So, I watched Pacific Rim for the first time the other day and had the idea for a Fallenwings/Charlie's Exorcists (Chaggute) AU. Basically, replace Kaiju with Demons and Jeagers with Exorcists. Pictures are Falling Wings, Falling Wings with weapons and some technical details, and Hellfire Wings with weapons.
To combat the Demon incursion, the Exorcist program was started with pilot pairs using the giant mechs to slay the Demons. Lute and Vaggie are the top pilot pair with several kills under their belt, piloting Falling Wings. They're also dating but the intense scrutiny begins to wear on Vaggie while Lute thrives in the spotlight. The friction in their relationship reaches a breaking point when they're battling a category 3 demon; Lute is focused on bragging about the kill before it's been made and Vaggie snaps at her, the two briefly falling out of sync. The moment is enough for the Demon to capitalize, tearing into the faceplate of Falling Wings and injuring Vaggie while taking the mech's systems offline. The suit is nearly destroyed but abruptly stops attacking and disappears before other Exorcists are able to respond. The fear of a loose Demon prompts people to question the effectiveness of the Exorcist program.
While Vaggie is recovering, Lute is unable to drift with potential replacements, leading to both of them being decommissioned as pilots. Both blame the other for falling out of sync and find other positions within the program. Vaggie is assigned to R&D while Lute helps train new Exorcist pilots. Vaggie works with Dr. Emily Phim, who's been researching the Demons and trying to find a more sustainable way to stop them. Meanwhile, Lute falls under the command of Adam, who runs the training program, and reports progress to Marshall Sera Phim, Emily's big sister and the head of the Exorcist program. However, with the loss of Falling Wings, the Exorcists are becoming harder pressed to keep up the defense as larger and deadlier Demons are coming through the Breach and humanity is scrambling to find enough answers to the rising threat.
As Adam and Lute push the pilots and trainees harder, Emily brings on another assistant: a strange woman named Charlie, whom Vaggie takes a liking to, and Emily begins some questionable experiments testing the limits of the organic structure of the Demons. Lute learns of the Dr's new assistant and grows a bit jealous that Vaggie seems to be getting along with her but refuses to acknowledge her growing resentment.
Months after the loss of Falling Wings, another Exorcist is destroyed in battle, this time losing both pilots. Lute takes the loss hard and Vaggie tries to comfort her but the two end up arguing. As they part ways to cool off, Vaggie runs into Charlie, who offers her some comfort and a sounding board as she processes her complicated feelings towards Lute.
During the next Demon attack, another Exorcist suit is lost along with its pilots, and Lute realizes that the Demons now know to target the head of the Exorcists to bring the suits down and adjusts her training with the pilots to protect their cockpits. As Sera faces mounting pressure as Exorcists are seemingly losing the battle against the Demons, Emily begins working on a secret project she hopes will turn the tides of the fight, enlisting Vaggie's help as a former pilot to try designing a new type of Exorcist. Vaggie's hesitant to try but with Charlie's support and encouragement, she helps fill in Emily's gaps of knowledge regarding the Drift. She event begins drifting with Charlie to help test some of the components and thus discovers that Charlie isn't human and the Demons aren't just organic.
The Demons she's fought in the past are biomechs- organic compounds grafted onto a mechanical framework and piloted just like the Exorcists are. However, one of the functions of the organic portion is to release acid upon a critical system failure, to obscure the mechanical components and kill the pilot to prevent the technology and information from being captured by enemy forces. Charlie was the pilot of the Demon that destroyed Falling Wings and had only reluctantly piloted the Demon in the hopes of escaping and warning the humans about the enemy they faced. During the battle, the Demon's connection with the home network was destroyed, freeing Charlie from the eyes of her people and allowing her to escape once Falling Wings was no longer a threat. She disguised herself as a human after meeting Emily, who helped remove her from the organic cockpit. Emily's project is an attempt to graft some of the Demon biomech components onto what remains of Falling Wings, as the organic compound can be grown quickly for less intensive parts- limbs and extremities in general require only muscle mass, neural networks, and a fluid compound to act as the 'blood' of the pseudo-hydrolic mass, and Emily has reverse engineered several of the organic components already. She just needs to refine the neural network to interface with the Exorcist cockpit. Although shocked by the revelation and who Charlie is, Vaggie comes to forgive Charlie for their initial battle and accept her as an ally and even comes to admire her bravery for rebeling against her homeworld's method of destructive colonization.
When the next Demon attack comes- a truly massive category 4- the Exorcists fair a bit better but are severely damaged, thinning their numbers considerably. Despite not losing any pilots this time, the repairs needed have put the program in jeopardy of being unable to respond adequately during the next attack- and the Demons are getting bigger and deadlier. Emily tries to make her proposal to Sera about her new Exorcist design that incorporates aspects of Demon physiology but Sera's unwilling to listen, more focused on the current problem and believing Emily's fascination with Demons to be borderline detrimental to the program. Without Sera's approval to further the project, Emily turns to Vaggie and asks if she can find pilots for the new mech. Vaggie expresses doubt, as while she and Charlie are drift compatible- as proven through their testing with Emily- finding another pilot who is drift compatible with both of them, talented enough to help pilot the mech, and willing to accept Charlie is a tall order. But, one does come to mind, and Charlie accompanies her as emotional support.
Lute, on edge over the impending threat of the next Demon attack and the Exorcists' waning numbers, immediately starts a fight when Vaggie shows up to talk with Charlie in tow, jealously asserting that Vaggie's moved on and Lute's not interested in hearing about it. Although at first combative, after a bit of redirecting from Charlie, Vaggie appeals to Lute's hero mentality and explains that the only way to protect the other Exorcist pilots is for them to work with Charlie and pilot a new mech. Lute tries to argue but Vaggie firmly shuts her down, offering to enter the drift to prove what she's saying is true and she's not just trying to fuck with Lute's feelings. When Lute challenges Vaggie as to why Charlie has to be one of the pilots- and why they need a third in the first place- Vaggie briefly explains that the mech has organic parts that only Charlie will know how to properly interface with, and has Charlie reveal her demon form to prove her point. Lute relents and asserts that she's only going to try it because she wants to be the first to pilot such a mech to prove she's the best pilot (she's lying; she was going to cave anyway because she misses being in Vaggie's head and she's willing to share for just a small shred of what they had).
The next Demon attack comes before they can attempt a test and the available Exorcists are deployed as a Demon large enough to be classified category 5 appears. Even as the Exorcists go to battle, the rest of the world begins bracing for an inevitable defeat as evacuations begin. The Demon easily crushes an Exorcist and the resulting fear almost knocks the survivors out of sync, but then Lute, Vaggie, and Charlie arrive in the newly dubbed Hellfire Wings and strengthens the resolve of the Exorcists. With its organic components making it faster and deadlier, Hellfire Wings begins battling the Demon in ways it's unprepared for, and combining Lute and Vaggie's combat experience with Charlie's knowledge of Demons leads to it scoring critical blows and subduing the Demon in record time.
Lute and Vaggie agree with Charlie that leaving the Breach open is too risky, and now that their trump card is played and the Breach is stable enough to let category 5s through, it's only a matter of time until they're overrun. Disobeying Sera's and Adam's orders to retreat, Lute, Vaggie, and Charlie lead the Exorcists to seal the Breach. Several more Demons are sent through- a defense mechanism that had proven too dangerous to attempt sealing the Breach before- and Hellfire Wings aids the other Exorcists, fending the Demons off and cutting their way through to the Breach itself. Leaving orders to open fire if the Breach opens again, Lute, Vaggie, and Charlie enter the Breach and arrive at the base that builds Demons and trains their pilots. Hellfire Wings destroys the base, destabilizing the Breach, and manages to escape back through before the Breach seals for good.
As humanity celebrates victory over the Demon incursion, Charlie warns that the Demons could return by opening another Breach after rebuilding the base, though she's unsure if her people will consider the endeavor worthy of the possibility of a second defeat. Upon returning to the Exorcist's base, Adam expresses surprise that Lute and Vaggie were able to set aside their differences for the mission. Lute begrudgingly admits that the glory of being a pilot doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things and Vaggie gently teases her about being a secret romantic. When Adam questions why Charlie was needed to pilot, Charlie reveals her Demon form and Adam freaks out, attempting to order her killed, but Lute, Vaggie, and the surviving Exorcists remind him that, without Charlie, they would likely be dead, and she's earned her place as an Exorcist pilot. Sera apologizes to Emily for dismissing her previously and thanks her for seeing her project through.
As the celebrations continue, Lute makes to leave but Vaggie stops her, pointing out that she felt Lute's regret for their argument and valuing their status as pilots over their relationship. Lute admits that she didn't think she was doing that until she really stopped to see things from Vaggie's perspective; they always focused on the battle during missions and she missed the signs when they weren't in the drift. Or, perhaps, she didn't want to see them at all. Lute asks forgiveness and Vaggie grants it, inviting Lute to get to know Charlie a little better outside of the drift. Lute expresses a bit of doubt but Vaggie calls her bluff; she knows Vaggie's missed her just as much, and her feelings for Charlie are distinct and separate. Lute's just scared of messing up again but Vaggie assures her that she thinks they're worth a second try.
