Author's Note: Alright, this is my first fic, I decided to write after finishing NGE for the second time, i just wasn't satisfied with the ending, and then i realized i didn't like the overall angstiness of it, now don't get me wrong I loved the anime, i would just like to share my take of it. One man attempting to do something no one else did in the series, to protect the children.
Chapter one : Bumpy Introductions
Off in the distance fires were burning, black smoke billowing from the torched houses. Heedless of the danger ahead the group moved on, cautiously, moving from tree to tree, from bush to bush, and burnt house to burnt house towards the destroyed city. From around the corner of one of the shelled out buildings the point man could hear a shrill scream interrupted by automatic weapons fire, he couldn't help but close his eyes and offer a small prayer for the woman just mercilessly gunned down. Peeking around the corner he noted several people milling around, some with guns, but most were sobbing women and children. Signaling for the squad to halt and huddle up, he began to explain the situation.
"Alright here's the situation, we have seven hostiles and about twenty five civvies around that corner. Grant, Ashton, and Fuller will move around the opposite side of the building and set up a position for a cross fire on the hostiles. While they are moving Hues and I will cross the street to set up the other side of the crossfire. Understand?" the leader outlined his plan
Grant replied harshly "no sir I don't understand, this is international, beyond our jurisdiction, and anyway if we don't catch the attention of the Czech government, our command will have your stripes!"
"I know, I know but are you gonna be able to live with yourself if you just let those woman and children die?" their leader sighed
"YES! It's none of my concern whether they live or die, we have a mission and this is clearly not part of it, none of your concern either for that matter." Grant argued
"Well I'm making it an order, mission or not we have an obligation as human-beings" the leader went on undeterred by Grant's logic.
"Sir, if that's how you feel I'm going to have to relieve you of your command, you realize that?" Grant spoke as he pulled out his silenced sidearm.
Things began to become fuzzy, fading in and out of focus. A light shone above his eyes, not blinding but just annoying. Finally opening his eyes and grumbling something about "damn light" and "breaking" something or other, he began to look around noticing a small tanned man in a khaki military uniform gently shaking him awake. He looked for rank insignia but saw none. So he's in this too, same damned nonsense as me he thought.
The man held out his hand and began in a slight cockney "hey there, I'm Temuera Morston, heading to Tokyo-3 too are ya?" slowly the groggy man lifted his hand, beginning to smile back "howdy, the names Evan Lanhardt, and yup I got sucked into this Tokyo-3 business as well." A brief pause ensued before Lanhardt asked "you Samoan?"
"Nope, Maori, good guess though, we're pretty much cousin's, same with the Hawaiians."
After a few minutes of pleasant conversation, Temuera paused, as if collecting his thoughts. Lanhardt's smile began to turn into a frown, as Temuera sighed "this is gonna be rough", Lanhardt let the words sink in for a moment then responded "yeah, it sure is. But that's why they called me in, probably the same for you." "Of course it is!" Temuera exclaimed, the smile back on his face and twice as big.
"So when did you get on the plane Mr. Morston?" Lanhardt asked slowly beginning the friendly conversation once again.
"Oh I got on in Hawaii connecting from Australia, come from the south pacific tactical defense forces." Explained Temuera
Lanhardt's eyes widened in amazement "Desert Rat Spec-ops? I didn't think they actually existed, it's a real honor sitting here with you"
"Ack don't kiss ass Lanhardt, I've read your dossier, former IRA, turned Executive Decisions contractor, turned ARC Spec-ops. You're not exactly green bub."
Replied Temuera casually
"Um… uh… thank you sir" stuttered Lanhardt wow this guy must have freakin' ultra top secret clearance; either that or he's a spy. Naw too military lookin' those damned spies have a distinctly sleazy look, no matter how military they try to be.
"Hey bub, no ranks remember, reassignment upon briefing, and yes of course I know about ARC, I helped create it." Temuera smiled continuing "I know you're a damned good soldier I hand picked you for this assignment, the rest NERV selected, but between you and I, we'll manage."
"Ha I suppose we don't have a choice do we?" scoffed Lanhardt thinking about his new assignment, black-ops command reassigns me mid-mission, flies me all the way from Colombia, gives me clearance to get past international securities with anything I want except a tank. This is… "Interesting" for lack of a better word.
"Well we still have about four hours till this thing lands I'll give you a rundown on NERV and our new little assignment
Approximately Four Hours Later
Japanese airways flight number 8411 began to taxi towards the terminal of Tokyo-3 international airport. Captain Misato Katsuragi stood in full dress uniform impatiently tapping her foot as a pair of Section-Two agents flanked her, and willed her foot to break off, or at the very least stop tapping.
Guh what is taking those guys so long? I've been waiting here for an hour and a half, damn flight, damn getting here early, I was sure they would arrive early, guess not tho…
"Ma'am" one of the agents interrupted her thoughts "I think they've arrived" he said pointing to the gate that the passengers were debarking from.
"Where I don't see th…" her sentence was interrupted again, but this time not by the agents, but by the small tanned man in the khaki uniform, probably around 5'8" or 5'10" with short, dark, almost wiry hair. and the absolutely most monstrous human-being she had ever seen, standing at more like 8'0" tall in her mind and shoulders as broad as a city bus with light brown hair as long as militarily allowed and wearing a grey and green uniform she didn't recognize, both with duffel bags casually slung over their shoulders.
Lanhardt couldn't keep a grin off of his face as Temuera and himself walked up to the lavender haired captain.
Misato did her best to compose herself as the men walked straight towards her, unconsciously taking a step back as they both stopped in front of her and dropped their bags and stood at-ease.
"Good morning gentleman, I am NERV's operations director captain Misato Katsuragi, welcome to Tokyo-3." Good job Misato she thought to herself you managed to get that out without gawking at the ogre. She chanced a look up at the man, well maybe not ogre, not bad lookin, but definitely a giant.
The two men introduced themselves as Temuera Morston and Evan Lanhardt. Once again picking up their duffel bags after saluting.
"If you all will follow us please" Misato began trying to get back on track and not stare at the human mountain in front of her. He wouldn't stop smiling, she wondered why, he probably got this treatment a lot, she supposed it just amused him.
Lanhardt responded smile firmly set in place "after you captain" he motioned forward with one of his hands.
Misato frowned okay now he's just trying to mess with me, smartass. "No after you Mr. Lanhardt" she said imposing a little venom in her voice.
Lanhardt frowned and began walking, Temuera quickly falling into step with him. "What did I do" Lanhardt inquired quietly through the corner of his mouth.
"Bah nothing, nothing, just doesn't appear that the captain here is used to dealing with gentlemen" Temuera replied in a slightly smug and much less quiet tone.
Ha gentleman, I doubt that guy can be gentle with so many… muscles, wow he's freakin built. Misato argued with her mind as they walked to the sedan they had waiting for them.
After reaching the black sedan one agent moved to the driver side while the other opened the door for the rest to enter the vehicle. Misato leaned in first, making sure to hold her skirt down, and sitting in the rear facing seat, while Temuera and Lanhardt climbed in after her sitting in the normal forward facing seats. The agent closed the door and sat in the front passenger seat.
"So I assume your flight was alright gentlemen?" Misato asked losing the edge in her voice.
"Well he wouldn't know," Temuera pointed to Lanhardt with his thumb "he didn't seem awake for most of it"
"Hey that's not fair Si… Tem you kept borin' me to sleep" he replied with a small chuckle. Temuera glared at him for about five seconds, before finally cracking a smile and chuckling along with him. Misato simply giggled nervously. For a couple Spec-ops hard asses these guys seem to think a lot is funny, I can't even imagine how long it took 'em to gain each others trust, no time like the present to find out.
"So how long have you all been in the same unit?" she inquired.
"Well we're not really in the same unit, yet anyway" Lanhardt answered still finding something to smile about.
"Oh, well how long have you all known each other, old military buddies I see?" Misato asked, now appearing somewhat interested.
Temuera made a point of pulling up his sleeve and looking at his watch and flatly replied "four hours thirteen minutes…… and 27 seconds."
Misato did her best to once again not gawk, wow, the quickest friendship ever witnessed, they act like family. "Wow, you guys sure seemed to hit it off!" that seems a little convenient to me.
Before she could interrogate them further Lanhardt asked the first question that Misato hadn't. "So Captain how long have you been in the service? You seem very young to be a captain."
Misato covered her slight blush by answering quickly and with a large smile "well I went to officer's training academy when I was twenty one, I was almost done with college, but it wasn't too hard, I finished fourth in my class, so I've been "in the service" for about five years now." She finished her rambling with a smile. Bet they never expected a fine young lady like me to spend that much time in the military.
Lanhardt smiled and nodded throughout her rambling, genuinely interested it seemed, Temuera listened only half interested, his mind was focused on other things at the moment.
Before the men could continue their questioning Misato quickly rebutted. "How about you two?"
Lanhardt answered immediately "oh… me… well uh about 11 and a half months now, with military proper." He gently nudged Temuera with his elbow for him to respond after a moment of silence "and me… well hell the military is the only thing I've ever known, I joined my dumb ass up when I was eighteen, so" he did some quick calculating staring at the ceiling of the car and ticking off with fingers. "About twenty five years or so, and don't be so modest Evan tell her how long you've been fighting."
Lanhardt looked at him in confusion, then nodded and sighed looking down at the floor "I suppose I've been fighting now for about eleven or twelve years."
Misato's jaw hit the floor while she still tried to form a sentence until she finally got the words out. "Wait… what… how old are you?!?!" she asked confused
"Twenty four" Lanhardt replied flatly continuing to stare at the floor of the moving vehicle. "I guess I've been fighting perceived evils and righting wrongs in the world since my family di…"
"We're being followed." Temuera interrupted calmly "tell your driver not to panic or lose the tail but head straight for NERV headquarters, doesn't matter if they know where we're goin' just that we get there. "You hear that?" Misato turned around and asked the driver. "Yeah, yeah no problem." He replied in an unsure tone. He continued driving; doing his best not to let the tail know they'd spotted him. The sedan and its occupants continued heading towards NERV headquarters until they arrived at a police roadblock, and what looked like an accident involving a semi and two smaller cars. One of the officers waved the sedan over and walked around to the driver's side and motioned for him to roll down the window.
"Hey looks pretty bad, is anyone hurt, or is an ambulance on the way?" The driver asked in a concerned tone.
"No, no nobody is hurt yet" replied the officer almost amused. "And unfortunately an ambulance isn't on the way." The officer stated as he pulled out his sidearm and fired three consecutive shots into the driver's side. The driver's foot reflexively found the gas peddle, and stamped down hard to get away from the officer. In the process another one of the officers jumped out in front of the sedan to try and take a few shots. But only succeeded in being hit by the sedan as the driver blindly made his way through the blockade. The driver finally released to steering wheel and began clutching at his throat, attempting to stem the tide of blood gushing forth.
Misato laid over the seat and took the wheel doing her best to guide the sedan along the street from her awkward position. The driver slumped over onto the lap of his colleague and began attempting to yell, but the sound only came out as a labored gurgling sound.
"OH CHRIST, he doesn't look good captain!" screamed the unharmed agent, "his vest took one of the rounds, but the other two hit him in the shoulder and the throat!"
"Keep pressure on his throat, and tell him to keep his foot on the gas, continue heading towards NERV captain." Said Temuera in between firing shots aimed at the van now following them from his revolver.
Lanhardt fired half a clip into the front of the van, then emptied the rest of the clip into one of the van's passengers attempting to lean out of the sliding door of the van and fire a sub-machine gun. The man dropped the SMG and pitched forward out of the van before any of his comrades could grab him.
Both vehicles were now moving at high speeds down the relatively empty streets, luckily it was four o'clock in the morning otherwise things would have been trickier. The man finally tumbled out of the van and was immediately sucked under the back right tire, due to the speed of the vehicle the "bump" popped the back end of the van into the air, the driver tried to correct their decent by turning the van to the left, but succeeded in only causing it to pitch sideways and tumble down the street until finally coming to a rest as the sedan sped away.
Finally coming into the more narrow twists and turns of the city as they approached NERV, they were still traveling at much more than a safe speed. Unbeknownst to them a garbage truck began to back up out of an alleyway. When Misato finally saw the back end of the truck she attempted to swerve out of the way. The front right of the sedan was immediately crumpled as it crashed into the garbage truck. The vehicle still further skewed off to the left as it finally began to halt its forward momentum.
Misato screamed in terror as the world around her abruptly turned black, as her conscience began evading her. Her last thought was damn I screwed up, before the darkness finally engulfed her.
Lanhardt painfully picked himself up from the ground and began to try and find his comrades, he glanced off to his right and saw Temuera attempting to pick himself up, and one of the section-two agents, he assumed wasn't the one who was shot, trying to also stand. What worried him was that he couldn't locate the lavender haired captain.
He began frantically searching for the captain in the wreckage of the car, only to be greeted by the grisly scene that was once the driver of the vehicle, Lanhardt offered up a small prayer for the soul of the other agent who had passed. Hopefully he died from the gunshot before he could get crushed in that wreck thought Lanhardt. He reached over and shut the agent's eyes with his thumb and forefinger.
He began to walk in a circle around the wreck to see if the captain had been ejected from the car. After about two minutes of desperate searching, he heard a low groan coming from a pile of garbage bags. He ran up to the garbage and began throwing the bags to his side, until finally he saw the captain's red jacket. He excavated the rest of the bags leaving only a pile for her to lie on.
Misato began to stir, trying to sit up, but finding it impossible with the gentle pressure on her shoulders. She opened her eyes and gasped as she saw a shining figure above her, looking as if he had a ring of light around his head and shining golden wings. "Are you an angel?" she choked out barely audible. "Don't try to sit up captain, you were just flung twenty feet from the car, you might have a concussion." Lanhardt told her while keeping her pinned down by her shoulders. "Mi-Misato." Groaned Misato as Lanhardt began checking her for obvious injuries. "What?" Lanhardt exclaimed confused by what Misato had said. "You keep calling me captain, just call me Misato." She said with a slight delirious smile
"Ok Misato, it's good you remember your name. Do you know where we are or why we're here?" Lanhardt asked releasing his grip on her shoulders and helping her sit up.
"We're about two blocks from NERV headquarters we need to get there! Before those guys come back!" she said her memory fully returning to her. Standing up and dusting herself off, she began walking towards the other survivors of the car wreck with the help of Lanhardt, when she heard the screeching of tires. She turned and saw another grey van speed up to end of the street before swerving to the left to leave its sliding door towards the group.
Before the van door could open all the way Lanhardt, Misato, Temuera, and the remaining section-two agent were unloading the remaining rounds in their firearms into it. The door slid all the way open and three bodies fell out, all three looked to be poised and ready to open fire on them as soon as the door was open. Temuera ran inhumanly fast up to the van, planting the barrel of his revolver against the temple of the driver's head before he could pull out his own weapon or speed away.
Lanhardt expelled the spent magazine from his Walther P-99 and slid a full one in with practiced ease. "Stay here and cover our backs Misato." Lanhardt ordered as he signaled for the section-two agent to advance with him. Misato turned away from the van to watch the other side of the street with her pistol at the ready.
Lanhardt and the agent slowly stalked towards the bodies of the three men who had fallen out the side door of the van.
Under his ski mask the man smiled as he could hear the two NERV employees over top of him. As soon as he thought they wouldn't be able to react to a surprise attack, he set his plan in motion. Quickly he raised his Micro-Uzi and jammed the trigger down swinging it back and forth, holding it until it began clicking as the hammer attempted to fall on an empty chamber.
Misato heard the staccato of automatic fire from behind her, she quickly turned around whipping her pistol in position to find a target, she saw one of the men in ski masks holding his weapon up, the agent holding his midsection on the ground, and Lanhardt staring down the barrel of the SMG. She aimed her pistol at the man on the ground; she began to squeeze the trigger as her vision blurred from turning too quickly, and the possible concussion from the wreck.
Two more shots sounded out along the street as Misato double tapped the trigger. She blinked rapidly to try and clear away the bleariness in her eyes. She gasped as she saw who her weapon was pointing at… Lanhardt.
If he had been hit he didn't act like it as his leg reared back and he boot kicked the attacker that was on the ground in the face. Misato heard a sickly wet crunch even from her position twenty feet away from both of them.
Lanhardt kneeled down and placed two fingers on the man's neck, feeling a steady pulse; he picked the man up and threw him in the back of the van. "Misato help him." Lanhardt said as he pointed towards the agent rolling around on the ground. Temuera leaned back and pistol whipped the driver at the base of his neck, throwing him in the back of the van also. He ran around to the sliding door of the van and began searching the deceased men on the ground.
Lanhardt glanced back at Misato who was still frozen in place, and to the agent who was beginning to thrash around less. He ran over to the agent and began to search for the wound. "Where were you hit?" he asked the agent in a calm tone. "Oh god it hurts!!! My stomach… ARGH!" the agent tried to say between grunts and sobs.
Lanhardt let out the breath he didn't realize he was holding, oh thank god, if we get him some medical attention soon he'll be fine Lanhardt's mind told him. "Your gonna be alright, I know it hurts but your gonna be okay." Lanhardt told the agent as he stripped away the clothing around the wound. "What's your name buddy?" Lanhardt asked in a friendly voice. "Ibuki… Naota Ibuki." He responded as he tried to keep himself from hyperventilating. "Alright Ibuki, I'm gonna have to pick you up then put you in the back of the van, it's gonna hurt like hell but I'll try to make it as quick as I can, bite down on this." Lanhardt stuffed one of the young man's rolled up sleeves into his mouth, so he wouldn't scream.
Temuera finished looking for some form of identification on the three men, he turned and looked to where Lanhardt had begun to pick the young agent up, and then to Misato who was still holding her pistol in a firing position, mouth wide open, and staring forward. He ran over to her gently placing his hand on the top of her pistol and pushing it downwards "Captain what's wrong?" he asked. "I-I-I… I shot him." She said in a barely audible squeak.
"Yeah, you never killed anyone before?" Temuera asked now confused.
"No I didn't shoot them, I think I hit Lanhardt." Misato finished as she finally began to inch towards the van with the help of Temuera.
"Well if you hit him he isn't acting like it now is he?" Temuera assured her as he pointed towards Lanhardt helping the agent into the back of the van.
"But I pulled the trigger and when I got a good look I was aiming at him." Misato said in a very distraught and confused tone.
The group got the van loaded up with the survivors and the two "prisoners".
"Misato do you have a phone or a radio?" Lanhardt asked, trying to get her back in reality.
"Huh? Oh yeah." She responded lamely, pulling out her phone at the same time. Lanhardt took the phone from her, realizing nothing would get done by her; she was in shock about something. "What's the number to NERV's medical branch Misato…? Misato?"
"Sorry sorry, hit speed dial 2." She responded trying to seem cheery again. Lanhardt pushed the button, waiting a few moments while the phone rang.
"Misato what do you need now?!?!" came the reply from a rather grouchy sounding woman.
"Umm sorry ma'am this isn't Captain Katsuragi, this is Evan Lanhardt new transfer to NERV, upon our arrival we were followed and ambushed by assailants of an unknown source and number. We have two seriously wounded, including myself and one KIA; recommend you dispatch two medical teams and supporting security units. We also have two prisoners captured from the attacking group." He finished in a "matter-of-factly" way.
"Oh god, what injuries have you all sustained?" the woman asked in a hurried tone, it sounded like she was running on Lanhardt's end of the phone.
"one of your agents has taken a nine-millimeter round to the stomach, I have a total of what feels like six entry wounds and two exit points, two entries on my right thigh, one entry and exit on my right side, two entries and one exit in my right arm, and one entry on my right shoulder blade. Captain Katsuragi may have suffered a mild concussion as well." Lanhardt described, his voice betraying no emotion whatsoever.
"HOLY SHIT!!! Do you all have an ETA?" The woman screamed and sounding as if she was moving even faster through the receiver of the phone.
Misato gasped and covered her face as Lanhardt description of his injuries sunk in, Oh my god I did shoot him, oh lord I screwed up. Her mind berated her as tears began forming in her eyes.
"Tem what's our ETA?" Lanhardt inquired
"One minute… Thirty seconds if they had the gate open" Temuera said swerving the van slightly as a cat ran across the street.
Lanhardt conveyed the ETA over the phone to the doctor. "See ya when we get there doctor." Lanhardt ended the conversation by hanging up the phone. He looked over to where Misato was sitting with her head in her hands, who he could hear quietly sobbing. He scooted over to where she was sitting, and pulled her hands away from her face. She looked up, eyes red and swollen. He put on his most reassuring smile. "Hey, don't worry about it ok, you missed no big deal, you have a concussion I'm amazed you're not unconscious." He said looking right into her eyes as he patted her back.
"You're not mad? Please be mad, I shot you!" she sniffled angrily.
"Look we were just put in an extraordinary circumstance and came out on top, I can't complain, by all rights I should be dead from the shots that guy took at us." He explained by pointing at the man whose face he kicked in only minutes before. "Me being angry at you is useless, you didn't mean to. Now drop it." He finished with a slight edge in his voice.
"Aren't you in pain, I mean six bullet wounds. You should have passed out from pain by now. And why aren't you bleeding?" She gasped. Trying to move around and examine all of his injuries.
"Like you wouldn't believe, but believe it or not this isn't the first time I've been shot. Luckily they didn't hit any vitals, I'll have time to be in pain later, right now I'm focused on getting you and Ibuki home." He explained, sounding more tired and tired after each word. He looked over at her before smiling again.
"We're here everybody unload" Temuera said as he jerked the van to a stop. He climbed out and opened the back door; Lanhardt got out first then turned and helped Misato out of the van. Temuera reached in and unceremoniously tore the prisoners from the back of the van. The Medical teams immediately ran up and began attempting to put Lanhardt on a stretcher. "No, not me, help him you idiots." He said swatting various gloved hands and stethoscopes away before pointing into the back of the van towards Naota Ibuki.
The Medics looked in and immediately two jumped into the back of the van to help pull him out, a stretcher waiting on the outside. Misato saw her blonde friend and immediately walked up to her.
"Morning Ritsu, how's it goin?" Misato asked in mock happiness.
"Misato there are people actually injured here, I need to get them into triage then actually operate, so if you don't mind I'm going to ignore you now." Ritsuko said as she walked past her to the waiting men, the first was already on the stretcher while the other was still fighting with the medics.
"Look, I don't care how injured I am, you're gonna make sure everyone else is ok first." Lanhardt said shrugging off even more latex gloved hands and walking to Ibuki's side.
"You gonna be alright kid?" Lanhardt asked Ibuki, leaning down so he could actually speak to him. Lanhardt hadn't realized how young he was until now, the kid is younger than I am, who would get this kid into this shit when he should be in college, Ha listen to yourself you hypocrite. He thought as Ibuki was wheeled away.
"I'll be fine sir, thank you." Ibuki said through gritted teeth before he was finally out of sight.
"Lanhardt get on the stretcher now." Temuera said pointing to the stretcher. "You're the most injured, as soon as they're done checkin you out THEN they can check out the Captain ok?"
"Alright… sorry sir, I was just worried." Lanhardt replied as he climbed onto the stretcher to lie down.
"Alright let's get him to operating suite 13, he doesn't seem to have lost much blood, and the rounds have missed all vitals, I count six entry wounds and two exit wounds, so we'll need to remove four slugs." Ritsuko said as she and three medics began to push the stretcher towards the medical wing and began removing his uniform to better see the wounds.
"The wounds have already clotted over?!?" Ritsuko exclaimed looking at the eight closed wounds on the giant man.
Approximately two and a half hours later
Lanhardt stood watching the operating theater that the young Ibuki's operation was proceeding in. He had just gotten out himself about an hour earlier. The operation on himself was fairly simple, if you consider removing four nine millimeter slugs from a human body simple. As soon as he had been patched up, Doctor Akagi moved in to the next operating room to help out with Ibuki's recovery. Unfortunately the bullet had pierced directly into his stomach, tearing it completely to shreds. They would have to flash-clone him a new one, you'll get used to it Ibuki, it won't be easy but you will. Lanhardt thought as he reflected upon himself.
His musings were interrupted as he heard a slight shuffling behind him; he turned around quickly but found out that the right side of his body still didn't want to work properly, and caused him pain when he turned that way. As soon as he got around he saw a young woman in the standard tan and red NERV uniform, he saw the bars on her collar and immediately stood ramrod straight and saluted.
She appeared confused for a moment before walking up and pulling his injured arm, still in a sling, out of the salute.
"You don't have to do that here, I'm off duty." She said in a small voice.
"sorry ma'am, I uh, still just a little frazzled." Lanhardt replied slightly confused.
She walked up to the window and just began watching the operation, refusing to move a centimeter. Lanhardt limped over and just stood next to her.
After about fifteen minutes of standing Lanhardt decided to break the silence.
"Forgive me for asking ma'am but why are you here?" Lanhardt asked happy to hear noise again, he hated the quiet.
She turned towards him, craning her neck back so she could look up at his face. He could tell she was about to cry, her eyes were barely containing the torrent of tears.
"He's my brother, I tried to get off duty when I heard he had been hurt, but I couldn't. I had hoped he would be alright but now I see all this." She said motioning towards the operating theater.
"I'm sorry ma'am, it's my fault. I got sloppy out there and he got shot for it." Lanhardt tried to explain while turning away from her. "I should probably leave you alone, I'm sorry again." He said while beginning to limp towards the door. He was stopped as he felt two small hands grip his forearm.
"No, please stay, I read Captain Katsuragi's report. You were very brave out there; if it weren't for you and Sergeant Morston none of them would have come back alive. I'm just sorry your first day in Tokyo-3 was so horrible." She tried to smile
He turned and smiled "Alright but I think I need to be debriefed after the incident Ma'am."
"You can call me Maya. Sergeant Morston is already being debriefed for the both of you, and you've been given your new assignment but you'll have to pick that up from the Sergeant." She said forcing some cheerfulness into her voice. "So how does he look?" she added in a slightly grim tone.
Lanhardt looked at the floor and began describing what he had seen during the operation. "The round tore up his insides pretty good, I'm pretty sure his stomach is gone, more than likely have to flash-clone a new one, other than that he's fine." He concluded trying not to look her in the eye.
"What do you mean flash-clone?" Maya asked upset and confused at his explanation.
"They take a sample of the tissue and grow a new one in a test-tube thing." He said while pointing over to some large test tubes that had iced over.
"I didn't know we had stuff like that." Maya exclaimed as she got closer to the window gazing at the test-tubes.
"Yeah, it's not all fun and games; it's a combination of organic and synthetic materials attempting to precisely copy the organ or tissue. Because of the synthetic materials his immune system will try to fight it and expel the "invader" until it accepts it as a part of his body, that'll take probably about a month. He'll be fed directly through an I.V. and be subjected to uncontrolled vomiting; even afterwards he'll still have trouble for a couple of months with keeping food down." Lanhardt finished his doctor like explanation on the pro's and cons of flash-cloning.
"How do you know all that, I mean this is a brand new technology that I've never heard of and you seem to know everything about it? I mean I know of something similar but not on the scale that you're talking about." Maya exclaimed.
Lanhardt lifted his shirt exposing his muscled abdomen, which had scar tissue all over it. He ran a finger along the largest scar where his stomach would be. "Back about five years ago in 2009 I was in former Egypt; I was training the local militia to become an actual military occupation force. Insurgents had been attacking for two years by then; when I got there it wasn't safe to walk down the street. On a routine patrol an I.E.D. went off. Shredded my stomach and killed the five other men I was with. The German government was involved in the operation and was experimenting with some new medical technology. I guess they perfected it on me." Lanhardt laughed as he began tucking his shirt back in.
"Wow, that's incredible. I didn't think that was safe for human instrumentation." She said in awe.
"It wasn't, they hadn't perfected it as we have and it's a miracle he's alive today." Ritsuko said to gain the attention of the two in the observation room.
"HA, a miracle I'm alive today. You have no idea how right you are doctor." Lanhardt laughed as she entered the room.
"Oh I have a pretty good idea. I'm scheduling you for a full physical exam after you get your new uniform, rank, and billeting assignment." Ritsuko responded rubbing the bridge of her nose.
"How is Naota? He's gonna be ok right" Maya asked pleadingly as her tears began reforming in the corners of her eyes.
"He'll be fine Maya; he seems to be accepting the new organ rather well. The Nausea should last only about two weeks. But you should be able to talk to him in a couple of days while he recovers." Ritsuko said while trying to clean her glasses, but was interrupted by a joyful Maya latching onto her in a bear hug.
"THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!" she yelled dancing around with Ritsuko in her arms. Lanhardt began to laugh before he was tackled by the small woman that was Maya. "And thank you for saving my little brother!!!! Thank you so much!!!" Maya yelled while doing her best to wrap her arms entirely around Lanhardt, and failing.
Lanhardt stood up with the small woman still latched to him while continuing to laugh. The door to the observation room opened and Misato and Temuera stepped in.
Misato stopped mid-stride and looked at the scene. Ritsuko was trying to pick herself up off the ground after being flung by Maya before she "Attacked" Lanhardt, and then Lanhardt standing there laughing with Maya still trying to wrap her arms around his torso, which was still too large.
"Wow, already on the prowl Evan?" Temuera asked with a large grin on his face as he walked towards Lanhardt.
"Uh, ha-ha… not quite Sergeant." Lanhardt Stuttered as he began patting Maya on the back and telling her "your welcome."
"Well, we have your uniform and everything here Lanhardt." Misato said while trying not to sound jealous of the small technician clinging to the man she had just designated as her new crush.
"Evan" Lanhardt responded.
"What" Misato asked in confusion.
"Call me Evan, you asked me to call you Misato and not captain. So I'm asking you to call me Evan." He replied with a grin
"Alright" She said and walked up to him to hand him the new uniform as well as his assignments, rank insignia, and introduction to NERV booklet all in a manila folder.
"Well now that you've got your things follow me please." Ritsuko said while walking out the door. Temuera was the first to respond.
"Sorry doctor, Lanhardt and I have to meet up with the rest of the unit, we're getting a mission briefing from the Sub-Commander and the Captain here." Temuera said in an amused tone. "You'll just have to find some other time to experiment on him."
Ritsuko turned around with a dumbfounded look on her face before Misato grabbed Lanhardt by the arm and dragged him towards the briefing.
They walked into the briefing where four other individuals were standing. One was obviously the Sub-Commander of the NERV facility. While the other three were members of various other uniforms. There was a red haired woman in a pale green uniform, an older looking Asian man in a blue and grey uniform, and finally a young man with a Mohawk in the obviously American combat fatigues. Everyone in the room milled around, refusing to talk to one another, until the Sub-Commander cleared his throat gathering everyone's attention.
"Welcome to NERV ladies and gentlemen, you all have been called here from various different nations in the U.N. from special forces units. You are here to protect mankinds only form of defense from a new threat." The Sub-Commander said in a bored tone while showing a slide of a giant purple armored machine. "Fifteen years ago second impact opened our eyes to a new threat to humanity, what was explained as a meteor impact was in actuality a being of unknown origins self-destructing on the continent of Antarctica." This time a picture appeared that looked like a shadow of the fighting machine. "We believe that these life forms have decided to begin a new attack to initiate a third impact, for obvious reasons we cannot allow that to happen. We don't know at what capacity these creatures will attack, whether they will come in numbers or one at a time. Either way we are preparing all contingencies of their possible attack." The Sub-Commander set down the remote to the projector and let the information sink in for a bit, before he walked towards the group.
"You all will be a special security detail known as the Special Armament International Tactical Squad, or the SAINTS for short." The Sub-commander droned on. "At this point I'll let you all introduce yourselves to each other; Doctor Akagi will give you your weapon assignments as well as clearance to access the more advanced and some experimental weapons." He finished as he began walking out of the room.
Temuera was the first to step forward and speak. "I'm Sergeant Morston C.O. of this unit; this is my second in command Corporal Lanhardt, my area of expertise is Tactical decisions as well as being able to pilot damned near anything with controls. Lanhardt's area of expertise is close-combat, hand-to-hand combat, and covert operations, as well as being an expert marksman." Temuera concluded his introductions, Lanhardt raising his eyebrow slightly as well as Misato. Everyone stood around for a moment longer waiting for one another to introduce themselves, but none willing to do so freely, until the red-haired woman stepped forward.
"My name is Corporal Fayina Molov, expert in sniping and counter-sniping tactics. You "gentlemen" can call me Faye." The read head told the group in a Russian accent. She then saluted and leaned against a wall. The older Asian man then stood and saluted.
"I am Corporal Shogo Kawada, formerly of the JSSDF. My expertise is in demolitions and heavy weapons; if you want something destroyed then I can do it." Shogo introduced himself in a short, brisk, military voice.
Finally the American stood up and began grinning intently at Misato. "The name's Private Avery T. Plunkett, ya'll can call me Cowboy. My expertise is in general ass-kicking tactics." He ran a hand through his Mohawk before throwing up a mock salute.
Temuera stepped up and locked eyes with Private Plunkett. "We're not gonna have any problems are we Private?" Temuera asked in an icy tone.
Plunkett immediately dropped into a proper military stance before replying. "No Sergeant, I apologize if I seemed disrespectful." Plunkett replied, his voice betraying no emotion.
Author's Note: Please leave a review with as much content as you can, I really do appreciate the criticism and reviews will help motivate me to continue this story.