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“And what about Doctor Grace?” Ava flipped through several casefiles, head in her hand as exhaustion and frustration began bashing at her skull with a ball peen hammer,
“He used to pilot the Metalstorm with his brother, they are- they were twins.” Eva explained, “he has not flown since his brother’s death. That was about a year before you joined us here, no one has been drift compatible with him.”
Ava hummed, “no… no says here he drifted with one Roderic Ortiz,”
“That’s Rocky. He is our lead engineer, he is also already paired up, he and his partner Doctor Adrien Lee fly the Plena.” Stratt tapped one of the pictured mechs laid out on the table, a stout jaeger with golden and silver accent, “for rescue and recon. Doctor Lee has field medic training…” Eva trailed off. Ava should have remembered that, “remember? They-“
Ava’s hand drifted below her blind eye, “right… yeah. La Plena.”
“Rocky named it after a dance. He let Dr.Lee design the jaeger’s aesthetic.”
“How…” Ava trailed off, then said “romantic.” Her words slow, lingering on the m sound like her mouth was full of mud.
Eva hummed, reaching out and squeezing Ava’s hand, “we don’t need to do this now…. We can take a break.”
“No… no someone needs to-“ she took a moment to gather her words, frowning with frustration,
“It’s okay… I know. Do you want to drift tonight?”
“You sure?” Ava glanced at Eva’s right arm,
“I’ll be alright.” She brought Ava’s hand up to her mouth and kissed the palm gently, “it’s your call. We can do the word practice, or just dance…”
“I’d like to dance.”
“Alright.”
“But we do need to decide, Simon needs a co-pilot. And he’s not gonna like it.” Ava sighed,
“Grace is a good choice.” Eva nodded,
“You’re sure? He’s ready to come back?”
“He will have to be. Otherwise we start from square one.”
Ava nodded, “I’ll tell them.” She stood from the table, rummaging in her pocket and popping an ibuprofen. She offered one to Eva who shook her head and Ava pocketed the bottle again.
“Thank you.” Eva stood, unhooking her can from the back of her chair, “I have… far too many meetings to prepare for.”
“Okay. See you after work.”
She found Simon in the gymnasium. He was on a treadmill being supervised by Dr.Lee who took notes of his vitals as he walked,
“Can I run?” He asked them,
“Oh- no. No not yet. You’ve still got a few day- captain! Hey. Afternoon.” Adrian gave a small wave, walking over to meet Ava, intercepting between Simon and the captain,
“Doctor Lee, good- good afternoon. How’s-“ she spotted Simon glare over his shoulder at her for a moment before returning to his walk, raising the pace on the treadmill while Adrian wasn't looking, “is he ready?”
“To- to go back out?”
“Of course.”
“No. Matter of fact captain I cannot-“ “Doctor, Rocky’s almost done fixing the SM-13 and-“ “I cannot in good conscious allow you to-“ “And we need jaegers on patrol to be ready in case-“ “To send him out- he’s still vulnerable-“
“When do I fly again?” Simon interrupted them as they started to shout over each other. They looked at Simon in silence.
“Three days.” Ava answered, breaking the silence. “And that’s if your copilot is ready.”
“Copilot? I don’t need a-“
“You’re… brain damaged, S-s-“ she ground her teeth and sighed, centering herself, “Simon. And on top of that we can’t ever have a solo Jaeger again. Not until the loop is closed. We found an oversight in combat, we cannot allow for another to be found like that.”
“Ava that’s exactly why we can’t send Simon out again-“
“Respectfully, Doctor Lee, as your superior officer, this isn’t-… your position-“
“Excuse me Captain but as medical director of this facility we are the same god damn rank.” Adrian got up in Ava’s grill, “not only that but I have more flight hours than you in a Jaeger with half as many guns as the BloodMary, so do not think for a second I don’t understand this.”
“I-… I apologize, but he… we need to reestablish patrols. The science team estimates the cooldown times are getting smaller-,”
“Stop.” Simon piped up again, “please just- just stop talking about me like I'm not right here?”
“I’m sorry.” Adrian frowned, chewing their lip, “Simon are you sure you feel ready to go out again?”
“I’m getting itchy sitting on my hands, doc.”
They glanced at the neural port on Simon’s shoulder and the rod sticking out of his upper arm, the in bone connection for his prosthetic. He slotted the arm back into place and plugged in the neural connections, flexing his mechanical wrist and wiggling his fingers.
“Okay. Fine. You’re cleared. But Ava I swear to god-“
“I know. I know…. Simon would you follow me to meet your new copilot? We should test your drift capability as soon as possible.”
Simon nodded, disconnecting from the heart monitor he was hooked up to while on the treadmill and followed her. When they were out of the gym he leaned close to her,
“I’m not doing this for you.” He whispered, “or the COI or the fucking government or anybody.”
“I know Simon.”
“I’m just getting my hit back. I’m gonna find that fucking thing and-.”
“Settling a score. That’s fair.”
“Plenty of scores to settle-“
“Yeah.”
They fell into silence for a moment, waiting for the elevator. Simon rolled his shoulders and bounced on the balls of his feet. He sighed and asked,
“How um… how’s your PT been going?”
“Fine. Still clumsy on the right side. You?”
Simon shrugged, “you have my file.” He watched Ava press the button again, impatient, “You’re uh… you’re getting faster. With talking and like… words. That’s good.”
“Yeah um… Eva’s still worried.”
“She’s gonna be. Let her worry about you. It’s… nice to be worried about.” He frowned, staring into space. He felt his eye start to drift and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment to align them again,
“I’m sorry Simon.”
“You’ve said that.”
“I mean it.”
“Yeah. Yeah I know.”
They rode the elevator in silence. The dull hum of the motor being the only sound between them. Simon could hear the electric whirring of his mechanical arm when it got quiet, the foreign yet familiar feeling of the limb. Sometimes there was a delay in movement, especially intentional movements rather than involuntary or reflex ones, which was good all things considered. His mind accepted the mechanical limb’s efforts to fill the empty space in his proprioception, but the delay made that mental map of his own body foggy. It didn’t help that the years of solopiloting sometimes made him feel like he hadn’t done an action until he’d done it twice, a nervous tick of swallowing around food even after it’s been swallowed or signing his name twice over itself. The neural loop worked to aid in his solo piloting, a copy of his neural pathways being generated and linked into his brain when he would fly.
“So, who’s my copilot again?”
“I never said?”
“You did not.”
“Shit, uh, Doctor Ryland Grace.”
“Hm. Sounds familiar.”
“He-“
“Wait, that clumsy blond from the science team?! He’s a pilot?”
“He was.”
“Okay.” Simon chewed the inside of his cheek for a second, “what happened?”
“His um… his brother died. They were twins.”
“Okay”
“You have a spar in an hour so I suggest getting to know him a little.”
Simon rolled his eyes. Ava frowned, knowing how difficult that could be for him and the effort he was putting into being kind of a bitch,
“If you think he’s un- im- lame. just note that.” Ava sighed, “we already have your brain scans and personality screenings so you just need to do the combat testing and pod simulation.”
“Okay…”
“It’s fine if you’re nerv-“
“I’m not nervo-“ “I mean I know you’ve never done it befor-“ “Ava I'm not nervous-“ “Well your first time can be scary but-“ “Oh fuck off!”
They laughed for a moment at their own unison exchange, laughter trailing off into a sad and awkward silence again.
“Eva misses you.” Ava said softly, “she- she misses how… how things were.”
“And you?”
“I don’t… I don’t know. I-“ Ava frowned, “it’s difficult.”
“Right.” Simon sighed, “she- whatever-“
“What?” Ava snapped suddenly,
“Nothing.” Simon looked away,
“Nonono what did you have to say about my wife?” her hands curled into fists at her sides,
“Nothing!”
“You’re lying.”
“Fine! Fine. It’s her fault we were out there that day and it’s- she-“
“Don’t you fucking blame her for this!”
“She was the one who wanted to bring back samples! ‘Oh we should go down there and see what’s up!’” Simon used air quotes, doing a poor impression of Stratt’s accent,
“Oh you fucking bitch…“
“You weren’t always such a fucking lap dog Avangeline!“
“Go fuck yourself!”
“Yeah let me solo pilot, I don’t want this cocky blond bimbo in my brain, Ava!”
“God you’re such- you- such a- fuck!“ Ava felt her chest tighten with shame as words became difficult for her again, rage broiling over with the shame in her heart.
“Oh what? Cat got your tongue? Need mommy Eva to help you tal-“ Simon heard the crunch of his nose breaking before felt it. The smell of iron wafting just before his nose congested with blood.
“We should’ve left you in the fucking ocean.” Ava muttered before she could stop herself. She regretted saying it the moment it left her lips.
“You did.” Simon spat back, wiping the blood from his nose and tilting his head back, blood on metal. The elevator doors opened and Simon quickly stepped out into the lab. There he found Grace sat backwards in a rolling chair, his arms folded over the back rest as he chatted with another scientist, Dr.Carl Connors,
“No really, that's what I said! I just don’t have time for all that so-“ he trailed off as he saw Simon rapidly approaching him with a bloody nose as Captain Ava followed him, “uh- hi… what’s-“
“Fuck sake-“ Ava huffed, “uh- Dr.Grace this is Simon Park, he’s-“
“We’re supposed to fly together.”
Grace sat up from his casual lean, eyes sharpening, “you’re sending me back out?”
The man he was talking to turned to Ava, a worried look on his face, “captain-“
“Take it up with Stratt. She's just a messenger.” Simon frowned,
Ava glared at him as she went on, “your personality types and brain wave patterns indicate you’ll be good fits, and we need patrols-“
“Did something happen to InfraRed? Are Dr.Dubois and Jack ok?” Carl interjected, eyeing Ava carefully
“Yes, why?”
“And what about UltraViolet?”
“Dr.Shapiro and David are also fine- where is this going, Dr.connors?”
Carl scoffed and muttered under his breath, shaking his head
“I think uh-“ Grace chimed in after Carl glanced at him, clearly concerned and annoyed, “I think Carl is just surprised! As am I…”
“We need your expertise, and we intend to increase patrol focus.”
“We as in the government or we as in the COI-“
“Oh my god, see?” Simon interrupted him, “he doesn’t have it in him, cap. Just let me go back out with the loop, im not gonna get hit by lightning twice-“
“Wait- Simon- Simon park! Right.” Grace stood up from his chair, it rolled off and into the desk behind him as he closed the distance, “you piloted the Iron Lung!”
“I did. I do. Once She’s fixed im going back in there and-“
“What was it like?” Simon frowned as Grace circled him. Not like a shark, more like a dog sniffing someone new,
“Good. It was great.”
“Captain can we talk?” Carl asked, watching Grace and Simon get acquainted. Ava nodded and the two stepped off to a part of the lab out of earshot,
“Have you tested the loop with your arm connections yet?” Grace asked, reaching out to run a finger along the connectors. Simon pulled away before he could touch with a glare,
“Listen hot shot,”
“Oh that’s-“
“Back up.” Simon put a hand between them, “listen, I have no interest in piloting with you, okay?”
“Well that’s good cause I have no interest in piloting.” Grace crossed his arms,
“Good. So I’ve got an idea.”
“Lay it on me?”
“Let’s just cooperate with these assholes and then botch the testing.” Simon raised an eyebrow, “we deal with each other for a bit but at the end of the day I get my Jaeger back and you get to stay in the lab.”
“You’ve-“ Grace grinned, but his grin faded a little for a moment. He shook Simon’s hand, “you’ve got a deal!”