2025, January 3 – 08:56 – Hong Kong Shatterdome, Hong Kong, China
Out of breath, Dr. Gottlieb tried to explain the situation to the Marshal as they rushed to the K-Science lab. "...I found him on the ground, and sort of dazed. I didn't exactly know what to do."
When they entered, Greyson saw Newt sitting in one of the chairs. Blood had come from his nose. His hands shook as he tried to take a sip of water. The doctor wagged a finger at the Marshal as they approached. "I told you it would work."
"Yes, you did," Pentecost responded, taken aback. "Well, what'd you see?"
Greyson blinked away some weariness and her eyes roved the scene as Newt sputtered on. "It-it was only a fragment of a brain, so I was only able to see a gl—a series of, uh, images or impressions." He blinked fast, demonstrating as he continued, "You know like when you close your eyes over and over again, all you really see are frames—it was emotional and—"
The Marshal pulled a stool under him, trying to calm down the doctor. "Newton, Newton. Now look at me." His voice was quiet, calming. Despite it, Newt shook like a leaf. "I want you to take your time... and be very specific."
"Okay, okay... well, I don't feel like they're just following some animalistic urge, just hunting and gathering. I think they're attacking us under orders. I w—"
Gottlieb interjected right away, dismissing his partner. "Oh, that's impossible. Impossible!"
"Is that impossible?" Newt's voice raised to shout out: "Well, why don't you drift with a kaiju brain—"
Marshal Pentecost's face contorted from annoyance, and he turned around to Gottlieb with anger in his eyes. "You! Shut up!" When he turned back to Newt, his voice leveled out once more. "You... keep talking."
"These beings, these masters... they're colonists. They overtake worlds and just consume them, and th-then then they move on to the next." Newt took a couple short breaths, continuing, "They've been here before, as sort of a trial run. It was the dinosaurs! But the atmosphere wasn't conducive, right? So, they waited it out, and they waited it out... And now with the ozone depletion and carbon monoxide polluted waters, we practically terraformed it for them. Because now they're coming back, and it's perfect."
Pentecost began to sit up straighter, and Greyson could only imagine the kinds of things running through his head. She shared a look with Gottlieb, one of confusion and concern.
"See, the first wave, that was just the hounds—Categories 1 through 4 was nothing." Newt's voice rose an octave as he continued his explanation. Their sole purpose was to aim for the populated areas and take out the vermin. Us. The second wave, they are the exterminators—they will finish the job. And then? The new tenants will take possession."
Greyson watched the Marshal get to his feet, an expression of consideration painting his face. Newt carried on with talking about cloned kaiju DNA, likely from a conversation that she was not privy to. Lieutenant or not, she was aware that there were many things that remained above her pay grade.
"Newton, I need you to do it again," Marshal Pentecost ordered. "I need more information."
"I-I can't do it again." The doctor in question only blinked up at him. Then, it a joking manner, he added, "I mean, unless you have a fresh kaiju brain lying around." A chuckle escaped his lips, amused at his joke.
But they all noticed that the Marshal wasn't laughing.
"Do you?"
"Greyson," the Marshal started, "get me the file display on our asset."
The lieutenant nodded wordlessly, striding over across the room to find one of the archived consoles. She found the right one before turning on her heel and handing it to the Marshal.
Pentecost inserted the console into the lab computer and Gottlieb powered it up. "Now there are certain individuals whose business is the preservation and exploitation of kaiju remains."
"Yeah, black market dealers, right?" Newt confirmed, cleaning and slipping on his spectacles.
"Yup. They're in and out in a matter of hours. They neutralize the acidity of the blood and they harvest what they need."
The display loaded, and they watched three-month old archived footage of the local bone slums of Malaysia, where the very same dealers had collected the remains of one of many kaijus that made land. Greyson recognized it as one of Striker Eureka's recent ventures.
A figure walked into frame, turned away from the camera: He was tall, wore a suit, donned white hair. A visual dossier was pulled up to screen. Greyson pointed at the screen, saying, "This guy. This is Hannibal Chau. He runs the kaiju black market here in Asia."
"The PPDC has had dealings with him and other black marketeers before. As you know, K-Science has received specimens from them over the years."
"What's he got to do with us now?" Newt asked the Marshal.
Pentecost explained, "When our funding ran out, we turned to him for help and in return, I gave him exclusive rights to all the kaiju remains in the region."
"You did that?" Gottlieb said incredulously.
"Last days of war, gentlemen." The Marshal reached into his inside jacket pocket, pulling out an orange card and handing it to Newt. "Go to the corner of Fong and Tull. Show them that card, they'll know that symbol."
Newt took the card, a questioning expression on his face as he examined it.
"And a word of advice: Do not trust him." Marshal Pentecost nodded to his lieutenant, signaling time to make their leave. Greyson gave a quick smile to the two doctors.
Newt asked, "What am I supposed to do with this?"
"You have a luma lamp?" Pentecost called over his shoulder.
Greyson and Pentecost were already in the lift when she finally got the courage to ask, "Is getting Chau more involved in this really the best move?"
Her commander turned to her, hands clasped at his front. He didn't seem surprised at the trepidation in her voice. "Chau may be many things, but he remains loyal to one thing: money."
"What makes you think he'll just give up a kaiju brain for science? If he even has one."
"There's been precedence in situations like these," he answered.
Greyson scoffed, shaking her head. "Right, because we've definitely had our own men drift with kaijus before."
The Marshal was silent. She noted that he didn't dismiss her sarcasm like he usually did. Greyson turned to look him in the eye, and there was something in them that she hadn't seen in a long time: Guilt. Her mind went to a couple brief memories with Yancy years ago, and a chill ran up her spine.
Her jaw slacked. "You can't be serious—"
The door opened and the whole world was in chaos. The hallways were bathed in red lights and crews were scurrying away. There was no time to deal with the new revelations because there was most definitely a bigger problem.
The both of them started running towards the LOCCENT, weaving in between fleeing staff. Pentecost shouted out "Take them offline!" the second they reached the center. Herc, Chuck, and Tendo were the only ones who remained inside, scrambling desperately at the cables.
Greyson paused for half a second, taking in the scene of Gipsy Danger with her plasma cannon loaded and aimed at the gantries in the repair bays. She rushed beside Chuck and Tendo a moment later, starting to tear out the cables too. A fiber-optic bundle at the end of the console ripped loose with a puff. Chuck noticed her shaking hands and helped her with a conduit that was as thick as her arm.
"Take them offline!" the Marshal barked again, desperately.
Tendo pulled out a coupling linking to the terminal interface and said, "I just did." The five of them turned to the window once more, listening as the Jaeger began to power down. Her weapons system disengaged, and the cannon worked back into the arm.
In all her years, she had never heard the Shatterdome so... quiet.
Despite the heavy pounding of her heart, Greyson heard the sharp sigh that left Chuck's nose. He looked furious. She couldn't blame him — Raleigh and Mako almost decimated their 'dome single-handedly. She didn't want to think about what it would've looked if the cannons had gone off; didn't want to think about how everything would've been reduced to mere granules.
Greyson leaned into Chuck, wrapping her arms around his torso. She closed her eyes as she listened to his heartbeat, less angry than hers. Adrenaline had run its course and she suddenly felt fear and relief seep into her bones simultaneously. She refused to let the tears fall.
2025, January 3 – 09:35 – Hong Kong Shatterdome, Hong Kong, China
Tendo Choi and Greyson Darcy both planted themselves in the Local Command Center in an attempt to reattach the wires and plugs and cables to the main console, most of which became damaged due to how roughly they were yanked out in the rush. Before the Marshal had left, he had instructed Tendo to inspect the Jaeger.
The techs knew it wasn't the Jaeger that caused the problems. Gipsy Danger was, as the Tech Chief Officer had mentioned, only responding to Mako's subconscious fear. Nothing of that level had ever been witnessed.
People were slowly trickling back into their designated areas. Crews were back in the hangar bays. Rangers were roaming; same with the other staffers. Repairing the console in the LOCCENT and reinserting the proper cables in the proper places reminded Greyson of her days training with J-Tech during the Academy. Goddamn, it felt like a lifetime ago.
The Filipina had initially refused to go with Pentecost and Hansens, knowing there would be more figurative fires to put out later. Anger had replaced her fear after the incident, and she knew that she needed her own time to cool down.
"You should probably get to the Marshal's office," Tendo said, pulling her out of her thoughts. Greyson nearly didn't catch it as he was muffled under the console itself.
"What about you?" she asked him, pushing back in the chair to look at him from under the table.
Tendo rolled out from under the control console, standing and practically forced Greyson to leave the area. "I got this," the chief said, thumbing the side of his nose.
The incident definitely wasn't going unnoticed, and she was sure everyone had some sort of word in its wake. Greyson felt a sort of disassociation with herself as she headed to the Marshal's quarters; she wasn't sure what she would find there.
Raleigh and Mako were bound to have been cleared by the medics, and her assumptions were proven correct when she turned the corner to the hall. Her steady pace had slowed considerably. Chuck could be heard yelling as he vented.
Upon her approach, Raleigh quit his nervous pacing and looked up to meet her gaze. His expression mirrored the entire spectrum of feelings boiling together inside, almost like he was able to read her mind. And in some ways, Greyson figured he still could.
"This is ridiculous!" she heard Chuck bark loudly. "She can't control her Drift, and he went out of phase first!"
"We all know what happened," Marshal Pentecost put calmly.
"We can't afford mistakes. They're putting our lives at risk — and our whole mission. The kaiju keep evolving, they keep kicking our asses!" He definitely had a hot head; everyone knew it, had even anticipated it. Chuck was always more extroverted in showing his angry emotions.
He continued, "He's a has-been, she's a rookie. You think I want them on my wing when I drop a nuke into the Breach? I don't want them protecting my bomb run, sir."
Mako, Raleigh, and Greyson were stood against the wall parallel to the Marshal's door. Her frown deepened when Chuck told the Marshal that the two beside her didn't "deserve to pilot a Jaeger, sir." Greyson winced inwardly, sighing at his words. They were rightfully harsh, but Chuck's words were spouted so casually that it was even more bitter-sounding.
The door was thrown open in an instant's notice. Out of the door came from the Marshal: "You need to watch your tone, Mr. Hansen."
Greyson gritted her teeth together when she saw how angry Chuck truly was. She had never seen him like this. Half of her wanted to go to him and calm him down, but the other half wanted to walk away and stay clear of his wrath.
With wide eyes, the lieutenant stole a glance at Herc, standing at the Marshal's doorway, with an inclination in his eyes to follow his son. He pointed to him. "Hey, stay there. Give me a moment." Then, the door closed once more. She could hear bits and pieces of Herc and Pentecost's conversation, but she was more preoccupied hovering over Chuck as he focused his attention to Raleigh's form.
"Looks like you heard me." Chuck walked up to the two. "Good," he snapped. "Saves me from repeating myself." He inched even closer, staring Raleigh down. Daring him to move. Throw a punch. Something.
Raleigh and Mako stood silent, looking past Chuck. Greyson wasn't sure what to do.
"You two are a goddamn disgrace. You're gonna get us all killed, and here's the thing, Rahhleigh: It's been five years since you jockeyed a Jaeger? That's a bloody lifetime in Jaeger tech and you know it." He took a breath. "I actually want to come back from this mission, because I quite like my life. I want a life, with her."
Greyson stepped beside her boyfriend, looking at him with wariness written all over her expression. "Chuck," she warned. "Leave this alone."
"Why don't you," Chuck sniffed, flicking Raleigh in the chest, "just do us all a favor and disappear, yeah? According to Sonny, seems like it's the only thing you're good at."
Had he even heard her? Perhaps, though he didn't show it.
She pulled him by the elbow, purposefully positioning herself in between his body and Raleigh's. "Charlie," she said once under her breath, and he immediately quit his banter. Brown eyes met blues, and Greyson could feel a charge between them.
Raleigh muttered something along the lines of, "Don't get involved, Sonny," and it had ignited the whole issue all over again.
Greyson stopped. Chuck didn't.
"You think you're so tough, aye, Rahhleigh, sauntering around this 'Dome like you never left?"
"Charles Hansen, I will give you two seconds to shut your mouth because Heaven so help me—"
Mako stepped up beside Greyson, with a loud voice saying, "Stop. Now," and Raleigh held up a hand to touch her shoulder, holding her back. Chuck noticed the small movement and sneered. "Yeah, that's right. You just hold back your little girlfriend. One of you bitches needs a leash."
Raleigh threw a punch without missing a beat, and Chuck's head snapped back dangerously. The whiplash hurt even to watch. Greyson couldn't be sure if she had yelped out a word of opposition before Mako pulled her out of the way. It had taken half a second and another swing from the older Ranger before Chuck made contact with Raleigh's mouth.
Raleigh was pummeling Chuck. It hurt to watch as much as it must have hurt to be hit. Greyson began keeping track of their contact. When they go back to the medical bay, she could probably be of some assistance. Greyson would have intervened if Mako wasn't there and if it weren't for the fact the two grown-ass men were taking mean hits, holding absolutely nothing back. She had rather kept conscious, thanks.
Anyone in the immediate area heard the ruckus and soon enough an audience grew. The throng was filled with everyone who was anyone that saw what happened in the mess hall on Day 1; people who waited for this fight in particular sooner or later. Something like that was longer awaited than a Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather match.
"Apologize to her," Raleigh growled out. "To both of them."
"Screw you" was the only answer he got back.
Chuck got a few punches in the ribs. Raleigh might have a nasty bruise on his gut. Both of them would have a nastier set of sores and bruises on their faces eventually. Broken noses. Cracked ribs. Fractured jaws.
When Raleigh rammed Chuck into a wall, they broke the pressure valves that ran along the wall. The ginger Wolverine stood in the mist for a second, giving a glare that would have scared the living daylight out of anyone else.
But not Raleigh. "I said, apologize to them." The Becket tracked Hansen as he stalked back in his front view, grimacing.
Chuck's forearm made contact with Raleigh's face, but the latter sprang back and elbowed the former at the hinge of his jaw, just below the ear. Greyson cringed upon hearing the near inaudible crack. He got slammed into the wall again when he went slack. Chuck made a dire attempt to spin away, but Raleigh caught his arm and twisted it at an odd angle, throwing his leg up for leverage and slamming Chuck to the ground.
"Raleigh, stop it!" Greyson cried out, her heart heavy from watching the two men she cared about the most fight to tear each other apart.
Raleigh could have, would have, dislocated Chuck's arm if Herc hadn't yelled at the two to stop. "Hey, hey! Enough!" Herc had a look in his eye — the kind of look only a father could give. A father's dangerous thunder that Greyson had seen only twice before; once with her own father, and once more the minute Chuck and she had met.
"What the hell are you two doing?" he demanded. "What's going on? On your feet, both of you!"
Raleigh shoved away forcibly, letting his grip go. They both stood within a matter of seconds.
Pentecost had walked out behind Herc, looking as disappointed as the day he called both Yancy and Raleigh to his office all those years ago for the same reason. "Becket, Mori, into my office."
"No, we aren't finished!" Chuck, pulling his right hand away from his left shoulder, took an advance at Raleigh, but Herc took hold of him and forced him back. He threw a hard arm over his shoulders, hauling him back, while Greyson gripped his jacket, knuckles turning white.
"Hey, this is over!" the father growled. "You're a Ranger for Christ's sake. Why don't you start acting like one?"
Chuck struggled, but with one stern look from both his father and girlfriend, he knew that he had lost something important even before the fight had begun. He and Greyson held each other's gaze for a moment. Then, he gave a hard glare to Raleigh before returning to look at her. The words he spoke were a mere whisper: "Let me go."
"Charlie," Greyson pleaded, "don't do this."
Raleigh and Mako left the scene, and soon the rest of the bystanders followed. Chuck shook himself from the grip of both his father and Greyson and began sulking away. She watched as he walked, further and further away from her. The lieutenant breathed a sigh, meeting Herc's eye after his silent conversation with the Marshal.
"Give him some space," the father said lightly, dragging a roughed palm on his face. He looked, to Greyson, so worn down and done with the world. Yet he defied it all and was standing on his own two feet, alone, dealing with a son who didn't know what to do with himself.
Greyson only nodded reluctantly. A draw of the breath; she didn't say what was on her mind.
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(A/N: HOLY BUTTS it has been another embarrassingly long time since I'd updated this. Yikes, my bad. I've reformatted some things and added some content to previous chapters. I should be updating this more frequently now. I hope you guys continue to enjoy! Please let me know how it's going :)