Quick notes:
Chapter and Story Length: This is a long and slow-developing story. If you want immediate action and shorter chapters, this fanfiction is probably not right for you.
Story Rights: This fanfiction is based off of Warner Bros. and Legendary's "Pacific Rim" movie, which I neither created nor own. Characters are property of Legendary Entertainment, LLC and Warner Bros. Pictures.
Likenesses: Any relations between this fanfiction and other Pacific Rim fanfictions, fanfictions in general, or Pacific Rim art/stories are completely coincidental. Content may inadvertently mirror content in other fanfictions due to chance.
Translations: I use Google Translate to give some characters more realism. These translations may not be accurate to the provided English text.
Text Characters: "[Quotations marks around brackets]" are used to indicate speech through the drift. [Brackets immediately under text] are English translations of other languages.
Posting Schedule: I do not have a set time of posting. A new chapter may be added the next day, in a week, or in several months. Just because the fanfiction hasn't been updated doesn't mean I've forgotten about it. I will let you know when the story is over; until then, the story will continue no matter how long it takes for the next chapter to arrive.
A swarm of helicopters flew over the Port of Hong Kong, their blades whipping through the cold air in the night. Search lights traced the crashing waves below, scanning for anything out of the ordinary. It had been nearly a year since Operation Pitfall was a success, bringing a resolution to years' worth of Kaiju battles. The world was almost back to normal, as normal as it could be. Several parades had already taken place to commemorate the heroics of the Jaegers and their pilots, even those lost in battle.
Six months ago was a celebration in Russia, thousands of people showing up in the streets of Moscow. Men and women dressed up as pilots through cheap costumes produced to sell at the parade. More adventurous people put together Jaeger suits, taking time to craft costumes that often reached 10 feet tall. One month later was a gathering of 10,000 people in Los Angeles, California, everyone dancing around in their costumes with blaring music in the background. Yet another parade was put together in Sydney, Australia, one man bringing a 12-foot tall replication of an unnamed Jaeger. Streamers fell from the sky, everyone thankful for the end of a terrible era in warfare.
"I can't see anything, it's too dark," came a static voice from a radio positioned within the helicopters.
"We were told they were right here," came another.
Truthfully, it may seem asinine to lose track of 250 foot tall robots lying motionless in the port, but after being licked by the salty ocean water for so long, their hulls had broken in and tightly cradled the ocean floor.
"Keep an eye out for red under the water. I doubt we'll see the other one from our view," a feminine voice called through the radio.
A young man stuck his head out of a helicopter's sliding side door to get a better look at the water below. It was all so dark, so cold. The clouds swirled above them as the man glanced his head side-to-side, hoping to catch a glimmer of red below the water's surface. He clutched the inside of the helicopter tightly, wondering how he got into this mess in the first place. This "mess" should have been cleaned up months ago, so why did they get an order to act today? The man sighed and dropped his head, cool air breezing through his hair.
He grabbed his walkie talkie and spoke softly into it: "I've got nothing so far."
Ten seconds later, another voice: "Same here. How the hell did we not keep track a' where these things were?"
"Ocean must'a swept 'em out a bit," the man replied. "Damned if this couldn't be any harder."
Search lights fanned the water below, white caps lapping at the surface. This mission had been a failure so far, even with all the manpower involved. A hand patted the young man's back, and he turned to see the discouraged expression of an older woman. She bit her bottom lip briefly, keeping her eyes closed for a moment. Then, she held her other hand out for the man's walkie talkie.
When she received it, she clicked the button on. "This is our third search today. If we cannot find them now, we must assume we never will." The woman sighed. "Pilots, fall back to the landing pad. This is an order from Anna Kadoshik."
"Copy copy," a voice came from the device.
Anna looked at the young man, giving him his walkie talkie back. "Sorry, Andrew. I know you wanted to find them."
At that, she stepped deeper inside the helicopter, leaving him alone by the sliding door. Andrew grunted, disappointed at yet another useless mission. He stared outside into the lapping ocean, subconsciously daydreaming about the day's events. At 9:00 AM, there had been a siren waking up the crew, followed by a booming voice yelling at them to reach the search helicopters. They flew over the port for two hours before returning to base camp. Then, the same siren went off at 3:00 PM, the booming voice calling for another search of the water. After three hours' worth of scanning the ocean, the mission was called off. Finally, here they were on yet a third breeze over the port, and Andrew wondered when it would end.
As the helicopter turned to face the landing pad, Andrew's eyes caught a dull glimmer in the sea. If he had blinked, he would have missed it.
Red.
It didn't initially register in his mind what he had seen, continuing to stare at the water. Suddenly, he jumped up as the connection formed in his head. He fiddled around with turning on the walkie talkie, nearly dropping it onto the floor, while screaming profanities at the helicopter's pilots.
"Stop, wait! I see it! Red in the water! I repeat, red in the water! Due south of, uh, uh," Andrew stuttered, trying to find the right words. "My, uh, helicopter's position!"
Anna's head perked up, running to the frantic man's side. She followed the point of his finger toward the sea, bobbing her head around in struggle.
"I don't see it!" she yelled to overcome the helicopter's loud blades.
"Right there! At the end of my finger!" Andrew replied.
Anna bobbed her head around some more. Finally, she locked her eyes on the smallest gleam of color amongst the dark blue water. With a gasp, she grabbed the man's walkie talkie again.
"I have eyes on 'er! We found her! Repeat, we found Crimson Typhoon!" she gleamed, though she hoped it wasn't a false alarm. "All pilots turn south of my 'copter's position, around 50 yards out from here."
The returning helicopters suddenly stopped moving toward the landing pad, instead swiveling around to face the port. Andrew felt the pull of the machine as it lurched around, Anna relaying directions to the pilot. They headed toward deeper water in a cluster of flying machines.
"Right there, right there," Anna yelled, pointing out the spot to the pilot. "Don't overfly it or else we'll miss 'er."
Andrew watched the helicopters gather over an area of the ocean, their search lights gleaming below at the water rippling under the air currents.
"Let's get some divers in the area to confirm our finding," began Anna as she looked down below. "I want ropes deployed and bodies in the water."
"Copy that, divers getting ready," came a man's voice from the radio.
One helicopter in particular positioned itself around 30 feet above the swelling waves. It was an older machine, one that partook in the Kaiju War many times before. Andrew noted the dents and cracks in its body, the heavy blades slicing air above it. He saw figures within its tinted windows moving around, gathering equipment as needed. They must be the divers. The helicopter's sliding doors soon opened, and ropes were dangled out of the sides.
The first diver stood near the door, wrestling around with the rope. He grabbed it tightly and gave a few tugs, hoping the equipment would hold steady. Soon, he leaped out, wrapping his legs around the rope and sliding his way down into the swirling water below. Four divers followed his path, each zipping down their respective rope until they crashed into the ocean.
"We're in the water," a static voice said across the radio. "Keep an eye on us as we go under. It's pretty chippy down here."
With that, the five figures disappeared into the salty sea, leaving only a few ripples behind. Everyone, even Anna, went quiet at that point. There was an air of both dread and excitement, Andrew assumed, but he could feel his heart beating quickly in his chest. He looked about his helicopter's interior, and almost everyone was gathered around a radio or walkie talkie waiting to hear from the divers.
Four long minutes passed before a voice broke through. "We're at the bottom. Visibility is low, and I'm wiping sand off this thing. It's, it's pretty big, whatever it is."
Andrew glanced at Anna, who was glued to a radio like an excited kid on Christmas day.
"I see dull pink or maybe red," the diver continued. "No, it's a lot of red. It's covered in crap, but it's red. I'm moving up this thing, and everything I'm wiping off shows this color. It looks like a cheese grater with all the indents."
Anna's eyes glowed, her heart rate matching Andrew's. "Brandon, you might be at the chest plate. Make your way inward and look for the logo. That's how we'll identify it."
The helicopter's co-pilot had a tablet in his hand, and he was looking at a blueprint. Andrew could see the unmistakable look of Crimson Typhoon in the tablet's glow. The co-pilot zoomed up to the chest plate, showing small circular indents like the diver explained.
"OK, I'm seeing what looks like a logo," the diver noted. "It's, uh, a wispy looking thing. Kinda torn apart, but there's a big loopin' streak in it... Oh, there's a face in the middle. It looks like... It's a dragon's face! I see a dragon's face!"
Anna looked at Andrew, letting a smirk graze across her face. "That's 'er all right. Here all along, right under our noses."
The rest of the crew erupted into cheers and high fives. Voices came and went across the radio system, informing base camp of their discovery. The main diver soon surfaced among the frothy waves, flicking his arms around at the helicopters above. Andrew felt himself jolt as his helicopter flew to the side, clearing the way for more heavily built machines to hover over the divers.
"I've got my crew mates mapping out where to hook up the winches," the main diver relayed. "You'll see buoys come up to the surface when they mark 'em."
"Copy that, Brandon. We'll keep a look out," said Anna with a small fist pump.
Large chain links were already on their way down from the heavy-duty helicopters, their hooked ends slowly making their move toward the water where the divers were. The lead diver continued flicking his arms around to command the crew to continue lowering the chains. It had been months since anyone saw the red Jaeger in person, and a part of Andrew was afraid to see the shredded remains of what used to be a beautiful specimen of design. In some way, he wished he was back home in Utah, chilling with his family and worrying no more. Instead, like everyone else in this mission, he was stuck here above the grave known as the Port of Hong Kong. He shivered at what was under the water.
Soon, a yellow buoy burst through the water's surface about 35 feet away from the main diver. Then, another one came through, followed by another and another. The four remaining divers surfaced near their buoys, swinging their arms through the cold air. They each caught hooks at the end of multiple chains, dragging them back down into the water.
"Divers are hooking up the winches as we speak," Anna relayed through the radio to base camp. "They're following the marks left by their buoys."
Suddenly, a static voice cut in. "I'm down here near a shoulder pad. It's badly rusted, and I don't know if it'll hold. I'm pushing on the metal right now, and it's flaking away."
Anna sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose, thinking hard. "Find a spot deep in the metal and hook up several chains. We'll need to reinforce it with extra strength. I don't care what you have to do, just get a good hold on it."
"Copy," the voice replied before going silent.
Andrew watched as bubbles hit the water's surface in four locations, chains slinking into the water where they came up. Each connection spot received several chains attached to it, as no one wanted to risk a slip in the hold. The chains wiggled and flopped on the way up to the helicopters as the divers messed with them, still limply dangling from the machines.
Andrew sat back and counted the stars above. His heart ached a bit. While this discovery tied up loose ends on the Jaeger's position, it also-
"Ms. Kadoshik, we found Crimson's Conn-Pod," a diver radioed in. "It's near the left shoulder about 10 feet out."
Anna let out a soft gasp. "Anything inside?"
"Let me..." the diver started. "Oh, shit, is that...?" A long pause occurred. "Yeah, I've got a body outside the Conn-Pod. Caught by the leg on a jagged piece of metal, just floatin' outside the pod. Damn it. Arms up, uh, toward the surface, mostly bones and some pieces of the suit. Can't identify yet."
"Shit," sighed Anna, her heart accelerating. She knew it was one of the Wei Tang triplets, and the others were surely inside the Conn-Pod.
"Looks like he was trying to get out before getting stuck," the diver relayed. "I'm looking in a hole leading to the inside now. A lot of, uh, broken stuff 'ere." He went silent again for a moment. "Wait... Damn, here they are. I've got two more bodies inside the pod. Repeat, two more bodies, three in total. One outside, two inside. They're in the straps, arms up like the other. Bones and stuff, can't identify."
Anna clenched her fist, her heart throbbing. "Relay to the base camp," she muttered to the co-pilot. "And call the chains up."
The static voice of the diver sounded like a sigh, forgetting to turn off his communication with the helicopters. "Let's get you boys home, yeah? Ain't no place to be down 'ere."
"We good to go?" shouted a man from a neighboring helicopter.
"Yep, pull 'em up. We'll get the Conn-Pod in a bit," the co-pilot screamed back, holding a thumbs up.
Andrew watched the chains pull tight, slowly cranking upwards toward the many helicopters attached to them. The divers had swum out of the way, watching from afar as frothy water met the surface. Andrew saw swirls of sand as a dull red object made its way upward. He wondered just how big this thing was, and how these helicopters were going to handle it. In that moment, he was thankful his helicopter was positioned to the side simply watching on.
"You're good! Keep it going!" yelled a diver from down below, moving his arms up repeatedly.
A metallic thud echoed through the night, and the chains ground to a slow move. It seemed to be forever, Andrew thought, like he had been out here for hours waiting for the Jaeger to appear.
"Here she comes!" another diver added.
The water's surface broke to a rusted object being yanked up. Only specks of red showed through, the rest either rusted or covered in dirt. Water poured down from the Jaeger with each inch it was pulled out of its grave.
"Gosh, that's terrifying," murmured Andrew to himself, looking at the robot's headless body. "That thing is massive as hell."
Anna sat hunched over with a walkie talkie, barking into it hastily. "If Crimson is there, Cherno can't be that far away. Divers, I need you to scan the local area while we get this thing outta here. We can't see Cherno's dark colors from above. One of you stay behind to hook up the Conn-Pod when more helicopters arrive in a minute."
"Already one step ahead," the top diver replied. "An' I think I already see something about 70 feet out. Heading toward it now."
Crimson's mangled body was already halfway out of the ocean by now, chunks of loose metal falling back into the water. Andrew wanted to throw up for some reason. She used to be a fantastic machine, but this is not what he remembered from the last time he saw the Jaeger before the Hong Kong battle. A part of him wanted to scream and quit on the spot, unable to take in more of the moment. Instead, he cuddled his hands against his face, trying not to look.
"Easy! Easy!" called one of the crew mates. "Let's not damage it any more than it is!" A deep rumbling was heard behind him. "Hey, looks like backup has arrived already."
A slew of more helicopters flew in, chains already dangling from their sides. A diver waved his hands around in the air from below, catching the pilots' attention. He pointed downward, noting where the Conn-Pod was resting on the sea floor. The helicopters positioned themselves above the diver, lowering their chains more toward him. He reached up and grabbed a few hooks, taking them down under the surface with him.
The diver spoke through the radio: "I'm attaching the hooks now. Give me a minute to do that and put the tarp over the holes so the Wei Tangs stay inside." A minute of silence went by before he spoke again, this time more to himself. "Hey, buddy. Oh, shit, there you are. Let me get you back inside the pod, alright? Take you back to your brothers."
Andrew's heart dropped a bit more. He was in a bad nightmare even though everyone knew the Wei Tang triplets had been dead for a while. It still felt horrible to hear about it first-hand.
Suddenly, another voice cut through the radio. "There's something big over here 70 feet away from Crimson. I'm talking massive. Anna, what's there to identify on Cherno? It's blurry as hell down here."
Anna let out a little cough. "See if you can find its feet." She glanced over at the co-pilot's tablet, now displaying a blueprint of the Russian Jaeger. "He's got a big curve in each foot, unmistakable."
"Copy," the diver replied.
Crimson's body was now fully removed from the water, torrents rushing out of the machine. Its limbs hung lifelessly in the dark night, spots of light from the helicopters running up and down it. A large chunk of metal from Crimson's thigh fell loose and crashed into the water, creating a ripple of waves just as the nearby diver securing the Conn-Pod returned to the surface.
"Let's get 'er back to shore," a man said through the radio, "and get the pod outta here, too."
The diver gave a thumbs up and shouted, "It's all secure! Bring it up!"
The chains attached to the Conn-Pod pulled tight as the helicopters carrying Crimson's body flew toward the landing pad, pieces of scrap leaving a trail in the water. Anna watched the ocean rumble around the chains, silt sloshing in the disrupted area. The chains pulled up and up, seemingly forever, until the pod broke the water's surface. A large blue tarp was wrapped around most of it, keeping its contents intact, as water dripped back to the sea.
"Anna," a diver's voice bellowed through the radio. "I'm at the foot, I think. This has to be it 'cause I followed a long piece of metal 'ere. I'm wiping away sand 'n shit now."
"Clear, let me know what you see," the woman responded.
"I've got... I've got dark green or black paint, hard to tell with the rust. I'm following it down, and I... Right, I've got the start of a curve. Big, big curve. I'm tracing it now, bending into the metal." The diver breathed heavily for a few seconds. "OK, now it's curving back down to another foot plate."
Anna coughed again. "That's Cherno, I've heard enough." She spoke more toward the crew now. "Divers just found Cherno Alpha, 70 feet off of Crimson's location. Buoys will be up in a moment."
Andrew caught a quick glimpse of helicopters hoisting Crimson's Conn-Pod away toward the landing pad, the blue tarp sticking out in the night. He still couldn't bear to look much, especially since another Jaeger was just found. Couldn't this terrible night end already? He sunk his face back into his hands, wishing it were all just a dream.