Hercules keeps himself busy now that Gipsy has broken up with him, as it were, spending his days training at singlestick with the other pilots in the dome, going over strategy with Stacker in his office, playing fetch with Max in one of the unused hangar bays. He'd never admit it, but he feels oddly lonely now that Gipsy is refusing to talk to him; these past few weeks have been really nice, having someone else to talk to, someone who doesn't resent him (Chuck), or view him as some kind of mythical hero (the rookies), or a washed-up has-been (some of the other pilots). Gipsy has the most solid AI of all the Jaegers, and so talking with them just isn't the same.

Plus he feels oddly like he's cheating on her when he drifts with the others, so...

He's in the gym, working with the loose weights when he feels the first reverberations of music. At first, he thinks it's another attack — there isn't any precedent for a noise of that caliber — but then the lyrics start and he actually drops his weights on the ground. The other people in the room look just as surprised as he feels, staring at him with wide eyes as he slumps back against the bench and covers his face with his hands.

"Jesus fucking Christ, are you kidding me."

That's when the laughter starts.

The laughter that follows him all the way from the gym up to the control room, where Tendo is looking just as confused as Herc feels. Stacker, thankfully, is as stony-faced as ever, but Herc can see the little twitch around the edge of his mouth that means his old friend is laughing at him. It only gets more pronounced when Gipsy segues into N*Sync.

And then Taylor Swift.

"Good god, man, can't you unplug her or something?"