Chapter Text
Well this is fucking anticlimactic, Chuck thought. He watched helicopters head towards where he presumed Mako and Raleigh were - and away from him.
After all that, he was going to die stuck in an escape pod in the middle of the Pacific Ocean because the flares were swamped, the communications system swamped, everything was fucking swamped.
And he was burning.
“Sir,” said Tendo, as everyone in the Shatterdome cheered at the footage of Raleigh and Mako embracing. “We’re picking up another escape pod.”
“Signs of life?” Hansen asked. He leaned forward, and for a moment, the lines in his forehead softened. Tendo felt the same pain in his stomach he had felt when Striker had blown its payload - this wasn’t fair. There was no way anyone could have made it out of that explosion alive. But they were going to have to go through the motions.
“Indeterminate,” Tendo replied. “It appears the signalling system is shot on the pod.”
“Send a helicopter over to investigate,” Hansen replied, and Tendo only met his eyes briefly. He knew what he was thinking - it was exactly what Pentecost would have done before blowing Striker’s payload, especially since he knew he could pilot it by himself for those few moments. Because he knew Chuck was all Herc had. But Striker had been severely damaged at that point, and there were so many things that could have prevented Chuck from making it - oxygen supply, damage from the blast...
No one seemed to hear the two of them - the clock was off, after all, and somehow people seemed to have got a hold of beer, wine, and even some sparkling wine. Tendo pressed his lips together and then looked down at Max. He knew too, poor thing. All Tendo could think of was some cartoon he’d seen when he was a kid, about a dog that waited for an owner who was never going to come back until the dog passed away.
“This is Captain Altmeyer,” came a voice over the comm. “I’m approaching the third escape pod.” Tendo looked over at Hansen. He sort of wanted to hold his hand. “We have visual on a pilot.” It seemed like the pauses between statements were years long. “We’re sending a diver down now to secure rescue apparatus. You should be receiving the feed, sir.”
Tendo followed Hansen’s gaze to the screen then - he hadn’t been able to watch until that moment. He’d just focused on Max instead.
The feed was from the point of view of the helicopter, and wasn’t ideal. The diver jumped and splashed down, swam to the pod, and then climbed on. “Rescue apparatus is secure, sir, Lt. Garcia and pilot are engaged.” Tendo wondered if they’d had training on this - no name, just pilot, don’t ever call it the body or anything similar.
Hansen hadn’t breathed in some time, Tendo could tell, and he was swallowing hard.
“Sir, Ranger Hansen is alive but in need of immediate medical treatment. Patching into medical on your acknowledgement.”
“Proceed back at maximum capacity,” Hansen replied, voice soft. “Land in Bay 2. We’ll have the medical team meet you.”
Then Hansen sort of collapsed, sort of kneeled, and bent over onto the ground. Max jumped on him and slobbered on his face - how did they know? Tendo wondered, and then, because he also felt giddy, he thought, maybe we should get Newt to drift with Max to find out. He seemed to enjoy drifting with somewhat sentient creatures.
Tendo shook his head - back to business. He looked down at Hansen and nodded at him. Tendo patched himself into the medical bay first - they were probably the only ones not at the general celebration, since they were readying themselves for whoever came back in whatever condition. “Choi, checking in that emergency team is prepared to meet and treat Ranger Hansen on arrival.”
“Yes, sir, we’re getting the gear together now,” came the response.
“Prepare to meet in Bay 2,” he said. “Marshall Hansen will meet you there as well.”
“Sir,” was the reply.
Then Tendo looked at Hansen again, and Hansen nodded his approval. Tendo put himself onto the Shatterdome wide communication system. “This is Tendo Choi from Command,” he said. “We received notification of an additional escape pod present in the vicinity of the breach.” He inhaled, and waited for sufficient quiet. “Ranger Hansen is inbound for medical treatment.”
The Shatterdome was quiet for a moment, and then the burst of cheers was nearly as loud as when Hansen had announced their victory. This time, Tendo didn’t look over at Hansen, and he stepped aside, wanting to give him a moment before he rested his hand on Hansen’s shoulder. “Sir, I told them to expect you in Bay Two.”
“Yeah,” Hansen said, and he stood up. “You mind taking Max?”
“Not at all, sir,” Tendo said. Hansen wiped at his eyes, and Tendo sort of had the need to do the same. Hansen walked towards the exit, then turned when he reached it.
“Well, come on,” he said.
“Yes, sir,” Choi replied. He could feel Max’s stumpy tail thumping in his arm.
Tendo had seen them bring pilots back in all sorts of conditions, and he cycled through almost all of the possibilities as they waited for Chuck. He was glad to see Dr. Lauritsen was heading the response team - she was probably the best they had. She glanced over at the dog, then at Herc, then arched an eyebrow.
The approach of the helicopter ratcheted up the tension in the room and made it palpable. Tendo was relieved when he finally was pressed against the wall by the force of the blades as they entered the bay, and he shielded his eyes to try and get a good look at what was going on.
He wasn’t really able to hear over the helicopter powering down. He couldn’t really see Chuck because he was completely covered by one of their radiation safe bags - Tendo had spent most of his career with the older models, and he remembered those drills with a shudder. No one had ever wanted to be the body.
Max started to bark and wiggled to get towards the gurney that Chuck was on - and thankfully Hansen appeared at his side and began to mutter something to the calm the dog slightly.
“Hey, hey,” Tendo added. “Let the doctor do her work.” Max wiggled against him. Fuck, Tendo thought, what if they got Chuck back but they couldn’t save him?
Herc walked over to the gurney and looked down at the sheer window where Chuck’s face was. He bent down, and kissed Chuck where his forehead would be. Tendo felt his throat constrict. He looked away, not wanting Hansen to think he saw. Hansen grasped the top railing of the gurney and began to push along with the others.
The helicopter paramedic followed the doctors and nurses as they rolled Chuck out of the room but stopped at the door. He ran his fingers through his hair. Tendo held his gaze on him, and finally the paramedic met his eye. “Tendo Choi,” he said, as the paramedic walked over.
“I figured,” the paramedic replied. His English accent was one of the ones that Pentecost would have called posh. “Rob Harcourt.” Tendo reached his hand out, but Rob just held his up. Tendo drew back, slightly, seeing the blood. “He’s in rough shape, but he’ll make it. Ribs are fractured to hell, probably gonna need to go in and look for internal bleeding. Radiation burns because the shield on the pod went to shit.”
“But he’ll make it.”
“Kid like that, yeah,” said Harcourt. “Might not get in a Jaeger again.”
“Well,” Tendo said, since that was the expected response, by now. “That’s not so much a concern.”
“Ha,” said Harcourt. “Yeah.” He laughed, then, his relief delayed.
This Tendo’s comm link beeped, and it was Hansen. “Mori and Becket are coming in Bay 3,” he said. “Greet them and take them to medical.”
“Sir,” he replied. “Max?”
“Bring him,” Hansen said. Tendo shrugged. Hansen was in charge.
“He’s really out?” Raleigh asked. He finally agreed to lay down on a gurney after Mako had just smiled, nodded, and complied with the nurse when she asked her. Tendo was relieved. He’d been trying to help another nurse get Raleigh onto the gurney, but Raleigh was practically bouncing. This concerned Tendo. He knew how Raleigh got, how he could crash - and that was before.
“Saw him, didn’t we?” Tendo said to Max, and he was pretty sure that adrenaline and whatever the fuck else pumps through you after you save the world was responsible for his growing affection and identification with Max. Especially after only ten minutes. The dog thumped his tail.
He walked over to Mako and took her hand. “He’s going to make it.” Her eyes puddled with tears, and she gave him one of her smiles. Tendo nodded at the nurse, shortened up Max’s leash, and followed the two stretchers into medical.
Raleigh started to grumble again as soon as they had his gurney in the examination bay and doctors began to head towards him. “I am fine, really, look-”
“Let them look at you.” Mako sat up and rolled her eyes at Tendo. He smiled back. It wasn’t the first time he thought thank goodness for Mako - she somehow managed to ground so many different people when they decided it was time for a bit of protest, or tantrum, or whatever. “How is Chuck?”
“The paramedic in the helicopter said he’s got a lot of fractured ribs, maybe some internal bleeding, radiation burns, probably radiation poisoning-” Mako flinched when Tendo mentioned this, but she would have been mad at him if he had tried to keep it from her. She and Chuck had basically grown up together, even if they weren’t exactly friends most of the time.
“How - the suits are made to withstand that, now,” Raleigh said, as a nurse attached nodes to his chest.
“From the Jaegers,” Tendo said.
“Not from a bomb,” Mako added. She held her arm out so a blood pressure cuff could be attached.
Max had been circling Tendo the entire time, but then he must have caught a whiff of Chuck - he barked, his stump wagging, and ran right for the door separating the two treatment areas. He jumped at it, pawing hard, and turned and looked back at Tendo with expectation.
“Uh,” Tendo said.
One of the nurses hit a communication panel on the wall. “Dr. Lauritsen, can the dog enter?”
“He’s still bagged and stable,” was the reply, in Lauritsen’s crisp and precise English - she never pulled punches. “Perhaps the others would like to see him before surgery?”
Raleigh bounced out of the bed, while Mako was more careful, even smoothing the sheet over and smiling politely at the nurse as she stood. Tendo looked away when he felt her watching him - but that was the quality he liked about her best, how sweet she was while still being fierce as hell.
Raleigh walked in first, followed by Max, who nearly got tangled up in his legs before Raleigh scooped the dog up. Tendo still held the leash, not wanting to be responsible if the dog broke something - or someone. Mako came in behind them and gave a rare, wide smile to Hansen. He was in the corner, looking dazed and a little gelatinous. Tendo negotiated so that he was at Hansen’s side.
Chuck was half upright on the gurney, still wrapped up like a Thanksgiving turkey. Tendo glanced over at Lauritsen, who just nodded. None of them needed the monologue, they knew the precarious position they were in - surgery to correct internal bleeding was going to be extremely complicated with Chuck’s white blood cell counts lowered and aplastic anemia settling in.
“Aw, hey, buddy,” Chuck said to Max. The dog was desperately squirming, trying to get closer to him, but Raleigh held him tight. “Raleigh,” he said, the same obnoxious way he had first pronounced it. “Mako, Tendo. Gang’s all here. Except for Newt. Did he fry his brain?” Tendo shook his head slightly, though Hansen smiled slightly. This was a typical Chuck Hansen attempt at levity.
“Dr. Geiszler is sedated,” Dr. Lauritsen said.
“Christ, you guys finally figured that one out,” Chuck said, and rolled his eyes. The room was silent for awhile, then he just said. “Hey.”
“Hey,” Raleigh replied.
“We need to start surgery,” Dr. Lauritsen said. “I am sorry I can’t let the dog kiss you, Chuck.” Tendo pressed his lips together - no one was ever really that blunt and upfront with Chuck when they were denying him something.
Hansen leaned in and put his hand over where Chuck’s was under the bag. “We’ll see you on the other end.”
“I feel like I just did this,” Chuck said.
“But with less optimism,” Mako added, then looked slightly terrified that she had said it out loud. Raleigh laughed, though, and then Tendo laughed. Hansen just looked down, then at Chuck, and he nodded.
“If you don’t mind,” Lauritsen said. “Marshall, I’ll give you a moment.”
They exited, and Raleigh passed Max over to Tendo, who hugged the dog tight and accepted the slobbering kisses he hadn’t been able to bestow on his other owner.
Then Hansen came out, white and dazed. “Fuck me,” Hansen said, as if he didn’t deserve it.