Disclaimer: I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion or any of its characters. I also do not own any of the copyrighted brand names I may have happened to use.

"Captain Misato Kaji, do you have the report for the progress of the investigation?" Commander Gendo Ikari inquired. The commander of Tokyo-3 Metropolitan Police always pushed his section chiefs hard and expected results. Many a good officer had been removed from their posts as Captains of police sections because Commander Ikari had been unhappy with the results of their work. That was why he liked Misato Kaji. She always immersed herself in her work and made sure that she did get the results she needed.

Misato handed over the report which seemed very thin for a police document but contained all the facts that the commander needed. Gendo Ikari was not one for bureaucracy. If he wanted a report, he wanted it to be less than 5 pages long and to be as concise as possible. His time was valuable, especially in such pressing times.

Gendo skimmed through the document and frowned. "Is this all the evidence you have, Captain Kaji?" Gendo asked.

"Yes sir," Misato replied. "If you look at page 4, my investigations team found that some of their leads are of a more sensitive nature."

The commander flipped through to the page and read it through. "An arms manufacturer with government protection?" he asked.

"Correct. As you can see, all we have is a name. NERV," Misato explained.

"NERV?" Gendo asked, raising an eyebrow. "I've never heard of them, yet something gives me the feeling that I should."

"Along with NERV, we have a witness statement from a Miss Rei Ayanami linking NERV with something called the Marduk Research Institute," Misato added. "Her statement is on page 5."

Gendo read her statement and said, "That's some claim. Is there any way of substantiating this?"

"By going directly to NERV itself," Misato answered. "My team is going to investigate and they're working directly with my husband on this one. He's the one who got them the info on Miss Ayanami."

"Very well," Gendo said. "Anything to get this case solved quicker. Also, I've increased the number of patrols with heavily armed police officers."

"Roger that, sir," Misato said. "Do you want to discuss the new budgeting scheme for the next annum?"

"My apologies. I can't just yet because I have a meeting with Mayor Fuyutsuki," Gendo said. "We'll deal with that next week. For now, make sure this investigation runs smoothly."

"Yes sir, will do," Misato replied.

Kaji arrived at Tokyo-3 Metropolitan Police Investigations Section Headquarters at precisely 10:00am. His appearance was rather rough for a man who upheld national security as he never had his tie up to his neck and often forgot to shave. This morning was no different as he headed towards the desks of Detectives Shinji Ikari and Asuka Langley Sohryu.

"Good morning," he greeted.

"Morning Kaji," Shinji replied. "You ready for this?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," Kaji said with a smile. "Am I all right to smoke in here?"

"Nah. Misato has a strict no smoking policy," Shinji replied.

"Figures," Kaji chuckled. "Where is she, anyway?"

"In a meeting with the police commander," Shinji answered. "You packing heat?"

"Do I need to?"

"We've been in far too many shoot outs for comfort. I would be much more comfortable knowing you were armed."

"Well, I do have my service pistol on me."

"All right. Asuka, you ready to go?" Shinji asked.

"Sure thing. Let's head out," the redhead replied.

The Commander of No 2 Metropolitan Police was sat in the back of a black Range Rover, waiting to arrive at the city hall to meet with Mayor Fuyutsuki. He had one such meeting every month just to brief the mayor on the state of police affairs. At the moment, it wasn't looking so good with the recent surge in crime, made all the more worrying because it was seemingly of the organised kind.

As well as that, his mind was on other things. The photograph of the witness, Rei Ayanami, showed that she looked disturbingly like Yui Ikari, his wife. The resemblance was uncanny.

Whenever Gendo thought about Yui, he was always reminded of her death. She was killed in a horrific car accident 5 years ago and the news came as a shock to both Gendo and his son. Shinji had just graduated from the police academy when he heard the news, which destroyed a lot of the good mood following the graduation.

Gendo was there at the scene of the crash all those years ago. It looked like she lost control of the car at the wrong moment and rolled violently down a steep hill off to the side of the road at over 60mph. She had no chance inside and her body was crushed. Gendo was deeply saddened that he couldn't bear to look at the reports of her death.

However, when he did, there seemed something strange about her death and the more and more he looked at the evidence, the more it seemed that there was foul play concerning her death. Nobody else seemed to think likewise though, and the commander never expressed his wishes for an additional investigation to be made about her death. The official report stated mechanical failure of the car was the reason for the crash which ultimately led to death. Gendo didn't believe that one bit.

"Nice car," Kaji said from the back seat of Shinji's BMW M5.

"Thanks," Shinji said.

"This is just his work car. You should see the car he actually owns!" Asuka added with a smile.

"The Merc? I've seen it. It's a real piece of work, that Mercedes," Kaji said. "A true German beauty. Shinji has a thing for German beauties, you know."

Both Shinji and Asuka blushed in embarrassment at Kaji's statement which caused the nation security agent to chuckle gleefully. They headed through the city toward the address that Kaji had provided for NERV. It hadn't been difficult to acquire and he immediately informed the two detectives so that they could be on their way to cracking this case.

The motorcade around the police commander came up against an unexpected halt. There was a traffic accident at a junction in front of them which wasn't serious but the cars involved needed to be towed away. Great, Gendo thought. Now I'm going to be late for the meeting.
"A traffic accident?" Shinji said in exasperation. "For Christ's sake! Some of us have a job to do!"

"I feel your pain," Asuka growled. "We could be stuck here for a while and we can't reverse out unless those folks behind us are feeling kind."

"Not a chance of that," Kaji said, looking out the rear window. "Looks like we'll have to wait until they clear that mess up."

"Hey, look Shinji. A police motorcade. Reckon it's your dad?" Asuka asked, seeing police cars off to the left of the junction.

"Possibly. He does go about the town a lot. Places to see, people to meet, all that jazz," Shinji replied. "If it's him in that motorcade, he'd be pretty pissed off at the moment."

Gendo sighed in frustration, wondering how moronic the drivers involved had to be to crash at a junction with huge traffic lights. It really wasn't difficult. Stop at red. Go at green. As he leaned back into his seat, he never noticed the men in black outfits out in front, nor did he notice the weapon one of them was carrying. The next thing he knew, a massive explosion ensued in front of him and then everything went black.
"Holy shit!" Shinji exclaimed. "He just hit the motorcade with an RPG!"

"Come on, we got to nail those guys!" Asuka said, watching as the assailants went around the escorting police cars and fired into them, killing the officers inside.

"Hold your horses! Call for back up first!" Shinji said. "Kaji, you can stay if you need to."

"Screw that, Shinji. I'm coming with you," Kaji said, releasing the safety on his pistol.

"I've called for back up," Asuka said. "Let's go!"

The three leapt of the car with their weapons drawn. "This is the police! Everybody clear the area! Get out of here, NOW!" Shinji yelled, trying to get as many civilians out of the area as possible. They ran down the left turn of the junction and found that the assailants were surrounding the car that they had attacked. There were other cars scattered everywhere as most of the civilians fled after the initial attack.

Shinji raised his pistol, took aim and shot one of the men cleanly through the forehead. The man collapsed backward, alerting the other 7 men there of the presence of Shinji, Asuka and Kaji.

As soon as Shinji had taken his shot, he was forced behind cover as the men began to spray them with automatic gunfire. "They've got AK-47s!" Kaji yelled. "We seriously need backup! We're outmanned and outgunned!"

"We can see that!" Asuka cried.

The three officers were pinned down behind a car and even that was very little protection. The 7.62mm rounds of the Kalashnikov easily penetrated the automobile they sought refuge behind. "Damn it, where's that back up?!" Asuka roared.

"There!" Shinji exclaimed.

One van with a police task force arrived and they were better armed to deal with the threat. However, their submachine guns were still not much compared to the AK-47s that their foes wielded. The task force quickly dismounted and 2 ran to the aid of the two police detectives and the national security agent. The other 4 set up in a defensive formation facing the assailants.

As they grouped up, their van was hit by an RPG. The driver was still inside. "Shit!" cursed the task force leader. "We've got ourselves in too deep on this one!"

"Too right!" Shinji agreed. "Do you have any better weapons? We only have pistols!"

The task force leader handed over two MP5 submachine guns and a twelve-gauge shotgun along with some extra ammo. Kaji took the shotgun while Shinji and Asuka wielded the MP5s. "Enemy is falling back!" reported one of the task force.

"Press onto their position!" ordered the leader. "Come on, let's go!"

The enemy had begun to move back under a curtain of gunfire. Despite wanting to move forward, the task force was still pinned down by covering fire. "Damn it! Their tactics scream military!" cried the task force leader as he ducked under more bullets. Shinji, Asuka and Kaji had moved behind another car but were not any closer to their foes.

They watched as two of the task force advanced forward to the 4x4 car that was hit by the RPG under covering fire laid down by the rest of the task force. They were trained for this kind of fighting. Shinji, Asuka and Kaji were not.

"We can't just sit here!" Shinji yelled as a bullet struck the glass windows of the car they hid behind.

"We don't have much choice at the moment!" Kaji yelled back. Two more of the task force advanced forward toward the left side of the street and everybody provided covering fire for their movement. However, one of the men advancing was struck in the head by a round, killing him instantly.

"Damn it!" cried the task force leader. "We need more support!" Their enemy had stopped moving back and formed a defensive line at a junction 50 metres downed from the junction they were at. "I hit one of the suckers but he didn't go down!" a task force member reported.

"Body armour! Aim for the head!" the leader shouted back.

"We need to move! We can't just sit here!" Shinji said.

"Agreed!" Asuka shouted. She peered above the bonnet of the car and saw a decent spot within the police motorcade. "We should move into that spot in the motorcade! We can get cover behind the police cars!" Asuka yelled.

"Good idea!" Kaji said. He turned to the task force leader and said, "We're moving into the motorcade! Cover us!"

"Roger that!"

The three jumped out into the open and sprinted for the cover of the motorcade. Bullets whizzed all around them and the gunfire seemed incessant. However, they did make it behind one of the police cars in the motorcade only to see a cloud of blood fly out above them. "Shit! Is someone hit?!" Shinji cried in horror.

"We're both fine!" Asuka yelled.

Shinji looked up and saw the blood had come out of the dead police officer inside the car. "Jesus," Shinji muttered. He had never been in a gun fight this intense before and the adrenaline in his body was rushing like mad.

In about 5 minutes, the task force had managed to move about 15 metres forward. They had lost one of their members. Another was wounded. "Got him!" cried the leaded of the task force as one of the assailants dropped to the ground. "They're down to 6!"

As the task force began to advance forward again, the enemy began to move back. "Keep moving forward!" the task force leader cried. Shinji, on the other hand, went to check on the car that was hit by the RPG. He peered inside and was horrified to see who was inside. It was his father, Gendo Ikari. Shinji couldn't tell if he was alive or dead, but he did know that if he was alive, he needed medical attention immediately.

At that point, the enemy was barely returning fire. "They must be low on ammo!" Kaji said, observing the task force advance.

"I hope so!" Asuka cried. The task force got closer and closer to the junction and when they did, they were met with a wall of gunfire. One of the task force was cut down in his stride by heavy assault rifle fire.

"Shit! They were trying to lure them in!" Kaji cried. The task force were pinned down again and in a much more vulnerable position. And their assailants weren't low on ammunition at all. The task force tried to fire back, but the 9mm rounds of the MP5 weren't so great in a situation like this. They either needed more firepower or more support, fast.

"Move around the right flank!" the task force leader ordered. "Set up a firing position…AAGH!" The task force leader collapsed on the ground with a gaping wound in his left thigh. The bullet had shattered his femur and he was experiencing the very definition of pain itself.

"They're getting slaughtered out there!" Asuka cried. "We need to help them!"

"Not so fast!" Kaji said. "More good guys are coming." They saw another two vans of men from the Tokyo-3 Metropolitan Police Paramilitary Task Force. The men inside this time were armed with M4 Carbine Rifles with Special Forces scoped sights on them. Two of the men were armed with sniper rifles.

The newly arrived task force immediately advanced forward to support their comrades and laid down heavy suppressive fire. The two snipers took up positions either side of the street. Shinji watched in amazement as each of the assailants were killed ruthlessly, one by one by the arrival of the more heavily armed task force. Before they knew it, this fight was over.

"Somebody get an ambulance!" Shinji cried.

"I'm a trained combat medic!" said one of the men in the task force. He ran up to Shinji and inspected the police commander inside. "He's still alive," the medic said. "He's got bad shrapnel wounds though and needs treatment badly. He's the lucky one as well, because the driver is well and truly dead."

"Can you treat him?" Shinji asked.

"I can give him morphine and put him on an IV drip. That's all I can do. This man needs a hospital," the medic replied.

Shinji was exceedingly worried about his father. He never imagined that he would be the target of such a vicious and brutal attack. "Is there an ambulance coming?" Shinji asked.

"Screw an ambulance!" said the medic after scanning the area. "Put him in the back of one of our vans. We'll take him to the nearest hospital!" Shinji nodded his head and wondered whether he would lose his only remaining parent today. The thought was too much to bear for him.

Shinji paced up and down the hospital corridor anxiously. Asuka and Kaji were sat down, worried for both the police commander and Shinji himself. It had been two hours since the hectic scene in downtown Tokyo-3 and Gendo Ikari had been in surgery ever since they arrived at the hospital.

"I'm worried about Shinji," Asuka said.

"I am too. I just hope his dad pulls through, just to give Shinji hope," Kaji said. Asuka nodded and watched Shinji collapse onto a seat, away from both Kaji and Asuka. "I guess he wants to be alone," Asuka noted.

"He's been like that ever since his mother died," Kaji pointed out.

"His…mother?" Asuka asked.

"She died 5 years ago in a car crash. Ever since then, he's been self-driven to the point that he wanted no help from anybody else. When he's under pressure like this, he feels he can only get help from himself," Kaji explained.

"I never knew…" Asuka whispered. "Kaji…you know about my mother, right?"

"Yeah," Kaji replied quietly. "Listen, if you don't want to talk about it, then don't."

"It's not that…it's just Shinji and I…we're so alike," Asuka said. "I might have been younger when my mother died, but still, we've been through the same kind of experiences." Kaji nodded and looked toward Shinji, who had his head buried in his hands.

Then, a doctor emerged from the operating theatre. Shinji shot up to a standing position and looked expectantly at the doctor. "Mr Ikari, your father had several serious shrapnel wounds. However, after operating, he's in a stable condition. He'll pull through fine, I think," the doctor said.

"Thank you..." Shinji said, his voice barely a whisper.

"No problem at all. We're relocating him to an intensive care unit for the time being. When he gets moved to one of the regular wards, we'll inform you so that you can visit him."

"Okay, thank you for everything doctor."

"Just doing my job, Mr Ikari."

Shinji turned around to face Asuka and Kaji, who both had smiles on their faces. Asuka stood up and walked toward Shinji. She then wrapped her arms around him and enveloped him in a tight, intimate hug. "I know you're going through a hard time, Shinji," Asuka said, "but please, just hang in there."

"Thanks Asuka," Shinji said, with a light smile.

"Listen Shinji, if you want any time off from work…"

"No, there's no need. I'll keep on going with the investigation…for my father's sake."

Kaji stood and watched the two hug and whisper to each other and in his mind, he felt they were perfect for each other. He smiled to nobody in particular and turned toward the exit. "I'll just be heading off you two. Stay safe," Kaji said.

Shinji and Asuka broke off from their embrace and smiled toward the national security agent. "Sure thing, Kaji," Shinji said.

"See ya," Asuka added with a wave goodbye. Once the national security agent was gone, Asuka turned to Shinji and said, "Well, what now?"

"I think we should call it a day," Shinji replied, smiling to the redhead.

Safe in the knowledge that Commander Ikari was fine and in a stable condition, the two left the hospital and reported to the police station. Misato knew all about the day's events and told them that they had to have a week's paid leave. Shinji and Asuka didn't want to be off for that long however and Misato managed to settle for a day. The two were then free to leave the station.

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow," Asuka said, turning away to head to her car.

"Asuka…wait!" Shinji called out.

Asuka stopped in her tracks and turned around to face Shinji. "Yeah, Shinji?" she said.

"Would it be all right…if you and I…uh, spent some time together tonight?" Shinji said, the nerves apparent in his voice.

Asuka giggled and said, "Yeah, sure, why not?"

Shinji drove toward his flat which was in a fairly upscale part of Tokyo-3. The area was far from the scene of the massive shoot out downtown and the apparent calm hid the fact that they were living in a city at war. Shinji parked his Mercedes in his allotted space and led Asuka toward his block. Shinji lived on the 17th floor out of 25, so he had quite a trek if all the elevators decided to break at the same time. Thankfully, there wasn't much chance of that so they took the elevator up.

Shinji opened the door to his flat and revealed his home to Asuka. "Wow, your place is pretty cool," Asuka complimented. The whole place screamed 'bachelor'. It had two bedrooms and a decent sized combined kitchen, dining and living room. Shinji's large Plasma TV and his black leather sofas were the centrepieces of his living room. Asuka could tell Shinji allowed himself quite a few indulgences.

"Make yourself at home," Shinji said.

"I will do!" Asuka said, throwing herself down on one of the sofas.

"You want some wine?" Shinji asked.

Asuka's intuition began screaming 'sleazy seduction' at this point but then again, after everything that happened that day, Shinji would just want to relax that night and what better way to do that than with some wine and a friend? "Yeah, sure," she said.

Shinji brought over two glasses and placed them on the table in front of Asuka. He then poured the wine before taking his own glass. "This is good stuff," Shinji said. "Got it for my 26th."

"Mm, it is nice," Asuka agreed. "You know, I never expected your place to be like this. I expected it to be…different."

"You didn't expect it to look like a bachelor pad, huh?"

"Yeah, that's exactly it."

"I guess that's just me screaming to the world that I'm in it alone."

Shinji tossed off his entire glass in one go before pouring himself another. "Shinji? Shouldn't you take it easy on the wine?" Asuka asked.

"No, I'll be fine," Shinji said. "I just…I just have a lot on my mind, that's all."

"I…I understand," Asuka said.

"Thanks Asuka," Shinji said. "Who ever expected today to turn out like it did?"

"I sure didn't," Asuka said. "It was…surreal at times."

"The gun fight I could handle. Seeing dead police officers…I could handle that. But seeing my father possibly dead before me…that was scary," Shinji said.

He took a large swig of his wine glass before setting it down in front of him. "Shinji…" Asuka said.

"I mean, I don't speak to my father that often anymore. He's become more of a commander to me, instead of a father. Yet, he was the only family I had left. Someone tried to murder him…someone tried to intentionally end his life."

"Shinji…please."

Shinji tossed off the rest of his glass and continued. "So people are not only trying to kill me, but they're trying to kill my father! And who knows where they will stop? I don't care if they kill me, but what if they try to kill Misato? Or Kaji? Toji or Kensuke? Or even you, Asuka? How would I feel then? Would I still feel that I have to do things my way, on my own? Would I still feel the same way then?"

"Shinji…please…you have to stop…"

"This whole world is full of bullshit. The moment you have some sort of emotional attachment to anybody, something will happen to leave you in the dust and ruin everything you thought was good. It happened with my mother. It almost happened with my father today. This could happen to fucking anybody, but it happens to me!"

"Shinji…"

"That's why I'm better off alone! If I have nobody to think about, then I can't possibly get hurt. That's why I don't want a police partner. That's why I started to drift away from my father after my mother died. That's why I'm single. I have to be alone! Being alone is the only way I can stop pain from reaching me. Can't you see Asuka? Can't you see?!"

"SHINJI!"

Asuka lunged forward and placed her lips over Shinji's. His eyes widened at the sudden embrace, but he soon melted to the touch of Asuka's lips. They both gave in to the embrace and wrapped their arms around each other as they kissed deeply and passionately. Shinji felt his heart race like he had never felt it race before. Asuka couldn't believe what she was doing, yet it felt so right.

They broke away from each other and Asuka looked tenderly into Shinji's eyes. "Shinji, I know you're hurting, but you've got to hang in there," she said quietly. "You can't let it get the better of you. You're better than that."

Shinji ran his hand through Asuka's hair and felt it was soft to the touch. "You're so beautiful," Shinji said. "Please…don't go."

"I won't go Shinji," Asuka whispered. "Shinji…are you sure you're okay?"

"I don't know, Asuka. But I can try and be strong. It's gotten me this far."

"You be strong, Shinji. You be strong."

They kissed again and this time, it lasted longer and was more profound. When their lips parted, Asuka said, "This feels so right, Shinji. I feel like I'm meant to be with you."

"I feel that way too, Asuka," Shinji said. "I just need somebody…I need to stop pretending that I can live all alone."

"Shinji," Asuka whispered. "Make this a night one to remember forever."

Author's Note: The shoot out scene in downtown Tokyo-3 was heavily inspired by the shoot out scene of a certain 1995 movie. A million points to anybody who can guess which movie correctly!