Part Seven
Neas and Lauren had to act fast in getting Pentecost’s
bomb on board the Type-Z without him or anyone else knowing. It felt wrong to
work behind the marshal’s back, after they worked so hard in getting back in
his good graces. But this was for the good of the brave men and women of the
Shatterdome.
Working incognito, with help from Newton and a heavily
reluctant Hermann, they managed to get the bomb to the T.A.R.D.I.S. before it
could have been loaded into one of the last remaining Jaegers, Gypsy and
Eureka.
Unfortunately, Pentecost caught on to their operation.
Confronting the Time Lords and the two scientists near
the T.A.R.D.I.S. with Raleigh and Mako, Pentecost demandingly inquired, “What is
it you think you’re doing with that bomb?”
Neas had no other choice. “Your plan’s not going to work,
Marshal. Pop and I drifted with the Kaiju brain and saw that only things
foreign to this world, like a Kaiju or our T.A.R.D.I.S., can enter through the
breach. The bomb’s just going to deflect, and the mission will fail.”
“Which is why we’re taking it to the Kaiju’s world
ourselves,” Lauren said. “We won’t let anyone sacrifice their lives, when we
have the technology to get the job done ourselves.”
“But that’s not your call to make,” Raleigh rebutted.
“Mister Becket’s right,” Pentecost acknowledged. “We
decide who’s to—”
The debate was interrupted by the sound an incoming alert
from Tendo Choi, regarding the emergence of three
Kaiju – the Triple Event that Lauren and Hermann predicted. And to make matters
more complicated, one of the Kaiju was a Category V, the first of its kind they
have ever faced.
“There’s no better way to do this, Marshal,” Neas said.
“We’ve got one shot, and we’re your only chance at success.”
Heeding the Time Lord’s words, Pentecost made the call…
“We’ll buy you some time holding them off.”
“We?” A disconcerted Mako noted his diction. “You are
going to fight with us?”
“Eureka needs another Jaeger pilot,” Pentecost told her.
“And Herc’s injured.”
“But you will die,” Mako pleaded.
“If I do nothing, we all die.”
-----------------
Moments later, Gipsy and Eureka were deployed, with the three Kaiju – Scunner, Raiju, and Slattern – waiting for them at the middle of the Pacific. The two Jaegers were prepared for a three-on-two score until the arrival of Godzilla made it an even three-on-three.
“This is it, people,” Pentecost roared. “This is the day
we cancel the apocalypse!”
Gipsy and Eureka grappled with the Category IV’s, Scunner
and Raiju.
Godzilla had Slattern to himself; their contest created
tidal waves between every blow traded.
As the fight above the surface ensued, the breach
pulsated underwater.
Neas’s T.A.R.D.I.S. materialized in the Anteverse, the
home world of the Kaiju and their creators, the Precursors.
Wearing modified exploration suits to work against the
thick underwater environment, Neas and Lauren stepped out to the mortifying
surroundings that included several monstrous Kaiju of varying sizes swarming
around.
“We’re sticking out like a sore thumb down here,” Neas
noted. “Every move we make in setting up this bomb is just going to draw their
attention!”
“Then you get going, while I buy you some time,” Lauren
suggested.
“You buying me
time, Pentecost and Raleigh buying us
time…if anyone else buys any more time, there’s not gonna be enough I.O.U.’s to
go around,” Neas jested while Lauren carried on with her task.
She controlled the path of the pursuing Kaiju through the
jet propulsion of her suit.
Meanwhile, Neas overrode the bomb’s protocols with his
sonic screwdriver, setting it to go off at one minute.
“Pop, it’s armed!” Neas called. “Let’s get our butts out
of here!”
Lauren redirected her path, soaring right back to Neas.
They retreated into the T.A.R.D.I.S. before it
dematerialized from the Anteverse.
The bomb, reaching the final count of zero, detonated.
In seconds, the alien forces of the Kaiju and Precursors
were decimated, and the breach was ultimately sealed off.
On the surface, the remaining Kaiju fell to the combined
forces of Gipsy Danger, Striker Eureka, and Godzilla.
Humankind had won, with a little Gallifreyan
support.
---------------
“Everybody lives, Pop,” Neas beamed, shortly upon materializing the T.A.R.D.I.S. back in the Shatterdome. “Just as it should always be!”
Lauren kissed him on the cheek, a reward for his bravery
in the ordeal.
In the midst of the celebratory crowd, they caught sight
of a melancholic Pentecost, still dressed in his Jaeger body armor, standing
aside from the festivities. “Hey, Marshal,” Neas called to him. “What’s the
matter? We won, didn’t we?”
Pentecost mustered a faint smile. “Yes, we did.
Unfortunately, my personal battle will have its end sooner than I wanted.”
Lauren sulked. “Your radiation poisoning,” she inferred.
“Mako told us about it.”
“Years of wars catching up with me,” Pentecost lamented,
“and this last one just gave me one more day to live. To be honest, when I was
out there, I thought for sure I would have died in one final fight. Your
efforts, and even Godzilla’s, gave me what little of a second chance I have.”
In his grief, he felt a strong pinch at the left side of
his neck.
“Ah! What the…?!”
He saw it was Neas, injecting him with a foreign-looking
syringe that he questioned where the Time Lord had it kept on his exploration
suit…and for what purpose.
“What did you give me?” He suspiciously asked.
“A sedative we concocted that’ll wholly diminish your
radiation sickness within an hour,” Neas enlightened. “That should give you
enough years to spend with Mako and whatever grandchildren she and Raleigh will
have.” He gestured to where the two Jaeger heroes kissed, emphasizing his
point.
It was too good to be true for Pentecost, but he could
feel the cells in his body already regenerating, expelling the radiation.
“Thank you, Mister Neas,” the immensely grateful marshal
said. “But, if I’m gonna have to live to see Mister Becket and Mako have
grandchildren of their own, you can give me back
that radiation.”
Neas and Lauren chuckled at the marshal’s lighthearted
jest.
It seemed the serum did more than give him back his life;
it put more life in him.
Saying their goodbyes, Neas and Lauren – free of the
breach that hindered their initial departure – returned back into the infinite
dimensional corridor.
Following the Time Lords’ departure, the Shatterdome crew
stepped out onto the helipad, watching as the true hero in their victory
against the Kaiju race – Godzilla – bid its own farewell in the form of a
rigorous screech, prior to returning to the sea.
“The one Kaiju that saved us from the Kaiju,” Newt reflected.
“Yes,” Hermann agreed with his colleague. “Who would’ve
imagined it? Other than you, of
course.”
“Think we’ll ever need him again, Marshal?” Raleigh
queried.
“I’m not even sure where he came from, Mister Becket,”
Pentecost said. “What I do know is
that anything is possible in this world we live.”
NEXT WEEK!
