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"Jim, I need to reactivate you."Jim didn't bother to quell the wash of rage that rose in his chest. Even knowing that it was insubordination, he crossed his arms and glared across the table. "No.""That wasn't a request." Simon Banks was one of the few people who could match a full-power Ranger Jim Ellison Death Glare without flinching. Even other Marshals had been known to wither when Jim turned that concentrated, icy coldness on them. But Simon had lived a life surrounded by people just as fiery and stubborn as Jim and had learned to hold his own long before being caught up in a war of monsters.They were friends, too, not just Marshal and Ranger. However, when Simon's easy smile fell and his expression went as hard and unmoving as a mountain, being friends didn't mean he cut Jim an inch of slack he wouldn't give to his other Rangers.And today he couldn't afford to offer him any slack at all.Jim never looked away from Simon, though his shoulders rose with his fury; like an apex predator, he tensed as if to launch an attack of claw and fang."You can't reactivate me, Simon.""I can and I will." Simon leaned forward, meeting Jim's unspoken challenge evenly. "Dammit, Jim. You know better than anybody how badly we're undermanned right now. All the PPDC analysts say the same thing – when the currents change we're going to get an increase of Kaiju hitting too far south for Alaska to back us up."That made Jim blink. "Whatever happened to us being just a reserve shatterdome? Research only, right?""As of this morning, we're being promoted to full, active service." Simon didn't sigh, but he wanted to. "We have to keep up our research and advanced training, but the PPDC wants us to take some of the pressure off Los Angeles until the next couple of shatterdomes are fully operational.""That'll take years!"Simon gave him a dour, unamused look. "You think?" He shook his head. "Like it or not, we're a shatterdome and we have to start pulling our weight full-time.""Then request support from somewhere else.""From where? Nobody's approved budgets for the year. Nothing's getting done until the UN resolves the energy negotiations. But you know that isn't the real problem. I've got two Jaegers. What I don't have is even one functional pilot team."Jim could feel the trap closing around him and he only barely held back a growl. "I'm retired, Marshal." He made Simon's title as much of an insult as he dared.Simon sat back. "Let me put it to you this way, Ranger. Either you suit up, or your star cadet is going out there with someone just as green as he is the next time we're attacked. How do you think that'll end?"Jim's hands curled into fists. "Who would you even send? There isn't anyone else who's ready!""Yes. There is."Jim pushed to his feet, horrified by the realization of what Simon meant. "Over my dead body."Simon stood as well and met Jim's glare eye-to-eye. "I don't have any other options, Ellison. Either you suit up with the kid, or I'll do whatever I have to in order to keep Cascade safe. Including recruiting the only reserve I can. Your choice. Dismissed, Ranger."Jim shoved out of the Marshal's office and slammed the door, making the metal squeal and echo down the stark corridor.
My choice? Dammit, Simon. That isn't a choice at all.
Jim headed off to find Blair.-==OOO==-"Five points to one." Jessie scowled at the pair on the mat. "Again."Beside her, Race picked up a pair of boots and flung them at the losing candidate. "Hit the showers. You're gonna be in here for twelve hours tomorrow if that's what it takes to get you in shape."The young man caught only one boot, poking himself in the leg with his hanbo while he flailed to retrieve the second from the Kwoon mats. He managed a messy bow before he fled the room.The remaining candidates were almost too disciplined to laugh, but Race turned on them with a frown anyway. "All of you! Out!"As the room cleared, Jessie shoved herself upright, catching her weight on her crutches and hobbling to the edge of the mat. She glared. "That was pathetic."Jonny rolled his shoulders. "You're telling me. Somebody must have been asleep at the Academy to let Marc through like that.""I mean you." Jessie balanced carefully so she could point an accusing finger. "You should have ended it in the first sequence!"Jonny smirked. "Jealous, Ace?""Enough." Race joined Jessie at the edge of the mat, though his eyes were not so cold now that they were alone. He'd had to perfect his brusque, unapologetic style with cadets and newly-minted Rangers without letting any of his personal affection for a certain set of students show.Everyone made the connection, of course. Jessie Bannon had all of her father's fire, his unforgiving standards, and his skill – the last name only confirmed what was obvious from the start. It took longer, and more 'dome gossip, for new arrivals to figure out that those whose uniforms said 'Quest' were just as much a part of the Bannon family. Or, rather, that Race and Jessie Bannon considered themselves full Quests and had since before any of them had joined Cascade's shatterdome.Jonny quirked a smile at Race that went back to his childhood, back when Race was Jonny's tutor and his father's bodyguard, back when their world had been science and discovery instead of war. The first landfall of a Kaiju had changed everything for the world, and it had changed everything for the Quests.Given the choice, Race wouldn't have signed up to put his family on the front-line of defending the planet. But Doctor Benton Quest hadn't given him one."How will they improve if I don't give them a chance?" Jonny asked, blinking his blue eyes with the same false innocence he had learned from his father."While there may be merit in your question," came a new voice, "I do not believe that is the true spirit with which you engaged your opponents, my friend."Jonny turned and grinned as Hadji and Benton entered the Kwoon Combat Room. "Hiya Hadji! Calling it a day?""We are," Benton said, an arm comfortably around Hadji's shoulders. "I was politely reminded that we've missed dinner twice in the last three days, and encouraged not to do so again."Race grinned at Hadji. "Nice goin', kid. Glad somebody's making sure the Doc remembers to eat."Hadji merely inclined his head."We've got a few minutes," Jessie said. "Hey, Hadji. How about you remind Jonny that he's not invincible?"Jonny turned and gave Jessie a dire look, but then spun back and jogged to the middle of the mat. "Yeah, c'mon! I could use a real workout!"Hadji gave a tiny, serene smile and stepped out of his shoes and his working jumpsuit, revealing the soft, loose pants and shirt he wore beneath the sturdy coveralls which were usually stained and smeared with grease and oil. He folded the jumpsuit and set it on the concrete to one side, his shoes beside it. Then he moved onto the mat and faced Jonny."I shall be sure to challenge you sufficiently." Hadji's words were calm and polite, but there was a fierce light of challenge in his eyes.Race tossed him a hanbo and Hadji caught it out of the air without looking.Jessie grinned at Benton who moved to stand beside her. But she did not call out a start to the combat as she had for all the others, nor would she bother keeping score. Jonny and Hadji, when they fought together, never needed it.Race winked at Jessie and Benton, watching as the two boys he had guarded for so long settled into their stances. They had yet to look away from one another, yet to break eye-contact, and they were already breathing in rhythm. All the sets of biological siblings that came through Cascade for additional training, even sets of twins, needed time to learn the synchronicity that had always come so naturally to these two.It had never mattered that Hadji had been adopted into the Quest family from Calcutta as a child. It had never mattered that Jonny was as fair as his mother, blond and blue-eyed, and Hadji was equally dark skinned and dark eyed. It had never mattered that Hadji wore the dastar turban of his Sikh faith and Jonny wore nothing but t-shirts and jeans given the option. It had never mattered that Hadji had only taken the name Quest in secret, using Singh as his surname in the public eye. It had never mattered to Jonny that his adopted brother was adopted, was so different from himself.Hadji had said it himself a year after his adoption – born in another country, culture, and creed, he was a Quest as surely as if he had sprung from Doctor Quest's very bloodline. He and Jonny were brothers, united by a common spirit, years of adventures and dangers and escapes, and a bond of trust that ran deeper than the Kaiju Breach.Of course, the entire Quest family was surpassingly close, tightly knit and steeped in a loyalty that had only grown with the family. First it had been Benton and Jonny (and Rachel, lost so early that Jonny had no memory of his mother besides his father's deep sorrow), then Benton and Jonny and Race, and then Benton and Jonny and Race and Hadji. The four men had not thought they were incomplete until a few years later when Jessie, Race's daughter from a dissolved marriage, came to join them.Jessie was different from the boys. Jonny was as brilliant as his father but took after Race in almost every way; Hadji was uniquely wise and highly intelligent and followed in Doctor Quest's footsteps quite closely – saving only for his studies into his metaphysical interests. But Jessie was equal parts Race and Benton, a fierce fighter and also a deep thinker. She was less likely to jump into danger than Jonny, more likely to reason through Hadji's mysterious wisdom, but she never failed to stand beside them when danger called.As it had in the Kaiju War.The instant the first Kaiju, a Category 1 later named 'Trespasser' had emerged from the ocean in San Francisco, there had been no doubt that the Quests would be needed. Benton was a world-renowned scientist in multiple fields, from phenomenology to computer science, and all his expertise and brilliance would be required to understand what had happened and try to recover from it. At first, the Quest family had simply investigated the attack as they did all others. But when Hundun appeared in Manilla six months later, they realized that this would not be like every other strange creature or sighting they had tracked across the world.Instead, this was the beginning of an invasion, and the entire human race was in grave danger.So they adapted. Benton was among the first scientists to officially create a division of study under the UN to try to unravel the mystery of the Kaiju before another could take more lives. When the PPDC was formed later that year, they absorbed Benton's division and split it into halves – K-Science to study the Kaiju themselves and J-Tech to find ways fight them. Benton disseminated his information to every scientist willing to work toward the cause. After the breakthrough in Jaeger technology was proven, K-Science and J-Tech divisions moved into the emerging shatterdomes to share resources, information, and ensure those on the front lines had the best possible science to support them.By the time the PPDC founded the Academy to bring in as many pilots as they could possibly train to battle the Kaiju threat, Jonny and Jessie and Hadji had already been deep in the planning for the Ranger program. They were among the earliest cadets through the Academy, though they did not jump straight into piloting Jaegers right away; instead, they worked with Benton to improve the Drift system and the Jaeger OS. It wasn't that Jonny and Jessie would never ride a Jaeger against the Kaiju, though; it was that they were waiting for the right Jaeger to be built.Hadji had not intended to become a Ranger, and he did not consider himself one even after he finished the Academy. He went through the training because Jonny and Jessie were there and he would not abandon them to any trial or fight. But as soon as he was finished, he returned to Benton to put his mind towards helping his adoptive father design the best possible Jaeger for Jonny and Jessie to pilot someday. Hadji also stepped into the void left when Benton could not be in two places at once, easily navigating both the K-Science and the J-Tech divisions and becoming a formidable partner to Benton; what he lacked in sheer brilliance he made up with tenacity, creativity, and an ability to decipher Benton's illegible notes.As the Kaiju War sped up and more Jaegers were needed, Benton's work slowed on his own personal Jaeger, which he refused to release to any pilots other than Jonny and Jessie, so that he could contribute to others coming off the line around the world. Questor Storm was Benton's finest work, even before it was completed – a sleek, highly-maneuverable Jaeger that was a far cry from the bulky Mark 1s and early 2s.It was also probably the safest Jaeger that would ever be built, though Benton tried to put his designs to work on as many units as possible.Jaeger pilots tended to have short active careers before injury or death required them to be replaced. Benton was adamant that he would not lose two of his three children to the monsters who had claimed so many other lives. The PPDC was interested in safety, but not if safety compromised the speed of producing new units or increased the costs too much. Questor Storm was the only Jaeger Benton could afford to build to his exact specifications and he paid for most of it himself – and finally it was very nearly operational.Of course, as fate would have it, two weeks before Questor Storm got the green light for a test run, Jessie fractured her leg while doing some routine work on Cascade's only other working Jaeger. Now Benton had his Jaeger which his son was eager to pilot, but Jonny had to find himself another copilot until Jessie healed.Thus the long days in the Kwoon Combat Room while Jonny tore through the recent graduates of the Academy in search of a pilot with whom he would be Drift-compatible.Jessie waited until the stillness between Jonny and Hadji shattered and the pair moved together like poetry before she spoke – they would be too caught up in the fight to overhear anything now."Doctor Quest, I still don't get it and they won't tell me. Why won't he do it?"Benton exchanged a look with Race before he shook his head at her. "He isn't willing.""Hadji's no coward. And he's Drift compatible with Jonny, more than I am by a longshot.""Ponchita." Race put a hand on her shoulder. "It's his decision.""But it doesn't make sense!" Jessie flung a hand out to the pair of boys that were her brothers and her family and her best friends, moving with such fluid oneness that they could have been a single mind even without the help of the Drift. "Look at them!"Race couldn't help but recognize what she saw. None of the other candidates to Drift with Jonny were even in the neighborhood of the level of compatibility Hadji would have shared with him. Jessie and Jonny were a conventionally strong pairing and had successfully Drifted together in training at the Academy; by all possible pre-Drift test results, Jonny and Hadji shared a compatibility that was literally off the charts. But they hadn't ever run a test Drift.And no one knew why. Neither would speak about it, no matter who asked or how loudly. Hadji had almost been court-martialed by the PPDC and still refused to participate in a trial Drift with anyone, including Jonny. And Jonny had backed him the entire time. They had stood shoulder-to-shoulder before the PPDC brass and had never relented."I think," Benton said after a moment, "that your real frustration isn't that Hadji won't Drift, but that you can't. And you don't approve of the other candidates for Jonny.""Of course not." She snorted. "They're awful. They don't understand anything.""And Hadji does," Race said softly. "He knows you both and you trust them both. Heck, the three of you kids might be able to sustain a stable three-way Drift if you tried."Jessie nodded. They'd considered it – right up until Hadji refused to Drift. "So…""So I think we have to trust them," Benton said. "Hadji would not willingly endanger Jonny, no matter what. But he will let him choose a partner other than you as a copilot, in spite of your deplorable assessment of the candidates." Benton looked at his sons with an apprehension that he tried to hide under warmth. "I think we must trust Hadji's reasoning and Jonny's willingness not to fight him on it. We must let them choose whether or not to Drift and let Jonny find a different partner.""Or," Race said, arching an eyebrow, "you can keep scaring the candidates until you get better and keep Jonny grounded in the meantime. You're doing a good job of that."Jessie blushed but didn't flinch. "I've got two months until the cast comes off. Up to a year before I'm back to full strength. I'm not going to be able to stall that long.""But it won't stop you from trying.""Nope."On the Kwoon mats, completely ignoring them, Jonny and Hadji were lost in a world of their own. They moved together effortlessly, striking and retreating, circling and evading, a constant push and pull between two perfectly balanced forces. Even when one hit the floor and struck upward, rolling into a new position, they rarely broke eye-contact and never broke rhythm. There was challenge and strength and fierceness and loyalty in every motion, in every breath.Even so, their match had to end eventually. Most times, no one but themselves could tell if it was 'won' by one or the other or if they simply decided to stop at a natural point. Neither was typically 'defeated' and points were impossible to compare.Tonight, Hadji spun and expertly swept Jonny's feet from him. They both hit the mats in a matching crouch, poised as if to leap at one another like cats. Then the tension fell away from them and Jonny sat back, laughing."Good one! Where'd you learn that new rotation?"Hadji did not slump like Jonny, but he moved so that he could sit beside his brother and took down his turban to retie it after the combat had mussed its crisp lines. "Blair taught me."That got Benton's attention. "You've been training with Blair Sandburg?"Hadji looked up and nodded. "Even we must take breaks from our endless discussions, no matter how fascinating.""Cool," Jonny said. He climbed to his feet and offered Hadji a hand, which the latter took without even looking up. "Think he's gonna actually step up as a Ranger?""Not a chance," Race said, shaking his head."Why not?" Jessie asked. "He should be on our list of candidates. He's passed the Academy, he's already familiar with everything J-Tech and K-Science have ever put together, and if he can handle the combat…?""Simple." Race shrugged. "Jim won't let him. Not in a million years."The rest of the Quest family all nodded in sudden understanding.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Blair walked backwards, gesturing as he went. He'd done this routine so many times he had it down to a precision as keen as a fine clock's."And here is the main bay. You'll be in here a lot, so take a good look around and ask any questions now before you get lost. Your barracks are nearest Door 3, if that helps. Now, come this way. Watch the lines – the transports mostly stick to their lanes but not always. Step around, step around, good. J-Tech is through Door 2 and if you're any good you'll end up working with us sometimes, too. Well, them. I'm only sort of associate J-Tech. And associate K-Science. Anyway. Watch your heads – that crane hangs low."Blair grinned as the faces of the new mechanics all went slack-jawed at exactly the same moment."Yes, and here's the main event! We've usually got a few more here on rotation for repairs and upgrades, but these are our resident deities, gods among robots. Come on – you'll get all the close-up looks you want when you're dangling all over them trying to weld on a panel bigger than a garage door. If you get out of the way of the forklifts, I'll tell you about them. No, out of the way. Do you want to get run over on your first day?"The crowd scrambled to join Blair on the slightly raised spot he picked. It was actually up on top of a spare chest-plate from an early Mark 2 Jaeger that was still in service and always seemed to need a new one on short notice, but at least nothing would drive over them up here."Okay. Here on the left is our un-debuted beauty, Benton Quest's own baby. Originally slated to be part of the first Mark 3s, at this rate it'll be a full Mark 4 before it launches. The most expensive Jaeger built to date and definitely the most advanced, meet Questor Storm."Blair looked with an appraising eye at the Jaeger that was Benton's blood and sweat and love. It was a strange color that looked either completely black or bright, electric green depending on the lighting, and often both at once like a watercolor painting mixed with an optical illusion. Questor Storm had a lot of its own secrets, and Blair was privy to most of them thanks to his friendship with the Quests, Benton and Hadji in particular. However, he never said anything specific about this particular Jaeger to the new recruits – if Benton decided to trust them with his project, he'd tell them what they needed to know."And over here is our only Jaeger currently in service. Well, technically. It's cleared to launch, but we're short a piloting team." Blair swallowed a heavy lump in his throat. "Sentinel Scream was the first permanent Jaeger assigned to Cascade and while we haven't had too many attacks here, it's beaten back every single Kaiju that came within range without fail."Rest well, my friend. Blair let the recruits stare and tried to keep his emotions under control. It had been a year, a full year, but he wondered if he would ever be able to look up at the Scream without feeling his heart ache at the memory."Sandburg!"Figures. Blair forced himself to brighten. "And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a very familiar bellow here in the 'dome. If you ever hear that voice yelling at you, I suggest you duck and cover."One particularly bold recruit spoke up. "Why aren't you, then?"Blair grinned at her. "Because I'm used to it." He leaned around a storage locker and waved. "Hi Jim!"Jim stomped over to the group just as Blair hustled them off the chest-plate. "We gotta talk.""Nice to see you, too." Blair didn't so much as wither under Jim's glare. He returned to his group. "This is Ranger Jim Ellison, pilot and current liaison to the Academy. Don't worry – his bark is worse than his bite.""Only with you, Hairboy!" yelled someone zooming past on a cart."Shut it, Henri!" Blair yelled back.Jim ignored the interruption and looked at the group. "You're dismissed."The bold recruit spoke up again. "But...Mister Sandburg was giving us our orientation before we get assigned our work details.""First of all." Jim's glare went cold. "It's Ranger Sandburg or Doctor Sandburg, not Mister. And second of all, I said you were dismissed.""Jim." Blair elbowed him, then shrugged when he refused to budge. "Sorry, everyone. Must be important. Can you find your way back to the barracks? I'll send someone to finish up with the tour later.""Are you really a Ranger?" came a yell from the back of the group.Blair flapped his hands dismissively. "Technically, yes, I graduated from the Academy. But I've never gone up in a Jaeger and I probably never will. I mostly run logistics around here and try to keep the 'dome running smooth and copacetic." He gave Jim a side-eyed expression. "Which this big guy makes pretty tough sometimes."That won him a few quick laughs."Seriously, head back and I'll try to catch up with you guys before your first shift, okay?"As they moved off, Jim put a hand on Blair's shoulder. "You shouldn't let them underestimate you.""I don't." He smiled. "But telling them I'm a Ranger makes it a lot harder for me to connect with them. My job is to help them feel comfortable and set up a good basis for them to integrate into our little shatterdome society. You know we have the lowest burnout rate among all job levels across the entire PPDC? Part of that is because I make sure I set up the social contract right at the start so everyone feels that they have a place here.""Then why don't you introduce yourself as 'Doctor Sandburg?' Benton does.""When we pull in people of similar academic rank for K-Science or J-Tech, I do," Blair said. "It's all about perception. Other doctors expect me to be one of them. But these guys are mostly going to be working maintenance and supply. It's easier for them to feel comfortable if I'm on their level."Jim shook his head, fond of the babble. "Whatever, Einstein. Now, come on. We've got something to talk about.""Wanna go see if the kitchen's open?" Blair asked, sliding into place beside his friend."How many times have you been kicked out of the kitchen this week?""What's today?" Blair shot back."Thursday.""Then four."Jim snorted. "You're a menace."Blair grinned. "Yep!"But he followed Jim's unspoken request away from the kitchen as well as the busy Jaeger bay, wandering out into the less-traveled parts of the 'dome. They both knew every step of the place, its rhythms day and night which changed with the shift and the situation. The J-Tech and K-Science corridors were always filled with light and talk and the sound of dozens of machines and computers running all at once. The mess hall outside the kitchen was a common gathering place for those who didn't want to crowd into the small lounges sprinkled throughout the complex. The barracks were usually quiet even at the busiest times of day in deference to those who worked the overnight shifts.Now Jim wound his way out past the fabrication wing only to turn aside before hitting the helicopter hangars. He didn't speak all the way up the elevator to the roof – not the one above the main part of the 'dome where pretty much everyone went sometimes to smoke or burn off stress or just remind themselves that there was such a thing as a sky in their windowless world – but rather the roof over the shipping hangar where trucks brought supplies and sometimes people and carried away contaminated materials and parts too damaged to be fixed which would be laid to rest with everything else at Oblivion Bay.On the roof, Blair watched Jim's shoulders rise and fall as he relaxed very slightly. Still alert, always watchful, but out here in the actual air and where he could see the city of Cascade, that was where Jim felt the most at ease."Simon's reactivating me."Blair's momentary calm shattered. "What? Why? He can't!"Jim gave a not-nice smile. "That's what I said. But apparently Cascade's joining the front line rotation and he can't have a working Jaeger with no pilot.""And Jonny and Jessie...oh." Blair stopped. He reached up and gripped Jim's arm. "Are you going to be okay?""Looks like I don't have much of a choice, Sha."Blair winced at the nickname. Jim had given him many over the last few years – Darwin, Einstein, Chief – but 'Sha' hadn't been Jim's.'Sha' had been what Ink had always called Blair.Blair still couldn't have said if meeting Ink and following him was the very best or the very worst decision of his entire life. Some days it felt like it was both. Before Ink, Blair had been a student at the university in Cascade working on his PhD. Then there had been a trip to Borneo to study some of the indigenous peoples. Blair had gone on what he thought would be the trip of a lifetime.He'd been a week in the jungle, up to his ears in anthropological gold, when Trespasser made landfall in San Francisco.By the time Blair got back to the United States, the world had changed. Blair finished his PhD in a matter of weeks, writing feverishly. He rushed the entire process so that he could try to find a way to help the people whose lives had been ruined; he ended up working for several months in a refugee camp for some of the survivors out of San Francisco. Then, when Kaiju Blue contamination made the entire coast of Northern California dangerous, Blair decided to go on a walkabout – wandering the country to try to make sense of the senseless and find a fixed point in it.He literally met Ink on the road – Blair heading away from the destruction, Ink heading towards it.Ink was the son of a traditional tribal elder from Peru, a warrior sent by his father to learn modern ways in advance of something terrible he'd seen in a vision as a child. Ink – short for Incacha, also his father's name – had made his way north from Peru to try to help prepare a land in mourning for another wave of battle. Even years later, Blair couldn't have said why he found it so easy to believe that Ink was utterly correct that there would be another attack, and another, and another, but he had trusted Ink from the moment they met.Ink had called them cousins of the spirit, and Blair couldn't help but feel he was right about that, too.When the PPDC was formed and started recruiting pilots, Blair followed Ink all the way to the Academy, even as his pacifistic nature rebelled against the thought of killing a living creature. But he wanted to help, and Ink was sure with the same clarity that had guided him north that Blair's place was on the front lines, even if he never fired a shot.When Ink was assigned to the newly-built Cascade shatterdome, Blair followed him once again, quickly stepping in to help with recruiting, orientation, and logistics in the massive affair that was housing and maintaining the Jaegers who would stand against the Kaiju. He filled up his days with making things run smoothly and keeping hope alive in the 'dome. Ink, on the other hand, proved to be exactly the warrior his father had asked him to become.And so Ink became Jim Ellison's copilot in Sentinel Scream.They defended Cascade while the shatterdome was between other Jaegers, though mostly any Kaiju who approached were dispatched by the guests who came and went so regularly to put their Jaeger's through Benton Quest's magic with J-Tech. Jim and Ink tended to work support, with only a few solo kills to their names, but it never bothered them. Ink and Jim were both taciturn, dedicated, focused protectors. Jim and Blair weren't exactly close, but the longer Ink and Jim Drifted together in Scream, the more Jim got comfortable around Blair and Ink. Things like that did tend to bleed through the Drift, after all.And then there had been a nasty Category 3 Kaiju that arrived in the middle of an even nastier thunderstorm.Sentinel Scream had killed the Kaiju, but barely. And at great cost.Jim somehow walked away from the Scream with only a few circuitry burns and a concussion. Ink hadn't been so lucky. He lived long enough to help Jim get the Scream back to the 'dome and to make it to the hospital. But he never made it out again.Ink died on the operating table twelve hours after his final battle.Blair was fairly certain he'd have lost his own mind if he hadn't had the Quests as friends and allies during those dark days. Benton was familiar with grief and had talked Blair through the worst of it. And Hadji was like a spiritual brother, closer to Blair in some ways even than Ink had been. Between them, they pulled Blair through the loss of his best friend and the fixed point he had leaned on for so long.Once his grief was no longer so deep and dangerous, Blair almost left Cascade. He thought he might return to walkabout, maybe even follow Ink's footsteps south to Peru if it was the last path they could walk together. But Simon Banks, interim Marshal, asked him to stay – arguing that he was too valuable and too good for morale to leave especially with a dead pilot on everyone's minds. And Simon was right and Blair knew it, could feel the despair in the very walls of the 'dome, so he agreed.The next month was pure torture, everything wrong without the presence of Ink to lighten the dark and brighten the light. Blair clung to the Quests and did his duties with a smile, but inside he still felt like he was unraveling. How could he hold an entire shatterdome together in the face of grief when his own was still unhealed? Some days, he couldn't.And then one day Jim sat down next to Blair in the mess as he always had, as if nothing had changed. It took him almost the entire awkward, stilted meal for Blair to figure it out.Blair was the nearest thing to Ink Jim could find.And Jim had lived in Ink's head, in his heart.They would only really lose him if they let him be lost between them.So Jim and Blair struck up a friendship that lost its oddness in record time and surpassed everything else in a blur. They found between them a different sort of easy friendship to Blair's with Ink, or Blair's with the Quests, and some days that one friendship was the only thing that kept him getting up in the morning. If Ink had been Blair's cousin in spirit, if Hadji was his brother, Jim was something else entirely. Something he didn't give a name, didn't dare identify. Partially out of respect for Jim and the rawness of his own grief, and partially to keep it from becoming something they might lose.But Blair watched Hadji with Jonny and couldn't help but understand that profound closeness, even if he couldn't explain it.Even so, only Ink had ever called Blair 'Sha.' Short for 'shaman,' what Ink always said he saw when he looked into Blair's spirit. Blair knew he wasn't worthy of such, no matter how cool it sounded, and had denied and denied and denied again the association. But Ink had believed it. And after Ink was gone, a letter arrived from Peru, poorly translated with help from the internet and Benton; Incacha senior had written in the wake of his son's death to both Jim and Blair. What was in Jim's letter Blair still didn't know.But his own had been short and very confusing."The way of the shaman is one who guides, one who leads, one who teaches. In your spirit is this same power, young one, though you come by it in such terrible times. My son saw your soul and knew its history. Now you must follow the path he intended for your feet. You must continue to guide, or the poison that enters our world will steal the souls of all mankind."And now Jim was calling him 'Sha' and something was wrong. Blair drew close until he was right in front of Jim."Why don't you have a choice?" Blair folded his arms in front of him. "Simon can't force you to pilot again.""Sure he can.""I don't buy it. There's nobody on this continent who can make you do something you don't wanna do, man. Not you."Jim let out a breath. "It's not…" He trailed off.Blair blinked. Let his mind race and his thoughts piece themselves together out loud."Okay. So, we have a Jaeger with no pilots and the PPDC doesn't like it. I'm assuming we're not counting Questor because it still hasn't been tested. Fine. But Jonny's ready to go even if Jessie is still in the cast. And I know she hates the idea of him Drifting with anybody but her, but there are some candidates available." Blair peered up. "So why you?"Jim shook his head and looked away over the coastline that led to the city of Cascade."There's no way Simon wouldn't send Jonny since he is ready to go and Sentinel Scream is fixed – assuming Benton doesn't throw a fit that his son is going out in Scream instead of Questor. But Simon can't possibly expect you to ride that Jaeger again. I mean, he just can't.""Well, I'm going to.""There has to be somebody else who can copilot with Jonny.""There isn't."Blair considered. "Is it a seniority thing? He doesn't want two green pilots for the first run? I could see Jonny learning the ropes with you and then getting a permanent partner."Jim's face bent with a hint of amusement at Blair's attempt to reason him out of this situation. "It's not that. I mean, Simon didn't say for sure, but I know what he was getting at.""And what's that?""Whatever team he assigns is going to be permanent – at least until Jessie can pilot.""So why you?"Jim looked at him. "I notice you haven't mentioned Hadji."Hadji's qualifications as a Ranger were well-known, as was his refusal to Drift at all – people assumed it had something to do with his religion. But Blair and Jim both knew that the Quests had never said as much and, after so many people asking, if the answer were that simple, they'd have given it by now. Whatever the reason for Hadji's reticence, it was the best-kept secret in Cascade.Blair shrugged. "Well, I hate to say it but there's no way Simon can force Hadji into it. Jonny won't go if Hadji is being forced – they tried that once before. And the PPDC can't risk Benton threatening to pull rank or up and quit."Jim nodded. He hadn't needed Simon to spell any of that out. Which was why…Blair's face went suddenly pale as pieces slotted together in his mind. "Jim?"Jim swallowed. "Yeah.""They're not...I can't…" Blair took a step back and started to breathe fast.Jim closed the distance between them and pulled Blair into a hug against his chest. "Easy, Chief. Easy.""They need a Ranger...who's been through the Academy...and someone who is probably compatible with Jonny. And I'm...I've been...and we know I'm compatible with Hadji, not that it matters...so they figure…""Blair." Jim tightened his grip. "Listen to me. It won't come to that. It won't." Jim took a deep breath. "Blair. I promised...I promised Ink I'd protect you. It was the last thing he asked me in the Drift. And...Simon knows that."Blair shoved back away from the hug in a rush of anger. "He's using Ink's death against you! What kind of – ?"Jim cut him off with a gesture. "He doesn't have a choice. None of us do." He swallowed. "Except me. And I'm making it.""I can't let you do that." Blair tried not to think about whether or not his hands were shaking. "Seriously, Jim. I mean, man. I appreciate it. But." He ran his hands through his hair. "If it's a choice between you and me…""I gave him my word, Sandburg." Jim's voice was low. Sad. Stern. "I gave him my word I would guard you in his place. You...you were important to him. And you're...you're my friend. Not just because of him. I can't…"And Blair understood. "You don't want to lose anyone else."Jim ducked his head, snorted, and looked back up, forcing levity into his voice though it didn't reach his eyes. "That idiot Quest included. Jonny's too hotheaded for you anyway. He needs someone who can keep him from trying every stupid thing he comes up with. Simon probably figures I'm the only person who can keep him in line.""Why doesn't he try Race?" Blair asked. "I know Race isn't technically a Ranger, but…"Jim gave him a flat look. "Just imagine it, Darwin. Race and Jonny. In a Jaeger. Together."Blair gulped. "Oh. Right. Yeah, no."Everyone had heard the story of what happened to the one guy on food detail who had tried something underhanded with Hadji because of his religion (or maybe it was his refusal to be a pilot, or whatever other idiotic thing he thought made it worth tampering with Hadji's food). Mysteriously, no security footage was ever found to prove it, but the guy swore up and down that Jonny and Race had done something so horrible he would rather throw himself into the jaws of the next Kaiju than stay at Cascade a minute longer. Jonny and Race both produced airtight alibis for the time in question so neither was officially disciplined. But Benton hadn't spoken to Race for three days, Hadji had temporarily bunked with Jessie instead of returning to his shared room with Jonny, and Race and Jonny had gone two weeks sharing glances of malicious glee.Race was a very calm, very capable fighter and teacher. However, if that which he held dear was threatened, he was apparently just as vengeful and wild as Jonny – with exponentially more expertise.Not a duo any sane Marshal would send up against a Kaiju bearing down on Cascade.Jim got his arm around Blair again. "I'll be fine, Sandburg. It's only temporary. And I'll go in relieved that you're not the one in the cradle next to Jonny somehow-I-make-every-situation-worse-without-even-trying Quest. I'll come back knowing I kept my promise. Okay?"Blair accepted the hug but he shook his head. "It's just wrong somehow, Jim. I don't even know how else to explain it. It feels wrong to me.""Me, too."For one moment, as stark as a lightning strike, Blair could feel the edge of a niggling thought, a possibility, a third option. But just as suddenly, it vanished.In the last couple of years, Blair had passed many evenings discussing everything possible with Benton and Hadji. The feeling that came and went so quickly reminded him of what Hadji said he regularly experienced in his own meditations. "That our world, for a moment, balanced upon a precipice, and then reeled back. That all we could have been was laid out before us, ready for the taking, but fate snatched it away before we could find it. That our future is not what it could have been." Blair hadn't really understood the full magnitude of that feeling until this instant. Now he was feeling rather a lot of it.He looked up at Jim and his heart ached for everything – for Jim, for Ink, for the world.Whatever their future was to be now, he sincerely wished fate had taken the other path instead.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Hadji found Jonny in their room with the door half open, sitting at their shared desk and looking through screen after screen of Sentinel Scream's schematics. Even though it was just as much his space, even though his was the bunk below Jonny's own, he still knocked at the door-frame.Jonny didn't even look up. "Hadj. Seriously?"Hadji entered and shut the heavy metal door behind him. "I did not wish to disturb.""When have you ever disturbed me?" Jonny smiled as he said it, though he kept his eyes on the computer for the moment.But Hadji did not answer right away. As the silence stretched between them, Jonny felt compelled to turn. He discovered that Hadji was looking at the wall, or maybe the floor – something in the corner and not where Jonny sat."Hadj?""I…"In one movement Jonny was out of the chair and facing his brother. "I assume you heard the news. Is this about me Drifting with Jim?""Yes." Hadji let out a breath before he met Jonny's eyes.Jonny hated the muddled feelings swirling in Hadji's gaze. "It's okay. Really." He managed a half-smile."It isn't." Hadji's thin hands curled into fists. "You shouldn't…" But words failed him again."Even Jessie's okay with this," Jonny said, jumping into the quiet. "Dad and Race are, too. Though I think Race is just glad he can quit having Jessie grade all the candidates looking for every single reason I can't Drift with any of them."Hadji did not respond to the attempt at humor. "Your scores do not match particularly well with Ranger Ellison's."Jonny blinked. "They're within the standard range of compatibility, though. He's an experienced pilot and he had a few other training partners before Ink, too." Jonny nudged his brother. "Come on. Isn't this better than some newbie who doesn't know what they're doing?"They were both surprised when Hadji reached out and grabbed Jonny in a rough hug."It is better, even I must admit. But...still. I fear that things are not as they should be."Jonny marveled at how his brother could sound so prim and cultured and be almost shaking in his arms. "I know. But it's only temporary. And then it'll be me and Jess and everything will be fine."If anything, Hadji held on more tightly. Then, all at once, he backed away, though their arms remained entwined. He peered into Jonny's eyes with a sort of desperation Jonny hadn't seen in him since Hadji had been an orphan starving on the streets of Calcutta."Ask me to Drift with you, my brother."Jonny almost swallowed his tongue. He had to try twice to make his voice work. "W-what?""Ask me to Drift with you, Jonny. And I will."Jonny recoiled, shoving against Hadji and breaking his hold. "No! No way! I'm not going back on my promise just because this isn't what we expected!"Hadji frowned. "The terms of your vow are now moot. They no longer apply.""Yes, they do!" Jonny had to haul in a deep breath, not quite sure when his head had started to spin. "We promised – no matter what! And I…" He ducked his head and ran his suddenly-damp fingers through his hair. "I'm not going to let you do this, Hadji. And I'm definitely not going to be the one to do it to you.""Jonny…""Stop it." Jonny looked up and crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm not doing it. And if you try to pull something to prevent the test run or try to take Jim's place, I'll make sure dad and Race know why they need to stop you from doing it."Hadji looked as though he had been punched, his eyes wide and betrayed. The next moment, he drew himself upright, folding his arms close to his sides like a soldier."Very well." And Hadji turned and left the room.Jonny wished Hadji had slammed the door. He was half-tempted to slam it himself. The resounding thud would be soothing after his brother's abrupt coldness. But then, Hadji had never really reacted to things with that kind of impulsive heat. Instead, when beaten and hurt, he shut down and turned inward as if bracing for an endless fall of blows.Jonny had always hated that he didn't know where that instinct came from. He knew Hadji's early childhood had bred it, knew those hard years alone had taught his brother to prepare to endure pain in silence without reprieve, but he didn't know the specifics. And he never would.That was just one of so many tiny ways Hadji held a part of himself back from Jonny and always had. Their closeness, their connection, it only went so far. Farther than most others outside of a Drift, sure. But then it hit a wall that was hard and solid which Hadji had never relented no matter what. Normally, Jonny didn't mind that – he figured that was Hadji's way of protecting himself and he was glad to support anything that defended Hadji's heart against more pain. But sometimes that distance felt not like necessary self-preservation, but rather a void between them where something better should have been.Jonny wondered if it made Hadji's chest feel cold the way his did right now.But he returned to his desk and forced himself to stare at the schematics again.
I'm sorry, Hadji. But if this is the only way I can keep my promise and protect you, then I will. You can be mad at me, but at least I know you'll be okay.
-==OOO==-The usual chaos that heralded the launch of a Jaeger was familiar and soothing as Benton strode along the highest walkway in the hangar. Technically, he should have been up in the command post already, monitoring one of the LOCCENT stations as the dormant Sentinel Scream was slowly returned to life. But he knew Simon would understand his need to be here instead; Benton wasn't surprised that no familiar summons had come over the loudspeakers for him to get to his post already.He was even less surprised to find Race waiting for him at the last junction of the walkway."Hiya, Doc."Benton smiled at his oldest and most trusted friend. "Now, Race. Don't tell me you're worried.""Hey, I won't tell if you don't." Race flicked a small smile at him.Benton stopped and looked out over the vast Jaeger rising up from the ground like a metal marionette. Some new Jaegers were being built with removable Conn-Pods for the sake of an easier repair on the sensitive components that surrounded the feedback cradle, but Sentinel Scream was all one behemoth, looming and solid. A walkway had been stretched to the approximate position of an Adam's apple (if the Jaeger had been human) where a lighted opening was the only way in or out of Scream's Pod."He'll be fine," Race said, stepping to Benton's side and following his gaze. "He's done more simulations than half the Rangers in service. He's helped update every inch of Scream's OS and half the hardware. If it couldn't be Questor, Scream is the best place for him.""I know." Benton closed his eyes. "And I trust Jim to take care of him.""And this is just a training run." Race put a hand on his shoulder. "They'll take a walk around the bay and come back. No surprises today."That made Benton look across at Race and shake his head. "You know as well as I do that you can't ever assume that around this family."Race chuckled. "True. But the kid can handle it." He squeezed Benton's shoulder. "Can you?""I thought I would be ready." Benton spoke in the direction of Sentinel Scream. "I thought having a few years to perfect Questor Storm would mean by the time Jonny was actually going to pilot we'd have figured out a way to keep him safe. Maybe even put a stop to the Kaiju once and for all.""I get it. You don't wanna send your kid out into a war."Benton finally turned. "Do you?"Race shook his head. "No. Either of them. But...we can't stop them now, Doc. And those kids...they might be able to do what no one else can and figure out a way to kill these things without putting anyone else at risk. That's why we walked into this mess in the first place."Benton let out a breath. "I just...I can't help but wonder if my willingness to enter into this war will end with my son paying the price for my decision.""You can't think like that. You have to let him do what he's gonna do and you have to be ready to back him up. He's your kid, but he's also a Ranger. And a damn good one. Let him be that." Race gave Benton a gentle shake. "And start doing what you should be doing."Benton huffed, resigning himself. "Trying to get rid of me?"But Race frowned. "No. Trying to get you onto a mystery I can't crack."Benton raised an eyebrow."What's wrong with this picture, Doc? Jonny's gonna be comin' up that elevator any second for his first live test in a real Jaeger and his first Drift outside of training. Jessie's back in command, probably getting ready to watch the Drift monitors like a hawk. Who's missing?"Benton blinked."I haven't seen Hadji all day. Have you?""No." Benton frowned. "He could be helping Jonny into the drive-suit.""Yeah, he could. But he isn't. And you know what's even weirder?""What's that?""Jim hsan't seen Blair, either."Benton opened his mouth but stopped at the sound of the elevator appearing on their level. He turned just as Jonny and Jim emerged and stomped towards the Conn-Pod, the metal walkway ringing under their heavy, armored feet.Jonny spotted his dad and Race watching him and grinned. He even managed to wave entirely normally, if a little more slowly than usual. "Thanks for coming to see me off! Assuming I can even get into the cradle in all this stuff!"Beside him, Jim walked as though wearing a third of his his weight in an armored drive-suit was no different from wearing jeans and a cotton shirt. "No matter what, you're hitting the weight room when we're done here if you're already tired." But there was a smile in his eyes.Jonny got caught between looking affronted and amused. "Tired? No way!""Then let's move it, Quest."The pair entered the Conn-Pod. Jonny immediately moved to the left-hand side, leaving the right for Jim. Though there was theoretically no difference between the sides, by tradition the more senior pilot took the right. That was also the person who was more likely to be making strategic decisions in the moment, and the one the Marshal was more likely to yell at if things went wrong. Jonny was just as glad to leave all that to Jim.Just like in the simulator, he put his feet into the motion-rig clamps that sat beneath the cradle. As soon as they closed over his boots and locked in, the control arm behind him lowered, affixing itself to the pack on his back. The arm took some of his weight, and Jonny tugged at one foot experimentally. It didn't shift an inch – Sentinel Scream wouldn't be operational until both pilots were locked in and their Drift was steady – but he could sense the give of the entire system, the giant that would soon move on his command."Breathe." Jim said it so softly Jonny didn't think even the comms would pick it up. He glanced over.Jim settled into his control arm as though born to it, a piece of the machinery itself and just as steady and strong. Though he hadn't ridden a Jaeger since Ink's death, he moved into position with an automatic certainty time could not have erased.Jonny took a deep breath, the sour scent of the neural gas as familiar as chalk and pencil lead after so many training runs. He still didn't entirely understand the biochemistry of how the yellow stuff in his lungs made his brain more open to the Drift, but brain science was definitely not his strongest subject. That was for his father and Hadji.Jonny made himself take another breath at the thought of his brother. He thought he understood why Hadji felt the way he did, honestly, but he still wished he was here. He wished Hadji had come to send him off.Speaking of send-offs, Benton and Race appeared to his left."Now, keep to your training," Race said. "Don't fight the Drift and try not to get lost. Let Jim show you how it works and stay in the present with him.""Got it."Benton patted his shoulder – Jonny could barely feel it, but he understood the sentiment. "And don't be afraid to stop the test if you need to. Most Rangers take a few tries before they can complete the sequence. Drifting is hard enough without hauling a Jaeger around the coastal shelf.""Okay, dad."Benton looked like he was about to say something else, but he stopped as the Pod crew came aboard, all bustling around to make sure every connection and linkage between the pilots and the Jaeger were in place. Benton let Race pull him backwards, watching a dozen techs bustle around Jim and Jonny while making tiny adjustments to lock the pair into place."Be safe, son," Benton said softly.In spite of all the activity, Jonny heard him. He looked up and smiled behind his visor. "I will. Promise."Race turned to Jim. "You take care of our kid, Ellison."Jim nodded, his expression calm and focused. "We'll be fine." Then he shifted his attention to Benton. "Doctor Quest?""Yes, Jim?""Will you do me a favor?"Benton didn't need Jim to explain – Race had already told him enough. "We'll talk to him," Benton promised."Thanks."The screens in Sentinel Scream began to light up as LOCCENT started the activation procedures. A moment later, Simons's voice came over the intercom."Doctor Quest, if you're still in there, you need to be up here. Bannon, you clear out,too."Benton gave his son one last long look and a wave before Race drew him back down the walkway. But as Benton moved towards the elevator, Race broke off."Race?""You get to work or Simon'll have our hides. I'll track down the boys."Benton flashed him a smile. Race wasn't particularly close friends with Blair, but he was a good man and had been a soldier for a long time. If Blair was struggling with memories of his own lost friend, Race would know how to handle him well enough. And though Race had never formally adopted Hadji as Benton had, he was as much another parent to Hadji as Benton himself. Race could be brusque and uninclined to talk about his feelings, but he never failed to help the three children he counted as his own navigate theirs. Benton felt sure that the two of them could not be in better hands.And he really did have to get to his station or risk Simon's ire.Benton exchanged a wave with Race and strode into the elevator. He could only catch the slightest glimpse inside of the Conn-Pod as the doors closed.
Rachel, I hope you would understand. I know I'm sending our son into a machine that could easily shred his mind and overload his entire neural system. But this is our world now, and this is the way Jonny has chosen to fight. I hope you'd forgive me for the risk I'm letting him take.

But if you were still with us, if you were here right now…

Who am I kidding? You'd be right beside him instead of Jim.

Oh, I wish you were.
-==OOO==-The advantage of a shatterdome's sheer size was that it was relatively easy to find any number of tiny corners and hidden spots in which to avoid people. Blair, due to being of a reasonable height for a person – unlike Jim and Simon and Race and just about every other gigantic alpha male around – could creep into little nooks and shadows bypassed by everyone else when he wanted some privacy.Though it did seem as though there were three people who could ferret him out without fail every time they came looking: Jim, because he knew Blair too well (and Ink had known those spots once, too), Jonny, who'd learned all those hidey-holes himself and methodically checked each one, and Hadji who just seemed to know not just when Blair was hiding, but precisely where.As now, when Hadji ducked under the low-hanging insulation and moved to sit on the threadbare rug at Blair's side.This particular spot was one of Blair's most frequent retreats, and the one known to almost nobody – Jim and Jonny and Hadji notwithstanding. It was a supply closet, supposedly, but it had been almost entirely concealed behind piles of construction supplies that had been abandoned back when the 'dome was completed. Everything useful had been repurposed long ago, leaving only stacks of water-damaged plywood, pieces of crates, torn reams of insulation, and sheets of warped drywall in an untidy back corner of a distant hangar. The had area also acquired other kinds of leftover junk – tables from the mess broken beyond repair, half a desk (the rest of which had been disintegrated by an ill-planned experiment in K-Science), and other bits and pieces. Things that might be useful someday so they had not been thrown out, but things couldn't actually be used as they were.It was, Blair felt, a depressing if sometimes-accurate metaphor for himself.Blair had found the closet his first week in in the 'dome while rooting through the piles for some wood to whittle – a habit he and Ink both shared. Since then, he'd dragged some of the more-salvageable junk into the closet and added various pieces picked up on the outside. A few dumpster carpets and roadside armchairs made the small space almost homey, and a string of sometimes-blinking twinkle lights cast a soft glow over the posters and pictures he'd pinned to the walls.The room reminded him of one of his college dorms, from the worn furniture to the smell of dust and rain, and it made him feel equal parts nostalgic and regretful. It had been a different world then. And Blair had been a different person.He missed them both rather a lot right now.Hadji did not speak upon entering Blair's place, nor did he ask permission to sit. He had a standing invitation to be here, and, truthfully, Blair wouldn't have denied him. Who else could understand his feelings right now but the other person not in Sentinel Scream preparing to Drift?When Blair reached out a hand, he was grateful beyond words that Hadji mirrored the gesture and clasped his cold fingers with warm ones."They'll be okay," Blair said, and even he didn't know if he was saying so or asking.Hadji squeezed Blair's hand.Even here, they could hear the loudspeaker ring out as Simon began the usual procedures, broadcasted to the entire shatterdome so everyone and anyone could react if necessary."Stand by for Sentinel Scream activation."Blair was sure Hadji's pulse sped up the same way his did."I wonder."Blair looked over at Hadji, and he was shocked at how torn and wretched his young friend seemed. Blair himself was nervous, and was feeling rather guilty, but Hadji appeared to be devastated."Wonder what?"Hadji pressed his lips together before he let out a breath. "Perhaps nothing.""It's not nothing." Blair gave a slight tug to Hadji's hand. "Come on. Tell me now." Before it's too late.Hadji turned and his dark eyes burned with every emotion from panic to blazing certainty."Tell me this, Blair Sandburg. Do you feel it? The wrongness?"Blair felt his mouth go dry and could only nod.Hadji nodded too. "As do I. What it is...well. I suppose there is no purpose in my putting words to it in this moment. Either I am incorrect, and thus you shall need no explanation. Or…""Or?" Blair felt a twist in his chest."Or I am correct. And it will not be necessary to explain.""Why not? If you know what this is…""Because." Hadji shut his eyes and shivered. "If I am correct, there will only be one possible path forward." His head dipped and his voice dropped to a near whisper."And I shall be forced to break my most sacred promise."Blair opened his mouth to say something, anything, but froze."Initiating neural handshake in ten...nine...eight…"All the tightness in Blair's chest erupted with cold as if he'd been stabbed. He clung to Hadji's hand hard enough to bruise; Hadji gripped him back just as tightly."Oh god, Jim.""...seven...six...five...four…"Hadji let out a wordless sound of grief."...three...two...one. Neural handshake is a go."

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"Initiating neural handshake in ten...nine...eight…"Jim took a deep breath, bracing himself. He glanced across to Jonny. "Remember kid. Don't try to hold onto it. Let the memories go. Don't think about them if you can help it.""Right."He was pleased that Jonny sounded composed. He knew Jonny had Drifted with Jessie in training at the Academy, and he'd run plenty of AI simulations. This wasn't his first time plugging his mind into someone else's.But it wasn't exactly something that ever felt normal, either."...seven...six...five...four…"Jim brought his own mind to quiet, a discipline he had gained during his time Drifting with an exceptionally serene mind in which he locked down everything that was potentially distracting or irrelevant.But he couldn't stop one stray thought from breaking through the cracks to blaze at the last moment.
I hope Blair's okay.
"...three...two...one. Neural handshake is a go."-==OOO==-Benton couldn't bring himself to sit still at his usual LOCCENT station, so he leaned over where Jessie perched near the neural bridge monitor. They both had to stay out of Yuki's way; the J-Tech on shift in command moved like a rabbit between consoles without ever taking his eyes off any of the most critical readings.The computer's voice sounded. "Right hemisphere calibrated.""Looks good," Jessie breathed.The remote monitoring system flared and the graphics appeared for two brains side-by-side. Various areas were lit up with colors as the pair of images coalesced into one. There was only a slight hesitation before the alignment finished."Left hemisphere calibrated.""Neural handshake at one-hundred percent," Yuki said."Excellent." Simon was watching out the picture window at where Sentinel Scream was beginning to activate fully now that it had both pilots entering Drift to support the neural load. In any other outing by a Jaeger, Simon would already be issuing orders for the bay to open and the helicopters to prepare to lift the city's enormous defender out into the surf. But this was only a test and he wanted to give Jim and Jonny time to adjust.Over the comms came a few disjointed lines, half-verbalized thoughts that reflected only a portion of what was happening in the Drift itself."Easy, kid. Take your time.""I feel the – ""Ride it. Don't dive.""Whoa, seriously?"Simon couldn't help but chuckle at Jonny's sudden exclamation. He sounded impressed, and very amused."Like you're one to talk."Oh, I definitely don't want to know, Simon decided. Plausible deniability is good for everyone.Jessie sat bolt upright. "Wait!""What is it?" Simon turned. Jessie and Benton both looked tense, staring at the Pons neural bridge display."It's gone now," Benton said without even glancing up. "But there was something…""The readings are stable," Yuki said. "The Drift is a little on the wobbly side overall, but they were never incredibly compatible to begin with. It should hold after some practice."Jessie wrinkled her forehead. "I've never seen a spike like that before.""It's not that uncommon for there to be a few weird readings at first, especially in tests," Yuki told her. He gave her a wink. "You'll probably have a few of your own your first time out."Jessie gave him a small nod. "As long as it's normal, I guess it's okay." But she looked up at Benton. "Right?"Benton let out a breath. "It is normal." He patted her shoulder. "I don't like it either, but it doesn't mean anything's wrong at this stage. They're just...figuring each other out."Jessie made herself sigh. "Good luck with that. I've been in Jonny's head. Trust me – it's weird.""I'd expect nothing else from a Quest," Simon said.-==OOO==-
Daddy, why are you crying?

Stevie! Where are you?

Jonny, I told you a hundred times!

But I really did see him!

My name is Hadji.

If you leave, don't you ever think about coming back!

Don't worry, my friend. I am here.

Ellison reporting for duty.

C'mon! We gotta save dad and Race!
The childhood feelings and memories began to settle in the back of Jonny's head – his own and Jim's mixed and mingled like a cartoon mashup commercial. He remembered his training and didn't look too deeply at any of them, no matter how tempting.But Jim's father...was he really…?
Don't, Jonny. Stay with me.

Right.
Jonny tried to think about what he could see and feel with his body in the here-and-now, not what was tantalizingly close and more than a little interesting. Sentinel Scream was full of light and sound, the displays running diagnostics that came back green and ready. Jonny took a deep breath.
Just like Hadji taught me. Calm and centered.
He could feel Jim breathing with him.
Blair and Ink taught me the same thing. Now let's give this a try.
Their bodies twitched together. When they moved, it was just like a dozen times in the Kwoon Combat Room when they had sparred during the days between having any new Rangers hanging around Cascade. Jim was head and shoulders taller than Jonny, but they had always made good partners regardless. Jim was strong and confident, Jonny was wily and quick, and they maintained a sort of balance between them.Sentinel Scream lifted its right arm.
Yeah! We can do this! I'm piloting a Jaeger!

You moved an arm. One thing at a time, kid. Don't get ahead of yourself.
Jim's patience pulled at Jonny's enthusiasm, bleeding it between them across the neural load that felt like the edge of a migraine waiting to fall.Sentinel Scream lifted its left arm."How're you doing in there, gentlemen?" came Simon's voice. It seemed very, very loud to Jonny, hearing it through Scream and Jim and his own ears, too."Doing fine," Jim said. Jonny wasn't sure if he'd said it along with Jim or not. He was glad Jim was making sure to vocalize. Jonny didn't know how to talk through two mouths yet.
Relax. Don't lose track of yourself. You're in my head, not my body.

I think Hadji and Blair would argue the philosophy of that.

Probably.
A wash of determination hit them both at the same time, both of their feelings heightened by the other.
I'll protect him, I promise. Just don't die! Ink! Hang on!

I don't understand, but I don't have to. If you can't do it, I'll make sure you never have to. Okay, Hadj?

Protect.

Fight the Kaiju.

Protect the city.

Protect Blair.

Protect Hadji.
"Stay with me, kid."Jonny felt the ice from Jim's heart pierce the haze of powerful, defensive feelings. "R-right.""Jim?" Simon asked."We're okay, sir. Ready to proceed.""All right. You know the drill. Just a circuit around the bay, enough to make sure the Drift holds through some basic maneuvers. Step outside the Miracle Mile and I'll dock your pay."
We get paid?
Jim flashed with amusement at him and repeated the question to Simon. "We get paid?""Very funny, Ranger. All right. Open the bay doors. Sentinel Scream is going for a walk."Jonny flexed his hands, feeling Jim and the Jaeger echo the feeling.
Hold still. If you tip us off the launch platform, Simon'll kill us.

I hate standing still.

Me too.
Jonny wanted to run in the surf as the massive Sentinel Scream. He wanted to see the city through Scream's cameras, wanted to read its signatures through the virtual displays. He wanted it so badly he could taste it. The simulator was nothing compared to the reality of actually being plugged into a Jaeger, like possessing a titan or an ancient god."Sentinel Scream ready for launch," Jim said, keeping all his agreement and amusement inside the Drift."Step down at will. And Jim? Don't break it. Or the kid.""Roger."And they began to move.-==OOO==-Race heard the crash of metal on stone as Sentinel Scream stepped onto the broad landing-area outside the main bay doors. A moment later, a splash signified the first entry into the water. A cheer immediately followed as the many techs gathered in the launch bay started to celebrate. Launching Scream after so long was a triumph, and it fixed a wound that had been open since the Jaeger's last fight.They shouldn't be missing this. He turned to try a new hidey-hole, hoping to find either Blair or Hadji – both of whom were proving as elusive as a snipe. They should be here watching this.Race turned away from where it seemed like everyone in the 'dome was monitoring Sentinel Scream's launch and headed towards the storage areas. He didn't know exactly where either of those two went when they disappeared back here, but he'd seen them come out of this corridor often enough.He turned a corner and practically ran them over."Hadji!" Race's reflexes, honed by years of work protecting the Quest family from danger, not only saved him from crashing into the pair, but also gave him the chance to catch Hadji, who looked fit to faint. "Blair! What's going on?""Jim!" Blair's face was pale, his big eyes bigger than ever and loaded with fear. "Race, it's Jim!"Race hauled Hadji closer and gripped his shoulders, all but holding the young Indian man up. "Hadji? Are you okay?""Race." Hadji latched onto Race's forearms with fingers that shook. "Race, you must...you must help us.""Help you what?""Abort." Blair grabbed onto Race, too, and Race had to shift to keep him from pulling them all to the ground. "Race, abort the test! Now!""Why? What's wrong?"Hadji hung his head. "Everything. Everything is wrong."-==OOO==-Jim and Jonny fell into the easy rhythm of the Kwoon Combat Room as they moved Sentinel Scream out into the harbor. They breathed together and shifted together, their feet rising and falling together in the one body of the Jaeger. Aside from the occasional stray thought, the Drift settled into silence between them.The quiet between heartbeats became the quiet of their minds – so focused, little else could intrude."That's far enough," Jim said, though his intent rang clear enough in the Drift. They were beyond the need to verbalize between themselves – but Jonny was reassured by hearing it. And, Jim knew, so was Simon back at LOCCENT, though he wouldn't admit it.A trickle of nervousness wound through the Drift.
You've done this at least twice a day for years. You know this. Stay with me.

I'm with you, Jim.
Sentinel Scream widened its stance and bent its knees. Its arms moved out and up before folding inward and ending with two fists aligned at the knuckles.
Here we go.
The steps of the training routine were a dance and a habit, as familiar as tying shoes. Together, they moved very slowly, letting each sweeping block and sharp punch take its time to settle in the joints of the Jaeger.It was only in the Drift that Jim and Jonny could now feel the tiny differences that were imperceptible at human-size and were obvious at Jaeger-size.
Focus a little more weight on the left foot. Sentinel's center of mass is a lot higher up.

I noticed, thanks.

Then stop noticing and start correcting. You're pulling us into your bad habits.

I thought you were the senior Ranger, Jim. Shouldn't you be overriding me?

I don't think anything can override a stubborn Quest.

Nope! Well, except maybe an even stubborner Quest.

Jessie better heal up quick. She'll put you in your place for sure.

Oh, probably.
Sentinel Scream came out of a low kick turned towards the open sea.
Jim?
Pain flooded into the Drift.
It's just like…
And Jim was lost in the past.-==OOO==-
I don't think I like fighting these things in daylight. You can see how ugly they are.

Jim. Focus.

I am focused.

Only you can be so flippant and so dedicated at once. It is truly a unique skill.

Thanks, Ink.

I am not certain that was a compliment. Jim! The left!

I got it!

Fire! Fire again!

Ink! No!

Remember, my friend.

You'll be okay. We're almost done.

I will...not fail you.

No, and you won't die either. Just hang on.

Your spirit is strong, Jim. Stronger than mine. As strong as my father foresaw.

Now who isn't focusing?

My apologies.

It's okay. Just do whatever you gotta to stay alive while I tear this thing apart!

Jim. Remember. You must remember.

I don't have to remember. You're not going anywhere. You'll remind me of whatever it is.

Remember today. I know you do not understand. But remember what I said. Remember how to find your true power. Remember how to find yourself.

Ink, stay with me, buddy.

I will be with you, Jim. I will watch over you and I will wait until you can see me again.

INK, DON'T YOU DARE DIE.

Promise me, Jim. Promise me you will protect Blair. Protect him in my place.

He doesn't need protecting.

He needs you.

Whatever. I'll promise anything you want. Just DO NOT DIE.

Vow it, Sentinel. Vow that you will guard Blair and you will let him guide you.

Anything. I promise. Okay? I'll protect him, I promise. Just don't die! Ink! Hang on!

Remember, Jim…
"Good morning, Jim. Did you wish to join me for breakfast?"Jim slammed into Ink's room and roughly kicked the door shut "No. We have to talk."Ink smiled, his brown face wide and flat and nearly identical to that of his father in the one picture from Peru he kept beside his bed. All the other pictures filling the space were of Ink and Blair, and a few now of Ink and Jim – those mostly taken by Blair."Please, sit."Jim settled onto the nearest thing – a perch against Ink's desk, and folded his arms. "What's going on?"Ink blinked at him. "I do not know what you mean.""Yeah, you do." Jim glared. "It's one thing being in your head in a Jaeger. I don't need it out here, too.""You will have to give me more to go on if I am to understand you." But there was a light in Ink's eyes, amused and impish.It only added to Jim's frustration. "You and I both know that you control the Drift. The PPDC, hell, even Benton Quest doesn't think it can be done. But you do it. Nothing comes across unless you let it." He frowned. "I do not like being manipulated, Ink. Least of all by my partner.""In what way do you believe I have manipulated you?""You've been lying to me."Ink tipped his head. "About what, exactly?""Sandburg!" Jim unfolded his arms so he could grip the edge of the desk and lean forward. "What aren't you telling me?""I don't know. Why don't you tell me so I may inform you?"Jim grit his teeth until his jaw hurt, only then opening it. "I dreamed last night. I saw you. I saw him. I saw a jungle. Which, honestly, I don't care. Where you two go on your weekends off is none of my business."Ink nodded and waited."Except you told him that he…""That what, Jim?" And Ink was all sharp perception and dangerous calm. The hunter who could catch fish and birds with his bare hands. The warrior whose memories included shed blood that was not all Kaiju Blue."You told him that I was what he's been searching for. That I would make him whole." Jim scowled darkly. "You promising my hand in marriage or something?""No." Ink shook his head. "And if you lack the insight to see what should be obvious, perhaps you are too lost in this world of madness to understand at all. But Blair is less lost than you, though more than he should be.""What the hell does that mean?""It means that I have made a grave error." Ink faced Jim evenly, chin raised and expression composed. "I have done what I thought was right, but my intent was not equal to my task. I have stood in a place which is rightly Blair's."Jim blinked. "You're kidding me.""I have never been so serious, Jim. You are a worthy partner and a noble friend, but you should never have been mine as you are. You are Blair's and he is yours. And in my attempt to help you find yourselves, I have in fact become another wall to divide you.""First of all, Sandburg's all right, but he's no soldier. That kid shouldn't ever be anywhere near the inside of a real Jaeger, let alone an actual fight. And second of all, you're out of your mind if you think I want that little hippie in my head.""And this is the problem." Ink sighed. "Distance has grown your antagonism where friendship and loyalty should be. The fault is very much mine."Ink stood and faced Jim, their equal heights putting them eye-to-eye with mere inches of margin between them."You are a strong pilot, Jim. But you could be much more. Your true power, however, can only be unlocked by one such as Blair. My skills are not great enough. You will only ever find yourself when you let go of your understanding of yourself and broaden it to include another.""To include Blair Sandburg?""Yes.""Not happening.""And for this reason, you are less than you should be. And so is he." Ink looked away. "I will have to consider how to correct this. I had hoped that giving you a touch of insight would help you find your way to your true path, but it has only closed your mind. Perhaps something else will help you see."Jim grabbed his arm. "I don't need to see anything. You're my copilot. Blair is your friend and he's an okay guy. That's all. The rest of this is…""Do not." Ink pulled his arm out of Jim's hand. "Do not speak against me now. Be silent if you must, but do not fight me. It will only make agreement longer to come and more painfully won.""There is no chance I'll – ""I said stop."Jim leaned close to Ink's face. "You better quit trying to play matchmaker between me and your hairy little buddy, Ink. Or I'll tell Simon I think you're due for a full psych eval."Ink didn't so much as flinch. "Perhaps that would be worth any loss of face. For then you would have no other viable partner but Blair and you would finally see.""All I wanna see is your butt in the Kwoon Combat Room. We'll settle this like Rangers."He was halfway out the door when he heard Ink reply."No Jim. We will settle this as Sent...in Sentinel."-==OOO==-"Ellison? Quest? Report." Simon frowned at the various readings. "You're still in alignment but the indicators are getting pretty strange."Silence from Sentinel Scream."Are they okay?" Jessie wanted to know."I think so," Yuki said. "That's a seriously strong Drift they've got going now. Maybe they're just working on reducing bleed-through.""Still." Benton felt a knot of anxiety rise in his chest. "There's something about this I really don't like. Something feels wrong."-==OOO==-
Kaiju.

Danger.

Threat to my territory.

Must protect. Must fight.

Seek. Destroy. Defend.
Sentinel Scream broke from its motionlessness. It turned away from Cascade and began walking out onto the continental shelf."Ranger Ellison! Come in! I did not clear you to break the Miracle Mile. Where the hell do you think you're going?"
Protect the territory. Find the intruders. Hunt.
"Sentinel Scream, you are not authorized to head out there! Turn back right now!"
No.
"Scramble our helicopters! Get them out there before they get too deep. Lasso that Jaeger like a cow if you have to!"
Danger to the territory. Danger to that which must be protected.

Fight. Destroy.

Protect.
-==OOO==-"Dammit, Jim! Respond! That's an order!" Simon was barking into the microphone with unconcealed rage.Another transmission came in. "Marshal! The choppers can't get a lock – Scream's moving too fast for the lines to connect.""How long until they're totally submerged?" Simon shouted."Estimate thirty minutes.""They're not locked for underwater combat!" came a shout from one of the other monitoring stations. "Repeat – Sentinel Scream is not sealed for underwater. If they submerge, they'll drown!""What's happening?" Benton was out of his chair and practically leaning against Yuki at the Pons console."I don't know." Yuki typed furiously, pulling up the system diagnostics. "I've never seen this before. They're still Drifting and they're still in alignment.""It's like they're both chasing a RABIT together," Jessie said.Benton stared at her. "You're exactly right. That's what this is.""Then stop them!" Simon crowded in to loom over them all. "Shut down whatever you have to!""I am!" Yuki's eyes flicked across the screen. "But after they left the 'dome, Scream was no longer hard-wired into LOCCENT. I can't override the pilots' control from here without risking a neural overload that could kill them both. I can't even force the underwater seals to engage!""Benton!" Race charged into the room. "They okay?""No." Benton's voice was cold and thin, but masterfully calm in spite of his obvious fear. "They're in extreme danger and there's little we can do for them.""Father."Benton turned at the quiet, slightly-tremulous word he so rarely heard from his adopted son; somehow it carried over all the cacophony and cut through the panic like a blade. Hadji and Blair stood just inside the door, shoulder-to-shoulder. Blair was as white as a sheet and Hadji's dark eyes were huge. But there was conviction there, too, and courage in the both of them.As small and fragile as they both seemed, Benton sensed they were marshalling the power to stand against a hurricane – and win."You got something?" Simon looked to Blair and Hadji and felt equal parts dread and hope."Yes." Blair took a few steps forward, Hadji matching his stride. "Send us out in Questor Storm. We'll bring them back.""Send you?""Father." Hadji met Benton's eyes. "We can do this. In fact, we must do this. We are both Rangers. We are more Drift-compatible than you can possibly imagine. And only when we stand before the Sentinel as one will we be able to reach them."Race had heard this much on the way up, so he was able to speak where everyone else was struck silent with shock. "What makes you so sure this'll work?"Blair met his gaze evenly with a faraway sort of certainty."Because we know this is the only way we can ever reach what was always supposed to be."

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"Sandburg."Blair turned, not entirely surprised to see Simon Banks bearing down on him. "Marshal?""You sure you know what you're doing?"The question, so sharply asked, surprised a laugh out of Blair's tight throat. "I'd say 'sure' is a strong word – but I guess I'm doing it anyway.""You know we could all get court-martialed for this." Simon stopped just shy of Blair's personal space and crossed his arms. "Sending out a pair of untested pilots in an untested Jaeger? Might as well throw you at a Kaiju from a slingshot.""I know. But if we don't want to lose Jim and Jonny or Sentinel Scream, there's no choice. Another team can't get here that fast." Blair shifted the helmet in his hands, feeling its weight."Listen." Simon's expression softened. As much as he was their Marshal, as much as he stood as the final voice of command to defend Cascade and this part of the continent from Kaiju, Simon still cared greatly for his people and they knew it – even if he would sooner die than admit it. "You don't have to go. Either of you.""The only person who could stop Hadji is Benton," Blair said, "and if he can't, you never will. Hadji's going to bring Jonny home or die trying.""But what about you?"Blair gulped. "I...I have to do this. I have to...I have to bring Jim home.""Blair. If this is about Ink…""It is and it isn't." Blair let out a breath. "I do miss him. I miss him so bad it hurts. But...I know he'd want me to do this." Blair swallowed thickly. "Ink always thought...I should try being Jim's copilot. Even just once. But I never…""I understand." Simon put a hand on Blair's shoulder, the outer layer of drive-suit armor already warming from Blair's own body. "If you can't hack it, tell me now. I'll send someone else with Hadji."Blair shook his head. "Marshal...Simon...trust me." He managed a shaky grin. "You don't want anybody else hearing what's in Hadji's head right now. You'd send him for an eval so fast, it'd break the sound barrier."Simon's eyebrows went up. "Should I be concerned?""Not about this. I mean, not about us doing this." Blair straightened his shoulders and raised his head; even with the height difference, Simon could feel that it was the once-anthropologist who was truly in command in this moment. "We're the only ones who can. We need to do this. I just...need you to trust me. Okay?""You're a lot of things, Sandburg. Most of 'em some kind of pain in the neck. But I do trust you to do what you think is best. And it usually works out even if it shouldn't." Simon nodded. "Okay. Go get our boys and get them back in here in one piece.""Yes, sir.""And afterwards, you're gonna tell me what's really going on here."Blair flinched. "You're not going to like it.""I expect not. Dismissed, Ranger Sandburg."Blair absorbed the use of his rank and settled it in his chest before he continued his walk to Questor Storm with his head up and his jaw set – and Simon wondered if anyone else could see how very much the kid looked like Jim when he set his mind to something.
Hopefully that will be enough to reach Jim and bring him home. If not, God help us, we could lose them all today.
-==OOO==-The Questor Storm laboratory was perched just above where that Jaeger had stood under construction for so long, a wide window open to the chest-plate behind which hummed the nuclear engine at its heart. The laboratory was always perfectly ordered, every screen ablaze, every station clean.Today, it was slightly more chaotic."This would be easier if you were actually in the prep area." Race grunted as he slammed the last connection home to assemble the final piece of Hadji's drive-suit."I apologize for the inconvenience." But even as he said it, Hadji was still working with the holo-display of his usual station, finalizing the last-minute adjustments that should have waited until Jessie's leg was healed.Jessie sat typing furiously beside Benton. "At least up here you're close to the Conn-Pod.""Yes. It will be a matter of moments between completion and preparation to launch."Benton finished his own task and spun away from his screen, stepping towards Hadji with a face both pale and tense. "Hadji. My son. You don't have to do this."Hadji regarded him evenly. "Yes, father. I do.""Okay, kiddo. Time for the neural net." Race looked at Hadji's head. "I'm sorry.""It is a worthy sacrifice." Hadji reached up and quickly unwrapped his turban, revealing the keski he wore underneath when he might risk dirtying the dastar turban of his faith. The keski was a thin piece of cloth that kept his hair contained and clean even when the turban went askew – and had the advantage of being small enough and tightly-bound enough to fit under the full drive-suit's thinking cap."Doctor Quest." Hadji folded his turban and held it out reverently. "Please keep this for me until I return.""Hadji." Benton's eyes filled with tears. He accepted the turban with both hands and tucked it into the inner pocket of his jacket. Then, heedless of the hard edges of the drive-suit, he put his arms around his adopted son and held him. "Please be safe. Questor Storm's Pons system hasn't been authorized for a full Drift yet. And you've never… Anything could happen.""Only one thing shall happen, sir," Hadji said, letting himself be held and leaning his forehead on his father's shoulder. "I shall find my brother and I shall lead him home.""Just don't forget to watch out for yourself, either." Jessie's voice had gone tight. "I'm worried about Jonny, too, but...we can't lose both of you.""You will lose neither of us. Trust me in this." Hadji straightened up and faced his family. "Though it is possible our path will veer once more after this is done.""Pilots report to Questor Storm. Jaeger activation to commence at once.""Hadji." Benton held his son's gaze. "I have to get up to LOCCENT. I'm so sorry I can't be with you.""We are always where we are meant to be," Hadji said. "And you shall be with me at any distance measurable by man, for you are within me.""We all are," Jessie said. She left her station and hobbled to face him. "I'm just...sorry. This is my fault.""No, Jessie." Race put an arm around her. "It's nobody's fault." He shifted his gaze to Hadji. "You sure you're ready to Drift? Even though…"Hadji nodded. "I am as ready as I could ever be. And readier still because the need is great. For this, I can do much.""Hadji," came Simon's voice, "unless you're backing out, you have to move now."Hadji looked at his family one last time, then ducked his head as if in a tiny bow. "Thank you for your indulgence and your kindness. I will not let you down."-==OOO==-
Motion.

Something is wrong.

Find the wrongness. Destroy it.

Protect.
Sentinel Scream began to move into the deeper ocean at the edge of the continental shelf, heedless of the warnings as water started to rush into the bottom part of the torso section.-==OOO==-Blair barely listened as the start-up sequence was called at double-speed. Already the remaining helicopters had launched and were waiting outside the bay doors to airlift Questor Storm out to Sentinel Scream's position. Once Hadji and Blair established a Drift and proved able to move the Jaeger, they would have to go as fast as if a Kaiju was bearing down on their position to intercept Jim and Jonny in time."My friend."Blair looked over at Hadji in the left-hand control-arm, dark skin slightly yellowed through the helmet's visor."For all that will be, I apologize."Blair couldn't help the nervous laugh that escaped him. "At least I guess I'll finally be able to make sense of all your cryptic hints.""I hope that is true." Hadji's expression was grim. "Though it will be a burden, too." His eyes darted away. "If I am grateful for anything, it is that I break my vow with you and not Jonny.""Why?""Some of what you will see you will find difficult to understand, yet I trust in your inherent readiness to comprehend. But some will not surprise you. Jonny...would be troubled."Blair thought he understood. Whatever strange beliefs or mystic wisdom Hadji was about to unveil, that was not the only reason he had kept his brother from joining him in the Drift. Not the only source of his refusal to Drift with anyone, ever."Just tell me one thing," Blair said even as the countdown to the neural interface began. "Am I going to need to send Race to punch some people for you?"Hadji chuckled. "I shall let you make that determination for yourself, my friend.""Neural handshake is a go."And they fell into the Drift together.-==OOO==-Race put an arm around Benton. He would have guided him to a chair if he thought Benton would take it.But Jonny was in danger. And now Hadji was Drifting, something he had refused to do with a passion rivaled only by his dedication to protecting his adopted family.Race knew Benton would sooner cut off a limb than stand down while his sons needed him and he could not help them.Jessie was perched on a stool at Race's other side and she leaned her forehead against his hip. She gave just one, tiny hiccup, the only evidence of the tears he could feel soaking into his jumpsuit. Race dropped his other arm to the crown of her head."Steady," he said, and even he didn't know if he was speaking to them, himself, or Hadji.-==OOO==-"Left hemisphere calibrated."
Blair, you must join me in alignment. Blair. Jim needs you. Jim and Jonny are counting on us. Blair.
"Sandburg, get yourself into alignment. That's an order!""You get into alignment," he managed to mutter out loud, and the pain in his throat proved it was audible."Status, Ranger!""I'm almost…"
Blair.
He didn't need to turn, didn't need to see Hadji at all when Hadji's mind and spirit were flowing into his and it made him want to scream.Sorrow. Regret. Shame. I am so sorry, my friend."How do you…?"
Meditation. A great deal of practice. And a recognition of the inefficiency in allowing such things to pollute me. We are what and where we are meant to be. This...has purpose.
Blair fought the urge to throw up.
Do not. The helmet is sealed.
A rush of cool control curled around Blair's stomach and the nausea vanished."You're...cheating."
If it helps. Now, please. Hate me if you must, revile that which you now share. But please. Join me in alignment. Please. For Jonny and Jim. They need us.
Blair surrendered to the Drift and all that came with it."Right hemisphere calibrated.""Well, you took your own sweet time, didn't you, Sandburg? Can you move?"Blair couldn't have, not if he was on his own. But he wasn't.Blair and Hadji lifted their arms and Questor Storm moved effortlessly with them."Good enough for me. You've got less than ten minutes to intercept Sentinel Scream before they go under. There's no time for you to find your feet. You've got to hit the ground running.""I believe you may be mixing your metaphors, Marshal Banks.""That's my prerogative, kid. Now, Questor Storm, launch!"As if they had been born in the Drift, as if piloting a Jaeger were no different from walking around in a new pair of boots, Hadji and Blair shifted the Questor out of its dock and marched to the pad where the helicopters waited to carry them much faster than even a Jaeger could run."Drift is holding steady," came Yuki's voice. "Marshal, they're actually stronger than Jim and Jonny are together."
Should we be worried?

Almost certainly.
Blair huffed amusement across. You really do have more inner calm than you have sense, you know that, right?
I have been told as much. But...as you now know, such discipline is necessary.

Yeah.
The helicopters latched onto Questor Storm and took to the air.
Are you going to tell Jonny?

I believe I must.

Will that be okay?
Hadji's certainty faltered.
Hadji, listen. He'll understand. He has to. I mean…

Do not attempt to reassure me, my friend. What will be, will be. For now, I care only about ensuring that Jim and Jonny return to us to safe and well enough to face this challenge.
Blair sighed, feeling Hadji's lungs share the motion. Then he paused.
Should it be doing that?

Biorhythms often synchronize between partners in the Drift.

Not that. Should I be feeling it?

Blair. Given what you now know, what exactly makes you think anything about our Drift would be normal?

Can't argue with that.

Then do not.
The sensors showed that they had approximately six minutes to go before they would try to reach Jim and Jonny.Blair shut his eyes, feeling Hadji's close with him. If they were going to do this, he had to understand. He had to let himself see what Hadji had tried to hide from the world.He had to become what he could have been. It would be the only way to find where Jim and Jonny were lost before it was too late.-==OOO==-He was eighteen years old and standing at the top of the tallest building on campus."It would be so easy." One foot kicked at an errant stick and sent it flying to the ground far below. "Just another kid who couldn't hack it. Just another failure."Blair shivered. He could almost hear the voice of one of his past therapists reprimanding him, reminding him to do his mental exercises, to go through his crisis checklist. Anything but to continue on this path."But who wants to continue, anyway?"
You do. You must.
Rainier, the sky, the world vanished and Blair found himself standing in an indigo jungle."Uh, did I jump and forget? 'Cause that would be kinda nice."
No.
A large wolf emerged from the trees to perch in front of Blair.Blair started to edge away. "Niiiiiice doggie. Biiiiiig doggie."The wolf snarled. Stop that. I'm not going to hurt you. Totally the opposite, man.He blinked. "Well, since you say I'm not dead and I've got no reason not to believe you, either somebody slipped me a dose of whatever's new on the market or I'm having an out-of-body experience." He looked around. "I hope it's that. This is way better than the spirit journey I took in Thailand."The wolf huffed. This is an intervention. For you. From...me."And who are you?"
I'm mostly you. Think of me as your older self. Chronologically, I actually am older. Apparently I was born before you were. Even though we're the same. Which is weird.
"Yeah, it is."
Listen. I get it. Your life stinks and your brain makes it impossible for you to want to keep trying. But take it from me – you have to stay in the world. You have to.
"Why?"The wolf approached. Blair was surprised, but not too surprised, to realize its eyes were the same color as his own.
You aren't quite like me, but you're close. Close enough to something you can't even imagine. Close enough to being able to touch a power that could remake the world. Unfortunately for you, that doesn't seem to be an option in your version of reality. Like, mind-bending awesomeness isn't in your buffet. Which sucks.
Blair laughed. "You're definitely me. I haven't changed much in my old age, have I?"The wolf snapped his jaws. Watch it. I'm not that much older!"So, mind-bending powers?"
Yeah. Not in the cards for you. Sorry. But it doesn't matter because the most important thing is still there and that's why you can't give up. You can't leave the world no matter how much you want to.
"And why not?" Blair felt anger rise in his chest. "It's my life, dammit!"
No. It isn't. It belongs to both of you.
"Both of who?"
You. And your Sentinel.
"My what now?"
Haven't you been studying Sentinels? Tribal warriors and protectors? And their Guides?
"Uh, no? I'm more into the dynamics of primitive cultures coming into contact with modern ones."The wolf growled. This is going to be a lot harder if you haven't done the same research I did. Okay. Look. There are some people who are basically soulmates. Who find each other and create a connection between themselves that surpasses the material world. And even if your world didn't make you a true Guide and maybe he's not even a Sentinel, you still need that partner. And he still needs you."Nobody needs me."The wolf leaned forward and butted Blair's hand with his head. I know. You've had a rough ride. And it's going to get worse. Like, orders of magnitude worse. It sucks, man. But that's why you gotta stick it out. You gotta find your partner and you gotta help him."Why?"
Because when the two of you work together, there is literally nothing you can't do. And your world is going to need that. You got dealt a bad hand, but you gotta play with what you've got. And in this game, if you don't play, a lot of people are going to die.
"What the hell am I supposed to do about anything? I'm just a kid!"
But you're also me. And you have a gift, Blair Jacob Sandburg. So someday you'll be in the right place at the right time and the choice you make will change the world. Even if nobody knows how. Even if it feels small. You and your partner together will save lives because you will be working together. You have to hang onto that. No matter what it looks like now.
Blair sank down onto the nearest protruding log on the jungle floor and put his head in his hands. "I just...I can't."
You have to.
"Why?" He looked up and met the wolf's calm gaze with rising fury. "Why does it matter so much if I live or die?"
Just remember – you're the one who wanted to know.
And the jungle vanished into flames while monsters roared above and blue poison soaked the earth."What the hell was that?" He grabbed onto the log just to keep himself from tipping sideways or maybe passing out.
Just giving you a hint. Preview of coming attractions, or something.
Blair stared at the carnage, the bodies, the sheer death. "I can't do anything about all this!"All at once, the images vanished and he was back in the jungle with the wolf before him.
Alone, probably not. But with your partner, with help from others like you, with the best of humanity behind you? You can do anything. And you need to be there to do your part. No, you can't turn the wheel of fate on your own, but every hand makes the load lighter. You have to do the part you can do.
Blair gulped in a breath. "That...sounded less like me."
Well, I've got some help on my side. I hope you find your version of him, too. He's in your world somewhere. He'll guide you, though good luck figuring out all his little clues.
"Oh, good. Somebody else is having crazy dreams about an apocalypse and being told to go find their phantom soulmate."No. The wolf swept his tail around and bopped Blair on the head. Somebody else knows that he should be able to do more than he can. He's out there fully aware of the fact that he should be able to bend reality with his will and he can't because he popped up in this stupid version of the world. Trust me, that's way more annoying than just me telling you about it."I bet."
But he's got the same problem you do. He just happens to know what to do with it already. He knows more than he should and you know less. But you have the same gift. And you both have to use it.
"And if I don't, you'll just come back to bug me?"
No. I think this is a one-shot deal. You're going to have to remember this and you're going to have to keep going. Without me around to badger you. I'm counting on you.
"No pressure."
Nope. Now get off this stupid building before you actually do kill yourself or I promise I'll make your afterlife miserable.
The jungle faded and Blair returned to himself standing on the roof of his dorm, his mind clearer than it had been in years. Stepping back from the edge had never been so easy before, and he did it with determination in his heart.He never considered anything but continuing forward again – until Trespasser.-==OOO==-
All this time I thought it was a dream. Or some kind of depression-induced self-hypnosis.

No. It was far more than that. You lacked the insight to correctly interpret it, but now you know that you, too, have touched the realm of astral awareness as few people ever will.

Still...how old were you when you figured out what it all meant?

Twelve. One year after Doctor Quest adopted me.
God, Hadj. However, Blair could now understand how Hadji could have taken that knowledge easier than some, even when the horrors of the Kaiju spilled across the world. The Drift having revealed Hadji's childhood as a homeless orphan on the streets of Calcutta, Blair knew that Hadji's soul had been well used to horror for as long as he could remember. When starvation or death by disease didn't even rank in the top five worst ways for a day to end...
Spare me no sympathy, for I need none and it will not help us now. Focus on our task. We have arrived. And their lives depend entirely upon you and I in this moment.
Blair nodded, letting the gesture reassure him even as Hadji echoed it. Okay. Let's do this.Blair and Hadji braced for impact, landing about Jaeger-chest deep in water. Sentinel Scream was jogging right towards them.Blair and Hadji turned on their comms and patched themselves into the Scream."Jim, this is Blair. Jim, buddy, you gotta listen to me.""Jonny. My brother. Heed my voice."Sentinel Scream slowed, facing them across a few dozen yards of ocean."Protect." The two voices were in perfect unison, low and guttural.Blair let himself drop deeper into the Drift with Hadji. He didn't quite know how to do what he knew Hadji was going to try, but he could lend his strength and let Hadji take control.Hadji settled entirely into Blair and they looked through two sets of eyes together."The watch is ours, Sentinel. Stand down.""Who are you?""We are your Guides."

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Simon glared at Benton. "What the hell do they mean by that? Their Guides?"Benton shook his head. "I have no idea. But we have to trust that even if it means nothing to us, it means something to Jim and Jonny. It's already stopped them in their tracks, which is an improvement."Simon gave a noncommittal snort and turned back to the readings. A moment later, a siren rang out from the official communication line for the PPDC."Yuki, shut that thing off!" Simon ordered. "We're in the middle of a crisis here! Tell whoever it is that I'll play politics with them later."Yuki jumped up and ran to the comm station. A moment later, however, he turned back."Marshal, it's the K-Watch commander. He's got bad news."Race wanted to bang his head against every surface in the room. Twice. "Can this day get any worse?""Doesn't it always?" Jessie shot back.Simon strode to the comm panel and activated the screen. "Commander. What's going on?"The K-Watch commander was a fierce veteran of the Japanese Navy, tough and uncompromising, fanatically dedicated to keeping watch from the Mariana Islands for any movement in the Breach. Due to the size of the Pacific Ocean, tracking Kaiju was nearly impossible after they emerged from the Breach and wandered into the waters of the world. K-Watch's duty was to ensure that any and all details about new Kaiju were disseminated quickly so all shatterdomes could put their Jaegers on standby in case the Kaiju headed their direction."We had a system failure approximately ten hours ago. Routine maintenance took us offline longer than expected and our sonar backup was not sufficient."Simon's eyes went wide. "There's an unaccounted-for Kaiju on the loose?""Yes. I just spoke to Los Angeles who picked it up about two hours ago. Their sensors show it moving north. They're scrambling now, but it must be closer to Cascade at this point.""If they picked it up hours ago, why the hell didn't they engage it then?"The K-Watch commander shook his head. "They thought it was a drill since there had been no confirmation from my unit.""Are you telling me we have a Kaiju inbound and all I can deploy is two rookie pairs of pilots, one in an untested Jaeger?""If that is your current situation, yes. Los Angeles is sending units, but their deployment time has been severely delayed."Simon snarled and pounded a fist on the computer station. "Dammit! What are we looking at here?""Category Three, codename Nabau. Some of the confusion may be due to this Kaiju's usual body-type. It has a lower overall mass than recent arrivals, but it is extremely long, like a serpent.""Do me a favor." Simon glared murderously at the screen. "Bust whoever missed this one back to kitchen duty for the rest of their natural life.""Already done, Marshal. Good hunting."Simon signed off the feed and turned. "Sound the alarm. This is no longer a training exercise. Signal the entire coastline - every single person within a fifty miles needs to be in a shelter. With two untested teams out there, we might not manage to keep this thing from coming ashore."He swept to the front of the room. "Bannon, get on the horn to LA. I need you to coordinate their drop.""On it." Race strode to an empty station and sat, pulling on a headset."Yuki, get the rest of our choppers in the air and call in some emergency support from Anchorage just in case. I'll even take cadets at this point.""Yes, sir."The Kaiju alarm began to sound, echoing through the 'dome. Simon flicked on the public speakers."This is Marshal Banks. We have incoming Kaiju. This is not a drill. I repeat, we have Kaiju incoming. Everyone to your stations now."He flicked it off and turned back. "Jessie, Benton, clear out. Get to your bunker."Benton shook his head. "I'm not going anywhere."Simon's mouth opened, a curt and angry order on his tongue, but Benton held up a hand."Those are my sons out there, Marshal. And Questor Storm has never been tried in combat. You might need me. Might need both of us." He tipped his head to Jessie. "If we have to rewrite Questor's AI on the fly to keep our boys alive, we can't do that from a bunker."Simon snarled but nodded. "Fine. But if you try to countermand my orders just because it's your kids out there…""I won't." Though Benton turned almost green to promise as much.Simon hit the comm to the open line between Questor Storm and Sentinel Scream."Rangers, we've got a situation. You've got to resolve this now."-==OOO==-Some things cannot be rushed. But Blair and Hadji let their exasperation sink away so they could maintain patience and focus. Especially matters of the mind."Sentinel. Stand down. The watch is ours.""Protect. Defend.""Your instincts do you great honor, and have proven correct. But you cannot fight like this. You are lost. Your sword will take your own lives before you can lift it to guard the territory you have claimed. You must hear us."Nothing. But Sentinel Scream remained motionless.It could be a good sign."Guide.""Yes.""What is a Guide?"Somewhere deep inside the Drift, Blair was asking a similar question, but he as part of Hadji knew how to answer anyway."We are the balance to your strength. We are your equal, your partner. We answer your courage with our own. We answer your skill with ours. Together, we will protect Cascade and one another. Hear us.""Guide.""Trust us. You remember us. You know us well.""No." That was not the unison of voices, Jim's stark and cold as it rose up alone. "No Guide."Pain swept through Blair and Hadji, pain and denial and abandonment.
He doesn't…
And a spark of conviction rose up - Blair's. Immovable and steadfast."Jim." Hadji only whispered the words for it was Blair who spoke now. "Listen to me. You're my best friend, Jim. And I know, I know that you've been hurt. I know losing Ink...I can start to imagine it now, what it did to you."Blair pulled himself forward, away from the Drift with Hadji. This was something no one but himself could do."Ink always said that you were important. That...someday I'd find my own path and you would be a part of it. That you would be the part I couldn't lose, no matter what. And he...he was right. I...I miss Ink every day. He was...I would have followed him anywhere. ...But maybe...that was why."Blair could feel Hadji's approval as the realization made itself known."Maybe that was why he thought I needed you instead of him. Ink told me you would make me whole. And...I think I get it now. Because I was just following him. I was...like, caught in the current."His heart ached at what he finally knew, should always have known."But you...I don't just follow you. I can walk beside you. If you'll let me. I'm...I'm here in this Jaeger right now and...I think I can do this. I think I want to do this. But...I don't want to fight this way."He paused. No offense, Hadji.
None taken, I assure you.
"Jim. You're deep in the Drift with Jonny now. Way too deep. You're...you're caught in something other than a Ranger. And a Ranger is what we really, really need right now."Sentinel Scream shifted slightly out in the water."Guide?" Jim's tone had lost some of that alien coldness - now it was almost wistful."I don't...I don't entirely understand it. Even plugged into Hadji. And Hadji does understand it. But...I think I will. If it's you in my head. I think...I can't completely get it with Hadji because he's not the one that is supposed to be my partner. He's...we're too much alike. I need different.""Different how?""Yin and yang, man. Push and pull. Everything in balance. You as the badass Ranger and me as the brainy non-Ranger."An actual growl sounded over the comm."Okay, fine!" Blair laughed. "I'm a Ranger. Geez, man.""Good.""So does that mean you're hearing me?""Sandburg. I…"The patched-in comm from Sentinel Scream picked up the computer's voice. "Left hemisphere out of alignment.""Jonny?" Jim called. "Jonny, stay with me! Stay in the Drift!""Questor, Sentinel, do you read me?" Simon barked through the comm. "Ellison is stable but Quest is way out of alignment and falling rapidly. Get him back into alignment as fast as you can. Kaiju signature has been detected and it is heading straight for you!""Jonny! Dammit!"Blair turned back to Hadji's mind in the Drift. What now? We got Jim, but Jonny's still under.
We cannot reach Jonny this way. Jim cannot reach him. As you said to him, they are too much alike. But Jim heard you and followed you. Jonny sees that as abandonment, as betrayal. It will drive him farther from our reach.

Then what can we do?

We must follow him.

How?

Do you trust me, Blair?

Yeah?

Fully and completely?
Yes. Oh. Okay. I can do this. Blair surfaced for just a moment. "Jim. Try to reach Jonny through the Drift. We're going to do...something else.""What exactly are you two doing? And how the hell are you out here anyway?""We'll explain later. Right now, we're trying something…" Blair would have sighed but it wouldn't have helped. "...unorthodox.""Sandburg!"A touch of information from Hadji made Blair wish he could bash his forehead into something. Preferably a stone wall somewhere. He decided to make note of it for later."Also? Uh. You might get pulled with us. Apparently. So...sorry?""SANDBURG!"Okay. Blair closed his eyes and let go of himself. Let's do this.Hadji wrapped his mind around Blair's and soared.-==OOO==-Blair would have blinked in surprise if he had had eyes. Which was a weird thought."Yes. It is.""Hadji?""I am here with you. But you are also yourself.""Are we still in the Drift?""Yes.""But I can't...you know. I don't feel the same. You're not in my head. Are you?""A man can only journey so far before he finds himself returning to his own beginning.""So...you're saying we're…?""I shall try to explain it - with gratitude that you are not one of my more literal-minded family. The realm of the mind is all-encompassing. If the mind can lead one into the astral plane, there is no reason the Drift could not do so also. In fact, they are one and the same. To Drift is to mechanically seek the Oneness of the astral. It is a loop of connection and causality.""I'm not sure I follow.""More simply then - I have used the Drift to enter into the astral plane so that we may reach across the barriers of time and space and seek Jonny who has become lost between the world of the Jaeger's Pons system and that which is far deeper within the truth of his soul.""I think I had it clearer before, but that's okay. I get it, even if I can't explain it.""As I thought you would, my friend. As your wolf-self said, you have the same gift to understand even if you lack the deeper knowledge of it.""So...where are we?""Where does not matter. We are here. And Jonny is near."Blair could feel Hadji's attention turn, even if he wasn't inside his head anymore. Or...was so far inside Hadji's head he was outside it again. However that worked.But he did understand a piece of it. Hadji could and regularly did reach the astral plane in his meditations. But to transcend his normal abilities and actually break into the Drift connecting Jim and Jonny, he had needed much more strength, both mentally and spiritually.Blair had given him this strength, even if he had no idea how."My brother."Blair couldn't see because 'sight' was the wrong sense to understand the mental landscape he currently inhabited, but he could perceive a spark of life and spirit that could only be Jonny Quest. It burned as bright yellow as the sun, and yet at its heart swirled a profound purple; beside him, Hadji was a steady pulse of the same purple with an inner core of shining yellow. They were perfect mirror-images of each other.Blair wondered if he and Jim were like that."Apparently."The presence that appeared was blue, vibrant and eternal, with a warm green at its center. Blair couldn't perceive himself the same way, but now he didn't need to - he knew he was its own opposite as well."Jim! You're here, too?""I guess." Blair could sense Jim doing the metaphysical equivalent of rolling his eyes. "Want to explain all this, Einstein?""Honestly? No. But, I'll tell you what - I'll Drift with you and then maybe we'll figure it out."Jim paused. Then, "So you're gonna be my partner?""Well, it's not like Jonny can be, given that the two of you got into some kind of primal feedback loop drawing on instincts of alpha males in their territory and I have no idea how that's even possible. But, anyway. Simon'll put a pair of squirrels in Sentinel Scream before he'll let you pilot with Jonny again. You almost drowned yourselves!"Blair felt Jim grow near, grow warm, as if giving him a hug. "I'm sorry I scared you, Blair.""It's fine. You're here now and Hadji just has to get Jonny and we'll all be okay.""With a Kaiju bearing down on us? Not exactly what I'd call okay.""Yeah, I know. But with you and me together and Jonny and Hadji in Questor, we can take it.""You sure about that?""Honestly? I'm not sure I've ever been as sure of anything."Jim seemed about to say something else, but a sense of sadness from Jonny and Hadji reached them."Jonny. My brother. Please. You must come with me now. Come away from this.""No. I can't. It hurts, Hadj.""I know. But you cannot remain here.""I can feel...I don't know what. Something. Something better than this.""Yes. So deep into the astral, it becomes obvious, doesn't it?""What is it, Hadji?""This, my friend, is part of what I never wished you to know. The burden I never wished to share.""Well, now I'm sharing it. But I don't know what it is. Please, Hadji? Help me understand?""This...this is a future we have been denied. A world where the Kaiju never came. A world where Jim Ellison became a police detective and Blair his friend and partner. A world where Doctor Quest continued his studies of all that is inexplicable and we followed him into adventure and discovery. A world where Trespasser never emerged, where we could grow old and die in peace. A world that was not dying.""How? Why?""There are many other universes parallel to our own, Jonny. You know this. But there are some constants. For me, you have always been one of them. In every dimension my soul can touch, I find myself anchored by the version of you I find there. My brother, my friend. As Jim and Blair find one another. But...in only this one did the Kaiju destroy our hopes.""I want...I mean...god, Hadj. I want…""I know. I know you wish to stay here. To remain where you can feel the light of a world that never knew the Kaiju, never saw millions dead, never had to fight to survive on a planet rapidly coming apart. I have long wished it, too.""Then why don't you stay?""Because our world is ours, Jonny. And no matter what dimension you touch, what possible universe you seek, you will discover that we must always fight to defend our world. If not against Kaiju, against ghosts and aliens and heartless men and women of ambition. We always fight, Jonny. Together.""You...you stayed out of here...for me?""For everyone. But mostly for you.""What would happen if we didn't go back?""I believe that you and I would eventually suffer what medical science would call a systemic hypoperfusion seizure after which we would never regain consciousness. We would slip into simultaneous comas and eventually die. Our souls would remain here until we were liberated from the body - after which we would go where all those who have ended their time in flesh go.""I don't really like that answer, Hadji.""Worse still, besides leaving behind Doctor Quest and Race and Jessie and the others to whom we are so tightly karmically bound, we might cause difficulties for Jim and Blair. They have been drawn here in my pursuit of you but remain within the Drift with us. I do not know what damage would be caused to them if they attempted to return to the Pons Drift without us.""And, of course, there's a Kaiju on the way.""Yes. There is that.""Okay. Then just...tell me something.""Anything.""Why did you want to hide this from me? Other than taunting me with possible alternate timelines that would have been a lot better than this one? That can't be the only reason.""It isn't.""So?""My friend...my brother. You have the kindest and most loyal of spirits. I...did not wish you to find yourself obligated to me simply because other versions of yourself have become so.""I can see that. We're, like, soulmates then, huh?""In some cases.""Looks from here like it's all cases, Hadj.""That choice is yours. It has always been yours.""What about your choice?""Mine was made many years ago.""Oh, Hadji. So was mine.""I…""So. Since you know what you're doing, how about you get us out of here? It seems to me like we've got a Kaiju to fight and I'm currently stuck plugged into the wrong head.""I heard that, Quest.""Hey, I didn't even call you a lughead! Just a head!""I know you too well for that to work, kid.""Perhaps we should resolve this when we are...less esoteric. If you will all simply open your minds and clear your thoughts…"-==OOO==-Blair's eyes popped open. The computer voice beside him chirped up. "Pilot-to-pilot protocol failure. Neural connection terminated.""Does anybody read me?" Simon was bellowing. "Both of your Pons just about had kittens and now you're all out of the Drift. Did you fry your brains or something? You better answer me or you're all going to be cleaning the 'dome with your toothbrushes for a month!""We read you, Marshal," came Jim's voice.Beside Blair, Hadji gave his head a slight shake - and Blair thought how strange it was not to have the motion echoed with his own - and spoke up. "I apologize. However, our mission has been successful. Jim and Jonny are both safe and the Sentinel Scream is no longer in danger of submersion.""But we are in danger of the oncoming Kaiju," Blair said. "We've gotta regroup and get into position or we're going to be pinned against the Miracle Mile.""What do you mean regroup?""We're switching partners," Jonny said. "Trust us, it'll work way better the other way around.""Ellison! Quest! Sandburg! Other Quest! This is not the time to play Round-Robin with your Jaegers!""Too late!" Blair yelled, already out of his control arm and hitting the emergency hatch on Questor Storm's Conn-Pod."Sandburg!""Marshal." Jim's voice over the comm was wonderfully calm and steady. "Jonny and I are a liability right now. Blair and Hadji might be able to take that thing on their own, but if they can't, not only will we not be able to help, but we'll be sitting ducks stuck chasing RABITs again. If we split the pairs, we stand a better chance of having two working crews to take this thing down."Blair turned back just as he put his hands on the ladder to the hatch. "Hadji?""Go." Hadji was mostly hidden by the right-hand control arm but Blair could still feel his friend's eyes and heart following him. "This is as it should be. Trust in that.""Thanks. For everything.""Blair." That was Jonny, whose breathing was rapid and whose footsteps reverberated over the comm. "I'll give you a hand across. Hurry up!"Blair scrambled up the ladder and popped out on Questor Storm's equivalent of a shoulder. The two Jaegers were close enough together that their chests rumbled from the vibrations of each others' nuclear cores. Questor Storm had an arm extended up and around Sentinel's shoulders like a half-hug. Jonny Quest perched in his drive-suit on Questor's arm above the hatch into Sentinel's Conn-Pod, and even through the visor Blair could see him grinning."Step onto the hydraulic access point to jump across," Jonny said, pointing. "It's the flattest option."Blair had to brace himself against the sea winds that threatened to tip him over. Instead of standing up straight, he tried to crouch as Jonny was doing. But he couldn't just run across Questor's arm - that felt about as safe as throwing himself into the wind and hitting the ocean like a brick. He scuttled along until he reached the elbow.The hydraulics were partially exposed and made something of a man-sized obstacle course between him and where Jonny had emerged from Sentinel's Conn-Pod. Blair was mere yards from Sentinel's shoulder-plates, but to reach them he would have to somehow get around Questor's elbow."Sandburg!" Jim's bellow echoed in Blair's helmet. "Quit goofing around and get in here!""Come on." Jonny reached out a hand, latching his foot onto one of the joins between armor plates. "I've got you. I promise."Blair paused for just an instant. He could still go back, reenter the Drift with Hadji, and have his world no more shaken than it already was. And doing so would spare Jim and Jonny from sharing any more of what now bounced around inside his skull like so many scattered bolts and rusty nails. He wouldn't have to find out what Jim's mind held of Ink, what Ink's heart had kept secret from Blair for so long.But he had to know."Go, my friend," came Hadji's soft voice.Blair gathered his courage and leaped for Sentinel's shoulder.His foot slipped and he started to fall.But before he could even gasp, Jonny caught his wrist and held on. "Did you do any training in the drive-suit at all?" he yelled."No!" Blair yelled back, caught between terror and relief. "Of course not!""You're doing it as soon as we get out of this, then," Jim said over the comm. "Get in here, already!"Jonny's grin did not fade a bit as he hauled Blair up onto Sentinel's broad shoulder and pointed him down the hatch into the Conn-Pod. "Good luck!" he said quickly. "Have fun!"And then he was gone, clambering over the elbow joint and running across Questor Storm's arm with the grace and speed of a tightrope walker before vanishing down into the black-green Jaeger that had always been his."Hadji!" Jonny's voice was pure sunniness. "You really came! Even though...""Always, my brother. Now, let us do what we should have done long ago." A pause. Then, "And you have my profoundest apologies for the delay.""Don't sweat it. I get it now."Blair dropped down into Sentinel Scream and wasted no time bolting for the left-hand control arm Jonny had abandoned. To his right, Jim was already tracking the incoming Kaiju's movement. Blair stepped onto the motion-rig clamps and settled back as the automated system affixed itself to his drive-suit."Sandburg." Jim paused and looked over. "You sure about this, Chief?""I'm sure, Jim." And, Blair was surprised to find, he meant it. "Let's do this.""Okay. Initiating neural interface. Emergency Drift is a go. Prepare for neural handshake in t-minus ten seconds."Blair could hear Hadji giving the same orders over the open comm line.Almost simultaneously, the countdowns converged."Neural handshake is a go."

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"I think this is the first recorded instance of any Jaeger pilots reinitiating a Drift outside a shatterdome," Benton said, and he tried not to let his voice shake. "Theoretically the Pons system is built for it, but…""Trust them," Race said. "Trust them and trust your tech. It's all we can do.""I could stop them," Simon offered. "I could order them back here.""LA won't make here it in time," Benton told him. He shook his head. "No. Race is right. It's up to them. And I would rather put my faith in those four than an army of Jaegers at this point.""Let's hope you're right, then, Bannon," Simon said. But his expression slid to a tiny smile as he said it.
Because I think you are. Come on, Jim. Don't let me down now.
-==OOO==-
Mommy!

Don't-don't hurt me! Please!

But, dad! Math is boring!

I'm so hungry.

Hey! Don't hurt my dad!

Please...don't leave me.
And then sudden warmth. I won't, Hadj. Not ever.
I know that, Jonny. I have known it always.

Even if I'm going to rearrange those people's teeth if I ever see them! How could they…?

Jonny, please focus. We are needed.

Right.

Be with me, my brother. Be what you saw of your other selves.

Which is basically like telling me to just be myself, huh?

Apparently so.
And the Drift ceased to hum and started to sing between them."Right hemisphere calibrated. Left hemisphere calibrated. Neural interface stable."Jonny and Hadji took a breath together and Questor Storm flowed with their movement."Let's do this!"-==OOO==-
An itinerant childhood. A life of privilege.

Tresspasser changing everything. Changing everything forever.

And then…

Ink.

Ink's heart. Ink's mind.

You belong to each other. You will make each other whole.
And the force of Ink's presence, his blessing, his certainty, slammed the Drift home between them like the last ink in a chain."Right hemisphere calibrated. Left hemisphere calibrated. Neural interface stable."Blair grinned. Drifting with Hadji had come easily, like breathing. Drifting with Jim felt natural.
Me, too, Darwin. And now I guess we know why.

Yep.
"Sentinel Scream, if you're done settling, there's a Kaiju bearing down on you. It'll hit your position in a matter of minutes. Are you ready to go?""Yes sir!" they said, Blair's shout a little less disciplined than Jim's."At least one good thing came out of this mess," Jim said, orienting himself in the Drift beside Blair and quietly marveling at how effortless it was. "We were almost in position to intercept.""Two things," Blair said."Four things," Hadji and Jonny corrected them together.
I guess that's true. We found this.
Yep. Blair sent a joyful grin through the Drift. We found ourselves.
That Kaiju has no idea what's coming for it.

Nope!
Simon's voice came over the comm. "Sentinel Scream, you're field command. What's your plan of attack?"Jim grinned and felt Blair echoing his feral excitement. "Tear it apart.""Ranger, I would like some more specifics than that.""I think that's as specific as you're gonna get, sir." Jonny was not quite laughing as he said it."Questor Storm, monitor your vitals. You're showing some odd readings." Doctor Quest was obviously making a deliberate attempt to sound cool and professional.Hadji's answer was calm."Do not be concerned, Doctor Quest. I think it is unlikely that any Jaeger, even our own, could be prepared to correctly interpret the vital signs of a yogi, even one still in training. Though it does appear that there is a high level biological synchronization being shared between us, which does not surprise me, but perhaps makes the readings seem more bizarre than they are."
Blair, did that happen when you Drifted with Hadji, too?

Yeah. Something about his mental control and spiritual practices is contagious in the Drift. I'm not sure I could replicate it now, but he can even slow down his heart-rate at will, almost to the point of cardiac arrest. It's really cool!
Affection and protectiveness rose. Do not try to stop your heart, Blair. I'm serious.
Don't worry, big guy. I'm not going anywhere.

You're damn right about that.
"Kaiju in range," Jonny said. "Jim?""You know the plan, kid," Jim said. "Stick to it.""Aye aye Sentinel sir!"Blair buried his laughter in the Drift. The comms picked up a slight sound from Hadji before he regained composure enough to respond."We're on it, Jim.""That's better." Jim's tone was cold but the Drift danced with his own amusement. That kid is something else.
They both are.

You're pretty good yourself. At least in the Drift. Not convinced yet that you're really ready for this kind of battle, though.

Only one way to find out!
-==OOO==-LOCCENT had fallen quiet. The various feeds from the airborne helicopters showed a dozen angles on the choppy water at the edge of the continental shelf. Sentinel Scream stood slightly to the south with Questor Storm perched along the shelf a few yards to the north."Kaiju sighted!" came the confirmation from one of the helicopters.A dark shape emerged into view as a shadow in the waves."It's huge!" Jessie would have jumped to her feet but Race kept a hand on her shoulder."It's like K-Watch said – long and snakelike." Then Race smirked. "Which means it's perfect."Benton looked at him. "It is?""Sure. If it were just one Jaeger out there, it might be in trouble. But with two of them…"Simon nodded. "If our boys are half as good as I think they are, this thing won't even make it to the five-mile marker. It'll be down before LA even gets here."Benton let out a breath, which did nothing to relieve the tightness in his chest. "I hope you're right."-==OOO==-"Okay. Ready, Sandburg?""I'm with you, Jim!""Let's go!"Sentinel Scream charged the last few steps and dove at the Kaiju that reared out of the water at their approach. It looked every bit like a legendary sea serpent with its long, undulating body and scales the color of fresh seaweed. It's head was the size of a five-story warehouse, and its body continued as one long neck fringed with a vertical row of scales that gleamed the ominous color of Kaiju Blue.Nabau shoved upwards from the ocean to reveal rows of thin, clawed limbs."Less like a serpent and more some form of an aquatic centipede."But Jim and Blair didn't bother to listen to Hadji's analysis as instead they cocked a fist to slam."Elbow rockets!" they yelled together.Sentinel Scream locked its left hand around the nearest front leg and pounded their right fist directly into its face with a flash of rocket-fire and brutal strength. Nabau let out a sharp hiss and immediately recoiled, lunging at the Jaeger and trying to wrap itself around the Sentinel Scream."That's our cue!" Jonny yelled. Questor Storm shifted from its position and leaped for the flailing back end of the Kaiju."Plasma cannon!" Jim and Blair called, firing at whatever part of Nabau they could reach. One shot took a leg clean off, but the next missed as the narrow creature wriggled away.Questor Storm landed with both feet on the tail end of the Kaiju, pinning it to the hard seafloor. A moment later, the scales that ran along its back began to glow."Shield!" Jonny and Hadji yelled.A thin disc unfolded at the speed of a camera's shutter on the Questor's left-hand forearm. They brought the shield up just as the back-end of the Kaiju expelled a stream of thick, blue material that fizzled and burned in the very air. The shield caught most of the stream and held out."Weaponized Kaiju Blue is cheating!" Jonny snarled."There!""I see it!"Pushing against the surge of poison, Questor Storm shoved the shield close to the now-visible vent at the base of Nabau's spine. It did not stem the flow for long, but it gave them enough time to reach around with the right hand. Massive Jaeger fingers closed on a bulbous vertebra and gave a yank.The bone didn't rip loose, but the entire muscle mass around it was crushed. The flow of blue liquid abruptly trickled to nothing."Take that!"At the front end of the Kaiju, Jim and Blair were mostly focused on not getting their face bitten off by Nabau's long, jagged teeth. At the attack by Questor Storm, Nabau made a grating scream and began scrabbling to get as many of its wicked and narrow claws into the gaps in Sentinel Scream's plating as possible."You are not getting your ugly feet in here!" Blair's voice dripped with a venom all his own. "Activating underwater seals!"Sentinel Scream punched Nabau in the open mouth with one hand while the other reached down to snap one of the delicate legs probing for weakness. But even as one clawed foot went limp, two more swarmed up onto the Jaeger.Jim growled. "It's like fighting a hundred stick-bugs!""Poisonous stick-bugs!"Nabau suddenly pulled away from Questor Storm and whipped a length of its body around the Sentinel Scream like a boa constrictor squeezing the life out of its prey."Hang on!" Jonny and Hadji shouted. "We're coming!""Stay back!" Jim ordered. "Wait for your shot and take it!""But!""That's an order, Rangers!"Deep in the Drift, a trickle of Blair's uncertainty surfaced. What if it kills us before they can get it?Even as Jim kept moving with Blair, even as Sentinel Scream started to roll like an alligator to try to loosen the grip of the Kaiju, Jim's confidence blazed in the Drift.
This thing isn't gonna kill us, Chief. Not now. Not when we're together. And Jonny and Hadji? They'll find a way.

You're really sure about that.

Yes. Because they're sure. And...Ink was sure.

Wow. Okay, then. Good enough for me.
The more Sentinel Scream rolled, the more the Nabau curled around them, its long body and many limbs twisting between the Jaeger's legs and catching on every tiny hold amidst the armor plates and joints. The head remained close to Sentinel's head and chest area, teeth still trying to find a way into the Conn-Pod.Sentinel Scream flipped over and smashed itself down on the seafloor like an ugly belly-flop, crushing the head as it did so."Plasma blast!"The plasma didn't work as well underwater as it did above, but it was still thoroughly effective. Nabau lost its lashing tongue and part of the side of its head, including an eye, before they ran out of loaded cartridges.An alarm began to sound. "Hull breach. Danger. Hull breach.""Focus, Sandburg!" Jim yelled before Blair could even work himself into real fear. "The nuclear core isn't gone yet and the Pod is fine. Stay in the fight!"
Right. I'm with you.

You're not gonna die, Sha. I promise. I told Ink I'd protect you.

I'll protect you, too, Jim.

I know you will.
"Blair!" Hadji's voice was sharp but not panicked. "Act with me, my friend!"Jim thought to Blair, What does he mean?Blair drew in a breath and understood. Words will take too long if we have to coordinate verbally. But...somehow...I can still feel him in the back of the Drift. I can feel his intent. I know what he's going to do.
That would be the mother of all ghost-Drifts.
I know. But it is. For the benefit of everyone else, he verbalized, "I'm with you, Hadji!"Blair let himself drop even more deeply into the Drift, forming a neural bridge not just with Jim in the Sentinel Scream, but with Hadji – and therefore with Jonny and the Questor Storm. How his mind could be in so many places at once, he had no idea.But maybe the how didn't matter anymore.All that mattered was the city behind them, the citizens trusting in the four of them to protect against this monster's incursion. To ensure no Kaiju ever made landfall again. To be the shield and wall, the protectors of their people, their territory.To be Sentinel and Guide in such troubled times. It was an echo of the wolf's voice and Blair had no idea where it had come from, but it gave him a boost and he accepted it.
The watch is ours. And nothing is going to beat us!
When they moved, they did it as four minds in one.Sentinel Scream rolled again, this time bracing so that Nabau's head was perched up, just peeking above the water. The rest of the Kaiju's body wound eagerly around whatever it could reach of the Jaeger – seemingly forgetting the second Jaeger closing in.With a wrench of brute strength and sheer will, Sentinel Scream turned to one side, pushing the Kaiju's head out. They shifted their grip to Nabau's mouth and locked their hands in its jaw, straightening their Jaeger arms with a squeal of hydraulics.For just one instant, the Nabau's head was exposed and motionless.Into that moment came Questor Storm.The Jaeger that Benton Quest had specifically built for two of his children – Jonny and Jessie – moved with the grace of a dancer under the control of his pair of sons. Most Jaegers were huge and strong, built for endurance and crushing power. But Questor Storm, for all its dimensions were no different from its brethren, could dart like a hummingbird and turn like a cat. Even the waist-deep water did not slow their charge.Questor Storm timed its attack to Sentinel Scream's without words, and with the tightest possible coordination.One hand, flat, snapped downward in a strike Race Bannon had taught both boys from the day they had become brothers. It was a strike that had broken boards, handcuff chains, and doors. It had ruined furniture and had disabled opponents.The blow fell with their combined power and chopped Nabau's head clean off.Sentinel Scream was already climbing out of the rest of the Kaiju's body while it writhed in death. Pivoting around the momentum of the attack, Questor Storm shifted and fired its own plasma cannons, cutting off the spurt of acidic blue poison and cauterizing the Nabau's open neck.Within moments, both Jaegers stood with the carcass draped across their four arms. Jim and Blair mounted Nabau's head on a partially-dislodged hydraulic piston sticking out the side of Sentinel Scream's left arm like a trophy, or a speared fish.
It's kinda barbaric, Jim.

Which makes it fitting for us, jungle boy.

Hey! I was never really the jungle boy! That was Ink!

Yes. And he's part of both of us. Though he was probably the least barbaric of us all.

That's probably true. He would approve of mounting the heads of our enemies, though.

Too bad the PPDC will have to dispose of it properly.

Well, it makes for a good photo-shoot right now.

Simon'll have something to say about us tromping back to the 'dome with it like that.

Chalk it up to something in the Drift. Trust me. As soon as Hadji starts explaining what went on today, Simon won't even care anymore.
And somewhere they could feel Hadji's agreement, and his laughter.-==OOO==-
Hadj? For whatever it's worth, I'm sorry.

For what could you possibly need to apologize?

For...everything. What I saw. From your childhood.

Oh Jonny. But you can also see now that all is well? That the scars of the past do not pain me in the light of my future?

Yeah, I see that.

Should I apologize to you? For denying this which should have been?

No. I get it. You didn't want to force me into it, and you had a lot of stuff you didn't want shared. Seriously, the PPDC would have a cow if they thought one of their pilots was traipsing across alternate dimensions in his sleep or something.

Meditation. Not sleep.
Fond affection. I know. And I won't tell them. Neither will Blair. Or Jim. I mean, I think.
They will not.

You're pretty sure of that.

Yes. They are like us. And while what they see and understand is not what we see and understand, it is enough to keep between ourselves. Though I do think this means none of us shall ever Drift with another.

Yeah. I've Drifted with Jess once. It's not...I couldn't go back.

I am selfishly grateful to hear it.

So, looks like we're partners, huh?

Yes.
They continued the trek back towards Cascade in the silence of the Drift for several minutes before Jonny spoke aloud something so obvious it barely took the form of language in their shared mind."Marshal?""What is it, Quest?""I'd like to request a formal appointment to Questor Storm with Hadji as my permanent copilot.""Hadji? That okay with you, son?"Hadji smiled at Marshal Simon Banks calling him so easily by an epithet he thought never to earn from anyone. "Yes, Marshal. Though you will have to convey my apologies to Jessie for usurping her pilot."There was a pause and then Jessie came over the comm. "I get it. Besides, I'll be grounded for months. I'm sure there'll be someone good enough to pair with me when the time comes.""Don't worry, Ace," Jonny told her. "We'll make sure to help you test them.""You better!""Jonny, Hadji." Benton's voice was thick and clearly strained. "I am so proud of you, my boys.""Thanks, dad." Then Jonny grinned. "However, there's something else we'd like to ask.""You're awfully demanding for a first-time kill, Quest."Jonny's grin grew at Simon's ire. "We'd like to request a change in call-sign for our Jaeger.""Oh really."Hadji answered. "Yes. While 'Questor Storm' is an apt designation for the Jaeger we share, after our experience today, we feel there is a different name more appropriate for our...situation.""And what's that?" Benton asked.They answered together. "Gemini Blaze.""Can I ask why the new name? I'm not doubting you, of course. But, we've been building it all this time. Why change it now?""Because now," Hadji said, "and only now, can we truly understand what we are, and what we always will be. This name reflects our reality more appropriately.""It sounds good to me!" came Yuki's voice. "As long as I can yell it over the comms, I'll be happy. And it's not like anyone's made toys for it yet, so it's easy to change at this stage. Before you get popular and commercialized."Race chuckled. "I like it, too.""Hadji's first idea was Quest Parallax because that's what we are – a unified object that appears to be separate when you look at it from the outside, but I don't think anybody will get it, let alone market it. And it would be harder to yell, I guess.""I think you're probably right," Jessie said.Simon sighed. "At this point, you can call it Mildred for all I care. Just get back here and quit displaying that Kaiju like it's a worm you're bringing home to feed your baby birds!"Jim broke in laughing over the comm. "Yes sir. However, while we're on the subject…""You, too?""Yeah!" Blair's excitement was almost boiling over the comm. "I think we can do better than Sentinel Scream.""Are you really sure you wanna do that, Jim?"-==OOO==-Simon's question was pitched to be metaphorically armor-piercing, and if Jim hadn't anticipated it, it would have struck deep. To rename a Jaeger that had been his and Ink's – it could be disrespectful. It could be a step to forgetting him. It could be cruel.But instead, as Jim now knew deep in the Drift where he had always belonged, it was the only right choice to be made."I'm sure, Simon."
Really?

Really, Blair.

Okay.

There's no better name for us. As a team. Doing what we need to be doing. Together.

Thanks, Jim.

Thank you, Chief.
"So? I'm waiting. What new name do we have to get cleared by the PPDC for an active Jaeger which will, in fact, piss off the marketing firm and the toy manufacturers? Not that I care, mind. Those vultures can eat all the lost profits they want as far as I'm concerned."Jim and Blair snorted together."Sentinel Scream would like to officially petition to change its designation to Sentinel Wolf. With Sandburg as my permanent copilot.""Right now? You can pretty much write your own pass. You saved Cascade, all of you, in the middle of a failed trial run. The brass won't be happy, but they can't deny you after what you've done today, gentlemen. So, sure. Remake the world in your image. I don't care. Just get in here and get rid of that thing already!"Jim laughed and Blair laughed with him.
Remake the world, huh?

I guess this is how we get our chance to do it.

It's different from what your wolf said.

Our world is different. We're different. But what matters is the things that are the same. Like us being together.

Protecting. Keeping our people safe. Holding the line against the Kaiju. No matter what.

And never losing ourselves again.
And somewhere deep inside, Blair thought he could hear the wolf one last time.
Strength and victory to you, Sentinel Wolf. Strength and victory to you all.
And Blair answered back, even if he was imagining it, even if the wolf couldn't hear him.
The watch is ours.