jaeger pilot warehouse agents
rating: g
characters/pairing: it's like gen with an emphasis on hg and myka
a/n: pacrim au. but okay so. i took a number of liberties regarding the pacific rim universe and w13 in general basically. that said, i considered the jaeger academy more of an actual training academy you'd typically see where kaiju are a pressing matter but not so much in the doomsday type of way in the movie. i guess think of division from nikita but with kaiju and drifting and jaegers, yeah? something akin to that. also, i always enjoy the idea of hg actually being an elemental part of the warehouse family so she's the one that's in the in crowd and myka's the newbie. hopefully no one hates me for that but i always loved pete and hg being bros and claudia hero-worshipping hg was the cutest thing sooOoooOoooOooo i don't really apologize for that. THAT SAID. i have no clue what i wrote honestly, it kind of just came out to be this...
summary: ain't no party like a jaeger academy party cause a jaeger academy party has deadly kaijuuu!! wait what.
It takes approximately two weeks for her to confirm that there’s actually a new recruit coming to the prestigious Jaeger Academy.
News travels fast around here, especially so when it involves someone being brought into the academy. There’s not many of them to begin with and new recruits are seldom ever introduced in the middle of the year. So far, Helena’s managed to hear bits and pieces from time to time, but she has nothing concrete until one rather unassuming lunch.
It’s just her and Pete at the start of their communal lunch break, arriving together after being in Battle Tactics during first block. They secure their usual spot off to the side of the cafeteria after picking their food up. Pete wastes almost no time before digging into today’s ‘turkey dinner extravaganza’ that’s more of a poor substitute for the Thanksgiving meals they’re all missing back home than anything else. Relatively, though, it is better than what they’re used to getting.
Around the third mouthful of mashed potatoes mixed with questionable stuffing that’s shoveled into his mouth, Pete mentions something about ‘the new girl’ that Helena only manages to decipher after knowing him for two years. “Can we try again without the unflattering, half-masticated food in your mouth, please, Peter?”
“I said -” he starts before swallowing completely, “have you seen the new girl, yet?”
“I can’t say I’ve had the pleasure, no.”
She can’t help the small smirk that surfaces when she catches him making a face at her, one that says “you knew what I was saying all along, you meanie.” It only lasts for a second, his face more occupied with inhaling more food than her for the time being.
She sets off to start on her own lunch, trying to figure out just exactly how she’s supposed to begin the process of eating her turkey sandwich without it going everywhere but in her mouth. It takes her a good five minutes or so before she even attempts to actually consume part of it when a fork and knife are dropped ceremoniously on top of her sandwich.
“You’re a Godsend,” Helena declares to the girl looming over her. She shrugs emphatically, short red hair flinging haphazardly with a smug look that could very well rival Helena’s own, “I know, I know, try not to start a fan club for me or something - I’m not really into the whole spotlight deal, ya know?”
Helena only laughs and shakes her head, refocusing her attention on her sandwich because despite its odd appearance, she is quite hungry. This morning, she opts to sleep in to help along a rather sore shoulder so her breakfast is nothing more than half a donut she steals from Pete before class and a very tiny cup of yogurt. To her right, Claudia settles down in the spot between herself and Pete; the youngest of them settling down comfortably in the middle of her older counterparts in their lively trio.
“Speaking of things you know, do you know about the new girl yet?”
“Yeah, me and HG were just talking about her. You see her yet?”
“Uh-huh,” she murmurs, “she’s in my history class for first block. She’s pretty cool. Name’s Bering or something and she’s super smart, caught on really fast - Artie loves her.”
“Is she hot?”
“Peter.”
“What?” Pete shouts, with a mouthful of whatever barely managing to stay inside. The rest of his speech is incomprehensible as he continues, “it’s a legitimate question! You’re the hottest one here and you refuse to kiss me after that one time.”
“Peter - I’ve told you time and again: we do not, under any circumstances, ever talk about that. And, how many times must I tell you to stop talking with your mouth full? We. Are not. Heathens.”
Helena fixes a glare on Pete from across the table as he opens his mouth once more with what’s probably a less than clever retort. Whatever he has planned is halted by Claudia yelling an abrupt, “hey!” and with a pudding cup in each hand.
“Starsky,” a look pointed look at Pete.
“Hutch,” one directed at Helena.
“You guys can find out anything your little hearts desire next block. New girl has hand-to-hand with you guys. Now,” she sets the pudding in front of each of them after some wiggling in the air, “eat pudding and let me finish the rest of my lunch in peace.”
Helena rolls her eyes as Pete scowls as best he can while being ridiculously excited about his new gift. He’s poured most of the cup into his mouth by the time she agrees to call it a truce until next block and he actually takes a second to rethink opening his mouth before answering with a solid nod. “Right, I do believe that’s settled then.”
“And they say I’m the immature one around here.”
-
Helena meets the Academy’s new girl in a three-on-one fight where she’s taken out two more mediocre trainees and Helena is the only one left after a mere three minutes and some odd seconds.
It’s a completely pitiful performance coming from the people who are supposed to be on par with her for a spot as Ranger but for this new girl, it’s rather impressive as far as these things go.
This would probably be more impressive if Helena doesn’t manage to throw a perfectly executed flying arm bar to pin her to the mat - no matter, though. She’s actually feeling her muscles strain, the fight starting to drag on longer than what she usually deals with. It takes her more effort than she cares to admit to fling herself in the air because this new girl is ridiculously tall.
That said, it’s not as if she’s not enjoying herself.
In fact, Helena hasn’t had this much fun in a long while, hasn’t felt this good because no one has been able to keep up with her. A pleasant exhilaration comes from being truly challenged. She almost doesn’t want it to end - but that would leave her superiority at stake and she couldn’t possibly let the new girl beat her on their first encounter.
No, no, give her one more go out of this position and the next time she takes her to the mat, she’ll give a finishing blow.
The girl’s lasted long enough to earn the respect of the others watching on, being handed one by Helena won’t affect that; too many people (read: everyone) have succumbed to this particular fate.
(in any case, pinning her down again to finish the match is easy, however the downside is that she now has a pretty nice shiner she’ll have to explain to Pete)
-
“That is epic!!! I can’t believe she got you.”
For the record, it is absolutely not 'epic' that she catches the receiving end of the new girl’s elbow as she flips her over. The girl is tall and Helena doesn’t dodge quickly enough to avoid her limbs flailing haphazardly while she comes crashing down to the mat.
It’s not so bad when it happens or during the rest of their combat block but by the time dinner rolls around and she sees Claudia sitting at their table waiting for her with Pete, it appears that she's not very well off. She refuses to look at a mirror, judging from how much it hurts if she blinks a little too hard it’s probably five different shades of ugly right now.
“It was crucial, Claud, you should’ve seen it! One second HG's taking her down, the next BAM - one way ticket to Shiner Station.”
“Do shut up, Lattimer. You didn't even see it, you were too busy getting your rear handed to you on a silver platter by Amanda at the other end of the room.”
The face of disdain she makes at Pete is something she instantly regret. As soon as her muscles start moving, a throbbing sensation engulfs her face and she considers actually going to the infirmary for the first time.
“Psh, whatever, slugger - new girl got you good any which way you slice that loaf of bread.”
“Actually,” another voice floats in from above before Helena gets a chance to retort, “I’m pretty sure I’m the one you should be calling slugger.”
The voice is one she’s heard recently, when Claudia turns to its owner her face lights up as she chirps an excited, “Myka!” - which Helena assumes is her name - while Pete has absolutely no tact and simply shouts, “hey, it’s new girl!” She’s actually behind Helena, so she has to contort rather oddly to see; she only makes part of the way before the other girl slides over to the side asking if the empty seat is okay to use.
Peter nods rather enthusiastically, no doubt already trying to think of ways to win her over. Claudia flashes an obscene smile - when Helena raises an eyebrow at this, she finds her shin on the receiving end of a well placed kick underneath the table. “Of course,” Helena grits, “someone should put it to good use. None of us ever do.”
The new girl - Myka - sits down with her tray, getting as cozy as she possibly can in a plastic-metal chair at a standard issue cafeteria table. “You know, try as you might, these chairs and these tables only provide so much comfort,” she teases. Truthfully, Helena finds the process rather endearing than anything.
Myka’s mouth works, trying to find something to say back. Helena catches her off guard and she can practically see the gears turning in her head to find anything to answer with. “Oh! Yeah, uh. Yeah,” is about as much as she manages to get out before averting her gaze to anywhere but at Helena.
In the midst of finding the juice box on Claudia’s tray fascinating, her head suddenly jerks up and back in Helena’s direct. “Hey! Listen, sorry, about your eye. I don’t think I got a chance to apologize before but I’m really sorry for being so rough…great first impression, huh?”
Pete beats Helena to the punch, sending him off into a fury of animation. “Are you kidding? It’s about time someone taught HG a lesson. She’s been whipping everyones’s butt in the Academy since day one - been a long time coming, trust me.”
“Yeah, he’s kind of right, Myka,” Claudia adds in between bites of her cheeseburger. “HG pretty much owns everyone here. Don’t feel so bad, I’m pretty sure everyone is in love with you now cause of it. Personally, I’d milk it.”
“Bu- but, I mean, look at her face! It’s awful! I did that!”
“Thank you, for all the flattery, really - you lot do wonders for a girl’s confidence.” It’s really not as bad as Myka makes it out to be. And, granted, while her face isn’t its best, it’s only a nasty bruise at the end of the day. There’s no reason to further guilt trip someone who’s already thoroughly guilt themselves. “All joking aside though, they are right, darling. It’s nothing to fret over - as they say, all is fair.”
This seems to be enough to placate Myka and assuage her guilt for the rest of dinner.
She doesn’t really have a chance to bring it up again, anyways, because once Helena gives them the go-ahead Pete and Claudia bombard Myka with questions about nearly every aspect of her life. Myka does a pretty good job of fielding everything from “what’s your favorite flavor of fudge” (“I don’t eat sugar”) to “do you have any other specialties outside of giving people black eyes” (“well, I used to fence”).
Helena doesn’t join in the questioning, she prefers to observe and listen for the time being.
What from she gathers so far, it would seem safe to say that their mismatched group has earned a new member.
-
As it turns out, Helena brushing off her injury did little to actually quell Myka’s guilty conscious. In fact, it did so little that sometime after dinner during their free block, she hunts down Helena on her way to the workshop to meet Claudia.
Myka nearly skids into her after running to catch her from down the hall, coming to a jarred stop mere inches from her person; her arms flail in all directions from her sides and Helena can’t fight down the reflex that shields her face from another swinging limb.
The other girl seems to notice the minor flinch and, if it’s actually possibly, looks even more guilty than she already was. “Oh, god, HG! I’m so sorry!”
“It’s quite alright, dear, you managed to miss me this time.” Helena brushes herself off absentmindedly, straightening her jacket in an attempt to regain her composure. “However, I am at a loss as to why you’ve nearly collided into me.”
There’s a bit of stammering before Myka remembers her purpose for seeking Helena out and Helena decides that she might enjoy her ability to make her flustered so easily.
She waits patiently in the middle of the hallway as other trainees pass by until Myka finally gets out a full sentence to ask her if she’s been in to see the nurse about her eye yet. Helena insists that she’s had worse before, that it’s nothing to fuss over but apparently, this girl has a bit of a demanding streak in her and she insists that Helena get it checked just in case she has a concussion or something serious.
Helena is pretty hell-bent on continuing to the workshop until Myka’s face goes from extremely determined to extremely worried in a matter of less-than-seconds. She prides herself in being levelheaded in all situations but she does something akin to panic, finds herself agreeing to go to the infirmary if it will stop Myka from babying her.
(“I’m not babying you! It’s a legitimate concern - your face is like half a dozen shades of black and blue!”)
The nurse only confirms what Helena’s been trying to tell Myka to no avail - that it’s just a very bad bruise and it will heal fine with a little bit of time. Helena swears she hears the nurse mutter something else about “karma biting her in the ass” as they leave the room.
“Well, that was an utter waste of both our time.”
“Yeah, well, I feel better knowing for sure that you’re okay. The way you talk about it, it’s like you got a paper cut or something stupid.”
If only it were a paper cut. Sure they bleed an excessive amount, however they do without the throbbing pain that passes through her face every so often. “I don’t see what you’re so worried about, the way you fight this couldn’t possibly be the first time you’ve clocked someone - albeit inadvertently in this case.”
“I-I mean, yeah! Of course, I have b-but this is different!”
She stops her train of thought despite looking like she wants to continue. Helena turns to face Myka more fully, raising an eyebrow and nodding her head in a gesture for her to go on.
“I…didn’t want to hurt you.”
Helena’s face scrunches up at the confession, eyes narrowing at Myka despite her shorter stature. “What, are you saying you let me win?”
“No! No, of course not - it’s just, that, that you’re HG Wells and everyone talks about you and I just - didn’t want to get on your bad side, is all.”
“My god,” Helena barks out in the middle of a laughing fit. It’s rude, she knows, but it’s one of the most absurd things she’s heard in a long time since Pete asks their history teacher why we never tried to domesticate kaijus and keep them in something comparative to Jurassic Park in the ocean. “Myka, darling, what exactly have you heard about me?”
Myka wrings her hands, bites her lip, finding the floor much more interesting than the conversation they’re having now.
Helena reaches out to put a hand on her shoulder, “you can tell me what you’ve heard, I’ve probably heard it before myself. In fact, there’s even a high chance that I’m the one who started some of the them.”
After a few beats her gaze finally lifts from the floor and Myka takes a deep breath, mustering the courage to get it all out.
“They say you’re the best candidate for being a jaeger pilot and that you more or less run the place? The details on that were kind of sketchy, like you have your ways around things because Artie doesn’t really like you a lot but you’re super smart so you never actually get caught. And even though Artie doesn’t favor you, most the other instructors do. And there’s other stuff but -”
This time, Helena manages to withhold the laughing, schooling her face into a mostly neutral mask although there’s a certain glimmer in her eyes.
“Okay, okay, calm down there. I would hate to have to take you back to the nurse, that woman is certifiably dreadful.” She softens her expression, offering a warm smile to put the other girl at ease. “In any case, I assure you that you’re safe from any retribution on my behalf.”
Finally, Myka is visibly relieved and she looks like she’s less likely to run if Helena so much as looks at her the wrong way.
“Yeah? That’s, that’s good!” she squeaks, a little less confident than she looks. “Thanks, HG. That’s really good to hear.”
“Helena, darling - all my friends call me Helena, though the other two here are rather taken with using my initials.”
-
Every so often, the Academy has kaiju attack drills that are supposed to mimic real life emergencies to get trainees used to the sudden attacks that occur if they’re selected to be Rangers.
Trainees are expected to respond to the incoming threat based on their specialization. Techs take care of the equipment, engineers get the jaegers ready, so on and so forth. Pilot candidates, like Helena, are expected to suit up and head over to the mock-pod sim with their partner.
The next drill happens approximately five weeks since Myka joins, just as Helena suspects. Though it’s probably improper form to make an algorithm aimed at predicting when decidedly random occurrences are supposed to happen, Helena can’t be blamed for Artie being completely predictable about certain things. Besides, it’s not so bad because sometimes Mrs. Frederic initiates drills; she’s yet to be able to figure those out - considering her nature, Helena doubts she’ll ever succeed.
For what it’s worth, the situations are always challenging enough, varying in a number of parameters from number and kind of kaiju to how many jaegers are deployed to handicaps placed on specific jaegers.
In fact, during the last drill her and Pete were in a jaeger that was in the middle of maintenance prior to the attack. As a consequence, the left side didn’t function properly, malfunctioning to the point where it’s mostly useless until a kaiju rips the arm clean off and Pete has the mind to use it like a baseball bat. Helena is more or less incapable of doing much with a dead leg and no arm, so desperate times called for bribery of the highest tier with a secret stash of Leena’s peanut butter and chocolate cookies she saves just for these occasions. She promises the whole lot to Pete under the condition that he’ll listen to what Helena has to say before going off on his gut. At the end, it takes them three times longer than usual to eliminate the threat and, all things considered, Helena takes it at a point of pride that they finished the bastard off alone.
She tries to tell Artie as much but Artie doesn’t feel quite the same way because pilots shouldn’t have to bribe their partners in order to be in sync, they just have “feel together in the drift.” It would seem that being mind melded to Pete holds little advantage over not when it comes to interpreting his many vibes - at least it is for Helena.
Which is probably why Artie explicitly instructs her that, under no uncertain circumstances, are she and Pete to ever drift again if she is unable to respect the importance of drift compatibility.
It’s probably also why Myka gets assigned with Pete in their classes and Helena gets stuck with this hunk of jock, Nate, that’s more focused on doing fancy poses than actually doing any effective fighting.
To make matters worse, they’re less than five minutes away from doing the drop and her lovely partner is nowhere to be seen. If he’s not suited up and ready in front of her in the next sixty seconds, they’ll probably miss it altogether and she’d rather not find herself in Artie’s office a third time this week.
Especially not for that poor excuse of a recruit.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, yes?
-
In this case desperate measures include bribing Pete with another secret stash of peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies to allow her to take Myka off his hands and stick him with Nate for this round.
Helena expects a talking to after the drill is over because no way in hell would he ever in a million years believe that she does that well with Nate - as exceptional as she is, even she can only do so much for him.
As it turns out, Myka’s unique charm doesn’t only work on their small group. In fact, she’s found a way to wiggle herself under Artie’s skin in a way Helena couldn’t even begin to imagine. He’s so taken with the new recruit’s exceptional skills under duress that he forgets that’s that they weren’t supposed to be in the mock-pod together.
Well, almost forgets.
Helena’s gets to teach rookies all about why drift-compatibility is so important and why trainees must trust their instructors when they’re assigned partners for two weeks. Myka obviously gets off with nothing barring a stern warning about not letting Helena “corrupt” her in any way.
All in all, she figures it could’ve gone worse.
-
“We made a good team, didn’t we?”
“Yeah, we did.”
“I can see it now: headlines everywhere - Wells and Bering, killing kaiju, saving the day.”
“Bering and Wells.”
“We’ll keeping thinking on that.”
(years later, when they’re finally assigned their own jaeger, she’s proudly revealed with ‘Bering and Wells’ on her chest plate)
characters/pairing: it's like gen with an emphasis on hg and myka
a/n: pacrim au. but okay so. i took a number of liberties regarding the pacific rim universe and w13 in general basically. that said, i considered the jaeger academy more of an actual training academy you'd typically see where kaiju are a pressing matter but not so much in the doomsday type of way in the movie. i guess think of division from nikita but with kaiju and drifting and jaegers, yeah? something akin to that. also, i always enjoy the idea of hg actually being an elemental part of the warehouse family so she's the one that's in the in crowd and myka's the newbie. hopefully no one hates me for that but i always loved pete and hg being bros and claudia hero-worshipping hg was the cutest thing sooOoooOoooOooo i don't really apologize for that. THAT SAID. i have no clue what i wrote honestly, it kind of just came out to be this...
summary: ain't no party like a jaeger academy party cause a jaeger academy party has deadly kaijuuu!! wait what.
It takes approximately two weeks for her to confirm that there’s actually a new recruit coming to the prestigious Jaeger Academy.
News travels fast around here, especially so when it involves someone being brought into the academy. There’s not many of them to begin with and new recruits are seldom ever introduced in the middle of the year. So far, Helena’s managed to hear bits and pieces from time to time, but she has nothing concrete until one rather unassuming lunch.
It’s just her and Pete at the start of their communal lunch break, arriving together after being in Battle Tactics during first block. They secure their usual spot off to the side of the cafeteria after picking their food up. Pete wastes almost no time before digging into today’s ‘turkey dinner extravaganza’ that’s more of a poor substitute for the Thanksgiving meals they’re all missing back home than anything else. Relatively, though, it is better than what they’re used to getting.
Around the third mouthful of mashed potatoes mixed with questionable stuffing that’s shoveled into his mouth, Pete mentions something about ‘the new girl’ that Helena only manages to decipher after knowing him for two years. “Can we try again without the unflattering, half-masticated food in your mouth, please, Peter?”
“I said -” he starts before swallowing completely, “have you seen the new girl, yet?”
“I can’t say I’ve had the pleasure, no.”
She can’t help the small smirk that surfaces when she catches him making a face at her, one that says “you knew what I was saying all along, you meanie.” It only lasts for a second, his face more occupied with inhaling more food than her for the time being.
She sets off to start on her own lunch, trying to figure out just exactly how she’s supposed to begin the process of eating her turkey sandwich without it going everywhere but in her mouth. It takes her a good five minutes or so before she even attempts to actually consume part of it when a fork and knife are dropped ceremoniously on top of her sandwich.
“You’re a Godsend,” Helena declares to the girl looming over her. She shrugs emphatically, short red hair flinging haphazardly with a smug look that could very well rival Helena’s own, “I know, I know, try not to start a fan club for me or something - I’m not really into the whole spotlight deal, ya know?”
Helena only laughs and shakes her head, refocusing her attention on her sandwich because despite its odd appearance, she is quite hungry. This morning, she opts to sleep in to help along a rather sore shoulder so her breakfast is nothing more than half a donut she steals from Pete before class and a very tiny cup of yogurt. To her right, Claudia settles down in the spot between herself and Pete; the youngest of them settling down comfortably in the middle of her older counterparts in their lively trio.
“Speaking of things you know, do you know about the new girl yet?”
“Yeah, me and HG were just talking about her. You see her yet?”
“Uh-huh,” she murmurs, “she’s in my history class for first block. She’s pretty cool. Name’s Bering or something and she’s super smart, caught on really fast - Artie loves her.”
“Is she hot?”
“Peter.”
“What?” Pete shouts, with a mouthful of whatever barely managing to stay inside. The rest of his speech is incomprehensible as he continues, “it’s a legitimate question! You’re the hottest one here and you refuse to kiss me after that one time.”
“Peter - I’ve told you time and again: we do not, under any circumstances, ever talk about that. And, how many times must I tell you to stop talking with your mouth full? We. Are not. Heathens.”
Helena fixes a glare on Pete from across the table as he opens his mouth once more with what’s probably a less than clever retort. Whatever he has planned is halted by Claudia yelling an abrupt, “hey!” and with a pudding cup in each hand.
“Starsky,” a look pointed look at Pete.
“Hutch,” one directed at Helena.
“You guys can find out anything your little hearts desire next block. New girl has hand-to-hand with you guys. Now,” she sets the pudding in front of each of them after some wiggling in the air, “eat pudding and let me finish the rest of my lunch in peace.”
Helena rolls her eyes as Pete scowls as best he can while being ridiculously excited about his new gift. He’s poured most of the cup into his mouth by the time she agrees to call it a truce until next block and he actually takes a second to rethink opening his mouth before answering with a solid nod. “Right, I do believe that’s settled then.”
“And they say I’m the immature one around here.”
-
Helena meets the Academy’s new girl in a three-on-one fight where she’s taken out two more mediocre trainees and Helena is the only one left after a mere three minutes and some odd seconds.
It’s a completely pitiful performance coming from the people who are supposed to be on par with her for a spot as Ranger but for this new girl, it’s rather impressive as far as these things go.
This would probably be more impressive if Helena doesn’t manage to throw a perfectly executed flying arm bar to pin her to the mat - no matter, though. She’s actually feeling her muscles strain, the fight starting to drag on longer than what she usually deals with. It takes her more effort than she cares to admit to fling herself in the air because this new girl is ridiculously tall.
That said, it’s not as if she’s not enjoying herself.
In fact, Helena hasn’t had this much fun in a long while, hasn’t felt this good because no one has been able to keep up with her. A pleasant exhilaration comes from being truly challenged. She almost doesn’t want it to end - but that would leave her superiority at stake and she couldn’t possibly let the new girl beat her on their first encounter.
No, no, give her one more go out of this position and the next time she takes her to the mat, she’ll give a finishing blow.
The girl’s lasted long enough to earn the respect of the others watching on, being handed one by Helena won’t affect that; too many people (read: everyone) have succumbed to this particular fate.
(in any case, pinning her down again to finish the match is easy, however the downside is that she now has a pretty nice shiner she’ll have to explain to Pete)
-
“That is epic!!! I can’t believe she got you.”
For the record, it is absolutely not 'epic' that she catches the receiving end of the new girl’s elbow as she flips her over. The girl is tall and Helena doesn’t dodge quickly enough to avoid her limbs flailing haphazardly while she comes crashing down to the mat.
It’s not so bad when it happens or during the rest of their combat block but by the time dinner rolls around and she sees Claudia sitting at their table waiting for her with Pete, it appears that she's not very well off. She refuses to look at a mirror, judging from how much it hurts if she blinks a little too hard it’s probably five different shades of ugly right now.
“It was crucial, Claud, you should’ve seen it! One second HG's taking her down, the next BAM - one way ticket to Shiner Station.”
“Do shut up, Lattimer. You didn't even see it, you were too busy getting your rear handed to you on a silver platter by Amanda at the other end of the room.”
The face of disdain she makes at Pete is something she instantly regret. As soon as her muscles start moving, a throbbing sensation engulfs her face and she considers actually going to the infirmary for the first time.
“Psh, whatever, slugger - new girl got you good any which way you slice that loaf of bread.”
“Actually,” another voice floats in from above before Helena gets a chance to retort, “I’m pretty sure I’m the one you should be calling slugger.”
The voice is one she’s heard recently, when Claudia turns to its owner her face lights up as she chirps an excited, “Myka!” - which Helena assumes is her name - while Pete has absolutely no tact and simply shouts, “hey, it’s new girl!” She’s actually behind Helena, so she has to contort rather oddly to see; she only makes part of the way before the other girl slides over to the side asking if the empty seat is okay to use.
Peter nods rather enthusiastically, no doubt already trying to think of ways to win her over. Claudia flashes an obscene smile - when Helena raises an eyebrow at this, she finds her shin on the receiving end of a well placed kick underneath the table. “Of course,” Helena grits, “someone should put it to good use. None of us ever do.”
The new girl - Myka - sits down with her tray, getting as cozy as she possibly can in a plastic-metal chair at a standard issue cafeteria table. “You know, try as you might, these chairs and these tables only provide so much comfort,” she teases. Truthfully, Helena finds the process rather endearing than anything.
Myka’s mouth works, trying to find something to say back. Helena catches her off guard and she can practically see the gears turning in her head to find anything to answer with. “Oh! Yeah, uh. Yeah,” is about as much as she manages to get out before averting her gaze to anywhere but at Helena.
In the midst of finding the juice box on Claudia’s tray fascinating, her head suddenly jerks up and back in Helena’s direct. “Hey! Listen, sorry, about your eye. I don’t think I got a chance to apologize before but I’m really sorry for being so rough…great first impression, huh?”
Pete beats Helena to the punch, sending him off into a fury of animation. “Are you kidding? It’s about time someone taught HG a lesson. She’s been whipping everyones’s butt in the Academy since day one - been a long time coming, trust me.”
“Yeah, he’s kind of right, Myka,” Claudia adds in between bites of her cheeseburger. “HG pretty much owns everyone here. Don’t feel so bad, I’m pretty sure everyone is in love with you now cause of it. Personally, I’d milk it.”
“Bu- but, I mean, look at her face! It’s awful! I did that!”
“Thank you, for all the flattery, really - you lot do wonders for a girl’s confidence.” It’s really not as bad as Myka makes it out to be. And, granted, while her face isn’t its best, it’s only a nasty bruise at the end of the day. There’s no reason to further guilt trip someone who’s already thoroughly guilt themselves. “All joking aside though, they are right, darling. It’s nothing to fret over - as they say, all is fair.”
This seems to be enough to placate Myka and assuage her guilt for the rest of dinner.
She doesn’t really have a chance to bring it up again, anyways, because once Helena gives them the go-ahead Pete and Claudia bombard Myka with questions about nearly every aspect of her life. Myka does a pretty good job of fielding everything from “what’s your favorite flavor of fudge” (“I don’t eat sugar”) to “do you have any other specialties outside of giving people black eyes” (“well, I used to fence”).
Helena doesn’t join in the questioning, she prefers to observe and listen for the time being.
What from she gathers so far, it would seem safe to say that their mismatched group has earned a new member.
-
As it turns out, Helena brushing off her injury did little to actually quell Myka’s guilty conscious. In fact, it did so little that sometime after dinner during their free block, she hunts down Helena on her way to the workshop to meet Claudia.
Myka nearly skids into her after running to catch her from down the hall, coming to a jarred stop mere inches from her person; her arms flail in all directions from her sides and Helena can’t fight down the reflex that shields her face from another swinging limb.
The other girl seems to notice the minor flinch and, if it’s actually possibly, looks even more guilty than she already was. “Oh, god, HG! I’m so sorry!”
“It’s quite alright, dear, you managed to miss me this time.” Helena brushes herself off absentmindedly, straightening her jacket in an attempt to regain her composure. “However, I am at a loss as to why you’ve nearly collided into me.”
There’s a bit of stammering before Myka remembers her purpose for seeking Helena out and Helena decides that she might enjoy her ability to make her flustered so easily.
She waits patiently in the middle of the hallway as other trainees pass by until Myka finally gets out a full sentence to ask her if she’s been in to see the nurse about her eye yet. Helena insists that she’s had worse before, that it’s nothing to fuss over but apparently, this girl has a bit of a demanding streak in her and she insists that Helena get it checked just in case she has a concussion or something serious.
Helena is pretty hell-bent on continuing to the workshop until Myka’s face goes from extremely determined to extremely worried in a matter of less-than-seconds. She prides herself in being levelheaded in all situations but she does something akin to panic, finds herself agreeing to go to the infirmary if it will stop Myka from babying her.
(“I’m not babying you! It’s a legitimate concern - your face is like half a dozen shades of black and blue!”)
The nurse only confirms what Helena’s been trying to tell Myka to no avail - that it’s just a very bad bruise and it will heal fine with a little bit of time. Helena swears she hears the nurse mutter something else about “karma biting her in the ass” as they leave the room.
“Well, that was an utter waste of both our time.”
“Yeah, well, I feel better knowing for sure that you’re okay. The way you talk about it, it’s like you got a paper cut or something stupid.”
If only it were a paper cut. Sure they bleed an excessive amount, however they do without the throbbing pain that passes through her face every so often. “I don’t see what you’re so worried about, the way you fight this couldn’t possibly be the first time you’ve clocked someone - albeit inadvertently in this case.”
“I-I mean, yeah! Of course, I have b-but this is different!”
She stops her train of thought despite looking like she wants to continue. Helena turns to face Myka more fully, raising an eyebrow and nodding her head in a gesture for her to go on.
“I…didn’t want to hurt you.”
Helena’s face scrunches up at the confession, eyes narrowing at Myka despite her shorter stature. “What, are you saying you let me win?”
“No! No, of course not - it’s just, that, that you’re HG Wells and everyone talks about you and I just - didn’t want to get on your bad side, is all.”
“My god,” Helena barks out in the middle of a laughing fit. It’s rude, she knows, but it’s one of the most absurd things she’s heard in a long time since Pete asks their history teacher why we never tried to domesticate kaijus and keep them in something comparative to Jurassic Park in the ocean. “Myka, darling, what exactly have you heard about me?”
Myka wrings her hands, bites her lip, finding the floor much more interesting than the conversation they’re having now.
Helena reaches out to put a hand on her shoulder, “you can tell me what you’ve heard, I’ve probably heard it before myself. In fact, there’s even a high chance that I’m the one who started some of the them.”
After a few beats her gaze finally lifts from the floor and Myka takes a deep breath, mustering the courage to get it all out.
“They say you’re the best candidate for being a jaeger pilot and that you more or less run the place? The details on that were kind of sketchy, like you have your ways around things because Artie doesn’t really like you a lot but you’re super smart so you never actually get caught. And even though Artie doesn’t favor you, most the other instructors do. And there’s other stuff but -”
This time, Helena manages to withhold the laughing, schooling her face into a mostly neutral mask although there’s a certain glimmer in her eyes.
“Okay, okay, calm down there. I would hate to have to take you back to the nurse, that woman is certifiably dreadful.” She softens her expression, offering a warm smile to put the other girl at ease. “In any case, I assure you that you’re safe from any retribution on my behalf.”
Finally, Myka is visibly relieved and she looks like she’s less likely to run if Helena so much as looks at her the wrong way.
“Yeah? That’s, that’s good!” she squeaks, a little less confident than she looks. “Thanks, HG. That’s really good to hear.”
“Helena, darling - all my friends call me Helena, though the other two here are rather taken with using my initials.”
-
Every so often, the Academy has kaiju attack drills that are supposed to mimic real life emergencies to get trainees used to the sudden attacks that occur if they’re selected to be Rangers.
Trainees are expected to respond to the incoming threat based on their specialization. Techs take care of the equipment, engineers get the jaegers ready, so on and so forth. Pilot candidates, like Helena, are expected to suit up and head over to the mock-pod sim with their partner.
The next drill happens approximately five weeks since Myka joins, just as Helena suspects. Though it’s probably improper form to make an algorithm aimed at predicting when decidedly random occurrences are supposed to happen, Helena can’t be blamed for Artie being completely predictable about certain things. Besides, it’s not so bad because sometimes Mrs. Frederic initiates drills; she’s yet to be able to figure those out - considering her nature, Helena doubts she’ll ever succeed.
For what it’s worth, the situations are always challenging enough, varying in a number of parameters from number and kind of kaiju to how many jaegers are deployed to handicaps placed on specific jaegers.
In fact, during the last drill her and Pete were in a jaeger that was in the middle of maintenance prior to the attack. As a consequence, the left side didn’t function properly, malfunctioning to the point where it’s mostly useless until a kaiju rips the arm clean off and Pete has the mind to use it like a baseball bat. Helena is more or less incapable of doing much with a dead leg and no arm, so desperate times called for bribery of the highest tier with a secret stash of Leena’s peanut butter and chocolate cookies she saves just for these occasions. She promises the whole lot to Pete under the condition that he’ll listen to what Helena has to say before going off on his gut. At the end, it takes them three times longer than usual to eliminate the threat and, all things considered, Helena takes it at a point of pride that they finished the bastard off alone.
She tries to tell Artie as much but Artie doesn’t feel quite the same way because pilots shouldn’t have to bribe their partners in order to be in sync, they just have “feel together in the drift.” It would seem that being mind melded to Pete holds little advantage over not when it comes to interpreting his many vibes - at least it is for Helena.
Which is probably why Artie explicitly instructs her that, under no uncertain circumstances, are she and Pete to ever drift again if she is unable to respect the importance of drift compatibility.
It’s probably also why Myka gets assigned with Pete in their classes and Helena gets stuck with this hunk of jock, Nate, that’s more focused on doing fancy poses than actually doing any effective fighting.
To make matters worse, they’re less than five minutes away from doing the drop and her lovely partner is nowhere to be seen. If he’s not suited up and ready in front of her in the next sixty seconds, they’ll probably miss it altogether and she’d rather not find herself in Artie’s office a third time this week.
Especially not for that poor excuse of a recruit.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, yes?
-
In this case desperate measures include bribing Pete with another secret stash of peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies to allow her to take Myka off his hands and stick him with Nate for this round.
Helena expects a talking to after the drill is over because no way in hell would he ever in a million years believe that she does that well with Nate - as exceptional as she is, even she can only do so much for him.
As it turns out, Myka’s unique charm doesn’t only work on their small group. In fact, she’s found a way to wiggle herself under Artie’s skin in a way Helena couldn’t even begin to imagine. He’s so taken with the new recruit’s exceptional skills under duress that he forgets that’s that they weren’t supposed to be in the mock-pod together.
Well, almost forgets.
Helena’s gets to teach rookies all about why drift-compatibility is so important and why trainees must trust their instructors when they’re assigned partners for two weeks. Myka obviously gets off with nothing barring a stern warning about not letting Helena “corrupt” her in any way.
All in all, she figures it could’ve gone worse.
-
“We made a good team, didn’t we?”
“Yeah, we did.”
“I can see it now: headlines everywhere - Wells and Bering, killing kaiju, saving the day.”
“Bering and Wells.”
“We’ll keeping thinking on that.”
(years later, when they’re finally assigned their own jaeger, she’s proudly revealed with ‘Bering and Wells’ on her chest plate)