Gipsy Danger: New War (HIATUS)

Chapter 5: Working out the Kinks

Raleigh sat in silence inside his personal quarters, the thoughts of yesterday filling his head and the days before that. His mind was a mess, but in reality, when wasn't it a mess? Beckett stared down at the dogtags in his hand, its sliver stained with his dried blood. He ran his thumb over the smooth metal wiping away some of the crusted blood which revealed the P.P.D.C symbol. His thoughts returned to that of his world and how easily he had forgotten about it. Had his... no his brothers sacrifice saved the lives of millions? He surely hoped so, Raleigh ran a hand through his hair before falling back onto the bed looking up at the dark ceiling. How would he get home? When would he get home? It would have to be an answer after he woke up.

His eyelids drooping and soon closing as sleep embraced him.

"...Raleigh... Raleigh..." - A voice called out to him; the voice it sounded familiar... Opening his eyes Raleigh looked around at the dark mindscape of his mind. He clenched his fists scanning the darkness wildly. "No... You're not him!" - He grabbed onto his head trying to drone out the phantoms voice. "Am I Raleigh?" - From the Shadows emerged his bloodied brother, eyes pure red and what looked like water dripping from his mouth. His body was still the same way he had saw it. His armor scratched and battered, but it was also littered with bite marks as if something had been gnawing on him.

"You killed me little brother, you and your pride!"

He screamed his red eyes glowing more, it's red color illuminating his decomposing face. His face was like a ghouls, but more ripped apart, a hole rested in his face and half his helmet and scalp was missing. Raleighs eyes widened in horror as he fell onto his rear pushing himself away as tears began to prick from his eyes. Shaking his head he desperately tried to escape this horror that was impersonating his brother. But it only chuckled at Raleigh's persistence, his need to escape the past.

"You thought you could end up here, start a new life?! You make me sick little brother, you killed me and so many others. Mom and Dad were right, you were a mistake."

Those words struck him hard as Raleigh denied what he said, but no matter what he said he desperately tried to block out his dead brothers words.

"No, no, you're lying... You're not him."

Those words hit the phantom of his brother hard as it chuckled before appearing right in front of him. His boney hands gripping Raleighs face with a steel grip, his mouth glowing red as well before screeching.

"WHO AM I THEN!?"

Raleigh awoke with a scream his body shooting upwards as his eyes scanned the dark interior of his quarters, quickly he scrambled to switch on the light. The illumination showing his room was empty save for him and the furniture that occupied it. But what scared him was that laid in the middle of the floor was the shattered helmet that he wore. His heart pounding in his chest as he felt that he was about to die. But a knock at his door tore him from his trance, looking to the door the sound of Elizabeths voice carrying through could be heard. 

"Raleigh you in there? Come on time to wake up!"

He turned his head back to the floor and saw... nothing. Blinking he placed a hand on his head and looked at the time. '6:32 AM'. He was a bit surprised by this, taking his hand off his head he pushed himself off the bed all the while keeping his gaze on the room around him. He didn't feel safe in the room like this, all alone... Maybe it was a side effect of his abrupt disconnection from Yancy's mind that was playing hell with his. He didn't know, grabbing his discarded t-shirt off the dresser he quickly pulled it on making sure his dog tags were inside the shirt before walking to the door. Opening it he looked down at Elizabeth who stood there with a smile on his face. A vast improvement from yesterday.

"Hey partner, sleep well?"

Raleigh bickered with himself on how to answer that, merely relying on just crossing his arms and leaning against the door frame.

"As well, as one can. How'd you sleep?"

He asked smirking a bit because of what happened yesterday, he saw it in her eyes. She had slept better than ever, considering she probably put those other pilots in their place. 

"Can I come in?"

She asked, he quirked an eyebrow as he stepped to the side and let her inside. It wasn't anything but it was basic, and Raleigh preferred basic. As she walked in she walked towards his bed setting herself down as she looked around the room with interest. Walking to his bathroom he flicked the light switch on as he grabbed his toothbrush and paste. Squirting the cleaning material on the brush before wetting it with the faucet. Before beginning to brush his teeth.

"So, whats on the agenda for today?"

She asked placing both hands on her knees as she looked at Raleigh's back as he brushed his teeth, her eyes set on him as he looked at her in the mirror spitting the residue into the sink he turned the faucet on washing away the paste before grabbing the mouth wash and looking to her leaning against the sink.

"Well, I assume we're waiting for orders so we'll be doing training together. To strengthen our bond."

He said taking a swig of the mouthwash swishing it around in his mouth before spitting it out and walking out of the bathroom turning off the light as Elizabeth looked excited at the mention of 'training'. She was ready to be back in control of Gipsy and to finally have a reason to not mope around this damned facility just waiting for something to do. Stepping over to his mini-fridge he pulled it open and pulled out two waters. Handing one of them to his co-pilot before opening his and taking a drink. Elizabeth thanked him as she took the cold beverage into her hands but as she looked down at bottle in her hands. A thought hit her head as she looked up at Raleigh who was currently twisting the cap back onto the bottle.

"Raleigh what happened to Yancy?"

Raleigh stopped dead in his tracks as he looked at her with wide eyes, which surprised Elizabeth. But for Raleigh his mind would be racing right now, the wound so fresh from his brother's death he didn't know how to answer. But behind her he saw a phantom of his brother smiling at him as if to provoke him. Shaking his head lightly he looked to her again and spoke.

"Uh... story for another time."

Elizabeth tilted her head at his excuse, her eyes squinting a bit as she watched him turn his head away from her. Showing obvious unease at her question, something she would note about in her mind. Standing up she smiled and patted his shoulder. "Let's get down to Gipsy."

She said making her way to the door, Raleigh watching her before turning to follow her. The walk down to the main hangar wasn't as long as Raleigh thought it would be. But while they made their way to Gipsy, Raleigh kept going back to her question. How was he going to explain he lost his own brother on his last sortie. All because of his suggestion to save those fisherman, what if he also got her killed? Because of his suggestion to save or do something. But his thoughts were torn from the subject at hand as the two arrived at the docking room for his Jaegers head. Inside the room were the two pilot suits. But he had noticed something different with them, their colors were... coded to each other. One navy blue, and the other navy grey.

"I asked Nana if she could whip us up some new pilot suits. Considering the last ones were..."

She looked over to the left, her and his eyes landing on the old suits that belonged to Raleigh and her. His white repaired pilot suit sat alone on the table with hers, staring at them for a moment he nodded and walked over to the new ones. His hands grabbing onto the vastly different navy blue helmet. Instead of an open visor helmet, it was a simple stretched T visor with what looked like a tinted visor. 

"How am I supposed to see through this?"

He asked looking up at her as she shook her head grabbing the helmet from his hands as she slid it onto his head.

"Just say activate."

She said crossing her arms, Raleighs head turning towards her before shaking it. Sighing he uttered the word 'Activate' and suddenly the tinted visor opened up well on the inside at least. He could finally see outside of it the room and Elizabeth, soon after blue holographic displays began to appear inside the helmet showing empty boxes which he assumed was for Gipsy to show off her statistics and ammo count along with weapons. Chuckling he looked to her.

"Bouji."