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And onwards

(People had warned him about this; that the doors could have this sort of mind of their own in that they could grab you, like a door could kidnap a person and change their history. Chase sort of hadn't bought that, until...)

The door behind him slammed shut and it had an air of finality to it. Everything here was too quiet ever since the wall had been torn down and the news that everyone who was still contributing to the mission was to move on to Hong Kong. Sydney Shatterdome was shutting down, with all its personnel. Chase didn't exactly know whether he wanted to move on, given the fact that they probably already had their fair share of doctors there and it wasn't like he was a pilot or anything. He patched them up when they came back and yeah, he knows that's important work, but there's plenty of doctors.

Sighing, he heads up to the control centre and collapses in one of the ancient chairs that'll probably be left behind. He's not sure what's going to happen to everything, but he can't imagine it'll stay long. People might try and move further inland, in the desperate hopes that the Outback might stop the kaiju, but how long is that going to last?

Poking and prodding at a few of the now-defunct buttons, Chase reaches forward to grab one of the small toy-kaijus they'd always kept up here of Scissure, like they needed to remember why half of Sydney wasn't standing like it used to be.

So now it was stay here and wait or move on to Hong Kong.

Before he could take the time to process that decision, though, he heard the telltale scrape of a door that told Chase that someone else was lurking around -- to pillage or salvage or finish off work, he didn't know, but it made him feel somewhat relieved to know he wasn't the only one having trouble moving forward.

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"Sure," Chase agrees, even though he has more than enough money to cover the both of them through however many rounds they each want. Still, he's definitely not one to turn down free alcohol. "You really think we've got a limited number left?" he asks, even though he already knows. He might only be a medical doctor, but people talk and they like to ramble when they're being checked out.

He knows the events are happening more often and becoming more and more dangerous. "You ever think of heading into the Outback? Not much ocean there. I'd like to see a kaiju survive those temperatures."

"Maybe, maybe not. I've been thinking about the Outback. I have to get over my aversion to heat and dust," Ben teased, grinning at him. "But I think safety would end up trumping any aesthetic concerns. Did you know, before all the kaiju and everything, my goal in life was to own waterfront property? Now you can't even pay people to live there."

The only people who lived along the oceans now were those who were too stubborn to go anywhere else or those who were too poor to move. Ben did not envy them in the slightest. At least his bunk provided a little protection.

Chase snorts at the notion and then feels bad for all those people who did have nice property on the water, once upon a time. His own family had been some of them. "Well, there's probably a lot for sale and dirt cheap," he points out with a rueful smile. "You'd just have to make sure the bunker went very, very deep into the ground. Unless the kaiju figured out how to mine, too."

"The next one will have mining picks in place of the claws," Ben said, snorting in reply. "They always seem to know how to adapt. That's why I think...we just have to be smarter about it, at the end of the day. Humanity is clever enough to have survived this long. I think we can outlast them."

Ultimately, Ben thought the difference might be hope. Hope seemed to make amazing things happen.

"Maybe we should be adapting, too," he says, even though that's not his field at all. "I don't know. They build the giant robots, I just tend to the human bodies that come out of them." Holding the door open for Ben, he takes a moment to look at the Shatterdome, probably for the last time in its current form. "What do you think they're going to do with it?"

"Maybe build more shelters for the people who can't afford to move inland," Ben said, stepping through the door and looking back one last time.

"It would hold up a little better than the average."

Chase sights the closest bar, a run-down thing that barely has enough staff to keep it functioning, but will do the job nicely. He leads Ben in that direction, hating the thought of going into a shelter to hide. Then again, they'll likely need all the medical help they can get there, too. Taking a stool, Chase lifts his fingers to signify he needs drinks, ordering them two of the strongest stuff they can find.

"Cheers to hiding out."

"Cheers to being drunk enough that being a coward matters less," Ben said dryly in response, lifting his glass. The alcohol burned a path down his throat and settled low, making him feel a little unsettled. Maybe a few more drinks would set that right.

"We should look into the Outback. Do you know anyone out there?"

He shakes his head. "Most people I knew went to the Atlantic side of the US," he admits. "Or London. Unless there's some kaiju coming up from the ocean on that side, it seems fairly safe." He could even get a flight out, going from Dubai to London, he figures, but that reeks of running away. Chase just wishes it didn't feel so easy and right, didn't pull at him. "Maybe that's the best thing to do. If the world's going to end, it'll end, but at least we won't worry about how."

"I'd feel guilty, I think," Ben said. He had thought about it before, taking what money he had and putting into some grand escape to some place far from the Pacific Rim but in the end, he was a fighter and not a runner. He wanted to make a difference for everyone and not just himself.

"I'll probably end up in Hong Kong trying to fight them off after we're decommissioned. I just...I feel awful about just throwing it in."

"You're good at that stuff," Chase said, raising his glass to Ben and giving him all the credit he's due. "And besides, your end of the ticket is a lot more specialized than mine. I'm sure they're already calling you like crazy trying to get you to Hong Kong. What've you got, five missed messages?" he teases.

Ben whipped out his phone to check. "Six, actually, because I'm a lot more desirable than you think I am. I've got to get back to them but...not right now."

Right now, he wanted to drown his sorrows for a minute and regroup.

"So, basically, let's get rip-roaring drunk and fuck the world?" Chase suggested, having come from a line of alcoholics who made poor decisions. This was practically up his alley to make a bad decision and completely be an idiot. "I'm all for that plan."

"It's been a while since I was truly drunk. Not a good idea to drift while intoxicated," Ben pointed out. "I think it actually makes your drift partner drunk too...not that I have tried it personally. I've just heard the horror stories."

"I wouldn't know. It's not like any of my family members really survived past the drinking to ever make it to the drift with me." And besides that, Chase had way, way too many issues to even be considering drifting. He couldn't put those levels of crap on anyone else and he knew that. "You planning on fighting any kaiju soon or something?"

"Right now? No," Ben said with a quick chuckle. "Right now, I intend to drink until I go practically blind and then stumble home with the first available person. Hopefully my judgment won't be too impaired. Sometimes you regret who you wake up with."

"I can make sure you leave here with your virtue intact, if that's what you want," Chase says, because sometimes people want the experience of leaving and not really going home with the right person. "It is the end of the world, though, and you're an attractive man. I'm sure you could pull anyone you like."

"Yeah? Want to make bets on who I can pull?" That sounded marginally more interesting than being maudlin about the end of humanity as he knew it and Ben thought it would be a fun distraction. It had been a long time since he had allowed himself to be distracted.

"Don't think you'd have trouble pulling any yourself, to be honest."

Chase can't help his laugh of surprise when Ben brings it up. Sure, he'd only been teasing, but now that it's actually on the table, he sort of feels like he might as well roll with it. He shrugs, wildly, and laughs. "Sure," he says. "How about..." He grins and points to one of the kaiju-type groupies, sitting in the corner with his drink.

"Now that should just be easy for you."

Ben laughed a little. "Been a while since I've pulled a man. I might not know exactly how to go about it anymore." He wasn't entirely sure that was something you could forget but, again, it had been a while.

"I guess I just walk right up and start talking game about the last kaiju I downed, right?"

"I'm pretty sure when you've got your looks, you sort of just have to ask 'wanna get out of here'," Chase admits, though it's not like he's been pulling very regularly lately. Still, when he does want things to go according to his plans, that's pretty much where he starts.

Chase settles back in his chair with his drink and a smug smirk on his face. "Unless you're saying you're not sure you can do it?"

"I did not say that," Ben said, pushing up out of his chair and heading over. He started in with the usual niceties before settling in the booth opposite the other man. It was a more difficult pull than usual, sure, but he was also out of practice. After a few minutes, he came back with a scrap of paper.

"I've got his number. Told him I didn't think it was fair to just leave my friend all alone and promised I'd ring later."

Chase keeps his smile hidden behind his glass, unable to help the joy of the utterly strange situation. Here they are, possibly sitting at the end of the world, and he's daring Ben to get phone numbers. "I think I owe you a drink for that," he admits, laughing wryly as he gestures for the bartender. "Name your poison. You've earned it."

"Scotch, neat," Ben said quickly enough. There was only one drink for the end of the world, in his opinion, and it was most certainly single-malt scotch. He had no idea what the quality of it would be in this particular bar but it didn't matter. He was drunk enough on success not to care.

"Just one, though? That was a hard pull."

"What, do you think I'm made of money?" Chase replies, affronted and as if he's absolutely and totally scarred by the implication. He does have the inheritance at his disposal, seeing as his father didn't manage to completely screw him with that one last signature. He lifts his fingers to signal for another when the first is done. "Don't let it get to your head," he warns. "It's an end-of-the-world drink, not a congratulations-you're-hot drink."

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