u/SilverWolf_2018

Jurassic World is a fully functioning theme park on Isla Nublar, which opened to the public in 2005. The main attractions of the park were living dinosaurs, cloned by InGen's Dr. Henry Wu.

Inspired by and built over the original Jurassic Park, Jurassic World contains elements of a biological preserve, a safari, a zoo, and a theme park similar to Disneyland, Walt Disney World, SeaWorld Orlando, San Diego and San Antonio, Busch Gardens and all of Universal Studios' locations. The park, like the aforementioned parks, also functioned as a luxury resort with hotels, restaurants, nightlife and even a golf course. By 2015, the park hosted over 20,000 visitors each day, while its hours of operation were from 8AM until 10PM, and is still going strong in 2025, 20 years after its opening.

History
Foundation
After Masrani Global Corporation acquired the rights to InGen in 1998, CEO Simon Masrani began to craft a plan to successfully create a dinosaur park, a task that InGen had failed twice. With a collection of experts from the Masrani Global Corporation, as well as Dr. Henry Wu from the recently acquired company InGen supporting his vision, Simon's plan was set in motion. For Masrani, creating a dinosaur park was incredibly important, for it had been "John Hammond's dying wish". Masrani aimed to construct the park on the former Site A of the first failed Jurassic Park plan, Isla Nublar, necessitating a need to reclaim the island from the genetically recreated dinosaurs that had adopted the island in human's absence.

Named "Jurassic World", Simon Masrani used subsidiary Axis Boulder Engineering and founded Timack Construction to prepare, plan, and begin construction of the new dinosaur park. Their construction workers were protected by InGen's Security Divison which was now supervised by Vic Hoskins from the island's local wildlife as they built the new park. Although what remained of the first park had been discovered by teams sent to the island, it was not incorporated into the new park, instead being closed off to the public and left to continue to rot.

By the summer of 2004, four Brachiosauruses (Olive, Anges, Dot, and Pearl), over a dozen Parasaurolophuses, the flock of Gallimimuses, and a herd of fifteen Triceratopses (such as Curie, Johnson, and Hypatia) were incorporated into the early park, along with six juvenile Ankylosauruses, likely bred in the labs or otherwise taken from Isla Sorna, with more to be planned. As for carnivores, the Tyrannosaurus and Dilophosaurus were captured but restricted due to the danger these animals presented. Groups of Compsognathuses still roamed parts of the island. Plant life such as Araucaria araaucana have also brought into parts of the island. The animals that are born identify with music, such as jazz. Other behaviors noted during this time include Brachiosaurs viewing the early Gyrospheres as toys, Gallimimuses racing the security jeeps, Rexy prefers to stay away from the view of humans unless it's feeding time, deciding that humans needed to earn her respect, and the Parasaurs are interestingly reserve and tend to stay away from humans when possible. Early on, some of the dinosaurs from the old park were getting diseases, like a throat disease in the Triceratops and older Brachiosaurs.

That same summer, a group of twelve interns from the Bright Minds program were brought to the island, including a young Claire Dearing, seemingly to be early testers for the park. At this point, the gates had been built, as well as at least one hotel, the command center, and the Samsung Innovation Center, but the Monorail and most of main street were still in construction and the aviary to house Pteranodons was still being built, having setbacks due to the need to develop a new polymer to withstand their beaks. The Gyrospheres are also in testing, having been leaked by a patent clerk to the public earlier that year. Masrani greets the new interns and advises them to watch out for the Compys on the island and the dangers from the construction around the place. The interns observe the sixteenth Triceratops, Lovelace, get introduced to the heard. The group then returns to the Innovation Center and see the lab. There, Claire catches the eye of Masrani, as well as Henry Wu, who also aproves of another intern, Tanya Skye.

The next day, Claire and the group return to the Gyrosphere valley to find Lovelace trapped and hurt. They help the poor Triceratops and are able to heal and rescue the injured trike. Over the next few weeks, they spend more time with the dinosaur trainers and vets. During this time, Claire finds a notebook of a previous intern, Iz, which confuses her because they're supposed to be the first group there. She hears a story from Wyatt, an intern with a father close to Masrani, claims that an intern had died during a storm and this was covered up. She also notices suspicious behavior from the various staff and even around the island itself. During a test of the gyrosphere, the ride gets stuck on a falling tree with Claire and Justin inside. Then Pearl, a Brachiosaurus, comes charging at them in an attempt to play with the gyrosphere. She tosses around the gyrosphere, forcing the two to jump out. Tanya and Claire then assist Dr. Wu with the batch of newly created eggs for a new Pteranodon design.

After asking two employees about Iz, Claire is taken from Dr. Wu by Miranda for an interview with Beverly Jamison, the leader of the intern group. While seemingly a check-up, it turns into a subtle threat to not ask about the past of the park. Soon, Masrani announces a Velociraptor will be transported from Sorna within the next week. Carnivores are more difficult to introduce to the island due to both the closeness of the herbivores and the territories set up on the islands, in addition to the usual stress dinosaurs have being transported. The interns find a solution to the gyrosphere with the Brachiosaur Pearl, by painting the gyrospheres to use as toys so she can differentiate them from the guest spheres.

After some investigation, Claire finds out that Iz is a girl named Isobel James, a girl that reportingly died in Boston on March 4th of that year despite her journal saying otherwise that she was here on the island. Claire also found an algae that was acidic, likely causing the neck injuries on some of the dinosaurs thanks to Iz's journal that noted the algae as a likely culprit. She also finds a note warning Iz to watch her back. After informing Justin, a fellow intern, they decide to break into Wyatt's room to find more information. There they find a tranquilizer dart, a fusion bandage, some security specs, and several memory cards. They figure Wyatt is trying to steal either a small dinosaur or some eggs and race to alert Masrani. They arrive at the quarantine pens and find the building off and smokey. They find Tanya and Eric there and see that the Velociraptor had been released right by them. They escape into the paddock but have to quickly find a solution. Tanya and Eric are able to escape by jumping out but Claire and Justin are stuck inside. They race to the weapons cache, Claire grabs some tranquilizers and Justin rushes away to distract the raptor. She sprays the raptor with bear spray her sister made her bring and it knocks out the raptor. Justin dies as a result of the attack.

Oscar soon finds Claire and gets her to safety. Tanya admits to Claire that she and her brother Eric were trying to spy on InGen for a pharmaceutical company known as Mosby Health, who offered to heal their sick sister in return for samples of the technology. The raptor is euthanized and Claire asked Masrani to continue helping the twins' sick sister so no one else has to die. Masrani admits that Isobel was part of the group assisting in transporting dinosaurs from Sorna to Nublar. She refused to leave the Brachiosaurs during a tropical storm on the island, particularly when a fire broke out around Olive. She went to free her but on her way back, she crashed her jeep and died. He was forced to cover it up due to insurance reasons. She is unsure to believe this due to the threat note to Iz. He then offers Claire a job at the park as the one leading the park, after hearing how intelligent was on the island and to help him preventing further loss of life. She takes the job, desperate for the control she needs after the situation. The construction of the new park was completed later that year, with a total of $1.2 billion spent on concrete and building materials.

InGen was responsible for recreating Jurassic World's prehistoric fauna like they had done before for its precursor. Additionally, a number of dinosaurs initially created for the first park were recaptured and made into exhibits once more, as well as additional animals from Isla Sorna. An Aviary was also added, which housed the park's first 2 pterosaur species: Dimorphodon and Pteranodon. It was a huge, hexagonal interlocking dome which allowed the two pterosaur species to have ample space to fly, but still be contained. It was given an area of 500,000 sq ft.

Opening
Ticket sales would start being sold six months before opening, but there was a lottery system put into place to prevent scalpers. Jurassic World officially opened to the public in 2005 where it was met with 98,120 visitors in its first month. On the same year, the Masrani corporation signed a treaty with the Costa Rican Environmental Protection Society to protect Isla Nublar's native wildlife and their habitat. The park opened with eight species: Ankylosaurus, Brachiosaurus, Compsognathus, Dilophosaurus, Gallimimus, Parasaurolophus, Triceratops, and one Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Over the years, the park experiences many years of growth and prosperity, along with many new dinosaur editions over the years. Soon the first Pteranodon eggs would hatch and the aviary would be built by at least 2012. By 2004, the first strands of Mosasaurus DNA was uncovered and later in 2007, the first Mosasaurus was created for the park.

Also in 2007, a new Brachiosaurus batch was added to the park and a batch of Stegosaurus was also added that same year. In 2009, 2 packs of Carnotaurus were added to the park. (Film variant with both FK appearance & TLW Novel skins).

3 Velociraptors were also bred for a top secret project posing as a test exhibit. The first 2 Raptors were known as Subject A-2 and Subject V-2. A-2 was an orange Raptor like the Tiger variants on Isla Sorna, and V-2 had a light blue color scheme on her back. Unfortunately, the pair were much too aggressive and hostile, and had to be put down after viciously attacking one of the park workers. The third raptor, a brown one known as Subject D-3, also failed, and all Raptors were euthanised.

By 2010, InGen unveiled the Apatosaurus to the park, as well as adding in 3 new Baryonyx that same year. They were nicknamed "Chaos", "Grim" and "Limbo" by visitors, and the names stuck.

By 2011, the first Stygimoloch was created, followed by 8 more, and were added to the paddock with 2 other related species, Dracorex and Pachycephalosaurus. By 2012, a new group of Velociraptors were starting to be bred for Project IBRIS.

In 2013, Simon Masrani ordered for 2 new species to be added to the park following the film Walking With Dinosaurs, the Gorgosaurus and the Pachyrhinosaurus. These 2 helped turn the profit around for the next 2 years.

In 2014, Sinoceratops was introduced to the park. By 2015, the number of species had exploded on the island, featuring animals such as Allosaurus, Ceratosaurus, Dimorphodon, Edmontosaurus, Metriacanthosaurus, Microceratus, Monolophosaurus, Nasutoceratops, Ouranosaurus, Pachycephalosaurus, Peloroplites, Suchomimus, Tarbosaurus, and Teratophoneus. However, despite the growing amount of dinosaurs in the park, investors got nervous as profits slowly declined. The investors urged the company to find a new solution to the park's problem.

Wu did not give up. Instead, he cloned 4 Atrociraptors to live alongside the Raptor Squad. He also cloned a Kentrosaurus named Pierce and an Ankylosaurus named Bumpy, both of whom were kept together in a special enclosure.

Following this, Wu cloned a second Mosasaurus, and put it with the first. He dubbed them Lily (blue) and M142 (brown and white) respectively.

Next, Dr Wu cloned a single Giganotosaurus (the one seen in Dominion) to add to the park, which succeeded. He also brought over the Buck and Doe T-Rexes from Isla Sorna to keep Rexy company.

After this, Wu brought over the Spinosaurus known as Asset 87 from Isla Sorna, which helped boost tourist numbers and revenue.

Dr Wu later cloned 2 new large carnivore species: Albertosaurus and Acrocanthosaurus. Along with this, he cloned a pack of extra Suchominus alongside the original ones (blue & yellow skin, orange CT skins, and CT grey skinned).

Then, Wu made one big, final push. Even though all the new additions had helped quite a bit, in response to the decline in profits, Masrani decided to have him create genetic hybrids. Wu's first attempt at creating a hybrid (Scorpios Rex) turned into a disaster, and as a result, Masrani told Wu to destroy the specimen and improve his mistakes. Not making the same errors as before, Wu euthanised the Scorpius, and eventually created the hybrid known as Indominus Rex.

The Indominus was designed based off of the characteristics of many dinosaurs. While most of the animal's DNA was classified, other animals included; the base genome was Tyrannosaurus, which gave it a powerful bite force of 12,800 pounds of force, the Giganotosaurus DNA allowed the animal to grow to a huge size of 50 feet, Carnotaurus thick skin was used to add extra protection, Therizinosaurus DNA gave her massive arms that gave her an advantage over most theropods, a pit adder was added to allow her to track thermal heat signatures, an unknown type of tree frog was used to help the animal adapt to the climate and temperatures of Isla Nublar but also allowed it to hide its thermal heat signature, cuttlefish DNA was added to allow the animal to quickly grow but also the unforeseen ability for it to camouflage itself, the Velociraptor DNA added intelligence to the animal, and Deinosuchus DNA gave the animal enormous teeth. Majungasaurus DNA was added for unknown reasons, and Rugops was also in the DNA for unknown reasons, along with possibly even more animals, all of which added to its lethalness. The roar could reach 160db, as loud as a 747 jet, and the hybrid could run at least 30 mph.

When CEO Simon Masrani announced the new attraction for the dinosaur park at the beginning of 2015, the park saw an increase in ticket sales. Next, Wu cloned a Herbivorous hybrid, a Stegoceratops. 4 of them were added into the park, alongside one last hybrid: an Ankylodocus.

Jurassic World finally saw an upstart, and after the Indominus Rex was a success, a small addition to the park was added: Hidden Adventure. It boasted a rollercoaster and a safari car ride with animatronic dinosaurs, along with some shops and an Emergency Underground Bunker.

In late 2016, the Velociraptor and Atrociraptor packs were greenlit for the park, which also helped to boost tourism and ratings.

In 2020, on Jurassic World's 15th anniversary, Quetzalcoatlus was added into the aviary, which had been expanded to 800,000 square ft. This would be the last dinosaur added to the park for quite some time.

Employees
Simon Masrani - Founder and Owner.
Claire Dearing - Senior Assets Manager.
Zara Young - Claire's Assistant.
Vic Hoskins - Head of Security.
Henry Wu - Chief Geneticist.
Mae Turner - Geneticist & Palaeontologist.
Ben Pincus - Resident & Mae's Assistant.
Katashi Hamada - ACU Commander.
Lowery Cruthers - Control Room.
Vivian Krill - Control Room.
Owen Grady - Animal Behaviorist/Velociraptor trainer.

Barry Sembène - Velociraptor trainer.
Leon - Velociraptor Paddock Employee.
Nicholas Letting - Paddock 11 Supervisor.
Roland Tembo - ACU Commander.
Austin - ACU Commander.
Craig - ACU Trooper.
Lee - ACU Trooper.
Spears - ACU Trooper.
Meyers - ACU Trooper.
Cooper - ACU Trooper.
Miller - ACU Trooper.
Oscar - ACU Trooper.
Hap - ACU Trooper.
Nick Kilgore - Paddock 11 Worker.
Elsa - Petting Zoo Employee.
James - "Camptosaurus".
Jeremy - "Pachycephalosaurus".
Dave - Camp Counselor.
Roxie - Camp Counselor.
Steven Paul - Greeter.
Sarah - Mosasaurus Announcer.
Josh - Gyrosphere Operator.
Bertie - Head trainer of young dinosaurs.
Dr. Tim O'Donnell - Head Veterinarian.
Dr Alan Grant - Palaeontologist.
Dr Ellie Sattler - Paliobotenist & Palaeontologist.

Dr Ian Malcolm - In-house Philosopher.

Darius Bowman - Resident & Dinosaur Expert.
Kenji Kon - Resident, Sponser & Kentrosaurus Handler.
Brooklynn - Resident & Media Associate.
Sammy Gutierrez - Resident & Food Supplier.
Yasmina Fadoula - Resident & Gym Manager of Nublar Hilton.

Tickets
Standard Package; Duration: 3 Days
Includes:
20% Reduction with British Airways, United, Brussels, Air France, Royal Air Maroc, Emirates, Singapore Airlines.
Ferry from San José to Isla Nublar (round trip) in Economy.
3 nights in a Standard Room (Air Conditioner, TV, Low WiFi) at the 5-Stars Hilton Hotel (You need to pay for the Spa).
Park Map.
Access to the Principal Park (except of the Gyrospheres, the River Adventure and the Egg Spinner, which you need to pay for).
Access to the Monorail.
Access to the Gondola Lift.
Access to the Innovation Center.
Souvenir Flashlight.
Tier: $$$

Family Package; Duration: 4 Days
Includes:
30% Reduction with British Airways, United, Brussels, Air France, Royal Air Maroc, Emirates, Singapore.
Ferry from San José to Isla Nublar (round trip) in Economy Premium.
4 nights in a Family Premium Room (Air Conditioner, TV, Medium WiFi, Balcony, Kitchen) at the 5-Stars Hilton Hotel (You need to pay for the Spa).
Access to the Principal Park.
Access to the Monorail.
Access to the Gondola Lift.
Access to the Innovation Center.
Mr. DNA Meet & Greet.
Safari Breakfast Adventure.
Create your own stuffed Dinosaur.
Jurassic Kids' Club.
Tier: $$$$

Adrenaline Package; Duration: 3 Days
Includes:
40% Reduction with British Airways, United, Brussels, Air France, Royal Air Maroc, Emirates, Singapore.
Ferry from San José to Isla Nublar (round trip) in Maxi Premium.
3 nights in a Maxi Premium Room (Air Conditioner, TV, Medium WiFi, Balcony) at the 5-Stars Hilton Hotel (Includes Spa).
Access to the Principal Park (except of the Gyrospheres which you need to pay for).
Access to the Monorail.
Access to the Gondola Lift.
Access to the Innovation Center.
Helicopter Tour from Isla Nublar (1 out of a 100 with Simon Masrani).
Whitewater Rafting.
Help to Feed a T-Rex at the T-Rex Kingdom.
Jurassic Lagoon Bungee Jumping.
Tier: $$$

John Hammond Package; Duration: 3 Days
Includes:
30% Reduction with British Airways, United, Brussels, Air France, Royal Air Maroc, Emirates, Singapore.
Ferry from San José to Isla Nublar (round trip) in Gold.
3 nights in a Maxi Premium Room (Air Conditioner, TV, High WiFi, Balcony, Jacuzzi, Kitchen, Tablet) at the 5-Stars Hilton Hotel (Includes Spa).
Access to the Principal Park.
Access to the Monorail.
Access to the Gondola Lift.
Access to the Innovation Center.
Free Unlimited Gyrosphere Tour.
Creation Lab Tour.
See a Dinosaur Hatching.
Meet Brian Switek (Chief Palaeontologist).
Tier: $$$

Romance Package; Duration: 3 Days.
Includes:
40% Reduction with British Airways, United, Brussels, Air France, Royal Air Maroc, Emirates, Singapore.
Ferry from San José to Isla Nublar (round trip) in First Class.
3 nights in a Amor Room (Air Conditioner, TV, Maximum WiFi, Balcony, Jacuzzi, Kitchen, Tablet) at the 5-Stars Hilton Hotel (Includes Spa).
Access to the Principal Park.
Access to the Monorail.
Access to the Gondola Lift.
Access to the Innovation Center.
Free Unlimited Gyrosphere Tour.
Welcome Basket with Wine, Cheese, Charcuterie and Raisins.
Sleep with the Stars in the Jungle.
Picnic at the Lookout Point.
Tier: $$$

Apex Predator Package; Duration: 10 Days
Includes:
50% Reduction with British Airways, United, Brussels, Air France, Royal Air Maroc, Emirates, Singapore.
Ferry from San José to Isla Nublar (round trip) in VIP.
3 nights in a VIP Hammond Presidential Suite (Air Conditioner, TV, Maximum WiFi, Balcony, Jacuzzi, Kitchen, Tablet) at the 5-Stars Hilton Hotel (Includes Spa).
Access to the Principal Park.
Access to the Monorail.
Access to the Gondola Lift.
Access to the Innovation Center.
Free Unlimited Gyrosphere Tour.
Access to every Restaurant without Reservation.
VIP Access to the Origins Nightclub.
Private Dinosaurs Feeding.
25-Hours-A-Day Concierge.
Tier: $$$$$
Season Package; Duration: Every Season.

Reception
Jurassic World received high critical acclaim from visitors. InGen Security's protection of the park made it very safe, earning Jurassic World the title of the "Safest Theme Park in The World". However, Jurassic World has had its fair share of criticism. Most notably was the lack of feathered dinosaurs in Jurassic World due to the amphibian DNA used in their creation.

Methods
Jurassic World had many ways of handling and growing dinosaurs.

Raising newborns
In order to having lasting bonds with animals, trainers would sleep near the animals and be with them from the moment they're born in order to get familiar with humans and their scent. For carnivores, the workers had to be placed in between cages while raising the animals in order to prevent any attacks.

Feeding
The Tyrannosaurus trio would be fed goats, deer and cattle regularly, but every so often a special meal full of amino acids and various nutrients is given to them in order to keep all three healthy and active. Live feeders are also installed for all large and medium carnivores to hunt down animals.

LIST OF DINOSAURS IN THE PARK
A total of 57 species were officially on display in Jurassic World by 2025, 24 herbivores, 29 carnivores and 1 Omnivore.

Acrocanthosaurus (Carnivore).
Albertosaurus (Carnivore).
Allosaurus. (Carnivore)
Ankylosaurus. (Herbivore - Bumpy & many others).

Apatosaurus. (Herbivore)
Atrociraptor. (Carnivore - Red, Tiger, Ghost & Panthera).

Baryonyx. (Carnivore - Chaos, Grim & Limbo).
Brachiosaurus. (Herbivore)
Carnotaurus. (Carnivore - Film varients & TLW novel skins).

Ceratosaurus. (Carnivore - varients from JP3 & CC).

Coelurus. (Carnivore)
Corythosaurus. (Herbivore)
Compsognathus. (Carnivore)
Dracorex (Herbivore).
Dilophosaurus. (Carnivore)
Dimorphodon. (Carnivore)
Deinonychus. (Carnivore - JWE Varient).
Edmontosaurus. (Herbivore)
Elaphrosaurus. (Carnivore)
Euoplocephalus. (Herbivore)
Gallimimus. (Herbivore)
Giganotosaurus (Carnivore - JWD variant).
Gorgosaurus. (Carnivore - WWD Varients)
Herrerasaurus. (Carnivore)
Hadrosaurus. (Herbivore)
Hoplitosaurus. (Herbivore)
Indominus Rex. (Carnivore)
Kentrosaurus (Herbivore - Pierce & several others).

Lesothosaurus. (Omnivore)
Mamenchisaurus. (Herbivore)
Metriacanthosaurus. (Carnivore)
Microceratus. (Herbivore)
Mosasaurus. (Carnivore - Blue varient/Lily & M142).

Monolophosaurus. (Carnivore)
Nipponosaurus. (Herbivore)
Ouranosaurus. (Herbivore)
Pachycephalosaurus. (Herbivore)
Pachyrhinosaurus. (Herbivore - WWD varient)
Parasaurolophus. (Herbivore)
Parasaurolophus lux. (Herbivore)
Peloroplites. (Herbivore)
Pteranodon. (Carnivore)
Plesiosaurus. (Carnivore)
Quetzalcoatlus. (Carnivore - JWD varient).
Stegosaurus. (Herbivore)
Stegoceratops. (Herbivore)
Segisaurus. (Carnivore)
Spinosaurus. (Carnivore - Asset 87/Sobek).
Sinoceratops. (Herbivore)
Stygimoloch. (Herbivore)
Styracosaurus. (Herbivore)
Suchomimus. (Carnivore)
Triceratops. (Herbivore)
Tarbosaurus. (Carnivore)
Teratophoneus. (Carnivore)
Tyrannosaurus Rex. (Carnivore - Rexy, Buck & Doe).

Velociraptor. (Carnivore - Blue, Charlie, Delta & Echo).

Scorpios rex (cancelled).

(Manilla, February 2019)

When the K-Watch alarms began to blare throughout every ERDC Shatterdome to warn of the next Kaiju emergence, the ERDC's response was immediate, as always. But this time, their preparations quickly took on a higher degree of urgency...because, according to the scanners that had been set up in the Mariana Trench to monitor the Breach, this Kaiju was the first ever Category-4.

The Kaiju, designated Meathead, began making its way west within a couple of hours, heading towards the coastlines of China and the Philippines. Fortunately, there was enough time for the EUDC to react, and several Jaegers were moved to strategic locations in preparation for the monster's arrival. Due to the size and power of their opponent, this time they were sent out in teams of three, with three teams covering the most likely targets in the Kaiju's path.

Coyote Tango, Vulcan Specter, and Crimson Typhoon were deployed at the southern tip of Taiwan. Following that, Cherno Alpha, Nova Hyperion, and Shaolin Rogue were placed in Hong Kong. Finally, Gypsy Danger was sent to Manila, accompanied by Lucky Seven and Horizon Brave. The first Mark-5, Striker Eureka, was still undergoing construction, and wouldn't be launched until mid March of 2019. Godzilla, Mothra and Rodan were all on patrol in different sections around the world,

====================================

{ERDC Deployment Point - Manila, Philippines}

Herc and Scott Hansen hadn't seen much of Min and Jing Li since before Horizon Brave launched, back when they'd all been prospective pilots at the new facility in Kodiak Island in 2015. Introductions and reintroductions among the crews were rushed as they arrived on the tarmacs outside the cluster of warehouses on Philippine military headquarters. There was a lot to do to get the Jaegers ready for deployment so far from a Shatterdome.

Herc was so occupied with logistics - checking out the position of the drop crews bringing Lucky Seven in for pre-deployment prep and the spotter and strike troop staging - that he didn't even look twice at the approaching Becketts..

Having come the farthest, Gypsy Danger's staging area was the wildest, and the American Rangers were still making their way towards the Hansens and the Lis when the sirens went off again. Alarms blared, and Rangers and crew went closer to the nearest screens to see the flashing red alerts announcing what K-Watch had predicted.

"Bogey's on the hunt. Twelve hours to drop." reported Winter Schnee.

"All personnel, report to stations for orders."

"Man, so much for a nap." one of the American crew grumbled, jogging past them.

"What, the trans-Pacific flight wasn't enough for you?" Yancy Beckett demanded.

"I can't sleep worth a damn on planes!!" Tendo Choi protested.

Scott clapped a hand on Yancy's shoulder, grinning through the tension. "Well, buckle up, cowboy. This time, it's gonna be one hell of a ride."

Yancy huffed out a laugh, shaking his head. "You know something? I was hoping for a quiet deployment. Something...less life-threatening, for once."

"None of those bastards are a match for three Jaegers." Raleigh grinned, smirking at his brother.

"TEAM GYPSY!! FULL MUNITIONS REVIEW, NINETY MINUTES!!" someone bellowed.

"How's Horizon?" Herc asked Jing Li as they moved out of the way of the rushing crews. Until the Jaegers were deemed launch ready, there wouldn't be much for the pilots to do.

"She had the shortest journey of all of us. Temporary headquarters is nearly complete." Jing replied. She gestured to the cluster of buildings where someone had already hung a Horizon Brave banner from an upper ledge. "Coyote Tango was arriving in Hong Kong just as we left."

"At least the B-Team's got a proper Shatterdome to launch from." Scott grunted, eyeing the hangars and warehouses with distaste. "I'm gonna find somewhere to put up my feet."

Herc snorted, shaking his head. "Yeah, good luck with that."

Min chuckled as she watched Scott immediately flop onto a nearby crate—only for Raleigh to toss him a protein bar with a smirk. "Here. Breakfast."

Scott caught it, unimpressed. "Wow. Real gourmet."

Herc didn't see Scott again until the drop call, but he and the Lis parked themselves outside the fast-growing LOCCENT room and watched the deployment prep and K-watch reports. "Bingham's prediction looks dead-on, as usual." Marshall Blaine Ketteridge remarked from Sydney, with the Phillipine general at his side as they studied the Kaiju blip traveling steadily to the southwest from the Breach.

"Bogey's making a hundred kilometers per hour, sir." someone called from the K-Watch local station. "He's almost as fast as Keunsango. We can expect the biggest variable to be when he passes between us and Taiwan."

"What's the status of the other nearby teams?" Scott asked.

"Hong Kong reports full deployment readiness: Coyote Tango, Vulcan Specter, and Crimson Typhoon. Cherno Alpha, Nova Hyperion, and Shaolin Rogue are preparing for deployment at Xiogang, Taiwan in case he veers north." said Tendo Choi over the radio. "Final pre-dep checks should be complete for Gypsy Danger in the next thirty minutes, Cherno Alpha reporting sixty minutes." He frowned as he listened to something over his headset. "Hey, anybody from Lucky or Horizon, can we get some pod link techs in here? Team Cherno's having some link issues."

A group of Horizon Brave's pod crew clustered around the comm station to confer with their fellow Mark-1 crew. Herc raised his eyebrows at Min Li as Choi hovered close to weigh in on the conversation – or rather, to move in on one of Horizon's pretty techs. Min glared, but Jing just grinned, and as they all headed off for their own deployment, the Lis were still muttering back and forth in Mandarin.

Scott chuckled as he heard Min and Jing bickering in Mandarin. "Never change, you two."

Raleigh grinned, watching as Min swatted at Jing—who just dodged. "I don't know. Think they'd take offense to me calling them the Asian version of Tom and Jerry?"

Herc snorted. "Best not to find out, Raleigh."

Yancy fell on his ass laughing.

"Are we expecting contact before sunrise?" Scott asked.

"Depends on whether he decides to circle Luzon, Lucky Seven. Right now, he's looking like he may come at you from the east; if he does, we'll drop you around Pollilo. If he comes around, K-Watch is still predicting Manila, but that'll be five or six more hours depending on how much he slows down."

"Great. Another long wait standing up." Scott huffed.

"Eh, recline your rig and take a nap." Herc told him. His brother could whine as bad as Chuck sometimes.

It was dull and a little less than comfortable hanging around in the conn-pod for hours, but it came with the territory just like everything else. Meathead did end up taking the long way around the islands, and the Rangers passed the time dozing, playing remote games with each other and their crews, and making plans for post-engagement festivities.

"General Santiago wants to know if you lot are interested in a tour of the facilities afterward." Marshall Ketteridge offered. "He's quite proud of the ERDC recruiting office's class this year. So far they have forty past pre-screening for the next Academy class."

Herc raised an eyebrow. "Forty? Damn. That's impressive."

Min let out a low whistle. "Four years ago, we were lucky if there were 6 a year back when I first got through."

Scott scoffed. "Damn, I can't believe you guys had it that bad."

Their comms buzzed, and they heard klaxons echoing in LOCCENT from their speakers. "Ladies and gentlemen, target has cleared the Babuyan Islands, now traveling due south. Prepare for deployment."

"Good call, K-Watch." said one of the Beckets as the pod crews swarmed into Lucky for final checks.

"What's our ETA to contact point?" asked Herc.

"Present speed, ninety minutes. Current drop destination is just outside the mouth of Manila Bay." Marshall Ketteridge told them. "Horizon Brave, you have mission command."

They hadn't initiated the neural handshake yet, but Herc didn't even have to look to know Scott was annoyed. But the Lis' initial decision mollified him. "Understood, Marshall, but we want Lucky Seven to take point."

Scott blinked, and Herc grinned. "Aw, man." whined one of the Beckets playfully. Probably Raleigh.

"Pipe down, whippersnapper." Herc retorted, laughing. "What are you thinking, Horizon? Want us to light the bastard up a few times first before you freeze him or fry him?"

"Exactly. Put some of your charges and spears into him. We'll try to triangulate him and freeze that tail off. Gypsy Danger, for the torso with your plasma and Chainswords."

"Copy that, Horizon." said Yancy. "Our drop crew is ready for liftoff. Which flank do you want us on?"

"Lucky's right. We'll be on the left."

All seemed well once they were dropped in the shallows of Manila Bay, watching the kaiju's signature growing on the HUD. Through the handshake, Herc could sense Scott's pride in their position at the point of the triangle, but at least with Meathead now visible on the spectrometers, his eyes were on the job. "These buggers are getting skinnier, you noticed? They don't present as big a target."

"Yeah, faster, too. Let's put a couple of electric cannonballs into him first. That'll help keep a lock on him." Herc mused. "Oi, Gypsy, get a look at those arms. If we can get him on his back, think you can blow 'em off?"

"Just watch us!! Especially if Horizon cryo-freezes anything; the plasma will snap what's left in half."

"That's the plan." Jing agreed.

On their visible screens, something broke the surface that was no ship or island. "Holy Christ, the SIZE of that guy!!" someone exclaimed in LOCCENT.

Herc checked the tactical display. "ETA to contact point, less than ten minutes. Here we go!!"

"Slow him down fast. The last few have been really evasive, Lucky."

Scott, despite his earlier grumbling, narrowed his eyes, his focus razor-sharp. "Alright, Meathead—let's see how you like lightning up your ass."

The kaiju's silhouette loomed on the horizon, towering over the waves like a grotesque skyscraper of armor and sinew.

When Meathead was less than an hour from its arrival in Manila, another alarm flashed over the airwaves from K-Watch. Godzilla had appeared on their tracking system, just fifty miles behind the incoming Kaiju and coming in right behind it...he was PISSED.

"Marshall Ketteridge, ETA for Godzilla?" Raleigh asked.

Marshall Ketteridge studied the tracker, his voice grim. "Based on the last scan of Godzilla's location, he's likely still underwater. We estimate his ETA is approximately 45 minutes, if he's maintaining current speed. For the moment, just keep the Kaiju from reaching shore and wait for Godzilla to catch up; then back up and let them fight it out."

On the furthest edges of their screen, they could see Gypsy skirting the shoreline to the north, hoping to cut off Meathead's escape. 'Just hope our little mates don't get excited and start shooting plasma when we close with him' thought Scott.

'And on that same note, watch where you're aiming the woomera.' Herc thought back. "Horizon, Gypsy, you ready?"

"You're clear, Lucky!!”

"That's a go, Lucky Seven, light him up!!”

They launched their electromagnetic "cannonballs" for the thickest part of the kaiju's torso. The first one missed, but then the monster roared and reared out of the water, and the HUD flashed with three signals from its body. "We've hit him! Let's reel him in!"

The bastard didn't turn tail, unlike some of his predecessors, but tried to dodge between Lucky and Gypsy, which put him on a course straight into Manila Bay and its millions of shoreline inhabitants. "Lucky, watch that tail!!" Gypsy warned, and Herc and Scott ducked under a swipe of the massive barb. "Firing plasma for the front!!"

Herc and Scott couldn't see it past the massive body, but the roaring recoil that almost put Meathead on top of them was proof enough that Gypsy had scored a hit. "Nice shot!!" Min shouted. As the creature writhed, they saw that one of its massive horns had been shortened almost in half. "Tighten it up!!"

The kaiju roared, enraged, the heat of the plasma blast searing its flesh. It lashed out with its barbed tail, just narrowly missing Lucky.

"Bloody hell, this bugger means business." Scott muttered, adjusting his balance. "Keep the pressure up, Gypsy!!"

With a screech, the kaiju lunged at Gypsy, only for the Jaeger to dodge the massive jaws with a well-timed step back. "Trying to!!" Yancy called back. "But this guy's got some serious moves!!"

The first Category-4 hadn't gained that status for nothing: it was significantly bigger than any Kaiju that had appeared so far, even Yamarashi. Physically, it resembled a cross between a bull and a scorpion: it had a hulking body covered with bony armor, four legs with thick, hooflike claws on its feet, 2 huge horns that curved forward from its head, and a long tail tipped with a massive, barbed spike. Its fanged maw opened, and it let out a deep, bellowing roar that rang out over the bay.

Meathead snarled and surged forward through the shallower water of the bay, heading straight for Lucky Seven and lowering its horns into a ramming position. As soon as it started moving, however, the Hansens spread their Jaeger's arms and opened fire with a volley of metal cannonballs from the electromagnetic rail-guns in their shoulders. One of the four shots was deflected by Meathead's natural armor, but the other three were direct hits, punching holes in its bony outer shell and releasing small spurts of blue blood. The only reaction that they provoked from the monster, however, was another roar as it kept on coming.

Herc and Scott quickly deployed another weapon in their arsenal: long metal spears, nicknamed woomera after the wooden spearthrowers created by Australia's first inhabitants, which were designed to pierce through a Kaiju's hide and puncture internal organs. They only had enough time to fire two of the spears before they had to dodge Meathead's berserker charge; one embedded itself in the Kaiju's left shoulder, but the other glanced off its armor and splashed into the water.

"Light him up!!" Herc yelled over the comms as Lucky scrambled sideways out of Meathead's path, narrowly ducking under a swing of its massive, spike-tipped tail. The Lis were quick to respond, and Horizon sprang forward, firing twin blasts of freezing vapor from its cryo-cannons. One burst caught Meathead squarely in the chest as it reared up with a snarl, while the other washed over the left side of its head. The Kaiju screeched in anger or pain, rearing back and lashing out with its front legs, but Horizon narrowly managed to dodge the powerful kicks and stumbled back out of harm's way.

Following on their teammates' heels, the Becketts yelled out a challenge and rushed in to join the fray, charging up their plasma cannons and firing as soon as they had a clear shot. The one aimed at the Kaiju's head narrowly missed its skull, although the blast did manage to take off part of its massive left horn. The second bolt of blue-white plasma, however, scored a direct hit to Meathead's chest, right where Horizon's cryo-cannon blast had struck. The resulting explosion and the shriek of pain that accompanied it were extremely satisfying, as was the nasty wound that became visible on the Kaiju's chest as the steam cleared.

"Target acquired!!" Scott panted as Lucky charged up its weapons again. "You're not getting away, you little..."

And then...something strange happened. Scott's voice suddenly trailed off abruptly, and Herc let out a strangled grunt as if he'd just been punched in the gut, before his voice spoke up again, this time muttering lowly. "...Scott? What..."

"Herc, no..."

"What the hell is..."

"Herc, stop! I didn't...I swear, I didn't mean to...!"

"...Scott, WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?!"

And then both Hansen brothers' voices suddenly dissolved into incoherent screaming, Scott's voice raised in terror and panic, Herc's in horrified rage. Lucky Seven lurched in place, back arching and arms contorting, the purple and silver Mark-1 Jaeger swaying and stumbling like a puppet with tangled strings, as their comms dissolved into a mess of static and garbled screams.

In Gypsy Danger, Raleigh managed to reach up and open a comms channel back to the deployment facility that had been hastily set up in Manila. "Tendo, what the hell's going on?!" he snapped.

"Raleigh!!" Tendo Choi's voice exclaimed from where he was monitoring the situation at the temporary command post. "Guys, something's seriously wrong; Lucky's neural handshake is falling apart!! They're both way out of alignment!!"

Yancy and Raleigh looked at each other. Yancy's brow furrowed, a mix of confusion and concern creasing his forehead. "What the hell's going on?! They were doing fine a minute ago!" He demanded.

Tendo's voice crackled through the comms again, the tension in his tone palpable. "I don't know! I'm looking at their neural activity now—their brainwaves are all over the place, completely out of sync!!"

Hissing and snarling, Meathead pawed the ground in another bull-like motion, about to charge back at Gypsy and Horizon. The Beckets were bracing themselves for another round, when their target suddenly froze and whirled around, facing out towards the ocean. A moment later, everyone heard the sound that had attracted its attention: a deep rumble that echoed through the water and the Jaegers' iron skins, stopping all six pilots in their tracks. Even Herc and Scott shut up for a moment.

'Shit.' Yancy's thoughts echoed through the Drift. 'He's here.'

Sure enough, a second massive eruption of water at the mouth of the bay drew everyone's attention. Three rows of bony plates cut through the water, and a huge dark shape rose above the surface as Godzilla emerged, shifting from swimming to walking as he entered the shallows. The Titan's plates were already pulsing and rippling with the blue light of an intimidation display, and his deep, commanding roar echoed across the entire bay as he strode towards them. His eyes were fixed intently on Meathead, seemingly ignoring the trio of Jaegers.

Godzilla gave a nod to Horizon and Gypsy, then charged straight at Meathead. Meathead met him head-on, roaring defiantly as the two monsters crashed together in a massive clash. The impact sent waves rippling out across the bay, causing the nearby Jaegers to stagger back. Godzilla roared, brought an arm up and slapped the large Kaiju back.

But Meathead wasn't done. It turned and sent its huge barbed tail straight into Horizon's Conn-Pod...killing Min and Jing Li.

"NO!!!!" The Becketts screamed over the Comms.

Roaring, Godzilla yanked Meathead away from the Chinese Mark-1, sank his enormous jaws into its tail...and RIPPED it off. Meathead let out a thunderous shriek, blood spraying as its tail was torn from its body.

"Jesus..." Raleigh muttered, grimacing at the horrific sight. "Godzilla's not messing around..."

Meathead shrieked in pain, thrashing about and trying to wrestle free of its opponent, but Godzilla seized it by the throat with his free hand and pinned it down. His eyes flashed from orange to blue, and a familiar thrumming sound filled the air as a wave of blue light rippled up along his dorsal plates. It seemed like he deliberately charged it up for a few seconds longer this time, his chest swelling with a deep inhale...and then he unleashed his fury, a crack of thunder ringing out as he blasted Meathead right in the face with his atomic breath.

The blast was absolutely enormous, tearing through the kaiju and unleashing a massive explosion that sent a shockwave rippling through the air. Raleigh winced at the sheer force of it, his eyes widening in awe. "Jesus Christ...that's gotta be the biggest blast we've seen from him yet.."

Godzilla turned and looked sternly at Gypsy, then looked at Horizon Brave, which had collapsed, its Conn-Pod cracked and broken. He then gave a nod, turned and went back to the sea.

In the aftermath of the disastrous battle in Manila, the EUDC was left to take stock of the situation. Only Gypsy Danger had made it out unscathed. Both of Horizon Brave's pilots, Jing and Min Li, had been killed when Meathead's barbed tail had pierced through their conn-pod.

Miraculously, even though their Jaeger had lost an arm and part of the left leg, the pilots of Lucky Seven had both survived without any serious physical injuries...but their mental state was something else entirely. When the rescue helicopters had arrived to retrieve the Hansen brothers from their conn-pod, they'd been stunned to discover Herc driving a series of vicious punches into Scott's bloody face. He'd been so overwhelmed by rage that the medics had been forced to drag them forcibly apart and load them onto separate choppers, having no idea what was going on. But as he was being rushed back to the deployment facility in Manila, Herc had explained his actions...by reporting his brother for two counts of rape and murder.

As it would later turn out once the resulting investigation was complete, in the past couple of weeks since the brothers' last Drift, Scott Hansen had sexually assaulted and murdered two young women: one in Sydney, just before Lucky Seven had been moved to the Philippines, and one in Manila, just a few hours before the Jaegers had been deployed. Since the battle had been their first full Drift in weeks, Herc hadn't been suspicious in the slightest until Scott's concentration had slipped while they were preparing to attack Meathead again, at which point all of the memories that Scott had been concealing had come welling up and torn their neural handshake to shreds.

The news sent horrified shockwaves through the EUDC personnel, tempered only by the announcement that Scott Hansen had been promptly arrested and that he'd been sentenced to life in a military prison as soon as the truth of his actions had been confirmed. Herc was utterly devastated by the discovery of what his brother had done, especially after the horrifying trauma of having witnessed some of Scott's memories firsthand via the Drift, and had been flown back to the Sydney Shatterdome to be with his teenage son Chuck as soon as he'd been declared medically fit to travel.

The wrecks of Lucky Seven and Horizon Brave were taken to the Seattle Shatterdome, as no one knew what to do with the 2 Mark-1s.

Here’s what I’m thinking: after mutating, Super Shredder decides to bolster his forces, and recruits Tatsu, Snakeweed, Spider Bytez, Newtralizer, The Rat King and The Creep to his army, along with creating a clone of Dogpound thanks to some of Chris Bradford’s DNA, while also mutating several animals to create The Honey Badger Ravagers & The Scale Tail Clan, who replace his Regular Footbots alongside his Elite Footbots.

In return, the Turtles, Karai, April and Casey are reunited with Zeno, Mona Lisa and Sal Commander, while the Mighty Mutanimals (now consisting of Slash, Leatherhead, Dr Rockwell, Mondo Gecko and Pigeon Pete) recruit Muckman and Alopex into their team.

How does a fight between both sides play out??

{Jaeger Bay - Moyulan Shatterdome, China}

They had a crew of hundreds thanks to the reinforcements from Shao Industries—but not much time. A quick assessment of Matador Fury determined that he would have to be scrapped, and Nuclear Mercenary was also too badly damaged to take any part in the current fight. It might have been possible to repair the blue Mark-3's damaged leg with parts scavenged from Matador Fury's remains, but Mercenary had also suffered catastrophic damage in the uncontrolled fall. Its guidance systems needed a complete overhaul and the interior of his Conn-Pod had been almost destroyed by missile strikes after he fell. However, Matador Fury's Ion Katana had been salvaged from the Mexican Mark-3, and was being given to Puma Real.

That left the remaining Jaegers to be the focus of the tech team's work: Atlas Destroyer, Striker Berserker, Hunter Vertigo, Tiger Rush, Murder Witch, Condor Fury, Soviet Elite, Golden Paladin, Katana Indigo, Gypsy Avenger, Oni Taiji, Bracer Phoenix, Scarlet Hades, Puma Real, Hydra Corinthian, Mammoth Apostle, Yankee Star, Guardian Bravo, Rio Sentry, Chernobyl, White Scion, Lord Azrael, Coyote Nemesis, Iron Fist, Jaeger Prime, and Valor Omega. Gypsy Avenger needed repairs to her armor plating and Conn-Pod housing to get her fully combat-ready after her engagement with Obsidian Fury in Siberia, and Katana Indigo and Hydra Corinthian also needed some repairs from that fight.

The rest of the fleet had all suffered damage in the Drone attack. They couldn't go into the field at all without at least some repair. Only Saber Athena and Titan Crusher, which had been brought straight from the old Hong Kong Shatterdome Museum, were undamaged. And then there was the question of the thruster pods. They had to get the idea from Watts and Gottlieb's notes to the Shatterdome tarmac in less than forty-eight hours or none of the repairs to the Jaegers would matter anyway.

Added to that was the widespread damage to support vehicles and the docking mechanisms. The first thing Shao's crews did was get as many of the cradles welded back together as possible so they could hold and swap out several of the Jaegers that needed repair at a time. Then the Jaegers were towed into place and the real work could begin. The Jaeger bay was controlled chaos, with J-Tech and Shao teams crisscrossing it on repeated trips from parts and electronics warehouse storage to the docking bays.

Outside, Arthur Watts and Hermann Gottlieb oversaw a long cavalcade of tanker trucks carrying Kaiju blood. Large reserves of it were kept in anaerobic storage in tanks deep below the Shatterdome, along with other Kaiju tissue and genetic material used in K-Science research. Now the duo followed those tankers out onto the arm of the tarmac where the Jumphawk gantries stood. They thought the gantries would be strong enough to hold the Jaegers upright and true at the ignition of the thruster pods, if they could get the thruster pods built and integrated into the Jaegers' command systems soon enough.

Near the gantries, the duo had set up an outdoor assembly line. Crews of welders and engineers took repurposed fuel tanks and thruster cones adapted from V-Dragon engines. They had to build the rest on the fly: fuel lines and valves, electronic control systems that could be quickly merged to the Jaegers' operating software, ignition chambers designed around catalyzing ingots of rare earth metals, brackets and housings to attach the thruster pods to the Jaegers at the correct angle so firing the thrusters wouldn't knock the Jaegers into an uncontrollable spin. There was also the problem of waste heat from the thrusters, which according to Gottlieb's calculations was a danger to the electronics in the Jaegers' midsections and legs. Watts ran back and forth from the tarmac to the Jaeger bay, making sure crews were adding heat shielding to the backs of the Jaegers and also installing thruster shunts below the exhaust nozzles to direct as much of the heat away from the Jaegers as possible. Then that meant he and Gottlieb had to go back and recalculate the impulse angles to keep the Jaegers from spinning or tumbling...There were, as the saying went, a lot of moving parts. Hermann and Arthur had no doubt that their math was correct, and the Kaiju blood would yield enough thrust to get the Jaegers airborne. The rest of the design would just have to go into the field untested.

Inside the bay, medical teams had removed most of the wounded and were working on recovering the dead. The base infirmary was more than two hundred percent over capacity, and wounded filled the barracks closest to the infirmary level. The dead, numbering in the hundreds, were zipped into body bags and held in the base morgue, which was also filled far beyond its design capacity. The traumatic aftershocks of the event would set in soon, but at that moment every member of the Shatterdome's crew was working toward one overriding goal: stopping the eight Kaiju from reaching the top of Mount Fuji.

The assessment of the damage to the 28 Jaegers they needed to achieve that goal yielded a long list of necessary repairs. Iron Fist had suffered some of the worst damage even before it was brought to the Shatterdome: The Jaeger's arms were completely burned out, and they had no way to repair them in time. Winter Schnee had puzzled over this problem until she had an idea that she took to Tai and Summer. She found them elbow-deep in Gypsy Avenger's Conn-Pod, retuning the maglev field generators. "Iron Fist is down both arms. No time to get her combat-ready." she said.

"Or..." Summer looked out over the dock floor. Crews had moved parts of Nuclear Mercenary out of the way toward the collapsed rubble of the LOCCENT. The torso was still in place, but the limbs and head were already pushed aside—except for Nuclear Mercenary's arms, which hung in cable slings between 4 mobile cranes. "Nuclear Mercenary's not going to be using those anymore."

Both Tai and Winter looked down at the detached arms. Then they looked at each other, and then back at Summer. "That's Nuclear Mercenary's arms." Tai pointed out.
"I like it." Winter mused.

"I do too." Summer said. "Except Arslan and Lloyd won't have trained with it. Will they know what to do? The blades and Pulse Cannon on them are surprisingly heavy."

"Better than nothing, right?" Winter waited for one of them to contradict her. When they didn't, she said, "All right. I'm going to get to it."

=================================

Amara and Jinhai paused in their work at the side of Iron Fist's head to watch as the 4 cranes carrying the large blue arms lifted them into position. They were a hundred feet above it all, but the scale of the Jaeger parts made it all seem closer—until you realized how tiny the people looked, swarming around the monumental limb. Team ABRN and their crew had removed Iron Fist's original arms. From the spool housing, cables as thick as a human thigh dangled, waiting to be spliced into the Spanish Mark-4's guidance systems.

While they had been working on Iron Fist, a crew from Shao Industries had been assisting Klein, Willow, Kennedy, Stephanie and The Wei-Tangs with repairing Oni Taiji. They had the new cable junctions ready. Other crews were standing by with the interlocking plates of the Mark-2's armor, waiting to refit it.

Oni Taiji rocked in the holding cradle as the crew banged the assembly into place against its elbow. They quickly got back to work, as one of the Drone missiles had hit the Jaeger square in the side of the head. Oni's tough cranial armor had mostly held together thanks to it being based off of Cherno Alpha's tough design, but the blast wave had destroyed the complicated gyroscopic mechanism that served Jaegers the way the inner ear served a human being. Without it, the Jaeger wouldn't be able to keep its balance. Heading back in through Oni's Conn-Pod hatch, they worked their way past Vik, Amara and Jinhai, who were tack-welding brackets back into place after they had repaired the damaged electronics servicing the gyroscope.

Amara and Jinhai got their hands under the gyroscope. They locked eyes. "One," Jinhai said. Two and three were silent, but they lifted at exactly the same time, grunting and staggering with the gyroscope over to its housing. They got the edge of it resting on the flanged edge of the housing, but it started to overbalance as Jinhai shifted to get a grip on the side and ease it in. Before it could tumble out, Vik rushed over and braced it. The three of them, working together, got it in place. They exchanged exhausted fist bumps and Vik got back to her welding. Jinhai fired up a compressor powering an impact wrench to bolt the gyroscope into place, and Amara went back out onto the catwalk.

Suresh and Ilya were there, waiting for her to tell them what to do with a cart full of parts she'd sent them to get from a locker below the docking cradles. "Next thing we need is that shock absorber." she said, tapping her hand on a six-foot-long hydraulic absorber. It was one of eight that spoked out from the gyroscope housing, keeping the Jaeger's balance modulator from being bounced around too much in combat or deployment. Suresh and Ilya maneuvered it past her and in through Oni Taiji's Conn-Pod hatch.

Amara went down the catwalk toward Condor Fury in the next bay, to see how things were going there. She was exhausted from work and lack of sleep, but she was also riding a wave unlike any she had ever felt before. Josh had put her in charge of what he called "Scrapperizing" some of the repairs. The way he explained it, that meant Amara had to figure out how to rig up on-the-fly solutions for repairs that they didn't have time to do according to the procedures in the Jaegers' technical spec. Amara had almost refused, since she was the new kid at Moyulan and didn't want to be put in the position of making the other cadets treat her like the teacher's pet. Josh had cut her refusal off. "Look." he'd said. "You've built a Jaeger. They haven't. So we need what you know and there's no time to worry about how anyone feels about it. If they're giving you trouble, save it for later."

'After we ride Gottlieb's experimental thrusters over hundreds of miles of ocean into combat against eight powerful Kaiju, with all of our Jaegers held together essentially by duct tape and baling wire.' The more Amara thought about it, the more she realized Josh was right not to worry about how anyone would feel about it tomorrow...because the odds of there being a tomorrow didn't look all that good.

But if they were going to go down, they were going to go down fighting.

Renata and Ryoichi hung in rappelling harnesses from the catwalk ringing Condor Fury's berth. They were welding a plate closed on the Chilean Mark-4's chest, covering a crack left by a plasma missile. Condor was in decent shape overall. Its weapons systems hadn't suffered from the missiles, But its front side had taken a lot of impact damage. A small army of J-Tech and Shao personnel hung in other harnesses, welding repair plates into place. It wasn't going to be pretty, but Amara thought they had figured out a way to get the repairs done without compromising Condor Fury's mobility and agility. At least she hoped they had.

And she hoped they hadn't missed anything when they did the repair analyses on Gypsy Avenger, Iron Fist, Bracer Phoenix, Katana Indigo or Hydra Corinthian. Of all the Jaegers, Guardian Bravo seemed to be in the best shape, along with Atlas Destroyer, Hunter Vertigo, Murder Witch, Striker Berserker, Golden Paladin, Oni Taiji, Coyote Nemesis, Mammoth Apostle, Yankee Star, Puma Real, Jaeger Prime, Scarlet Hades, Saber Athena, Chernobyl, Rio Sentry, Valor Omega, and Soviet Elite.

That was why Suresh and Ilya were free to help with the repairs to Iron Fist, Condor Fury, Gypsy Avenger, Katana Indigo, Hydra Corinthian, and Bracer Phoenix. They'd already worked through all the diagnostics they could run on Guardian Bravo. The Arc Whip was good, hull integrity was good, Conn-Pod stability checked out okay...the only repairs Guardian Bravo needed were basically cosmetic, and could wait for another time. Some of the crews were even swarming Matador Fury's remains, and salvaging what they could in an attempt to try and fix Nuclear Mercenary to get an extra Jaeger repaired and ready. The bodies of Emily and Randy Deacon had been removed from the blue Mark-3's Conn-Pod, and put in special body bags, along with Puma Real's original pilots, Guardian Bravo's Original Pilots, and Matador Fury's Pilots.

So while crews swarmed over the other six Jaegers, Guardian Bravo, Atlas Destroyer, Hunter Vertigo, Murder Witch, Striker Berserker, Oni Taiji, Coyote Nemesis, Yankee Star, Puma Real, Jaeger Prime, Chernobyl, White Scion, Golden Paladin, Hydra Corinthian, Mammoth Apostle, Titan Crusher, Saber Athena, Scarlet Hades, Rio Sentry, Valor Omega, and Soviet Elite were moving slowly on a tracked platform out to the launch gantries on the far end of the tarmac. They had a path cleared, largely by bulldozing destroyed Scramblers and Jumphawks out of the way. Then outside crews had covered the missile craters in the tarmac with armor plates taken from Matador Fury and Nuclear Mercenary, along with what they could salvage from Iron Fist’s old arms . It was ugly, but it worked well enough to get the Jaegers into place on a gantry. The crew waiting there locked them into place and cranes lifted the thruster pods up. Once they were swung into place near the Jaegers backs, the whole gantry lit up with the flare of welding torches and rang with the sound of impact wrenches.

Hermann Gottlieb and Arthur Watts watched the final maneuvers, Arthur clutching a data pad and a sheaf of papers with their original notes on the potential energy of Kaiju blood. The duo had hit a snag in the process because Watts couldn't get the fuel equation to balance. If they'd had the time to design a second component to add to the fuel mixture and create a hypergolic combination that would self-ignite, everything would have worked brilliantly. But as it was, they had to use the raw Kaiju blood, and its properties were not fully understood—at least not where potential energy was concerned. All the simulations the pair had run with raw Kaiju blood and a single ignition component came out slightly wrong. They either led to insufficient thermal energy release, or caused a runaway reaction that could not be controlled in the combustion chamber. In short, despite Watts and Gottlieb's best efforts so far, the Jaegers either wouldn't get off the ground or would explode at liftoff. They were starting to panic under the pressure.

Liwen Shao was also working on the fuel equation, and Gottlieb decided to run back inside and see how her work was going. If they couldn't crack the problem together, there was no way on Earth to stop the Kaiju from entering Mount Fuji...except for multiple nuclear strikes.

{Chingdu Shatterdome, same time as the Drone attacks}

"Dhampir Wrecker, heading for the rendezvous." Ranger Alex Pentax's voice somehow managed to convey the impression of boredom mixed with his usual soldierlike alertness.

"Go ahead, Wrecker." Jackson Martin, the Shatterdome's Commanding Officer replied. "We're finishing up on a few checks. See you in a bit."

"You sure it's just checks you're doing?" teased Ranger Sarah Nelson of Jaeger Inferno Rose. The orange Mark-6 Jaeger was the second Austrian Jaeger built, behind the Mark-4 Demon Slaughter.

"What else would we be doing?" Alex's co-pilot and brother, Mason Pentax, replied.

"Atlas Psycho, ready for the surf." a second, female Ranger's voice came over the shared link. "Permission to deploy."

"Atlas, permission granted." Jack wondered if it had been Pang So-Yi or her Co-Pilot, An Yuna, speaking. He could never tell who was who. They were almost identical, and both had been Nova Hyperion's pilots during the first Kaiju War.

Warning alarms blared as the hydraulic platform at the edge of the tarmac began to sink, lowering the gold Mark-3 Italian Jaeger into the sea. Water flowed over the Jaeger's feet, frothing slightly as it slowly rose to its knees.

"Chrome Brutus, heading out." This time it was Andrew Taccou, the newly-appointed pilot of the restored Canadian Mark-3, who was speaking. "Mind our feet."

The heavily-reinforced ground shook as the massive grey Jaeger strode out of the hangar. Chrome looked down as it walked, checking the ground in case some fool had left a vehicle on the tarmac, but the Chingdu Shatterdome crew was well-drilled and the ground was bare.

"I still don't see the point of this exercise." Jordan Kenway, Andrew's co-pilot, spoke. "Now that those things are here, we hardly need to lift a finger anymore."

'Those things' referred to the ten Shao Industries drones that had arrived earlier in the day. The drones stood to the right of the Jaeger hangar in two neat ranks of five and the two men turned to glare at them as they passed. Jordan gave them the finger. “Some damn machines aren't going to replace me." He snarled.

"They're going to put me out of work, that's what they'll do." Andrew growled, equally resentful. "I've got a wife and Daughter to feed. What'll I do, fishing?"

"What I really want is a Kaiju." Sarah declared.

"You're mad." Pang replied. "Kaijus would tear us apart."

"Not a whole army of them," Sarah said. "Just three or four. There are eight Jaegers in this Shatterdome. We could handle that, easy."

"You don't know what you're saying." Yuna insisted. "Those things decimated almost every Jaeger that stood against them."

"We've had three years to upgrade our technology." Sarah said confidently.

"So have they." Yuna huffed.

"Delta Avarice moving out." Jack said. "Clear the floor."

More alarms wailed to life as the yellow, green and grey Italian Mark-6 Jaeger stepped out of its docking bay.

The feed crackled to life. "Drones in the field are malfunctioning!!" The voice belonged to Liwen Shao, the CEO of Shao Industries and in-charge of the drones' deployment. "Stop the ones coming in from deploying!!" She sounded panicked.

"Stupid drones," Jordan sneered scornfully. "Can't even stand still without something going wrong."

"Uh, Jordan?" Mason interrupted. "Something's really wrong."

"Looks like we might not be headed for an early retirement after all." Sarah mused.

Delta Avarice stepped through the hangar's giant doorway in time to see oversized claws sprout from the drones' hands. "Holy shit!!" The pilots, Daryl and Glenn Lee, backed the Italian Jaeger an involuntary step backwards.

"What's going on?!?" Demanded another voice. It was Dalton Carter, Sarah's Co-Pilot.

Spikes jutted from the drones' backs as they shuddered. Alex's eyes widened as their missile launchers popped open. In dawning horror, he realised the full fury of Shao Industries' bleeding-edge weapons were about to be unleashed on the entire Shatterdome.

"DRONES ARE HOSTILE!! TAKE THEM DOWN!!"

A wave of ballistics arced out from the massed drones. Dhampir Wrecker reeled backwards as a cannon shell hit the side of its head, blowing a gaping hole in the corner of the visor. The white Jaeger stumbled, holding its massive hands in front of its face. A half-dozen missiles exploded on its armoured chest, knocking it backwards into the sea. Alex and Mason screamed as water flooded into the conn-pod.

Chrome Brutus, too big and too close to dodge the oncoming salvo, slammed its forearms together in front of its face and hunched down into a boxing stance. The massive grey Jaeger shuddered as a dozen missiles struck, but stood its ground. Andrew and Jordan gritted their teeth and marched forward, then their tenacity turned to alarm as more missiles struck Chrome's right knee. Metal crumpled and groaned as Chrome Brutus went down hard, sticking a hand out to avoid falling flat.

"All Jaegers deploy!!" Jackson yelled in panic. "ENGAGE!! ENGAGE!!"

"Fire!!" Atlas Psycho had turned back for the base the moment it'd received Shao's warning and now trained its array of weapons on the cluster of drones. It carried four battleship-sized cannons on its forearms, 2 giant miniguns on the shoulders, a massive cannon in the chest, and rockets in the sides of its ribs. After its rebuild in 2025, the engineers had repainted and overhauled the originally black Mark-1 into a Mark-3, and designed it to blast Kaiju into submission. It would take only moments to batter the drones flat. Yuna's finger tightened on the trigger. The first shot caught a drone square in the centre of its chest, blowing a gaping hole into its pristine white chestplate. The second blew its head up in an orange fireball.

"Firing missiles." She said calmly.

But the drones fired first. Cannon shells struck the large missile pods on Atlas's shoulders. The Jaegers had never been designed for combat against other machines and the missile pods exploded as the shells hit. All the ammunition on Atlas Psycho was detonated by the explosion and Andrew gasped in horror as the entire Jaeger disappeared in a massive conflagration.

The remaining seven drones spread out into a line and advanced across the tarmac. A few looked at Inferno Rose, trying to judge if the fallen Jaeger posed any more of a threat.

The Pilots made the decision for them. Inferno Rose surged upwards, glowing white-hot blades sliding out from the front of its forearms.

"YOU SONS OF BITCHES!!!" Sarah screamed.

Three drones broke into a run towards the lone Jaeger. Delta Avarice started forward in support, but two other drones had been eyeing the hangar entrance and spotted the movement instantly. Daryl and Glenn swore collectively as more cannon shells and missiles struck all around them, forcing them back into the giant doorway.

"Fire back!!" Glenn shouted.

"We're dead if one of those hits our missile pods!!" Daryl shouted back. Neither of them needed to speak to communicate due to their neural connection, but the adrenalin and chaos was shredding their nerves.

Out on the tarmac, Chrome Brutus dropped into a firing position and opened its shoulder-mounted missile pods. Jordan screamed expletives as he swept the targeting dot in an arc and pulled the trigger. A dozen missiles blazed out at once and a line explosions bloomed amidst the stumbling line of drones. There was no time to aim properly, but Jordan launched missiles at every angle with the intention of hitting as many as he could. The tactic worked, although none of the drones were disabled, but in such a desperate situation they needed to push the drones back just to gain space to breathe.

Two of the drones stumbled onto the hydraulic platforms at the water's edge. Before they could regain their balance, the sea erupted. Dhampir Wrecker leaped out in an explosion of saltwater, a massive sword in its hands. Alex and Mason howled as they stabbed the first drone so hard that the blade sank all the way to the hilt in the back of its neck. The second drone wheeled around as Dhampir tried to tug the blade free, found it stuck, so abandoned the attempt and shouldered the short-circuiting drone aside.

The white Jaeger pulled a long dagger from its hip with its left hand and charged. The second drone tried to take aim with its arm-mounted cannon, but Dhampir knocked its arm aside and stabbed it in the gap between its head and body. Kaiju blood sprayed ten metres into the air as the damaged drone reeled away. Dhampir cocked its fist and punched it in the face, then yanked the dagger out and buried it under the drone's chin. The dying drone fell like a tree, limbs twitching.

More drones moved to surround the Jaeger. The first tried to grab Dhampir's neck from behind and Dhampir elbowed it in the face, then drove its arm forward to send another staggering backwards with a dented faceplate. Dhampir Wrecker was one of the strongest Jaegers in the Mark-6 fleet and a third drone went airborne as Dhampir deployed its foot lock and kicked it in the chest.

But victory was short-lived. The first drone opened fire from behind, hitting Dhampir in the back of the knee. The large, streamlined Jaeger fell and the second drone kneed it in the face, sending Mason and Alex flying across the conn-pod and into the thick armour behind. By some miracle the piloting machinery remained intact, but they had been dazed by the massive impact and could only raise their hands in front of their faces as all three drones took aim from point-blank range.

Metal crumpled and dented. Dhampir's hands were shredded by the repeated cannon shots. The thick armour protecting the back of its head gave way, then the white Jaeger fell forward as the circuits in its neck were blown apart. Still Alex and Mason lived, trying to drag the Jaeger upright on its elbows, then a drone stamped on its head, crushing the conn-pod flat. Dhampir Wrecker twitched a final time and was still.

"DHAMPIR!!" Glenn and Daryl, pinned down by drone fire, could only watch as their comrades were annihilated.

"Tear off the missile pods!!" Glenn yelled.

"We need those shots!!" Daryl argued.

"Damn it!!" Glenn screamed. "Where the fuck are the other pilots?!"

Out on the tarmac, Chrome Brutus was outnumbered three to one, but Andrew and Jordan had grown up on the streets and feared no one. While the drones regained their footing after Chrome's missile strikes, they charged, blasting Chrome’s warhorn. The tarmac shook as the hulking grey Jaeger activated the thrusters on its back and shoulder-barged the middle drone, sending it crashing backwards like a bowling pin. The drone flailed and grabbed Chrome, pulling it down with it. A massive claw smashed through the Jaeger's visor but missed the two pilots. Chrome ignored the threat, heaved itself upwards, only for Delta Avarice to suddenly stab down blindly with its right arm, spearing one of its blades into the drone's neck and severing the drone's head from the rest of its body.

Chrome Brutus shoulder-rolled forward and got to its feet. The remaining two drones turned around and started towards it. Chrome stormed forward and the three giant machines clashed in the middle of the landing pads.

Inferno Rose joined in, darting to the right, but the drones had anticipated the move and a clawed arm swung out. Inferno blocked the swing with its right forearm. A shock ran up both mechanical limbs as the power of two sets of hydraulics met full force. Inferno swung its left elbow forward, smashing the drone in the face, tucked its fist in towards the chest, and hacked down with the forearm blade as the drone stumbled back. Kaiju blood spurted and the drone's head fell from its neck.

The second drone took aim and fired. The cannon shell blew a hole in the side of Inferno's head, knocking it to the side. Before the drone could fire again, Sarah and Dalton bobbed down, surging under the drone's raised arms, and put all their weight into a massive bladed uppercut. The drone's neck gave way in an explosion of kaiju blood, its head now impaled on the tip of Inferno Rose's right forearm blade.

The three drones at the edge of the tarmac, having finished off Dhampir Wrecker, all opened fire. Chrome Brutus half-turned towards them and a missile struck the damaged side of its head. The entire conn-pod disappeared in a ball of flames.

"NO!!" Daryl and Glenn roared.

The three drones switched their aim to the hangar, forcing Delta Avarice and Inferno Rose back. A stream of missiles and cannon shells came through the open doorway, hitting catwalks, hydraulic arms and the Mark-6 Jaeger Marauder Defiant. Over 10,000 tons of machinery and debris crashed to the ground. Marauder Defiant toppled sideways, hit the side of its docking bay and slid to the ground with a horrible wrenching, screeching noise.

"Close the doors!!" Glenn ordered.

The drones raced forward as the doors began to shut. The first two got their hands between the doors before they could close, but in their haste to get in they got too close to where Delta Avarice lurked behind the left door. The first drone shouldered into the gap and Delta stabbed it in the shoulder. Metal shuddered and gave way as Delta twisted the blade in the wound. The drone reeled back out, its severed arm falling to the ground with an earth-shaking THUD. Inferno tried to follow up, but cannon shells exploded against its chest, forcing it back.

The closing mechanism had not been designed for such a strain and gave way under the drones' assault. Delta Avarice and Inferno Rose backed away as five drones came through the doors, trying to put enough space between them to fire its missiles, but the drones marched forward, relentlessly closing it down. They strode past Diamond Banshee, another Jaeger still in its bay, and were so intent on their pursuit of the other 2 Jaegers that they did not see the green and cyan Mark-5 Irish Jaeger turn its head to follow their movement.

Banshee lunged out of its docking bay and grabbed the nearest drone by the thick armour plate behind its head, yanking it backwards. The drone flailed for balance as it stumbled, then Banshee pointed its arm-mounted cannon at the side of the drone's head and fired, blowing its brains out.

The second drone turned towards the new combatant and Diamond shot it square in the chest. The drone stumbled, and Inferno advanced and kicked it in the side, but the drone regained its footing and swung a clawed arm. Delta ducked under the arm and stabbed it in a gap between its torso armour, then surged upwards and plunged its other blade into the drones's neck. Daryl and Glenn screamed in rage as they twisted the blade, popping the drone's severed head off its neck like a beer bottle cap.

A flicker of movement registered in their peripheral vision. Delta's head snapped upwards. "BOYS, BEHIND YOU!!" Sarah yelled. The last drone barged into the Italian Jaeger before they could say anything else. The one-armed drone had snuck up behind Delta Avarice. The big green, yellow and silver Jaeger ducked and the cannon shot intended for its head whizzed past, striking Nemesis Ghost, the last Jaeger whose pilots had yet to materialise.

Delta straightened and launched a powerful back kick that knocked the one-armed drone backwards. The hangar was crowded with giant robots and the drones seemed unsure of how to fight in such confined quarters.

Diamond unsheathed its long, sharp claws. Another drone tried to claw the Jaeger's visor and Diamond grabbed its arm, sliced it off at the elbow, then back-handed the drone away and stabbed it in the centre of its head.

The one-armed drone fired again, knocking Diamond off-balance. Nearby, Marauder Defiant finally planted its feet and returned fire with its shoulder cannons and arm-mounted minigun. With only one arm the drone could not match the large Jaeger's firepower. The drone backed away as Marauder continued to shoot, its pristine white armour now riddled with ragged holes.

Delta Avarice locked its stance, activated its back thrusters and heaved the last drone back. The drone raised an arm and Inferno kicked it backwards. Delta started forward but the drone opened fire, forcing the Italian Jaeger back, its hands raised to protect the vulnerable conn-pod. There was no space to dodge, and Glenn and Daryl screamed as cannon shells chewed Delta's shoulder joint to scrap metal.

"Move aside!!" a new voice shouted.

Daryl and Glenn obeyed automatically. The drone followed Delta Avarice's movement, a mistake it would not live to correct.

Nemesis Ghost, piloted at last, surged past the retreating Delta, forearm blades out. The massive white and red French Mark-6 Jaeger had been built for maximum agility and shoulder-rolled forward as the drone tried to switch its aim, coming up with its face level with the drone's waist before the drone could react.

The first blade went into the narrow gap between the drone's thigh and crotch armour. The drone tried to move back, but the leg joint had been immobilised and it lost its balance instead. Nemesis's second blade plunged into the drone's torso with enough force to knock the flailing drone over, snapping one of its own blades in the process. Nemesis got on top and disabled it with a single vicious stab to the neck, then pulled the blade free and dived out of the way as the one-armed drone tried to shoot it. The one-armed drone tried to follow Nemesis's movement, but was hopelessly outmatched now. Marauder Defiant fired its shoulder cannons, knocking it off-balance as Nemesis broke into a sprint. The drone righted itself and the Mark-6 Jaeger wedged its fingers into its high collar, leaped to its side and stabbed it in the side of the neck. The white and red Jaeger landed behind the drone, which toppled to the ground with a loud, earth-shaking THUD.

The Chingdu Shatterdome fell silent apart from the crackling of flames. Glenn and Daryl in their conn-pod harnesses, suddenly drained.

"What happened?" Zoe and Diana Sharpe, the pilots of Nemesis Ghost, spoke at the same time.

Nobody answered.

"Daryl?" Bailey Rossi and Ian Tennant, the pilots of Marauder Defiant, prompted.

"I DON'T FUCKING KNOW!!!" Daryl screamed in frustration. "HQ said nothing, the Marshall said nothing. I don't know!!"

A wave of fury laced with grief slammed into Glenn's mind from the neural connection, making her wince. "No one expects you to." he said gently.

"They must have been caught off-guard as well," Bailey reasoned. "Otherwise they'd have warned us."

"Oh, shit..." Diana realised. "If there were drones deployed to all the Shatterdomes-"

"And they didn't know either..." Zoe's eyes widened as the horrible truth sank in.

"Then they've been completely wiped out." Ian concluded.

"We got lucky." Jack said bitterly. "We were all geared up for the exercise." He thought of Alex & Mason, of Kara and Megan, of Yuna and Pang, and a wave of fury overcame him. "Bastards!!" He delivered a vicious kick to the nearest drone. "BASTARDS!!" he screamed, kicking it again.

Glenn tried to hold his brother back, fighting to control his own anger. Delta shuddered from head to toe at the conflicting wills. Pain spiked in the two pilots' heads and they cried out.

"Stop." Glenn gasped. "Stop."

Daryl let out a yell of fury that half-turned into a sob. "Bastards." The anger drained from him, leaving an immense sense of grief. His head dropped to his chest. "Damned drones." he whispered.

The communications link crackled to life. "Attention Chingdu Shatterdome. Is anyone there?"

Daryl lifted his head.

"This is Ranger Daryl Lee. What is it?"

"Be advised. You have a Category-6 kaiju headed your way."

"Pardon me?" Daryl could not comprehend the information. "A kaiju?"

"Where did it come from?" Glenn asked, mystified.

"Those damned drones opened breaches all over the world." Daryl realised the voice belonged to Ranger Nathan Lambert of the Moyulan Shatterdome. "Most were closed in time, but eight kaiju managed to get through. One of them's currently headed straight towards you."

Glenn turned pale as the information sank in. "Holy shit."

"Do you have any Jaegers operational?" Ranger Lambert asked.

"Yes." Daryl swept his gaze around the hangar. Four. No, five," he amended as he caught sight of Inferno Rose, still slumped on the ground but evidently undamaged.

"Five?" Ranger Lambert sounded surprised. "You've been lucky. Almost every other Shatterdome has been decimated. Only us and Hong Kong are left, and reports say Hong Kong wasn't even touched."

'Eight pilots killed,' Daryl thought bitterly. 'Four Jaegers destroyed. Yeah, we're fucking lucky.'

"You need to mobilise everyone you can," Ranger Lambert said. "Intercept that kaiju straight away."

"Roger that, Ranger Lambert." Glenn responded. As if they needed to be told what to do with kaiju.

"He treats us like kids." Ian snorted.

"Oh, there's one other thing you need to know." It was Lambert again. Bailey covered her mouth, hoping he hadn't heard them, and Marauder Defiant almost smacked itself in the face.

"This kaiju." Lambert told them. "It's codenamed Breacher."

{Jaeger Bay - Moyulan Shatterdome, China}

A few of the J-Tech medics were veterans of the Kaiju War, and had hard-won experience with mass casualty events. Many of the younger medics had lived through Kaiju attacks as children, but this was different. Then, all they had thought about was surviving, and later mourning. Now they had to tend to dozens, maybe hundreds of casualties, triaging and rendering aid in the middle of the devastation in the Shatterdome. The older generation tried to keep them focused and on task, as all of them grappled internally with memories of a time they had thought was past. Everyone was pitching in, trying to evacuate the wounded and get people out from under fallen debris. Raleigh, Yancy, Jay and Hayden strained against a concrete slab pinning Tahima, as Amara and other cadets tried to work him free from underneath it. "Medic!!" Summer called, waving one over. Tahima was alive but seriously injured.

Jinhai tried to joke with him to keep him together—and hide Jinhai's own concern. "Always lying around." he said. Tahima tried to smile. Nearby another team of medics was working on Meilin, who had also suffered wounds from the falling debris after the destruction of the LOCCENT.

Lambert saw Arslan Altan nearby and called for a status report. With the LOCCENT out of commission, he'd asked her and her Team to get a sense of what the Shatterdome's operational situation was. "What do you got?"

"Reports are still coming in, but Drones took out Jaegers and Shatterdomes across the world." she said.

"How many Jaegers do we have here?"

"Operational? Atlas Destroyer, Striker Berserker, Hunter Vertigo, Tiger Rush, Condor Fury, Gypsy Avenger, Oni Taiji, Scarlet Hades, Yankee Star, Rio Sentry, and Valor Omega but barely. Iron Fist, Murder Witch, Guardian Bravo, Hydra Corinthian and Katana Indigo are damaged but could work...the rest need serious repairs. Pyrrha's parents are in the infirmary. They and Golden Paladin might have to sit this out."

"That's it?" Spluttered Raven, who was helping to clear the wreckage.

"We gotta get more up and running or this is gonna be a short fight." Grumbled Yancy.

"Even if we can, Matador Fury, Nuclear Mercenary, Puma Real, and Guardian Bravo's Pilots are all dead-"

Lambert cut Arslan off before she could demoralize all of them. "One disaster at a time. Right now, Let's just focus on those Jaegers."

"Think you can help with the repairs?" Raleigh asked Amara.

"Me? Thought I was on probation."

Raleigh could have pointed out that it was pointless, but right now they needed all the positivity they could get, so he took another approach. "We're kicking you up a notch. Nobody has more experience turning junk into Jaegers." He glanced over at Lambert. "Any objections?"

"No sir." Lambert said with a grin. They were going to need all the help they could get.

Amara was touched by their belief in her. Could she live up to it? She looked around the Jaeger bay, realizing that she was about to take a big step. Building Scrapper was one thing; getting a fleet of full-sized mechs ready to go was another.

But she could do it. She knew she could.

"We got incoming!!!" Taylor shouted, looking out through the bay doors to the tarmac. The Hansens, the Becketts, Josh, Lambert, Hayden, Jay, and a crowd of curious techs all rushed to the doors. None of the Kaiju should have been close already. Was it more Drones? If so, the lights were going to go out at the Moyulan Shatterdome real soon.

Once Tai and Raleigh got a look at the fleet of aircraft cruising toward the Shatterdome, he breathed a huge sigh of relief. They were V-Dragons, but not from the ERDC. Shao Industries had its own private fleet, each with the distinctive Shao logo stenciled on its fuselage.

Tai strode out to meet the V-Dragon that was landing closest to the bay doors. As it touched down and powered its engines off, Hermann Gottlieb and Arthur Watts popped out...and right behind them, Liwen Shao. "We brought some help!!" Gottlieb said.

From the other V-Dragons, a small army of Shao techs and engineers headed toward the Shatterdome, bearing tools and pushing cartloads of equipment. A squadron of 8 extra Jaegers were also being flown in, much to everyone's shock: Yang and Blake's Japanese Mark-4, Coyote Nemesis; Iron Fist, the Spanish Mark-4 Piloted by Lloyd Du Lac, who’s Co-Pilot had been killed in the Drone attack; Jaeger Prime, an Experimental Mark V-E Piloted by Braedey Martin & Leo Toshi; Chernobyl, piloted by the Kaidenovskys; White Scion, a white version of Crimson Typhoon piloted by the Wei-Tang Triplets; Saber Athena, piloted by Winter Schnee & Yatsuhashi Daichi; Lord Azrael, a British Mark-3 Jaeger piloted by Amelia O'Connell and her wife, Alexa; and the Branwen Twins' Greek Mark-5, Titan Crusher. All had somehow survived the attack, and had been flown over from different Shatterdomes around the world.

"Thought we'd call in the cavalry!!" Yancy joked.

'All right.' Josh thought. 'Maybe we can pull this off after all.'

Gottlieb, Watts and Shao set up a temporary war room in a former lab space near the site of the destroyed LOCCENT. With Tai, Summer, Josh and Lambert, they gathered around a holo screen tracking the path of the 11 Kaiju that had managed to get through the Breaches before Shao's quick thinking—and quick fingers—had destroyed the Drone army.

The idea that Newt Geiszler was behind it all...Hayden couldn't quite fathom that. He had always liked Newt, especially since he helped to close the Breach 3 years ago, and to think that Newt had secretly engineered Kaiju tissue into Obsidian Fury and the Drones...that was a betrayal no one could wrap their mind around. Oobleck wasn't taking it very well, either.

But facts were facts, and had to be faced. Just like the fact of the new Kaiju.

"Category-2, Red Skull. Category-4s, Copperhead, Mega-Tresspasser and Grimhorn. Category-5, Stonefish. Category-6s, Breacher and Gajasaur, and the Category-7, Quadraliath. I took the liberty of assigning the designations." Gottlieb said. "The extra 3 Category-5s, Ferno, Tundra and Thunderhead."

That duty traditionally fell to LOCCENT staff. Among the people there were all the surviving Pilots: Herc & Chuck Hansen, veterans of the First War and pilots of Striker Berserker; Ruby & Penny, Valor Omega's Pilots; Mercury & Emerald Black, Atlas Destroyer's Pilots; Kennedy & Stephanie, Hydra Corinthian's pilots; Bolin & Nadir, Mammoth Apostle's pilots; Jay and Hayden, Scarlet Hades's Pilots; Jaune & Pyrrha Arc, Striker Eureka's Pilots; Clover Ebi  & Marrow Amin, Murder Witch's Pilots; Blake & Yang, Coyote Nemesis's Pilots; The Beckett Brothers, Yankee Star's Pilots; Flynt & Neon, Hunter Vertigo's Pilots; Ghira & Kali Belladonna, Condor Fury's Pilots; Tai & Summer, Gypsy Avenger's Pilots; Nora, Elm & Harriet, Bracer Phoenix's Pilots; Mako & Jake, Katana Indigo's Pilots; Saphron & Terra-Cotta Arc, Soviet Elite's Pilots; Klein & Willow Schnee, Oni Taiji's Pilots; Sasha & Aleksis Kaidenovsky, Chernobyl's pilots; Winter & Yatsuhashi, Saber Athena's pilots; and Braedey & Leo, Jaeger Prime's Pilots. Lloyd needed a new Co-Pilot, so Arslan Altan volunteered to join him.

"Yeah, great names." Herc said. "Sound like real assholes."

Emerald was looking at the patterns of the Kaiju's motion. "Breacher, Copperhead, Stonefish, Gajasaur, Quadralith, Mega-Tresspasser, and Grimhorn are moving away from the cities, and towards the ocean. The other 3 are heading towards Jakarta."

"Maybe the first 7 are trying to link up with Red Skull in the East China Sea." Liwen suggested.

'This was possible.' Raleigh thought. Kaiju hadn't been known to look for each other like that before. During the war, they had emerged in pairs and later trios in the final week of the War, but only once had EUDC forces fought 7 Kaiju. That was the Battle of the Breach, when General James Ironwood had blown Mustang Omega using a nuclear warhead to buy Shere and Sienna Khan time to detonate Tacit Ronin and destroy the Breach.

Now the Earth United Defence Corps were about to take on 8 Kaiju, similar to when they had taken on 7 Kaiju back in 2024. At least it looked that way, because the trajectories of the Kaiju were loosely converging. They weren't headed directly for each other, though, which made people wonder. "Newt would know what they're up to, if we could get it out of him." Ghira grunted.

"But we need to find him first." Willow commented.

"He escaped in a Shao V-Dragon." Shao said. "My men are trying to track him, but he disabled the transponder."

"Then that's off the table." Chuck grumbled. There wasn't any time to worry about things they couldn't control. Nodding at the screen, he asked, "Any Jaegers closer to those Kaiju than us?"

"What was left from the Chin-do and Sakhalinsk Shatterdomes tried to intercept." Watts said grimly. "Emphasis on 'tried'. I'm afraid we're on our own. The Hong Kong Shatterdome is still keeping the 3 Mark-1s and the other retired Jaegers from the War there apart from Saber Athena and Titan Crusher, but there's no way we can get someone over there to reactivate all of them in time."

"Tundra, Ferno and Thunderhead were reportedly heading straight for Jakarta.” Gottlieb added, “However, a second squad of Jaegers are being scrambled to intercept them. We've been told to just handle the 8 heading for Tokyo while the others take care of the 3 in Jakarta.”

Jake stared harder at the map. "There's gotta be something there. Something in the East China Sea..."

Qrow and Raven looked too, sure there was something they were missing. If you looked at all of the trajectories, maybe—

That was it. All of the trajectories. "Maybe that's not where they're headed." Josh said slowly. "Pull up a map of Kaiju movement from the war."

A map displaying Kaiju incursions from the war appeared on the screen as Watts and Gottlieb brought it over from the ERDC strategic records server. Josh started working the screen, drawing lines that extended the Kaiju's paths if Jaegers hadn't stopped them. "What if the Kaiju weren't blindly attacking our cities during the war? What if we were just in their way?"

Josh was no artist, but the more of the lines he traced, the clearer it became that they intersected at a single point.

"Mount Fuji, Japan." Saphron muttered.

Gottlieb started performing the same course extrapolations for Red Skull, Breacher, Copperhead, Stonefish, Mega-Tresspasser, Grimhorn, Gajasaur and Quadralith. There it was, just as Josh had intuited. Their courses were also set to intersect at Mount Fuji. That left the million-dollar question, given voice by Liwen Shao. "But why?"

Hermann Gottlieb gave a quick gasp of understanding. "Rare earth elements." he said slowly. "Mount Fuji is a volcano, rich in rare earth elements."

"Why are you looking like you're gonna piss your pants?" Neon asked. If Gottlieb was THIS scared, everyone felt like they should probably be scared as well, but he wanted to have a good reason.

"Because Kaiju blood reacts violently with them. It's the basis of our thruster fuel experiments." Watts breathed. His face had turned as pale as Weiss's skin.

"That sounds bad." Mercury said. "That's bad, right?"

"Very." Shao replied grimly. "Mount Fuji is active. A geological pressure point."

Gottlieb and Arthur worked the holo screen, doing rapid math that the screen translated into visuals. A cross section of Mount Fuji, showing the lava reservoir below it, appeared, with a simulated Kaiju crawling into the caldera at the top of the mountain. "Based on the blood to mass ratio of the Kaiju..." they were running back-of-the-envelope calculations of Kaiju blood volatility versus the ratios of different rare earth elements in a volcanic interior. 'Astonishing stuff to do just off the top of your head.' Jay thought. There weren't many people in the world as smart as Hermann Gottlieb and Arthur Watts.

Oobleck was now standing in the back of the room, having managed to pull himself together enough to come and watch the others.

The screen now showed a map of the entire globe, with active volcanoes marked. One region was known as the Ring of Fire, because of the intense volcanic activity in the areas where the Pacific tectonic plate ground against its neighbors in Asia and North America. On the screen, volcano after volcano began to erupt. When Gottlieb spoke, his tone was low and somber. "The reaction would cause a cascade event, igniting the Ring of Fire around the Earth." The simulation continued, wreathing the globe in a gray blanket. "Billions of tons of toxic gas and ash will spew into the atmosphere, wiping out all life."

Shao understood. "That would finish terraforming Earth for the Precursors."

"This doesn't make any sense." Lambert objected. "Why not just open a Breach right over Fuji and drop the Kaiju in?"

Lambert had a sharp tactical mind, and Clover chimed in with another angle on the same problem. "Or send one so big nothing could stop it?"

"From the data we recovered from Dr. Geiszler's files, the Precursors can only penetrate dimensional 'soft spots,' as he called them, between universes." Shao explained. "Every location the Drones chose corresponded to one of these."

"And a Category Seven is apparently the largest Kaiju they could send through, since the energy it takes to widen a Breach exponentially quadruples as the—"

"Yeah, science is our friend." Raleigh said. This was the downside of being a genius like Gottlieb and Watts. You started talking a language normal people couldn't understand. "We get it."

"We can't let them reach Mount Fuji." Ruby stated flatly. That was their mission objective, the only one that mattered.

"I'll check with Teams ABRN & BRNZ, see where we are with the Jaeger repairs." Yancy grunted.

"But there's no way to intercept in time." Shao protested, looking at the distances on the map. "You have enough Jaegers, but The Drones destroyed your Jumphawks and my V-Dragons aren't built to carry that kind of load. Besides, the Titans haven't shown up to help like they did 3 years ago: Gojira isn't even close to our location, Kong is down in the Hollow Earth, and the other Titans are either in hibernation or don't care."

There was a long silence. Jaegers couldn't outrun Kaiju without getting into the air. If they couldn't figure that part of the battle plan out, they would just have to sit here in the war room and enjoy satellite images of the Kaiju crawling into Mount Fuji and ending the human race. And without Godzilla, Kong, Rodan and Tiamat to help them this time, they could very well be screwed...

Then Lambert looked away from the screen to Arthur and Hermann. "What about your thruster pods?"

Josh remembered Hermann talking about those right when he and Amara were arriving at Moyulan. He'd been puzzled at the time, seeing Newt dismiss the idea and warn Gottlieb, Watts and Oobleck away from working with Kaiju blood. After all, coming up with new ideas about how to fight the Kaiju—understand them better—was the whole reason for K-Science's existence. Now that they knew the truth about Newt, that conversation took on a more sinister meaning. Had Newt done it on purpose? How much control did he have? It didn't seem possible that Newt could have carried around a Precursor in his head for 3 years without either going crazy or letting something slip. Maybe he didn't always know it was there? Josh figured that if a Precursor could use the Drift to get into Newt's head across a dimensional barrier, it could probably also hide its existence from him. But that was all speculation. Right now they needed concrete solutions to concrete problems. Like the problem of whether they could use the thruster pods to catch the Kaiju before they got to Mount Fuji.

"They're not ready." Gottlieb said.
Braedey got right to the point. "Can they be?"

Oobleck considered the question. "In theory, maybe, with your help."

"What does that mean, 'in theory'?" Kali asked. They didn't have time to deal in theories. They needed results. Immediately if not sooner.

Gottlieb heard the challenge and lifted his chin a little, understanding the task ahead. "Today, it means...YES." he said at last.

{LOCCENT - Moyulan Shatterdome, China}

Marshall Quan knew that he had lost Matador Fury in the first attack, and then Nuclear Mercenary moments ago. But as he burst into the LOCCENT overlooking the Jaeger bay, he didn't know the status of Atlas Destroyer, Striker Berserker, Hunter Vertigo, Tiger Rush, Murder Witch, Condor Fury, Soviet Elite, Golden Paladin, Katana Indigo, Gypsy Avenger, Oni Taiji, Bracer Phoenix, Scarlet Hades, Puma Real, Hydra Corinthian, Mammoth Apostle, Yankee Star, Guardian Bravo, Rio Sentry, and Valor Omega, —although Gypsy Avenger, Katana Indigo and Hydra Corinthian were still undergoing repairs from their battle with Obsidian Fury. "Sit-rep!!!" he called. "Where the hell are my pilots—?"

Instead of answering that question, Xiang reacted as red circles suddenly blinked into existence all across the LOCCENT holo map of the world.

"Breaches detected!!" Xiang cried out. "Multiple locations!! It's the Drones, sir!!"

Quan registered the scale of the problem as he saw the sheer number of Breaches all over the world. If even ONE Kaiju came through each, there weren't enough Jaegers in all the world to stop them. "All pilots!!" he barked, leaning into the commlink. "Breaches detected!"

Down in the Shatterdome, Tai, Summer, Hayden, Jay and The Becketts heard Quan's alert. "Drones in the field are opening multiple Breaches across the globe—"

The communication cut off as plasma missiles shrieked through the Jaeger bay and obliterated everyone inside the LOCCENT. The entire structure, undermined by the force of the explosions, came crashing down onto the deck as everyone below scrambled for cover. Raleigh dove behind the prone hulk of Nuclear Mercenary, with Yancy, Hayden, Jay, Tai and Summer right behind him. Josh and Lambert joined them seconds later, cursing angrily. Explosions rocked the interior of the bay and burning wreckage scattered across the deck between them and the docks holding the remaining Jaegers. The cadets, staying low, ran to join them in the relative safety behind the blue Mark-3. "We told you to get to quarters!!!" Hayden snapped.

Hayley pointed. “The corridor's blocked!!"

Summer was doing a head count. "Where are Tahima and Meilin?"

"I don't know!!" Hayley looked around but didn't see them.

Next to her, Renata tried to stay focused, but her question came out sounding panicked. "What do we do?"

"Stay here." Tai said. "We're going to try to get to Gypsy Avenger. Josh and Lambert, you two go for Rio Sentry. Becketts, Yankee Star. Hayden, Jay, you take Scarlet Hades."

More missiles strafed the bay deck between them and the Jaeger docks. It didn't seem too likely that the 8 of them would survive a sprint across to the Jaegers, but they had to try. If there were Breaches opening, Kaiju would be coming through. The only people on Earth who could stop them were Rangers...and only if they could get to their Jaegers.

Hayden looked over at Jay. "Are you ready for this?"

"No." The blonde said right away. "What about you?"

"Nope." They were all crouched, tensing to go. "On three." Raleigh said. "One, two—"

A voice crackled through the static on the commlink. "—ello? Anyone there?"

Raleigh recognized the accent. "Gottlieb?"

In Newt's lab, Shao and Arthur worked furiously to hack the subroutine Newt had installed in the Drones' operating code. The code's security scrambled it into an undifferentiated mass of data blocks, but if there was one programmer on Earth as good as Newton Geiszler, that person was Liwen Shao. She would cut through the security sooner or later. The only question was whether she could do it soon enough.

"Raleigh, thank God!!!" Hermann said. "I've been trying to raise LOCCENT—"

"It's gone!! We're under attack!! You have to force Liwen to shut down the Drones!!"

"It isn't her. It was Newt. Precursors infected him, got into his head."

There was a brief pause as the Rangers digested this. Gottlieb understood it was a hard thing to believe, but he hoped they would realize he wouldn't say something so outlandish without proof. When a response came back, it gave Gottlieb at least some comfort. "Gottlieb, it's Summer. Can you make him disable the Drones?"

At least they believed him. But now Hermann had to admit a shameful truth. "No. He—he got away. It was our fault. I—"

On the holoscreen, the scramble of data formed into comprehensible lines of code. "I've penetrated the subroutine." Shao said. "Initiating shutdown protocol."

In the Shatterdome, the Drone Jaegers had destroyed everything they could see from the bay doors. They stomped into the bay, training their weapons on the vehicles—and more importantly, the Jaegers—now within range. "Shut them down!!!" Yancy barked.

"Stand by." Hermann answered. In the background they heard Shao say something angry in Mandarin, along with Arthur cursing. "It's trying to lock you out!!" Gottlieb shouted.

Shao paused as an idea occurred to her. If she couldn't open the subroutine before the security protocols re-formed and shut her out, maybe she had time to rewrite just a few crucial lines of its code... "Feedback loop." she said in English.

"Brilliant!!" The data blocks were re-forming, but some of the code was still accessible. "If you modify that algorithm—"

Shao's fingers flew over the keyboard, changing critical values. The screen was almost covered again in data blocks. Gottlieb couldn't tell if she had managed to alter the correct lines in time.

Jay's voice over the comm was tight with tension. "Gottlieb, shut them down now or we're all gonna die."

As Jay spoke, he was looking up at a Drone. It towered over the fallen Nuclear Mercenary, locking in on the group huddled on the other side. They were near the Mark-3's partially crushed head. The violent impact with the floor had smashed open the Jaeger's face shield, exposing the still bodies of the pilots inside. The Branwen Twins had also joined them after helping to get some of the injured to safety. The Drone raised one hand and the muzzle of a cannon started to glow.

'So this is how we die.' Tai thought. 'We're never even going to get to Gypsy Avenger. We're never going to get to fight back.'

The Drone suddenly jerked and an ear-splitting screech echoed through the Shatterdome. Its arms twitched up and its weapon discharged, blasting a hole deeper into the halls behind the collapsed LOCCENT. It staggered, smashing a burning forklift. Kaiju blood spurted out through the seams in its head, burning on the alloy exterior and wreathing its head in smoke. Summer looked across the bay and saw the same thing happening to the other Drone. The screeching noise faded as both of the Drones overbalanced and crashed down.

On the holo screen in Newt's lab, the satellite view of Honolulu Harbor showed the circle of Drones reeling and toppling over as one. Their particle beams flickered and went out. From the churning water inside the circle, a large Kaiju had begun to emerge from the Breach, clawing its way out of the Anteverse. When the energy sphere failed, the Breach disappeared, slicing the Kaiju in half. Its blue blood boiled in the water and its death throes sent up waves that surged over the piers of Honolulu's waterfront.

"Yes!" Gottlieb cheered. "Everyone!! Liwen disabled the Drones!! The Breaches are closed—"

He stopped when he saw that the holo screen now displayed 9 blinking circles, and an ominous message:

KAIJU DETECTED

"Oh, no." he said.

"'Oh no', What?" Qrow growled back. Gottlieb didn't answer right away. Tai and Lambert called his name.

Slowly, Gottlieb gave them the news. "Eleven Kaiju have gotten through. Eight of them from South Korea, Russian Coast, the Red Sea, Tokyo Bay, Melbourne, Hawaii, Anchorage, and the East China Sea. 1 Category-2, 3 Category-4s, a Category-5, 2 Category-6s, and a Category-7. All of them are heading toward the Atlantic Ocean. The others are 3 Category-5s, New Zealand, Scotland and Mexico, all three are heading into the Indian Ocean."

There was silence on the line as the team registered the enormity of this. Kaiju of that size were often more than a single Jaeger could handle, as they had learned during the war. Eleven of them made for a threat that would require all the EUDC's resources...if there were any left after the Drone assaults.

"Copy that." Josh said in a low voice. "Get back to the Shatterdome. We're going to need all the help we can get."

{Shao Industries Headquarters, East China}

Newt, Arthur and Gottlieb stood together in the elevator, boxed in by Kang's officers. Kang himself stood close to Newt. The elevator was headed down, presumably to the street level where the trio would be handed over to the police on some charge Shao would trump up to make them look responsible for the Drones going haywire. Newt could see it all now. What a story Shao would tell, a tragic tale of 3 scientists who had once saved the world, but were corrupted and driven insane by the fact that they'd Drifted together with a Kaiju brain. Shao would pledge to make amends, putting the entire weight of her company behind the effort to counter the Drones and rebuild in the wake of their destruction. And as a result, Newt, Watts and Gottlieb would rot in jail forever while Shao's schemes went on...

They had to do something. Newt had an idea. He caught Gottlieb's eye and then looked down at Gottlieb's cane. Hermann didn't understand what Newt was suggesting. Newt tried again, adding a little dip of the chin this time to make sure Gottlieb knew he was indicating the cane. Then all he could do was hope Watts and Hermann put the rest of it together. It was time for desperate measures.

He saw understanding dawn in Hermann's eyes, and also fear...but then determination. Hermann coughed loudly, bending over with the simulated spasm—and then came up violently swinging his cane. It smashed across the face of the nearest security officer, breaking his nose with a splatter of blood.

Newt was already moving, too, grabbing Chief Kang's arm as Kang went for his gun.

Watts was throwing punches at an incredible speed, looking like a teenager rather than a man in his later thirties. Hermann flailed like a man possessed, his cane doing serious damage in the confined space of the elevator. Newt wrestled with Kang for possession of the gun. In the fight, the gun went off, the bullets punching holes in the floor but missing all the combatants. Kang had combat training, but Newt had the primitive advantages of surprise and desperation. He wrenched the gun out of Kang's hand and hit him in the face with the butt. Kang staggered, and Newt hit him again. This time Kang went down. Newt looked up and saw that while he had been subduing Kang, Hermann and Watts had taken care of the other officers. 'Amazing,' he thought. 'Who would have believed prim, brainy Arthur Watts and Hermann Gottlieb capable of that?'

He stabbed at the elevator's control panel and it stopped at the next floor. He and Hermann stepped out, leaving the elevator full of unconscious security guards. Newt dabbed at his lip, split in the scrap. Gottlieb had a bloody nose and Watts had some cuts. But all 3 of them were exhilarated by what they'd done. It was like something out of an action movie, but they'd pulled it off. "Thank you, Newton!! I'd hug you if I didn't have a rule about public displays of affection—oh to hell with it!"

Gottlieb hugged Newt, surprising him. He was also surprised that it didn't bother him. He had a lot of affection for Oobleck, Watts and Hermann, and despite the awful circumstances, he was glad that they'd been brought back together.

"You're welcome, Hermann." Newt replied awkwardly. "Now if you're done groping me, we need to take care of those Drones."

They burst back into Newt's lab, where Daiyu and the rest of the techs were still trying to get control over the Drones. That wasn't going to be possible for them, but Newt had an idea. "Out!" he shouted, brandishing Kang's gun. Then he added in Mandarin, "Go!! Now!! Or I shoot!! Shoot!! I will shoot you twice!!"

The lab erupted in pandemonium as the techs ran for the door, past Newt and Gottlieb. Daiyu was one of the last to exit. As she passed, she said, "I always knew you'd go nuts."

"You're fired." Newt snapped back.

Then he and Hermann had the lab to themselves. "What do we do?" Hermann asked. "How do we stop this?"

"Back door!!" Newt proclaimed. He set the gun down and rushed to a terminal, tapping commands in faster than Gottlieb could follow.

"To what?" Gottlieb asked. "The lab?"

A holo screen appeared above the terminal console, showing the entirety of the world. The location of each Drone was a bright red dot. Many of them were grouped together, and those that weren't moved closer to each other, forming other groups. "To the Drone subroutine." Newt said. "I slipped one in just in case I wanted to get in there and poke around down the road."

"Oh, you Sneaky bastard." Arthur laughed, but in an admiring way.

"I know, right?" Newt cracked a smile, but then he had to concentrate.

The subroutine's initiation command field opened up and Newt carefully entered the code. He'd written in a failsafe so the subroutine would lock itself down if someone tried to enter the wrong code, and there was no time to wait for the lock to expire. So after he'd typed the command, he reread it several times to make sure it was correct:

LV426

It was right. He punched ENTER.

Gottlieb and Watts were watching the screen, expecting the Drones to deactivate or return to the remote Drift protocol. Instead a command-line message appeared.

{COMMAND LIMA VICTOR 426 CONFIRMED. INITIATING BREACH PROTOCOL}

Gottlieb read the message over twice, eyes widening in horror. "What did you just do?" Arthur gasped.

"What I've been planning for the last 3 years." Newt said. "Ending the world."

He looked up from the terminal to Watts Gottlieb, who saw something dark and malicious behind Newt's eyes. The enormity of what he was realizing in that moment stopped the pair dead in their tracks. They looked at Newt with horror, Newt's words replaying themselves in his mind—"what I've been planning for the last 3 years"—and all at once Arthur and Hermann realized that yes, Obsidian Fury had used Shao Industries parts, but not because Shao Liwen had created it. And yes, the Drones had gone rogue, but not because Shao Liwen had done it.

Newt had. It was Newt all along.

A satellite camera view appeared on the holo screen, superimposed over the lower corner. On it, a Drone emerged from the shallows in Honolulu Harbor, joining a group to form a circle. The torso lenses covering their power cores lit up and particle beams flared out, intersecting at the center of the circle. Where they met, a brilliant sphere of energy formed, with a thunderclap that rippled the water across the harbor. Below the sphere, the water churned, and something on the seafloor began to glow.

Watts understood faster than Gottlieb. They were opening a Breach.

"Why?" he moaned. "Why would you do this?"

"He wouldn't." Newt said, his tone mocking and hateful. "Or maybe he would. Maybe he hates all of you. For laughing at him. For treating him like an insignificant little joke of a man."

At first the duo didn't understand why Newt was talking about himself in the third person, but by the time Newt had finished talking, the conclusion was inescapable. "You..." He saw in Newt's gaze another intelligence, alien and malevolent, and everything fell into place. "Precursors."

Abruptly Newt's demeanor changed. The sick smile fell away and the pair saw genuine terror in Newt's eyes. "Help me." he begged. "They're in my head..."

"Fight them, Newton!!" Gottlieb stepped up and grabbed Newt by the lapels of his coat, Arthur right beside him. Fight them—"

Newt spasmed in his grip as the Precursor in his mind reasserted control. He backhanded the men, sending them sprawling back against a lab table. "He isn't strong enough." Newt snarled. "NONE OF YOU ARE STRONG ENOUGH!!!"

The unmistakable metallic double click of a bullet being chambered cut through the air in the lab. Newt, Hermann and Arthur all spun to see Shao Liwen, holding Chief Kang's gun leveled at Newt's head.

Unfazed, Newt chuckled. "Hey, boss. Finally figured it out, huh? What was it? The diagnostic?"

"My numbers weren't aligning with yours." she said, referring back to the Drift delays they had argued about only forty-eight hours before. "How did you do it? Without me knowing?"

"Thirty-eight percent of your manufacturing capacity is fully automated." Newt said. "Wasn't that difficult to reallocate a little here and there over the last 3 years without being detected." He switched to perfect Mandarin and added, "Especially since you always thought you were the smartest one in the room."

Arthur and Gottlieb saw her make a decision. She might not have understood everything that was going on, but from her perspective, she knew everything she needed to know. One of her employees had betrayed her, outsmarted her, and destroyed everything she had worked her entire life to create.

Her eyes narrowed. "In about half a second, I'm going to be."

'No.' Gottlieb thought. 'He may be under the sway of the Precursors, but Newton is still in there. Our friend is still alive.' He lunged forward as Shao squeezed the trigger, sweeping his cane upward and knocking her hand up as the gun went off.

Newt shoved him and Watts from behind, sending them tumbling into Shao. All of them hit the floor, but she came up aiming the gun at Newt again. Watts grabbed her arm. "Stop!! It isn't him!! It's the Precursors!! They must have infected his mind when we Drifted with a Kaiju brain during the—"

"Shut up." she snapped as she lowered the gun. Still holding her arm, Arthur and Gottlieb looked around to see that Newt was gone. Shao shook him off and stepped over to Newt's holo terminal. "And don't ever touch me again."

She stabbed a finger into the intercom control on the terminal and spoke in rapid Mandarin. The 2 men didn't speak enough of the language to understand everything she said, but they heard Newt's name...and they heard the word for shoot.