“ ‘Obsidian Fury.’ Doesn’t even sound like a real Jaeger name,” said Tahima, motioning at the evil Jaeger.
“I don’t think Tahima sounds like a real name, but your mama did,” joked Renata.
“There’s never been a rogue like this,” said Amara. “How’d the Kaiju nuts build it? Ones where I’m from couldn’t change a battery without getting fried.”
“Maybe they stole it,” said Ryoichi.
“Da. You can steal anything in my country with overalls and a work order,” said Ilya.
Amara hadn’t stopped looking at the feed. “These pilots . . . they’re too fast. I don’t understand how they’re exceeding the neural load—”
“Ballerinas, I’m telling you,” chimed in Jinhai.
“Stop it with that, man. You know how many people died in Sydney?” said Tahima.
“Newsfeed said they’re posting a dozen Jaegers at the memorial,” said Meilin.
“When I die, I want that many to send me off,” said Suresh.
“Still you die—meh. I’d post one Jaeger at your funeral. Maybe half a Jaeger,” said Jinhai.
“I heard that’s where they found Amara. In half a Jaeger,” said Vik, looking at Amara coldly.
Amara shot up. “It was a whole Jaeger. It just wasn’t very big, Viktoriya.”
Renata’s mouth hung open after Amara used Vik’s full name. This was getting good!
Vik stepped close to Amara, looming over her. “Bigger is better,” she said.
Amara sized Vik up. She was much bigger. “Look, uh—Idi na fig,” said Amara in Russian. Vik laughed in disbelief. Ilya, who was also Russian, tensed.
“What did you say?” said Vik.
“Idi na . . . fig?” Amara said hesitantly. “Am I saying that right?” she asked Jinhai.
“Yep,” said Jinhai. He suppressed a laugh. The Russian phrase he taught Amara was obviously not a friendly one. Vik exploded and grabbed Amara in a chokehold.
“Whoa!” said Jinhai.
“Vik, come on! Let her go—” said Ryoichi.
“I worked every day of my life to be here! You didn’t do anything! You were just picked up off the street like garbage!” Vik screamed.
Amara snapped. She broke free and took Vik down with a scissor lock around the neck. The cadets erupted in surprise as Vik struggled for air.
“Know where I learned that? On the streets, you big dumb—”
“Namani! Malikova!” screamed a voice. The cadets whirled around to face Nate.
“Ranger Lambert on deck,” warned Ryoichi.
The cadets all stood at attention. Amara released Vik, and they both scrambled up.
“She jumped me—” said Amara.
“She does not belong here,” said Vik.
“Enough!” screamed Nate. There was anger in his voice, but the cadets could also see the pain and loss in his eyes. Amara and Vik fell silent.
“When I first joined the corps, I was just like you. Worse even. I was nobody. From nowhere. But Mako Mori told me I could make a difference,” said Nate.
Jake drifted into the room. He had heard Nate’s words from outside the door, and they drew him in. He was still wearing his street clothes.
Nate continued. “She said whoever you are, wherever you come from, the minute you enter this program, you’re part of a family. And the people beside you are your brothers and sisters.”
Nate cocked his head toward Jake. This speech was half meant for him.
“No matter what they do . . . no matter how stupid they act . . . you forgive. And you move on. Because that’s what family does. Start believing that out here and you’ll start believing it in a Jaeger.”
Nate’s words hit the room hard. Amara and Vik exchanged sheepish glances. Jake looked at Nate, suddenly understanding the hurt he caused his “brother” when he ran off years ago. Then, Jules entered the cadets’ barracks.
“Hey,” she said. Nate and Jake turned to face her. “Marshal’s looking for you guys. Said Gottlieb found something.”
The rangers rushed over to the lab. Gottlieb worked a holo screen, displaying Mako’s Kaiju head drawing. It overlaid a section of topography. Jake, Nate, and Marshal Quan couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Mako’s drawing wasn’t a Kaiju head. It was a map!
“Severnaya Zemlya. Off Siberia’s Taymyr Peninsula,” explained Gottlieb.
“What’s in Zemlya?” asked Marshal Quan.
“Nothing anymore,” said Gottlieb. He zoomed in on the eye of the drawing. “A facility roughly in this location was used to manufacture Jaeger power cores early in the war. But it was decommissioned years ago.”
“Why would Mako be trying to tell us about an abandoned factory in the middle of nowhere?” asked Nate. Then he eyed Jake, challenging him.
Jake understood. He turned to Marshal Quan.
“Sir, permission to take Gipsy Avenger and see what’s out there.”
A howling swirl of ice and snow assaulted the frozen landscape. Gipsy Avenger blasted through the snow. The Jaeger paused, looking up at something in the distance.
It was a manufacturing facility built into the side of a glacier, the one Gottlieb had mentioned in the lab. A cascade of ice half sealed the abandoned and dilapidated structure.
Nate eyed the tactical scans of the facility on Gipsy’s display.
“No life signs. Looks like Gottlieb was right. Place is abandoned,” said Nate.
Then, the scan partially locked onto something deep inside the facility. It was faint and fluctuating.
“Wait a second. I’m picking up some weird readings—” said Jake.
WHOOM! Plasma missiles roared past Gipsy Avenger and destroyed the facility, obliterating any evidence that it might have contained. Gipsy whirled around to face Obsidian Fury, emerging out of a swirl of ice and snow!
Obsidian Fury loomed on Gipsy’s screen. Jake snarled and hurled forward in his drift cradle. He was no longer afraid of Obsidian Fury. Now he just wanted revenge for Mako’s death!
Gipsy charged at Obsidian. Obsidian unleashed another barrage of missiles. They slammed into Gipsy, but Gipsy ignored them and charged forward. “Get him off his feet,” screamed Nate. Jake bellowed and leapt into the air.
WHAM! Gipsy Avenger tackled Obsidian Fury. Both Jaegers skidded across the ice and tumbled into a crevasse. As she fell through the deep fracture in the ice, Gipsy unleashed her chain sword. Obsidian countered by revving up his chain saws. The Jaegers traded blows, bounced off an embankment, and—
— crashed through the ice wall and out onto an ice floe!
Obsidian was the first Jaeger to regain balance. He whirled to face Gipsy, and then
