for gipsy_danger

[striker_eureka]

timeline divergence. 

Comments

[striker_eureka]

Hercules watches the blip on the radar that is Gipsy Danger fall into the rift attached to the category 5 kaiju with a sense of detachment that makes him feel like he's watching a movie. He's seeing everything that's happening, hearing what everyone is saying, but it's like there's a screen between him and the real world, and it almost doesn't feel real.

Almost.

He sees Mako's escape pod start the arduous trek out of the Throat and he knows Gipsy's trying to force out her pilots to save their lives — he can't say he's surprised, that's his girl right there, behaving just like he knew she would, putting her pilots first and herself last. And then, after a long few minutes of nail-biting anticipation, the detonation at the bottom of the Throat appears on Tendo's screen, just before Raleigh's pod blinks into life, traveling mere seconds ahead of the blast.

Herc doesn't allow himself a moment for anything other than scrambling the choppers; they need to rescue their pilots. Whatever soul-crushing agony he feels can be put off until later, when he's alone and there aren't two lives hanging in the balance.

He watches as Mako's pod registers her life signs, watches as it reads being opened, knows that at least Stacker's child survived this even if his didn't. Raleigh's pod is on the screen but either it's broken or he's already dead, because it's not registering any vitals at all. The entire control room gets to listen to Mako frantically try to awaken her copilot, gets to listen to her cry into his shoulder and then...

That cocky bastard.

If the cheering before was bad, now it's almost deafening, with the entire crew of the Shatterdome lifting their voices in jubilant relief. Hercules feels like he's treading water as he leaves the control panel and walks across the room to grab the microphone, his limbs sluggish to obey his commands, the celebration around him leaving a ringing in his ears like he's underwater. But still. He has a job to do.

"This is Marshal Hercules Hansen." Marshal. Stacker is dead. There's nobody left for him. "The bridge is sealed. Stop the clock!"

Even Max joins in when the cacophonous cheering starts again, but Herc doesn't have the heart for it. Everyone he's ever loved has been killed by the kaiju menace, and now that it's over, he feels utterly drained. It's far too easy to grab Max's leash and slip out of the room, to head down to the barracks and climb into his bunk and lock the door behind him.

Everyone will be busy celebrating but Hercules wants to be left alone with his grief.

[gipsy_danger]

The celebration is long and loud – this has been a long time coming and people are tired. They’re tired and they’re worn thin from fighting and surviving and living in fear. It’s understandable that despite all of the death and destruction that accompanied the mission there is joy, too – joy that the war is over, the bridge is closed, that perhaps people can live in peace now, without fear of attack.

No one really notices Hercules leave the room, except for Tendo. Tendo is one of the few people in that room that truly realizes what it was that Hercules just went through, because he has supervised the visits, watched the interaction, heard the stories and witnessed some of them first hand. He’s one of the only people that realize what Hercules lost that day – son, long time friend, and Gipsy Danger -- whatever she was to him.

He doesn’t go after him, because this is an emotional time for the man, but Tendo vows to work on something for him in the coming months, when all of the chaos has died down.

For now, there is celebration – and mourning – to be had.

The coming months are busy for everyone – rebuilding is intense, and all of the broken pieces of human civilization need to be picked up and put back together again. It’s a long process for everyone, even Hercules. The jaeger program is lauded as a success, though it’s not exactly granted a lot of funding to rebuild the empire there once was. Few see a need, though there’s always a shadow of doubt about the kaiju coming back – or having bred. For the time being, things stay peaceful.

It’s at least a year later when there’s a tap on Herc’s door; a hesitant, light knock that reflects no small amount of uncertainty.

[striker_eureka]

It takes Hercules days to fully emerge from his cocoon of grief, and that's really only because he feels bad about keeping Max cooped up in his room all day. Eventually the Marshal of the Hong Kong Shatterdome emerges from his self-imposed prison, and life goes on. People are careful around him, reverential in a way that makes him angry — he doesn't deserve it, he wasn't the one who sacrificed himself to save the world, he was just the poor schmuck who broke his damn arm at the eleventh hour and had to stay home — but at least it means it's easier for him to do his job.

It's Hercules who gets to stand in front of a panel of bureaucrats now, and he takes no small amount of pleasure in reaming them out for their short-sightedness about closing down the Jaeger program. They seem fairly contrite, but just as difficult to sway over to his suggestion of keeping it going as they were before when it was Stacker standing here before them.

The threat has been eliminated. There's no need for a money pit like the Jaeger program. The world is safe once more.

He tried to point out that there's no real way to know if they are safe or not, but nobody is listening to him.

So the next year passes in something of a daze for Hercules, his days sliding by on a strict schedule that focuses more on what needs to be done and less on his own needs. The grey that had started to sprout in his stubble spread like wildfire, starting at his temples and working its way backwards through his gingery hair, and the lines in his face grew more deeply etched as they days progressed. He got better, sort of, was able to smile and chat with support staff and civilians alike, but there were times when the Marshal would drift off into space and stare blankly at what he was doing, clearly lost in his own thoughts.

He was declared unfit for combat too quickly for it to be anything but a political move, but he's grateful. Drifting for fun is one thing, but Drifting to pilot another Jaeger?

He's done with that.

Most of his days are spent behind his desk, now, working on his computer or signing off on reports. So when a knock sounds on his door, he doesn't look up from the dossier in front of him, just mumbles a "come in" as he makes notes in the margins.

[gipsy_danger]

Gipsy Danger was presumed destroyed on the scene a year ago – but Tendo had been fascinated with the Jaeger’s AI. It had evolved more than any of the other Jaeger’s, and he felt that Gipsy’s had been worth preserving and had set up a system to back it up – memories and avatar and all – every hour on the hour, similar to the way a computer stores information in case a reformat is needed.

He’s damn sure glad he did, especially once he saw Herc’s face that day when everything both got better and went to shit simultaneously.

Creating a humanoid jaeger was a lot damn harder than he’d though, but he’d drafted the two scientists that had been on the project to assist. Newt had been more than eager to assist and the other…well. Awkward and infuriating as he was, he was an asset that Tendo needed in order to recreate Gipsy Danger in all of her self-created avatar glory.

Creating the ‘brain’ had been damn difficult; he kept the same anatomical structure of a human brain but used silica pathway tech combined with filched jaeger tech, and used that basic ‘format’ to map out the rest of Gipsy’s body. It all got very technical and when Gipsy was brought online – gasping and screaming and clawing at the air, because her last memory was being blown up, thanks Tendo – and everything was explained, a lot initially went over her head. She had to relearn quite a few things and under the careful guidance of the team, Gipsy was ‘whole’ again – as whole as she could be.

And consequently sent to Hercules. Since she had been created in secret she wasn’t considered government property, silica pathways and reinforced bone structure made from leftover Jaeger parts and all, she was sent directly to his door.

The knob twists and Gipsy steps inside, shutting it quietly behind her. She doesn’t’ say anything at all, she just comes up in front of his desk and stands there, resolute and at attention, hands behind her back.

[striker_eureka]

Hercules has been in the military a very long time; he was in the Air Force before the Jaeger program was started. So he knows a thing or two about intimidation tactics and how one is supposed to deal with people barging into your office when he'd requested some downtime so he could catch up on his paperwork.

Which is why he doesn't look up immediately, just keeps on reading, waiting until he gets to the end of his section before setting his pen down and folding his hands over his papers. Only then does he look up, his eyebrow quirked and a, "Can I help you?" dying on his lips.

Because that's not some wet-behind-the-ears rookie standing in front of his desk, sent on a fool's errand by someone who likes to make his life hell, that's a very familiar woman, from the sleek black hair down to her (presumably) booted feet. He has a panicked moment of wondering if Gipsy really modeled herself after a real human woman after all — is this someone Yancy knew, maybe? — but the way she's holding her breath and resolutely staring above his head has left his hands trembling. No, this isn't some random woman one of the Becket brothers knew when they were younger, this is Gipsy Danger.

His Gipsy Danger.

His chair flies back and nearly hits the wall behind him as he stands abruptly, hesitating for a moment before coming around the desk in three large strides, and he doesn't stop himself from reaching out to cup her face in his hands so he can stare into those bright blue eyes, desperately searching for something familiar.

(If this isn't Gipsy, he's in big trouble.)

"...Gipsy?"

[gipsy_danger]

Gipsy is nervous when she walks into the room. She’s been briefed on all of the things her poor Hercules has been through, and with every word it broke her heart a little bit more – especially as all of her files were downloaded back into her memory banks. She isn’t sure how he will react to her, but through her teams urging, she’d come. She’d come and now she was here for what felt like judgment and when he didn’t look up at first she very nearly turned around and left.

But, no. She stays – she stays, because it’s him – because it’s her pilot that she’s come back for, her Hercules. She’s not standing in front of Mako, or Raleigh – only Hercules.

By the time he finally looks up at her, Gipsy is trembling. She’s unused to being in a body like this, and no amount of education by Tendo had really prepared her for what it would be like in the ‘real’ world. She’s terrified he’s going to reject her, and the way he comes at her tempts her to flee, but she stands there and refuses to move. She’s glad she stays, too.

His hands are like fire on her skin – this is more real than it’s ever been and she’s still shaking when she looks him in the eye and smiles softly, reaching to cover one of his hands with her own.

“It’s me.”

[striker_eureka]

He doesn't sob — he's cried all the tears he could possibly produce, back in those long weeks after the rift was closed — just stands there and stares at her with huge, shocked eyes. He'd be convinced he's dreaming, but he hates doing paperwork, why the hell would he dream about that?

It's not until she verifies her identity that his hands start to tremble again. God, she even sounds the same.

He breathes out her name on a disbelieving sigh before he leans in and smashes his mouth against hers in a horribly uncoordinated but still passionate kiss. Only for a moment, though, because then he's just pulling her into his arms and squeezing her in a crushing hug, ducking his head and nosing into her hair as incredulous laughter builds in his chest.

"Jesus Christ, are you fucking with me?"

But no, she feels pretty solid under his hands. He yanks her back again so he can stare at her some more, cataloging every little detail that looks exactly as he remembered.

"...How?"

[gipsy_danger]

This is something that she had wanted – desperately – for some time before she’d gone into that rift and never reemerged. She’d wanted to hold her beloved pilot, feel his real heat against her body, touch his hair and smooth her hands over the lines of his face - lines that had increased over the past year.

Gipsy doesn’t care, though. She doesn’t care at all, because she’s with him in the here and now and that is what’s important. It is strange not being able to nose into his thoughts at any given point in time, but it’s something she’s mostly used to now, thanks to the team that had created her.

The sound she makes when she’s kissed is something akin to a meep and vaguely reminiscent of the beeps she used to make when telling him yes. It’s welcomed even if it doesn’t laugh, and she’s quickly buried into an embrace that has her grunting with the force of it.

“I would never ‘kid’ about---“

She’s being pushed back out again to be looked over, and she settles her hands on his shoulders to steady him, giving him a look he’s probably very familiar with.

“You are making me dizzy, Hercules Hansen.”

[striker_eureka]

God, that look she gives him. It's so perfect, so absolutely her, that he can't help laughing again, his hands rising once more to frame her face and stroke over her hair, tucking her sleek bob back behind her ears so he can see her properly.

"It really is you."

His thumbs stroke over her cheeks slowly, finally steady but for the fainted of trembling in his wrists, and this time when he leans in to kiss her, he's far more gentle about it.

He should probably check to make sure this is okay, but if there's one thing he knows about Gipsy Danger, it's that she has no problems with making her displeasure known. If she didn't want him kissing her, she'd have knocked him arse over teakettle back behind his desk.

So he tries to make this one make up for their first kiss, uses his hands to tilt her head just enough so that when he slides his lips over hers, it's sweet and tender instead of rough and awkward, even though his five o' clock shadow is nearing a nine o' clock one by this point in time. Everything about this moment is so much more real than he was prepared for; from the feel of her skin to the touch of her hands to the smell of her hair.

She's real.

[gipsy_danger]

The impossibility of it is overwhelming -- she knows, she felt similarly when she was first brought back online. She'd fought like a bagged cat to get to him too, but had eventually seen the wisdom in her teams restraint. She needed to adjust to her new body. Training was needed, education -- everything. It was like being a child and starting all over again --- though that analogy had been hard for Gipsy to understand until it was put into more appropriate terms.

"It's me," she clarifies gently, the smile still there on her lips. "It's really me." And then he kisses her and she's lost in her pilot, an emotional hurricane flooding every fiber of her synthetic being.

It's beautiful - everything about this moment is beautiful. The awkwardness of their first kiss, his disbelief, the feeling of his 'shadow' against her skin; all of it is strangely perfect and Gipsy wouldn't have it any other way.

The kiss is sweet and tender and it makes her tremble in his grasp, body quivering a little under his touch. It's responding in ways that she's not familiar with, but ways she'd been warned about.

"Hercules--" She pauses, dragging in a breath and she was stunned at how low her voice sounded at the moment. "I--ah--"

Ahem.

[striker_eureka]

He's going to demand every little detail about her rebirth as soon as he's able to think, but right now he's a little caught up in other things.

She pulls away first and he lets her, presses his lips instead to her forehead and her temple, his hands roving over her spine like he can't help himself from testing out whether or not she's really real or if she's just a hallucination. Despite her repeated reassurances, he's going to need a little time to wrap his head around this.

"Yes, love?" Her voice is beautiful and hearing her say his name like that...

Oh. Oh.

He hadn't thought about it but this is an assault of firsts for Gipsy. She's probably feeling a lot of things she's not used to right now, and damn that's hot. Shit. Keep it together, old man.

[gipsy_danger]

Her hands lift and she cups his face, not unlike the way she used to do when they were Drifting together. Her affection for him hasn't gone away at all, if anything -- it's amplified ten fold. She can't keep her hands off of him in much the same way he seems to be currently attached to her.

She sighs and she leans in to kiss him again, eager for the strangely familiar taste of him once more. It reminds her a little bit of being in the Drift - she's been so in tune with him and his thoughts that...well. He tastes a bit like he...felt and that? Wouldn't make sense to anyone other than Gipsy.

She wants everything that he has, she wants to be part of him and be with him like in those memories she'd seen of his and she can tell that that's what her body wants as well but she should really keep it together. Right? Right. She barely knows enough about human nature to jump in head first, though honestly -- isn't that what humans do anyway?

"I missed you." The fingers of her right hand are on his cheek again, tips tracing little paths and lines from his jaw to his ear and back again.

[striker_eureka]

She feels perfect, and Hercules feels like singing — no he does not, he has a terrible voice, that is an awful idea — because he's so happy. This past year has been one long drawn-out haze of pain and grief and even though Gipsy returning will do nothing to bring back his son or his best friend...he's not alone anymore.

Finally, Hercules Hansen isn't a ship loose from its moorings, lost at sea.

Gipsy seems just as eager to kiss him as he is to kiss her, and he would take a moment to marvel at how good she is at this, but then again, she's always been a quick study. He nuzzles a fond little kiss to her lips again, smiling too much to really make it go anywhere, and leans into the brush of her fingertips.

"Oh, darling. I missed you too." So goddamn much.

He's got one hand settled comfortably at the base of her spine, holding her close as the other cradles the back of her neck, his thumb brushing against her hairline, marveling at how perfectly made she is.

"But seriously. How is this even possible?"

[gipsy_danger]

"Tendo." It's a quiet word, but uttered with mild amusement. "You can thank Tendo."

Or yell at him. Gipsy isn't sure what it is that Hercules feels like doing, but she's fairly certain that he's not going to be all that displeased with the man, if the look in his eyes -- directed at her, and only her -- and the way he's touching her so gently and tenderly is any indication.

"It was his idea. He thought my AI was too well developed to ever truly lose. He had been backing up all of my files, just in case something happened." And...as they both know, something had happened.

"Do you remember the scientists? Newton and Hermann?"

[striker_eureka]

"That nosy bastard." He sounds anything but pissed off, though.

How could he be angry? Gipsy is alive again, alive and in a form that lets him actually touch her, kiss her, feel her skin beneath his hands and know that she's real again. He'd been so tempted to Drift, in those long months after the final battle, because then he could relive the moments they shared together, relive the better times with Chuck, relive his friendship with Stacker. But Drifting was too dangerous, it was decided, and he'd been totally cut off, leaving him with rapidly-fading memories.

"God, I could kiss him."

Not going to happen. But the fervent gratitude is there.

"Yeah, of course I do. They're a bit hard to forget."

[gipsy_danger]

"I'd prefer it if you reserved that right for only me," she's teasing him, of all things. "But I suppose I could forgive one time..."

Gipsy's arms fasten around his waist and she stays right there close to him, unwilling to break the embrace that she'd craved for so long.

"They assisted. I am..." She hesitates. "Synthetic, they said. A synthetic human. I look and feel and taste and touch like you, but my bones...they are recycled Jaeger metal." She seems very hesitant to go into more detail -- she doesn't want him to feel weird, and doesn't want him to push her away.

"I'm almost as human as you, Hercules." She's speaking too fast, glossing over more details. "It's just...I have silica pathways instead of blood vessels." She exhales. "And I have to breath and eat and drink, just like you."

And, you know -- she's very obviously female. Tendo was thorough.

"Is it alright?" Gipsy echoes a question she asked him a long time ago, and gives him a similarly anxious look, uncertain of how he's going to react to any of this. She's still technically a machine, when it boiled down to it -- a humanized Jaeger.

[striker_eureka]

"I guess I could restrain myself..." It's so easy to fall into this little pattern of a teasing back-and-forth, like the past year hadn't happened at all and he was still clambering up 25 stories to climb inside her cockpit and Drift with her.

She starts to tell him her story but there's a hesitation to her, a reluctant to go into great detail that has him frowning and cupping her face in one hand.

The last thing he wants is for her to feel uncomfortable around him, he never wanted that.

"Is it alright?" He lifts incredulous brows. "Gipsy, baby, you're alive, of course it's alright!" He couldn't give two shits about her status as a machine or not. She's standing here in front of him, her mind is exactly the same as it used to be, her voice is the same, her hands are the same... Who fucking cares if her bones are metal or she doesn't have proper blood? Hercules certainly doesn't. "Is it alright. Honestly, who do you think I am?"

Shaking his head fondly at her, he kisses her again, nibbling at her lower lip just because he can and because, blood vessels or not, it feels so plush beneath his.

[gipsy_danger]

"I wasn't sure, I didn't know how you--"

She'd started to argue, started to tell him that she couldn't be positive how strange he'd think all of this, and if he'd reject the thought of having a Jaeger stand here in front of him, looking and feeling like a human but remaining entirely different at her core.

He answers the question with his kiss, and he has her making a quiet noise against his mouth because that? Is amazing. Her fingers fist in his shirt and she has to remember to dial back - as always - because while she's human on the outside, on the inside she's made of fucking Jaeger metal and could probably punch her way through a goddamn concrete wall.

She mumbles his name and it comes out a little more ragged than she'd anticipated. He's managed to again set all of her senses on fire and she's putty in his hands, pliable and eager and entirely willing.

[striker_eureka]

As soon as he realizes that she's still as strong as she used to be, he's going to mumble something asinine like that's so hot and get her to show him just how strong she really is. Because if there's one thing Hercules Hansen likes, it's strong women.

He ends up leaning back against the edge of his desk, his knees spread, coaxing her to come closer and stand between them so they're more of a height as he kisses her again.

They should probably stop, they're in his office, for god's sake, but he feels absolutely no desire to stop this, because this involves kissing her until her lips are pink and shiny and then kissing her some more, because damn. She's beautiful, and he has to taste her. Licking past her lips, he strokes his tongue along hers, whatever it was he was planning on saying getting lost between them.

[gipsy_danger]

He doesn't give a damn, apparently. Gipsy is relieved -- or she would be, if she wasn't distracted by the heat of his mouth covering hers. Other things distract her too -- like the way he leans back against the desk, encouraging her to come closer, and the way his warm, wet tongue pushes into her mouth to tangle with hers. That is really distracting, and Gipsy groans again, heat flooding every inch of her.

She presses right in there against him, wedging herself between his thighs and sliding her hands back around to grip at the frost of his shirt as she kisses him nack, desperate and demanding and wanting and no fucks given.

They're in his office, anyone could come in at an time -- she hadn't locked the door and in hindsight, it's something she should've done -- but Gipsy is so caught up in experiencing him physically that she simply doesn't care.

How do you really explain propriety to a jaeger that's nosed through his entire catalogued sex life, anyway?

[striker_eureka]

She's so responsive, surging up against him and pressing as close as she can get, her fingers clutching at his shirt as she leans against his chest and demands more from him, something he is quite happy to give.

The way she squirms in his arms has him idly wondering if he should have encouraged her to straddle his knee so she'd have something to rub up against, but changing positions right now does not sound like a good idea, so he just slides his hands down over her shoulders and her spine, pulling her just as close as she's pulling herself.

One of these days he's going to have to talk to her about how most people deal with sex and sexual urges, since he never really got the chance before — and the fact that he does have the chance now makes him grin stupidly — but that day is not today, since today apparently includes sliding his hands down over the firm swell of her ass and kneading a little as he tugs her as close as she can possibly get.

If someone came through his door right now, they would get one hell of an eyeful.

Hercules finds it hard to care.

[gipsy_danger]

She gets it honest, really -- all of this? Is a product of learning from him. One of the fun things about Gipsy's memory files? She saved everything. Every experience in the Drift with him, every memory of his that she nosed into, every talk they had was burned into her own memory and available at any point in time for the taking. It was like going through a hard drive and selecting the different file you wanted to open -- it was that easy for her to reference something if she was uncertain of what she should do.

Despite all of her references though, Gipsy is still incredibly inexperienced, and is going to need some guidance. She's uncertain of herself and this body, and isn't exactly sure what she should be doing with it while he so thoroughly claims her mouth with his.

She's getting hot, and that military issued jacket she's wearing has got to go, right now. She pulls away from him just long enough to practically rip it from her shoulders and toss it away, though she pauses before pouncing again, just...looking at him and savoring his appearence and his realness.

[striker_eureka]

He's created a monster.

Which is all the more evident when she pulls away to angrily strip out of her jacket, flinging it to the ground and leaving her in the standard-issue tank top that has never before seemed so appealing on anyone else.

He reaches for her again, his gaze more than a little heated as he watches her watch him. "God, I want to undress you with my teeth," he murmurs as he reels her back into his arms, his hands sliding over her body like he has every right to touch her however he likes. He's still fully dressed in his shirt and tie, everything neatly pressed — or at least, it was before Gipsy got her hands on it and wrinkled it to hell and back — and while she's still fully dressed by any real standard, there's something kind of thrilling to this.

It's only when he leans back in to kiss her again that he really regrets not taking the time to lock his door, because that's when it opens, a perfunctory knock against the frame as it's pushed open serving as their only warning that they suddenly have an audience.

Hercules? Is not happy.

[gipsy_danger]

The smile that plays over her lips is both coy and innocent; Gipsy is well aware that this form is pleasing to the eye. His eyes, anyway -- he made that clear over a year ago, when she'd first showed it to him.

She's so glad Tendo used it as a reference. There's no telling what she'd look like if he hadn't found this tucked away in her files.

"That seems complicated," she murmurs, potentially making an otherwise intensely hot moment nice and awkward in typical Gipsy style. Her comment doesn't seem to change the atmosphere though, and she's plucking at his shirt and parting her lips to kiss him again when she hears the sharp knock and the door swing open.

Problem is, Gipsy is still really new at this, so she's content to remain right there in his arms - though she's not nearly rude enough to occupy his mouth while he greets their new guest. Her back is to the door, but her arms are tight around Hercules and she's not budging from his grip. Not while she's got him -- in fact, she sees little reason to ever let go again.

[striker_eureka]

There's really nothing he can do to salvage this situation, so he might as well just roll with it, which is why Hercules doesn't push Gipsy out of his arms or attempt to straighten his clothes — not to mention that there really isn't time, he only realizes the door is being opened when it's already partially open — instead, he just lifts his head and pastes on his best disapproving 'I'm busy' look.

It usually works a lot better on intimidated underlings than it does the program's star pilot.

This...is awkward.

"Becket," he says, trying to ignore how gruff he sounds. He doesn't let go of Gipsy though, keeps his arm snugly around her waist so she knows he's not ashamed of her or of them or whatever.

At least he's not the only one who suddenly feels incredibly awkward, if the deer in the headlights look Raleigh is wearing is any indication. Hercules has no idea if he can recognize Gipsy in her current form, but thankfully Raleigh has the good grace to look incredibly sheepish at having interrupted what is so clearly a private moment.

He's clearly about to just back out of the room when something clicks in his head and his jaw just about hits the floor.

"Oh Christ." Hercules preemptively covers his face with his hand, because he knows exactly where this is going.