Disclaimer: I do not own Godzilla, Pacific Rim, or any other franchise elements contained herein.

Notes: Hi, all! Sorry it took a while to get this chapter written, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, and I hope you guys enjoy!

Also, Trigger Warnings for everyone: this chapter includes major character death and a reference to self-harm & suicide, so please keep that in mind.

Chapter 5: From Bad to Worse

February 29, 2020

Anchorage Shatterdome, Alaska

"…Gipsy Danger, report to Bay 8, Level A42. Kaiju, codename Knifehead, Category III, on course for Anchorage, Alaska, ETA three hours!"

The blaring alert of the Shatterdome's PA system snapped Raleigh Becket awake. Luckily, he'd only been in a light doze, and he snapped into full consciousness after a couple of seconds. As the message sank in properly, his eyes widened and he sat bolt upright, a nervous grin spreading across his face. "Yo, Yancy, wake up!" he called, pulling himself out of bed and drumming out a rhythm on the upper bunk where Yancy was sleeping, before ruffling his brother's hair. "Hey, c'mon! We're being deployed!"

"…Right," Yancy muttered groggily as he rolled over, yawning and rubbing his eyes. "Good morning."

"Morning," Raleigh replied briskly as he hurried over to their sink, splashing cold water on his face before grabbing a clean shirt. "C'mon, we gotta get moving."

"Ugh…" Yancy rolled awkwardly off the top bunk and clambered to the floor, still half-asleep. "What time is it?"

Raleigh's amused grin widened a bit. "Two."

"A.M.?"

"Yup." Raleigh swung around to face his brother, holding out one fist. "Whaddya say? Third notch on the belt?"

Yancy sighed and wearily returned the offered fist-bump, before striding over to their shared bathroom. "Hey, kid?" he called over his shoulder, leaning against the doorframe for a second.

Raleigh glanced back at him as he finished pulling on his shirt. "Yeah?"

Yancy grinned, some energy finally coming into his eyes. "Don't get cocky."

Two months had passed since the Manila Massacre, and the Jaeger Program was still recovering from their crushing defeat at the hands of Godzilla. Since Gipsy Danger hadn't sustained any serious damage in that fight, they'd been transferred back to Anchorage, making them the only Jaeger currently active at that Shatterdome. The Marshals hadn't wanted to do that, as the standard protocol was to have at least two Jaegers ready at each deployment location so they would always have backup available, but with the loss of four Jaegers in Manila, the PPDC had little choice but to spread their numbers more thinly for the time being. Even though that choice was necessary, nobody was happy about it.

Sure enough, when the next Kaiju – a massive Category III designated Knifehead, even bigger than Yamarashi – had emerged from the Breach two days earlier, the Jaegers had been forced to deploy more widely to compensate for their recent losses. At first, it had looked like the monster would target the western United States, so Romeo Blue had been standing ready in Los Angeles, but Knifehead had veered north instead. Unfortunately, a series of powerful winter storms were currently hammering the northern Pacific, making it extremely difficult to transport any additional Jaegers into the area. While Romeo was on its way north, and more reinforcements were en-route from the Shatterdomes in Japan and Russia, none of them would arrive in Alaska until the next morning, forcing Gipsy Danger to go into action alone.

"Good morning, Becket boys!" Tendo Choi's voice echoed over the speakers in Gipsy's conn-pod, as the brothers finished securing themselves into their rigs.

"Tendo! What's happening, my man?" Raleigh called with a grin.

"How'd that date with Alison go last night, Mr. Choi?" Yancy added.

"Oh, she loved me," Tendo quipped. "Her boyfriend, not so much."

"You're gonna get your ass kicked," Raleigh snorted.

Tendo snickered. "Hey, man's gotta do what a man's gotta do, brother."

"Engage drop, Mr. Choi." Stacker Pentecost's voice cut through the conversation, his tone as cool and professional as always.

"Engaging drop, sir," Tendo replied briskly, clearing his throat and switching over to a professional attitude. "Marshal Pentecost on deck. Securing the conn-pod; getting ready to drop."

Despite their nerves, the brothers both grinned as they double-checked their rigs, making sure everything was secure. "Release for drop," Yancy called out.

"Gipsy Danger, ready for the big drop!" Raleigh echoed, grinning despite himself. However nervous he might be about what they would soon be facing, he never got tired of this part.

And then the floor rose up beneath them, and the brothers whooped in delight as Gipsy's conn-pod was released, dropping smoothly down a long, vertical shaft that led directly into their launch bay, where the rest of the Jaeger's massive frame was waiting. The head descended into position, sinking into the neck socket and rotating until it locked into place. At the same time, a giant conveyor belt beneath their feet went into motion, and Gipsy began rolling slowly towards the exit from the hangar. The massive double doors slid open, letting in a gust of rain and wind from the raging storm outside.

"Gipsy Danger, ready and aligned, sir," Yancy reported, flipping a switch on one of the control panels above him as Gipsy came to a stop on the launchpad outside of the hangar doors, facing out towards the ocean.

"Rangers, this is Marshal Stacker Pentecost," Pentecost replied, sticking rigidly to protocol as he always did. "Prepare for neural handshake."

"Starting in fifteen seconds," Tendo chimed in. "Fourteen… thirteen…"

As the Beckets made their final adjustments and the timer counted down, Yancy smiled over at Raleigh. "Ready to step into my head, kid?"

"Please, after you," Raleigh quipped. "Age before beauty, old man."

"Neural handshake: initiated," the emotionless female voice of the Jaegers' inbuilt AI reported. Raleigh and Yancy closed their eyes simultaneously and took a deep breath, just as they felt the Drift click into place. A swirling storm of images and sounds rushed through both of their minds, decades of memories melding together as they fell into their practiced synchronization. When their eyes opened and they exhaled, they were linked.

"Neural handshake, strong and holding," Tendo's voice confirmed.

"Right hemisphere, calibrating," Yancy spoke up, flexing his arms.

"Left hemisphere, calibrating," Raleigh echoed, mirroring his movements. The brothers held up their hands and brought them together, smacking their left fists into their right palms. Gipsy did the same, the impact producing a crack that rivaled the thunder rumbling overhead.

"Gentlemen, your orders are to hold the miracle mile off Anchorage," Pentecost commanded. "Copy?"

"Copy that, sir." Yancy frowned as he scanned the holographic map that had now come up on their main screen, showing the Kaiju's approach relative to their location. "Sir, there's still a civilian vessel in the gulf…"

"Gentlemen, you're protecting a city of two million people," Pentecost cut him off, his voice regretful but firm. "You will not risk those lives for a boat that holds ten. Am I clear?"

Both brothers grimaced, but Yancy nodded. "Yes, sir," he agreed reluctantly, before switching off his mic.

"Man, that's cold," Raleigh muttered after doing the same. He was silent for a second, before he glanced over to Yancy and raised an eyebrow. "You know what I'm thinking?"

Yancy smirked. "I'm in your brain. I know."

A matching smirk spread across Raleigh's face. "Then let's go fishing."

With that, the brothers started forward, and Gipsy Danger waded into the cold, churning waves and began marching out to sea.

Unfortunately, the Kaiju seemed to be very good at locating human craft, because as soon as Knifehead got near the only remaining fishing boat in the waters off Anchorage, it altered course and headed straight for it. Fortunately, it wasn't moving too fast, which allowed Gipsy to reach that spot at around the same time. When they got there, the fishing boat was moving along a shallow ridgeline where the water was less than two hundred feet deep, about ten miles offshore. They'd been using the jets on Gipsy's back to push them along underwater, moving much faster than they could have walked across the seabed, but as they reached the shallows, they began rising up towards the surface.

The Beckets had cut it dangerously close, as by the time they finally broke the surface a short distance from the boat, the Kaiju was already there. It was towering over the small vessel, ready to pulverize it with a single blow, but it flinched back as Gipsy surfaced on the other side of the vessel, ignoring its prey in favor of a much more pressing threat. This Kaiju stood upright and had six limbs, two legs and four arms: two longer ones where a normal pair of arms would be, and a smaller pair below and between them, all ending in clawed hands. Its name, Knifehead, was quite fitting, as its head was shaped like that of a goblin shark, with a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth and a long, triangular snout with sharp, bladelike edges, forming a deadly weapon that could be used to impale an enemy in battle. A long, paddle-like tail lashed back and forth behind it, and six glowing blue eyes pierced through the darkness of the storm.

As Gipsy surfaced, Yancy triggered two blasts of its massive foghorn, acting as a threat display meant to intimidate their opponent. Before Knifehead could decide whether it wanted to attack them or retreat, the Beckets made their move, reaching forward and carefully slipping Gipsy's right hand underneath the boat, before lifting it easily out of the water.

"Adjust the torque!" Yancy ordered.

"I'm on it!" Raleigh replied, adjusting his controls. At their command, Gipsy pivoted away from the Kaiju, which finally got over its surprise and lashed out at them with a snarl. Luckily, they'd been fast enough that it only landed a glancing blow, the tips of its claws scraping across their armored back. Before it could attack again, they extended their right hand and settled the boat back into the water, giving it a gentle push to add some speed.

As the boat, now safely out of the way, began accelerating away from the combat zone, the Beckets swung back around to face their opponent. Knifehead was already charging, but they used the momentum of their spin to add force to their first punch, throwing a right hook that caught it square in the face and snapped its head to the side. A second punch connected from their left hand, driving its head into the water, and before it could rear back up, they raised both arms and brought a vicious double-fisted blow crashing down on top of its head, slamming it back down under the surface.

That one must have hurt, because when Knifehead resurfaced, it was shaking its head and spitting blue blood. It wasn't badly injured yet, though, and its only response was another roar before it came straight back at them again, jaws wide. The brothers barely got Gipsy's left arm up in time to block its attack, and it bit down on their forearm instead, sending pain lancing up their arms. They managed to wrench the Jaeger's arm free of its mouth and latched onto the pointed snout with their left hand, holding it back to keep it from biting or stabbing them again. With this Kaiju, its head was clearly its deadliest weapon, so avoiding it was critical.

As Raleigh focused on holding off the snapping teeth and slashing claws, Yancy armed the plasma cannon in Gipsy's right hand, which lit up with crackling blue-white energy. Focused on going for their head, Knifehead didn't realize what they were doing until it was too late, and before it could defend itself, the cannon fired twice at point-blank range, blasting two bolts of fiery plasma into its midsection. The double impact hurled it backwards with a howl of pain, blue blood spraying freely from its chest and stomach, before it crashed down into deeper water and sank like a stone.

The brothers stumbled back a couple of steps, digging in Gipsy's heels to brace themselves against the backlash of their own attack. They straightened up and scanned the surface, looking for any signs that Knifehead was going to come back up, but there was nothing.

Got him! Raleigh exulted through the Drift. Think that finished it?

Not sure, Yancy replied, his eyes narrowed as they scanned the horizon. But those were good hits. So if he doesn't come back up, I think we got him.

Sure enough, a couple of minutes passed with no sign that Knifehead was still alive, and the Beckets finally let themselves relax, grinning breathlessly as their spirits rose. Of course, that was when their radio crackled to life, and Pentecost's voice cut through the air. "Gipsy, what the hell is going on?!"

Raleigh sighed and exchanged grins with Yancy. "Job's done, sir!" he reported. "Lit it up twice; bagged our third kill!"

"You disobeyed a direct order!" Pentecost snapped.

"Respectfully, sir," Yancy shot back, "we intercepted the Kaiju and saved everyone on that boat!"

Although Yancy wasn't wrong, Raleigh wasn't surprised when Pentecost's tone didn't lighten up in the slightest. "Get back to your post, now!"

Raleigh rolled his eyes and nodded, unable to suppress the grin on his face as he spoke up again. "Yes, sir!"

Suddenly, Tendo's voice cut in, with a new level of urgency. "Guys, we're picking up a new signature!" he reported. "Just a couple miles to the southwest of your position, closing in fast!"

Huh? Raleigh blinked, not sure what that meant. New signature? Then he got it, and his eyes widened in alarm. Oh, crap… is it him?

Yancy also felt a sudden burst of apprehension, and the brothers took a couple of slow steps back, eyeing the ocean in front of them. If Godzilla was heading their way, the last thing they wanted was another face-to-face confrontation with the Titan, especially not after the disastrous battle in Manila.

"What is it?" Pentecost demanded, the foreboding in his tone making it clear that he was thinking the same thing. "Godzilla?"

"I… I'm not sure, sir," Tendo admitted. "It doesn't look big enough to be him, but… I'm having trouble getting any solid data. And I can't get a solid lock on it; it keeps flickering in and out, like our sensors are having trouble tracking it, or…" He trailed off, and then spoke again with a new sense of dread in his voice. "Sir… I think it's the Ghost."

Raleigh and Yancy's gazes snapped around to each other, both brothers feeling a chill run down their spines as the same thought flashed through both of their minds.

Oh, shit.

They'd heard of the Ghost, of course, but merely as a rumor: the mysterious "other Titan" that was believed to have attacked and destroyed both Tidal Dragon and Silver Lion. Nobody knew any real details about it, except that it was apparently very large, and that it was somehow able to distort the radar of the PPDC's K-Watch detection systems, making it very hard to track. They also knew that its two previous attacks on Jaegers had occurred in deep water; that was why the Mark-1, 2 and 3 Jaegers had been restricted to land-based and coastal ops for the last couple of years, to reduce the chances of an encounter with whatever the hell this new creature was. But, since both of the previous attacks had occurred in the western Pacific, off the coast of Asia – one in the Philippine Sea, and the other in the Sea of Okhotsk – the brothers hadn't really believed that there was any chance of their running into it here.

But sure enough, there it was: a flickering orange blip, simply designated Unknown, that was rapidly approaching them from the southwest. According to what readings they were able to get, it was still deep underwater, but it was moving into the shallows along the ridgeline where Gipsy was now positioned. As they watched, the orange icon blurred with static and faded away again.

And then, to make matters worse, a second alarm blared over their screens, and Tendo's voice blurted out, "Kaiju signature is moving again! That thing's still alive!"

Sure enough, the red blip representing Knifehead hadn't vanished from the screen; instead, it was moving again, somewhere out in front of them, down in the deeper water.

Crap, Raleigh thought, all his previous cheer now absent.

Not good, Yancy concurred. They took a cautious step back, scanning back and forth across the water in front of them, but there was no sign of anything surfacing, either Knifehead or the Ghost.

"Gipsy!" Pentecost's voice called over the speakers, a new urgency in his voice. "That Kaiju is still alive, and the Ghost's coming in fast. Grab that boat, get the hell out of there, and get back to the shallows! Do you copy? Grab the boat, and…" His voice was suddenly cut off, as something washed over the Jaeger, like a wave of static electricity. The brothers' hair stood on end for a second and they felt a tingling sensation throughout their bodies, as the conn-pod's lights flickered and the comms signal from the Shatterdome dissolved into static.

"Agh!" Raleigh and Yancy both winced, and the latter began adjusting their controls. "What the hell? LOCCENT, do you copy?" Despite his best efforts, the static remained unbroken.

"Shit," Raleigh muttered, tensing as they looked around warily. The hell was that?

Then, suddenly, a sound reached the brothers' ears: a muffled roar, coming from somewhere below the surface. At the same time, the flickering orange blip on their screen suddenly reappeared, much closer than before… but it wasn't moving towards them. Instead, it was suddenly right next to the red blip that represented Knifehead, and the two blips began rotating around each other as if they were intertwined.

"Is that…?" Yancy's eyes widened as he adjusted their display.

"Yeah," Raleigh agreed grimly. "I think they're fighting."

She moved swiftly and silently along the ocean floor, closing in on the site of the ongoing battle. It had been some time since her last meal, and her hunger was growing once more. And finally, another of the energy-rich armored bipeds that had become her prey of choice had ventured within her reach. She could sense it, a few miles ahead, and her hunger added to her speed.

The presence of an Other in the same area would have put her off in the past; all the other times when she had sensed one of the strange, foul-smelling invaders nearby, she had given them a wide berth, not wanting to risk challenging them before she was ready. But after several full meals, she had grown more powerful, and she was now at the full strength of her adult form. She no longer felt the urge to hide from such creatures; instead, she now viewed them merely as competition. And since this one was not substantially larger than she was, she felt no reason to be afraid of it.

She would have this prey. And nothing, not even an Other, would stop her.

As she drew close enough to see her targets, her growing confidence was reinforced. The biped was standing in shallow water, atop an underwater ridge, while the Other was on the seafloor further down the slope, hundreds of feet deeper. This one was roughly the same size as her, but not as massive; it was also wounded, glowing blue blood clouding the water around it, but it was picking itself up and moving back up the slope. Based on what she could see, it looked as though it was preparing to ambush the biped from below.

Her red eyes flashed in the gloom, her claws flexing as a surge of possessive anger welled up within her. This Other sought to rob her of her prey… and for that, it would die.

With no hesitation, she unleashed a pulse of electric energy that radiated out around her, washing over both of her targets, and then burst into motion again. Choosing to target the competition first, she sped in from the side, her eight long, powerful limbs all working in harmony to propel her along. The Other sensed her coming, but an instant too late; just as it swung around in her direction, she erupted out of the darkness and slammed into it, bowling it over with her greater mass and tearing at it with fang and claw. It roared, lashing out wildly, but it was already weakened by its wounds, and her natural armor shielded her from its counterattack. She struck back, ripping at its wounded chest and stomach with her talons and spilling more of its toxic blue blood into the water.

The Other bellowed in rage and pain, drawing back and then lunging at her in an attempt to gore her with its sharpened snout, but she countered with a double-strike from both of her elongated right forelimbs, wrenching its head to the side. Before it could react, she was upon it again, tackling it and tearing into it with her claws as she sank her fangs into the back of its neck.

Raleigh and Yancy exchanged worried glances and took a couple of steps back, away from the area where Knifehead was battling with their mystery guest. Other than the occasional flash of blue or orange light beneath the surface, they couldn't see anything, but they were still worried. Apart from his first appearance in Kitakyushu and the disastrous battle in Manila, there was no record of Godzilla attacking an active Jaeger, certainly not without provocation. But the Ghost had already taken out two Jaegers without any provocation, so even if it finished off Knifehead, there was no reason to believe that they'd be safe.

What do we do? Raleigh questioned through the Drift, not wasting time speaking aloud.

Don't know. Yancy's frown deepened as they took another step back, glancing over their shoulder to see where the fishing boat was now. Fortunately, it was already some distance away and heading back towards the coast, so the crew should be able to make it there safely. The issue for Gipsy, however, was that while they were currently on a shallow ridge, there were still seven miles of deep water between them and the nearest shore. If they retreated, they'd have to get through that deep water, and neither of them had any desire to share the same fate as Dragon or Lion. At least here, they could fight in shallow water, where they couldn't be dragged down into the depths. But if they did get in trouble out here, there'd be nowhere to run.

Before the Beckets could make a decision, a sharp beep from the tracking screen brought both of their attention back to the moment at hand, as the red blip representing Knifehead suddenly wavered and disappeared, leaving only the flickering orange one. That could only mean one thing: the Kaiju was dead. The underwater battle was over… and from the looks of it, the Ghost had won.

"Shit," Raleigh murmured under his breath.

Shit, Yancy concurred mentally. Now what?

She let out a triumphant screech as she released her grip on the broken body of the Other, stepping back and letting its lifeless form slump to the seafloor. It had put up a good fight, but with its strength reduced by its wounds, it had been unable to match her.

With her competition disposed of, she turned and began stealthily moving up along the underwater ridge, closing in on the armored biped. It might already know she was there, as it was slowly backing away, but her coloration made her nearly invisible in the dark ocean, and her electric aura should make it harder for it to sense her.

Advancing up the slope, she flexed her claws and her eyes flared red in the gloom as she closed in, preparing to strike. She had experience in dealing with these armored bipeds now, and she knew how to deal with them: to strike fast, before they had time to react, and with overwhelming force. As she drew within range, her whole body tensed, and she crouched low and dug her claws into the seabed, readying herself.

And then she attacked.

Acting on instinct, the Beckets took a few more slow steps back, putting Gipsy's back against a large drifting iceberg. This way, if the Ghost did decide to come after them too, at least it couldn't sneak up on them from behind.

The flickering orange blip on their tracking screen had faded away again, leaving their green icon as the only one visible. They could dimly hear the rumbling of thunder and the rushing wind outside, and even though they were secure inside the conn-pod and warm in their drivesuits, Raleigh felt a chill run down his spine.

A full, agonizing minute passed, and they remained motionless, fists raised in a defensive posture as they braced themselves against the waves. The comms signal from the LOCCENT was still nothing but static, with nothing getting through from Pentecost or Tendo. For the moment, they were on their own.

And then, just as Raleigh was starting to think that their mystery monster might have left, the water in front of them erupted. He caught a brief glimpse of a huge, dark shape, at least as big as Knifehead but without the glowing blue bioluminescence of a Kaiju, and then a long, shadowy limb smashed across the Jaeger's face, knocking them off-balance. Sparks flew inside the conn-pod, and another massive impact rocked the Beckets in their rigs as the creature slammed into them, driving Gipsy backwards into the iceberg.

"Plasma cannon, charging now!" Raleigh yelled. Even as he readied the cannon in Gipsy's left hand, however, the dark shape lunged forward, and pain lanced through the brothers' left arms as the monster bit down on the Jaeger's shoulder. What felt like four long fangs punched straight through their armor, and Raleigh cried out. Something – it felt like a giant claw, or possibly two – seized their left forearm and wrenched it off to the side, and the plasma energy building up in their left cannon flickered and faded as the charging process was interrupted.

"Damn it…!" Yancy lashed out with their right arm, throwing a punch at the creature that was biting them. He landed a solid hit to its side, but it didn't let go; instead, its bite only tightened, digging its fangs in deeper and worrying at their shoulder like a dog with a bone. Something grappled their free arm, pinning them back against the iceberg, and what felt like two smaller claws raked across Gipsy's torso, gouging into their armor. The creature bit down harder, crunching into internal circuitry, and Raleigh gritted his teeth as a surge of electricity crackled through the affected area of his drivesuit.

Before the brothers could wrestle themselves free or counterattack, the grip around their left arm tightened, and the Ghost shook its head back and forth, digging its fangs deeper into their shoulder. Then, with a surge of strength that surpassed even that of Knifehead or Yamarashi… it pulled.

Raleigh wasn't entirely sure what happened next; he and Yancy were too busy screaming, as agony exploded in the left side of their bodies. The next thing he saw was a blurred, red-tinged glimpse of Gipsy's left arm splashing into the water below, having been torn completely off at the shoulder. Sparks flew, and a rush of energy in the affected area seared into the skin beneath their armored suits.

In the next moment, another massive blow smashed against Gipsy's head, and the brothers cried out again as more pain stabbed into their right temples. Raleigh turned and looked up, just in time to see an enormous, hooked claw punch through the ceiling of the conn-pod, puncturing the structure just above Yancy's rig. The claw dug in, and showers of sparks rained down around them as red warning lights began to flash.

Oh, shit, Raleigh thought numbly. "Hull's breached!" someone yelled – he wasn't sure whether it was him or Yancy – as they tried to break free, but their remaining arm was still pinned. A deep-toned screech echoed from outside, and the claw sank in a little further, visibly warping the structure of the conn-pod.

Yancy realized what was about to happen an instant before Raleigh did, and his head snapped around to meet his brother's horrified gaze. "Raleigh, listen to me!" he called out, his eyes wide. "You need to –"

Yancy Becket never finished his last sentence. In the next instant, the massive claw wrenched backwards with a screech of tearing metal, and his final words were replaced by a fading, wordless scream as a sizeable portion of the conn-pod's armor – along with Yancy, and his entire rig – was ripped away and hurled out into the storm. A lightning bolt of anguish and terror seared through Raleigh's mind as the Drift shattered around him… and then Yancy's half of their neural link abruptly cut off, dropping away into darkness.

"No!" Raleigh screamed, gazing in horror and disbelief at the gaping hole where his brother had been seconds earlier. An instant later, physical pain came surging in to accompany the mental agony, as the strain of piloting Gipsy and the amount of energy flowing through his drivesuit suddenly doubled in the absence of a partner. It felt like his head was exploding, and arcs of electricity crackled up and down his entire body as blood began leaking from his nose.

The Ghost wasn't done with Gipsy yet, and continued to rain down blows on its prey. What felt like two of the massive claws rammed into the Jaeger's chest armor and began pulling in opposite directions, trying to rip Gipsy's torso open. In the back of his mind, some dim part of Raleigh's awareness remembered the reports on Tidal Dragon and Silver Lion, how they'd been torn open so their attacker could get to their reactors.

The additional pain of the Ghost's new attack, however, gave Raleigh a moment of clarity. As the image of Yancy being ripped away from him continued to flash through his mind, it was joined by the memories from six years earlier, of being trapped in a collapsing subway station on K-Day, hearing Trespasser roaring above them as the roof caved in, and finding the broken body of Andrew buried under the rubble afterwards. After that, it had just been him, Yancy and Madison left, incomplete without their other sibling.

But now Yancy was gone too. Just like Andrew. And he was about to join them… unless he fought back.

Just like that, Raleigh's pain was overpowered by a tsunami of pure, all-consuming rage. Forcing himself to move, he gritted his teeth, raised his arms, and shifted the control disc that he'd used for Gipsy's left plasma cannon to his right hand, activating the Jaeger's remaining cannon. The Ghost didn't seem to notice, as it was too focused on prying open Gipsy's chest armor and keeping its prey pinned against the iceberg, which gave him a few precious seconds to charge up. The cannon ignited with a blaze of crackling blue energy, and with an immense effort, he wrenched his arm free of the creature's hold and swung the cannon around to target its center mass.

For a moment, as Raleigh turned the Jaeger's head to line up his shot, he got his first and only good look at the monster that he faced. It was massive, not quite as tall as Knifehead but larger and bulkier. Its body was covered by a smooth, armored exoskeleton, colored in shades of black and gray, and it had four long arms that it was using to hold Gipsy in place. In the darkness of the storm, he couldn't make out much more than that, but he saw a broad, flat head, a beak-like mouth full of pointed fangs, and a pair of glowing red slits that must be its eyes. When it roared, the sound that rang out over the rumble of the storm was nothing like a Kaiju or Godzilla: it was a deep, clattering howl, unlike anything he'd ever heard.

Raleigh met that roar with his own, raised the plasma cannon, and fired.

March 1, 2020

Anchorage Shatterdome, Alaska

Mark Russell was barely able to keep himself from jumping out of the PPDC helicopter until it had finished touching down. Emma and Madison were right behind him, the former keeping the latter close as they all rushed across the grounds towards the entrance of the Shatterdome.

The three of them had all been waiting anxiously for news of Gipsy Danger's status, ever since they'd received the news that Raleigh and Yancy were going into battle against the Kaiju that had been approaching Anchorage. Due to the winter storm that was raging over the Gulf of Alaska, this attack hadn't received the news coverage that most Jaeger-Kaiju battles did, so they'd been left in the dark to wrestle with their nerves. Madison had refused to go to bed, and none of them had been able to sleep in any case, so they had spent the night on the couch in their living room, anxiously cycling through news channels in hopes that anyone might have some new information.

Finally, shortly before dawn, a report came in that sent chills down their spines: apparently, the PPDC had confirmed that the Kaiju had been killed, but Gipsy Danger had not returned to the Shatterdome, making landfall on the coastline west of Anchorage instead. The report hadn't mentioned what condition Gipsy's pilots were in, but that detail alone was enough for Mark and Emma to be concerned. And, a few minutes later, their worst fears had been realized when a call had come in from the Anchorage Shatterdome, informing the Becket-Russells that they needed to come to the Shatterdome immediately.

The view that greeted Mark when they entered the Rangers' infirmary, and he caught sight of his stepson through the med-bay window, was even worse than he had imagined. For a moment, he wasn't sure which image was more painful: the bed where Raleigh lay motionless, eyes closed, covered in bandages and bruises… or the empty bed next to his, where Yancy should have been.

Emma froze beside him, her eyes wide in horror. Madison, however, rushed forward to the observation window, resting her hands against the wall as she gazed tearfully at her unconscious brother. "Is he okay?" she demanded, looking around at the medical staff. "And where's Yancy?!"

"Miss Russell," a deep, solemn voice cut in. Mark slowly turned to see Stacker Pentecost standing across from them, and his heart sank when he saw the pained expression on the normally-stoic Marshal's face. "Doctors," he added, with a nod to Mark and Emma. "I… I am so sorry."

Mark's heart felt like it was still sinking lower with every word. He wanted to demand an explanation, to yell, to scream, to say something… but his lips wouldn't move, and the sound wouldn't come. He knew, instinctively, what must have happened – what Raleigh's injuries and Yancy's absence must mean, given that Yancy would never have left his brother's side if Raleigh were hurt this badly – but he didn't want to accept it.

Emma, however, managed to speak up. "Marshal?" she asked, her voice almost cracking as she placed a hand on Madison's shoulder, pulling her daughter close to her side as if she were trying to shield her from everything around them. "What happened? And… where is Yancy?"

Pentecost visibly winced at that last part, and Mark felt another icy chill run through his body. "At about 3:00 AM this morning," he explained quietly, "your sons intercepted the Kaiju that was approaching Anchorage. That Kaiju is now dead, and they were even able to save a civilian vessel that had strayed into its path. But…" His eyes were glassy, and he gazed off into the distance for a second before shaking his head and focusing back on them. "Yancy was torn from the conn-pod during the engagement."

Emma and Madison both let out strangled gasps, and Mark felt like he'd been punched in the gut. His knees almost buckled, and he swayed unsteadily on his feet for a second, putting one hand out to brace himself on the wall.

"Raleigh managed to get their Jaeger back to shore on his own," Pentecost continued quietly, "but…" He nodded to the med-bay window. "He's been unconscious since we retrieved him from the beach where Gipsy made landfall, although the medics have been able to stabilize him. As for Yancy, hundreds of boats and aircraft are currently searching the Gulf for him as we speak. However…" His frown deepened, and he shook his head. "So far, there's been no trace. And even if he survived the battle itself… the water temperatures out there are well below freezing." He closed his eyes and sighed heavily, as his usual calm demeanor cracked to show the pain and sorrow beneath the surface. "I'm sorry for your loss. But at this point… it's more than likely that Yancy is gone."

Gone.

Mark almost collapsed, and he probably would have if it hadn't been for the sudden feeling of Emma's hand on his arm. He turned, briefly forgetting that Pentecost was even in the room, and his eyes locked with hers, seeing his own agony mirrored there. Madison let out a soft, broken sob, and spun around into her mother's arms as she broke down in tears. Emma embraced her daughter and held her close, tears beginning to spill down her own cheeks too.

Even as Mark wrapped his arms around them and his own vision blurred with pain and grief, his gaze shifted over to the view of Raleigh through the window. His appearance was like a nightmarish echo of the way that Andrew's broken body had looked amid the rubble of a San Francisco subway station six years earlier, after they'd been caught up in Trespasser's rampage. Images of Raleigh and Andrew, along with visions of Yancy's lifeless body sinking into the dark depths of the ocean, flashed through his brain in an endless, horrifying loop.

Clinging to the remnants of his shattered family, in too much shock to cry, Mark Russell held his sobbing wife and daughter in his arms, and gazed through the window at the battered, unconscious form of his last remaining son. And the only thought in his head was, simply, Why?

Two weeks later

March 2020

Monarch Outpost 15

Janjira Power Plant, near Tokyo, Japan

Ishiro Serizawa sat behind his desk, reading through the reports from the recent battle in Alaska. In particular, he was focused on analyzing all the readings that they had managed to get on the mysterious new Titan known as "the Ghost". When it had ambushed Tidal Dragon and Silver Lion, they hadn't gotten anywhere near enough data to properly analyze it, but thanks to the fact that Gipsy Danger and one of its pilots had survived this encounter, there was much more information this time.

For one thing, it was now clear that the Ghost definitely wasn't Godzilla. Raleigh Becket's testimony had confirmed as much: ever since the battered, wounded Jaeger pilot had finally recovered enough to regain consciousness, he'd apparently been quite insistent that the creature which had attacked his Jaeger was something entirely different. Understandably, the details that he'd given had been rather vague, but he'd described a creature which seemed more like some type of giant arthropod than the reptilian Godzilla.

In addition, the improvements to K-Watch's tracking system had allowed them to get a brief scan of the Ghost during its clash with Knifehead and Gipsy. They hadn't been able to get any visuals of it, thanks to the darkness and the dense storm-clouds, but its estimated size and mass was enough to qualify it as a Category IV on the scale that he'd developed. That, too, was inconsistent with Godzilla, who had always registered as a Category V.

But it was the creature's bioacoustic signature, which had been picked up by Mark and Emma Russell's experimental new tracking system, that was causing the most concern for Serizawa. The Ghost's signature was nothing like Godzilla, or any of the Kaiju… but it did match up with some of the bioacoustic signals that their instruments had picked up here in Outpost 15, a few times at random intervals over the last decade. And the implications of that, especially when they were paired with the additional research that had been conducted at Monarch's outpost in the Philippines, were alarming to say the least.

While Knifehead's carcass had been located on the sea floor near where Gipsy Danger had been attacked, there had been no sign of the Ghost. Some believed that Raleigh's last-ditch effort and a point-blank blast of Gipsy's plasma cannon might have mortally wounded the mysterious Titan, and that it had returned to the ocean's depths to die and would never resurface, while others believed that it had simply retreated. Serizawa had no way of knowing whether that was the case, but he was growing increasingly concerned about what the future might have in store if the creature had survived.

Rising from his desk, he walked over to the office's viewing window, where he could look out over the massive pit that had replaced the Janjira power plant. As far as the public was concerned, back in 2010, the entire plant had collapsed into a massive sinkhole which had been formed by a powerful earthquake. And that was mostly true… except that the true cause of the collapse had not been a natural earthquake, but something which, in time, might prove to be far more dangerous. Serizawa's frown deepened as he gazed down at the object in question: a gigantic chrysalis, made from a dark, resin-like material, which occupied the center of the pit. It was roughly cylindrical, save for the curved point at its top, and it was grayish-black in color, with the exception of the faintly-glowing orange lines that formed a complex pattern across its surface.

As Serizawa looked down at the enormous cocoon, his eyes narrowed, and a fragment of an old Japanese myth came to his mind… one which he believed to be connected to the creature that was slowly growing here. And which might also, if his hunch regarding these bioacoustic readings turned out to be correct, be connected to the mysterious Ghost as well.

"When Raijin tires of drumming," he murmured under his breath in Japanese, "Jinshin-Mushi rises."

April 2020

Anchorage Shatterdome, Alaska

Raleigh Becket lay flat on his back, in his bed in the medical wing of the Anchorage Shatterdome, staring blankly at the ceiling. The only noise in the background was the low hum of the air vents, pumping warm air into the room to ward off the winter chill outside. He wasn't sure what time it was, but he couldn't bring himself to care about that.

More than a month had passed since his battle with Knifehead and the Ghost, and Raleigh had finally recovered from the injuries that he'd sustained that night. That was the only good news, however, as the other casualties of that fight had not fared nearly as well. Gipsy Danger, which had been left crippled by the amount of damage that it had sustained, had already been transported to Oblivion Bay, a PPDC facility set up in the ruins of Oakland, California, where any decommissioned Jaegers were taken to be disposed of. And, despite an extensive search of the whole area where the battle had taken place, with hundreds of boats and aircraft scouring the Gulf of Alaska for a hundred miles in every direction, Yancy's body had never been found.

In his heart, Raleigh knew that the search was pointless. Yancy was dead. He'd known that the moment their connection had been severed during the fight, because he'd felt his brother's death when that had happened. That final scream was still echoing in the back of his mind, in the endless moment before Yancy's mind had dropped away into pitiless darkness and their final Drift had snapped like a rubber band. In the moment, he'd been too consumed by rage and adrenaline for the full weight of his loss to sink in, but now it weighed on him as if a Kaiju was standing on his chest, and he knew he would hear that sound for the rest of his life, just as he would hear the terrified screams of his little brother from six years earlier.

Yancy was gone. Forever. Just like Andrew. And now, out of the three Becket-Russell boys who had been alive prior to K-Day, he was the only one left.

Raleigh had no idea how long he'd been lying there, staring mindlessly into oblivion, but his trancelike state was finally broken by the faint creak of the med-bay door opening. His eyes flicked over to the door for a moment, expecting to see one of the nurses… but instead, the person who entered was Madison. She was dressed in a black, loose-fitting sweatshirt and sweatpants; her dark, curly hair was messy and unbrushed, and her eyes were reddened, as they'd been for most of the past month. She was still only thirteen, but the haunted expression on her face made her look much older.

If anyone else had come into the room, even his mom or his stepfather, Raleigh might not have reacted. But this was Maddie, his little sister… the only sibling he had left. Something cracked in his frozen heart, giving him enough strength to move, and he reflexively slid over to one side of the bed, just as he always had if she'd wanted to join him and Yancy on the couch while they were watching a movie or playing video games at home.

Without a word, Madison crossed the room, sat down on the edge of the bed, and swung her legs up onto it, staying on top of the blankets as she slumped onto the pillow next to Raleigh. She joined him in staring up at the ceiling, their shoulders touching and their arms resting at their sides, and slipped her right hand into his left, squeezing in a mute attempt to provide him with some comfort. His eyes grew hot, and his vision blurred, but he refused to let the tears fall as he returned the squeeze. He'd done more than enough of that in the last month, and he couldn't take any more right now.

Some time later – it could have been five minutes or two hours, Raleigh honestly didn't know – Madison finally spoke up. "What're we gonna do now?" she whispered.

Raleigh felt a lump in his throat, and he barely managed to shake his head. "I don't know," he admitted, his voice faint and rasping from a lack of use. "I… I can't be a Ranger anymore. Not without…" He couldn't bring himself to say Yancy's name. "So… I dunno what I'll do. But…" He closed his eyes tightly for a moment, as the thought that he'd been holding back ever since he'd recovered enough to think clearly again finally welled up to the surface. "I… I have to go, Mads. I can't stay here."

"What?" Madison's eyes widened, and she rolled onto her side to look over at him in surprise. "What do you mean, go? Like, you… you want to quit the Jaeger Program and come home?"

The easy thing would have been to say yes, but even as he saw the flicker of hope in her eyes, Raleigh's heart clenched again. Hating himself for what he was about to say, he slowly shook his head again. "Not… not exactly." His breathing hitched, but he forced himself to keep going, looking away from Madison so he wouldn't have to see the look on her face. "I… I can't be here anymore, but… I can't go home either, not right now. I… I just…" He clenched his free hand, fingers digging into the blankets. "I have to just… get away from everything. For a while, at least."

"…What?!" Madison sat bolt upright on the bed, and Raleigh flinched as she stared down at him incredulously. "Raleigh, you… you can't just leave!"

The look of shock and betrayal on her face formed a twisting knot in Raleigh's gut, especially since he knew there was no way to make her understand. She'd loved Yancy just as much as he did, of course, but the trauma of actually experiencing their brother's death had cut him far more deeply than anyone who hadn't undergone a Drift themselves could comprehend. "I… I don't want to, Mads!" he protested. "I don't wanna leave you guys, I swear! I just… I can't stay here, I can't!"

"Oh, that's bullshit!" Madison snapped. Her eyes were still glassy and full of tears, but now they lit up with a sudden surge of anger. "You think you're the only one who's hurting right now?! We all are!" She scowled and slid off the bed, rising to her feet with her fists balled. "You're not the only one who just lost a brother, Rals! First we lost Andrew, now Yancy…" She sniffled, letting out a choked half-sob and slumping back against the wall as anger and pain warred on her face. "I can't lose you too! I need you! And now you're telling me you want to just… run away? And leave us?!"

"It's not like that!" Raleigh protested.

"Hey!" A sharp call drew their attention to the doorway, where Mark had just entered. He frowned, looking back and forth between them. "What's going on in here?"

Madison still looked furious and on the verge of breaking down in tears, but she settled for another tearful glare at Raleigh. "Nothing," she snapped, her voice cracking. "I'm going back to bed." She stalked to the door and ducked past Mark, disappearing out into the hall and hurrying off towards the room that had been set up for the three of them after they'd arrived at the Shatterdome.

Mark looked after her for a moment, still frowning in concern, before he turned and stepped into the medical ward, closing the door quietly behind him. "Raleigh?" he inquired, walking over to stand beside the bed. "What happened?"

"I…" Raleigh sighed heavily and shook his head, looking down as he clasped his trembling hands in his lap. "I can't stay here, Dad. Not after what happened to Yance. I can't be anyplace that has memories of him in it. After what happened… what I felt in my brain, when he died…" He shuddered and closed his eyes, holding his head between his hands. "I have to go someplace that won't remind me of him. If I don't… I think I might lose it. I'm barely holding it together as it is."

Mark's eyes widened in alarm. "Raleigh…" His voice was uncharacteristically soft and quiet as he stepped forward, gently resting one hand on the younger man's shoulder. "Please, tell me… you're not thinking about… hurting yourself, are you?"

Raleigh's head snapped up, his pained expression becoming more startled. "What? No!" He shook his head. "No, I… I wouldn't do that, I swear. I'd never do that to you, or Mom, or Maddie. And…" He winced, his voice almost cracking on the next few words. "Even if I wanted to, that… that's not what Yancy would want. I couldn't do that to him, either, not after what happened. I can't just… give up." A ragged sigh escaped his lips. "But… if I stay here, or even go back to Anchorage, all those memories… they'll keep eating away at me, and I might actually go crazy. I won't be any good to anybody if I end up in a psych ward." He slumped back against the pillows, as if his remaining reserves of strength were rapidly being drained by this conversation. "And… there's no more good I can do here, anyway. I'm not a pilot anymore. And without Yance…" Another tear ran down his cheek. "I've got no business being one."

Mark sighed heavily as he sat down on the edge of the bed, his mind working as he tried to come up with a solution. He could understand Raleigh's impulse to run and isolate himself; honestly, after the pain of losing two of his four kids to this war, he was holding onto his own sanity pretty damn tightly. Resisting the urge to drown his sorrows had been hard enough last time, when they'd lost Andrew, and he knew it would be just as bad this time if not worse, once he finally had the time to sit back and process everything. For the moment, though, he was doing everything he could to keep his own emotions in check; Emma, Madison and Raleigh had all been shattered by Yancy's death, and he had to be there for them no matter what. But for the life of him, he had no idea what he could do to help Raleigh now. He doesn't want to stay here or go home, and I can't let him just wander off by himself… so what the hell are we supposed to do?

And then, suddenly, in a stroke of inspiration, he got it. A simple solution, one that would give Raleigh the space and privacy he needed to grieve, without putting him in danger or letting him totally isolate himself.

"Look," he intoned, clasping his hands in his lap as he looked Raleigh in the eye. "I don't like the idea of staying near the front lines anymore either. But you can't just go running off on your own, son. You still have a family, and we're not going to let you deal with this all by yourself. Take it from someone who knows: you can't just run from your pain." He maintained eye contact with Raleigh, doing his best to sound as calm and reassuring as possible. "But if this is really what you want… then I think I might have a better option."

Raleigh frowned for a second, but his expression softened when he saw the earnest look on Mark's face, and he finally nodded. "All right," he agreed. "I'm listening."

Four years later

October 2024

Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia

The morning was bright and clear, with a cloudless blue sky and a soft, cold breeze, but Vivienne Graham-Sevier barely noticed any of it. Her whole body felt like it was numb, with only a faint tingle of sensations as the wind ruffled her hair and brushed over her skin. Even as she gazed straight ahead, she was only partially aware of her surroundings, as her mind wandered back into the past, as if it were trying to escape the reality of where she now found herself.

Her own grief was only amplified by the broader state of the world. Over the past four years, the Kaiju attacks had begun a pattern of gradual escalation, with less and less time in between emergences. Now, after more than a decade of war, the PPDC had reached the point where they could consider themselves lucky if there was only one attack a month. Meanwhile, Godzilla hadn't reappeared for a full two years after the battle in Manila, and it was believed that he'd returned to the deep ocean to recover from the wounds that he'd suffered in that fight. In his absence, however, the Jaegers had picked up the slack, and had been lucky enough to make it through that period without any serious casualties, save for the loss of Gipsy Danger back in February 2020.

The Titan King had finally made his return in December 2021, when a Category IV Kaiju designated Screed had homed in on the Panama Canal. It had been battling with four Jaegers when Godzilla had arrived on the scene; the mechs had been quick to withdraw, but luckily, the Titan had homed in squarely on the Kaiju just as he'd done before, ultimately killing it after a brutal showdown at the mouth of the canal. An image taken by famous Kaiju-chaser Steve Martin, of Godzilla roaring in victory with one foot planted on Screed's broken corpse, had been on the front covers of newspapers around the world in the weeks following that attack, under the headline "Return of the King!".

The PPDC had been extremely concerned that Godzilla might turn his wrath on the Jaegers again after defeating Screed, so it had been an enormous relief for everyone when he'd simply turned away and returned to the ocean. Vivienne and Serizawa had theorized that, since the Titan had beaten all of his Jaeger opponents into submission in Manila, he wouldn't view them as a serious threat unless they were foolish enough to challenge him again. Still, all the Jaeger pilots were instructed to give him a very wide berth whenever he showed up in the future, hoping to avoid a repeat of the Manila Massacre.

After that, Godzilla had continued to appear with regularity again, which had been helpful as the Kaiju attacks became more and more frequent. Unfortunately, a worrisome trend was becoming apparent: in addition to the attacks happening more often, the size of the attackers was also increasing. While Category I and II Kaiju had been common in the early years of the war, now it was almost exclusively Categories III and IV that were appearing, and they even seemed to be adapting to some of the Jaegers' battle tactics. Several more Jaegers had been destroyed, by the Kaiju rather than by Godzilla, and public opinion had begun to shift back against the PPDC in the wake of their mounting losses.

The worst Kaiju battle of all had been in May 2023, when a massive Category IV dubbed Rakshasa had attacked Buenaventura Bay in Colombia. Three Jaegers – Solar Prophet, Rio Sentry, and Cascade Victor – had been deployed to intercept the monster, but it had proven to be far more formidable than anticipated. By the end of the resulting battle, the Kaiju was badly wounded, but all three of its Jaeger opponents had been destroyed, in what would become known as the Mayday Massacre. Another team of Jaegers had been en-route to finish off the wounded Kaiju, but Godzilla had arrived and finished the job before they could reach the stricken city. Under the circumstances, the graphic video feed of him viciously tearing into the crippled Rakshasa had barely batted an eye among the stunned onlookers.

It had been a nice note, however, when, just as he'd done with Talon Tasmania years earlier, the victorious Titan had walked over to the trio of fallen Jaegers after killing Rakshasa, and had set about consuming all the radiation that was leaking from their damaged reactors, inhaling it into his gaping jaws like a cloud of glowing light as his plates flared and pulsed with blue energy. Whether he'd meant to or not, that act had saved thousands of civilians who had been at risk of severe radiation exposure, bringing a small silver lining to that disastrous day.

But while that incident had been the greatest blow to the Jaeger Program in recent years, Vivienne couldn't keep her mind from wandering to the day when she had received her greatest blow. Namely, the day in October 2023, almost a year earlier, when Tamsin had gone in for a routine medical exam… and they had received the devastating news that her wife's cancer, which had been in remission for almost six years, had returned.

And now, here she stood in Arlington Cemetery… specifically, in the section devoted to those military personnel who had died fighting in the Kaiju War over the last eleven years. There were already hundreds of graves here, including those for Luna Pentecost and Yancy Becket… but as Vivienne stood there, with Ishiro Serizawa, Stacker Pentecost, and the latter's two adopted daughters behind her, the headstone at her feet was the only one she could focus on.

TAMSIN GRAHAM-SEVIER

1985 – 2024

"To using our time."

Vivienne's vision blurred with tears again, and she sniffled as she wiped them away with her already-damp sleeve. Memories of the past year flickered behind her eyes, images of Tamsin's second round of treatment, which had proven unsuccessful this time… and of the night, several weeks earlier, when the former Jaeger pilot had finally passed away. In a small piece of good fortune, it had at least been peaceful and painless: Tamsin had died in their home in Hawaii, with Vivienne and Pentecost by her side. Her final words, whispered to them shortly before she'd fallen asleep for the last time, would echo in both of their minds for the rest of their lives.

"Viv… Stacks… don't let this break you, okay? All of this… it was worth it. Everything that we've had, for all these years… I wouldn't have traded it for anything. And I know… whatever it takes… we're gonna win this damn war. So don't… don't you dare give up. Promise me."

"Vivienne?"

The voice, one that she knew as well as her own, finally cut through the haze that had wrapped around her mind. She turned, slowly, and raised her eyes to meet Serizawa's. He was dressed in a black suit with a long coat, shielding himself against the autumn chill. Pentecost was on Vivienne's other side, also clad in black formal attire, with his two wards beside him. The two young women, who had both been rescued from Tokyo after Onibaba's attack in 2016, were now in their early twenties. The younger girl, Mako, who had short black hair with streaks of blue running through it, was staring at Tamsin's grave with the same stunned numbness that Vivienne felt. The older, Miki, had dark curls that hung down to her shoulders, and had an arm around her adoptive sister's shoulders, letting Mako lean on her. They had both been very close to Tamsin, and had been devastated by her passing.

Realizing that she'd let her mind wander again, Vivienne shook her head and focused back on Serizawa. "I… I'm sorry," she murmured quietly. She hadn't spoken often in the past month, so her voice was hoarse and softer than normal. "What did you say?"

Serizawa's expression contained nothing but understanding and compassion. "I merely wanted to ask if you would like to take a leave of absence for a while," he replied. "If you do, I understand. A loss like this… it takes time to recover from it." His own eyes grew unfocused for a moment, and Vivienne felt a dull pang of sympathy; she knew he was thinking of his own wife, who had died some years earlier, back before the start of the Kaiju War. "So, please… take as much time as you need."

"Agreed," Pentecost added, his usually-stern voice now just as quiet and hoarse as Vivienne's. "She would understand."

Vivienne felt a knot of pain clenching in the back of her throat, and her vision blurred again, but she forced it back down and shook her head. "No," she replied, digging deep and gathering all her remaining reserves of strength. "Tamsin… she didn't want me to give up. She wanted us to keep going, to do everything we can to win this war." Her expression hardened, and she felt a new resolve begin to well up within her as she looked from Serizawa to Pentecost and back again. "And that's what I'm going to do."

Serizawa was still frowning, but it was in sympathy rather than disapproval, and she could tell by the look in his eyes that he understood. Pentecost, for his part, had a faint, approving smile on his face, for the first time since the day of Tamsin's passing. "Well," he spoke up, "under the circumstances… I can certainly approve you to be the new director of K-Watch. Or co-director, at least, since you're not technically part of the PPDC. But you'll be able to continue your work there, if that's what you want."

"It is." Vivienne nodded, more firmly this time. I'm not going to let you down, Tam, she vowed inwardly, feeling another pang in her heart as she looked back down to Tamsin's headstone. Until this war is over, for better or for worse… I'll never give up.

January 2025

Anchorage Shatterdome, Alaska

"The Kaiju are learning our defenses. They're adapting… evolving. And we're losing Jaegers faster than we can build them."

Stacker Pentecost resisted the urge to mutter a series of curses under his breath, and settled for glowering silently at the video screen in front of him. He was in the conference room of the Anchorage Shatterdome, having a video meeting with the United Nations representatives who served as liaisons for the Jaeger Program. Lawrence Taylor, the United States' representative, was currently the one speaking; his voice was laden with grave concern, but his words only stoked the fires of anger and annoyance in Pentecost's heart.

Three months had passed since Tamsin's funeral, and Pentecost's mood hadn't improved in light of recent events. The situation for the PPDC had been bleak enough already, after all the losses that they had suffered over the past five years. But the real death-blow had come two months earlier, with the United States presidential election in November 2024. President David Palmer, who had run the nation capably for two terms after his first election in 2016, had been a committed supporter of the Jaeger Program, and had only agreed to implement the Coastal Wall program as a secondary defense strategy. With his second term concluded, he was unable to run again in 2024, but his Vice President, Elizabeth McCord, had been of the same opinion, and the PPDC's chances of continuing to receive U.S. support would have been good if she had been elected to succeed him.

Unfortunately, thanks to the growing fear among American citizens that the Jaegers were no longer an effective long-term solution to the Kaiju threat, McCord had lost the election to her opponent: Ronald Ebert, a former mayor of New York City. A short, rotund, bespectacled older man with messy silver hair and a fiery temper, whose behavior in his previous position had led him to be almost universally despised by his own constituents in the city of New York, he wasn't remotely qualified to be a presidential candidate by any objective standard… but he was quite talented when it came to fearmongering and stoking the fires of public resentment.

In the months leading up to the election, Ebert had done just that, with a disturbing level of enthusiasm. He'd made numerous ranting speeches in which he portrayed the Jaeger Program as the symbol of everything that had gone wrong during the war against the Kaiju, and had pledged on many occasions that the entire west coast of the United States would be safe behind an unbreachable anti-Kaiju wall by the end of his first year in office. Most people within the PPDC hadn't taken him seriously, rightfully viewing him as an arrogant, corrupt, self-serving idiot… but unfortunately, millions of frightened civilians had been happy to buy into his lies as long as he was promising to keep them safe, and so he had emerged victorious in the election.

Ebert's inauguration to the Presidency, just a week earlier, had been the death-knell for the PPDC's future in the United States. One of his first official acts had been to order the immediate shutdown of the Los Angeles Shatterdome, and with the withdrawal of U.S. support from the Jaeger Program, numerous other countries around the world – Peru, Panama, the United Kingdom, even Japan – had begun to follow suit. Of all the nations who were participating in the program, only China remained fully committed to their mission, so the Hong Kong Shatterdome was safe… but more than half of the nine existing Shatterdomes were now in the process of shutting down, and most of the others might not be far behind. And now, despite Pentecost's best efforts, the Anchorage Shatterdome's time had come as well.

"Lima," Taylor continued grimly. "Seattle. Vladivostok." His frown deepened. "Category Four Kaiju are now coming through the Breach with regularity. I think even you can see, Marshal, that this is no longer a sound strategy. The frequency of the attacks has increased, as well as the creatures' size. And the Jaegers, unfortunately, are not the most viable line of defense anymore."

"I am aware," Pentecost returned flatly. "Those are my Rangers that die every time a Jaeger falls." His eyes narrowed. "Which is why I'm asking you for one last chance: one final assault with everything we've got."

"The Jaeger Program is dead, Marshal!" Britain's representative insisted. "On the other hand, the Coastal Wall program is a promising option! We can use that to protect ourselves, and all the data suggests that Godzilla will continue to take care of the Kaiju for us."

Pentecost closed his eyes for a second, letting out a quiet sigh. He'd known that would be the politicians' response before this meeting had even started, but he'd hoped on some level that he might be able to change their minds. Even though he wasn't surprised to be proven wrong, it still stung.

"The world appreciates all that you and your Rangers have done," Taylor put in, "but it's over. We will authorize you to move all remaining Jaegers to the last active battle station, in Hong Kong. We're also prepared to continue funding you for the next eight months, while the Coastal Wall is completed. But after that…" He shook his head. "You'll receive no further support."

"You have your answer, Marshal," the Canadian representative added solemnly. With that, all of the video displays clicked off, and the call disconnected. Pentecost was left staring blankly at the darkened screen, feeling the heavy weight of failure settling on his shoulders.

"So… that's it?" The voice came from off to one side of the room, where Pentecost's inner circle of advisors had been watching the broadcast without being visible to the UN representatives. There weren't as many as there used to be, just three in total: Ranger Herc Hansen, Captain Douglas Gordon, and LOCCENT chief Tendo Choi, who had been the one to speak. His expression was a mixture of anger and dismay. "It's over? Just like that?"

"Rotten cowards, the lot of 'em," Gordon muttered, a scowl fixed on his face as his gloved hands clenched into fists at his sides. "Abandoning our only real line of defense, because they think that cowering behind a damn wall and forcing Godzilla to do all the fighting for us will make the Kaiju go away."

Herc nodded grimly in agreement. "Suits and ties, flashy smiles," he drawled. "That's all they are, Stacker."

Pentecost fished his medication out of his pocket, popping a tablet into his mouth and swallowing it, before his expression hardened. "We don't need them," he declared, turning to face the others as his gaze swept across their faces. "Let's get ready to head to Hong Kong, gentlemen. We've got work to do."

Notes: And there we go!

So, a few notes for this chapter:

– First off, just to clear things up for everyone, I wanted to give a brief outline of how I'm organizing the Category system (aka the Serizawa Scale) for the Kaiju & Titans. So, here's basically how I'm handling it:

Category I: 1,000 – 19,999 tons

Category II: 20,000 – 39,999 tons

Category III: 40,000 – 59,999 tons

Category IV: 60,000 – 79,999 tons

Category V: 80,000 tons and above

So MonsterVerse Godzilla, who's currently at his pre-KOTM size of 90,000 tons, fits nicely into Category V of my system. And whenever a Pacific Rim Kaiju falls into one of those categories, that means for this story, I'm scaling their mass up to fit this scale. Yamarashi, for instance, only weighs about 2,500 tons in PR canon, but to fit with this story's category system, I beefed it up to around 50,000 tons in this AU. Same thing with the Jaegers: Gipsy Danger also weighs about 2,500 tons in canon, but I scaled it up to about 20,000 tons here.

Also, while physical size is the primary factor in Category determination, certain attributes that could make a particular creature significantly more dangerous might cause them to be scaled higher. For example, while MonsterVerse Mothra is canonically only around 15,000 tons, which would fall into Category I, her overall rating on this scale would definitely be much higher due to her energy powers, her Alpha status, and the fact that she can punch well above her weight in battle.

– Sorry to fans of Yancy Becket for the feels in this chapter, but I knew I needed to keep his fate the same as canon. At least in this AU, Raleigh still has some family left to support him, and he isn't just going off on his own like he did in canon. Also, in the original PR canon, Raleigh & Yancy had a contentious relationship with their younger sister Jazmine when they were growing up, so I included some conflict between Raleigh & Madison here over their respective reactions to Yancy's death. We'll see them all again in the next chapter, where we'll find out what solution Mark came up with and we'll get to see how the four surviving Becket-Russells have all been faring since Yancy's death.

– Similarly, my apologies to fans of Tamsin Sevier and of the Vivienne/Tamsin ship, for the tragic ending of their relationship in this chapter. Just like with Yancy, I knew from the beginning that I wasn't going to change Tamsin's canon fate in this story, which was why I was initially a little reluctant to have them become a thing, but I did enjoy the bittersweet, tragic nature of how their romance ultimately turned out. And while Tamsin is sadly gone, we will be seeing more of Vivienne in the rest of this fic.

– If it wasn't obvious, as of the last timeskip in this chapter, we've finally reached the "present-day" events of the first Pacific Rim movie! In terms of the overall story (but not in terms of the chapter count), I feel like the end of this chapter marks the halfway point of this fic: we've reached the end of the time-skipping first "half" that covers most of the Kaiju War, and things are going to slow down considerably from this point forward in terms of how much in-world time is covered with each chapter.

– And lastly, for anyone who didn't get this reference, I incorporated another Godzilla character into this chapter: Ronald Ebert, the new U.S. President in this AU after the timeskip to 2025, is based on Mayor Ebert from Godzilla 1998. He may or may not also include some elements parodying a certain vile real-life individual; that wasn't always my intention, but let's just say that as somebody who lives in the U.S., recent IRL events over the last few months inspired me to lean a little more into the negative aspects of his portrayal here.

Next time, Pentecost and his allies prepare to put their final desperate strategy into action; an unprecedented Kaiju attack shocks the world; and a member of the PPDC receives news that will lead to the emergence of a new participant in the war. Stay tuned!