#36: bones, sinking like stones (2/4)
PART II
2021, July 23. Incheon Shatterdome.
He’s just pushed up her up against the wall when the alarm starts ringing and his room is bathed in a blinking red glow. For a second they hold their breaths, hoping for a false alarm, but they both know that false alarms hardly ever happen in their line of work.
“God damn it,” Myungsoo whispers against her neck amidst Artemis Fury report to Bay 2, level A-43. Artemis Fury report to Bay 2, level A-43. “Looks like some Kaiju doesn’t want me to get any tonight. Amber and Hyuna just had to be on leave, didn’t they?” He slumps against her as she laughs and ruffles the back of his head.
“Then let’s get rid of it fast, okay?” she places her hands on the sides of his face, and kisses him. He responds a little too eagerly until a fresh bout of Artemis Fury report to Bay 2, level A-43, Artemis Fury report to Bay 2, level A-43 forces her to break it off. “Come on,” she smiles as he wrinkles his nose. “We’ve got a city to save. And I really want that speaker to shut up.”
“The only things we save are the fish in the ocean,” Myungsoo mutters, but he smiles - that smile that fills her with warmth - and kisses her one last time before picking up her army regulation sweater from the floor. He pulls it over her head and picks up his own, then re-buckles his belt. “Well the night is still young so if we do this quick we might still make it back before midnight. That’s usually the time before the spell breaks right?”
“Shut up,” Soojung laughs as he slings his backpack over his shoulder and beckons for her to leave first.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you in a Drivesuit anyway,” his hand finds hers as they make their way briskly through the corridors. “This might actually be good compensation.”
Soojung rolls her eyes, but her grip on his tightens anyway.
“I still don’t understand why we’re heading to Nagasaki,” Myungsoo sighs and looks over at Soojung. “What’s happening with the Shatterdome there? What’s going on at Tokyo? Aren’t they all closer?”
“Tacit Ronin is in Lima and Echo Saber is undergoing maintenance,” Jongdae’s voice echoes through the speaker. “Coyote Tango’s pilots are on leave. So it’s just you guys. Can’t do much about it, I’m afraid,” he says apologetically, and Soojung imagines him shrugging and looking sheepish.
“That’s alright, it’s not your fault,” she smiles. “Hey, have you managed to ask Sunyoung out yet?” The Jumphawks are whirring overhead.
“I love it when you’re gracious,” Myungsoo smiles at her. His head snaps back to the control panel. “You’d better be thankful she forgives you because it really is all your fault, Jongdae. Sunyoung would be better off not dating you.”
“Save it for the bedroom guys,” Jongdae sighs. “And yeah I did, we’re going out tomorrow night.” She hears the smile in his voice. “Anyway, you’ll be sorry you won’t forgive me, Kim Myungsoo, because this will be the last time you hear my voice through this speaker. Yixing’s coming back tomorrow.”
“Aww,” Soojung pouts despite the stab of pain in her chest at the mention of Yixing’s name. “I was just getting used to it too.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t miss your terrible voice,” Myungsoo tells him. Soojung laughs. Jongdae curses.
“Alright Artemis Fury, your orders,” Victoria’s voice takes over. Myungsoo falls silent and Soojung wipes the smile off her face. “The drop will be at an intercept distance of 150 miles off the coast of Nagasaki, do you copy?”
“Copy,” Myungsoo says.
“It’s a category 3, weighing in at 5, 200 tons. Tokyo has codenamed it as Kohryu. They’re prepping Echo Saber as fast as they can to hold the miracle mile but until they do, you’ll be on your own. Prepare for the drop.”
“Short and sharp as always,” Soojung remarks when Myungsoo cuts off the connection.
“That’s what we love about her,” he replies with a grim smile. “You ready?”
Soojung feels the stab of worry that always appears before they head into battle, and she can tell by the look on Myungsoo’s face that he can feel it too. For a second her mind goes cold, and then she feels a familiar warmth creeping in and enveloping her, like being wrapped in a blanket on a cold winter’s night. She suddenly feels a little more comfortable, a little more confident. Myungsoo is looking at her.
“This has been one heck of a year for the both of us,” he says quietly. “But I don’t regret any second of it. Not even a microsecond. I know what this means to you, Soojung, and I want you to remember that you can do this. Believe in me, okay?”
Soojung can feel nothing but love flooding through her brain, and for one wild moment she wishes that this moment would last forever - just her and Myungsoo sharing one mind in the head of a Jaeger, without anything to fight. She shakes her head slightly as Myungsoo’s expression changes to something a little more wistful. Wishful thinking. With nothing to fight there is no reason to be in a Jaeger, and without being in a Jaeger there is no way for them to mind meld. A vicious circle of cause and effect all leading up to this moment in her life: being dropped in the middle of the East China Sea to fight for her life and a hundred thousand others.
“Okay,” she says.
Kohryu is long, serpentine, almost snake-like, with short arms and legs. A design flaw, Soojung thinks, but also an advantage against her and Myungsoo’s hapkido fighting style. Tossing a 5,200 ton Kaiju over their shoulder and slamming it on to the ocean floor is back-breaking work, but it works little to their advantage when the 5,200 tone Kaiju is also an exceptionally skilled swimmer.
“Coming from 10 o'clock!” Jongdae yells into the speaker, and up Kohryu comes again, jumping in a corkscrew dive right at their right arm.
“Sword!” Myungsoo yells as he grabs the Kaiju around the neck- or where its neck should be. The both of them whirl around, flipping it over their arm and slamming it back it into the ocean.
“No!” Soojung pants. She can feel one scaly foot beneath her hand, and she isn’t going to let go now. “We should drown it! The sword isn’t -.” She doesn’t get to finish her sentence when the foot suddenly disappears from beneath her and a whip-like tail slams into them and throws them off their feet.
Myungsoo screams in pain as Kohryu coils itself around the Jaeger’s right arm and squeezes. “The sword, Soojung, get the sword!” He lets out a strangled cry and Soojung sees the electricity running from his circuity suit up and down his arm. Can Jaeger pilots die from the pain inflicted on a robot?
“I’m on it!” she cries, and releases the sword from her gauntlet. It takes a painfully long time to charge up, and Myungsoo’s cries are more painful with every passing second. There’s a loud crack inside the Conn Pod, louder even than when Kohryu struck them in the face and left a large crack on the visor, and Soojung gives a battle cry as Lightning sword load complete fills her ears and she drives the blade up from Myungsoo’s elbow through the Kaiju. There’s a terrible screech from the monster as the electricity sizzles through its skin, and it falls with a great splash into the water.
“Are you alright?” Soojung asks amidst the alarms beeping and the sparks flying off from the sides of the Conn Pod. “Myungsoo!” He’s holding his arm and breathing hard, his eyes closed.
“I’m good, I -.”
“Artemis, report your status!” Victoria’s voice rings out around them. “Right arm circuits have been damaged, the plasma cannon has been disconnected,” they hear Jongdae in the background. “We’re reconnecting it as we speak, just hold on!”
“We’re fine,” Myungsoo pants. “My right arm’s gone numb but Soojung drove the sword through it. We don’t know if it’s still alive, we need backup immediately! Where the hell is Echo Saber?!”
“Kaiju signature rising!” Jongdae yells. “Coming from 6 o’clock and fast! Brace yourselves!”
“Myungsoo, we need to - !” Soojung starts just as a blow to the back of their head has them crashing into the sea. She can feel the weight of the Kaiju on their back, and she thinks she sees water beginning to stream in through the crack in the hull.
“Come on, let’s kill this motherfucker!” Myungsoo bellows, and Kohryu takes the opportunity to tear their - his - right arm right out of their socket.
“LOCCENT WE NEED BACKUP IMMEDIATELY!” Soojung screeches as Myungsoo howls, swinging forwards in his harness as he clutches at his arm. She has enough fortitude to aim the sword behind her in the hopes of stabbing the Kaiju through the head, but as they’re pulled out of the water and dunked in again backwards, she knows she’s hopelessly missing. Kohryu wraps itself around their head and begins to squeeze, and Soojung hears metal splintering beneath the pressure. The crack in the hull splits open. “You won’t take another one from me!” Soojung grits her teeth as she and Myungsoo raise the sword and stab downwards. She feels the weapon slice through flesh and Kohryu disappears again.
“Get up, Myungsoo, we have to get up!” she cries as water streams into the hull, and they rise unsteadily to their feet. There is now a hole on Myungsoo’s side of the Conn Pod, the moon watching them calmly, silently among its place in the stars. She can smell the saltiness in the balmy air, and for a second she forgets how she even came to be here, in the head of the Jaeger in the middle of the ocean when 49 minutes ago she was in Myungsoo’s room with his hands on her ribcage.
“Artemis Fury, this is Echo Saber!” an unfamiliar voice crackles through the intercom. “We’re on our way, just hold on for a few seconds more!” And relief floods through Soojung like the waves crashing against Artemis’ legs.
“The hull has been compromised,” Myungsoo relays back to LOCCENT. “LOCCENT, do you copy? Jongdae! Marshall!” There’s nothing but static. Myungsoo curses, and hits the intercom. “Echo, we’ve been compromised, we need you here stat!” he sends out.
“10 seconds away,” comes the reply.
“Soojung,” Myungsoo looks at her. “If anything happens, I just want you to know that I lov -.”
He doesn’t get to complete his sentence. Because Kohryu coils itself around Artemis’ torso, slams its tail straight through the hull, wraps it around him and pulls him right out of Soojung’s head.
A blank moment. Electrical shocks paralyzing her in place. And then unbearable pain. She’s screaming, screaming his name or screaming in denial she can’t tell, but she can still see through his eyes, she can feel Kohryu’s tail wrapped around her own body, see the sea and the sky spinning together until they are more or less the same thing, and then darkness. The cold ocean slamming into her, the weight around her waist dragging her down, down, down. She’s opening her mouth in one voiceless scream, the water filling her lungs. The lights of Artemis Fury growing fainter above the surface. Silver air bubbles rising in the inky black water.
The last thought in his voice she would ever hear:
Soojung.
And he’s gone.
Loading. The pressure in her head is heavy, tightening with every second. Loading. She strains to lift the sword with both hands, feeling as if her brain is ready to explode. Myungsoo, myungsoo, myungsoo. Lightning sword load complete.
She cuts off Kohryu’s tail just as Echo Saber appears in her vision, cuts off it’s head just as they come running up. She keeps slicing even as the pilots try to hold her back, even as the blood dripping from her nose splatters her white Drivesuit, plunges her hand into the black water as if she might find him and pull him back out and strap him into his harness and tell him she loves him and she would never, ever let him be her co-pilot again.
2022, September 3. Artemis Fury Conn Pod.
Soojung.
Amidst the chaos of Echo Saber trying to hold her back and the electricity running through her bones, she hears the voice. Deep. Low. Soojung. Calling her name in every possible way Myungsoo would not. She turns, and sees a boy standing behind her in the Conn Pod, wearing a black Drivesuit with red and yellow lines running through it like a circuit board. His mouth is kind. His eyes are not.
“This is just a memory, sunbaenim,” he says, holding a hand out to her. Sunbaenim. It echoes through her, and she thinks she remembers a time long ago, when someone she just met called her that honorific. “This isn’t real. Listen to me. It’s me, Jongin. Remember? Your co-pilot. Come back to reality, Soojung. Come back.”
She stares, and another drop of blood falls to the ground.
“It’s me, Jongin. I’m here for you, Soojung. I’m here. Stay with me now. You’re alright. You’re alright.” He takes another step towards her, his hand outstretched. The quiet in her brain is unnerving.
She takes it.
And she’s on the floor of Artemis Fury’s Conn Pod, her vision blurry. She’s lying in someone’s arms. Her Drivesuit is black. She looks up into the face of Kim Jongin as Drift sequence terminated echoes around them. “You’re okay,” Jongin breathes, his arm around her and holding her tight. “You’re okay.”
Would you like to try again?
Jongin chuckles. “Sometimes I really wish this thing would just shut up.”
He’s waiting for her outside her room when she steps out for the first time in 24 hours, feeling utterly drained. “Hey,” he says. He doesn’t smile, and she wishes he would. It would make everything feel better. “Can we talk?”
She doesn’t know anywhere private enough, so she takes him to the games room, a rectangular cement block with no windows housing a ping-pong table and a rusty foosball set that screeches every time anyone tries to play on it. Incheon never did get the same amount of treatment as the more well established Shatterdomes like Hong Kong or Lima.
“How are you feeling?” he asks as he sinks himself into one of the lumpy, stained sofas pushed up against one of the walls. She stays standing, her arms crossed protectively across her chest. He looks like he might comment on that, but he blinks, and his mouth closes.
“Like I’ve been thrown into a truck.” She doesn’t even try to lie. Her head is throbbing, as if the memories she’d so vividly relived had developed tangible weight and was pulling her down with it. “What did Marshall say?”
“She’s understandably pissed, but I think Yixing and Jonghyun managed to convince her somewhat that this was probably inevitable.” This time Jongin looks up at her with the same intense stare she encountered when they first met, that gaze that made her feel as though he could see right through to her bones. “Why did you agree to come back? After going through that, why are you still a Jaeger pilot?”
Soojung arms tighten instinctively. “I don’t know,” she mumbles. But she does.She thinks she does. She wants all those sessions with Jonghyun to mean something, to have given her some sort of reason as to why she’s still here. To save the world. But it feels stupid to say that aloud, as if she’s 16 and naive and has a head full of a dream that was never really hers.
“No,” says Jongin. His fists are clenched. “You do know. I’ve been in your head, Soojung, I’ve seen everything. You never wanted to do this in the first place, so why are you still here?” She doesn’t understand why his eyebrows are furrowed, why the corners of his mouth look so dangerous. She feels that twinge of annoyance in the back of her head despite the fog that’s settled upon it, and her eyes narrow. Her arms drop.
“Maybe you’ve been in my head, but you don’t know what’s in here,” she thumps a fist into her chest. “Why are you so concerned, anyway? If it wasn’t for me you would have never been able to step foot into Artemis and you know it!” She lets the jab hang in the air.
“Maybe not, but I know enough to know that you’re insane to keep piloting a Jaeger that took so much away from you!” he cuts in before she can continue. “How did you think you’d ever be okay enough to get back in there with me after what happened to Myungsoo?”
No one has said his name aloud for 14 months. Soojung tries to steady herself.
“Don’t say his name,” she breathes. “Don’t you ever say his name.”
Jongin’s expression softens, and he covers his face in hands before taking several deep, long breaths. Soojung bites her lip to stop it from trembling and tries to swallow the heartache in her throat. “I’m sorry,” Jongin finally says, his voice calmer than before. “I really am. I know what it feels like to lose someone you adore right in front of your eyes. You’d know that, sunbaenim.”
Soojung remembers the boy with the smile like the end of the world from Jongin’s memories, remembers his skin tinged blue and the blue vapor expelling from his lungs like the polluted smoke spewing from a factory chimney. Remembers Jongin falling to his own knees as the last of the vapour dissolves into the air, his dead friend at his feet.
She turns away. She doesn’t want him to share her pain.
“If you know what it feels like then you’ll understand why I still have to stay,” she manages. Her hands are cold. Jongin sighs again.
“So I don’t know what’s in your heart,” he gets to his feet. “But I felt everything in your head. We’re co-pilots now and I intend to be your co-pilot for as long as this war lasts.” He heaves a sigh. “You need to remember that piloting a Jaeger needs more than just Drift compatibility, sunbaenim, and until you learn to trust me Marshall Song won’t be letting either of us back into Artemis.” He rubs one eye with the back of his hand, and Soojung notices that his bags have become more pronounced. “I’m sorry if I hurt you, but you need to understand that it’s been 14 months since he passed and you’re still nowhere near stable enough to get back into that cockpit.”
“You don’t know that,” she hisses. Her arms are wrapped around herself again.
“I do know,” he says in a low voice, “that it wasn’t me who chased the rabbit, Soojung.” He hesitates as he walks past her, the continues on his way. “I’ll see you in the simulator.” He pauses in the doorway, and Soojung sees the conflict written on his face. “Look, if you need… if you feel like… just…” he sighs and checks himself. “If you ever need to talk, just remember that I’m here for you.”
The door clicks shut. Soojung sinks into his still-warm seat on the couch and buries her pounding head in her arms.
The days pass faster now that she has Jongin with her every single waking moment. He’s waiting for her outside her room (his is just across the corridor) when she opens the door in the morning and he constantly saves a seat for her in the mess hall, regardless of whether she opts to sit beside him or not. Ever since their fight in the games room he’s kept their conversations light - and slightly shallow, in her opinion - and hasn’t brought up her memories since.
So Soojung isn’t sure how she ended up here, 2 weeks later, in front of Jonghyun’s door with Jongin by her side.
“Soojung?” Jonghyun looks surprised, as he well should be. She went to him routinely for the 3 months after Myungsoo’s death and stayed away for the next 11. He pushes his glasses further up his nose, then beckons her in. “How are you?” He spots Jongin and holds out his hand with a warm smile. “You must be Kim Jongin.”
“Nice to meet you,” Jongin bows and shakes his hand.
“So what can I do for you?” Jonghyun asks after seating them and offering them tea (Soojung declines, Jongin does not). “Is everything alright?”
“You heard about what happened during the test Drift, doctor,” Jongin starts, and Soojung almost snorts. Doctor. She hasn’t heard anyone call Jonghyun that since, well, never. “And, well…” he glances at her. “Every other simulation that we’ve had has kind of failed. I just want to know if you can figure out why.”
Jonghyun joins his hands together and rests his chin on them, looking curiously at Soojung. She pretends she doesn’t notice. “Yes, I guessed as much. It really isn’t surprising, to be honest, given Miss Jung’s condition.”
This time Soojung really does snort. “Cut the crap Jonghyun and just tell him that I’m broken and can’t be fixed,” she crosses her arms over her chest and slumps back in her chair. 6 Drift tests later and she and Jongin still can’t establish a strong enough connection, and she can’t understand why. I’m malleable. I’m Drift compatible with everyone but him. But she knows, every time she feels Jongin in her head, that the right for anyone to be there drowned with Myungsoo in the middle of the East China Sea.
“Good to see you back to somewhat normal, Soojung,” Jonghyun smiles slightly. “But this isn’t something I can fix. Based on what I’ve seen down in LOCCENT, you’re completely resisting Jongin’s presence in your mind. It’s perfectly normal given what you’ve gone through, and it will take time for you to adjust, but time is a luxury none of us can afford right now.”
“Okay, so what can we do to fix this?” Jongin sets his cup down on the table. His knee brushes against Soojung’s when he leans over, but she doesn’t even twitch. “The next attack could be any day now, and I - we - want Artemis to be up and running smoothly when it comes.”
Jonghyun hums and haws for a few seconds before straightening up. He opens a drawer in his desk and pulls out a folder with several pages sticking out. He rifles through it, then nods. “I’m going to send you guys a list of trust exercises. They might be awkward at first but just stick through them and we might end up somewhere.” He looks at his watch. “Okay, I’ve gotta go have a chat with some trainees now, but come back anytime.”
Jongin immediately gets up and bows. Soojung remains seated. “Can you give us a moment?” she asks when he holds the door open and looks expectantly ather. He nods, and she catches the look of relief in his eyes as he closes the door.
“How are you?” Jonghyun puts a hand on her shoulder. He looks more worn out now that they’re alone, but she can’t feel his pain anymore. Their shared pain is old now, buried beneath the years and fresh wounds that hit her when she falls asleep.
“I see Myungsoo in him every time he smiles,” she says without answering the question. “When he smiles at me… it’s like… it’s like everything’s going to be alright. And I want that, you know. I want everything to be alright.”
Jonghyun half reaches for the notepad and pen on his desk, then changes his mind and takes her hand instead. “You have to let him in, Soojung.”
“I’m scared,” Soojung’s voice breaks. “I’m scared that if I let him in I’ll lose him too. That I’ll lose another smile that makes me feel like I can do anything to something I never really cared about in the first place.” She sniffles, and drags her sleeve across her nose. Jonghyun squeezes her hand. “Sorry,” she mumbles. “It’s good to see you.” She half means it.
“Don’t apologize for anything,” Jonghyun tells her as she gets up to leave. “This is good for you.”
“Do you think I’ll ever get better?” she asks.
“You’ve always been a fighter,” he opens the door and smiles as Jongin’s eyes lights up. “Don’t forget to drop by. Shall I fix a weekly appointment for you two?”
Soojung looks at Jongin. He nods hopefully at her, and she swears he looks like a puppy begging for a treat. It makes her want to burst into the biggest grin she can muster. “Okay,” she says instead. Jongin smiles.
“This is weird,” Jongin remarks when Soojung bursts out laughing for the third time in row during their second trust exercise. Looking each other in the eyes doesn’t sound so bad on paper, but in practice she finds that she can’t hold his gaze for more than 2 minutes without feeling the unbearable urge to laugh, especially when Jongin keeps turning bright red after the first minute. She finds it kind of endearing.
“Let’s try one more,” she suggests. They’d done the falling exercise the day before, which was far easier than Soojung expected. Falling backward into his arms only took a few tries to get used to, and he threw himself into hers without hesitation on the first try. She reckons that it isn’t a problem trusting him with her physical body, it’s her mind that doesn’t seem to want to cooperate.
“Can’t we play music?” Jongin flops backwards on to the mat on the floor. They’re in the meditation room, the tablet with Jonghyun’s instructions on the floor beside them. “Sitting in silence staring into each other’s eyes is a little unnerving. Especially when I can see my face in yours.”
Soojung shakes her head. “The Drift is silence, remember? It’d be good practice for when we actually have to do it.”
“Ugh, fine,” Jongin concedes, pulling himself back up. “You know, when I signed up for this, I didn’t think I’d end up doing therapy for couples on a yoga mat next to the Psych Analyst’s office.” He sighs, something Soojung has realized he does quite often. “Start the clock.”
Soojung tries to concentrate, but the implication of his words ring around her head and she breaks it off a little past 10 seconds. “What happened?” he asks. “Soojung?” She bunches her knees up to her chest and locks her arms around them.
“I know this is a total drag for you,” she says darkly. “You can always leave if you want to. There are other Shatterdomes looking for pilots. Artemis had a good run, maybe it’s time to send her to Oblivion Bay.”
“What, no, I…” Jongin looks stricken. He half gets out of his cross-legged position on the floor, to scoot closer, reaches for her, then pauses. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think. I didn’t mean it like that. Really. I want to help you, Soojung. Anyway,” he rubs his face his hand. “I’m the one who dragged us to the doctor anyway.”
Soojung lets herself laugh then. “You’re the only one who actually calls him that,” she grins. “I bet that’s why he was so willing to help you.”
“But he is a doctor!” Jongin protests, then smiles beatifically. “You know,” he starts, drawing a little closer, his hand beside her feet. “It’s really nice hearing you laugh.”
His army regulation jumper smells like the standard washing powder they all get, and she can feel the warmth radiating from him on her legs. He doesn’t come any closer, his face just before her knees. Their gazes lock, but Soojung doesn’t look away and Jongin doesn’t turn red. In fact, he’s looking at her more intensely than before, like he isn’t just seeing right through to her bones, but like he can see her. All of her; her heart beating lonely in her chest, her lungs quivering with each breath. And in that moment she thinks she sees herself in his eyes, sees his grief and his pain laid out bare beneath her feet just for her.
They both jump when an alarm goes off and the door bursts open. Jonghyun looks satisfied when he sees Jongin pulling Soojung to her feet, but his expression soon changes into something more harried. “You’re wanted in LOCCENT,” he pants. “A Kaiju has just exited the Breach.”
Soojung’s heart stops.
“Give it to them!” they hear when they hurry into mission control. “They need to get out there!”
“Ranger Liu, I will not tolerate this kind of insubordination,” Victoria’s voice is steely. “Artemis Fury has not been able to hold a neural bridge for more than 15 minutes, I will not allow them to go out there when they’re not ready to!”
“But they can do it!” Soojung has never heard Amber sound so enraged. “They need to do this! It’s the only way to get her back on her feet and I won’t let her rot away in this god damned concrete hole when she could be out there defending the world, Marshall!”
“Get Tokyo, Mr Kim,” Victoria turns to Jongdae as Soojung and Jongin march through the doors. “Tell them that all our current Jaeger pilots are unfit to provide support to Hong Kong. They’ll have to do it instead.” She sets a cold gaze on Amber. “Ranger Liu, I’m suspending Crash Nebula for this mission and the next. If you ever forget your place again I will make sure that you never fight another Kaiju as long as you serve under me.” Amber falls back, looking outraged, and Hyuna puts her hand on her co-pilot’s shoulder, muttering to her under her breath. Jongdae catches Soojung’s eye just as he’s about to connect, and he hesitates.
“Marshall, Hong Kong says they need an answer immediately,” Yixing pushes himself away from the screen. “They’re deploying Crimson Typhoon in 2 hours and they need to know who we’re sending to defend the miracle mile.”
“Tell them we’re redirecting them to Tokyo,” Victoria’s eyes meet Soojung’s but she doesn’t offer any emotion. “We’re not ready to send anyone out there.”
“No!” comes a yell from next to Soojung, and she turns to Jongin in surprise. “Send us, Marshall,” he grasps Soojung’s hand and lifts it up between them. “We’re ready and available, we can do it.”
“Ranger, I will not allow you to jeopardize your lives and everyone else's by going out there,” Victoria says firmly. “Until you establish a holding neural connection you will not engage in any missions, do I make myself clear?”
“But ma’am -”
“Marshall, Tokyo says they’ll be defending their own shores. We need to send someone!”
“Marshall!” Amber cries out suddenly. Hyuna pulls her back before she can spring out of place. “Let Artemis go! They can do it! I know they can!”
Silence descends over mission control as everyone looks at Victoria. Her eyes are narrowed, but her face betrays nothing else. Soojung steps forward, her heart pounding in her chest. She clears her throat and swallows. “Marshall, I… we can do this. Just let us try.” Victoria looks at her, then massages her temples before smoothing back her hair.
“Mr Zhang,” she says firmly, calmly. “Contact Hong Kong. Tell them to send the drop coordinates and we will be sending Artemis Fury to assist Crimson Typhoon in defending the miracle mile.” Yixing nods and gets to work. Victoria turns to Soojung. “Report to the Drivesuit Room, you two,” she orders. “And don’t make me regret this,” she adds as Jongin turns to Soojung with a large smile plastered to his face.
It is only in the elevator ride up to the Drivesuit Room does Soojung realize that her hand is still clasped in Jongin’s.
“Hey,” Jongin says when they’ve been deployed. Soojung is leaning back in her harness, her eyes closed as the Jumphawks whir overhead. She doesn’t reply. One minute to the 15 minute mark where their connection always fizzles out. Thirty seconds. Fifteen. Ten.
Five. She can feel everything beginning to distort a little, Jongin’s thoughts in her head becoming a little more blurred, a little more distant.
Four. She can see herself through Jongin’s eyes, see her own doubt written on her face. Her cheeks flushed. I’m the one who dragged us to the doctor. She sees herself laugh. Sees himself reflected in her eyes as she stops, her grin fading.
Three. Two. One.
Soojung opens her eyes as Jongin smiles at her. She’s still here. The feeling in her head is nothing like Myungsoo’s, but it warms her up all the same.
“I told you I’m here for you,” he says. “Let’s do this.”
(cont)