Xiang looked at the holo screen inside the Moyulan Shatterdome and tensed. “It’s a Jaeger sir, but it’s not broadcasting a CSD,” she said to Marshal Quan.
“Gipsy, this is Command,” said Quan over the speaker. “Be advised we have an unregistered Jaeger, no call sign designation.”
The unregistered Jaeger exploded out of the bay and landed like a panther on the street. Inside her helicopter, Mako constricted at the sight of the machine. Nate and Jake also tensed as the sleek and advanced machine moved eerily quickly through the streets of Sydney.
Jake eyed the holo display, scanning the mysterious Jaeger. “What is that? Is that one of ours?”
“Pilots of unregistered Jaeger, power down and exit your conn-pod immediately,” ordered Nate over the loudspeaker. “I repeat: Power down and exit your conn-pod immediately—”
The unregistered Jaeger responded to Nate’s plea by unleashing a barrage of plasma missiles into the air!
Xiang’s plasma screen lit up and tracked the missiles. The room around her exploded with noise as her team tried to figure out what was going on. “Missiles fired! Multiple ordnance inbound,” screamed Marshal Quan. The missiles struck the anti-Kaiju cannons, and a few slammed into Gipsy Avenger and the council building. They were definitely under attack by this rogue Jaeger. Its name was Obsidian Fury.
Warning alarms wailed. “Neural handshake fluctuating,” said Xiang, as she watched Gipsy Avenger’s activity on her screen.
Inside, Jake struggled to maintain control of the Jaeger. This was his first time in actual combat—not a simulator, no second chances. Time slowed. His breath filled his ears. A voice reached out to him from long ago. It was the voice of his father.
“You don’t belong in a Jaeger!” the voice echoed in Jake’s ears, distorted and distant.
“Jake! Stay connected! Jake!” shouted Nate. But then suddenly, WHOOSH! Both of them were sucked into Jake’s memory.
Alarms wailed as another volley of plasma missiles slammed into Gipsy. Nate shook himself out of the drift memory.
“Jake! Pentecost!” screamed Nate.
Jake snapped out of the memory. He was rattled and disoriented. “What . . . what do we do?” he asked.
“Stay focused. Follow my lead, and look out—”
A chunk of the council building crashed down, falling quickly toward the crowd below. Nate shot out his hand and Gipsy Avenger caught the chunk a second before it hit the crowd of people. Kang and his men rushed Shao toward her limo as more plasma missiles soared through the air, slamming into Gipsy Avenger.
Mako tensed. Her data pad picked up an odd power signal from Obsidian. “Jake! That Jaeger’s power is reading the same as—”
A piercing screech suddenly split the air. Obsidian Fury was jamming the comms!
A warning alarm wailed as they got rocked with another blast. The lights flickered. Jake eyed a flashing holo screen. “We’re losing power!” he warned.
“Rerouting systems,” said Nate, as his fingers flew across the holo screen.
Jake saw Obsidian Fury raise a particle cannon—aiming it directly at Mako’s helicopter.
“Nate!” screamed Jake. He needed him to rush.
“Power’s up!” Nate yelled.
Jake hurled a chunk of building at the evil Jaeger. Debris rained down on the city, only barely missing Shao and the rest of the fleeing crowd. The building chunk made contact and Obsidian Fury went flying backwards.
Then Gipsy Avenger slammed into Obsidian Fury with all its weight. Obsidian responded by tearing at Gipsy with vicious metal claws. Gipsy staggered back into a building. It almost trampled a crowd of people as Jake and Nate struggled to steady Gipsy.
Obsidian seized the distraction, grabbed Gipsy by the leg, and slammed her into a row of buildings. It started to rip at Gipsy’s head.
Nate desperately punched commands on a holo pad that sprung up from his drivesuit’s forearm. Gipsy Avenger’s chain sword shot out. It forced Obsidian to let go. Then Gipsy swung, but Obsidian kicked Gipsy into a building. The evil Jaeger flexed both arms, and twin plasma chain saws sprung from them!
Obsidian Fury and Gipsy Avenger clashed in battle. Office workers scrambled out of the way as the chain saws tore through a building.
“Are those chain saws? Does that thing have chain saws?” asked Jake.
Gipsy Avenger slammed into Obsidian Fury again. Arcs of energy rippled into the air as the two machines clashed.
“We need to land!” the pilot of the helicopter shouted at Mako.
“No! We have to help them! Target that Jaeger!” commanded Mako.
The pilot complied with a grimace. “Target locked!”
“Fire!” said Mako.
The pilot jammed the fire button on his stick. Mako’s helicopter unleashed a barrage of missiles. They hit the evil Jaeger’s arm, causing it to miss Gipsy and nearly splitting an office building down the middle with its chain saw. Office workers scrambled out of the way as the plasma chain saw tore through the building.
The chain saw momentarily got stuck! Gipsy Avenger took advantage of the moment and hit Obsidian Fury with a supersonic punch. The rogue Jaeger flew back, but it used its chain saws to gouge into the buildings, creating enough friction to help it slow down. Then it fired another round of deadly plasma missiles into the air!
The missiles peppered the city. One hit a parking garage, and the cars inside smashed down on the people below. Another detonated close to Mako Mori, and the explosion forced her helicopter to begin to drop out of the sky.
“She’s going down! We need to move!” screamed Jake.
“Activating gravity sling!” replied Nate.
Gipsy Avenger’s right arm formed into the gravity sling weapon, which could use gravitational forces to lift objects and then fire them at a target. A wave of distortion flew out of Gipsy’s rotating blue arm. It scooped up falling cars from the parking garage and launched them at Obsidian Fury. The cars hit and Obsidian Fury flew backwards through the air. Gipsy Avenger turned and raced across the city to save Mako’s copter.
Mako watched as Gipsy raced toward her. She desperately tried to send a message from her data pad.
Jake struggled against his drift cradle, pushing Gipsy Avenger to her
