Chapter Text
Juno’s room, unlike many of his mates’, had a window from where he could see the sky. And that is because his twin brother Ben got it from their mom and Ben was dead, so the room with a window was Juno’s now. And Juno was okay with that whole deal because it happened a long time ago and it wasn’t anybody’s fault. Not his fault, for sure, even if he was the one who didn’t insist on retiring when Ben said they couldn’t leave their mother behind. It wasn’t his fault.
The thing is, Juno had this habit of climbing things since he was a kid, and his window was not an exception because he liked the view from the roof, the waves of the cold Pacific Ocean crashing against the Shatterdome that was carved directly into the cliff, the permanent storm that obscured the sky since 2013 and the feeling of vastness the wind brought him from the horizon. Up in the roof, Juno was just Juno, and he let himself breathe in the salty breeze and get rid of the stress of his part-time ranger/part-time general disappointment routine.
And yes, all of that was is very poetic but let’s be honest, the real reason why Juno went up there was usually either to throw a tantrum or to nap in working hours, as you do. And he was doing precisely that when the explosion shook the entire building under his back.
Juno sighed and opened his eyes slowly. At first, the Statue-of-Liberty-size jaeger standing in front of him didn’t seem weird. Juno was used to jaegers, he even used to pilot one himself back in the day. Jaegers were cool. This particular one was a little bit smaller than the standard ones, bright green like a beetle and…
—…fuck. —Juno began crawling back as the robot lifted its humongous hand towards the place where he was laying. —Listen, if this is my punishment for ducking out of the compatibility tests today, I’m sorry! —he shouted, raising the palms of his hands as a surrender sign. The furious wind produced by the spinning blades of the fan that was in the center of the robot’s chest howled around him, messing the dark curls of his hair and making him frown to look up to the dark figure that stood against the cloudy sky.
Not without surprise, Juno noticed something about the jaeger that was…off, to say the least. It moved without connection between its parts, limping and hunched, and that clashed violently with the clean and polished look of the machine. It wasn’t attacking him; it was leaning on the roof because its pilots couldn’t quite keep it upright. Looking directly to the head as if he was able to see who was piloting it, Juno smirked.
At that moment, the titanic silhouette of another robot appeared from behind the first one, white and all scarred from past battles.
—Pilots of the Seventh Ruby, this is a warning. —the amplified voice of ranger Buddy Aurinko from the newcomer jaeger echoed with a metallic taste. —Power down and exit your Conn-Pod. —she said, with an official yet tiresome tone, as if she did that kind of thing every day.
The green giant turned its chest slowly, just enough to be able to see the other one and shook its free hand, clenching and relaxing the fist. Its pilots clearly didn’t know how to load the weapons and Juno thought it was a pity because the Seventh Ruby was the new crowning jewel of the Shatterdome, a state-of-the-art Mark-5 still in its testing phase and it could probably sink Buddy’s Carte Blanche without any issue. But, before they could figure out how to put up a fight, the bigger jaeger pushed its hands on both sides of the other one’s body, keeping its arms from moving. That lethally controlled action and the way its fingers pressed just the correct joint so the prey couldn’t scape had the other pilot’s signature. That must had been Vespa. She and her wife were one of the most legendary teams of the Pan Pacific Defense Corps. The Seventh Ruby collapsed into the sea.
By the time the helicopters arrived to take the jaegers inside again, Juno had already left the roof, and, as he was running down the halls to the hangar, he couldn’t help but feeling excited like he hadn’t felt in a long time. The bright green jaeger was supposed to be faster than any other, very technologically advanced, and provided with a new software capable of analyzing the scenario and giving support to its pilots, a true masterpiece of engineering. And it just got almost stolen in the middle of the compatibility test where they were supposed to choose who was going to drive it, right in front of loads of pilots from all around the world. And Juno would be damned if he didn’t want to know who those reckless morons who almost got away with it were before the Marshall obliterated them from history and made it look like an accident.
—Honk, honk! —There was a whole crowd gathered around the feet of the Seventh Ruby, that was still dripping a lot of salty water, and it took Juno a few good shoves getting to the front line.
Standing just under the machine, Marshall Sasha Wire, with her eternal dark glasses and military bearing was accompanied by a tall technician in a heavy brown jacket and, of course, by Buddy and Vespa, who were still in their drivesuits. All of them had their backs turned to the rest of the people so their eyes couldn’t reach the thieves, but it was pretty obvious that they weren’t killing them. Not even a bit. He felt a little disappointed by that.
—Hey mister Steel! —a familiar voice and the small figure that went with it appeared next to Juno, pushing him a bit to the side while chewing noisily. The whole mister thing was a joke Ben and Juno played on Rita a long time ago, back when they were doing their first tests on real jaegers and she was an intern drift supervisor and it kind of stuck. —Am I late? I went to take some pretzels but not the regular sized ones but the tiny ones because I heard the explosion and figured I could get to the dining area while everybody was here and take them before they ran out of those because by lunchtime the tiny pretzels are always gone and…—she explained at full speed as if she didn’t need to breathe.—Isn’t she going to like…do something?
—Honestly? I was asking myself the same question, Rita. —He nodded without taking his gaze off their superior.
Marshall Wire turned to face the crowd, inspecting their curious faces before looking directly at Juno with an indecipherable expression, intercepting his stare.
—Juno—she called, pronouncing every letter of his name with deliberate calmness. —would you mind joining us for a bit? — He knew Sasha, so he could see there was a certain degree of urgency in the stiffness of her whole posture and the way she took her sunglasses off slowly, even if she tried to brush it off.
—Do I really need to? —He wasn’t going to disobey because her eyes were as acquainted as cold and piercing, but he wasn’t going to accept becoming the target of the public lynching instead of the thieves without complaining either.
—I can’t believe how mean Marshall Wire is, I want to see the thieves too!! I bet they are super scary! You go mister Steel!!—Rita pushed Juno with both hands on his back, encouraging him to walk faster towards the group as an excuse for her to get closer too.
But it wasn’t until they completely caught up with the rest below the legs of the metallic giants that Juno saw the thieves. At that moment, everything clicked inside his head, the reason why the Seventh Ruby could have never gone too far, why it moved like that and couldn’t keep itself upright. It wasn’t because of the uselessness of its pilots, but because there was only one. He was tall, lean, and absolutely beaten up, sweating, bleeding and soaking wet. The thief raised his eyes to meet Juno’s and smiled for a second, arching his brows aristocratically and lifting his upper lip just enough to reveal the sharpness of his canines.
—What were you doing up in the roof? —placing one of her hands like a claw on his shoulder, Sasha woke Juno up from his daydream. —Haven’t I already told you how sad would it be if the last of the legendary dynasty of Steel pilots would be accidentally pushed off a roof by a childhood friend powerful enough to not be sent to jail? —she smiled.
—Very sad. —Vespa agreed, getting a nudge from her wife, whose flaming red curls still looked disheveled from wearing the drivesuit helmet.
—Anyway—Sasha cleared her throat, recovering her professional tone. —Juno, it’s an established fact that I can’t trust you to behave when you have a bit of free time, so you are going to be mentoring Rex so he can apply to the next compatibility tests for the Seventh Ruby.—she pointed at the thief and then to Juno.—He is a cadet now, and I don’t want to see either of you messing around or he is going to jail and you are getting downgraded.—she raised her chin up to look directly at the ranger.—Did I make myself clear?—Juno nodded, rolling his eyes.—You are each other’s business now!—she clapped, ending the meeting.
As those present scattered around to take care of their daily tasks, Buddy patted Juno’s back with a wink, wishing him good luck.
—You can do this, mister Steel!—Rita slipped a couple of tiny pretzels into his pocket before leaving, just like everybody else.
—I guess it’s just the two of us now, right? —He sighed, trying to smile but without putting much effort into it.
—Rex Glass—the thief shortened the distance that separated them with an unsteady step, offering his hand to shake Juno’s, with yet another one of his charming and slightly intimidating smiles. —lovely to meet you—he didn’t get to finish the sentence, as he fainted just close enough for the ranger to jump forward a bit and take his body between his arms.
—God, I already hate you. —Juno grumbled.