FicWad

CHAPTER 6: FRIENDS

Kensuke and Toji were given the third degree by Vice-Commander Fuyutsuki for unauthorized entrance onto a battlefield and illegal videotaping of the incident. Kensuke's camera was confiscated and returned after all footage was erased and purged from its memory. "Consider yourselves, lucky," Fuyutsuki told them as he left. "If the Commander himself were here you might've been imprisoned!" The two gulped as sweat beaded on their heads. "As it is I'm letting you go with this as a warning."

But that was nothing compared to the drama between Misato and Shinji. "What the hell is wrong with you!" She screamed at him in the hallway as he leaned against the wall with his arms folded. He was still in his plugsuit having come to as he was being pulled from the EVA. "What were you thinking bringing two unauthorized civilians into the EVA without permission?"

"Well I couldn't just let them get greased out there," Shinji shot back. "Besides, I killed the angel did I not?"

"That doesn't matter!"

"Really?" Shinji said straightening himself out. "I thought my job was to kill angels."

"You're supposed to follow orders!"

"I am not a robot!" Shinji barked. "That damn thing's tentacles were too fast for me to outrun it. And I couldn't have gotten far on the battery power that I had left. And it had yet to fully recover from my last attack. I saw an opening and I took the initiative! Okay, yes, it was a risky gamble but it paid off. Mission Accomplished!"

"You took an unnecessary risk," Misato berated him. "What you did was stupid and reckless."

"And here I thought stupid and reckless was SOP around here," Shinji said. "Don't forget, Misato. You guys brought me here to fight an angel without any prior training. The only advice you gave me was 'hop in'. The pot calls the kettle black."

"Where do you get off giving me a lecture!" Misato snapped.

"Because I'm the one who has to go out there and fight," Shinji clarified. "A fight takes a different perspective for one who's in the middle of the shit compared to someone who's sitting a million feet underground in a nice safe control room." Misato then slapped him across the face.

"Ah!" She then gasped at what she had done. "Shinji…I…" He then looked back up at her.

"I let you have that one," Shinji told her before turning towards the locker room.

"Shinji…" She whimpered. "I'm sorry…I didn't mean to…" He continued to walk to the locker room.

"Oh," he looked back at her as he stopped at the door. "You do remember why I'm fighting for you guys, right?" He then entered the locker room to shower and change. Misato just slumped her shoulders and slowly walked off, feeling like total shit for what she had just done. Unnoticed, a single red eye had observed the whole episode.

Without saying a word Rei turned around and left NERV.

XXXXX

Crimea Peninsula, Ukraine

The last of the vehicles arrived at this small house in the woods and foothills north of Dachne. There were a total of five civilian SUVs. Three were Mercedes-Benz's and the other two were BMWs, all looked high-class. Outside, three roving pairs of guards in cargo pants and black jackets patrolled the grounds. No weapons were visible but the no doubt had them concealed under their coats, probably SMGs or machine pistols.

Up in the hills surrounding the house was a pair of foreign Special Forces operatives. Cloaked in their ghillie suits and concealed near thick undergrowth the pair went unobserved by the guards that were seven-hundred yards away. One was armed with an M2010 .300 Winchester Magnum sniper rifle. The other had a MK14 EBR laying off to the side. He was preoccupied with a laser-mic surveillance device. Its infrared beam was resting on a window on the western side of the house where the clandestine meeting was taking place.

"How're we doin'," the one behind the laser-mic asked his partner.

"Despite this ground being colder than a Nazi-humanitarian's heart, peachy, mate," the sniper said as he scanned the grounds before them. Their mission wasn't to take hostile action unless directly ordered to or in self-defense. Instead, they lay there and recorded the conversation in the secluded house hidden in the hills. They listened in as the multitude of voices mixed and argued amongst themselves. Most were in foreign languages but there were a few bits of English mixed in.

"We are behind schedule."

"Things go wrong. You can't expect every single phase of an operation to go according to a fixed timeline."

"Is this more of your Chaos Theory talk?"

"It's mere common sense, my friend."

"The situation in Tokyo-3 continues as planned though. True, it's not how we would like but it's still acceptable."

"What about the facilities in North America?"

"Despite the interruptions as result of recent events progress continues. The western facility more so than the east."

"The east facility must improve their performance."

"It can't be helped. With the damage to the local infrastructure and the slow influx of materials they can only do so much."

"And the facility in Germany? How could the vault have been breached and no one knows about it until now? Who knows what happened to the sample!"

"The investigation is ongoing. And there are only so many suspects. They can't hide forever."

"The sample should've been kept in a more secure facility."

"What should've been done is irrelevant at this point," a new, more authoritative voice announced. "What needs to happen next should be our primary concern. The vault breach will be investigated. Once the perpetrators are identified they will be dealt with. The project must take precedence, however. And, as such, our focus must be on the facilities and events in Japan. The pieces are moving into their final positions and we must be ready for the end game." There was a pause. "Then we are in agreement?" Another pause. "Very well." And with that the light in the room went out and chairs could be heard shuffling along the floor.

A minute later the guards made a more thorough search of the grounds and the vehicles. The soldier behind the laser-mic put it down and picked up a pair of binoculars. The sniper touched a device on his scope which activated the attached miniature digital camera. As the participants left he snapped several photos of each. The faces would later be transmitted to higher headquarters to hopefully identify the participants.

As the last one left the sniper took note of his distinct feature: a Gordi LaForge-like band across his eyes. Some blind people wore those devices which were attached to their optical nerves and translated an ultra-sonic signal into an image that allowed them to see. Not very far, but enough to go about daily life.

"Ugly bastard," the spotter said as he scanned the grounds while the unidentified persons climbed into their respective vehicles.

"Yup," the sniper said as he removed the camera and stowed it in his pack.

"Jobs done, here," the spotter said as he shifted position. "Let's go."

The pictures and audio recording of the meeting were later successfully transmitted across the world VIA satellite. The burst transmission lasted les than one-ten thousandth of a second but it was long enough for the job.

XXXXX

The next day Misato didn't see Shinji at all. He was not in his room and when she called his school they said he wasn't in class. Worried she called it into NERV and a search was ordered.

In reality Shinji was just taking a walk in a park on the outskirts of the city. He didn't feel like talking with Misato at the moment nor did he want to go to school where he was sure to be glommed with all kinds of questions. Right now, he just wanted some peace and quiet. He understood why Misato was upset with him.

She was a military officer and was used to people following her orders. But Shinji was not her soldier. 'I probably pushed her too much,' Shinji said to himself. 'I didn't really want to lecture her. I just wanted to give her my side of the story. I guess were both not all that good at controlling our temper.' Shinji then went about finding a place to crash for the night.

Toji and Kensuke found the Katsuragi residence the next day after school. "Are you sure this is it?" Toji asked.

"Apartment 3-A," Kensuke said double checking the class roster. "That's what it says." Toji then rang the bell. Almost instantly a babe was in their faces.

"SHINJI!" Misato screamed nearly causing the two to crap their pants.

"Uh," Toji muttered, surprised to see such a babe answer the door.

"Huh?" Misato blinked. "You're Shinji's classmates…"

"Uh, yeah," Kensuke said speaking up. "You see…"

"Um, Shinji wasn't in school yesterday or today so, uh, we came to see if he was…um," he seemed to have trouble forming the words.

"We wanted to see if he was alright," Kensuke finished for him.

"Oh, he's fine!" Misato said smiling. "He just has some things to do at NERV. He won't be in for a while."

"Oh, well," Toji muttered. "Could you tell him we, uh, stopped by?"

"No problem," she nodded and smiled. "Bye!" She then closed the door.

"Wow," Toji muttered.

"This certainly changes things," Kensuke nodded.

"She was a real babe."

"Grrr," Misato growled behind the door. "Shinji…Where the hell are you?" She then punched the wall in frustration.

"Ark!" Pen-Pen squawked, panicked by his keeper's sudden outburst of anger.

That evening, Shinji was chilling in a garden looking down at coy swimming in the pond. "Shinji Ikari," a dead-pan, almost robotic, voice announced behind him.

"Took your time, didn't you?" He said looking over his shoulder at the Section Two agents. "And I wasn't even trying to hide." He double checked their numbers. "Just two agents for little old me? I should hold a ballot to help me decide if I should be insulted."

"You will come with us to NERV," the lead agent said.

"I was about to go home, pencil neck," Shinji said. "I was only spending a night on the town." He turned to leave but an agent placed a firm hand on his shoulder.

"You are coming with us, now! GACK!" The agent went rigid as it felt like his junk was being squeezed by a vice.

"Bad idea, friend," Shinji said as he was clutching the agent's package. He released the agent then drove his elbow into his face. His partner responded by reaching for his sidearm but Shinji was faster. As the agent brought out his gun Shinji grasped his wrist, seizing the gun, drove his other arm up and broke the agent's arm. As the agent howled in pain Shinji flipped him head over heels over the bridge and into the pond.

Shinji then ejected the magazine, cleared the chamber and striped the H&K pistol into just the slide and barrel assembly and frame then dumped the pieces where he stood. The first agent was still writhing in pain as Shinji pulled his sidearm out from under his coat and did the same to it before walking away. "Don't you pricks ever touch me again," he said before heading home. The other visitors stared in awe at what had just broken the peace and quiet of the park.

XXXXX

Of all the things Shinji was expecting when he entered the apartment, Misato hugging him and crying onto his shoulder wasn't one of them. "Shinji," she whimpered. "I was so worried."

"Few tears for your long lost roommate?" Shinji asked. Misato continued to sob. "Sorry." He said hugging her back. "I didn't think you'd get so worked up."

"No," she shook her head. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" He asked as she pulled away, wiping her tears away.

"For yelling at you and…slapping you," she said. "I didn't mean to push you away."

"Well," Shinji shrugged. "I said some pretty harsh things too. I just needed some space is all; I'm back now." Misato smiled at that.

"Good to hear. Welcome home," she finally stopped crying. "Now how about dinner? I could fix up some…"

"That's alright!" Shinji stopped her right there. "Why, uh, why don't we go get some curry instead? I found this kick ass place not far from here."

"Curry sounds good," she agreed with a smile. After a quick shower and change of clothes for Shinji they left the apartment.

"By the way," Misato said as they walked towards the parking lot. "Those kids you rescued stopped by earlier, Toji and Kensuke."

"Was Toji looking for round two?" He asked.

"Round two? What are you…? Shinji!" She snapped. "You mean you got that bruise in a fight at school? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Calm down," Shinji said. "It was just a school yard scuffle. Not an aggravated assault. He was upset because his kid sister was injured in the first battle. Anyone would be upset over that. He just needed to vent a little…and get knocked down a peg or two."

"Knocked down a peg or two? You mean who gave him that bruise and bloody lip?" Shinji nodded. "Oh, boy."

"Like I said, it's not something to worry about." Shinji explained as they got to the car. "Oh!" He then remembered. "That reminds me. Before you hear about it from Ritsuko, I should probably tell you about some visitors I had earlier…" He then told her about the agents.

"You broke one agent's nose and broke the other's arm?" Misato stared at him. "Then you disassembled their guns?"

"They tried to man handle me," Shinji explained. "Plus they pulled their weapons on me. I really was just about to come home when they showed up. Bad timing on their part." Misato let out a heavy sigh.

"I'm going to need a beer…"

Misato handled Ritsuko's angry call at dinner and explained the situation before anymore Section Two agents showed up. "Everything's under control, Rits," she explained. "Shinji's back and that's that."

"'That's that'!" Ritsuko shrieked loud enough for Shinji to hear it. "He assaulted two of our agents!"

"They need to not be so gung-ho all the time," Misato retorted. "Besides. Don't you think it's kind of sad that it took them that long to find him when he was right under our noses? That's number one. Number two, they got their asses kicked by a sixteen year old kid. Define: pathetic." Shinji nearly choked on his rice.

"Fine. But he still has some explaining to do."

"Can we handle it in the morning?" Misato asked. "I'm still celebrating my roommate's return home. Bye!" She then hung up.

"'Asses kicked by a sixteen year old kid'?" Shinji asked. "Thanks for the vote of confidence." Misato just stuck her tongue out at him in reply.

The next day as they were leaving to go into NERV Toji and Kensuke showed up again. "Go on!" Kensuke shoved Toji from behind.

"Look…Shinji," Toji started to say something.

"Forget it," Shinji waved him off. "You don't need to apologize to me." Misato then excused herself so the kids could work this out. "Besides, I'm not one for chick-flick moments." Toji chuckled at that one, ribbing the back of his head. "Next time, just think before you go and do something rash like that."

"Sure thing," Toji nodded. He then held out his hand. "Friends?"

"Friends," Shinji took it.

"You got some slick moves," Toji smiled. "Don't suppose you could share a few later, huh?" Shinji chuckled.

"Yeah," he said smirking. "Just remember to bring pads, Mr. Punching Bag. You'll need 'em."

"You got that right," he said scratching his bruise. "Well, see you at school tomorrow!" They waved bye as they left.

"Later!" Shinji waved back. Over at the car Misato smiled at the happy sight.