It was half five in the morning when Steve managed to coax Stark into going to bed and stumbled into bed himself.
Luckily he managed to get a solid four hours of sleep this time. At ten he was in another section of the j tech labs getting suited up next to stark.
They made their way over to the jaeger and chose their positions.
"Last chance to back out," said Stark jauntily before he stepped into the foot locks.
Steve shook his head. Stark shrugged and settled into his side of the jaeger.
"Alright ," said LOCCENT, "don't play hero captain rogers. You get into trouble, you signal. There's a medic standing by. Same for you Mr. Stark"
Steve gave a thumbs up and Stark waved an irritated hand.
"Good," the woman said. "Initiating pilot to pilot protocol."
There was the familiar suction like feeling of being dragged into the drift and then he was immersed in a world that went so fast he began to feel nauseous. Pictures, emotions and accompanying thoughts flooded past him so fast Steve began to feel like he was caught in the current of a river. He fought to make sense of the images that went past, fought to orient himself in the onslaught but it was too much. It had the similar effect of having so much images flashing in front your eyes that you froze, only this time there was the added effect of feeling your mind rip apart under the weight of too much information to process. Steve couldn't even react to let the thoughts drift naturally past. He gasped fighting to find the silence of the drift but couldn't.
After an agonizingly long moment of deliberation Steve hit the panic button.
The pons dialed down and Steve and Tony were released. Steve gasped, pulled the helmet of his head and sat.
Blood leaked from his nose and he knew one of his eyes were hemorrhaging.
Medics were in a few seconds later and quickly running over Steve's vitals. Steve waved them away.
"It'll heal," he said, "just give me a few moments."
"Well cap you made a record," said Tony, almost dispassionately "a whole 5 mins."
"Only?" Said Steve, "I'm kinda disappointed."
Tony gave a huff of laughter but his eyes were confused.
"You mind waiting an hour?" Steve asked him. "That's how long it'll take for me to heal up."
That knocked Stark straight out of his dispassionate facade.
"Wait you want to try again?"
"Sure," Steve, "if you don't mind."
"You sure you don't have a death wish?" asked Stark eyeing him like he was crazy.
"Pretty sure," said Steve.
Stark considered and then said, "Your brain," and shrugged.
Both Steve and tony sat inside the jaeger until the hour was up. The medics checked out Steve, declared him fit and then they began to hook up all over again.
"Just a warning," said stark, "this isn't going to go any better."
"Think of one thing," said Steve, "let's see if that helps."
"My brain can't think of only one thing," said Stark. "That's just how it is."
"A picture," said Steve, "one picture, think about the picture all you want but just that picture."
There was a pause and then Tony said, "alright"
Steve pressed the comm. and said, "initiate protocol."
LOCCENT indicated that they received and the AI stated, "initiating pilot to pilot protocol."
There was a breathless moment and then Steve was sucked into the drift and into Tony's head.
For a few agonizing seconds there was the super-fast onslaught of thoughts but then it narrowed and Steve was thrown face first into the blueprint of a jaeger.
It was 3D, made out of blue shimmering lines and extremely detailed. But Steve knew art and the details didn't floor him. It was still difficult though because Stark and equations and angles popping out of every joint in the jaeger, virtual pistons moved and rotated, and the associated equations and sizes appeared next to them like they were being typed out, power draw, connections, hydraulics, in short everything that could be noted and calculated in the making of a jaeger.
It was still overwhelming but much more manageable. Steve was literally skirting the edge of chasing the rabbit in order to handle Tony's neural load but after a few moments he got used to walking the tightrope.
After a while Steve was able to let go of the dizzying details and let Tony's thoughts fall into a background murmur. He listened to the murmur, established a baseline and began picking out the peaks of thought that he should pay attention to.
When Tony realized that he had settled, he upped the ante with a complicated 3D sketch of the shatterdome, running at the same time as the jaeger blueprint. The pons was added next, and then the chemical formula for kaiju blue, and the ingredients for the perfect cheese burger which included a history of where and how those ingredients were procured, the schematics for an electrics kettle, then Tony building a robot when he was five, a gorgeous woman picking him up, a warm male voice that wasn't Howard's and on and on but Steve was at this time able to let the thoughts run past without being bowled over and tony stopped every now and then to allow Steve to establish a baseline for his thoughts.
Finally, Steve was thrown into the blessed silence of the drift.
Right hemisphere calibrated, left hemisphere calibrated, the AI voice sounded.
Steve moved the right hand, tony moved the left and they brought the jaeger's fists together.
"Are you two alright in there?" asked Hill.
"Yeah," said Steve grinning at Tony through the helmets. "We're good."
"Well that's good to hear," said Fury dryly, "because it's been four hours since you started this attempt."
Steve felt Tony's shock color his own.
"What?" Stark demanded.
"It's been four hours," said Hill, "but the neural bridge is holding steady."
"Alright," said fury, "go through basic motion check and power down."
Steve could feel Tony daring him.
Ready to do this old man?
Bring it greenie
Tony laughed, his laughter a beautiful spiral of decibel values in Steve's mind and then they were moving.
He has forgotten what it felt like. What being in a jaeger was like. This was different though, the drift was smoother, the connection to the jaeger faster, the jaeger response was faster.
'Bucky would love this,' he thought involuntarily and suddenly his mind was jolted to the heart stopping moment to when Bucky was ripped out their Jaeger.
He struggled and dragged himself out the memory only to be caught in one of Stark's.
A dark cave, gun fire, something classified, the tempo of Stark's emotions dialing up and down like a voltmeter.
Steve ruthlessly threw the ripping tearing memory of Bucky being pulled out of his head at them both and the shock of it was enough to drag Stark out of his head.
Steve let go of the memory and they both stabilized. Steve opened his eyes and his ears caught the sound of Stark breathing harshly.
"You both okay in there?" asked hill.
"Peachy," said Stark his voice loaded with sarcasm.
Steve gave him an apologetic grimace that he had meant as a smile and they continued.
The rest of the test continued without mishap and they eventually powered off and disengaged.
Stark peeled off his helmet and said.
"I can use a drink."
Steve gave him a weary smile and said, "Only if its water."
"Gatorade," Tony rejoined and Steve succumbed.
"Gatorade," he said and his copilot grinned in triumph and proceeded out the Jaeger.