Work Text:
Hour 1
Everything is normal, or as normal as things can be for the K-SCI division in Hong Kong. They had both moved in a couple weeks ago, organizing themselves into two separate sides of the labs; floor taped off with yellow duct-tape so that Hermann wouldn't roll his multiple computers onto Newt's side and so that Newt wouldn't drop kaiju remains onto Hermann's. Hermann as always was high up on his chalkboards, muttering softly under his breath as he continued to try and solve an equation that he himself had created. Newt was singing rather loudly off-key as he cut into a currently unknown kaiju organ. Off-colored slime oozing off the sides of the lab table and into the grate below. The two of them had started the day with a 4:30 AM sharp meeting with Marshal Pentecost, solemnly informing them that funding had been cut again and that the Jeager program was officially being dissolved. They had two and a half days before the Marshal’s new and improved plan was initiated, which gave each of them a good 60 hours before final results were demanded and theories tested and approved or- as Hermann enjoyed to remind Newt- disproved. Hermann was sternly determined to find a better equation to predict the appearances of the kaiju; his first one being more or less accurate. Newt was attempting once again to extract the data from the last of his kaiju samples before they rotted, the samples deteriorating quickly and into the floor of the lab. Tensions were already high, and the prominent idea of having less than three days to find something real to bring to the war table was making things worse.
Hour 12
The sound of Hermann’s chalk had gotten slightly louder and squeakier as his hand progressively grew tired, the pressure on the chalk increasing with every hour. He had only slipped once, managing to upright himself back to himself. Newt’s music had also gotten louder, blasting through the lab and shaking the cups of coffee that were littered around the desks, allowing him to feel it through the metal of the lab tables. He had assumed Hermann would have complained by now about the volume of the music, except he had managed to turn up the volume ever so slightly over time and Hermann’s focus was much more intense than anything he had seen before. It was barely past the afternoon and their team was already starting to fall apart. The Marshal had come down once to try to check up on them, putting his hands to his ears and yelling at Gottlieb to try and get any kind of information on their work, but with the music blaring and Hermann’s focus, neither of them seemed to acknowledge that he was even there. One thing that the Marshal noticed while he visited was that the two of them were thankfully working in complete verbal silence, focusing more on their work and less on their arguments with each other. Even Tendo had gone down with trays from the mess, he managed to convince both of them to stop working for 30 minutes and eat. This itself was a feat on its own considering the level of intensity at which they were working. Hermann droned quietly on about the numbers he was working on, poking tiredly at what was trying its best to be pasta with sauce, while Newt explained the kaiju parts loudly around his gelatinous food. While listening to them, Tendo noted the empty cans of energy drinks tossed into the waste bucket and littered around the lab, while Hermann appeared to be on his fifth cup of tea already. He talked calmly with Hermann about the numbers he was getting from the Breach, discussing when he thought the next attack would be and what data he was using to improve the model. He left when they had wandered back to their work, almost completely blocking Tendo out and quarreling slightly with each other.
Hour 24
Tendo had gone down with more food around hour 20, but the two doctors had completely ignored him. He was surprised at Hermann ignoring him, wondering if the man knew about the latest attack that occured in Sydney. Tendo tried his best to grab Hermann's attention, but he was weary about yelling at a man who was standing at the top of ladder. He told Newt that they were going to bring in new samples for him; fresh ones from the latest attack. Unfortunately, even the news of seeing new kaiju parts didn’t break him from the cement concentration that had him in its grasp. He had left the two trays, but he had a feeling that they hadn’t been touched by the time he came back down. There was a loud noise and the lab alarms began the run. The music had stopped and from LOCCENT everyone could hear shouting and unsanitary screaming. The small explosion around hour 23 had Tendo and the Marshal had running to the lab to see the damage. The two scientists stood in the lab, soaked from head to toe in the chemical showers and dripping icy water onto the grated floor. Something had exploded from Newt’s side of the lab and triggered the alarms, and since he had continuously edged his table ever so slightly over the line, the splatter from the viscous organ went all over Hermann’s side. The revolting substance had eaten slightly through the green chalkboards, erasing hours worth of writing and leaving a deep dent in on of the boards. Newt and Hermann stood nose-to-nose, arguing loudly, Hermann managing to use words that Tendo hadn’t even heard him shout at the poor quality holo-computers. “We can’t let them continue this….” Tendo said, rubbing the bags under his eyes and kicking an empty can under a desk. “Would you like to be the one to interrupt them, Mr Choi?” inquired the Marshal, raising his eyebrow and taking in the scene before him.
Hour 36
The yelling stopped around hour 30, loud, offensive music taking its place. The music would shut off every ten to fifteen minutes and angry, venomous German would take its place, echoing through the halls. Around the 39 hour point, Mako swore she heard classical music smothering its way through the lab, a brief stint of singing along following. The Marshal had entered the lab to see the type of progress the remaining KSCI team had made and saw Hermann high up on his ladder, working on a second board of numbers. He looked for Newt and found him under the chalk boards, mumbling in German. After yelling at Geiszler for wasting time and questioning Hermann on his numbers, he called them both and addressed them. “Gentlemen, while I do appreciate the work you are trying to finish before our next plan, I do request that you don’t burn yourselves out before the end of this war. I am currently devoid of my right hand man and I do not need to be mopping up the mess that my KSCI division will make if they burn out.” Newt had blinked slowly, taking in the words carefully and then shuffling to his side of lab and going back to cataloging and labeling his wilting samples. Hermann had saluted, and seemed to say something that appeared to be an apology, except it was in tired German. The Marshal half expected Newt to wander back over to Hermann’s side, the small biologist looking like a tired cat, but he stayed with his samples. He was unsure how much more information Newt could actually gather from the disgusting pieces, but he left him to do whatever it was he did.
Hour 48
The lab was completely silent. Five different people had gone down to check if both scientists were alive; and they always were. The quiet was, to be honest, quite terrifying. Hermann appeared to be finishing up his seemingly endless equation, while Newt was dissecting the last of his samples before the new ones were brought in. If anyone tried to speak to either one, nothing happened. It was the equivalent of trying to chat with a brick wall and a lamp post. They both looked completely exhausted, and Newt had even run out of his energy drinks. Around hour 49, Tendo decided to pay them a visit and tell them to get some rest. As it turned out, he didn’t need to tell them to go to sleep, he had to tell them to wake up and go to their rooms. Hermann had clumsily fallen asleep at one of his computers, the glow of the screen softly reflecting off his glasses. Newt was originally nowhere to be found and Tendo began to think that he had already gone to bed. It wasn’t till he tried to drag Hermann out of the lab when Hermann said something about Newt and pointed at something. That “something” ended up being Newt: he was sleeping at was appeared to be his only actual desk. The desk was covered in files and papers and Tendo could see that most of them were days, if not weeks, overdue. Hermann was the one who agreed to take a shower, while Newt walked into his room and barely made it to his bed before passing out.
Hour 58
Hermann and Newt sat in the mess hall, mostly alone except for some techs and j-workers. Hermann was proof reading the final pieces of data on his laptop, while Newt hurriedly wrote out last minute reports. It was a mostly quiet until Newt voiced his newest theory- some foolish idea about drifting with the samples he was supposed to be receiving. “Please do not voice this to the Marshal, Newton” Hermann interrupted with a tired sigh. Newt looked up from his reports, slightly angry “Why not? It’s brilliant Hermann! It’s the missing link in your work, combined with your data and the data we could receive from the kai-“ “Newton do not. I do not believe it would be helpful for you to do this so please focus on something useful!” Newt blinked, messily scrawling his name on the latest report. “Useful….?” Hermann growled slightly, “You know what I mean, there’s so much more you could be doing.” “Yeah, sure.” Newt said with a sigh. “Come on, I need to drop these off and then we need to ensure the samples are handled correctly, and as much as you hate working with the kaiju, I need both of our signatures.”
Hour 60
Newt ran towards the closing elevator, checking behind him to make sure Hermann wasn’t too far behind. “Hold to door!” he shouted as he made it in with his samples. Hermann limped in soon after mumbling as he walked. “Thank you, thank you, thank you…” He stood next to a tank and behind Newt, trying to shake the water off his coat as Newt gave his "be careful with these specimen" speech. “Mr. Becket, this is our research division….”