I don't own anything.
Company of Wolves
-Chapter Nine:
Shinji leaned back in his seat and stared at the sky overhead. "I love convertibles."
"Yeah," Misato agreed from the backseat. "Huh, I never noticed that building before."
"Do you still drive like you used to?" Shinji asked.
"I don't see what that has to do with anything," Misato began, "but yes, I still drive like I used to."
"That explains it," Shinji replied. "It's hard to notice much when you doing seventy-five down the straight-aways."
"Seventy-five?" Mana asked. "Kilometers or miles?"
"Miles." The redhead whistled appreciatively.
"Lead foot?" she ventured.
"And a brass pair," Shinji answered. "She drives like a Hollywood stuntman on crack."
"I do not!" Misato huffed. Shinji glanced over his shoulder at her and she fidgeted slightly. "Well, maybe a little."
"Understatement," Shinji murmured. "So, where's the best chow in town?"
"I don't get out much," Misato admitted after a moment. "What about you two?"
"Too busy," Shinji stated. "I can tell you that at least one of the cooks in the Geo-Front's cafeteria is Indian, though."
"You noticed the curry taste too?" Mana asked. "God, I thought I was the only one. I haven't had this much curry forced on me since the Middle East."
"Camp Puller?" Shinji ventured. He smirked and Mana shot him a glance. "I spent a couple of months there teaching Green Berets local customs."
"I thought you guys only worked with locals," Mana commented.
"It was a quickie job," Shinji stated with a shrug. "The Green Berets catch on really quick, so it didn't take long."
"I don't remember there being Special Forces at Puller," Mana stated.
"There weren't," Shinji stated.
"But you just said there were," Misato replied.
"Unofficial," Mana stated. "You get used to working with guys that aren't there in our line of work."
"Your line," Shinji corrected. "I'm one of the guys that isn't there."
"I thought your companies did the same thing," Misato stated.
"Lupo Cattivo specializes mostly in training, but we can do some Black Ops," Shinji explained. "Jäger runs security and VIP protection ops with some small scale intelligence annalyst abilities."
"I see," Misato stated. "How does someone get into that line of work?"
"I applied," Mana stated. "That's the normal method, but some companies require that you be brought in. Like how Shinji joined the dogs." Shinji reached over and pinched her. "Ow! Hey!"
"You were brought in?" Misato asked. Shinji glared at Mana out of the corner or his eye and saw the redhead mouth an apology. "Who brought you in?"
"I just ran into a guy," Shinji stated.
"Just some random guy?" Misato asked.
"Pretty much," Shinji replied. "He found me when I wasn't exactly running on all cylinders and he liked what he saw."
"What did he see?" Misato asked. Shinji grinned and held up his empty hand. He closed his fingers into a fist before opening them again to reveal a small blackjack knife between his middle and index fingers.
"Something useful."
(:ii:)
Misato frowned as she watched Shinji and Mana flirt and bicker. She couldn't get Shinji's words out of her head. Something useful? What the hell did that mean? Misato forcefully put it aside and smirked. "Are you two sure you've never met before?" They glanced up at her and gave her nearly identical mischievous grins.
"Yup," Shinji stated. "We've definitely never met before Tokyo-3."
"Sure," Misato drawled. "So, what? You two met when you weren't somewhere or something?"
"We don't know what you're talking about," Mana stated. Misato sighed in annoyance.
"Fine." She picked up her menu again and looked through it. "Wow. This stuff is expensive."
"Order what you want," Shinji stated. "Like I said, it's on me."
"Gee, I wish my company paid that well," Mana commented.
"Implying something?" Shinji asked from behind a menu.
"Just commenting," Mana stated as she picked up a menu as well. "I forgot to ask, are you actually here?"
"Yes, I'm actually here," Shinji stated simply.
"Are you sure?" Misato pressed, catching Mana's eye. The younger woman grinned.
"Yes," Shinji stated.
"I don't know," Mana commented, "you are kind of slinking around like a spook." Shinji lowered his menu and looked from Mana to Misato.
"Knock it off."
"Knock what off?" Misato asked innocently.
"We aren't doing anything," Mana added. Shinji started to raise his menu again, but paused. He folded it up and set it on the table while glancing around. "Shinji?"
"Somebody's watching." Misato froze, finally paying attention to the itching between her shoulder blades that she had been ignoring. She looked around and cursed their decision to eat in the restaurant's outside patio.
"Into the building," Mana hissed.
"Yeah," Shinji agreed. "Go. Now."
(:ii:)
Shinji made his way as quickly as he could towards the back of the restaurant, as far from the large picture windows in front as possible. "What do you think Shinji?" Mana asked.
"Back door," Shinji stated, tightening his grip on his briefcase.
"What about waiting for Section-2?" Misato asked as they stopped near the bar along the back of the building.
"That didn't help Ritsuko much, did it?" Shinji snapped a little more harshly then he intended. The shocked look on Misato's face made his scowl. He needed her paying attention, not distracted by her recent loss.
"If we can just get to my car, we'll be okay," Mana gritted. "I just hope they haven't gotten to it. I like that car and I'll be pissed if it gets blown up. The back door should be through the kitchen."
"My thoughts exactly," Shinji replied. He glanced at the front door and watched as five men walked in. None were Asian, but that didn't mean much. Because of NERV, there were many nationalities in Tokyo-3; however, the five walked in a carefully ordered group and their eyes scanned the restaurant carefully. "Let's go."
"Right," Mana stated, she was staring at the men too. "You take point. I'll ride trail."
"Right." Shinji turned and pushed his way into the kitchen through the swinging doors. Several people said something, but he didn't pay them any attention and nobody actually tried to stop them. They found the backdoor under a big, glowing exit sign. Shinji pushed it open and came face-to-face with a dark-haired man in a long black coat. The poor man was so surprised that he didn't even think to raise his sub-machinegun until it was too late.
Shinji dropped his briefcase and grabbed the man's wrist before twisting it sharply. The man was forced to double over slightly to try to alleviate the pain in his arm. Shinji took advantage of that by using his other hand to grab the back of the man's head and ram him into the alleyway wall as hard as he could. Just to be on the safe side, Shinji pulled him back and slammed him again before letting him drop.
"That's disgusting Shinji," Mana commented.
"Worked, didn't it?" Shinji asked as he snatched up the man's sub-machinegun and pushed it into Mana's arms.
"H&K MP5SD-N," she reported. "A little too nice for some religious nutters, don't you think?"
"I think these guys are just hired help," Shinji stated as he searched the man and came up with a suppressed .22. "Oh, yeah. Same guys who tried to ice me." He walked to the door and wedged the pistol into the handle.
"Don't you want that?" Mana asked.
"Already have one," Shinji stated as he retrieved his briefcase. He unbuttoned the few buttons on his polo and pulled it over his head.
"Paranoid, aren't you?" Mana asked as she eyed the skin-tight, black utility shirt Shinji wore.
"You could say that," Shinji stated as he checked the slant pockets on his chest and found that everything was in its right place. He grabbed his briefcase and opened it to reveal a compact TDI Vector .45-caliber sub-machinegun. He quickly loaded the weapon with a big, thirty-round magazine and unfolded its stock and foreword assault grip.
"Nice," Mana commented. "I've always heard good things about that model, but I never got to try it."
"Everything you've heard is true," Shinji stated. "Plus it feeds off the same mags as my Glock, big brownie points there."
"This is all very interesting," Misato interrupted, "but is that normal?" Shinji glanced at the man he had killed and watched his leg kick.
"It happens," he stated with a shrug.
"Especially when you bash their head in," Mana added. "So, my car?"
"We'll cover and Misato will check for bombs."
"I'll what?" Misato shrieked.
"You two cover, I'll check for bombs," Mana corrected as she pushed the MP5 into Misato's hands.
"I don't know how to use one of these!" Misato protested.
"Point and shoot," Shinji reassured her. The door rattled and Shinji brought up his Kriss.
"Hold," Mana hissed. "It could just be a chef. . ." she trailed off as somebody blew a hole in the door knob with what was, in all probability, a shotgun. Shinji lay on the trigger and put a ten-round line across the door at about chest height. After a second of contemplation, he put another line about waist high before reloading.
"Chefs?" he asked.
"Shut up and run," Mana stated as she pulled off her suit jacket and wrapped it around her waist. She quickly stuck her magazines into her pockets and Shinji gave her four more that she put into the pouches she wore. "I'm on point."
"I'm on point," Shinji corrected as he drew his stiletto in his left hand and used his top two fingers to grip his weapon's foreword vertical grip.
"You dogs and your knives."
"It works," Shinji protested as he shouldered his weapon and moved to the end of the alleyway.
"You really think that going out there with full gear is a good idea?" Mana pressed as she stacked up on him and rested her hand on her shoulder.
"No, but it's my preferred method," Shinji answered.
"You're enjoying this," Misato accused suddenly.
"Of course," Shinji replied. "I feel so alive right now, don't you?" She stared at him uncomprehendingly and Shinji nudged her to get her moving. 'How could Kaji give this up?' he wondered. 'I'll never fly a desk like him.' Mana squeezed his arm and he moved out of the alleyway quickly towards where they had parked.
(:ii:)
Kaji whistled pointlessly as he made his way through the twisting halls of the NERV Germany facility. A little digging had told him much of what he needed to know. It had also brought him to this place. He paused and read one of the signs on the wall as a pair of security guards walked by. "Take your second right," the voice in his ear whispered.
"Hmm," he hummed as he followed his guide's directions. He found himself in front of a door with rather strict looking warnings posted about it. Without a moment of hesitation, he reached for the I.D. card dangling from its spool on his belt. He swept it and pressed his thumb against the lock's biometric reader. The door opened and Kaji walked in. The door hissed shut behind him.
"Forget something, Frank?" Kaji reached for his pistol even as the speaker turned to look at him. The suppressed Walther .380 popped a little louder than Kaji liked, but the heavy projectile hit the man in the center of his forehead and sent his brains splattering across the back wall.
"Doctor Franz!" Kaji pivoted and fired twice, the twin rounds pounding into the young lab tech dead between her shoulder blades as she tried to run. She hit the ground harshly and Kaji quickly put another round in her head.
"I'm here," he stated aloud.
"Good," his guide stated. "There's a computer console to your left." Kaji moved to the computer.
"Got it."
"Type in this sequence." Kaji typed in the string of numbers and letters exactly as he was instructed. He punched the enter button and the lights in the room beyond came on, revealing one of the oddest things Kaji had ever seen. And with all the strange shit he had seen in his life, that was saying something.
"Huh," he muttered. "I guess I've seen just everything now." Hundreds of pairs of red eyes turned on him and sent a shiver down his spine. "Now that's creepy."
"What?"
"They're looking at me," Kaji stated. "I didn't think they would look, I mean, they don't have souls or sentience, right?"
"They are responding to new stimuli," the guide stated. "They aren't sentient."
"Makes this easier," Kaji commented as he began typing in a new string that he had committed to memory. He hit the enter button and watched placidly as the hundreds of bodies in front of him dissolved. "Weird."
"What?"
"They all look just like she did," Kaji stated. "They haven't aged at all."
"It's a new crop," the guide stated. "After Akagi destroyed the last crop, they had to start all over. These ones have only been growing for about twelve years or so."
"Ah," Kaji replied. "Have you located the alpha yet?"
"Working on it," the guide stated. "It was hard enough finding the betas. Now get out of there."
"Right." Kaji made his way to the door. "So, how about going out to dinner with me to celebrate our victory?"
"In your dreams lover boy," the guide stated. Kaji chuckled and pushed a new clip into his Walther, just in case, before holstered his weapon.
"Find the alpha. We need to get rid of her too."
"Working on it," the guide repeated.
(:ii:)
-Author's notes. Another chapter down folks. College is starting soon, but I doubt it'll hurt my weekly updates. I've even got a few stories I'm working on that I haven't posted yet, including my first romance! Yeah. That one isn't coming out for a while if ever.
I'm still loving MSG-4. You'll never guess which award I'm chasing. It's the crocodile! You have to kill 400 or more. What? You say you saw that coming from a continent away?