Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

1.

August 10, 2013 - August 15, 2013 First Attack - K-DAY
The breach opens.
San Francisco experiences a 7.1 earthquake.
San Francisco is attacked by Kaiju "Trespasser."
The Golden Gate Bridge is destroyed.
Trespasser moves toward Sacramento.
Trespasser is killed by three nuclear missiles in Oakland.
"Tens of thousands" of lives are lost in the Kaiju's rampage before it is killed.

2.

The visitor's room was overly warm, not enough air circulating in the private space. No doubt Chilton preferred his guests to meet in the cages. Will didn't mind. It made a change from the damp, chill environs of his basement cell and it had been almost a week since anyone had done more than just shove his meal tray at him and flee back upstairs. Even Chilton hadn't been to see him.

If the heat was bothering Hannibal, he wasn't showing it. Instead, he was staring at Will helplessly.

"Didn't Doctor Chilton—?" Hannibal seemed at a loss, for the first time in Will's acquaintance. It was then Will knew for sure what genuine surprise looked like on Hannibal's face.

Hannibal's eyes were a little red, like he hadn't been sleeping well. He pulled a stack of files out of his briefcase and set them down between them before carefully lining them up at right angles with each other and the edge of the table. The creases of his suit were so carefully ironed that you could use them as a ruler. He'd shaved against the grain and even the traces of the comb in his hair were precise. Hannibal was worried.

Will reached out for the files, chains scraping against the table. Hannibal caught hold of his hand and Will flinched back instinctively.

"Listen to me," Hannibal said, not letting go.

Will remembered those hands on his face, warm through the latex gloves, gently stroking his hair. He remembered them checking his temperature, while Hobbs watched from the head of Hannibal's dining room table. They were always steady. They were steady as Hannibal gripped him too tightly.

"You won't believe this. But I don’t have this kind of imagination and you know it. If I lied to you it wouldn’t be..." He gestured helplessly at the papers.

‘If I lied.’ Still lying then.

There were news clippings: pictures of what was left of the Golden Gate Bridge; the wreckage of the towns between San Francisco and Oakland; newly iconic pictures of people running from the nuclear blasts; the dirty, shocked faces of average American citizens. Hannibal had brought every half-baked scientific theory that had hit the internet and news so far.

Will believed him. Hannibal was right. If he was going to lie to him again, he probably would have come up with something better than the US military nuking American citizens on American soil in order to kill off a nightmare creature the size of the Statue of Liberty. Will found he didn't have much of an opinion beyond, 'I hope a Kaiju doesn't kill you, because I want to do it myself.'

"Well," Will said. He let the papers lie in a messy pile just to watch Hannibal compulsively straighten them again. If he ever got out, he was going to go to Hannibal's house and move everything two inches off centre. And then shoot him before he could fix it. "How does it feel to know you're not the biggest monster anymore?"

Hannibal smiled at him, relief in the lines around his eyes. As if Will being an asshole was all he needed to make his universe spin true again. "I'm still standing," Hannibal said. His teeth were crooked and sharp.

"For now," Will said and smiled back.

3.

Will was attracted to things that were bad for him: law enforcement, the FBI, Hannibal Lecter. People always want to couch it in such a way that puts the blame on external forces. This infantilizes "poor Will Graham" who was supposedly set upon from all sides, but Will made his own choices. Good or bad, he made his choices.

Dr. Alana Bloom, November 2, 2020

4.

February 5, 2014 - Second Attack
Second Kaiju "Hundun" attacks Manila, Philippines.

June 1, 2014 - Third Attack
Kaiju "Kaiceph" emerges from the breach.
Kaiceph attack hits Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
Kaiceph is killed.

September 2, 2014 - Fourth attack
Kaiju "Scissure" emerges from the breach.
Scissure attacks Sydney, Australia.
Scissure is killed.
Jasper Schoenfeld comes up with the initial concept behind the Jaegers.

November, 2014
Pan Pacific Defense Corps is established.
The Jaeger Program begins.
Construction of arm for Mark-1 prototype (Brawler Yukon) begins.
Caitlin Lightcap begins working on the concept behind the Pons.

January 30, 2015
Jaeger Brawler Yukon, is launched.
USAF Captain Adam Casey dies from a seizure in an attempt to pilot Brawler Yukon.

February 18, 2015
Sergio D'onofrio attempts to pilot the Yukon; experiences seizures.
Caitlin Lightcap successfully achieves the first Drift when she connects with Sergio.

April 23, 2015 - Fifth Attack
The Kaiju "Karloff" attacks Vancouver, Canada.
Brawler Yukon kills Karloff.

5.

Pilots a sailboat to Europe, 192-194; the 'Broken Heart' crime scene 194-199; travels to Lecter Castle, 200; body of unknown male discovered by authorities (Firefly Man), 200-204; train journey to Florence, 205; reconnects with Jack Crawford, 206; discovers Dr. Du Maurier, 207; reconnects with Lecter - the Primavera 208-209; shot by unknown sniper, 209; Lecter attempts to eat Graham’s brain 210-213; abduction by Verger's men, 214; the Verger farm, 215-218; Lecter surrenders to the FBI, 219

6.

Hannibal sent four letters after his incarceration to Will's address in Wolf Trap. The fourth returned undelivered. Alana tapped it against the tray.

"He moved, Alana said. "I can send it to the FBI if you like, and they can forward it on to him."

"They won't forward it to him," Hannibal said.

"No," Alana agreed, merciless.

He got up from his desk and crossed the cell, coming to stand just on the other side of the glass from her. She didn't flinch back, not even in her eyes, not even the grip on the cane she still needed.

"Do you know where he went?" Hannibal asked.

Alana smiled thinly at him. "No," she said. "I didn't ask."

Of course she didn't. She took away every possibility that he could find out. She rejected something he desperately wanted because she could, and because she knew it would frustrate him.

"Send it to the FBI," Hannibal said, without hope.

7.

May 15, 2016 - Sixth Attack
Kaiju "Onibaba" attacks Tokyo.
Japanese Jaeger Coyote Tango kills Onibaba in Sagami-Nada Sea.

December 29, 2016 - Seventh Attack
Kaiju "Reckoner" attacks Hong Kong.
Australian Jaeger Lucky Seven, kills Reckoner in Victoria Harbour.

8.

The mythology of Will Graham is so well established that academics no longer feel the need to quote him directly, taking sources at their word, though these second, sometimes third or fourth-hand accounts are wildly unreliable. Despite the desire to turn Will Graham into a Christ metaphor, he certainly didn't join the PPDC because of his great love of humanity. He had escaped multiple murder convictions — at least one of which forensic experts believe was almost certainly his work although no one can prove anything. Legally, he was a free man with no criminal record. In fact, he was a murderer, a cannibal, and one of the most dangerous minds that the world had seen in decades.

Valkyria Johannsen - Prisoner Pilots p. 22

9.

At first, testing in the United States was confined to the military, but that didn't yield the results that were needed. Then they opened up the volunteering to anyone between the ages of eighteen to forty. Single people only, unless you were a married couple volunteering together. No one with a kid under fourteen. You had to be sane, and you had to be able to pass the physical tests before you could be accepted to the KWOON training facility. After a battery of exercises designed to get a read on prospective pilots, those selected would be tested to see if they were drift compatible. This system was how the Becket brothers were found. It was similar to how the pilots for Cherno Alpha and Striker Eureka were found. The system worked because even those who failed out of KWOON were put to work in the Shatterdomes. No one was going to turn away a perfectly good asset.

William Shore - Building the American Defense p. 14

10.

The system was in place for a reason and, in theory, Will Graham should have been turned away the moment he walked in the doors. He was exactly the opposite of what the PPDC was looking for. One of the names that gets forgotten in the history books is that of Malik Syed. He was the one who personally walked Graham past the checks and balances, past KWOON, and straight to the scientists.

"I remember, he was this neat, awkward man in a flannel shirt and glasses. He stared at the wall, at the desk, at my nametag, before looking me in the eye. I thought he might be a bit...you know...off. But then he sighed, made some of the most invasive eye contact I've ever been subjected to, and —and I'll never forget this— he said, 'I'm out of shape, I'm unstable, I'm married and I have a kid under fourteen.' I was speechless, because why bother showing up if you know you're going to get turned away? His file said he was from the East coast and he'd come all the way to the Shatterdome in L.A.. Didn't even go to the recruitment centre nearest to him. Then he said, 'I guarantee you I can drift with anyone.'

"I thought he was crazy. I really did. But I'd just turned eighteen and I was a cocky little shit, and I didn't want this guy coming back a zillion times. So I told him to prove it. I took my break and we went for a coffee. By the time we sat down, Graham was mirroring me perfectly. He ordered his coffee at exactly the same time as me, ordered exactly the same thing, in my accent. It was like suddenly I was in stereo.

"So, yeah. I walked him right up to my boss and watched him do the same thing to her. We both knew. He was the guy. He was the guy we'd been looking for, even if he was totally batshit crazy. Which, I guess, he kind of turned out to be."

Elizabeth King - Will Graham: An Unauthorized Biography p. 61

11.

PPDC-USA-SF
Subject #NA-8173-DC-A
Sex: Male
Age: 40
Height: 1.80m
Weight: 73kg
Eyesight: R -0.25 / L -0.20
C-SORT: see doc #1
Fitness Score: S-P P-P C-F* P-P R-P

*See medical file #16 for details

Notes:
[The subject was previously disemboweled and had multiple gunshot wounds to the same shoulder which is held together with pins and a prayer. He passed the push and pull up sections but barely. And I mean one or two less and it would have been a fail. I have serious doubts about his physical eligibility — Lt. Ferris]

[Ability to mirror is unprecedented. Might well be able to drift with just about anyone. I know we've been talking about a balanced approach but this guy's off the charts receptive. We might be able to use him as a load-bearing brain and let some other subject do the real work. I don't want to faff around with sticks and yoga, or whatever else they're doing in KWOON. I want him in a chair with our best pilot candidates. — Dr Edgars]

[Are we really going to pretend we don't know who the subject is? ████ ██████ was all over the news because of the ██████ trials. Sure he's got mirroring abilities but we all know how that worked out for him. He's not emotionally capable of doing this. How is it I'm the one arguing this?! And really, Edgars? ████ you. You want to try Drifting pilots without physical compatibility testing? $50 says you ████ this right up. Isn't there some sort of oversight committee for this sort of thing? — Capt. Lai]

[His speech patterns begin to change when he's in a room with a dominating personality. He unconsciously mirrors movement as well. I don't think your Tai Chi can actually make him better than he already is. — Dr Edgars]

[Mimicry is not the ██████ point. It's a MELD, you ███. — Capt. Lai]

[My 2₵? Put him into trials. Edgars is right. I haven't seen anything like it. It's not just mimicry, he can become someone else. — Dr Aguda]

Potential for dismissal: Mental instability, memories potentially traumatic for drift partner, previous incarceration (acquitted)
Recommendation: Start him in on one-to-one trials right away.

MOVE TO PHASE 2

PPDC-USA-SF
Drift Compatibility Testing 1-3
Subjects #NA-8173-VA-A #NA-2746-GA-A
Drift duration: 3.29s

Notes: Promising pairing. 2746 has shown great drive and focus, subject 8173's mirroring abilities should make him an excellent secondary pilot.

Initial wave patterns indicated FROM 8173 TO 2746 for 3.29s. Bridge was unstable and neural link incomplete.

2746 disengaged. Subject refused to continue with 8173. Reason given was, "Not going back into that horror show. ████ you guys. Screen for serial killers Jesus ███████ Christ."

[You need to pull Mr. ██████ from the pool. I get that these are relatively blind trials, but for ████'s sake. None of the other candidates agreed to this sort of ████████. — Capt. Lai]

Subject 8173 file reviewed
Recommendation: Continue with phase 2 testing

PPDC-USA-SF
Drift Compatibility Testing 8-1
Subjects #NA-8173-VA-A #NA-1225-DC-A
Drift duration: 2.23s

Notes:
[Someone get a lid on this rumour mill. Subject 1225 was nervous before meeting 8173 was told, quote, "He's some weird serial killer cannibal." 1225 had to be reassured repeatedly before neural drift was attempted. Anyone with a brain in their head could tell it wasn't going to work. — Dr. Aguda]

Initial wave patterns indicated compatibility. 1225 disengaged. Neural link incomplete.

1225 refused to continue with 8173. Reason given was obscured by vomiting and crying.

We thought 8173's mirroring ability would make him receptive but it seems like the second someone's mind touches his, they're flooded with the worst of subject's 8173 memories which, compared to the average, are unsettling. We need to find someone who can handle that sort of information.

[Unsettling. Are you serious. I'm attaching press clippings I swear to god. — Capt. Lai]
[Press clippings REDACTED]

Subject 8173 file reviewed
Recommendation: Continue with phase 2 testing

PPDC-USA-SF
Drift Compatibility Testing 13-2
Subjects #NA-8173-VA-A #NA-9996-VA-B
Drift duration: 10.14s

Notes: A different approach to balancing the neural bridge. Subject 9996 has a lower rating than previous candidates but has combat history and a strong stomach.

Initial wave patterns indicated compatibility. 9996 disengaged. Neural link incomplete.

Subject 9996 refused to continue with 8173. Reason given was revulsion. Subject said, quote, "I will never get that out of my head now. You can't keep subjecting people to this nutcase. It's not humane."

[Since his mental instability hasn't swayed you, and his inability to maintain a neural bridge hasn't changed your minds, how about the fact that he's a pain in the ███ to work with? Has anyone actually ever talked to ████ ██████? He's an abrasive █████████ — Capt. Lai]

[Is being an ███████ a diagnosable illness now? — Dr. Aguda]

Subject 8173 file reviewed
Recommendation: Continue with phase 2 testing

12.

The records from the Shatterdome show that testing did not go smoothly when it came to putting Will Graham into a Jaeger. The Drift Compatibility paperwork, although censored, show an increasing frustration from those responsible for finding pilots. Although Edgars and Aguda's notes are optimistic, their private writing —emails, letters, and, many years later, interviews— reveal that, one by one, all the heads of their divisions were reaching the same conclusion: Will Graham could drift with anyone. No one could drift with Will Graham.

Elizabeth King - Will Graham: An Unauthorized Biography p. 82

13.

It's gone beyond the thoughtlessness from the Liberal Government that we've come to expect. They're following the lead of the Mexicans, which, you know, should tell you everything you need to know about that idea. Of course there's rioting in the streets. We should be rioting in the streets. This is a campaign designed to hurt the hard-working people of America, who now have to fear for their lives from the very people supposed to be protecting them. Why not just put a Kaiju into the Jaeger?

Bill O’Reilly - June 14, 2018

14.

Despite the fear-mongering, most people were too worn out to care who they put into the Jaegers. If the PPDC thought Hannibal Lecter could save them, then they were willing to put their faith in Hannibal Lecter. It's a testament to the PR spin doctors that they managed to sell Lecter's serial murders as a good thing. This was a man without fear. This man was smart, vicious, ruthless. And now he was fighting for humanity. Whether or not this was true in any way, shape, or form was irrelevant. All that mattered was that people believed it.

Vira Kulyk - The Propaganda of the PPDC p. 32

15.

It has been suggested that Hannibal Lecter joined the PPDC out of some sense of loyalty to humanity. This is nonsense. Lecter is incapable of caring about anything. He is a narcissist and a psychopath. His intense relationship with Will Graham was founded entirely on his desire for Graham to be a mirror and Graham's own actions after their Drift only further demonstrates how determined Lecter was to build Graham up in his own image. His delusions of godhood meant that stepping into a Jaeger put all the power back in his hands. Life was his to save or destroy as he wished. And that was pleasing to him. Destroying Will Graham was just icing on the cannibal cake.

Dr Frederick Chilton Staring into the Abyss pg. 16

16.

Of course Hannibal wanted to save the world. He's not that kind of insane. My son enjoys superhero movies, and it reminded me of one of those films where a talking tree and a raccoon and that guy from Parks and Rec save the planet. They say:

Rocket Raccoon: Why would you want to save the galaxy?
Peter Quill: Because I'm one of the idiots who lives in it!
— Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

And I laughed, because that was exactly it. Hannibal likes this world too much to watch it destroyed. It's basic self-preservation. But isn't that what we were all doing? Trying to survive.

Dr Alana Bloom

Chapter Text

17.

"I think what shocked America so much, was that no one else really knew about him. I mean, the Aussies did, the kids who spent a lot of time online, but even then. Almost no one in HK had any idea who this Hannibal Lecter guy was. Some of the techs got pretty ticked off when we asked them how they didn't know. Got a few lectures on how we thought America was the center of the world. It bugged them. Why they should be expected to know. It was a...And they didn't care, you know, it was just a story to them. They meet him and he's polite, and speaks Cantonese, and is respectful of the local customs —which he knows— and the Shatterdome traditions, which he learned. They liked, uh, they liked that he wasn't American. They liked that he didn't have that...propaganda. He was there to do his job and that was it.

"But America wasn't ready to move on. It was only two and a half years since his arrest and incarceration. People with missing loved ones were still petitioning him to find out if he'd killed more than he was convicted for.

"Then again, he had...he had a weird cult following. Weird even for people who generally follow serial killers. A lot of people kind of found him genuinely interesting. It was, uh, morbidly interesting maybe, but interesting. I think it was the whole 'eat the rude' thing. It's like, who can't relate to that?"

Tendo Choi, The Daily Show With Jon Stewart S11Ep723

18.

PPDC-USA-SF
Subject #NA-4214-MA-A
Sex: Male
Age: 49
Height: 1.83m
Weight: 82kg
Eyesight: 20/20
C-SORT: 4 *
Fitness Score: S-** P-O C-O P-O R-**

Notes:
*[Subject has been subjected to every test in the book and they get different results every time because he's a master manipulator and none of his psychological tests should be considered - Dr Edgars]

** [Subject was unable to complete running and swimming portions of the physical test due to mandatory restraints - Lt. Ferris]

[Are you guys ████████ me. He's the ███████ ██████████ ██████ for ████'s sake. We are not putting that lunatic in a Jaeger. - Capt. Lai]

Dr's Mun, Chou, and Bloom have submitted complaints.
Capt. Lai has submitted complaints on behalf of the Jaeger Academy staff.
Director of Behavioural Science at Quantico has submitted complaints.
Mr Chief Justice has submitted complaints.
More complaints being processed.

Subject #NA-8173-DC-A submitted a note saying, quote, "I wasn't serious. Put him back in [Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane] before he hurts someone."

Subject #NA-4214-MA-A submitted request to see #NA-8173-DC-A: REQUEST DENIED

Potential for dismissal: Criminally insane, memories potentially traumatic for drift partner.
Analyst request for dismissal: Suspended pending drift trial.

PPDC-USA-SF
Drift Compatibility Testing 14-1
Subjects #NA-8173-VA-A #NA-4214-MA-A
Drift duration: DRIFT COMPATIBLE

Notes:
Initial wave patterns indicated compatibility.

First attempt made at balancing the neural bridge. Initial wave patterns indicated FROM 4214 TO 8173 for 16.51s. Bridge was unstable and neural link incomplete.

Wave patterns reversed FROM 1873 TO 4214 for 19.18s (16.51s - 36.09s) Bridge was unstable and neural link incomplete.

Wave patterns evened out at 36.10s. Bridge stabilized at 36.57s. SUBJECTS ENGAGED IN NEURAL BRIDGE

Subject 4241 disengaged at 39.02s stating, quote, "I will not force this on you, [#8137], it has to be your choice."

When Dr. Ihn attempted to discuss the test, subject 4241 refused to say anything to Analysts.
Subject 8173 extensively interviewed see att. #13

[I'm not taking responsibility for this. You cannot hand ████████ ███████ ██████ off to me. This isn't a lab issue, this is a ███████ security nightmare. Until [#4214] can be guaranteed safe, I'm not subjecting my crew to him. We signed on for Kaiju, not the most prolific serial killer this country has seen in our lifetime. Or maybe more. I don't know, I'm not a ███████ serial killer expert, I'm a ███████ Shatterdome officer. - Capt. Lai]

[Can we maybe cool with the language, please, everyone. - Dr. Ihn]

Subject 8173's file reviewed
Subject 4241 file reviewed
Subjects #NA-8173-VA-A #NA-4214-MA-A MOVE TO PHASE 3 TESTING

Subject 4241 file reviewed
Subject 4241 extensively interviewed see att. #24
Att. Security Brief #82
Subjects #NA-8173-VA-A #NA-4214-MA-A MOVE TO PHASE 3 TESTING

19.

To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Subject: Subjects #NA-8173-VA-A #NA-4214-MA-A

I s2g if Lai doesn't give herself a coronary ill eb very surprised.

So we're going to need some new protocols for the murder husbands.

To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Subject: RE: Subjects #NA-8173-VA-A #NA-4214-MA-A

Where did you get that horrible nickname? I've been running some ideas I want to show you and Dr. Ihn as soon as he recovers from reading all the angry memos Capt. Lai has been leaving for everyone. Can you fit in an hour meeting tomorrow?

20.

Private MSG
EE: don't u read tattle crime
JA: What's tattle crime?
EE: nevermind
EE: but really muder husbands
EE: murder^
JA: Call them what you want, but most people flake out of the Drift because they have weird sexual hangups. Or normal ones they think are weird. These two...
EE: You think theyve done it
JA: You saw the charts, they're in the 90th percentile for
JA: Oh you mean sex.
EE: i think thy had sex
EE: freaky murder sex
EE: graham is so pretty i want to pet his floofy hair
JA: You know they killed people right?
EE: he's so horrible and so pretty i cant help it
JA: Yeah, he's totally your type isn't he.
EE: im dying
JA: My POINT was that most people can't Drift because either they have nothing in common or they can't relax enough to let anyone else in. You talked to Lecter. Hell, you saw the C-SORT.
EE: yeah that was a mess and a half
JA: He's not the kind of guy who opens up for anyone. BUt it took them 37 seconds to Drift. First time. They never did any of that KWOON stuff, nothing. half a minute and they're pros. They were already making simultaneous micro movements, blinking at the same time, it was insane.
EE: probably all the sex
JA: D:
JA: I don't need to imagine that
EE: >sweaty cnnibal sex
EE: fuuuuuuuu-
EE: doesnt graham have a wife
EE: didn' i read that?
JA: Are we going to talk about the Pons part of the drift procedure or not?

21.
Interviewer: You were convicted of six murders
Hannibal Lecter: Yes.
I: You refused to incriminate yourself on the stand. Is it...possible that you have further crimes to your name?
H: Anything is possible.
I: If you continue to Drift eventually someone is going to know the answer to that.
H: And of course they would be obligated to report that to you.
I: Does Will Graham already know about more murders?
H: Anything is possible.
I: Monsters are coming out of the ocean, Dr Lecter, I'm pretty used to long odds of reality. The FBI has a file on him.
H: He taught there, I'd be surprised if they didn't.
I: You know what I mean. But he lives a quiet life and when you're not around, the bodies stop dropping around him too, so mostly we leave him alone. No one's offering you a pardon, but considering you can't be forced to testify against a spouse, we're pretty willing to extend that to Drift Partner. He'd be safe from punishment on your account. The thing is, Dr Lecter, we're not interested in your criminal history. We're not really interested in you at all.
H: You're interested in Will Graham.
I: Yes.
H: Many people have tried to fathom those depths.
I: But not like you did.
[4s pause]
H: Was his request for me sincere, or did your recruiters ignore the tone in which he suggested we might be drift compatible?
I: You are drift compatible.
H: Of course we are. Did he say, "You might as well call up Hannibal Lecter, he's the only one who won't flinch at my memories," was it sarcastic?
I: I'm not at liberty to discuss Mr Graham.
H: What's our rating? Off the charts, I imagine. May I speak to Will?
I: Not right now.
H: He hasn't agreed to this arrangement.
I: No.
H: I have already agreed, so I wonder what it is you're trying to gain from this interview. Reassurances that I will behave myself, a security assessment, another chance for analysts to argue over my sanity. There are so many choices.
I: Any promises from you would be suspect, Mr Lecter.
H: I'm not here to negotiate new freedoms. You may shackle me, guard me, put me in solitary confinement every moment I am not in a Jaeger. Whatever puts you and the Shatterdome at ease.
I: Why would you agree to that?
H: I really would like to see Mr Graham.
[read more]

22.

I: Would you like a coffee Mr Graham?
G: I'd like a whiskey.
I: [laughing]
G: [inaudible]
I: Uh - yeah, we can't do that.
G: What was our compatibility? Rating. Whatever you call it.
I: Rating. I don't have the paperwork here-
G: 97% (Ninety-seven percent)? 98% (Ninety-eight percent)?
I: I'd have to check.
G: Even if we Drift, you can't count on me for additional security. It's not reliable. I'm not reliable.
I: We can read behind the lines of the reports. No one is expecting you to control Lecter.
G: Sure.

23.

The techs are huddling awkwardly in a corner, pretending to be adjusting machines, and checking computer programs, but actually just peering over at Hannibal as the guards strapped him down into one of the test chairs. Hannibal couldn't turn his head because of one of the straps and Will was standing out of his peripheral vision, but Will sees his eyes crinkle at the corner.

"Hello, Will," Hannibal says. "I was surprised to hear you put my name forward."

Somehow Will never remembers his acute sense of smell. There's no sneaking up on Hannibal. Will walks across the lab so he can stand in front of him.

Hannibal looks thin, worn down to sharp edges. They've got him in a bright orange jumpsuit - in case the solid metal wrist to waist restraints, ankle chain, and four-man armed guard wasn't enough to let everyone know he was a prisoner - and the colour makes him look wan and tired. He isn't smiling, his face doesn't really move at all, but every fibre of him lights up when Will comes into view. The only ones to ever respond to Will like that are his dogs when he's been away for a while.

Will can imagine Hannibal in a cell, brightening every time he gets mail, every time a visitor is announced, only to be disappointed over and over again. It's been two and a half years. Will has to remind himself that the only person to blame for Hannibal's imprisonment is Hannibal. Hannibal has no right to look so pleased. Will did not come to see him. Will did not suggest this fiasco.

He says as much. Truthful, but also deliberately crushing any of Hannibal's hopes of a joyful reunion. "I didn't put it forward, I was being sarcastic. This is insane."

Hannibal manages to invoke the impression of a shrug without shrugging. "And yet, here we are, down the rabbit hole together again."

"Er," one of the techs says. "Are we...?"

Will looks at their hopeful faces. He knew. He didn’t need to be told the ratings, or the stats, or any of that. He knew the second they told him they’d obtained Hannibal: it would work. It will work. And they’ve saved lives together, before. They can do it again.

24.

Honestly, the two of them? In the early days at least, Hannibal was by far the easiest of the two to deal with. We provided him with drawing pencils and paper, an mp3 player that didn't connect to the internet, a speaker, and several tech manuals on the construction of the Deadrise and he was happy as a clam. He didn't complain about the food. He didn't complain about the uncomfortable beds, or the 14-hour days. Or Captain Lai's constant aggression. Actually, I think he liked her. He was fond of talented assholes.

William Shore - Building the American Defense p. 14

26.

Captain Lai is a rangy woman of middling height, hair pulled back into a strict military bun, with the world's least pleased expression on her face. Lai looks them up and down and Will can tell she's less impressed than she was three seconds ago.

"You," she says to Will, "pretty boy. You've been shot twice, disemboweled, and barely passed your physical. Neither of you passed your psych, as far as I'm concerned. What about you, Doctor Doom? What's your damage?"

"I believe it's all in the report," Hannibal says.

Lai narrows her eyes. "Well if I wanted to read a fucking report, I'd have it in my hands. I asked you, trainee."

If Hannibal has any objection to the way she's speaking to him, he's keeping it nicely under wraps. "My arm was broken as a child. I was stabbed in the right thigh about five years ago and the right calf two and a half years ago. Otherwise I'm in excellent health." Hannibal looks down at the restraints he's still wearing. "Considering."

Will stares up at the ceiling. "Does the brand scarring on your back limit any movement?

"No," Hannibal says.

"You also had your wrists slashed four years ago. For a while it looked like you might lose some of the movement in your left hand." He sounds wistful.

Lai presses her knuckles against her lips. "Great. Peachy. Fan-fucking-tastic. Well I'm in charge of getting you two clowns ready to pilot a Jaeger. The Drift is the easy part. Now you've got to work together."

She sighs and waves at Hannibal's guards. "Unlock him." Lai turns the full force of her glare on them when they don't jump to obey her. "If I can't knock a civilian on his ass in under ten seconds then I'm not doing my job right. So un-fucking-lock him so we can get started."

The guards unlock him. One of them keeps his hand on his tazer, the other is visibly sweating. Lai sighs and tosses Hannibal a bo staff.

"Come on then," Lai says. "Hit me."

Hannibal is not a stupid man and he circles her warily. He has greater reach, he probably outweighs her by a good sixty pounds, and he's used to incapacitating people with his bare hands. Lai strikes out, fast, and he barely dodges out of the way.

"You're not totally useless," she says. She feints, he sidesteps, but she's already moving again and she sweeps his legs out from under him. He falls with some dignity, but he winds up on the ground with her staff at his throat.

"Again," Lai says.

It takes three more times of winding up on his ass before he manages to get her in a choke hold. She kicks his knee out from under him, twists, throws her weight, and has him on his face, arm twisted behind his back before he can do anything else.

"I think we're good here," Lai says to Hannibal's guards. She gets off him and offers him a hand up. He takes it.

"I would not make the mistake of trying to hurt you. It's not wise to bite the hand that feeds you," Hannibal says, like an asshole.

Lai's eyes narrow, like she's not sure if he's making fun of her or not.

"How many times you ever beat someone in a fair fight?"

Hannibal purses his lips, considering. "Depends on what you mean by fair."

"A fight where you didn't blitz attack them."

"About half a dozen times," Hannibal says. "I was fighting for my life, which does tend to motivate one."

"You?" Lai asks Will.

"Once, hand to hand. Several times when I was FBI and had a gun," Will says. "But I don't get into many fights."

27.

Why didn't we offer Lecter his freedom? Because we're not complete idiots. Bad enough to put him in a Jaeger, we didn't need to put him into the world.

Governor Allan McFarlan (MD- R), November 28, 2017

28.

In looking back at the time from the first Kaiju to the end of the Reconstruction, a gloss of nostalgia seems to come over many historians. The entire concept of a global culture is a fantasy. Indeed, what came out of the PPDC was a distinct sense of national pride. It was a victory for Russia when Cherno Alpha defeated a Kaiju. It was a loss for America when Gipsy Danger was first taken out of commission. Joon comes closest when he talks about the J-Crews saying, "Each crew was an individual, discreet unit," but he fails to reach the logical conclusion: that these crews were heavily nationalistic and even the so called "Prisoner Pilots," despite their crimes, some of them so barbaric and disgusting that day-time news couldn't talk about them openly, were heroes scarcely before the blood had dried.

Vira Kulyk - The Propaganda of the PPDC p. 9

29.

The original name put forward for the American Jaeger Mark IV U7-13K was Dominion. One of the nicknames of the state of Virginia is 'Old Dominion.' Not only did the pilots meet in Virginia but Virginia is a place where a lot of revolution happened. A lot of the names of the Jaegers, especially the later ones, had something to do with defiance. The name of the Australian Jaeger 'Striker Eureka' was partially named after the Eureka Stockade, a famous Australian rebellion against the United Kingdom. However, there's a fishing boat called the Chesapeake Bay Deadrise, it's their state boat. Deadrise stuck. For obvious reasons.

David Levin - Deadrise Abyss, the Stories Behind the Specs p. 4

30.

"Most of the pilots were annoying pricks, but I didn't have to work with them, so...you know how it is: Not my monkeys, not my circus. I thought the whole 'Deadrise Abyss' thing was a monumental cockup, start to bloody finish. Might as well have doubled down and named the fucking Jaeger the Chesapeake Ripper. It's not much worse than any of the other names and at least everyone would've had it loud and clear what it was we were doing. We didn't make monsters, we fucking outsourced for them."

Capt. Janice Lai PPDC

Chapter Text

31.

It was in the 2021 interview with Kevin Brown, the Chief Engineer of Deadrise Abyss, that anyone first mentioned how the Jaegers got their names. Very little prompting was required for the J-Crews to talk about how their beloved Jaegers were first christened but the main thing each of the crews wanted to make very clear was that the pilots didn't name the Jaegers.

Brown said, "The names grew organically. I mean, you wouldn't see a Chinese Jaeger being called Striker Eureka. Of course that's the Australasian Jaeger. The first Jaegers, that was kind of different. Romeo Blue was R0-22J Romeo Zero in the NATO alphabet and she was painted blue. So, not really a big leap. Tango Tasmania was T9-41N.

“The confusion over Черно Альфа ('Cherno Alpha') is because of a poor understanding of the Russian language. The word 'Cherno' made most Westerners think of Chernobyl. Like we were going to name a nuclear-powered Jaeger after a catastrophic nuclear meltdown. The most accurate translation would be 'Black Alpha.' Which still fits the early naming conventions.”

This was one of the few things every single crew could agree on. That they —the ones who built, maintained, and cared for these machines— were the ones who had named them. What no one could agree on was quite how those names came about, especially those from the Mark II series onwards. As Larry Reid, an engineer at KWOON, explained, "It's hard to really point to any moment where everyone agreed on the name. These things made sense at the time. Like how pilots named their planes in WWII, you just...weird nicknames just come out of you. Hell, most of us got some nickname or another by the time it was all over."

Man Leung - The Naming of Things p. 22

32.

It sounds like something out of Catch 22. You do one, maybe two combat missions, then you're free to go. Then it's two or three. Three or four. The number of missions they have to do keeps getting raised. They know, all of Mexico knows, everyone knows, that the pilots of Matador Fury aren't getting free until the Kaiju are all dead and gone. One of the crew of Deadrise Abyss hasn't even been promised that much. The only way out for their most notorious pilot is death.

Laura Nelson - VICE, April 13, 2018 "#NotOneMore"

33.

Any effort on the part of historians to imply that all the 'prisoner pilots' of the North American jaegers are the same, and represent the same part of a nationalistic, jingoistic, commodified system, is to utterly erase what the pilots of Matador Fury went through. Arturo Flores and Jesus Martinez's convictions have been exposed to great scrutiny. Legal experts have disagreed if their convictions were even just, or if Flores and Martinez were victims of a corrupt system and bad lawyers. They were blackmailed by their own country, held up as heroes but treated as slaves. To compare their tragic circumstances to that of the pilots of Deadrise Abyss is not just insulting to the memories of Flores and Martinez, but displays an inability to look at the North American system of incarceration as anything but a monolith; that one criminal is the same as the next.

It has long been apparent that our prison system does not exist to rehabilify. We criminalize poor black, brown, and indigenous men without just cause. At a time when the most minor of infractions can lead to over 20 years of prison time, we as an audience are desensitized to actual crime and actual criminals. If someone can be jailed for little to no reason in the same place as a man who tortured, murdered, and ate —let us be clear on this matter— cooked, ate, and served to others to unwittingly cannibalize also, then how are we to later distinguish them from one another? If every crime is punishable with a life sentence, then what difference does it ultimately make? Selling pot as a Black man is just as bad as cannibalism by a white man.

Daryl Jones - How we Failed the pilots of Matador Fury p. 3

34.

Approx. 0100 massive storm emerges over Pac. 0118 Movement in the Breach. Crew put on standby. Dressed, waiting in DA [Translator's note: Deadrise Abyss] bay with others.

0121 Code name 'Thunderhead' is sighted. No visual, just radar. Cat III or IV.

Debate over sending out Jaegers in such rough sea. G [Translator's note: Will Graham] not visibly nervous but quiet and grim. L [Translator's note: Hannibal Lecter] chatting with the crew. Would've told L to shut up but it seemed to be keeping the new recruits' focus away from impending 0 hour.

0125 Decision made - MF and DA [Translator's note: Matador Fury and Deadrise Abyss] to go out with GD and SE [Translator's note: Gipsy Danger and Striker Eureka] as backup in shallow waters. MF and DA are expendable. Not the machines, those are worth billions, but the pilots are. Even if Thunderhead kills them all, the Jaegers can be fished out of the Pac. later.

Told my crew they're putting DA in front because she needs testing. Blatant lie. No one called me on it. Other new teams go out as reserve if possible. One Shatterdome & this many Jaegers— it's possible.

Didn't have to say anything to L&G, they know exactly how expendable they are. L shook my fucking hand and thanked me for all my work with them. I thought, if this motherfucker dies I'll eat my boots. He's not going to die and the only way to get to G is through him. So I told L not to fuck up because I'd be waiting here to give him more hell than the fucking Kaiju if he did.

Personal diary of Capt. Janice Lai PPDC - translation by Zhang Jing

35.

Tenang: Of all the pilots I had to deal with, ex military or civilian, Lecter was the best, by a long shot. He knew my name. He knew everyone's name. We all liked him. Even the brass. After a few missions they realized he was in it just as much as the rest of us, and they…I guess it doesn’t matter if I say it now. They let him wander around however he liked.

Rachel: That doesn’t sound especially safe. If I recall, at the time, the public was being reassured that he was kept under lock and key every second he wasn’t in the Jaeger.

Tenang: Yeah. Well. It was the end of the world. Lecter was a pilot. That meant something to us. He was on the front line, and the first to show up when the alarms sounded. Everyone knew he wasn’t going to run. I know there’s a lot of people who talk about his profile, or whatever, but I dunno. Maybe it was because he liked being a hero. Maybe we were stupid to trust him, but he wasn’t working in the kitchens and we all knew better than to let him give us advice. His first night of freedom he took the entirety of Deadrise's crew out on the piss.

Rachel: Hannibal Lecter took the crew of Deadrise Abyss out drinking?

Tenang: He might not have been getting paid but man still had money. Yeah, we got lit. I don’t remember most of that night; the Russians came along and shit got kind of crazy. But I do remember slinging my arm over his shoulders and telling him that he was my favourite. I also remember the look on Graham's face. If looks could kill, man, I'd've been six feet under. I made tracks after that. It wasn’t Lecter you had to watch out for. It was Graham. Bro was crazy jealous.

The Rachel Maddow Show, 2009

36.

Molly Graham files for divorce, 114; interview with DOD, 115; leaked DOD documents, 116-118; official confirmation of spousal privilege to Drift partners, 119-121; hearing on Not One More, 121-133; legal status of Lecter, 133; interviews with J-Crew, 134-136; room reassignments, 137

37.

There are crowds screaming outside the Shatterdome. Will can see them from the cockpit as helicopters fly the Jaegers back to base.

"Not totally shit," Lai says begrudgingly into their headsets. "We'll talk about your mistakes when you decontam."

I've worked with surgeons who were less hard to please, Hannibal thinks over the Drift to Will.

"You're less hard to please," Will mutters, out loud.

Hannibal's delight is warm in Will's stomach. I'm extremely easy to please, Hannibal thinks.

"Hey, Dr Doom," Flores says over the radio, "check out those signs."

They zoom in on the crowd. Some of the signs are in Spanish, declaring Mexicas pride for Matador Fury. There are signs that read, "Say NO to ONE MORE" "NO MORE" and others demanding the immediate freedom of the prisoner pilots.

There are people waving American flags, flags with the symbol of the Jaeger program. It’s a hell of a mob.

“Does that say, ‘Eat me, Hannibal’? Because it looks like ‘Eat me, Hannibal,’” Flores says, amused.

Martinez tells Flores to shut the fuck up and stop talking to the psychopaths. He says it out loud, probably to make a point to either Will or to Hannibal. He says it in Spanish but Will understands it because Hannibal understands it.

Flores wasn’t wrong about the sign though, and from what Will can see, it’s not the only one. There are multiple signs inviting the Chesapeake Ripper and Hannibal the Cannibal to eat all or part of them.

I doubt Frederick will get his royalties, what do you think?

I think there's something deeply wrong with humanity, Will thinks back. Then, because he has to know, Would a willing victim be less satisfying?

He feels Hannibal's mental shrug and general disinterest.

“I have other things to worry about,” Hannibal says aloud. “We misstepped this battle. We should have gone in with the blade earlier.”

“You should have hit Poisonbelly with the cannon,” Lai says over the comm. “And don’t think I missed you two chucklefucks letting it spit its untested, unknown, probably toxic vomit on you just to give Matador time to get up. You’re fucking lucky it didn’t disintegrate the goddamn cockpit. You pull that shit again pretty boy and I’ll string you up by your thumbs.”

Will doesn’t tell her it wasn’t his decision. Hannibal was the one who moved in to block the other Jaeger from harm when Matador Fury went down and Will just went along with it.

Why’d you do it? Will asks. And don’t tell me it’s a waste of resources.

Because they shouldn’t be forced to do this. Hannibal's thoughts are as solid and set as a mountain. The crowds below can lump us in together all they like but they are wrong, Will. I’m not a prisoner. There’s nowhere I’d rather be than here with you. What’s being done to Flores and Martinez is…

Rude? Will thinks, sarcastically. Really?

A gross injustice, Hannibal thinks. And then, because there's no point trying to lie in the Drift. And now they owe us one.

38.

“Mr Graham tends to mirror the dominant personality in the room. Unless he fights it, which is what people are seeing when they refer to him as rude or abrasive. He is having to exert mental effort to keep his own speech patterns, his own thoughts. The minute Dr Lecter was in the room, he was the dominant personality. Didn't matter how many military guys were there, shouting and screaming, or how many scientists with multiple degrees in stuff none of us can understand. He might never be the toughest, or the smartest, or any of those things, but he was so settled into his bones. You couldn't rattle him. He was always the biggest dick in the locker room. Not his actual. I mean. Metaphor dicks. But Graham only really mirrored him when they were in the Jaeger and then that was both of them together. Something about the way they were…it was weird.

Graham didn’t pick up the accent, or the mannerisms, or any of it. Not unless he wanted to. They were…easy together. That’s the only way I can describe it. Even though Graham was always giving Lecter shit, if I had to put a name to it, I’d say they were friends. They made room for each other. It sounds crazy. Lecter never made room for anyone. Like I said, he was always the dominant personality. But…but he was different with Graham. He liked it when Graham pulled some crazy insight out about him, it flattered his ego, but he liked it just as much when Graham was a dick. He just liked him.

They were tuned into each other beyond the Drift. I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like those two. They were Ghost Drifting years before they ever Drifted. If that makes sense?”

Nathan Joon - Under the Dome: Interviews with J-Crew p. 121-122