“Go,” Lambert said.
He jabbed the HUD and Gipsy Avenger’s thruster pod cut out, dropping the Jaeger into a controlled feet-first fall directly toward Raijin. The Kaiju never looked up before Gipsy slammed down on it, smashing it into the ground. Before it could get up, Gipsy collared it and flipped it judo-style into a nearby building. The counterforce, and the leftover momentum from their dive, kept Gipsy Avenger skidding down the street for several blocks, plowing up asphalt and cars until she ground to a stop.
Jake and Lambert stood up straight again and raised Gipsy Avenger’s right hand, smacking her left fist into it. This was their acknowledgment of tradition. Raleigh Becket had done this, first with his brother Yancy and then with Mako Mori. To Jake it was a salute to all their sacrifices, but particularly his sister’s. He was fighting for the survival of the human race, but fighting to avenge his sister too. Somewhere maybe she was watching. Maybe his father was too.
“Gipsy to Command,” Lambert said. “Targets acquired.”
“Um, Roger that, Gipsy,” Gottlieb answered. He was still uncertain about combat radio protocols. They heard him doing something in the War Room, and a moment later he said, “Everyone in the area is secured in underground shelters. You’re cleared to engage.”
That was one good thing, Jake thought. Their correct guess about where the Kaiju were headed meant they’d had time to get civilians out of the way. Diverting to save civilian populations caught in a battle had often put Jaegers in a vulnerable position in the past.
“Solid copy,” he confirmed. “Going hot.”
Guardian Bravo and Saber Athena landed behind Gipsy Avenger and jettisoned their thruster pods. A moment later Bracer Phoenix joined them, moving too fast to stay upright. She skidded through a plaza, crushing trees and benches, before getting her balance back. Jake heard Amara over the comm, trying to play it cool as always. “I meant to do that.”
“Bracer Phoenix, on me. We’ll take Raijin,” Jake ordered. “Saber Athena, Guardian Bravo, you take the other two.” Saber Athena was on Hakuja’s side, and Jake thought it made sense to pit her superior speed against the slowest of the Kaiju.
“Copy that,” he heard Suresh respond. Then, almost like he was convincing himself, Suresh added, “We were born to save the world.”
“On my mark,” Lambert said. The Kaiju roared out a challenge. “Three… two… one… mark.”
The four Jaegers charged down the empty avenue toward the Kaiju. Saber Athena surged ahead, whipping her plasma swords out from their back-mounted sheaths and striking Hakuja faster than the Kaiju could defend. The plasma blades scored deep gouges in Hakuja’s armor. Hakuja lunged at Saber Athena, but the Jaeger was much too fast, spinning into a reverse kick that flung the Kaiju back to crash against a glass office building. Hakuja staggered, trying to recover.
Gipsy, at her own full speed, stormed past Hakuja and put everything she had into an overhand right, aiming straight at Raijin’s face. Around the jaws, Jake and Lambert thought the skull tissue looked vulnerable. But in mid-swing, the armored plates around Raijin’s head snapped closed and the Kaiju tensed for the impact. The punch landed, with everything Gipsy Avenger had. Jake and Lambert felt the shock all through the Jaeger’s frame. But Raijin didn’t go down. From the point of impact, blue lines of energy radiated out along the plates, crackling down Raijin’s arms into its claws. They flared the same color of blue—and Raijin struck back.
The glowing claws raked across Gipsy’s shoulder and torso. Gipsy shuddered from the blow, and the next thing Jake and Lambert knew, they were catapulted through the air. Bracer Phoenix ducked and Gipsy Avenger sailed past, smashing into the side of a building. Bracer Phoenix stood again and advanced, firing a barrage of missiles from her shoulder mounts. Explosions bloomed across the Kaiju’s body as Bracer closed to within striking distance.
At first Raijin flinched away from the missiles, but as the explosions died away it spun back to its full height, backhanding Bracer Phoenix before the three cadets inside could get close enough to grapple. Knocked off her feet, Bracer destroyed a small building and sprawled in the rubble over on the next street. The battlefield footing was already treacherous, with mounds of rubble shifting under the combatants’ feet.
Like Bracer Phoenix, Guardian Bravo had launched a missile salvo to give her cover for a close approach. The first volley hit the target and she fired again, charging closer to Shrikethorn… and then skidding to an emergency stop as Bracer Phoenix crashed down in front of her. She barely stopped in time, dragging a fist on the street and setting off a car alarm near Bracer Phoenix’s head.
Gipsy Avenger was just then getting back to her feet after the stunning force of Raijin’s blow. Jake couldn’t figure out how it had delivered so much power just with its claws, and through the Drift he could tell Lambert was just as confused. Then Gottlieb solved the problem, thanks to the data feeds from the battlefield back to the War Room. “Gipsy! Raijin’s faceplates are absorbing your hits and throwing the energy back at you!”
That was a problem. If you couldn’t punch an enemy in the face, your options for winning were compromised. Down the street, Raijin was coming after them again, its bony plates open so it could see the way ahead.
Jake had an idea. “Let’s see it absorb this,” he said, and touched the command to activate the Gravity Sling.
Gipsy Avenger’s right hand reconfigured into the lens array and she reached out, catching a nearby building and dragging it down on top of Raijin. Fifty stories of concrete and steel crashed down on the Kaiju, knocking it flat and momentarily obscuring it in a cloud of dust.
But Raijin shook it off and kept coming.
Gipsy hit the Kaiju with another building. And another. And another, over and over, toppling entire blocks of office towers to thunder down on
