The city of Niihama was, to its most recent visitors, rather a dank and dreary place. These visitors came from the shining fortress of Tokyo-3, resplendent in its beauty and ingenious in its design. Niihama though, it seemed the underbelly of the world, filled with dark alleyways and dirty pavements; its refugee population seemed to bring constant strife and general unease to the very air. It was raining that night, as the visitors expected of such a place. It was an outright downpour at that point, and the thick precipitation threatened to blot out even the brightest lights the city had to offer, which in contrast to those of Tokyo-3 were as dank and dingy as the city itself.

The visitors themselves embodied everything about Tokyo-3, from their clean pressed clothes to their bright smiles and lively eyes. They were a contingent from NERV HQ, in Niihama to intervene in the affairs of one of the Japanese Government's more discreet fighting forces. Shinji, Asuka, and Rei, as well as Misato and Shigeru, moved as a group through the streets of the drenched city, looking around at the hordes of refugees sitting against the buildings.

"Eew, they're…all homeless?" asked Asuka in disgust.

"Sad but true," Shigeru replied. "A lyric comes to mind: 'These people around here wear downcast eyes sunk in smoke-dried faces, so resigned to what their fate is.' I'd say it captures to mood."

"Wow," said Misato, "where are you getting that from? Plato?"

"No, that's the genius of Kevin Rowland and Dexy's Midnight Runners, actually."

"Ok…"

After a few more minutes of walking in the rain, the team came to a large office building, and made its way inside. A stately lobby was a welcome sight after the run-down outdoors, and a beautiful young receptionist welcomed them. She looked up from her work, and a warm smile came to her face.

"Good evening, how may I help you?"

"We're looking for Public Security Section 9."

"Who wants to know?" The NERV team looked in the direction of the new voice, which was just as warm as the receptionist's, though more forceful. They saw, coming out of the shadows, a friendly-looking man with long light-brown hair, wearing a turtleneck sweater under a beige sport coat. He looked to them to be the quintessential "good cop," and they assumed he was with Section 9. They walked over as a group, and a door slid open behind the good cop, revealing a long hallway full of activity; women not unlike the receptionist carried various papers and packages back and forth constantly.

"The name's Togusa; I'm with Section 9. And you are…"

Shigeru stepped forward, and introduced the group.

"I'm Lieutenant Aoba, this is Major Katsuragi, and these are Pilots Ayanami, Sohryu, and Ikari."

"I see. But those uniforms… Are you with the U.N.?"

Asuka pushed past Shigeru, and answered.

"We're from NERV. We're here to fuck shit up."

Togusa crumpled to his knees in pain as Asuka delivered a forceful punch to his groin, and shoved him down as she and the group passed. They walked slowly down the long hallway, pushing the female workers out of the way, making them drop their papers everywhere. Chaos ensued until they reached the end of the straightaway and rounded a corner, where they ran into a bit of an obstacle. A towering man stood in their path, wearing a bomber jacket and dark jeans. His gray hair was pulled back into a ponytail behind him, but oddest of all were his eyes; metal discs protruded from his face where eyes should have been. He undermined the group's confidence with a deep, booming voice.

"The name's Batou; I'm with Section 9. Who the hell are you people?"

Shigeru made the introductions as before.

"Are you U.N.?"

Asuka made the same retort as before:

"We're NERV."

Upon hearing the word 'NERV,' Batou's face became enraged, and he began to seethe with anger. Asuka's cocky expression faded to one of intimidation, and she let out a grunt as Batou reached down and picked her up by the throat. Asuka's legs kicked futilely as the choke took effect, and the NERV contingent began to fear for the Second Child's life.

Batou growled under his breath to Asuka as he continued his hold.

"What gives you the right to just march in here and take control, huh? Who do you think you are?"

Asuka's pained and fearful expression changed back to its familiar smirk as she saw something Batou had not. She responded as best she could through the choke.

"Didn't I tell you? We're NERV."

Batou began to look a little taken aback at his target's sudden composure, but it was too late. As he realized and began to turn around, Rei climbed up onto his back, and pulled out a small taser. She jammed it into the back of Batou's neck and said, "We're here to fuck shit up." She pulled the trigger, and current ran through Batou's body, causing all his muscles to convulse. He dropped Asuka, and fell to the ground, twitching slightly until he was finally still. After a moment or so, Rei climbed out form under the body, and took Batou's head in her hands; she looked up at the rest of the team in all seriousness, and said:

"I believe he has broken…"

The team looked back in disbelief. Shigeru turned to Shinji, and said,

"She…just said the f word, didn't she?"

"Amazing…"

Misato was not so mesmerized, and reminded the team of the mission.

"Let's go. I've still yet to take my full revenge on Section 9."

And so the team followed the new corridor down its length, shoving more secretaries out of the way as before. True to their word, they truly did "fuck shit up." As they passed server boards, Rei would pull out the taser again, and shock the system out of commission. They went room to room, searching out Misato's mark. As they entered an Encephalon Dive room, they found it to be empty save one station. Shigeru went over quietly, and checked the log for that station, finding that the user had been on for over twelve hours. He tapped the man on the shoulder, and waited. After disengaging the headset, he turned around to face Shigeru.

"Ugh… Who are you? What time is it?" he said, rubbing his tired eyes."

"This is NERV, with your 9AM wake-up call." He punched the man square in the face, and put his head back inside the dive terminal. Misato walked up, and checked the man's ID.

"Sweet dreams, …Ishikawa?"

"A friend of yours, Major Katsuragi?"

"Ritsuko's told me about him. He's a decent enough hacker, but his typing sucks."

Shigeru picked up the man's limp hands, and looked them over.

"With these fingers, I'm not surprised. Gross…"

"Come on, Shigeru. It's time to move. We're gonna get those terrorists!"

"If you say so, Major."

Up ahead, a small fire team pressed their backs to the wall. They engaged a system of optical camouflage, becoming little more than bends in light to the human eye. They moved out cautiously, weapons drawn, ready to intercept the intruders. In the lead was a more curvaceous soldier, an officer with considerable combat experience. She led her two teammates up, and they stood in the open as they watched the NERV team move through. Communicating via an intranet, they planned tacitly.

"Bouma, what's Ishikawa found out about these guys, anyway?"

"Major, Ishikawa's been knocked out at his terminal for about five minutes. But up until that point, he'd found no claims of responsibility from any of our regulars."

"I see. Any ideas, Saito?"

"Those aren't the uniforms of a terrorist faction. They almost look like…U.N.? But that doesn't jive with the U.N.'s MO at all, does it?" A static took over the communications channel, which faded to reveal a strained voice.

"…they aren't with the U.N., Major."

"Batou? What happened?"

"They snuck up behind me; almost fried my brain, the little bitch."

"Are you alright now?" "I'm fine. Still a little woozy though…"

"Well, did they say anything? Who they are maybe?"

"Yeah. They're with NERV."

The small fire team spoke their surprise in unison: "NERV?"

Another static line opened in the channel, which eventually focused in on Togusa's voice.

"Yeah; they're with NERV. They're here to fuck shit up."