[May 1] [Pacific Rim] Adaptation
Title: Adaptation
Day/Theme: 1. l'appel du vide ("the call of the void", the instinctive urge to jump from high places)
Series: Pacific Rim
Character/Pairing: Hermann/Newt
Rating: Slight swearing, cuddles, and some despair. Newt's POV.
It had happened again. Deep down, he had always known it was likely, but he had hoped it would be another few million years before they tried it again. He had felt it like a splinter under the skin, something shifting ever so slightly, so minutely it almost didn't hurt, for days now. Weeks maybe. He didn't remember for sure. He should've written it down and documented the whole thing. Hermann would have.
All he was sure of was that it had been bothering him for awhile, growing steadily more painful and more on his mind, until there had been a sharp stab somewhere in his brain and a new Breach had opened. He had missed where exactly. He had been left with an impression of cold and gone running to tell everyone that they were back and it was starting again, but no one had believed him and he had actually been sedated while some smug asshole explained that there had been no Breach activity in the ocean since the last one had been destroyed and he had tried to tell them, he had tried to explain through the tranqs that they weren't in the ocean this time, it was on land. Totally landlocked and no one would see it coming.
He had been kept in for observation until the reports came in. Kaiju. But not really. They were small now. Smaller anyway. Still bigger than a human, still poisonous and nasty and hard to kill, but now they could engage the screaming humans directly. They could fit into most evacuation tunnels and make their way into bunkers. Instead of stomping you flat, they could claw their way into your house and eat you in front of your whole family. Somehow, it was even more horrible. And there wasn't just one. The Precursors had traded huge and unstoppable forces of destruction for small packs of hunters. There had been five separate ones in the last surveillance tape footage.
They were about the size of elephants, only more like mangy hyenas with scorpion tails that packed a nasty hemotoxin. Bullets didn't work. Neither did fire. And once they got you, they either tore you apart with their teeth or let the poison rot you into a puddle. Newt had already mentally named them Manticore class.
There was panic in the population. And despair. How could this be happening again? Why was it happening again so soon? Newt had been finally released from observation and put back to work. It turned out that the hammering wrath in his head hadn't been the new kaiju at all, but Hermann railing and threatening everyone involved from the orderlies to the Director of the Psychiatry department to get Newt out of there. Once he was out, Hermann relaxed and that storm died down. Not that he wasn't still livid. His whole face was stretched wide with outrage, mouth a thin line and nostrils so flared they could suck in low-flying birds. God, but Newt loved him for it.
He was supposed to be working, but he needed a minute. He had already lost the better part of a week to a aloperidol-promethazine combination and a lot of gently spoken, condescending questions thanks to them. They could wait another hour. He had gone up to the roof to watch the transports. They were just headlights in the darkness right now, coming in and moving out. The whole operation was being shipped to the new Breach or as close as they dared. Where was it? Greenland? Canada? Probably Canada since there had been a large city on the footage. Unless Greenland had large cities. He would have to check.
The apocalypse was back on. They were at war again. Moving again. They would be fighting again. He should've been excited, but he just felt a little sick. He wondered what the suicide rates were out in the general population now that it wasn't over after all. He looked down from the roof at the long, long fall to the parking lot. It really would be easier. He looked up at the sky, flat black with clouds covering the stars. Voids in all directions, each calling a different part of him.
Evolution was a tricky thing. The Kaiju had changed and so had he. He had more to protect now, more to lose. He couldn't be amazed at how they had gone from aquatic to full mammalian in just a few years yet. Eventually, he probably would be, but right now he gave himself time to grieve for plans that might never happen and a future snatched from him. It hadn't been like this before. He hadn't had Hermann before.
"Yes, you did," Hermann sighed, catching on to his thoughts the way he did more and more often. He leaned into Newt's back and hooked his arms loosely around his shoulders. The cane hung from his elbow. How deep into his own navel had Newt been to not notice him coming? He leaned back into it, propping each other up. A kiss was pressed to his ear and neither of them said anything until a helicopter transport went by close enough to send their clothes fluttering around them.
"I felt it as soon as you did," Hermann said then. "Or maybe it was you I felt, feeling it. They sent in tanks to deal with the first pack in Norilsk, but three of them are still at large."
"Russia," Newt said. "I thought it was Canada." He shivered. "I wish the Kaidanovskys were here."
"As do I," Hermann said. "It could be the pollution," he added after another long silence. "Norilsk was terribly contaminated by all the mining in its past. It may do to run seismic tests on other highly polluted places and see if there is any similar activity." He took a deep breath, as if Newt hadn't already thought of the next part. "If they are sending in multiple Kaiju, they might also have multiple Breaches."
Newt nodded, raising his hands to clutch Hermann's arms and keep him from letting go or stepping away. The starless night hung heavy over them and the void of black pavement yawned below. He wasn't going to jump. The enemy had adapted, but so had he.
Day/Theme: 1. l'appel du vide ("the call of the void", the instinctive urge to jump from high places)
Series: Pacific Rim
Character/Pairing: Hermann/Newt
Rating: Slight swearing, cuddles, and some despair. Newt's POV.
It had happened again. Deep down, he had always known it was likely, but he had hoped it would be another few million years before they tried it again. He had felt it like a splinter under the skin, something shifting ever so slightly, so minutely it almost didn't hurt, for days now. Weeks maybe. He didn't remember for sure. He should've written it down and documented the whole thing. Hermann would have.
All he was sure of was that it had been bothering him for awhile, growing steadily more painful and more on his mind, until there had been a sharp stab somewhere in his brain and a new Breach had opened. He had missed where exactly. He had been left with an impression of cold and gone running to tell everyone that they were back and it was starting again, but no one had believed him and he had actually been sedated while some smug asshole explained that there had been no Breach activity in the ocean since the last one had been destroyed and he had tried to tell them, he had tried to explain through the tranqs that they weren't in the ocean this time, it was on land. Totally landlocked and no one would see it coming.
He had been kept in for observation until the reports came in. Kaiju. But not really. They were small now. Smaller anyway. Still bigger than a human, still poisonous and nasty and hard to kill, but now they could engage the screaming humans directly. They could fit into most evacuation tunnels and make their way into bunkers. Instead of stomping you flat, they could claw their way into your house and eat you in front of your whole family. Somehow, it was even more horrible. And there wasn't just one. The Precursors had traded huge and unstoppable forces of destruction for small packs of hunters. There had been five separate ones in the last surveillance tape footage.
They were about the size of elephants, only more like mangy hyenas with scorpion tails that packed a nasty hemotoxin. Bullets didn't work. Neither did fire. And once they got you, they either tore you apart with their teeth or let the poison rot you into a puddle. Newt had already mentally named them Manticore class.
There was panic in the population. And despair. How could this be happening again? Why was it happening again so soon? Newt had been finally released from observation and put back to work. It turned out that the hammering wrath in his head hadn't been the new kaiju at all, but Hermann railing and threatening everyone involved from the orderlies to the Director of the Psychiatry department to get Newt out of there. Once he was out, Hermann relaxed and that storm died down. Not that he wasn't still livid. His whole face was stretched wide with outrage, mouth a thin line and nostrils so flared they could suck in low-flying birds. God, but Newt loved him for it.
He was supposed to be working, but he needed a minute. He had already lost the better part of a week to a aloperidol-promethazine combination and a lot of gently spoken, condescending questions thanks to them. They could wait another hour. He had gone up to the roof to watch the transports. They were just headlights in the darkness right now, coming in and moving out. The whole operation was being shipped to the new Breach or as close as they dared. Where was it? Greenland? Canada? Probably Canada since there had been a large city on the footage. Unless Greenland had large cities. He would have to check.
The apocalypse was back on. They were at war again. Moving again. They would be fighting again. He should've been excited, but he just felt a little sick. He wondered what the suicide rates were out in the general population now that it wasn't over after all. He looked down from the roof at the long, long fall to the parking lot. It really would be easier. He looked up at the sky, flat black with clouds covering the stars. Voids in all directions, each calling a different part of him.
Evolution was a tricky thing. The Kaiju had changed and so had he. He had more to protect now, more to lose. He couldn't be amazed at how they had gone from aquatic to full mammalian in just a few years yet. Eventually, he probably would be, but right now he gave himself time to grieve for plans that might never happen and a future snatched from him. It hadn't been like this before. He hadn't had Hermann before.
"Yes, you did," Hermann sighed, catching on to his thoughts the way he did more and more often. He leaned into Newt's back and hooked his arms loosely around his shoulders. The cane hung from his elbow. How deep into his own navel had Newt been to not notice him coming? He leaned back into it, propping each other up. A kiss was pressed to his ear and neither of them said anything until a helicopter transport went by close enough to send their clothes fluttering around them.
"I felt it as soon as you did," Hermann said then. "Or maybe it was you I felt, feeling it. They sent in tanks to deal with the first pack in Norilsk, but three of them are still at large."
"Russia," Newt said. "I thought it was Canada." He shivered. "I wish the Kaidanovskys were here."
"As do I," Hermann said. "It could be the pollution," he added after another long silence. "Norilsk was terribly contaminated by all the mining in its past. It may do to run seismic tests on other highly polluted places and see if there is any similar activity." He took a deep breath, as if Newt hadn't already thought of the next part. "If they are sending in multiple Kaiju, they might also have multiple Breaches."
Newt nodded, raising his hands to clutch Hermann's arms and keep him from letting go or stepping away. The starless night hung heavy over them and the void of black pavement yawned below. He wasn't going to jump. The enemy had adapted, but so had he.