Chapter 8

"-leaving hundreds dead in the wake of one of the bloodiest Kaiju attack in history-"

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"-Philippines has just declared a state of calimity in-"

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"-the entire world mourns for those killed in the incident-"

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"-yesterday's attack is now being called the 'Bloody Valentine'-"

It was almost 9pm. The room was dark and barely lit, and the only illumination was the light coming from a TV set on one side of the wall. A gentle breeze blew outside the opened window, ruffling the curtains and bringing the salty aroma of the nearby ocean. Waves crashed on the shores, its faint sound being muffled by the news reporters murmuring from the TV speakers. Every now and then, a faint click could be heard as the channels were switched to another one.

"-search and rescue missions are still ongoing in the city-"

"-the PPDC and UN has already sent major support-"

With a sigh, Cass turned off the monitor and stared gloomily outside the dorm's common room, grabbing a nearby pillow and hugging it for comfort. Most of the cadets were already in their room to sleep, leaving her to seat alone on the sofa and watch anything on TV that might interest her. Unfortunately, yesterday's events had affected the usual daily programmings, flooding every stations and channels with news updates. She could have endured much of it if only the reports were diversed and focused on different topics, but they were all just reporting the same thing.

Damages in the infrastructures and the amount of dead bodies recovered so far.

It was depressing. Even now, she could still remember the sheer terror in the news reporter's voice during the attack. The look of despair on that boy's face right before the kaiju devoured him. The helpless screams of the civilians while they were being slaughtered mercilessly. She may not have been there to personally experience all of it, but simply watching the horrifying events unfold on live TV like a horror-themed stage play was enough to make her stomach churn.

She closed her eyes and drew a deep breath, trying to purge the bloody images from her mind. She should not be feeling like this; if she couldn't handle something as horrible as death then she has no right to be a Ranger. Death follows the Rangers like a hound everytime, and it was their job to prevent it as much as they could. People dying at the hands of the Kaijus was just a normalcy whenever they attack. But that's why they fight. To ensure that there would be less casualties next time.

And yet, she couldn't help but feel nauseated at the thought of it. Seeing people die, watching them get slaughtered and devoured like sheep. It was just too much. She was really weak when it comes to these things, unlike her sister; Cassey could stomach any sort of bloodiness and violence whereas she couldn't even last a minute when watching zombie movies. All those blood and gore would always leave her dizzy and nausaeous, something her sister constantly pokes fun at. However, she knew that she must eventually overcome this if she wanted to become a Jaeger pilot.

The sound of a door closing broke her from her unpleasant thoughts, and she looked up to see her sister entering the room with a tired expression.

"How is it?" Cassey asked, taking a seat beside her and grabbing the remote to turn on the TV.

"Pretty bad," she shook her head. "The news channels are filled with nothing but death tolls and reports of damages," Cass glanced at the screen with a glum look.

"The 'Bloody Valentine'..." her sister murmured, browsing through the channels.

"Yeah. Everyone is starting to call it that."

"Most of the cadets are talking about it," the older twin nodded slowly. "Some of them are even saying that Valentine's Day won't be the same anymore."

February 14. That's the day reserved solely for St. Valentine. A day where love was freely given and received. A day where many hearts beats faster than a drum. The same day where humans can be happy and at peace with the one they love. It was a social tradition to celebrate it every year, its history extending as far back as the 2nd century, and even during the First War it was never forgotten. But yesterday's attack had changed how people view it entirely. That day would forever be engraved in their memories. The day when death replaced love and happiness was supplanted by grief. When the color of red formerly associated with passion became the color of blood. It would take a very long time before the could forget the horrors that had happened on that day. That is, if they could at all. Certainly it wouldn't be in a decade.

A long silence passed between the twins, both of them lost in thought. Cass continued to stare off in the distance thingking about yesterday's event while Cassey browsed through the channels with a disinterested look, her head propped on one hand. They didn't speak it out loud, but each of them knew that the other was extremely bothered by the attack. If ever they become a Ranger... no, when they become a Ranger, it was their responsibility to prevent a tragedy like it from happening again. After all, they signed up for this willingly; they knew what they were up for from the start. The only problem was: could they do it? Did they have enough strength to fulfill their duty as a Jaeger pilot? What if they fail? What if both of them were...

Cass immediately shook her head. No, she shouldn't be thinking of such things. They haven't even graduated yet. That kind of idea was stupid and pointless as of now. Until they were finally inside a Jaeger, nurturing thoughts like that will just make them less productive.

"It's quite odd though, don't you think?" Cass suddenly frowned and sat up straight, glad to have thought of something to distract her. It's been nagging at the back of her mind ever since the aftermath of the attack, but she wasn't able to voice it out until now.

"What do you mean?"

"Well," she hesitated briefly, shifting in her seat. "it may just be a coincidence, or me thinking over things too much, but I find it rather strange that the attack happened during Valentine's. It's as if the kaijus had deliberatedly chosen a day where a lot of people are outside, forcing us to spread our defenses thin and cause as much death and destruction as they could."

Her face morphed into a troubled expression. She knew it may be nothing, but she couldn't shake this feeling that something was not right. The Kaiju's attack patterns were strange. Used to be they would immediately head for the nearest human settlement as soon as they had emerged from the Breach. But what happened yesterday, or the last few weeks for that matter, was not part of their typical behaviour. It's as if they had actually learned when to attack.

For a moment, Cassey was as still as a statue. Her fingers hovered on a button in the remote, and her face had an unreadable expression. After what seemed like forever, she turned her head toward Cass and gave her a very flat stare.

"What?" Cass blinked.

"I think you're just really thinking over it too much," Cassey rolled her eyes. "I mean, sure, they are smart. But they are not that smart."

"Right?" she asked hopefully.

The silence that ensued between them was enough to make it seem that the TV's volume was on maximum.

"I don't know," Cass admitted with a shrug. "But something really feels off about the this."

"You know what? Let's just go to sleep."

With a sigh, Cassey switched off the monitor and stood up. "We can't make any assumptions until we know more about them, and the only way to do that is to kill one. Which means we-"

"-have to become Rangers first," Cass finished. "Yeah, I get it."

"That's right," her twin nodded. "And if we wanted to become Rangers, we need to pass our training with flying colors. So, let's just go to sleep, okay?" Cassey patted her shoulder. "Nothing will happen if we keep thinking of things that may not even be there."

With that, she turned around and headed for their room, leaving Cass sitting alone once more.

"I hope you're right," she muttered under breath as she stood up and followed her sister.

"Total damages is estimated to be at least ten million dollars. As for death tolls, 967 bodies has been recovered. Although recent reports indicates it could be higher than that. A lot are still missing, after all."

"What of Dr. Geiszler?"

"He called just a few minutes ago. He said he will remain on site to help Mr. Chau's teams in harvesting any samples. If he finds anything useful, he'll immediately inform us."

Herc sighed and laid down the reports on the table as Tendo finished, feeling much older than he had ever been. It was not this worse during his time as a pilot, not even on the latter days of the First War. Hell, the only one comparable to this was Trespasser's attack when they still had no Jaegers to defend themselves.

This was bad. Their very first kill ever since the Breach was sealed and it felt more like a complete failure. They may have neutralized the threat, but their victory was pyrrhic at best. Almost a thousand dead, and still counting, with large scale destruction that will take years to fix. Not to mention Unit-01's damages. That's just from two kaijus. He didn't want to know what the remaining 14 could do. He wished he wouldn't know, but he couldn't deny the inevitable: they will return.

"How are you both feeling?" he turned to Jason and Vanessa seated across from him. The two veterans were still in a bad mood after yesterday's attack, a sharp contrast to the usual elated and ecstatic grins present on them whenever they killed a kaiju during their days as Shining Titan's pilots. Now, scowls adorned their faces and a deep frown was etched on Vanessa's. Their posture was stiff, rigid and tensed. A barely restrained wrath hidden beneath the surface. Herc had only seen them in this state once before, and that was when they had failed to intercept a kaiju in 2020, almost losing a city in the process if not for Romeo Blue's intervention.

"You wanna know the truth?" Jason growled, his head buried in his hands before lifting it. "We feel like we want to find these bastards wherever they may be hiding and beat the shit out of them until they no longer resemble kaijus before sending them back to their masters."

"Believe me, Jason. The feeling is mutual," Herc grunted. "But unfortunately, we still don't know how to find the others. Not to mention, the Hong Kong Shatterdome is short on Sentinels and pilots."

Though 02 had already been fully repaired from its disastrous battle three days ago, they still had yet to find a suitable pair as Rangers. It's still weeks before the latest batch of cadets graduates from the academy, leaving them with one Sentinel idle. 01 was unfit for combat, its damages more severe than they had anticipated. Neither could they deploy 03 alone; its pilots were still as green as leaves, and Herc couldn't risk losing them. Too many lives had been lost already.

"Any status on our unit?" Vanessa asked.

"Still undergoing extensive repairs. 01 suffered major damages in its systems and hydraulics during your battle. It will take at least another two to three weeks to fix her."

"Great. Just great," Jason groaned, burying his head back in his hands.

"Look, I know this is all frustrating in your part," Herc sighed, sympathetic. "and we feel the same thing too. However, as much as I hate to say this..." the veteran shook his head, "we can't do much at this point other than to wait."

It was the truth, however much they didn't like it. They still had yet to find any leads regarding the whereabouts of the other kaijus, and the Mark-6 line of Jaegers had just started construction. They only had a dozen Sentinels, five understaffed Shatterdomes, and whatever else they could get. Their strength may not be what it once had been during the Golden Age, but it was not as worst as two years ago either. They just had to make do with what they had now. But until they located the other monsters, waiting was the only option available to them.

"We understand that, Herc. But you can't blame us for being like this," Vanessa clenched and unclenched her fists before fixing Herc with a frustrated gaze. "You've been a Ranger too. You know how hard it feels to stand waiting while lives are getting endangered."

"You do not need to remind me that," the aging marshall grunted, remembering the disastrous Hong Kong Incident and all prior attacks he had the misfortune to fail in preventing.

"Besides, you saw the footage of our fight," she continued. "Every second we spend on sitting idly gives those monsters a chance to grow bigger. We can't let that happen. We barely managed to defeat those two, and they were just juveniles. I hate to think what a fully grown one would be like."

"I talked with Dr. Gotlieb about that," Herc nodded. "Based on his calculations, they are growing at a steady rate. However, he also told me that as they get bigger, their growth will considerably slow down. He doesn't know when it will stop though."

"That's the problem then, isn't it?" Vanessa spread her hands helplessly. "How big will they get before they stop growing?"

"For now, we can't answer those questions. We only got two corpses to base our assumptions, after all. The only thing we can do right now is to prepare for the next attack."

"Whenever that may be," he added grimly.

"Easier said than done," Jason snorted. "We don't even have any functioning Sentinels in our Shatterdome. And we are suppose to be the most well-stocked, considering our position in the area. Not to mention, we are short by one pair of pilots."

"Jason, Vanessa, this is not the worst situation we've ever been," Herc said sharply. "You guys should know that. This is nothing compared to Operation Pitfall two years ago where we only had two Jaegers to close the Breach."

"But that's just it!" the former Mark-3 pilot slammed his fists into the table. "We don't want a repeat of that, Herc. Do we still have to wait before it happens again? Before more pilots gets killed and only two units remains?"

He looked at the other two occupants of the room, first to his wife who merely averted her gaze, then to Tendo who just shook his head. When he returned his attention to Herc, he noticed that the man's expression had changed. His face was dark, almost brooding. And his eyes had a hollow and pained look on them.

"You think I don't know the feeling?" he said softly, fixing the veteran Ranger with a piercing yet sorrowful gaze. "I lost my only child in the previous war. You seem to have forgotten about that."

Memories long sealed at the deepest recess of his mind assaulted him. Herc had already moved on from losing Chuck, but there were instances when he couldn't prevent the grief from resurfacing. Two years and he still missed his jerk of a son. A part of him still had regrets in not raising him properly, wishing he could have been a better father. There were also times when he wished he could have died together with the young Ranger, in what could have been their final bonding moment as father and son.

"S-Sorry," Jason mumbled apologetically. He glanced at the others for help, but only received a disapproving glare from Vanessa while Tendo shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

Herc merely smiled, albeit sadly. He stood up, grabbing the stack of documents on the table. "I still have to go talk with our chief engineer and see to the repairs," he said with his usual calm demeanor returning. "Tendo, just inform me of further updates regarding yesterday's attack."

"Yes, sir."

"I'll take my leave then. See you all at dinner in the mess hall."

Nodding at Jason and Vanessa he strode toward the door and left, leaving the room with a heavy silence and a depressive atmosphere.

A cacophony of incomprehensible noises rang throughout the site, disturbing the usual silence of that side of the city during night time. It was a hive of activity with more than a hundred people swarming over the bodies of two large creatures. Shouts and cries could be heard as men carried bone saws and other equipments, dismembering the corpses with efficiency and quickness born from doing it for more than a decade. Spotlights illuminated the area, bathing the surroundings with artificial light. Despite the full moon hanging in the sky and glowing brightly amidst the black canvas of the cloudless night, its light was not enough to fully cover the entire field.

Meanwhile, a group of tents situated near the south was also alive with activity. Various people wearing safety masks and biohazard suits flocked the largest one at the center, carrying glass tanks filled with organs soaked in chemicals and pushing steel tables containing claws, bones and nails. Shouts and yells in two different languages engulfed the whole area, and truck engines roared constantly as they ferry supplies and samples. Helicopters whirled above in the sky, providing security for the harvesters and scientists on the ground. It was a total chaos, as expected every time a Kaiju is killed. And only the most resillient person could remain focused in that kind of atmosphere.

Fortunately, Newton Geizler always had a knack for blocking outside interference when working on a Kaiju. Especially two of them.

The rather dimunitive scientist gaze at a specimen with the intensity and curiousity of a child discovering a new type of insect. His eyes shone with excitement, and his gloved hands eagerly prodded the insides of a kaiju innard. Despite the putrid smell, he wore no face mask, willingly putting his nose closer to the sample as he inspected it intently. This was the first time he had seen such a thing in them, and his wonderment overrode any discomfort he was feeling at the moment. If Hermann were here, he would have scoffed at the sight of him almost burying his head inside a kaiju entrail. Even telling him how stupid he looked. But what could he say? This was his dream, his passion; to study kaijus and learn more about them.

"Amazing," he muttered in awe, grabbing a large tweezer and using it to prod the organ. It was long, and large, taking up most of the table. Fat and squishy, its dull reddish hue gave it the appearance of a snake or a worm, just without any mouths. The texture was soft, almost jelly-like. And the skin was smooth and thin, translucent even.

"What's that? Digestive organs?" one of his assistants came up beside him, staring with eyes wide in shock at the table.

"Yes," Newt nodded slowly, gingerly running a finger against the surface of the membrane. "Up until now, the kaijus didn't have any form of nutrient absorption. Any organs they've had are either for combat or to simply make them live. But this?" he pointed excitedly at the specimen. "This one could actually eat like any animal on this planet. Even their tissues looked different from the ones we had encountered before in the past. It's really amazing!"

He couldn't help the wide smile forming on his lips. Performing an on-the-spot inspection of a kaiju specimen was very rare, and he had only experienced it half a dozen instances in his career. Most of the time, the monsters were either killed in the water or he was so far from the site that he had to make do with harvested items preserved for long travel, not a fresh sample itself. He was fortunate then not to have leave the country as he had originally planned, considering that he couldn't do it even if he wanted to, what with the nationwide flight suspension.

Compared to inspecting a sample on a lab, doing it on-site allows him to have a fresh specimen on hand. Chemical preservatives would often destroy the tissue's viability, rendering it almost useless. An ordinary organ from a common animal would not suffer from it, but a kaiju was different. Their anatomy was engineered to prevent any experiments from being performed on them, with a self-destruct mechanism should they be killed, contaminating the surrounding areas and rendering any samples useless. As such, he would always try his best to be on-site whenever a kaiju is neutralized. Of course, that was when the monsters were still the usual kaijus.

This particular one and its twin, however...

"So what does this mean, Doctor?" his assistant asked, glancing at him with a curious expression.

Newt was silent for a moment, contemplating his answer carefully. Unfortunately, just as he was about to reply, a certain black market dealer beat him to it.

"It means these ugly bastards are getting tougher and nastier."

In that instance, Newton Geiszler felt a tinge of nervousness crawling at his chest.

"Hannibal Chau," he muttered, turning his attention at the tent's entrance.

There stood his boss, business partner, and colleague, looking as intimidating as ever despite being twice his age. As always, he wore his expensive-looking gold-plated attire, flanked by two heavyset guards, and looking as smug and arrogant as he had first met him. He didn't really know what prompted him to work with him, considering their first encounter had almost resulted in him being used as practice dummy for his bodyguards. The man was demanding and greedy, and scary as well. There were times when he felt like he was working more than he was getting paid for, despite his monthly consultation fee having at least eight digits. It certainly was more than what the PPDC was giving him.

Still, the shady merchant and illegal smuggler could give him what he needed: a lot of kaiju samples. They got many specimens that the PPDC didn't had or couldn't get their hands on, and even though he was feeling a bit overworked, he knew Hannibal Chau was the only person who could fulfill his dream. He just wished that the man would be less inconsiderate of him.

"Dr. Geiszler, I hope you are not taking home most of the harvested items here," Chau glowered as he approached, his guards following him like loyal hounds. "Because you know I will need them for my products. Especially the claws."

"Yes, of course," Newt nodded vigorously. "I understand. I am just going to have a few samples."

"You better be," he narrowed his eyes in his direction, "or else I'll take samples from you."

Newt swallowed, understanding the supposed dual meaning of that sentence. Although, he knew Chau was just bluffing. An empty threat to coerce him into following the rules he had given him. However, whenever he remembers the rumors he would always hear regarding the bloody side of his business, he couldn't help but believe his threats were not just as simple as that.

"Have you heard?" Chau said as he admired a harvested claw from one of the twins, caressing its smooth surface. "One of my boys had already analyzed the skin from the first batch we got yesterday."

At this, Newt perked up in interest. "Oh? What did he find out?"

He should have been jealous, but he knew that he couldn't do everything at once, however much he wanted badly to be the one who would analyze the sample. He didn't have any proper equipment anyway.

There was a full minute of silence as the smuggler moved to a different specimen. A spike from the spine this time.

"These ones are carbon-based," he said at last.

For a moment, the revelation didn't register into Newt's brain. He couldn't comprehend what he just said at first, shocked as he was with the information. But as it began to dawn on him, a dozen ideas started to race in his mind, each one more alarming than the previous ones.

"C-Carbon-based? But that means..." his voice trailed off, eyes widening in realization.

"Yes," Chau nodded. "Their metabolic functions are now similar to every life on this planet. That's why they have digestive systems now," he waved to the intestines on the table. "Because they will need to eat. Naturally, all the nutrients will help them grow bigger. And the more nutrients they receive, the stronger they will become."

The implications of what he said was not lost on the kaiju expert. If all kaijus they had yet to locate so far were like this then the world was in far more danger than they had initially thought. Those monsters would surely hunt down larger preys for sustenance, and as they grow bigger they would need more supplies. If one area was swept clean, they would certainly move on toward another with a larger source of food. And if that was not enough, they might start hitting settlements with huge concentration of livestocks. Farms and ranches, even nature reserves or water parks with lots of oceanic creatures. The coastal areas would be hunted dry because of the fishes, and Africa might be targeted with its population of elephants. The monsters would spread all over the world, disappearing from trace until they were huge enough to surpass a Category V.

"My god," he whispered, feeling his knees tremble. This was worse than before. A lot worsethan a Double or Triple Event. And they were fourteen of them. If they all reached maturity and terrifying size, he doubt if an army of Mark-6s could even bring them down. Not with the intelligence and hive mentality they possessed.

"Well, it doesn't matter as long as we can kill them," Chau shrugged indifferently. "It would be easier this time, I think."

"Their blood," Newt agreed.

The dealer nodded. "Kaiju Blue is no longer as toxic as it once was, and the acidity is also less. My guess is they changed them to be able to survive longer on this environment. A carbon-based creature wouldn't benefit much if their blood is acidic and poisonous. It will quickly destroy them from the inside, dissolving their organs and contaminating their body."

"Still, that's to our advantage," he raised a finger and smirked. "We can analyze their blood now and search for new methods to kill them. It's up to the PPDC and the idiots supporting them though," his face droped into a scowl, "if they can actually find a way. Everyone knows those damn bureaucrats and politicians cares more about their money than people's lives."

Shaking his head, he turned to Newt.

"When will you be finished?"

The scientist thought for a minute. "Um, after a couple of hours. I still have to check the other twin and see if there's anything else we can collect."

"Good," Chau nodded in approval. "Tell me which parts are you going to bring back to Hong Kong. Just make sure not to take most of the bones and claws."

Just as he was about to leave, a coffee-skinned man suddenly burst inside the tent in a hurry. He was dressed in a biohazard suit with his protective helmet missing, covered in slime and fluids. From the look on his face, he must have discovered something important.

"Doctor! Doctor Geisler!"

"Yes, what is it?" Newt frowned in his direction.

"You have to come with us immediately!" his voice rising in panic. "Team 3 has noticed something strange in one of specimens!"

"Strange? What do you mean?" Chau furrowed his brows, looking curious and interested. Without a doubt, he must be thinking what sort of profit he could gain from this.

For a moment, the man swallowed several times as he glanced between the two of them. There was a terrified expression on his face, and he looked deathly pale. When he spoke at last, he only managed a croak. However, it was what he said that told them the gravity of the situation they were in.

"It's a male."

A year and a week. Yeah, that's how long it took me to write a new chapter. :/

I have to sincerely apologize for the delay. Blame my brain for an army of story ideas and plot bunnies which multiplied my list of projects from a mere 4 fanfics to an alarming 19, with more than half of them all WIPs. That, and my health had not been good last year. Not to mention my personal life. So, yeah, a year and a week.

Admit it though. My writing is definitely better this time. ;)

Anyway, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the official first chapter of Interlude's Act II. I already have the general outline and direction for this story planned out, so expect the next chapters to become more interesting.

This fic will be darker from now on. Not really to the point of depressing, but more serious and slightly gritty. Of course, humor will still be present. But so will be drama. This chapter alone is a proof of that. Expect some deaths along the way, mostly to OCs.

Admittedly, writing a fanfic centered on OCs are TEDIOUS. I have to start from scratch, and trying to have them with interesting personalities and morals are making my brain scream. There are the submitted ones, of course. But for my own creations... well, you get the idea. That's also part of the reason it took me so long to release an update. Because I wanted to hone myself by writing other stories and experimenting on canon characters. In any case, I hope you've seen any improvements on my characterization in this one. I hope I didn't made them OOC. The canon ones, at least.

I am not an expert in biology. So if you see anything wrong with how I portrayed anatomy in general, don't hesitate to correct me. I definitely sucked at these things, being more of a techie guy. XD

Well, that's it for now. I don't know when I could post another update, but you can check out my profile for the complete schedule this 2016. And you may be pleased to know that Pacific Rim: Interlude is included for the most of it. :)

Please Read & Review!

Until next time!