Dizzy

Date/Timing: 7 January 2019
Setting: Jaeger simulator, The Shed; Vaucluse, NSW, Australia
Notes: >text like this will be hovertext<; This ficlet has been made redundant by the changes made to "Highest"
.
Chuck lands a solid shot on Logan's cheek, but Scarface laughs it off—the asshole—and connects with Chuck's ribs. He rolls with it, lines up a gut shot, punches—flies backwards, whumps into a bunch of arms which octopus on, hold him tight.
Pietr stomps past, catches Scarface's arm, and spins him to the opposite side of the circle.
Then he shoves himself between Chuckold and the Klingon—she slashes at him /over Pietr's back—and pushes them out of striking range. He glares at Chuck, lips thin, hands snapping. >::Explain. Now.::<
Chuck sulks, grinding his teeth.
Pietr rolls his eyes, signs some more. >::Someone explain, please.::
Chuckold wipes blood from her upper lip. "He started it." She jerks her thumb at Chuck.
He makes a strangled noise.
Pietr sighs.
Chuck glares at him defiantly.
Pietr frowns, crosses his arms over his chest, and taps his foot.
Chuck keeps glaring.
Pietr throws up his hands. He grabs both Chucks by their upper arms and drags them from the room to a chorus of catcalls and foot-stomping by the [troopers] who'd been watching the fight.
After the short and embarrassing march back to the simulator room, Pietr throws them in and kicks the door closed.
"Chuck, what happened?"
Both Chuck and Chuckold begin speaking.
Lightcap holds up a hand for silence. "My Chuck, what happened?"
Chuck pouts.
"That little menace—"
"Who're you callin'—"
Chuck gets a hand clapped across his mouth and squirms with fury as Pietr gives Lightcap a thumbs up.
"—picked a fight with the Jones brothers and I got dragged in to save his ass."
Chuck wrenches himself out of Pietr's grip. "I was doin' just fine before you stuck yourself in!"
"They were sitting on you!"
"I was gettin' ready for my next move!"
"Which would've been gettin' your teeth knocked in!"
"Shut up!"
"Make me!"
"Both of you! Be quiet! Little Chuck—"
"Oi!"
"Young Chuck—"
"/Oi!"
Lightcap rolls her eyes. "Just get in the sim. I've got all the data I can from Pietr solo."
"You're not getting me anywhere near his head!"
"Not you, Chuck. /You."
Chuck shifts smugly.
Chuckold blinks in relief and starts adjusting the simulator's settings.
.
Four twenty-minute Drifts of doing nothing later, Caitlin pipes over the intercom, ""Okay, boys! Time to add a Kaiju and see what you do. Chuck's coming in to help with the motion-capture gear.""
Chuckhold shtumps in, stuffs stiff gloves into Chuck's hands, drops a pair of rubber boots at his feet, all four things trailing ribbons of wire and cable.
""I've turned the buzzers down to their minimum so no matter what happens—even if you 'die'—it won't hurt. You've got no special weapons and, since we don't have the armatures connected, your full speed, so just punch it 'til it dies. Got it?""
Chuck finishes jamming his feet into the boots, flashes a thumbs up.
Chuckold's still helping Pietr with his gloves, grumbling something about expecting him to be more coordinated.
Chuck growls.
If she hears, she ignores him. She finishes, Pietr grins at her, and she stomps back out.
""Neural handshake initiating,"" AGNIS warns.
/Blue, a softness, /together.
""Pilot to Jaeger connection complete,"" announces AGNIS.
"Where the hell are we?" Chuck scans the simulated environment. "Is ... is this fuckin' London?"
""Just hit the Kaiju, Ducky.""
"Don't call me that!"
A bare handful of punches later, the thing slumps over.
""Aaaand it's dead. Shutting you down,"" says Lightcap.
AGNIS drawls, ""Neural handshake terminated.""
""Nice work, gents. We're gonna wash, rinse, repeat. Same as before.""
/Blue, a softness, /together, a twitch.
""Pilot to Jaeger connection complete.""
"Jaeger Academy?"
""Just hit it, Ducky.""
"Stop /calling me that!"
A tug at his attention.
Chuck looks to his left and squares up to face the rapidly approaching Kaiju.
Down it goes, quick as the last.
""Neural handshake terminated.""
There's barely time for a deep breath before Lightcap's asking, ""Ready?""
"Bring it on."
/Blue, a softness, /together, the slightest wobble.
""Pilot to Jaeger connection complete.""
"What the hell is this?"
""Don't know your geography, Ducky?""
"Shut. It."
Oh look. Another dead Kaiju.
""Neural handshake terminated.""
""Next!"" chirps Lightcap.
/Blue, a softness, /together, a /slosh.
Chuck flicks his head clear.
""Pilot to Jaeger connection complete.""
""Any complaints this time, Ducky?""
Chuck grumbles wordlessly.
They make quick work of the Kaiju.
""Neural handshake terminated.""
"Can't you give us somethin' tougher? These all went down easy."
""I'll give you 'somethin' tougher,' you little—""
Lightcap interrupts, ""Ready for round five?""
A bolt of fear and Chuck's skin comes out in gooseflesh; he twists to face Pietr. ::You okay?::
Pietr shakes his head slowly, then freezes.
::What's wrong?::
::Dizzy. Sick.::
Chuck yanks off his gloves—
""What're you doing?"" scolds Chuckold.
—takes hold of Pietr's arm, guides him backward to the bench along the wall, eases him down.
Pietr sags, swallows hard..
""What's going on in there?"" calls Lightcap. ""Chuck!""
Chuck ignores her. ::You gonna puke?::
::Maybe.::
::Any idea why?::
""What's happening? Talk to me guys!""
::Drifting. Start. Drop. Dizzy.::
Chuck blinks. ::That doesn't happen if you brace for it.::
::How?::
::Well, when the countdown—::
::What countdown?:: Pietr swallows again.
Chuck face-palms. ::It's an audio count:: He pivots on the bench. "Doctor Lightcap!"
""What? What's happened to Pietr?""
"He can't hear the handshake countdown—"
""/Crap. He hasn't had any warning it's starting?""
"No, an' now he's dizzy an' thinkin' of throwin' up."
""/Crap! New assignment, Chuck! Rig up a visual interface for him. You have 'til tomorrow morning. I'll try to salvage /something from this data.""
"Lemme get unhooked an' I'll—"
""Not you, the other Chuck.""
""Let him do it. I could use some sleep.""
""Nice try. Get to work. Chuck, take Pietr to Medical and have him checked out. I've got more tests to run on him tomorrow.""
Chuck's stomach lurches.
Pietr slumps against the wall, eyes closed.
He taps Pietr's shoulder.
Pietr cracks an eye.
::Want help with the gloves?::
::Boots.::
Chuck nods and sets to work on the footgear, while Pietr tugs at his gloves.
.
They have to stop twice for Pietr to throw up, but they make it to Medical in one piece.
The doctor listens to Chuck's explanation of the problem, turns a little greyer than strictly necessary, and announces Pietr will be spending the night.
Just in case.
Pietr sighs, shuffles into the room a nurse indicates, perches on the bed.
Chuck smacks his hands away from his boots, undoes the laces, slides them off.
Pietr smiles weakly. ::Thanks.::
"How're ye feelin'?"
::Awful::
"What's it feel like? Without a countdown?"
::Drop tower ride.::
Chuck winces. "Over 'n over?"
::Yea.::
"And you still fought?"
::Yea.::
"/Jesus. Can I bring ye anything?"
::Water.::
Chuck hops up and returns with a filled tumbler.
::Thanks.::
"Welcome. Anythin' else?"
Pietr shakes his head a smidgen.
"Umm ... can I hang out here?"
Pietr shrugs as he drains his water. He slowly lowers himself to the mattress, closes his eyes, and curls up on his side.
"You're one tough bastard," Chuck mumbles. He flops into the visitor's chair and—startles awake at a gentle tap on his arm.
Nurse Frost says, "Sorry, Cadet, but you need to leave so your copilot can rest."
Chuck digs in. "He's sleeping just fine with me here."
Pietr sighs.
"See?" Chuck smugs.
"Well, I didn't want to mention it, but you're pretty obviously late for dinner."
"What're you—?"
Chuck's stomach whines loudly.
Nurse Frost smiles. 
Chuck huffs, heaves himself to his feet, plods to the door, glances over his shoulder—
Pietr's still sleeping.
—sulks out of Medical and back to the suite along tertiary halls. Sticks his head in the door. "Max!"
Max trots over, tail wagging happily.
Someone's rattling around in the washroom.
Chuck grumps.
Max whuffs.
Chuck crouches, cups Max's chin, kisses his forehead.
Max licks his face.
"C'mon, Handsome, let's get outta here."
Max barks.
Chuck leads the way to the canteen, collects a bowl of Rainbow Rings, looks for an empty spot—"You've gotta be shitting me."
He drops his tray as far from Chuckold's as he can in the tiny island of empty space next to her.
She ignores him.
He ignores her right back.
Max wedges himself between them.
They eat.
Scott sits down across the table, bobs his chin. "Chuck, Chuck."
"Scott."
"Ranger Hansen."
"Oof, that /stings, Chuck."
"I always call you Scott."
"Little bit of a rank gap, now," Chuckold says flatly.
"I was talking to older Chuck, Chuck. 'Scott''s fine."
"Evening, Scott."
"Evening, Chuck. Herc ever tell the two of ye he was hoping you'd get married some day?"
Chuck spews cereal across the table.
"Yup," says Chuckold.
Chuck's indignant.
"You were a baby."
"I was /fourteen!"
"/Being a baby."
Chuck pouts.
"Kinda like now," smirks Chuckold.
Scott joins in.
Chuck slams to his feet—"C'mon, Max!"—and storms out.
Tags: Ficlet, Skeleton Key, Go, Team Science! arc, Chuck H, Chuck H (ficlet), Logan, Logan (ficlet), Jackson (mention), Chuck D, Chuck D (ficlet), Chuck D is a Driftern, Sydney Shatterdome (setting), Caitlin, Caitlin (ficlet), AGNIS, AGNIS (ficlet), Max, Max (ficlet), Sarah, Sarah (ficlet), Scott, Scott (ficlet), Herc (mention), Pietr, Pietr (ficlet)
Category:Ficlets (incorporated)
Category:Comments
Category:Ficlets with comments)
Category:Ficlets made redundant