Another Mark 3

*CHAPTER THREE*

Raleigh taking the lead was amazed by what he saw. Although not much had changes, the base had become a lot smaller then what he would have seen before. Pentecost, Mako and I all followed behind him as he finished gazing and was standing on the seal in the gateway of the area. 

 "War clock. We reset it after every Kaiju attack." Pentecost yelled a she walked past Becket with Mako by his side. I turned to look at the War Clock. 14 hours 35 minutes and 46, 47 seconds. "Keeps everyone focused. The Frequency of attacks is accelerating." Raleigh and I then followed Pentecost and Mako as we headed towards the Jaeger chambers. 

"How long till the next reset?" Raleigh asked as he ran into an incoming vehicle and bumped into it. I giggled slight at his reaction of bumping into something. What the hell is wrong with me. I never giggle. 

"A week, if we're lucky. My experts believe there'll be a Kaiju attack before that." Raleigh and I then ran to come right behind Pentecost and Mako as he began to explain about how we came to the Shatterdome. "This complex used to lodge 30 Jaegers in five bays just like this one." We then all stopped and waited for another vehicle to pass. "Now we only have four Jaegers left." 

"I didn't know it was this bad." 

"It is that bad." Pentecost then pointed to the Jaeger we walked past. 

"Crimson Typhoon, China. One of the greatest. Assembled in Changzhou. Full titanium core, no alloys. Fifty diesel engines per muscle strand. Deadly, precise fighter." 

I looked to Raleigh and his face looked up at the overly tall Jaeger and its crimson red colour and great yellow eye. "She's piloted by the Wei Tang brothers. Triplets. Local lads. They've successfully defended Hong Kong port seven times. They use the Thundercloud formation." 

"Hell, yeah. Triple-arm technique." Raleigh cried. 

"Very effective." Pentecost commented. We walked past and watched one of the triplets score a shot in a small basketball game. The one that shot saw me looking and flashed me a smile. I looked away instantly. These pilots all freaked me out. It was because I was a younger pilot that every person seemed attracted to. Gross.

"You good?" Raleigh unexpectedly asked. I nodded my head in reply as Pentecost introduced the next Jaeger. 

 "That tank, last of the T-90's. Cherno Alpha. First generation Mark 1.The heaviest and oldest Jaeger in the service. But make no mistake, Mr Becket,it's a brutal war machine."

I watched Raleigh walk further to watch Alpha sliding back into his chamber. "And those two," we all came to Raleigh's side, "Sasha and Aleksis Kaidanovsky." 

"Yeah, I've heard of them. Perimeter patrol, Siberian wall." Raleigh said and Pentecost grunted in reply, agreeing. Sasha and Aleksis came marching down, gear on, helmets in hand and bleach blonde hair slicked back. 

"On their watch it stayed un-breached for six years. Six years." I felt my eyes widen and drop as I grew jealous and upset that I was not able to fight and be apart of a proper team without a co-pilot. I then felt Raleigh looking to me but I ignored his look. We all then headed towards Striker and as normal, I grew irritated and angry. Don't get me wrong, I adore Herc, he's such a lovely and trustworthy friend. His son on the other hand's a complete dick. Max, Chuck's dog barked at us as we came closer to the Hansen's. "Herc! Chuck!" Pentecost yelled as we came. The two walked forward and I noticed Chuck was in his gear. "Gentlemen, welcome to Hong Kong!" 

"Wait here." I heard Herc tell Chuck as he came to the four of us. I focused all my energy into looking at Herc instead of his idiotic son. Mako on the other hand did something else. 

"Max! Come here!" she called and the bulldog came running towards her. "Remember me?" 

"Don't drool over Miss Mori." Herc ordered to the happy pup. She crouched down and started to pat him, Pentecost, Raleigh and I came to Herc. "Sees a pretty girl and gets all wound up." He smiled. 

"Raleigh, this is Hercules Hansen, an old friend from the Mark 1 glory days." Pentecost introduced. Herc shook Raleigh's hand as he spoke. 

"I know you, mate. We rode together before." 

"We did, sir. Six years ago. My brother and I. It was a three Jaeger team drop." 

"That's right. Manila. Sorry about your brother." 

"Thank you, sir." Raleigh nodded in gratitude. Herc then turned to me, he opened his mouth to apologise to me. 

"No, it's ok...You don't have to apologise for the tenth time." Herc closed his mouth and pulled me in for a quick hug. 

"Herc and his son Chuck'll be running point using Striker Eureka." Pentecost said, changing the subject. The two boys and I looked up to see Striker in his chamber. "Fastest Jaeger in the world. First and last of the Mark 5's. Australia decommissioned it a day before the Sydney attack."

"Yeah, it was lucky we were still around." Herc sighed. 

"Yep. Now its running point for us." 

"Wait, running point on what?" Raleigh questioned. "You haven't told me what I'm doing here yet." He looked to Pentecost and he took a breath. 

"We're going for the Breach, Mr Becket. We're gonna strap a 2,400 pound thermonuclear warhead to Striker's back. Detonate an equivalent of 1.2 million tons of TNT. And you and two other Jaegers will be running defence for them." Pentecost explained. 

"Thought we were the resistance. Where'd you get something that big?" 

"See the Russians back there? They can get us anything. Mako, go report to the candidates that testing will start tomorrow. Herc, shall we?" Mako walked off quickly and Pentecost started to walk off. 

"Good to have you back." Herc said. 

"Thank you, sir." 

"Kristen." 

"Herc." I nodded and he left. Turning to Raleigh I decided my objective was to take him to his Jaeger. "I'll show you to your Jaeger now, Mr Becket." 

"Miss Ivory..." 

"Yes?" 

"Will you give me a minute?" 

"Sure. I'll wait here." I nodded. 

"Thank." He smiled and turned, running towards Pentecost and Herc. "Marshal!" I heard him yell. Waiting patiently I whistled calmly. 

"Ivory!" I heard Chuck call from across the room. I looked to him and he winked. 

"In your dreams, Hansen!" I yelled. Chuck just chuckled and was about to come to me and insult me or try and flirt, Raleigh however came to my rescue. 

"We good to go?" 

"Yeah, lets go." He grinned and I grinned back. I don't know why he kept smiling and grinning at me and to be honest, I don't know why I kept smiling.