Chapter Text
“As our ace pilot we are evacuating you right along with the General–”
“Then where’s my brother?!” Madara snarled at the people half-carrying, half towing him towards the base’s small airfield. Fuck his damn broken leg and fuck the kaiju that had sent Scarlet Blade to the repair dock and him to the sickbay and fuck the fucking new kaiju advancing straight towards the base and where the fuck was Izuna?!
A distant roar shook the air. Everyone, no matter how panicked or collected, stopped for a moment. You never quite got used to a kaiju’s roar, even in a Jaeger, and especially not when it was that close and you weren’t in a Jaeger. Madara thought that they must be just inside the range to hear it – it was probably further away than most people would think but with kaiju, far away was relative.
Then almost like an answer, the base’s evacuation sirens changed to the much more familiar deployment blaring.
Madara whipped his head around. There shouldn't be anyone to deploy. The new kaiju – Cat IV with some really weird readings, codenamed Hiraishin – had ripped straight through Ruby Strike a quarter of an hour ago (Madara forced himself not to think about Hikaku and Naori because that hurt ) and there wasn’t any other Jaeger on the base except Scarlet Blade being repaired right now – they would have to abandon her here and hope the kaiju wasn’t interested – so what was going on ...
The General, walking just a bit ahead of them, tightened his grip around the walkie-talkie in his hand and half turned around. He almost dared to look apologetic. “I gave permission just a few minutes ago–”
… No.
No!
“–no one will make it off the base otherwise. The kaiju is too close already, we need whatever time we can get to evacuate personnel and vital supplies. The city is still in the midst of going into lockdown, too.”
The base’s loudspeaker system crackled, signaling a beginning broadcast.
Izuna’s voice started echoing throughout the base.
“Hello everyone, this is Scarlet Two checking in!” He sounded cheerful, but Madara knew that was his brother’s ‘I’m stressed and not trying to show it’ cheer. “On today’s menu: you all get your asses safely out of here while I kick some kaiju ass, for once without my big brother stealing all the glory! Stay safe, everyone!”
The broadcast cut off.
Around them, spontaneous clapping erupted – what a futile gesture, it wasn’t like Izuna would be able to hear them, and Madara certainly didn’t want to hear them, and how dare their father !
Madara threw himself at the General. He was vaguely aware he was screaming while doing his best to punch that man’s face in, and he also painfully jostled his leg cast, but all he could hear is Izuna’s voice ringing through his head, already strained because you didn’t just do solo piloting, the neural load would be painfully much almost immediately, and that was his little brother all alone in their Jaeger against a Jaeger-killing kaiju. “Get me back there! He can’t pilot Scarlet alone! Just–” he hissed at the General even when the two aides finally pulled him off the other man.
“Your leg is broken, Madara. You can’t even get into the cockpit, much less pilot Scarlet Blade properly.”
The General stared him down for almost a minute while Madara struggled against the men still holding him. Then he pressed a button on his radio. “Ranger Scarlet Two. You have your mission. Good luck… and thank you. I believe your brother wants to talk to you.”
“Izuna,” Madara said immediately, grabbing the device, “Izuna, get back here, get out of there, you can’t–”
“Niisan,” Izuna said through the radio and Madara fell silent. He could hear his little brother grit his teeth. “Me and our Scarlet Lady will make sure that all of you live. That you live.” There was a pause with nothing but the painfully familiar pinging of various notifications from the Jaeger’s cockpit in the background. Then Izuna laughed wetly. “I was always a problematic pilot. Only ever drift-compatible with a single other person. You however–” Izuna stopped himself for a bit, clearing his throat, “you were compatible with other people too. Get back on your feet and then find another copilot, Niisan. They won’t be as awesome as me, of course, but maybe you’ll find someone close. You… deserve that.”
Madara closed his eyes against the tears forming there. “Izuna. Please. I can’t– I promised to protect you–”
“Let me do the protection for once, Niisan.” Izuna sounded choked up himself, and he shouldn’t be because that made piloting harder, but that didn’t matter because–
Because Madara’s little brother wasn’t going to make it out of this alive.
“I love you, Izuna. Please–”
“I love you too, Niis–”
The radio cut off.
In the distance, the telltale sounds of machine and monster clashing began.
(From deployment to the moment the technicians lost all signals from the Jaeger Scarlet Blade, Uchiha Izuna spent 19 minutes and 48 seconds piloting her solo while fighting the Cat IV kaiju codenamed Hiraishin. During that record breaking time, the Uchiha Base was successfully evacuated at no further loss of life and with several valuable resources salvaged. Neither the Scarlet Blade nor the body of her pilot have been recovered. The exact circumstances of their final fight remain uncertain, as the Jaeger’s blackbox was ejected mid-fight. It is believed that Hiraishin dragged the Jaeger into the depths of the Pacific after being fatally wounded, as that particular kaiju hasn’t been sighted since. In the direct aftermath of the Uchiha Base Attack that resulted in the loss of two Jaegers and three pilots, there have been significant efforts towards centralizing the Jaeger Initiatives across the Elemental Nations and dissolving smaller bases in favor of larger Shatterdomes.)