Gipsy Avenger now had an opening, but at terrible cost. Jake and Lambert knew they couldn’t waste this chance. Keeping an eye on the HUD tactical scan of the secondary brains’ locations, they sprung forward onto the Mega-Kaiju’s back, driving both plasma saws deep into the plating over the base of its spine, straight into a secondary brain. The Mega-Kaiju screeched in agony, and one of its legs went limp. The dead weight put incredible strain on the network of stitching that held the parts of the Mega-Kaiju together. They began to split apart, tearing themselves to pieces.
On the HUD, one of the three secondary brains winked out. “One down, two to go,” Jake said. He and Lambert dragged one of the plasma saws free in a fountain of mech parts and Kaiju blood. The Mega-Kaiju thrashed, snapping off the other saw and launching Gipsy Avenger away. Jake and Lambert tried to brace themselves as they smashed through an elevated train track, scattering the stopped cars, and landed hard in an open space beyond the track.
With the Mega-Kaiju facing back toward Gipsy Avenger, Bracer Phoenix had a clear shot at the gaping wound in its back. Vik dropped into the railgun turret again and unleashed a furious barrage. Railgun shells chewed apart the plating around the wound, but she couldn’t keep the gun on so small a target while the Mega-Kaiju was still moving. Bracer tried to circle for a better angle, but the Mega-Kaiju turned to keep its back out of the field of fire. “I can’t punch through!” she shouted.
Jinhai looked around for some way to keep the Mega-Kaiju still. On top of a nearby building, he spotted a tall steel spire. “Target that spire! I’m gonna try something!”
Vik didn’t ask any questions. She swung the turret around and opened fire. The first burst of shells tore the top off the building and sheared the spire loose. Bracer Phoenix ran to catch it, leaping high into the air. Amara watched the spire start to spin. They had to time this perfectly. She reached out and caught it, pivoting in her Drift cradle as she did, feeling Jinhai in perfect synchronicity with her move.
Bracer Phoenix spun in midair, turning the spire over and gripping it with both hands. The Mega-Kaiju dragged itself forward, one leg still dead.
As Bracer Phoenix fell through the arc of her jump, Amara drove both hands down, watching the holographic spire in her hands punch deep into the Mega-Kaiju’s back toward the two remaining secondary brains. The tip of the spire stabbed straight through one. It darkened and winked out. The Mega-Kaiju bellowed again, and more of its body sagged. Amara heard cheering over the comm, from back in the War Room, and she realized she was cheering too.
A moment later, Bracer Phoenix was rocked as the Mega-Kaiju lashed around and seized the Jaeger in its monstrous jaws. It shook the Jaeger like a dog killing a rat. Inside the Conn-Pod, the Mega-Kaiju’s fangs punched in close to the three cadets. The Conn-Pod began to crumple. “All pilots, eject! Eject!” Jinhai hit the ejection button and his Drift cradle slammed up into his ejection pod. Right behind him came Amara. Vik was the last to reach her pod, rocketing back up on the maglev track from the railgun turret down in Bracer Phoenix’s waist.
The three pods blasted free of Bracer Phoenix’s head just as the Mega-Kaiju bit down and crushed the Jaeger’s upper half. They crashed down in the wreckage and rubble near where Saber Athena had fallen. The Mega-Kaiju chewed on the wreckage of Bracer Phoenix and then tossed it away.
Now Gipsy Avenger was the only Jaeger left, and the Mega-Kaiju was still alive. But as Jake and Lambert circled it, looking for a way to get at that third brain, they saw the scale of the damage they’d already done. The Mega-Kaiju was bleeding from a hundred wounds, and huge gouges showed in its outer armor of Newt-monsters. It dragged one leg but still kept going, doggedly heading for Mount Fuji. Some of the smaller creatures lost their grip and fell off, dying as they hit the ground or were crushed under the Mega-Kaiju’s immense claws.
Now it’s one on one, Jake thought. Gipsy Avenger and the biggest Kaiju the world has ever seen. Fate of the world at stake.
Gipsy Avenger dug herself out of the rubble on the other side of the destroyed elevated train track. On the HUD, they got another look at the Mega-Kaiju’s wounds, hoping to find an exploitable weak spot. But Gipsy Avenger had taken some damage, too. Losing the plasma saw had damaged that arm, and the general pounding had generated a long list of damage alerts. Their weapons systems were rebooting and parts of their sensor package were damaged.
But they were still alive, and Jake knew they could finish the Mega-Kaiju off even if they had to do it with just Gipsy Avenger’s fists.
“Jake…” Lambert worked the holo screens, furiously trying to get Gipsy’s weapons back online.
“Yeah, I know,” Jake said through gritted teeth. They couldn’t let the Mega-Kaiju get much more of a head start, or they would never catch it. They leaned forward and Gipsy Avenger leaped from the far side of the tracks, landing on the Mega-Kaiju’s back again. It overbalanced and tumbled to the ground. Gipsy blasted away at it with her plasma cannon as Lambert got it working again, but the Mega-Kaiju kept going, dragging Gipsy Avenger across the ground. A blast from the plasma cannon struck one of the wounds in the Mega-Kaiju’s back and it arched in agonized fury, lashing out with its tail. The tail gouged a hole in the back wall of Gipsy Avenger’s Conn-Pod and tore into Nate’s Drift cradle. Nate grunted in pain as it shredded one side of his drivesuit and cracked his helmet. Then it was gone. In the Drift Jake could feel Nate’s shock and
