Engineers, lab techs, and even administrative workers flooded into the hangar, gathering around in the large room. They glanced at the various carts and boxes scattered about, but they were especially focused on the two Jaegers. Herc had made his way down to the ground, and he looked like he saw a ghost. Tendo managed to break through the crowd, putting his hand on his friend's shoulder.

"What's going on, man?" he asked frantically.

Herc shook his head, noticing the stares of workers around him. He put a hand on his chest, and he could feel the quick beating of his heart. A part of him wanted to say it was a false alarm and come up with a random story. Right now, though, it was hard to speak.

Crimson felt a strong nudge in the dark place, causing her to wake up slightly. She tried to come up with the words to ask what was going on.

"[Do not move,]" butted in Cherno. "[Humans.]"

She took a moment to process the information. After all, she was just suddenly pulled from her slumber. She quietly turned her sensors on to the lowest setting, allowing her to get a feel of the room. She immediately became aware of the large group of people in front of them, and it was unlike the group of engineers who had worked on her before. She remained still.

"[Why humans?]" she asked.

Cherno did not respond. He already knew why. Down below, Tendo continued patting Herc's back.

"I need you to tell me exactly what you saw," the Jaeger tech said, his eyebrows raised.

"Mate, gimme a second," Herc noted, trying to make sense of everything that happened.

The crowd waited for an update, and they probably expected something horrible to be announced. The workers glanced between each other and the large robots in the room.

Herc eventually gulped and pointed upwards, startling the crowd with his sudden speech. "These Jaegers 'ere... I saw 'em, they were... I saw 'em coming through the door... They went to their bays, ah..."

"You're alright. Keep going," Tendo encouraged him.

"I'm tryin' to say that... These Jaegers were movin' by themselves," Herc muttered. "Their pilots are dead, remember? But I saw 'em..."

The crowd collectively gasped, their eyes getting big. Tendo grabbed Herc by both his shoulders, turning him to fully face toward him.

"You saw... what?' the tech said.

"The Jaegers movin'," the Australian repeated. "Just came in 'ere by themselves..."

Tendo released his grasp and stood motionless for a while. Collectively, the group slowly turned to look at the two massive robots. Neither the people nor the Jaegers dared to move an inch. It was quiet and stuffy in the room before Herc cautiously stepped forward toward the Jaegers.

"I... I saw ya," he whispered, turning his head back to look upward. "Can't ya move again, else I'll be called a psycho..."

The room remained silent, flecks of thin metal floating through the air. Someone in the crowd coughed, and another person sniffled.

"Come on," the Australian man begged.

Tendo squinted his eyes, and the woman next to him scratched the back of her head. Another cough rang out in the crowd. Soon, without a word muttered, a man began walking toward the doors to the LOCCENT. A few people followed in his footsteps, glancing between the door and the motionless Jaegers. Eventually, the whole crowd trickled to the door silently, leaving Herc and Tendo by themselves. Herc turned to his friend, his cheeks slightly blushed red. How awkward...

"I'm not a crazy wanker," the Australian reasoned, pointing his finger to Cherno. "It came on in 'ere with Crimson, and they settled down in their bays, mate."

Tendo moved to stand next to Herc, their backs facing toward the robots. The tech sighed, "You've been working long shifts, man. I've seen things before, things that aren't real. You should get some, uh, rest, and-"

"Don't ya see the blue on their metal?!" Herc cut in. "And when they came back, the wind stopped. They did something, I swear by it."

A dull hydraulic noise began behind them, but the men paid no notice to it. Tendo was sure his friend was suffering from a lack of sleep. After all, he called in the whole crew to look at motionless pieces of metal. Herc was a bit of a workaholic, and it would make sense that he was running low on "battery power." Ever since Newt and Hermann revealed the funnel, alongside the return of Cherno and Crimson, it was difficult to catch a moment of sleep.

"Listen, why don't you take the day off tomorrow?" questioned Tendo. "Just stay in your room, and let us handle everything."

Herc rubbed his forehead, embarrassed by the whole situation. Suddenly, a loud thump erupted behind them. Both men whipped around to find a large, metal hand resting on the ground, causing Tendo to scream like a girl. He hid behind Herc, closing his eyes in the event they were close to death. Herc got in a defensive position while looking at the hand in front of him. He traced it upward, following the arm to its source. It connected to the body of Cherno, who was now bent over slightly to allow his hand to contact the ground.

"Oh, my shit," gasped Herc.

Tendo peaked from around his friend's shoulder, witnessing the same thing Herc had. He held his mouth slightly open, clutching onto the Australian man's shirt. The men didn't move for quite a while, so Cherno let out a low hum, causing Tendo to jump again.

"Mate, I think he wants us to get on," Herc choked out.

Tendo swallowed. "Are you kidding?"

Herc didn't reply, but he took a hesitant step forward. Then, another step, and another. When he got close to Cherno's hand, he reached out and poked the metal, as if testing the waters. The Jaeger hummed again. Herc turned back slightly to look at Tendo, who was still standing in the same spot. The ranger motioned his head toward the hand, prompting Tendo to finally walk forward. Herc patted one of the large fingers, and with a grunt, he swung his foot onto an offshoot of metal. He grabbed onto another offshoot and pulled himself up, eventually standing on Cherno's palm. He glanced back at Tendo, who was now shakily getting up on the hand, as well.

Herc looked up at the massive robot, letting out a small gasp at its size. Tendo stood by his side, breathing heavily. Before they could say anything, the hand began rumbling. The men waved their arms around to catch their balance, and Cherno pulled his hand upwards. Tendo screamed while they went up, and he fell onto his butt due to the heavy force. The hand was eventually placed near Cherno's Conn-Pod, allowing the men to see the glass plating. Herc walked toward the glass, trying to look inside.

"Are ya looking at us, mate?" he said before pausing. "Wait... You just lifted us into the air..." He put his hands onto his head. "YOU'RE ALIVE?"

Tendo, for some reason, screamed again at that claim. He remained in a sitting position, terrified that the Jaeger would crush them with its massive hand. Cherno's engines purred. He couldn't really speak with the humans, but he could give them signs that he meant no harm. A loud boom came from nearby, and the men cranked their necks around to see Crimson heading toward them. Tendo yelled in terror, earning a slap on the head from Herc.

"Will ya shut up, mate?" he sternly said. "They aren't tryin' to hurt us."

Tendo put his arms over his head when Crimson came close.

"It, it doesn't have a head! It's pissed!" cried Tendo, earning another slap.

The red Jaeger stood in front of them, bending over to allow her sensors to investigate the humans. This whole experience was insane to Tendo, and for a moment, he was sure an alarm was going to wake him up any second now. But the alarm never came, and he continued to cower in fear. Lights flashed on Crimson's body, and she lifted her left hand to meet Cherno's. Herc took this as an invitation to get on, and he balanced his way over, leaving the tech behind. When he stepped on, he didn't dare look down. He had been high off the ground before, but for whatever reason, it was much more terrifying this time.

"Can you talk to us, mate?" Herc asked quietly.

Crimson's lights kept flashing, and she let out some steam from her back. Herc looked over at the scared Tendo.

"Ay, buddy, they can't speak. Can ya make 'em something?" the Australian questioned.

Tendo's eyes got big, and he bit his bottom lip. "You want ME to give them a voice?!"

Herc nodded and thought. These Kaiju-killing machines were not trying to hurt them. In fact, they were gentle and loving to humans. Even though he was scared, he trusted the Jaegers not to drop him. While looking at Crimson's hand, something came to his mind.

"Ay, will ya let me down?" he called.

Crimson's arm clunked and began lowering, causing Herc to position his feet outwards so as not fall. Tendo watched as the other man went downward, and he prayed Cherno would let him down eventually, too. He pinned his eyes shut. When Crimson's hand hit the floor with a bang, Herc slid off and made a dash to the LOCCENT door. The red Jaeger picked her hand back up, turning to face the human tech.

"Aren't you guys gonna eat me or something?!" he yelled. "Machines shouldn't be moving on their own!"

Neither Jaeger moved, but he figured they may be speaking to each other through the drift. Surely, they were planning to cook him up and snack on his small body when no one was looking. But... how would they eat him? Maybe, just maybe, they had small mouths somewhere... They had to have been blood thirsty after a year in the ocean. The thoughts continued swirling in his mind, but if they were going to eat him, they weren't doing it yet. It never occurred to him that he helped design them, so if they did have mouths, he would definitely know about it.

Herc soon returned, and he was holding something in his hands. He ran to the feet of the robots, looking at them from below. He held the item up, as if that allowed the machines a better look at it. It was a black box: the Jaeger technical relay station component from before.

"If you both are really alive, you've gotta help me," began the Australian man with a sigh. "This thing 'ere belongs to my old Jaeger, Striker. I... I think I heard 'im talking to me when I found it."

Crimson's metal groaned as she went into a squatting-like position. She allowed her sensors to scan Herc and the box, quickly identifying the item as belonging to her old friend.

"I... I lost my son," Herc coughed out. "And if you two are alive, I just don't wanna lose another."

Cherno's hand began moving down, and Tendo scrambled a bit to remain as far away from the edges of the fingers as possible. He watched the floor come closer and closer, and he wasted no time sliding off. He flopped over on his side, happy to be back on the ground. Cherno gave the box as scan, as well, and he then stood back up to his full height.

Despite the experience killing him inside, Tendo couldn't help but wonder what Herc wanted the Jaegers to do. How were they supposed to help? Herc sighed and lowered the box to his waist, feeling like his plea fell on deaf ears. It was stupid, after all, to think that sentient robots could somehow bring his "son" back. Instead, he turned to the tech, his eyes glossy.

"Tendo, these fellas are movin' on their own," he spit out. "And there's gotta be a way to build..."

He trailed off, unable to finish the sentence. Tendo could feel the hurt in his eyes, so he finally gathered the strength to stand up. This time, with a deep breath, it was he who found the courage to speak to the Jaegers.

"My friend, Herc, is close to his family. Striker is a part of his family, too," he said, feeling odd that he was talking to robots. "If he could speak right now, he'd say he wants to speak to Striker more than anything. But he's gone, probably in a million little pieces on the ocean floor..." He closed his eyes momentarily, then he looked up at the machines. "We keep spare parts in a place called Oblivion Bay. We can build him back for Herc."

Tendo wasn't quite sure where he was going with this, like if he was trying to ask the Jaegers for help or simply telling them about his plan. He watched Cherno pull a large hand toward his Conn-Pod, and he moved his fingers slowly. A thumbs-up. Tendo gaped his mouth open, surprised that the machine understood him.

"You guys will come to Oblivion Bay with me?" he muttered.

Crimson pulled all three hands up and formed her fingers into thumbs-up gestures, too. It may not have been the best way to communicate, but it worked for now. Herc looked at the box in his hands, shifting it around so that he could run a few fingers over the top.

"Don't worry, son," he said quietly. "We'll get ya back, I promise."