I know this one is short! But I love the ending. I'd have had this up sooner but I had lost my flashdrive with this chapter on it then I got it back (thank God for dormmates who care!) And my roomate doesn't care for this genre...
I don't own anything in here...except for Romani, his siblings and any unrecognizable name from Pacific Rim and Godzilla (2014).
Chapter 7
"Y' were alive all this time…an' ya never told me?" Striker asked, hurt as Gipsy leaned into his arms, the Mark III giving a soft, low purr as she buried her head in his chest.
"I was in a coma," she explained, "They weren't sure if I'd live or not,"
"Then why didn't they tell us!" Striker growled, glaring icily at Raleigh and Chuck, who had been summoned upon Striker's awakening.
"Chuck didn't know and Raleigh was ordered not to tell," Gipsy told him, "Brawler and Romeo specifically told him, Yancy, Mako…anyone who knew I was here…not to breathe a word of it,"
"Why the 'ell not!" Striker snapped.
"Calm down red-head," Gipsy ordered, "Geeze! I see that hasn't changed. Look, there's been this group trying to track us all down. They nearly had Coyote and Tacit and almost put a bullet through Crim the last time I heard from the others. Or at least…from their Pilots. Sasha and Aleksis have Anya, Natasha, Galina and Luka while Stacker and Tamsin have Luna and Cho,"
She held Striker's shoulders, fear darkening her sun-bright golden eyes.
"That group wants to hunt us down and possibly kill us. They've gone after the others…they're gonna go after our kids, Striker!" Gipsy panicked, "They're not safe!"
"What about the half-Jaegers?" Striker suddenly asked, "Lei, Galina, Luka, Gipsy and Charlie?"
"Gipsy and Charlie?" Gipsy murmured, "Who…"
"I see they didn't really tell you…did they?" Striker asked, glaring again at Chuck and Raleigh.
"I woke up two days ago," Gipsy told him, "They've been bringing me up to speed. I know Romani is an EOD in the US Navy, Sylph's getting her degree in education and Angel is working in a lab trying to find different cures for different diseases,"
"And all of them are married," Striker told her, "Two have kids and one's expecting a little boy. Angel's married to an airline pilot and they have a little girl Angel named after you. Sylph's married to a police officer and is expecting a boy. Romani is married to a nurse and has a little boy named Charlie after Chuck,"
Gipsy seemed to slump down, blinking rapidly as tears started to stream down her face.
"I missed my children's weddings and the births of my grandkids," she whispered, before turning her face upwards and yelling, "YOU HAVE A FUNNY WAY OF SHOWING YOU WANTED ME TO LIVE!"
"Gips!" Striker hissed, grabbing her arms, "It could be worse! Ya could have died down in there! At least ya were brought here in a somewhat ok condition!"
"Oh, so a coma's ok?" Gipsy hissed.
"Ya coulda been stuck full o' holes," Striker deadpanned, rubbing his chest, "Now, please…calm down, and I'll tell ya everythin' I know about our kids and grandkids,"
Gipsy gave a sigh before looking at her husband.
"Start at the beginning," she told him.
Romani hopped onto the train, looking back just to see Tacit, Cherno and Coyote all looking at him. All three of them saluted and Romani could see the gleam of white, green and tan armor on their bodies. And then all three ran off, disappearing into the brush.
"Good to see you back on here, sir," the soldier from Hawaii grinned, walking up to Romani and knocking the young Jaeger out of his trance, "Sergeant Morales at your service sir,"
"Oh…sorry, um, yeah…it's good to be here," Romani told him, as the train continued on it's way towards San Francisco.
The sun started to slip below the horizon and Romani turned back towards the warhead, his golden gaze narrowed in thought as he started towards it.
"Sergeant Morales!" he called, "Give me a hand!"
Said sergeant jogged up next to Romani as the Jaeger worked on the bomb.
"I thought these nukes all detonated by remote control?" Morales asked.
"The Kaiju…MUTOs…knock out everything electric. Including detonators," Romani explained as he continued to work with the bomb, "Can't even get in range without these things going haywire. But this…"
He hefted the clockwork detonator easily into the air…he could have done it himself, but he remembered what Tacit and the other three Jaegers had told him. To not reveal himself unless he wanted that group to find him and possibly kill him.
"This on the other hand, is old-school," he finished, "Clockwork,"
"Takes a lickin' keeps on tickin'," Morales smirked.
"Heh, exactly," Romani grinned…right as an explosion lit up the hillside behind him.
The young Jaeger frowned right as the train screeched to a halt, throwing them all forwards. The whole crew looked up at the hillside, watching as artillery fire blazed through the air.
"Sergeant Morales!" the commanding officer yelled, "Get down here with that radio! On the double! Move, move!"
Morales shrugged and jogged forwards, Romani close on his heels. Gunfire peppered through the air from the hillside that still burned. Morales handed the radio to the officer.
"Snake Eyes, this is Bravo to November. Is the bridge clear, over?" he asked.
Romani's heightened hearing could pick out gunfire and yelling through the radio…and it didn't seem good to him.
"I say again. We got a train of VIP cargo headed for the coast. Is the bridge clear? Over,"
Romani wandered towards the tunnel, shining the light on his rifle down the tunnel. Whatever it was on that hillside…he wasn't sure he wanted to face it. Was it some Kaiju Cultists? He knew they were still around…he remembered when he was little, when his mom was still alive. Their house in the States had been threatened by the Cultists because of his parents' involvement in the Wars. At first, Romani had thought it was just because of his uncles and aunts. Now…
Or, it could be even worse and it could be the Kaiju on the other side.
"I'd rather fight the Cultists," Romani muttered to himself.
He hadn't figured out how to shift forms…or if he even could. And if he couldn't figure out how to shift forms between human and Jaeger to confront a Kaiju?
God help them all.
There was a rumbling, clicking sound and Romani's heart/core nearly stopped.
It…wasn't the Cultists.
Just. His. Rotten. Luck.
He felt a hand on his shoulder and Romani jumped nearly five feet into the air.
"Whoa! Easy there!" Morales soothed, "Just thought I'd tell you you got volunteered to scout ahead with me and two other guys,"
"Your idea?" Romani asked.
"Well…maybe," Morales shrugged, "There's something about you, Lieutenant. I dunno what it is…but something's different,"
"Well, let's go then," Romani said, flicking the flashlight on his rifle up to a brighter intensity as he started to walk in.
The company of four walked through the tunnel without harm. When they reached the exit and looked out over the bridge was when they stopped.
"You think it's intact?" Romani asked.
"Only one way to find out," one of the others shrugged, "You wanna take the top?"
"Sure," Romani nodded, "You check below. Sergeant Morales, you come with me,"
The group split apart and no sooner had Romani set foot on the bridge then a bunch of bats came screeching out of the tunnel. Romani shuddered.
"Bats," he growled, "I hate bats,"
Morales gave a weak grin.
"Hey, at least they're going down to bother those two and not us," he told him.
"Way to look on the bright side,"
"I try," Morales grinned…right as his foot slipped and he stumbled, his flashlight slipping through his fingers and falling to the ground far below.
He cursed and Romani rolled his eyes right as a shrill whistle tweet rifled through the still air. The other team had reached the river. Romani shone his flashlight over the remaining distance and nodded.
"The bridge is intact," he said.
"Bulldog, this is Eagle," Morales called into the radio, "All clear to move out. Over,"
"Roger that Eagle," came the crackling reply.
Romani turned to Morales...right as his head seemed to nearly split in two with the massive headache that throbbed between his temples.
The Jaeger fell to his knees and Morales came to his aid.
"You ok man?" he asked as Romani groaned, shaking his head…
Right as the Kaiju made it's appearance.
"Hit the deck!" Morales hissed, grabbing Romani and forcing the poor Jaeger to the bridge.
Steely blue armor spread from Romani's hands that gripped his rifle up his arms, his legs and most of his torso, the eerie half-light shielding most of it…but Morales was way too close.
"What…!?" he whispered hoarsely, "How…What. Are. You?"
"A Hunter," Romani murmured back as he lay still, pointing the rifle at the beast, "And that is what I'm hunting,"
The Kaiju got lower to the ground, crawling under the bridge. Every atom in Romani's being begged him to push forwards and take on the monster, but Romani stayed still. He knew he would be killed if he gave in to the Jaeger instincts.
Morales' radio crackled and the poor human reached back to turn off the radio, cursing bitterly. Romani grabbed his wrist tightly, but not hard, with his own armored servo.
"Help me turn it off!" Morales hissed.
"Shush!" Romani hissed back, biting back a howl of pain as his vision tinged amber and the feeling of warm metal crept up more and more of his skin.
The Kaiju slowly raised its head, opening its jaws and letting its foul breath wash over the two men. Romani could see its teeth and gooey strands of saliva dripping from the maw…
Right as the train horn blew.
The Kaiju's head jerked up and in imitated the horn before stepping over the tracks and stalking towards the tunnel.
"This one's female," Romani thought as it passed over them, revealing the red-orange glow of the eggs on the female's body, "Its much bigger than the one Dad and I saw…not to mention the eggs,"
Romani and Morales stood, the latter taking the gauntleted hand that the former offered him.
"Now, will you tell me what you are?" Morales demanded.
"I told you," Romani said, "You just need to translate it,"
"The hel…"
Screams and gunfire interrupted him and he stopped mid-curse. Romani turned around…just to see the train, on fire, coming towards them.
"RUN!" Romani yelled, turning tail and sprinting as fast as his legs could carry him, "Move it! Run!"
"Romani!" Morales yelled…right as the Kaiju's legs broke the bridge, sending them both into the river.
Romani hit it hard, swimming as fast as he could away from the point of his impact. He knew what would be following him…right as the train hit the water. Romani surfaced, gasping for air as the Kaiju took one of the two warheads and bit it into smaller pieces, swallowing it. Romani felt his armor slipping away right as his consciousness did.
And everything went black.
Octavia crossed her arms as she watched Godzilla swim, Ryan beside her.
"'Alpha Predator' my rear scales," Octavia huffed, "Kat could swim better than that when she was three! And Slattern was bigger!"
"They're humans, they don't understand," Ryan shrugged, "That was one of the first batch…way before our time. As for the other two…"
"Ugh, don't get me started!" Octavia growled, "That winged one? Ha! I could outfly him anyday!"
"Trash talking three other Kaiju, seems a bit hypocritical of y' two…don't ya think?" came a new voice, making both former Kaiju freeze.
Both Ryan and Octavia turned around, blinking at the tall slender forms of two golden eyed adults, a man and a woman.
"Redihantoresu," Octavia breathed, "You're…"
"Alive?" Gipsy said with a smug smile as she crossed her arms and leaned into Striker's lean form, "Yeah. Good to see you too…Otachi, Raiju,"
You guys want more Striker and Gipsy, I give you more Striker and Gipsy. Romani and the others will be back next chapter...as Romani works to figure out how to change forms (he's halfway there...almost got it). Well, until next time!
Anyway, hope you liked it. If you did, please let me know!
Qui vállë tóquetë, ván tecë (If no review comes from y'all; no story comes from me)
Máriessë ar mára tecië
Farewell and fair writing
Elhini Prime signing off.