"Breach on the Pacific Rim" - Part Six

Part Six

            Newt was frozen in terror.

            Chau was about to dissect the woman he loved the first moment he laid eyes on her. Sure, she was part of an alien species he had yet to discern the entire background of, despite everything she elucidated in front of Chau and all his associates; but he could not just watch the black marketer kill her.

            “NO!” He cried, making his move.

            His attempt, however, was sidelined by a massive tremor that overwhelmed the foundation of Chau’s shop. Several different Kaiju organs rattled in their glass containers.

            “What the…?!” Chau grumbled.

            Neas used this distraction to escape with Lauren and Geiszler.

            The cause of the seismic activity was explained by a Kaiju in process of tearing through Hong Kong skyscrapers.

            “That’s an Otachi,” Newt classified, thrilled and terrified all at once.

            Neas noticed many fleeing citizens all heading in a single direction.

            “C’mon, this way,” he instructed to Lauren and Newt, joining in the path of the bolting crowd, which was straight for a public Kaiju bunker.

            Packed tighter than a can of sardines with dozens of people, they all stood still and quiet, hearing the Otachi’s rampage above ground. Lauren felt Newt clutching her arm tremendously tight, cutting off circulation.

            “Newton, it’s alright,” she assured him. “We’re safe.”

            “N-No, you d-don’t understand,” he spluttered. “Chau, he told me how drifting with a Kaiju is a two-way street. They share a hive mind, and I became part of that hive when I drifted with it! The Otachi’s after me!”

            Neas’s body hardened. “You mean…you’re bait?!”

            KURCRACK!!

            One of the gargantuan claws of the Otachi busted through the bunker’s ceiling, toppling mass chunks over a few citizens. The creature did everything in its power to reach Newt, going as far as slinking its bulbous, flowering bioluminescent tongue down the hole it created to grasp and sense its prey.

            Suddenly, it retreated, lifting its head back above ground to see another Kaiju beast it had never seen before emitting a high-pitched screech its way.

            In the opposite direction stomped a faded blue Jaeger lugging a cargo freighter.

            Peeping through the crater, Neas and Lauren could see that the Otachi was cornered by the Gipsy Danger and the new rogue Kaiju. Both proceeded to attack the beast in a two-on-one battle, with Gipsy making the first attack in bashing the head of the Otachi multiple times.

            The Otachi whipped its tail, wrapping the appendage around Gipsy’s left arm.

            Had it not been for the coolant it vented out of its torso to freeze and shatter the Otachi’s tail, the monster would have torn the arm right off. Both its arms free, Gipsy reached into the Otachi’s mouth and ripped out its tongue.

            The rogue Kaiju followed suit, positioning its head above the Otachi’s pried mouth and spitting atomic breath down its throat.

            In seconds, the Otachi was decapitated.

            Victorious, the rogue Kaiju roared into the heavens as it retreated into the night.

            “Whoa,” Neas uttered in his amazement.

            “Safe to say that fella’s definitely on our side,” Lauren approved.

------------------

            After the epic defeat of the Otachi, Geiszler and the two Time Lords returned to Chau’s shop, where the black marketer was already making plans in harvesting the dead Kaiju’s body.

            His activities were halted as soon as Lauren delivered a right hook effective enough to lay Chau on his backside.

            “That’s for trying to harvest my organs,” she scolded him. “I AM NOT ON THE MARKET, AND NEITHER IS MY SON! GOT IT?!”

            Beneath his bruised jaw (and ego), Chau grinned. “Yeah, kid. I got ya.”

            “And you owe my friend here a fresh Kaiju brain,” she added, indicating Newt.

            Geiszler was enthralled more than ever by her; no woman had ever fought for him before, at least not one who had ever given him the time of day like Lauren.

            Chau kept his end of the bargain, escorting Neas, Lauren, and Newt to the site where his men excavated the deceased Otachi carcass. The harvest for the brain had taken longer than anticipated.

            “What’s going on in there, boys?” Chau contacted the team inside the dead Kaiju via walkie-talkie.

            “The secondary brain is damaged, boss.”

            It was the worst news they could receive under those circumstances.

            “Wait. There’s some activity here. A pulsation of some kind.”

            A thumping noise reverberated through Chau’s walkie-talkie.

            Neas grimaced in familiarity. “It’s…pregnant?”

            “Awe,” Lauren gushed, drawing odd stares from the three men beside her.

            “Problem solved,” Chau said. “We kill the kid and take its brain instead.”

            “No!” Lauren strictly forbade. “We are not going to harm a single organ from its body! It’s just a child!”

            “Pop, are you serious?!” Neas rebuked. “That thing isn’t—”

            Before his point could have been made, screams erupted from Chau’s walkie-talkie right before the baby Otachi ripped itself out of its mother’s womb.

            Everyone, including Chau, ran for cover.

            Unfortunately for the black marketer, the infant managed to gobble him up prior to asphyxiating on its umbilical cord.

            Though the Otachi infant’s life was short-lived, Lauren took a lot of pleasure watching it consume Chau. “Karma is a beautiful thing, isn’t it?” she unconcernedly jeered at the expense.

-------------------

            Just as Lauren predicted, their procurement of the fresh Kaiju brain was met with admiration from Stacker Pentecost. Of course, the marshal was overjoyed as it was over the successful vanquishing of the Otachi by the Gipsy Danger, piloted by Raleigh and Mako.

            “Excellent work out there,” Neas congratulated.

            Raleigh timidly shrugged. “Most of the thanks should be given to Godzilla.”

            “Godzilla?!” Neas and Lauren balked.

            “Herc told us that Chuck came up with it,” Raleigh related.

            Neas sneered. “No surprise there.”

            “Godzilla’s assistance in the fight has renewed faith in our chances against the triple attack you predicted,” Pentecost said. “If there are more like that one, on our side, we could be unstoppable.”

            “Nevertheless, Marshal,” Neas opposed, “we must shut down that rift. Not only is it a danger to your world, but it’s what has been keeping my father and me from leaving.”

            “I agree,” Pentecost acknowledged. “That’s why I have a high-yield nuclear bomb en route this moment. This long battle between worlds will soon see its end.”

            “Marshal…” He heard Mako softly say, gesturing to her upper lip.

            Between her gesture and their worried stares, he realized that blood had trickled from his nose. Somewhat embarrassed, he retrieved a handkerchief and hurried out of sight to the confusion of Neas, Lauren, and Raleigh.

            They looked to Mako, whose expression hung in despair.

----------------

            Later, in Newt and Hermann’s laboratory, with the assistance of the two scientists, Neas and Lauren conducted a fruitful Time Lord-Kaiju drift, the first and only of its kind. They emerged physically and mentally unscathed, but there was still registered torment in their countenances.

            “What did you see?” Hermann asked them.

            “Pentecost’s plan,” Neas said. “It’s not gonna work.”

            “The portal will only respond to the genetic code of a Kaiju,” Lauren added, “meaning we’ll have to use a Kaiju or a part of one to get through the breach to destroy it, or else the bomb’s only going to destroy this world.”

            Neas snapped his fingers with resolve. “Unless something else…something that’s not of Earth origin…something like the T.A.R.D.I.S. were to get through the portal. It’s capable of interdimensional travel as is.”

            Lauren glowered. “Are you saying we dematerialize through the portal with the bomb on board the T.A.R.D.I.S.?”

            “That’s exactly what I’m saying, Pop.”

"Breach on the Pacific Rim" - Part Five

Part Five

            Godzilla had proven to be no typical Kaiju to handle for Herc and Chuck. Its skin was almost impenetrable – evident in its quick recovery from a barrage of missiles out of the Striker Eureka – and it was capable of exerting some type of atomic breath, a blue radioactive heat ray, through its jaws that overwhelmed Eureka’s hull.

            Blindsided by the blast, Eureka failed to avoid the creature’s tail, which whipped against the head of the Jaeger.

            The impact raddled everything inside the Conn-Pod.

            Herc was disengaged from the operating system, his body slamming against the steel wall and breaking his arm. Chuck was left with no other option than to go to his father’s aid, leaving their Jaeger immobile.

            From the Shatterdome control room, Pentecost, Raleigh, and Mako witnessed the new Kaiju’s victory and its direct departure for Hong Kong.

            “It’s heading for the city,” Pentecost upsettingly noted. “Hong Kong won’t stand a chance with two Kaiju attacking.”

            “Marshal, I don’t believe this one’s like the others,” Raleigh said.

            Pentecost scowled. “Let me guess. A hunch your alien friends had?”

            “Actually, it was my own hunch,” Raleigh credited. “I’ve watched how it went up against others like itself and took them down just like we do.”

            Mako caught on with his presumption. “You believe it is helping us?”

            “I believe it’s protecting us,” Raleigh clarified.

            “Supposing you’re right, Mr. Becket, I still cannot risk leaving the lives of hundreds of people at the hands of a rogue Kaiju,” Pentecost said. “I still need a Jaeger out there to defend it.”

            “Send us in the Gipsy,” Raleigh nodded to himself and Mako.

            “We don’t know for sure if you two are compatible,” Pentecost refuted. “And we don’t have time for a trial run.”

            “Then we’ll have to do an emergency drift, no matter the risks,” Raleigh said. “What other Jaeger pilots do we have left that can do the job?”

            There were none. All the best stationed at the Shatterdome were sent out to deal with the conflict, except for Raleigh and Mako. Now the only Jaeger he thought had the ability to end it was out of commission.

            Gipsy Danger was their last hope in this fight.

-----------------

            “And this is why children should always listen to their parents – especially their fathers!” Lauren griped.

            She and Neas wandered in the cold, rainy streets of Hong Kong for minutes, facing their exile from the Shatterdome. The worst part of it was Lauren being forced out without her turquoise hoodie, left to shiver in wet clothes and hair.

            “You don’t have to remind me, Pop,” Neas regretfully moaned. “I feel bad enough as it is after what happened to Mako. I hope that didn’t kill her.”

            Lauren glimpsed at him, seeing the genuine concern on his face.

            Calmly, she reassured him, “I’m sure she’s just fine. Newt survived his drift with the Kaiju brain, and that’s way worse than that with a Time Lord. And poor Newt’s going to make another attempt at—” In her reflection, a marvelous idea struck her noddle. “That’s it!”

            “What’s it?” Neas queried.

            “Something that’ll save Newt from another – potentially more dangerous – drift with a Kaiju brain, and perhaps get us back in the good graces of Marshal Pentecost.”

            Recalling what Pentecost mentioned about Hannibal Chau, the black market dealer in Kaiju organs, Lauren requested the Japanese-fluent Neas to ask around for directions to Chau’s base of operations. The only answer they received was to “follow the signs,” if Neas’s translation was correct.

            The Time Lords did just that, only finding typical street signs with English and Japanese languages. Initially thinking they were at a dead end, Neas had the idea of scanning the signs with his sonic screwdriver.

            Invisible print materialized under the light of the Gallifreyan tool, showing them the exact directions to Chau’s shop.

            They arrived just as another customer was making a deal.

            “Newton?!” Lauren quizzically identified him.

            Certain enough, Geiszler was there, standing beside a man in a flashy outfit and shades who Neas could only figure to be Hannibal Chau himself.

            “What’re you guys doing here?!” Newt asked of the Time Lords.

            “Newton, listen,” Lauren told him. “You don’t have to do another drift with a Kaiju brain. Neas and I are going to do it.”

            Neas’s eyebrows rose with astonishment. “We are?!”

            “Does this have to do with you guys being aliens?” Newt questioned.

            Lauren nodded. “After Neas drifted with Mako the same time you did with the Kaiju, both of you barely survived the process. But what if we – two Time Lords – were to drift with one Kaiju brain? Our mental capacity goes far beyond any living being in the universe, including Kaiju. It’s worth a shot.”

            The very idea sounded ingenious to Newt; but before he could vocally express it to the beautiful, intelligent Time Lady…

            “Wait, wait. Hold up.” Chau said, gesturing to Neas and Lauren. “What’s this about you two being aliens?”

            Oh, great, Neas psychologically groaned.

            “We’re Time Lords of the planet Gallifrey – which, of course, doesn’t exist in this dimension,” Lauren divulged.

            Chau hungrily licked his lips. “Really now? What’s your biology like?”

            “Well…w-we have two hearts,” Lauren answered.

            Neas watched as Chau slithered uncomfortably around Lauren, who openly disclosed Time Lord facts. He wondered if she sang this much when her original self was Davros’ prisoner during the Time War.

            “Quite the friends you’ve got here, pipsqueak,” Chau told Newt. “Unique specimens like them would be hot value on the market, particularly this little jewel right here.”

            He stroked the face of Lauren, prompting her to recoil in disgust.

            “Specimens?!” She exclaimed. “We are not—”

            “I believe it’s time we got out of here,” Neas hurriedly said. “Coming, Doctor Geiszler?”

            “B-But we h-haven’t gotten t-the—” Newt stammered.

            “You Time Lords ain’t goin’ anywhere,” Chau threateningly declared. “Not ‘til I’ve had a chance to slice you open and add whatever yer made of to my collection.”

            To emphasize his point, he reached into his jacket, retrieving a golden switchblade that he twirled and knifed in Lauren’s general direction.

            “You first, Goldie.”

"Breach on the Pacific Rim" - Part Four

Part Four

            “EXTERMINATE!”

            The pre-adolescent Mako tearfully cried out, shutting her eyes. The metallic creature cornering her primed its weapon – some type of gun stick or death ray.

            “Mako. Don’t be afraid.”

            Hearing Neas, she opened her eyes to see him standing beside the creature.

            It hardly acknowledged his presence at all.

            “It won’t hurt you,” he reassured.

            “What is it?”

            “It’s called a Dalek, and it’s only an illusion brought on by my side of the drift.”

            He took her by the hand, leading her through a maze of his infinite memories. They crossed a tall woman with short blond hair who appeared to be early-forties, wearing white shorts and a black long-sleeved shirt.

            “Well, there I am,” Neas indicated to her. “The original me, that is.”

            They passed more women of different ages and races, taking part in events that were far beyond Mako’s level of understanding.

            “I do not understand. What is happening? These are your memories?!”

            “They are. I’m sorry, Mako. My father warned me this would happen once we drifted. Humans and Time Lords were never meant to share a telepathic connection this strong.”

            Mako questionably frowned. “Time…Lord?”

            “It’s what I am. An alien from another world – another dimension. Dr. Curtsinger, the woman I came to the Shatterdome with, is a Time Lord regeneration of my father.”

            It all seemed too much for Mako to take, collapsing right in front of Neas.

            He would soon realize this to be the result of a shutdown in the neural link and the Gipsy Danger altogether. He found himself standing back in the Conn-Pod beside Mako, who was lying on the floor, convulsing with blood gushing from her nose.

            Neas rushed to her aid, screaming for help to whoever could hear him from the control room.

            Medics answered right away, arriving at the scene with an extremely disconcerted (and peeved) Stacker Pentecost. “What went wrong in here?!” He roared specifically to Neas.

--------------------

            Once the crisis was averted with Neas and Mako, Lauren returned to Newt and Hermann’s laboratory post haste. There, she found a shaken but recovering Newton wiping his bloodied nose with nothing but his thumb and drinking a glass of water to calm his nerves.

            The sight of him unsettled Lauren.

            “Newt,” she tenderly said. “Are you okay?”

            “I told you it would work,” he replied. “It was only a fragment of a brain, so all I was able to see were a…a series of…images o-or impressions…”

            He began to ramble on, his focus as unstable as his breathing.

            “Newton, take a breath,” Lauren instructed. “And calmly tell me what you saw.”

            He did as she said and, once he managed to ease his mind, he began: “I think they’re attacking us…under orders. These beings – these masters – they’re colonists! They go from world-to-world, using the Kaiju to wipe out any inhabitants! They tried once with the dinosaurs! But there was too much oxygen in the atmosphere then!

            So they waited and waited ‘til the atmosphere was just right! We practically terraformed it for them! There are waves and waves of them! The first wave was just the hounds – they were nothing! But the second wave is the exterminators to wipe out all the remaining vermin…us! And the final wave is when the new tenants take possession!”

            It was the true definition of “apocalypse.”

            Lauren knew these “colonists” and their breach had to be the reason she and Neas were trapped in this dimension, interfering with the Time Lords’ T.A.R.D.I.S. and its connection to the infinite dimensional corridor. But if they were to discover the corridor itself in the breach, it could spell the ultimate doom of countless realities – including their own.

            “Do another link.”

            She spun around to see Pentecost inside the lab, having arrived unnoticed by Lauren, Newt, and Hermann.

            “I need more information,” he added.

            “I…I can’t do another one,” Newt said. “Not unless you have a fresh Kaiju brain lying around.”

            “Hannibal Chau,” Pentecost uttered. “He runs the Kaiju black market here in Asia. He can get us what we need.”

            “No,” Lauren defiantly spoke up. “Newt may’ve survived the first link, but I don’t think he will survive another! It’s a bad idea, Marshal!”

            Pentecost’s stance stiffened. “I agree, Dr. Curtsinger – if that happens to be your real name. I witnessed twice this moment what harm a neural link between a human and an alien can do. Only the one I put in the Conn-Pod with Mako nearly killed her!”

            His tone rose in ferocity. It was clear the marshal discovered the truth.

            That much was certain when Lauren saw Neas guiltily walk into the lab.

            “Your son confessed what you two really are,” Pentecost continued. “I admit that the idea sounds ridiculous, but after what happened during the trial run, I can’t take any more chances with you two. I’m having you both removed from the Shatterdome.”

            The order was carried out immediately, with security escorting Neas and Lauren out of the lab and off the premises.

            As she left, Lauren took one last glance at a heartbroken and confused Newton.

-----------------

            From the T.A.R.D.I.S., an alarmed Raleigh watched Neas and Lauren’s restriction on the view screen. The feed had cut to static from Lauren’s video specs as soon as she and Neas were tossed out into the rainy streets of Hong Kong.

            He bolted out of the T.A.R.D.I.S. and the quarters, rushing past several personnel who were more than baffled by his presence in the Shatterdome. After getting directions on where Pentecost was, he found the marshal in the infirmary, checking up on a recovered Mako.

            “Marshal,” he called the second he entered.

            His entrance caught Pentecost and Mako off guard.

            “Becket?!” Pentecost exclaimed. “How did you get here?”

            “Neas and Lauren, they brought me here in something I couldn’t even begin to explain,” Raleigh explained. “I agreed to help them, only if it meant that I didn’t have to get involved. You have to get them back. They’re our only chance in stopping what the Kaiju are planning.”

            Pentecost was seething, but he maintained composure.

            “They brought you here in what exactly?” He grittily asked.

            With no other choice, Raleigh led Mako and the marshal into Neas’s T.A.R.D.I.S.

            The bizarre spatial differentiation was off-putting on entry. Nonetheless, they were awed by the technology housed in the alien capsule, which was far ahead of what they achieved in their world with Jaegers.

            Mako came across a certain adorable Mogwai that she remembered seeing in Neas’s memories and wanted to cuddle with. She got her chance when she found him sitting in the T.A.R.D.I.S. console room.

            “Look, Marshal, I’m sorry about all of this,” Raleigh admitted.

            “As you should be, Mr. Becket,” Pentecost furiously snapped. “The guilt of your past has made you too much of a coward to help that you instead have two aliens do it for you and nearly jeopardize the mission!”

            Raleigh kept himself silent; nothing to say to cover up his shame.

            “Nevertheless,” Pentecost considered. “They do have the tech we need. I’ll see if I can have them returned to the Shatterdome A.S.A.P.”

            “Thank you, Marshal,” Raleigh graciously said.

            They exited the T.A.R.D.I.S. to the alert of two Category IV Kaiju codenamed “Leatherback” and “Otachi.”

            Pentecost deployed three Jaegers: Striker Eureka, Crimson Typhoon, and Cherno Alpha. Herc and Chuck were to remain back at the coastline in Striker, serving as a last resort.

            Meanwhile, the Wei Tang triplets and the Kaidonovskys attacked the two Kaiju in Crimson and Alpha.

            The swift decimation of the Crimson Typhoon prompted Striker to assist.

            Unfortunately, it would not be long before Cherno Alpha fell as well.

            With only Striker Eureka left standing, the Otachi moved on Hong Kong. The Leatherback attempted to shut down the digitally-powered Jaeger by triggering an E.M.P.

            That was until another Kaiju, one far different from the Category IV’s in the fight, emerged out of the ocean. It leapt right onto the Leatherback, chomping down on its neck and successively snapping it in half.

            Herc and Chuck observed the surprise attack from the Conn-Pod.

            They recognized this new Kaiju as the same one that had been attacking others – the giant reptilian beast with the ear-splitting roar.

            “It’s him!” Chuck yelled. “It’s the Godzilla!”

            “Godzilla?!” Herc reacted to his son’s christening moniker.

            “A god-like lizard,” Chuck illuminated. “Let’s take ‘em!”

            “Are you insane? It just saved us!”

            “Saved us all for himself! These monsters have no loyalty to anyone but themselves! Now do you wanna just stand here and watch it tear us to bits?!”

            Herc knew there was no time to argue.

            The Godzilla was there waiting for them to make a move.

            Whether or not it was the smartest move would be determined by who was left standing after.