The Black's Ace (Pacific Rim The Black)

Chapter Nine

Previously on the black's ace

Reece along with the travis siblings, mei and brina had successfully retrieved the kaiju boy from under the high priestess nose but its came at a cost of brina being badly injured by a ripper hound
Now
The open air of the austrailian desert was filling with both mechicanial whirring and clanging and kaiju shrieks as both atlas piloted once again by taylor and mei and ace piloted solo as they dealt with another kaiju that the high priestess sent after them with a gaint bolder
Reece: that marks two
Taylor/reece: loa/ace report
Loa: no additional kaiju are within scanning range
Mei: for now
Reece: mei's right we need to keep argh.......
Mei: (worriedly) reece? You ok?
Reece: (groaning) hmm yeah just dandy over here but like i was hmm saying we need to keep moving
Ace: pilot the ghost drift protocol is slowly killing you with each drift, you need a secondary pilot soon
Reece: not until we reach syndey now let keep moving
Ace: affirmative
Reece began to slowly drag ace forward with atlas close behind but with the two jeagers connected via comm links taylor could feel mei increasing worry for her other half with each groan he made
Brina: the high priestess will keep sending them, she won't let us take the child away
Haylay: in a few minutes, mom, we'll be out of her reach forever
Brina: hayley?, hayley!, he's waking up
Hayley: boy? Boy are you okay?
Boy turned to look at hayley
Hayley: do you know who i am?
After a couple monents silence boy smile towards hayley and she let out a gasp before chuckling while brina sighed
Reece: i guess he remembers you princess
Hayley: he remembers, we got to him in time
Reece: thank god i was hoping so or we saved him for nothing
Taylor: we're leaving the Sister's territory now next stop sydney base

The two jeagers carried on their march arcoss the dusty landscape until they reached an area where they could see sydney base from their position
Loa/ace: we should now be in communications range
Hayley: see mom there it is
Reece: you go first taylor
Taylor: right ahem this is atlas destroyer to sydney base do you read?
Brina: what if its abondoned?
Hayley: no
Brina: the whole coast could be—
Hayley: they'll respond, dont worry
Taylor: this is atlas destroyer calling sydney base, do you read
After a couple moments the radio came to life
???: atlas destroyer pilot indentification, please
Taylor: we're(exhales) survivors
???: please clarify
Taylor: we have ranger brina travis aboard, she's wounded, permission to approach?
???: proceed to gantry 4
Reece: this is ranger reece parker aboard jeager ace of spades do you read
???: loud and clear ranger parker good to hear your still alive permission granted to return to gantry 1
Brina: finally
The two jeager made there way down to the base where they were met by numberous staff and soliders one being the marshall himself as he looked shocked as brina approached with the atlas crew
Marshall: ranger travis?
The marshall approached the group and gave brina a small hug before looking at
Marshall: brina, what happened to you?
Brina: lets save it for the debrief, marshall, right now, please tell me my husband made it out
Before the marshall could speak a vehicle came racing to a stop next to them and none other than ford travis stepped out
Ford: brina? Brina!!
Brina along with her children ran to then man as mei and boy stood to one side until groaning was heard from behind them
Reece: oh yeah leave me behind guys many thanks
Marshall: ranger parker
Reece: yeah yeah hello marshall
Marshall: your father?
Reece: dead
Reece fell to one knee but mei quickly helped him stand
Reece: ranger ford good to see your still alive
Ford nodded as he looked back down to his wife as she started to look around confused
Brina: what's that beeping sound
Hayley: who cares? We made it mom, we all made it
Brina closed her eyes with a content smile before the scene changed back to the inside of atlas conpod where brina was in locked in with hayley
Hayley: there is nothing else for you to worry about now
Reece stood back with mei as they slowly watched brina heart rate get slower and slower
Taylor: we love you, mom, oh mom
Reece bawled his hands into fists as the heart rate flat lined
Loa: all life signs have ended, her injuries were simply too servere, thanks to you both, however, she has finished well
Taylor: thank you, loa, for giving our mother such a beautiful gift
Loa: its was my honor
Mei sniffled lightly against reece shoulder as he gently pat the back of her head
Reece: may she rest in eternal peace
Reece stepped aside as hayley ran past him and headed outside the conpod
Reece: this isnt how i envisioned it, i was hoping we'd all reach sydney alive and well and yet this damn hell hole has claimed yet another innocent life
Taylor remained silent so reece slowly approached him and placed a hand on his shoulder making taylor look up at him
Reece: taylor listen to me from this point forward i will not rest until we reach sydney and i mean you, me, hayley, mei and boy all of us and i will slaughter any damn kaiju that stands in our way
Mei: ( worried) every kaiju?
Reece: every last one including boy if he does turn against us i do not want you nor your sister to have to will yourselfs to kill him leave that to me
Mei: and me because if we are to reach sydney base all alive then you will need your co-pilot
Reece nodded before he headed out onto the top of atlas's conpod to find hayley with mei close behind him leaving taylor alone
Taylor: loa? Give me the odds we'll actually make it out of here
Loa: i no longer provide odds, only facts
Taylor: then what are the facts?
Loa: the high priestess weilds control over all hybrid kaiju therefore, she has us outnumbered even with two jeagers
Taylor: (scoffs) what am i doing? How can i possibly pull this off?
Loa: please clarify
Taylor: i do not have what it takes to get us out, loa
Loa: and why is that?
Taylor: (scoffs) i don't know, its the story of my life?(exhales) i never get anything right
Reece: didnt loa say only facts
Taylor turned his head to see reece standing behind him
Taylor: ok how about these? The son of famous pilots flunked his jeager trainning and lied to his family about it, the brother tasked with protecting his little sister couldn't keep her out of danger and a the cadet who ghost drifted to steal a pilot's skills had to have his sister help their mother pass away because his mind was too jacked
Loa remained silent
Taylor: no response
Reece: she might not have one for you but i do so you think i didnt know all of that already taylor the way you fight kaiju is the excate same way herc hansen used to fight them even back to when he piloted striker euraka with his son i know this thanks to my dad, secondly i know all of this since you drifted with mei before i found you all back in meridian so yes you flunked jeager trainning,so what, is your sister alive?
Taylor. What?
Reece: is hayley alive? Is she still living and breathing?
Taylor: yes
Reece: then you succeeded in keeping her alive it was you this whole time that kept her alive and she might not want to admit that but she knows it
Loa: reece is correct hayley would not have survived without you
Taylor: huh thanks
Reece: no problem so you stopped feeling guilty about your self yet
Taylor: how'd....
Reece: you are easy to read
Taylor: oh and loa no facts off you to relieve my guilt either..... right you dont know what guilt is
Loa: guilt, i was responsable for my previous pilots deaths
Taylor: how so?
Even reece was interested in what the AI system had to so
Loa: as the first AI built with an emotion chip, i exhibited an inforeseen behavior..... worry, the offs of my pilots surviving our final mission were low, therefor......
Reece: you refused to go into battle didnt you
Loa: affirmative
Taylor: really? What did they do?
Loa: they switched to manual control and i could do nothing but watch them fight and watch them die
Reece: that kinda seems more like their fault than yours
Taylor: i agree they took control they knew what they were doing
Loa: if i had gone into that battle fully functioning i could have perharps kept them alive....... So yes, i do know what guilt is
Taylor turn to look at brina's body as did reece who sighed
Reece: i guess we all failed those we loved

After a short while hayley and mei returned from the top of atlas's conpod
Taylor: we should bury mom
Reece: i agree she deserves that much
So reece, mei and hayley made their way down first to find some reasonable sized boulders to put over brina body while taylor came down last and carefully with brina body and the four careful covered her body amd placed her broken Sisters mask on top before they stood back
Reece: i'd erm like to say just a few words so erm may you rest in eternal peace ms travis and dad if your listening look after her for us will ya
Hayley: thank you reece
Reece: it was the least i could do
Taylor: we erm better get moving to sydney while we have the advantage
Reece: i hate to agree but taylor's right
Hayley and mei nodded and began to walk towards atlas
Reece: hayley keep a close eye on boy just be ready for...... anything
Hayley: we won't let anything harm boy
Reece nodded but flicked his gaze to taylor who nodded stiffly which didnt go unnoticed by mei as she glanced back at the two before recee turned towards ace and climbed up
Taylor: come on mei whats the hold up
Mei: sorry
So mei, taylor and reece once again drifted they began their walk to sydney base but after a couple minutes reece could hear groaning coming through the comms
Reece: guys whats happening in there!
Taylor: we didnt save him in time
Hayley: no! No, thay can't be. Boy!
Reece: GUYS WHAT IS HAPPENING!!
Mei: he's mutating, get him outside!
Reece who was a few steps behind atlas saw the top conpod hatch open and boy climb out before jumping off the conpod and transforming into his kaiju form
Reece: come on kid don't make me do it
But Boy began climbing atlas and punching the top of the conpod but as reece reached atlas boy jumped off a good distance away
Reece: everyone ok in there?
Taylor: yeah im good
Hayley: same here
Reece: i was more refering to mei but good to know you too are fine
Mei: im fine babe but boy seems ready for a fight
Reece: taylor hang atlas back like i promised you
Hayley: promised? What did you promise?
Mei: reece what did you do?
Reece remained silence as he piloted ace in front of atlas and took up a fighting stance all the while ignoring hayley shouting of protests
Reece: im sorry kid but one shall stand and one shall fall
To be continued