Halsey felt his body preparing itself as the elevator whirred to life. He wasn't nervous. "Eager" wasn't the right word, either. His pondering of the correct term came to a stop as the elevator doors opened. A small crew of technicians were ready to go. Drake didn't recognize any of them, save for one [url=https://safebooru.org//images/908/e651782f0febf6f7807ca009a69fd57c10e9c41f.png?914175]young woman[/url]. He smiled.

"First Cat-Three we've seen in a while, Rika," said Drake. "Think Sierra's up to it?"

Rika smiled back, nodding. "How should I know? I just get you plugged into your Drivesuit. I'm not in your head or in the con-pod." Halsey stepped up onto the platform, and the technicians began fastening the outer armor to the inner suit. "Just be careful, though. Category Three Kaiju are known to be smarter than Cat-Ones and Cat-Twos."

"Right. Gipsy Danger found that out the hard way." Halsey fastened his helmet in place and plugged R.E.I.'s chip into the socket at the base of the neck.

"Seems you'll have a spot of company for this outing," the AI informed him. "Keera Travic, piloting Azure Storm."

"Two of the new models in one place? Wonder if the brass have something in mind."