Glad you're feeling better."
Jaz handed Mako a piece of paper with a list of pharmacies that carried Epipens all the time. "Keep those things handy, Mako. Never know when you'll need it."
Crunch and Aki handed Mako a belt pouch they'd gone out to find last night. Aki smiled as Mako eyed it curiously. "Should fit two injectors in it and protect them from damage."
Mako smiled. "Thanks, everyone."
Herc grinned back. "Next time, let me or Raleigh take out the nest." He then handed her an electric flyswatter. "And hit the damn things with this before they land on you. 10 kilovolts ought to kill 'em on the spot."
Mako accepted the flyswatter and toggled the power, resulting in a distinctive hum as it charged the grid elements. "Thank you very much, Herc."
"Just don't hit anyone with it. It hurts."
Raleigh laughed. "Speaking from experience, Herc?"
Herc shuffled slightly. "Maybe."
A round of laughter rippled through the group as they headed out to the parking lot. Mako looked at them all. Most of them look a little haggard, but they seem to have gone home to sleep last night. Raleigh, though… Mako leaned on Raleigh to whisper in his ear. "You stayed in that chair last night, didn't you?"
"Barely slept."
"I appreciate the concern, but you've got a flight to catch at 0630 tomorrow morning."
"Mako… you know how I lived on the Wall. The insomnia that kept me up for two days straight on a regular basis." He hung his head. "I just can't bear the thought of losing you, Mako. I've lost one copilot. I won't lose you."
"I know." Mako hugged her copilot. "And I won't lose you."
-.-.-
Outskirts of Salt Lake City
July 9, 2025
1045 Mountain Daylight Time
Raleigh had spent the trip to Salt Lake catching up on emails from the people he had tapped for becoming instructors at the new Academy. It's finally coming together. We're ahead of the curve this time, so we stand a chance of winning for good. He put the tablet away as the car pulled up to the foundry where the Ranger Memorial was being produced. The shop foreman was waiting. "Mr. Becket, I presume?"
"That'd be me."
"Right this way, please."
Raleigh followed the foreman into the shop, where the massive four-part statue was being cleaned and final details were being touched up. "Wow."
"That was my response when I saw the wax copy the artist presented us. Thankfully it turned out okay. Only a few flaws that the artist is working on right now. YO, JOHNNY!"
Johnny's voice floated up from behind the scene of Brawler Yukon beating Karloff into submission. "What's wrong, Deke? I'm trying to finish patching Brawler's knee."
"Customer's here."
A mumbled curse was followed by a squat man walking around the statue. "Mr. Becket? Johnny Magsam. Sorry the statue's not done yet. I kinda went too detailed on the wax positive, and the bronze didn't flow into some of the areas like it should have."
"No worries." Raleigh looked at Striker Eureka as he stood his ground against Slattern. "Hmm… Striker doesn't look quite right."
A flash of panic crossed the face of the artist. "Oh? What's wrong?"
"Here." Raleigh circled the elements of Striker in question with his hands. "I never did learn what these were for, but they glowed blue and red. I distinctly remember seeing them hanging loose, torn from their mountings. Left side one in particular was knocked clean off, and was only attached by the cables." He turned to the artist. "But only Mako and I know that, so don't sweat that too hard." Raleigh regarded Slattern next. "Okay, bone structure's spot on, especially on his ugly-ass face. At that point in the fight, though, Chuck and Pentecost had slashed Slattern across the throat here and had dug the Sting Blades into the armpits. Did a scary amount of damage to the joints."
"Hang on… you said here?" Johnny pulled out a grease pencil and drew a line across the area in question.
Raleigh grabbed a rag and rubbed off the mark, then proceeded to draw the appropriate slash. "Here. Based off the angle, it had to have been Chuck delivering the blow. Arms were cut into here, and here." Raleigh then dragged the pencil across the Kaiju's arms to mark the slashes he'd seen deep beneath the waves all those months ago.
"Huh. And what were those cuts like?"
"Ever sliced yourself with a knife?"
"Yeah, a few times more than I'd like to admit."
"Like that. Maybe tape a bowie knife to your wrist and then slash the throat of a pig carcass to get a better feel. That's the closest way I can describe it."
"No worries. That's actually perfect. I can work with that. Now, I need some help with this next scene here… After all, you were there."
Raleigh gawked as he saw the Conn Pod scene. I knew it would be large, but this is life size! "What about it?"
"I won't show your faces, I promise. But that make it hard to convey the emotion of the scene…"
Raleigh nodded. "Well, the circuitry suits we were wearing were well and truly overloading by that point. I can show you the scars so you can trace the electrical discharges that you could have seen."
"You can?"
Raleigh replied by simply unbuttoning his shirt and showing Johnny the burns.
"Oh… Deke, get the camera!"
"Here." The foreman handed the camera to the artist.
"Thanks. I promise that this won't go online."
Raleigh looked at the old Minolta and gave a delighted laugh. "No, I suppose it won't!"
"Great. Now just stand like you would have in Gipsy's Conn Pod."
Raleigh checked the stance of the figure in the Pod. Oh, yeah. I can do that.
"Great!"
Click.
"That's it for that, Mr. Becket."
"No prob."
"Now, as for Ms. Mori… Would her circuits be the same?"
"Yeah. Drive suits use the same circuit patterns."
"Excellent. No need to fly her out here, then."
Raleigh nodded. "Now, about the location…"
"Ah, yes. I heard there was some controversy about placing it in Hawaii…"
"We're thinking of putting it in the Bay Area."
"What? That's an Exclusion Zone!"
"For now. We're putting a Shatterdome in on the Marin Headlands and rebuilding San Francisco."
Johnny looked at Raleigh like Raleigh looked at Kaiju Cultists. "In the middle of a war, you're rebuilding a city?"
"Why not? We can't just sit back and mourn forever."
"Hmmm…. Where did you have in mind for the new site?"
"We're eyeing the remains of Golden Gate Park, overlooking the Pacific, with Brawler Yukon looking out over the ocean."
Johnny's eyes widened. "That's perfect! When do you want it ready?"
"K Day."
"Can do. It'll be in place by August 5th."
"Excellent."
Johnny shook Raleigh's hand. "Anything else?"
"Didn't expect it to go so quick. My flight doesn't leave for a few hours."
"There's this hole in the wall hamburger joint downtown with the best onion rings I've ever tasted and a decent cheeseburger. I'll get you directions."
"Thanks."
-.-.-
Author's notes: Phew. Another bad case of writer's block. Cutting this one a little short because I still haven't totally cleared the block. However, I need to press onwards, so some of the stuff I had planned will have to be set aside.
That said, I am planning the final major plot points for Forged in Fire. Lots of loose ends to tie up and new ones to lay out for the next story.
Also, I'm beginning to create a sort of "story bible" for the remaining stories. Lots of new characters, new locations, and new events to take into account. If I'm lucky, maybe even some schematics for the new facilities. I'll be starting to put some of it out on Tumblr soon.
Finally, let me know if you have any ideas for crews for Jaegers. Backstories are welcomed, so long as they are canon-compliant. I'll post something later with more specifics, probably on my Tumblr alongside some of the story bible I have ready to go now.
