The Castle and the Enclave 5/? (Pacific Rim crossover)

[persephone_kore]

Authors: khilari and persephone_kore
Summary: Fusion-type crossover with Pacific Rim, near-future setting. When Agatha turns eighteen, she joins the Jaeger program. Her family has been involved with it from the beginning, but she soon learns that's more complicated than she thought.



Even in the face of the Kaiju's new tricks it's hard not to be elated when the next call finally comes through from the Enclave. They won -- again -- pushed back doom one more time in two locations, and Barry is alive, and Gil has finally made it into Drift and into battle.

It is nonetheless a sober group who greet him, and somewhat perplexingly lacks Gil. Zeetha is briskly distributing almost certainly alcohol-spiked hot cocoa, and from Barry's startled expression after a gulp he's just discovered her habit of using hot peppers.

'Barry,' Klaus begins. 'It's good to see you again, even if there are security issues.' Barry looks rueful. Klaus doubts the question matters much to the Kaiju, so he asks. '--Is Gil injured?'

He hears a door over his own words and everyone turns. 'I'm fine.' Gil stalks into range, as wind-scoured as Agatha and Barry, and Klaus is relieved to see him but he knows something has gone terribly wrong when Tarvek flinches.

'Gil?'

'Should I go?' Barry asks warily.

'Don't bother.' Gil throws Tarvek a look of pure poison. 'Aaronev's been telling them everything all along.'

Barry jumps, cocoa sloshing, Tarvek goes absolutely still. Agatha's eyes are wide and she's looking between Tarvek, Gil and Barry as if she isn't sure who to reach for.

'Report,' says Klaus, tersely. It won't help the emotional damage here, but maybe it will let him deal with whatever Aaronev is doing.

Gil swallows and doesn't look at Tarvek again. 'I got caught up in his memory when we entered Drift,' he says stiffly. 'Anevka died trying to get a primary brain. Aaronev's been Drifting with all the secondary ones -- it's not epilepsy, it's overload. He's still looking for Lucrezia.'

'All this time,' Barry says hollowly, and pushes the cocoa away. Probably because if it stays in reach he might throw it.

All this time, indeed. Klaus pinches the bridge of his nose for a moment, then draws a deep breath and raises his head. 'In light of that problem, I suppose we've been doing remarkably well,' he says dryly. 'I am going to go interfere with this intelligence flow, however belatedly. Tarvek--' He pauses and gives that miserable young man a long look. 'You will stay at the Enclave for the time being. I expect your full cooperation.' When Tarvek doesn't react and Gil looks furiously skeptical, Klaus adds sharply, 'I mean that. If your loyalty were compromised on behalf of the Kaiju I don't believe the two of you could have been nearly as effective.'

'No,' Barry says, looking between Gil and Tarvek. Thoughtfully. Resignedly. 'Family above everything. He'll fit right in here.'

'All of you take care,' Klaus said, eyes lingering on Barry. 'Find out what you can about what your relatives have been up to while they're not in a state to interfere. I'll deal with Aaronev and talk with you again later.'

'You take care too. And we'll get back to you,' Barry says. 'Looks like I've got a lot to catch up on.'

The viewscreen goes dark and Agatha is sort of grateful they don't really have time to sit around being stunned. Especially since it looks like that's what everybody else wants to do.

'All this time,' Uncle Barry repeats, half under his breath, and swallows half his hot-pepper cocoa at a gulp. Tarvek looks away.

'Well, like you said, there's a lot to catch up on,' Agatha says as briskly as she can, getting up and hesitantly putting a hand on her uncle's shoulder. That seems... safe. Gil looks stormy and Tarvek looks desolate and she isn't sure either of them is really up for a hug. 'And even if we get early warnings from you, we'd better start getting ready for the next one now.'

Barry clears his throat and rises. 'Right.'

'I should--' Gil stops and looks lost, which is a debatable improvement. 'I actually have no idea what to do here.'

'They've got some biological research you should probably look at,' Agatha says.

This doesn't quite work out. Her IJPs (of course they're not hers, but she rescued them and she recognizes them) turn up and helpfully hang around in case she needs anything. They also helpfully tell Gil that he can't look at any of their files, because ‘Ve is classified information’. Which they back up by showing off small copyright symbol tattoos.

Agatha can't tell how serious they are, especially since they will keep grinning. 'Can we look?' she asks, gesturing to herself and Barry. She's not sure it's really a top priority for them but better to find out now.

‘Sure,’ says Dimo, obligingly. ‘Hyu is Heterodynes.’

'...Don't they have lab techs?' she asks almost in spite of herself. She's wasting time, really, although then again maybe the procedures are worth knowing.

'Last I checked,' Barry said. 'Not that I'd have been surprised to find out Vlad did everything personally, but he does still only have two hands. How's he doing, anyway?'

'Better,' says Oggie.

'Gkika iz keeping him in bed, though,' adds Jenka.

'For anyone else I'd call that a challenge,' Barry says with a slight grin, and Agatha realises that his efforts not to know anything apparently don't mean he actually doesn't know anything.

'Look, I can go somewhere else,' says Gil, still scrupulously not looking at Tarvek. 'If being declared a lab tech isn't an option. You need repairs done, right? Or a hospital volunteer?'

'You know what, we'll go find something,' says Zeetha, grabbing her brother firmly by the arm. He jumps a little, which betrays how badly he's on edge, and then lets her tow him away.

'You know, he sent us pictures when they were born,' Barry says, watching them. '--Lots of pictures. And yet it's still weird to me that Klaus has kids. Well, let's go see those records.'

The records on Kaiju biology -- and IJP biology -- are more than a little outside of Agatha's area. Although she does gather that while all the Kaiju are clones they are capable of incredible epigenetic variation. The interaction between Kaiju and human DNA in the IJPs is erratic. Some of the results are noted as "terminated" and it only takes a little reading to realise that was the merciful option. Others died from the Kaiju Blue in their bloodstream. Of those that survived they are, she realises, still in the process of changing. They all have regular check ups, the results of which are fascinating. No Institutional Review Board would ever have approved this, but there are informed consent documents on file anyway, . She's left deeply disturbed by her relatives being willing to do this, although evidence more than suggests it was a real volunteer program.

'Hyu is also villing to risk death to pilot a Jaeger,' Maxim tells her.

'Yes, but not before I even get in one!' Agatha answers. 'And it's to protect people.'

He shrugs. 'For uz too. The Enclave needs uz.'

'And you get der good food and good money for hyu family,' says Oggie, flashing teeth.

'You have a family,' Agatha asks.

'Sure, great keeds,' Oggie says. He shows her photos, two girls, ten and twelve. They look well fed and well dressed, it's more than you can say for a lot of people on the coast.

'Agatha,' says Barry. 'Look at this.'

It's a mathematical prediction about the Rift. Plotting the number of Kaiju, their frequency, their size, their threat level. Everyone knew it was getting worse, it's different seeing a graph that predicts exactly how much worse, and how fast.

Agatha bites her lip. 'Can you tell what they're planning?'

'Not in a lot of detail, usually.' Barry stares at the model. 'I said they were weapons, but that oversimplifies it. They're terraformers. Whoever's making them wants our planet, but they can't live on it yet. Damn Aaronev.' He looks up, a little shamefaced, and Agatha suddenly remembers Tarvek is still there -- he's sitting with folded hands, ostensibly not looking at the files. Maybe really not looking at the files; every time Agatha glances at him he's looking at her. 'Sorry.'

'It's not as if I was particularly in favour of his plans,' says Tarvek listlessly.

'I don't blame him for wanting to get Lucrezia back,' Barry says. 'But I think it's long since a lost cause.'

'If he couldn't get her back,' Tarvek says, 'he wanted to join her.'

'Where is she?' Agatha asks. 'She went through the Rift, but the Kaiju's masters, whatever they are, if they can't live on our planet yet presumably we couldn't live on theirs. Isn't she dead?'

Barry rubs the back of his neck. 'Probably. On the other hand, the Kaiju can survive both environments. The IJPs might.'

'But she wasn't...Er. Was she?' Agatha asks.

'No,' says Barry. 'Not when she left.'

Agatha looks at Tarvek, who shrugs. 'I don't think my father knows either. I don't think he even knows what he'd do if he found her or found out where she is. But the Kaiju are the only link he has. Had.' He hunches slightly as he says the last word.

'Look on the bright side,' Barry says. 'Klaus won't let him stay in Drift until his brain fries, or go in after her.'

Tarvek winces. 'I'm not sure what he'll do to himself if he can't.'

'...He'll have to be watched, yes. I can't say I've been especially rational this whole time myself.' Barry sighs. 'I'd sympathise more with the search if he'd told anybody what was going on. The initial damage was already done, going by me. But he knew they were getting information back from him -- he could have told Klaus everything he found but cut himself out of the loop on our side -- I'm surprised the Castle hasn't been under constant attack.' He grimaces. 'Or maybe that's why it hasn't been. If they've been using him. I always wondered if the one that got Bill let me go on purpose.'

Tarvek doesn't answer for a long moment and then says, 'I'm surprised you're not angry with me. Gil hates me for not telling anyone when I knew. But you're talking as if I had nothing to do with it.'

Barry exhales, carefully. 'I have spent the past thirteen years running from this -- trying to stay away from population centres in case they target on me, trying to stay away from anything that would interest them, trying not to think -- and now it turns out to have done no good at all. I hardly even dare think about being angry with Aaronev right now. You--' He stops and rubs his forehead. 'I know a little about being brought up by people whose scruples could use a little work. And I know you don't actually want them to win.'

Tarvek looks startled, wary, for a moment and then nods. Agatha swallows. She's not scared of Barry's anger, but knowing he is is unsettling. Maybe she should be angry with Tarvek herself, she is angry with Aaronev. But that's an extremely impersonal anger when she's never met him. 'It looks like Aaronev wasn't the only one keeping secrets,' she says, instead, gesturing towards the pages she's been reading. 'There are records here of the Heterodynes Drifting with Kaiju. And I don't mean you.'

'That's just what we need,' Barry says, exasperated. 'I expected Aaronev to warn them, too. When, who, and what were they looking for?' He comes to read over her shoulder and ends up growling next to her ear. '--So that's how they found me. Let's go yell at Vlad.'

Agatha is not sure why they're going to yell at Vlad, as it seems to have been primarily Faustus's idea. She asks about this on the way back to the hospital.

'He'll hold up to it better,' Barry says.

'But he was in worse shape than Faustus,' Agatha objects. 'He wasn't even conscious yet!'

'Which means he was in really bad shape,' Barry concedes, 'but he's probably more resilient.' He leans in through the door to a hospital room, and a tall IJP woman looms up in response to their intrusion. 'Ah, Gkika. If I promise not to take him anywhere may I argue with your patient?'

She snorts, then grins at him toothily. 'Somevun ought to.'

'Good.' They go in.

The face that turns to them from the hospital bed is lambent blue.

'At least you didn't do anything to them you haven't done to yourself,' Agatha says, out loud and apropos of nothing. It's the first thing she thinks on seeing him, once she's got over being taken aback.

'Ah, Barry, I think our cousin iz perturbed.' Vlad grins toothily at her. 'It vas not prudent, but I do hate being left out.' Maybe it’s the name, but from him, the accent reminds her of a stage Dracula.

'He didn't think enough people wanted to punch him at first sight,' Barry says.

Vlad laughs. 'Oddly enough that vas just hyu. Hyu seem much more lucid now.'

'You brought him back here?' says Agatha. That does explain why Barry came here for help and not to the Castle.

'Faustus did. It vas an interesting arrival,' Vlad says. 'Vhen he did not act like I vas a Kaiju, he vas calling me an idiot.'

'Actually,' says Agatha, sweetly. 'We've come to do that now.'

Vlad levers himself up fully, with a wince, and Gkika frowns at him. He smiles at her, but it's an unconvincing expression. 'Ho, really. Vell, go on.'

'I think Barry wants to yell at you for Drifting with Kaiju,' says Agatha, leaning forward. 'I want to yell at you for Drifting with Kaiju and leaving him in a box because he still thought it mattered what he saw.'

'I did not Drift vith Kaiju,' Vlad says. 'IJPs have a stronger tendency toward Ghost Drift. Ve tried to tell him sensory deprivation vas not necessary, but--' He looks at Barry and shrugs. 'He vas not listening. Ve thought he might take it better after some time to calm down.'

'I don't really remember much of what you said,' Barry admits. 'I'm not even sure I managed to explain what I was worried about.'

'Not too vell,' Vlad says drily. 'Ve might not have said hyu vere wrong if hyu had. Drift and its aftermath are highly variable, after all.'

'I think years might have been enough time to calm down! You could have tried again,' snaps Agatha, then rubs her head. 'What was Faustus doing Drifting with Kaiju?'

'Finding stray relatives vas only a bonus,' Vlad says. 'Did hyu find our records on the Rift? Direct readings are difficult to obtain -- our probes do not transmit vell -- but it seems to be expanding. Hyu know the Kaiju are growing vorse. Ve suspected them of planning a larger assault.'

'And you didn't think the Castle might need to know this?' Agatha shouts at him. 'You are stupid. Did you plan to stop them alone? Did you get as far as having any plans at all?'

'Ve planned to tell the Castle if ve actually found out something they could help vith!' Vlad snaps back. 'They have all the same data on past Kaiju attacks. But the Kaiju are... tools. And the secondary brains provide a connection but are not, ve think, much involved in reasoning. Not the easiest vay to look for strategic information.'

'That's why you wanted a live one,' Tarvek says, and Vlad nods.

'We'll have to manage without,' says Agatha. 'Because the Enclave can't take another of your attempts.'

'Wait, the tadpoles,' says Tarvek, in the tones of someone who's just had a revelation. Agatha looks at him, wondering what on earth could be wrong with him. He's been acting half in shock since he came out of Drift with Gil, but sudden incoherence is new. 'Don't look at me like that, the other Kaiju gave birth. It's why the Castle couldn't send anyone but us. They're not big enough for their brains to be that hard to reach.'

Vlad and Barry exchange an alarmed look. 'Trying to populate the new territory,' Barry mutters, troubled.

Vlad nods agreement, but he looks interested. 'I haven't been able to get any updates vorth speaking of yet. Did the Castle make capture efforts? Did either of hyu check our messages for sales offers?'

'We had more things to worry about than Kaiju on eBay,' Tarvek says. 'They were taking nets out, but mostly because killing them individually would take too long.'

Vlad snorts. 'Ve usually get vord of private captures. Gkika, stop hiding my phone in the hope of using it to keep me still later.' Phone reception is spotty on the coast, but Agatha isn't really surprised if the Enclave is protecting a cell tower somewhere nearby.

Gkika hands over the phone with a threat that this may mean she has to resort to keeping him still by 'more interestink methods' later.

Vlad gives her a sly smile, uses the fingerprint scanner on his phone -- Agatha can only assume he had trouble finding a commercial supplier with blood testing installed -- and begins browsing. 'Hah. Dozens of offers, probably at least six credible. If the Castle von't share, that is.' He looks up and meets Barry's eyes, all teasing gone as if he flipped a switch. 'Faustus iz not vell yet,' he says, and Agatha can hear real worry there. 'And ve do need more information.'

'You want me to do it,' says Barry.

'Not if hyu are going to go crazy over it again. But that vas vorry and isolation, not the Kaiju mind itself, vasn't it?'

'Being able to feel it all this time didn't help,' Barry mutters. 'But yes, mostly.'

'I could do it,' says Agatha and it's a stupid offer. She's a pilot, she can't risk being messed up towards the Kaiju the way Barry was on the wall, but she can't let him tip back into that again either. Someone has to do it and there's no one else she has the right to volunteer.

'No,' everybody else says at once. Tarvek sounds terrified, Barry and Vlad sharp, Gkika just stern. Barry comes over and hugs her, the first time since she saw him again, and Agatha suddenly wants to cry. She doesn't. 'I don't think we need to add anybody new to this,' Barry says ruefully. 'It's not going to be comfortable, but he's right, the worst of it wasn't the contact itself. It was trying not to think about anything important, and not being able to think about anything else.'

Agatha nods, against his shoulder. 'You won't be alone this time,' she says and thinks maybe it's a demand as much as a reassurance.

Klaus is seriously considering the possibility that everyone involved has lost their individual and collective minds, including him. He just got through having Aaronev locked up for irresponsibly Drifting with the Kaiju (and put him on suicide watch because searching for Lucrezia for thirteen years by secretly hooking his brain up to seizure-inducing toxic aliens does not suggest he's likely to take this well). Barry's been in hiding for years out of terror that they could use his thoughts as a targeting system. And now he's promised not to have Vlad and Faustus Heterodyne arrested (not that he would anyway, they need the Enclave and Agatha and Barry could hardly stage an effective takeover after that) if they come over so Barry can Drift with a monster tadpole.

The first two off the helicopter are Faustus leaning heavily on an IJP whom Klaus identifies, after a double-take, as Vlad. Gil and Tarvek manage to disembark at the same time while looking as if they're trying to avoid each other, and then Agatha shepherds Barry off. Zeetha follows them, catches his eye and smiles wryly. What can you do?

Barry stops and looks at him, and Klaus stares back for a long moment before saying, 'Welcome back. You utter idiot. How did disappearing help?'

'Clearly, not in the slightest. You've done a good job, though,' Barry says, and then comes up and hugs him with a sigh. 'I missed you too.'

Klaus hugs him back hard and is spared answering by Vlad complaining, 'Hey, I didn't get a hug.'

'I didn't actually miss you,' says Klaus. It's not quite true. Vlad and Faustus weren't friends but they were interesting co-workers, and there's something oddly appealing about their lack of respect for the rules. Any rules. 'Welcome back from your life of piracy.'

'Oh, that's still ongoing,' says Faustus. 'We're merely taking a short break.'

'Come and make yourselves useful while you do, then,' Klaus says.

He walks to the Drift area -- formerly part of Aaronev's lab -- shoulder to shoulder with Barry, the two of them falling into step automatically. It's the same way Agatha and Zeetha walk and Gil and Tarvek are...out of step, but not out of one another's awareness, hovering at a fixed distance as if they can't get too far away or too close to one another.

The area is huge and dominated by a reinforced tank containing a tadpole the size of an orca. It's wrapped in chains, holding its long slit of a mouth closed, and chained to staples around the bottom and top edge of the tank to hold it still as it thrashes. Around the tank technicians are setting up Drift equipment.

'I'm still not sure I see how this works,' Klaus says, frowning. 'It's hard enough to manage with humans -- why is it possible to Drift with a Kaiju at all? You can hardly expect to establish a rapport. '

'Believe it or not we tried that first,' Barry says ruefully. Klaus believes him. And if it could have worked for anybody.... 'Before we switched to more direct methods.'

Vlad strolls over and takes a piece of equipment from an unsettled technician, then unsheathes the spike. 'Hyu could probably Drift vith any human if hyu stuck this in their brain,' he says. 'Briefly. Not much of a partnership, though.' Klaus has to agree with that.

'It still might not work as well,' Faustus muses. 'In some respects this is more like drifting with a Jaeger. Including the risk of neural overload. I'm not sure they precisely have any psychological defences.'

'We think we can get you into Drift with it while it's still alive, the skull isn't as thick and we can keep it still enough to get the equipment on,' says Klaus, deciding to abandon the comparative discussion, although he's still mulling it over as he speaks. 'The tank can also be flooded with tranquiliser if anything goes wrong.' There's a sudden crack, like ice at the start of a thaw, and robotic arms sweep down to replace the damaged chain at the command of the AI. 'But we'd better do it quickly, it's strong for its size and I'm not sure how long we can hold it. Go and check the rig, you two have experience with this.' Like a Jaeger. The implications catch up with him. 'Set it up for two people. We'll get further avoiding neural overload.'

‘What?’ Gil asks.

Tarvek looks shocked, Zeetha thoughtful, Agatha… hopeful and a bit relieved.

'I don't think that's a good idea,' Barry says, off guard and unsettled.

‘I think it might be,’ Agatha says, looking worried but still grateful.

'We were going to avoid having anybody new linked to them,’ Barry points out. ‘Especially someone who--' He breaks off, and Klaus pounces.

'Knows too much? We already established that as a non-starter at this point. Might still go out in a Jaeger? Not likely without you.'

'You--' Barry stops, probably realising why that makes sense. '...Can't readily be cut out of knowing all our new plans,' he says after a moment. 'But that would be hard to get around with Faustus, too.'

'Yes,' says Klaus. 'And while the Kaiju doesn't have a chance to resist Drift, that's not true for the other person in the link. Could you Drift with Faustus?' Maybe Barry could, and Klaus has no reason whatever to feel a bit jealous at the thought. He never minded when it was Bill.

'Er,' says Barry. Faustus looks over at them expectantly. Barry looks back. 'I doubt it. And he's still injured.'

'Not that badly,' Faustus says irritably.

'Oh, yes hyu are,' Vlad mutters.

Faustus glowers at him. 'And we already have enough of a ghost connection that I could find him.' The Kaiju thrashes. Faustus glances up at it and concedes, 'But given the circumstances, perhaps we should go with the sure bet.'

The equipment is set up to connect the two humans in the link first. It's been a long time, they want to check they're stable before adding a Kaiju, although the sooner they reach stability the better. Klaus watches the yellow drain from his helmet and then the connection kicks in. It's not easy, but it's still like coming home.

There's the jolt of his brothers' deaths, both still in harness, one tusk goring through both of them, tossing their bodies away, Klaus grabbing that tusk in one Jaeger hand a moment later, determined to fight for all three of them while barely able to think through shock and pain. Barry rolls with it, he knows this memory. It throws up one of his own now, mandibles ripping Bill in half, but they share the pain and grief without drowning in it. Barry's always been disciplined and he's spent the last decade and more training himself not to think about things (his regret for that echoes too).

'Synchronisation achieved. Bringink in the Kaiju,' says Vlad.

The Kaiju hits like acid. Alien, focussed with an absoluteness that would be madness in a human. It thinks like a gun, like a bullet, target and destroy, and its thoughts are bigger than it is, spread between more and more and more (steady, steady, I know it's hard (I'm okay)). The Rift...DNA scanners, the Heterodynes really do have a lot in common with the Kaiju, no wonder Vlad went IJP (hey, those are my relatives, but Barry's laughing in his head). Plans, tactics, they're near the final push. If they're not stopped, shut down hard, it's going to be too late.

Someone's shaking him, them, they're fighting, trapped -- (no! come back) -- Klaus realises that's the burning alien mind and refocuses even as he grasps at its strategic awareness. Only the shaking is actually real, and Faustus is yelling at them to 'Get out, get out, get out!'

They pull back from the Drift with the Kaiju just before two of the tank supports give way at once and the whole apparatus tips. Tarvek mashes the tranquiliser control, but too late. The chains catch, creak, strain, break, and everyone scatters. The tank hits the floor and the Kaiju wallows amidst broken plexiglass. Sluggish, not precisely fighting, instead it appears to be growing more limbs.

Klaus is feeling sluggish himself, not transmitted from the Kaiju (he doesn’t think) but the inside of his head feels raw, and he’s moving slower than he’d like. The memories surrounding him now are of collapsing, of being dragged out of the Jaeger with circuitry imprinted lividly on his ribs; Agatha takes him and Barry both by the hands and guides them toward the door. Zeetha’s half-carrying Faustus.

Gil is halfway to the Kaiju, teeth bared. Klaus reaches even though it’s too far, wants to cry out and can’t -- Tarvek catches up and lunges for Gil’s arm, hauls him back, and Klaus breathes again (the air reeks of ammonia).

Vlad charges past unencumbered. He leaps on the Kaiju tadpole with a war cry and drives a harpoon improvised from a long shard of the tank into its head next to the spike.

They all slow, still. Klaus rubs his head and watches the trickle of blue blood from the Kaiju -- less than he'd have expected -- warily. 'You could have waited for the stun nets.'