Author's Note: Thank you all so much for the feedback on the all-important battle scene! Please keep the reviews coming!

Chapter Twenty-Four: First Blood

Los Angeles Shatterdome…
October 17, 2017…

Yancy had never been so scared in his life.

This wasn't supposed to be happening. They'd had their first combat deployment, their first kill! They'd beaten the bastard and saved most of Los Angeles. They'd done their jobs, Yancy and Raleigh Becket and Gipsy Danger, together, just like they'd trained for.

So how could Raleigh be in danger now and not Yancy? How could only Raleigh be hurt?

They always felt "drifty" for a while after the handshake ended, especially when the simulations ran long... but this was more intense than anything they'd done in training. Being airborne in the chopper wasn't helping. Yancy felt disconnected and disoriented and unable to focus on anything except the need to hang on to his brother.

Raleigh was strangely calm, which was only adding to their shared confusion. Usually it was the other way; it was always Yancy who kept his cool. They were inside-out and upside-down and backwards.

The white-suited Rescue/Recovery crew moved around them in the chopper's cabin as they rode back to the LA Dome. There were voices all around, but Yancy was struggling to make sense of them.

"Blood oxygen level is good," someone was saying. They were jolting Raleigh around, already getting his battle armor off so they could stick more monitoring equipment on him, and it was all Yancy could do to keep a grip on his shoulder. "Pulse is steady. Hang in there, Spunky, you're doing great."

"Come on, Spunky, wake up..." Yancy blinked, something like a post-drift rabbit making him focus in on the dark face under the Hazmat hood. Oh, it was Nicola, the EMT who'd helped them after the Final Spar. She'd joined Gipsy's Rescue/Recovery crew after failing pons training during the spring.

"Yancy?" He turned his head, and there was Antwan. So it was Antwan's group that had come after them. They'd done emergency training with all four of the strike group rescue teams, but for the first time since the alarm had gone off in the conn-pod, Yancy felt reassured. "Let's get your helmet off."

Yancy clumsily obeyed, only struggling when the movement made him take his hand off Raleigh. "Gipsy One's not injured, but showing symptom bleed," someone said. "Gipsy Two is stable; we've started him on the anti-toxins. No respiratory or cardiac distress, but he may have a broken leg."

Landing was a blur of light and sound and motion and then explosions of blinding pain as Raleigh was jolted, and panic when Yancy couldn't feel him. When the world came back into focus, they were in the drive suit room surrounded by swarms of techs and medics. "Raleigh - "

"'m okay," his brother breathed, his voice muffled by the oxygen mask.

"Is this shock?" a tech asked over the buzz of the gear on their armor.

"Drift shock," said someone else. It was Marshall Pentecost, watching from a few feet away as the techs and medics worked. "Post-combat, injury only amplifies it."

Pain streaked through Raleigh again, and Yancy shouted along with him. "His leg is swollen; getting the circuitry suit off is a problem - "

"Just cut it."

"We can't just cut it!"

"Cut it off," Yancy mumbled. Raleigh needed a doctor; screw the suit. They were still trying to get the seals undone, but Raleigh hurt, and Yancy wanted it to stop now. "Cut it - just CUT IT!"

Someone grabbed his arms. "YANCY!" Antwan was in front of his face. "Look. At. Me." Yancy blinked, seeing Antwan from in front with his own eyes but also from behind with Raleigh's. "Calm down," the big Jamaican ordered. "He's all right. You need to keep it together."

Finally, the circuitry suit was worked free. They both gasped as cold air hit Raleigh's leg, and more movement and jolting and pain followed, but Antwan and Brandon got Yancy dressed and kept him on his feet following the stretcher carrying Raleigh to the infirmary.

And then Raleigh was in a bed, and Yancy was in a chair next to him. He seized his brother's hand, and Raleigh squeezed it hard in answer. "I'm okay," he repeated. "'s okay."

It wasn't okay. Nothing was okay. What have I done? Where had he gotten his brother?

"Not your fault, Yance," Raleigh murmured, as if he could hear what Yancy was thinking. Maybe he could.

The medics moved around them; Yancy never noticed them except when they tried to make him let go and pull him away. Then he nearly went berserk, and fortunately for all concerned, someone made them stop. He was on Raleigh's left side, clutching his left hand, so they were mostly able to work on the right, putting the IVs in his right hand and examining the injured right leg.

Some time later, he found Caleb and Tanisha at his elbow. The medics were talking to them, and sometimes they moved away, but they always came back. It was reassuring, knowing they were here. Raleigh smiled at them, sweat beading on his forehead, trying to pretend he wasn't in pain and nauseated and dizzy.

Someone wiped Raleigh's face - it was Carolina. It had gotten far quieter in the infirmary, the movement and voices less frantic. What did that mean? Yancy blinked as one of the medics was talking to them.

" - blood toxicity is minimal. You're not going to... you guys with me?"

"What?" Raleigh asked as they took the mask off and put a line under his nose. That was more comfortable.

"You're going to be fine," the doctor repeated patiently. "You had some fume exposure, but it was very little. We've got you on the full course of anti-toxins, your lung tissues aren't showing any deterioration, and your blood chemistry is good."

"His leg?" Yancy asked.

"It's not broken. The knee is sprained, and there's some tearing of the ACL. Ice and a brace, you'll be in PT for a few months, but you should get full motion back."

"How about some painkillers?" Tendo asked from behind Carolina. "Looks like that hurts."

Now the doctor looked reluctant, and Yancy's heart lurched. "We can't use them in combination with the anti-toxins, so not for twelve hours."

For twelve hours, Raleigh was going to be like this. Yancy's breath started speeding up, and someone had their hands on his shoulder. "Easy, Yance, it's okay. He's okay."

I'm okay, whispered an echo in his mind, but Yancy was having trouble believing it.

"Let's get this guy a more comfortable chair," Tanisha said from behind him.

"He ought to go - "

" - Out of the question," Caleb snapped. "He stays with Raleigh."

The rush of gratitude definitely came from both of them as Raleigh's grip tightened on Yancy's hand. "It's all right," Carolina told them. "No one will make you leave." She shot a warning look at whoever was suggesting it. "I will go over your heads to the Marshalls if you try."

"If his brother goes into distress, he'll panic!"

Yancy flinched; hadn't they just said he'd be okay?!

"They're drift partners; if Raleigh goes into distress, Yancy will know no matter where he is, and their ears work just fine," said Caleb. "How many Rangers have you treated?"

"That's enough." It was Ramirez. Yancy felt a vague, dull flicker of his usual instinctive snap to attention, but all he did was turn his head. She looked at him, then informed the medics, "Ranger teams stay together post-combat, especially during treatment. Re-read your protocols on drift shock, Doctor."

So they weren't going to take Yancy away. He felt Raleigh relaxing again, as much as he could with his leg throbbing and his stomach roiling.

"Mitchell, did you and Ranger Davis get examined?" Pentecost was there too, but Yancy didn't turn away from Raleigh again. He just couldn't bring himself to care about superiors.

"Yes, sir. Circuitry burns and bruises; Davis strained her shoulder, but nothing major. Just ghost drift," Caleb added wryly. "She's right around the corner."

"I got that, Ranger," said Antwan. "You shouldn't be carrying chairs around if you strained something. Stand up for a minute, Yancy." Yancy jumped, startled when someone tugged his shoulder, but they weren't trying to make him let go of Raleigh, so he let them shift him onto something more cushioned than the hard chair that had been pulled up to Raleigh's bedside before. "There you go."

"Sir, Mitchell and I are fine. Permission to stay with our teammates?" Tanisha asked.

"Granted, but rest if you can. Well done, Rangers. As we knew, there's a death toll, but it's far less than it might have been. You all did extremely well."

But he's hurt, Yancy wanted to protest. He wasn't supposed to get hurt.

"Tani?" They all shut up when Raleigh suddenly spoke up in a raspy voice. He gestured with his head at Yancy. "Tell 'im I'm okay. He won't believe me."

"Aw, Yance," said Tendo, but there was no humor in it, just dismay.

Someone was next to him. "Becket. Yancy." It was Tanisha. He turned sluggishly to meet her dark eyes, dead-serious like always. She considered him, and he blinked at her, trying to pay attention. "You two did good. This is what it means to be heroes."

It didn't make any sense to him, but it bothered Tendo. "Jesus, Davis!"

"It's the truth," she snapped. "Ain't no point in hiding it!" They liked Tanisha. They could always count on her to tell the truth. So when she turned from Tendo back to Yancy and finished, "He's gonna be fine," Yancy thought maybe, just maybe, he really could believe it.

But it was a long, hard night. Sleep wasn't possible between the pain in Raleigh's leg and the waves of nausea from the anti-toxins; neither was eating. They both went through bouts of vomiting, and only the medics' efforts kept dehydration at bay. The exhausted, drained stupor that followed was the closest either of them came to sleep. Yancy let them get him into clean clothes, but refused to go further than arm's length from his brother's side, and Caleb and Tanisha backed him. Their fellow pilots dozed on and off in the bed on the other side of Raleigh, while a rotating shift of Gipsy's crew took turns sitting with Raleigh and Yancy.

The four pilots had burns traced over their bodies in matching patterns. Compared to all the other injuries, it was just a minor irritation, but the medics dabbed some ointment on the deepest ones. Raleigh studied Yancy's with groggy fascination during the wee hours of the morning, recalling the ones he'd seen on Bruce and Trevin when they'd gone shirtless, and on Dr. Lightcap when she rolled her sleeves up.

"That doesn't happen in the simulator," Bruce had chuckled when somebody asked him about it. "The input from actual combat on the circuitry is a hell of a lot more powerful, and once you start mixing it up with a kaiju, every time a signal gets disrupted, more shorts, more burns. Everybody gets them. That's how you know you've been initiated."

Initiated. What a word for this. Yancy fought to keep it together, but Raleigh was on to him. "'s not your fault," he whispered. "'s not."

It was my idea. I didn't understand. I thought if you were right next to me inside a Jaeger, I could keep you safe.

There was light outside again, and the medics' shift had changed when one of them came over and took more blood, and announced, "Okay, Ranger, you are clear. We can finally get some good drugs into you and let you get some sleep."

Raleigh was too drained to even talk by then, just gave a shaky thumbs-up. Yancy was peripherally aware of them moving around the IVs, then watched his brother's eyes glaze and flutter as a fog of wonderful, cool numbness finally settled over him and softened the edges on his mind. It's okay, Yance. It's okay now - I'm okay, everything's... He was sinking down even before the tranquilizers hit his blood and couldn't have resisted them even if he'd wanted to.

Yancy sank down with him, their grip on each other slackening, but nobody dared to try to take him away as his head dropped onto the bed next to his brother's face. But where Raleigh was finally able to relax into sleep, the fading of his awareness only amplified Yancy's own: that his brother was here, wounded and in pain, and it was his doing. He stroked Raleigh's hair and shook as the last vestiges of self-control started to give way.

"He needs to sleep," someone said.

"He needs to shower," someone else suggested.

Caleb growled at the medics. "We can't take him out of here. He will flip... out. Do you get me?"

"Actually, I don't think he will now that Raleigh's under. Either way, we need to get them both cleaned up; Raleigh's immunity may be shaky," said Nicola.

"...Damn. I didn't think of that. Okay. Pines, gonna need your help. Where's Ferrier? Is he still asleep?"

"I'll page him; he'll come even if he is. You think Antwan can keep him calm long enough?"

"Dunno, but Antwan's the biggest guy on your crew."

"There is that. Yancy?" Someone shook his shoulders, tugging gently until he raised his head. Coffee-brown skin and gold-streaked dark hair... Nicola smiled at him, coaxing. "Let's get you cleaned up, 'kay?"

Her words only made the vaguest sense. He grunted an incoherent protest as she pulled him away from the bed, then struggled as Antwan, Brandon, and Caleb joined her. "Shh, Yance, it's okay," Caleb insisted. "You're coming right back here. Soon as we're done, we promise, okay? We just need to get you showered off so you and Raleigh don't get sick."

What? He looked over his shoulder in confusion. Raleigh already looked sick, unconscious in the bed with the oxygen line under his nose, eyes shadowed, bruised and filthy. "We're just going next door," Antwan urged. "Only a few minutes, okay? Come on, my friend, you're all right."

At first, he was too tired, too confused to process what was going on and just let them lead him along in a daze... until he was in another room full of tiles and steam and he couldn't see Raleigh anymore!

Then, he panicked.

He yelled and thrashed and tried to fight his way out, but there were three big figures keeping him back. His body wasn't working right, and neither was his brain. Their shouts for his attention and softer words of reassurance had no meaning in his ears, but he couldn't get free, and finally just buckled and slumped helpless, his breath choked with sobs. It's my fault it's my fault it's my fault RaleighRaleighRaleigh...

"Easy, Yance. I know, son. I know. It's okay. Raleigh's gonna be okay."

There was cold water pelting over him, and shivering only made it harder to think. "We've got you, soldier. That's not helping, Pines, turn the warm on before we all get pneumonia."

"Sorry, hold on." It warmed up, and the knots in his muscles started to ease. Yancy blinked and found himself half-clothed and soaked with three guys trying to get the dirt and grease off him. Dully, he scrubbed at his face. "Hey, there he is," said Brandon. "Better?"

Well, no. But being clean suddenly appealed. Once they were satisfied that he wasn't going to bolt, they let him go and finish scrubbing off without assistance. Brandon and Caleb in particular didn't seem at all thrown by this weirdness; maybe it was a soldier thing.

I made my brother a soldier. I got him hurt. "Raleigh..."

"Listen to me." Antwan was back in front of him, gripping his shoulders hard. "Raleigh is fine. The medics have taken good care of him."

"Tani and Tendo and Carolina are with him," added Caleb. "Come on, let's get you dried off, and you can see for yourself."

He was too out of it and too miserable to do anything but let them lead him around, and passively submitted to drying off and getting clean clothes on. He wiped his face at one point and dimly noticed that he was still crying in front of them. But he was too far gone to care.

Raleigh was hurt because of him. There was nothing worse than that.

Stacker Pentecost heard the commotion from the showers adjacent to the Shatterdome infirmary, and upon entering, quickly worked out what was going on. The crew at Raleigh Becket's bedside were looking towards the noise with wide eyes.

"Stay with him," Stacker ordered. If the injured Ranger was finally asleep, by rights, his partner should have crashed too, but it seemed the older brother was still too agitated.

Things had quieted down by the time he found them. Caleb Mitchell had had the good sense not to try to wrangle a fellow pilot from his partner's side without backup, but the meltdown was well under way. Yancy Becket, Gipsy Danger's solid, self-contained, determined right half, was slumped on the locker room bench, held upright only by his companions, weeping in utter despair.

"Ranger Becket?" Seeing Stacker, Airman Pines jumped to attention, but PC Ferrier went on toweling his charge's hair, and Mitchell just looked anxious.

Glassy, reddened eyes barely focused on him. Stacker stepped forward, and Ranger Mitchell actually moved into his path. "Sir," he said in a low voice. "He's disoriented; he can't help this."

Apparently, Yankee Star's pilot had forgotten that this particular Marshall had also been a Ranger. "And he's still ghost drifting with an injured, sedated partner," Stacker finished. "At ease, Mitchell. I'm not about to punish him."

Mitchell relaxed. "I'm not sure how he's awake at all," he admitted.

Stacker had his theories, but didn't see the need to share them. "There's still a great deal about the drift that isn't understood." Once they got Becket dressed, he ordered, "Come with me."

The young man balked when Stacker led them to an empty office across the hall instead of back to the infirmary. "Raleigh - "

" - Raleigh is resting comfortably. This won't take long. Wait outside," he told the trio. Ferrier shot him a dubious look, but at the nudges from Pines and Mitchell, he obeyed.

Considering how very impaired this Ranger was, Stacker wondered if this was not the time to have this conversation... or, conversely, if this was the only possible time. He pressed ahead. "I think I know what's on your mind."

He was right. "It was my idea," Yancy whispered, too far gone to be self-conscious. Stacker kept his face neutral, even as something deep within him twisted in recognition of an elder brother's anguish. "I brought him here, and it's my fault. Thought I could protect him."

"And now you know that's not the case," Stacker agreed quietly. "Would it ease your mind to know you're not the first pilot to have second thoughts after combat?" No, of course not, but it might be good for Raleigh to know. "Especially within families. You're not the first, and you won't be the last."

"I need to keep him safe."

"You can't." He didn't want to be harsh, but he was blunt. "There is nowhere on this planet that is safe from the kaiju. Until we manage to close the Breach, we can only deal with them as they come, and there's no indication that it will stop. Ever." Yancy flinched.

Stacker fought the urge to sigh. The media and even superior officers had focused almost entirely on Raleigh Becket's youth, but compared to the rest of the pilots, Yancy Becket too fell well into the bottom age bracket. The Psych Analysts probably should have had that flag on his file as well. Surrogate parent to his siblings or not, responsible or not, this Ranger was very young.

It was a boy in front of Stacker's desk at this moment, shaken to his core by realities of the world that he hadn't had a chance to learn in anything resembling a normal setting. Normal had been the very first casualty of K-Day. Now Stacker had to put this Ranger's confidence back together again - and see to it that he and his even-younger sibling went back out to slay more dragons. Doing so meant being mindless of the elder brother within himself who'd shattered four years ago, in the very fate that this boy in front of him feared.

What kind of monster would let another family court that agony?

One with no other choice. "Yancy." The boy didn't even blink at such shocking informality. "You and your brother saved thousands of lives yesterday."

That got a vacant smile. "We had help."

"So you did, and you always will. Our ranks are growing, but the need for Rangers remains desperate. No matter how much training is available, finding people with the courage, the skill, and the trust to defeat a kaiju will always be difficult. You and Raleigh proved yesterday that you're among the few who can manage it and live. You of all people shouldn't give that up now."

Yancy frowned at the surface of the desk. "After... he wasn't scared."

"I was listening, and I've seen the data from the conn-pod. Yes, he was in danger, but your brother saved himself. He kept his head and followed the emergency procedure to the letter, even through a painful injury, and he'll make a full recovery - quite possibly before the next attack."

He shouldn't have added that last point; Yancy shuddered at the thought of another attack. Fighting frustration, Stacker leaned forward. "There are already fingers being pointed towards the engineers over the design of Gipsy's conn-pod. Some feel it was negligent to allow the O2 supply to be vulnerable to contamination."

"Why? They can't predict everything that might happen in a fight."

Stacker had him. "Oh? So you still trust them?" The young man nodded. "Then why not your brother? The drift is about trust, Ranger. Considering what a powerful bond you have, it's surprising that you don't trust your brother more." That reached Yancy, and his chin went up, eyes narrowing. "You've both excelled in the simulations. You've both maintained top standards in training, and yesterday, you both fought down the largest kaiju in recorded history. I hope you won't deny Raleigh his share of the credit."

Dazed, Yancy shook his head. "No. No, I wouldn't do that. I'm proud of him."

Much better. "Even if you left the Jaeger Program now and fled to the Himalayas, your brother would not be safe. And millions of people, millions of families would be in far greater danger for your absence." Yancy flinched and shut his eyes. Stacker ruthlessly forced down the voice in his heart that called him cruel for putting this burden on a boy. Two boys. If the brothers' positions were reversed, he had no doubt he'd be having this same conversation with Raleigh. "Nor would your brother thank you for it."

That was the most powerful weapon in Stacker's arsenal, nothing to do with Yancy or even the greater good: what Raleigh himself would choose. Raleigh Becket was correctly labeled the more volatile of the team, but his clarity in the face of the crisis had buried many doubts.

There was a point he could drive further home. "Let me show you something." He turned the computer screen for Yancy to see and accessed the classified records of the Academy. "You know we still don't disclose the range of results from testing recruits. It's not about competition." Yancy nodded.

A list of scores for the various tests appeared. "This was the minimum for Class 2016-B. These are yours. These are your brother's." Two more lines of numbers appeared. "You outscored your brother in most of the tests, it's true. But your brother passed first cut in his own right, according to every standard we set. There is not a single test that he did not pass on his own. Nor has he ever failed to pull his weight in your partnership. You should have faith in that, in his abilities and in his drive. Of course, he's your family, and he's younger. But he's an adult, and he has made his own choice and held to it."

Ranger Yancy Becket was still close to collapse... but it no longer looked as if he was near nervous breakdown. Though exhausted, his face was calmer as he worked through his superior's words and studied at the test scores. Then he smiled again. "He blew me away in the Final Spar, though. I flipped out then, too."

"I remember. The judges paged me." That startled the young man, and Stacker let himself smile. Before he could talk himself out of it, he prodded at brotherly pride a little further. "There have now been four classes totaling more than a thousand recruits who've attempted the first term Final Spar. Raleigh Becket holds the high score record to this day."

Yancy's eyes went wide, but he grinned with unmistakable delight. Pride. "Jaegers don't yield," he murmured.

"No, they don't. And he didn't." And imagine my glee at discovering that not only did we have a recruit so determined that he forced us to yield, but that that recruit had brought his best friend. He didn't tell Yancy that part. Seeing that callow teenager willing to challenge them to that degree had been gratifying; turning around to find another Becket in the room had been the clincher. The elder Becket exceeded his brother in every way except raw guts... and that was perfect. Your classmates weren't the only ones who saw it coming.

"No one ever said being a Ranger was easy. Yamarashi didn't defeat you yesterday. Don't defeat yourself." He stood, and Yancy nodded, getting to his feet.

They'd be all right. Stacker opened the door and beckoned to the trio waiting outside. "Take him back to the infirmary. Tell the medics he's to stay with his brother until they're both released."

"Yes, sir."

Tendo was incredibly worried by the time Brandon, Antwan, and Caleb brought Yancy back to the infirmary. "What happened?!"

"Marshall Pentecost pulled him in for a talking-to," said Caleb. To Tendo's surprised relief, Yancy had calmed, and seemed at peace as he looked at Raleigh. Behind him, Brandon gave them all two thumbs up, and Antwan was nodding vigorously. Hmm. So whatever Pentecost had said, apparently it'd gotten Yance off the ledge.

Borne out by Caleb's report that Pentecost too had ordered Yancy be allowed to stay with Raleigh, the medics didn't make any more noise about sending him away. They did demand that he rest. "He's not doing himself or his brother any favors by being exhausted to this degree. If he doesn't sleep soon, we'll trank him."

"Fine." Tanisha stood briskly and ordered Tendo, "Give me a hand," and began pulling the nearest bed up against Raleigh's.

"There we are." Carolina lowered the small railings so both brothers could reach each other. With that detail attended to, Yancy let them coax him into lying down. Nobody missed that the moment his brother was next to him again, Raleigh shifted in that direction.

Yance draped an arm over his brother and finally relaxed as Carolina stroked his hair. He was dead to the world in minutes. Tendo folded his arms, giving Tanisha a pointed look. "I think that's what it means to be heroes," he said.

"I never said there wasn't a plus side too. It comes with both."

"And you didn't think they had it in them," Antwan said smugly.

She stared him down. "I never said that either, just that training's not proof. You can't know until you been there."

"And now they been there."

She looked at the sleeping brothers and nodded, conceding quietly. "Yeah. And then some."

To be continued...

Coming Soon: Raleigh and Yancy are both on the road to recovery, and all of our heroes of Team Gipsy and Team Yankee experience the triumph and toil that comes after a kaiju kill in Chapter Twenty-Five: Learn By Experience!

PLEASE don't forget to review!

Original Character Guide

Antwan Ferrier: Personnel Coordinator of a team of Gipsy's strike troopers and rescue/recovery crew. Age 39, Jamaican national.

Brandon Pines: Pilot of Whiskey Gamma, one of Gipsy's main support helicopters. Early 30s from Monterey, CA, formerly US Air Force.

Carolina Olivares: Gipsy Danger's Public Relations Representative (and unofficial den mother). Mid-60s, Mexican-American from San Francisco, survived K-Day and came out of retirement to join the PPDC.

Nicola Harris: Rescue/recovery EMT with Whiskey Gamma, one of Gipsy's strike troop teams. Age 20, African-American/Latina from San Diego, came to Raleigh and Yancy's aid when Raleigh passed out after his Final Spar in their first term at the Jaeger Academy (see Chapter 2.)

Tanisha Davis and Caleb Mitchell: The pilots of Yankee Star, America's Mark-2 Jaeger. Former US Marines, late 20s. Tanisha is African-American from south central Los Angeles, while Caleb is white from a small, rural town in central Oklahoma.