I don't own anything.
Corruption
-Chapter Ten
"Here's what we've got Sergeant." Shinji looked over Ahmed's notes and grinned.
"You guys still got it."
"You're damn right we do," Smith replied. "This mother fucker takes the same route in the same vehicle every day. Apparently, he thinks this god damned armored convoy he brings with him will protect him."
"Either that or he's a God damned fool," Ahmed added. "I'd swing more towards cocky, though." Shinji nodded absently, staring down at the detailed log of Touji's activities for the past week. Every day he took the same route in the same vehicle with the same escort. This wasn't cockiness, it was complacency and complacency killed. There were too many security measures in place for Touji to be just stupid or cocky. No, he had just allowed himself to relax and believe that nothing would happen.
"We're going to have to take out the lead and trail gun truck almost instantaneously," Shinji commented mostly to himself. "The second from the front and second from the last are decoys filled with Section-2's best. We take them with the RPG and put a round through Touji's engine block."
"No RPG for Touji?" Takahashi asked.
"No RPG for Touji," Shinji replied. "I have different plans for him and they require him intact, mostly, at least in the beginning."
"Is that the plan?" Minekura asked, interrupting Shinji's train of thought.
"For now," he stated. "Do you know what kind of armor these things use?"
"Fairly light judging by how high they ride on their shocks," Ahmed stated. "Of course, modern composite armor is pretty damned light." Shinji nodded in agreement and traced his finger along the map of Tokyo-3 they had picked up. "Those RPGs, the tandem-warhead ones, won't have any trouble and I have a couple of old combined effects Raufoss rounds for my .50-cal that we can use to freeze Suzuhara's truck."
"Good," Shinji grunted. He leaned back in his seat. "Alright, here's the plan until something happens and everything goes wrong."
(:ii:)
"Don't you think you're rushing this?" Minekura watched as his former subordinate lit a cigarette and leaned back in his chair. Mana had warned him of Shinji's trouble sleeping and he could easily spot the signs of some serious fatigue.
"No point waiting," Shinji stated. "Every day we wait is another chance for him to change up his routine."
"We should practice the attack more," Minekura stated.
"We know what to do and how to do it," Shinji countered. He eyed Minekura thoughtfully. "Been talking to Mana?"
"She's raised a few valid points," Minekura replied. "You aren't sleeping."
"You know I never slept that well," Shinji commented. He turned to face the man more fully. "Come on sir, it's me."
"I know it's you," Minekura growled, "but this is your op. If someone dies because you aren't running on all cylinders, it's on you."
"I know that!" Shinji snapped. "You make it sound like this is the first time I've ever run an operation. I'm a sergeant. It's my job to run shit and your job to take credit!" Minekura studied the dark-haired man closely. There were deep bags under his eyes, but his hands were steady as they clutched his cigarette. Minekura frowned at that. Shinji had always smoked, but this was getting ridiculous.
"I deserved that," he replied. "So, are you going for a record, or just trying to keep the tobacco industry running all by yourself?"
"I've got a lot of lost time to make up," Shinji replied, using his cigarette to light another.
"Mana thinks it has something to do with the side effects," Minekura commented. Shinji stared at him blankly.
"I've always smoked," he replied.
"Not this much." Shinji stared at him for what seemed like a long time.
"Fine. You see any flaws in my judgment, feel free to step in and take over."
"I don't want it to come to that."
"Than don't."
(:ii:)
Shinji charged his machinegun and dropped to a knee, confident that the alleyway's deep shadows had him hidden from Tokyo-3's sparse daytime foot traffic. "All call signs report."
"One ready," Ahmed stated from his rooftop perch across the street.
"Two ready," Smith added from his position on top of the building Shinji was leaning against.
"Three ready," Takahashi drawled from next to Shinji.
"Four ready," Minekura finalized from where he waiting in the team's extraction vehicle. Shinji nodded more to himself. Everybody was in place and waiting.
"What a weird fucking town, man," Takahashi grumbled. "Where the hell is everybody?"
"Company town," Shinji stated. "Almost everybody works for either Gemüt or supporting companies. We're mid-shift on a weekday. This is good."
"Weird."
"I have the convoy in sight," Ahmed reported. "They are just making the turn onto Crescent." Crescent was the ambush sight. Their turn onto it meant that they were only a few minutes away. "There are no other vehicles in sight and only light."
"Arm the Spider," Shinji ordered.
"Copy that," Takahashi said as he thumbed the Spider's release. Across the street, under a simple cheap disguise of cardboard and duct tape, the landmine started up and began scanning the road with its infrared tripwires. "It's ready to rock."
"Good."
"All call signs, ETA is two minutes," Ahmed warned. Shinji rolled his shoulders against his heavy bullet-proof vest and frowned as he noticed the fingers of his right hand trembling. He quickly grabbed his machinegun's pistol grip.
"You alright?" Takahashi asked.
"I'd kill for a cigarette," Shinji replied.
(:ii:)
Touji stared out the window as Tokyo-3 blew by. This was growing very troublesome. Sohryu was a liability. She had been from the start, but now he knew enough to justify her demise before the foundation. "Something wrong sir?" Shiomi asked.
"No," Touji replied. Section-2 was loyal to him and without them, Asuka had no armed force to fall back on.
"Alright then." Shiomi leaned back in his seat and fiddled with the compact assault rifle he held absently against his chest. He was a good man, had been with Section-2 since Touji had become its leader. When the time came, Touji knew what side he would be on. That was when the whole world exploded into a cacophony of light and sound.
(:ii:)
Shinji ducked down as Ahmed began to count down the seconds. He didn't need to watch as the first vehicle tripped the Spider's sensors, quickly followed by the second SUV. The Spider fired up in a heart beat and two dull bangs rang out as its pivoting launch tube fired two smart sub-munitions high into the sky.
The twin flying shaped charges, already fed the necessary information by the Spider, locked onto their intended targets and exploded. The two vehicles didn't stand a chance as the deadly molten copper spears tore them apart as they swerved to a stop, blocking the rest of the vehicles.
The trailing vehicles slammed on their brakes and their drivers hesitated, shocked by this unknown turn of events. It was that hesitation that cost them everything as Smith loosened his RPG into the last vehicle, the tandem warhead tear the SUV apart and leaving it a burning hulk.
Ahmed opened up, his .50-cal's single shot ringing out as its payload screeched towards its target. The Raufoss round's armor-piercing core tore through the SUV's hood easily and burrowed its way into the engine block as the round's incendiary component ignited and fused most of the engine's moving parts together. By the time that had happened, Smith had reloaded and taken out the second decoy. Ahmed shoved his rifle away and snatched up the AA-12 automatic shotgun. He brought it around and opened up. The string of FRAG-12 shells slammed into the SUV's armored top and exploded doing no damage, but filling the cabin with deafening noise. "Move!"
"Moving to extract," Minekura replied.
"Moving on target!" Shinji snapped as Takahashi squeezed his shoulder and they both sprinted out onto the road. They sprinted towards Touji's mostly unharmed SUV as Ahmed ceased fire and Takahashi brought his shotgun around on the rear passenger door's latch. The slug of compressed metal powder tore the latch apart before dissolving back to powder. He fired another for good measure and Shinji ripped the door open. He grabbed the first man, a dazed bodyguard with an assault rifle and threw him to the ground for Takahashi to finish off.
At that time Minekura's massive SUV shoved the trail gun truck and decoy out of the way and screeched to a halt before them. Shinji grabbed Touji and forced the man into the other SUV before climbing on top of him. Takahashi climbed in too and slammed the door. "Go!" Minekura gunned the engine and Shinji glanced at his watch. Less than three minutes had passed since the Spider fired.
"Chopper coming around," Smith commented, "must have been in the area. It's not Gemüt or police, looks civilian, probably news." Shinji frowned. Even a news chopper could follow them and cause all kinds of headaches.
"Bring it down."
"Copy." Behind them another RPG slammed into Touji's SUV and took care of its driver and remaining bodyguard.
(:ii:)
Asuka stared at the carnage being reported on her TV in shock. She had not been planning for this. Originally she was going to officially acknowledge Shinji's attack as a Gemüt counter-terrorism operation, but she couldn't take credit for this! Six people had been slightly injured in the initial attack, but then twelve people had been killed when a news helicopter had been shot down and crashed into a building. "What are we going to do boss?" Jenny asked.
"I don't know," Asuka replied, too shocked to admit anything, but the truth.
"We can't take credit for this," Jenny stated, voicing Asuka's thoughts.
"I know that," the redhead stated. How could Shinji do that?
"He's too dangerous," Jenny whispered. "We have to take him out." There it was, Asuka's only option. She had prayed that it wouldn't come to this. They needed to find Shinji and kill him. There would be investigations. There was no way to hush this up. Civilians were dead. There was a saying about the people of the world. They were sheep and sheep only had two speeds, graze and stampede.
Asuka could almost feel the earth shake as the flock began to shift.
(:ii:)
Shinji leaned back against the wall and lit his cigarette. "Hey Touji."
"Hey," the man rasped through cracked and swollen lips. It was the first time they had actually managed to talk.
"Got to tell you, I was really worried back there," Shinji commented. "We weren't sure how well armored your vehicle was and we couldn't think of any other way to cause chaos inside other than the explosives."
"Huh," Touji grunted.
"You know what I'm going to do, right?" Shinji asked.
"You think this is all my doing, don't you?" Touji sneered. He was trying to cover up his fear. Shinji thought he was doing an admirable job.
"No," he returned, "but I do want to know just how deeply Asuka is connected."
"Why should I tell you?"
"Because Asuka set you up," Shinji stated. "Just keep reminding yourself that this is all her fault." Touji's scowled deepened.
"She's the one who got you to do all this?"
"Yeah. I would have done it anyway, but she did ask."
"She's knows everything that is happening because she orders it," Touji stated.
"Who's pulling her strings?"
"SEELE," Touji stated. "They want to start another Impact."
"Another one?" Shinji demanded, suddenly not quite as calm.
"It wouldn't be their first," Touji replied, smirking because he had gotten Shinji's goat. "Second Impact was their doing, but they didn't know exactly what to do. That attempt was a fuck up. This one will complete their goals."
"What are their goals?" Shinji asked.
"They want to unite all of humankind."
"How?"
"This I don't know," Touji replied. "I do know that however they plan to do it, Asuka wants to do it differently. Her end goals are somehow different."
"Sure you don't know?" Shinji asked as he used his mostly-finished cigarette to light another. "If you do, I'll go a little easier on you and by that I mean I'll leave your tongue in one piece for a little longer."
"I don't know."
"Alright then." Shinji took a drag on his new cigarette. He took the glowing butt of his first and pushed it into the flesh of Touji's face right below his eye. "Let's begin then."
(:ii:)
Mana shivered as another scream tore the air. Takahashi and the two mercenaries carried on, completely oblivious as they drank and told old war stories. Even Minekura, a man Mana had thought was on her side, was simply drinking and smoking silently. "Minekura?"
"Yes?"
"Can I talk with you?" The man nodded and snuffed out his cigarette before rising and following her out.
"What's on your mind?"
"How can you just sit there?" Mana demanded.
"What?" Minekura asked. "Do you mean Suzuhara?"
"What else?" Mana demanded. "I thought we were in agreement about Shinji!" Minekura eyed her flatly and lit a new cigarette.
"We are," he stated. "Shinji isn't running on all cylinders right now, but this is nothing."
"He's torturing a man!" Mana shrieked. "How is that nothing?"
"That man tortured a woman Shinji viewed as his own personal savior," Minekura commented. "Frankly, I'd be far more worried if he let that man walk." Mana stared at him uncomprehendingly. "This is Sergeant First Class Ikari. He's a very simple man, same as all of us. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth and all that rubbish. Only part of the Bible I like, that one."
"But. . ."
"If you think different, maybe you just didn't know him as well as you thought." Mana felt like she had been punched in the stomach. Touji screamed again and Minekura glanced at his watch. "This is going to go all night, I just know it." He turned away. "Where did Tak put the earplugs? I want to take a nap." Mana watched as he walked away. Crazy. They were all crazy and Shinji was feeding off it. These men, they were the reason Shinji was so far gone. Mana dug out her cell phone. There was only one person she knew that could help her now, only one person who could see how sick Shinji had begun.
(:ii:)
Asuka cursed as her phone began to ring again. She knew what had happened God damn it! She had practically ordered it! "Boss?"
"What?" Asuka snapped.
"Pick up the phone," Jenny stated.
"I told you, I'm not here!"
"You'll want to hear this one," Jenny replied. Asuka spat another curse and snatched up her handset.
"Hello?"
"Asuka?"
"Mana?"
"We need to talk," Mana replied. Asuka froze. No way. No way was this really happening. Nothing ever went this perfectly for her.
"Yes we do," she stated. "We need to talk about Shinji and about certain actions he has taken. Can we meet somewhere?"
"Yeah," Mana answered. "I think that's for the best. I passed a diner on the way into town."
"The twenty-four hour one?" Asuka asked.
"Yeah. I'll see you there in two hours."
"I'll be there." The phone went dead and Jenny appeared in the doorway to Asuka's office.
"How are we going to do this?" she asked. "Do you want to just grab her and use her as a hostage?"
"I don't even know how Shinji will respond to that," Asuka stated.
"What about torture his location out of her?" Jenny pressed.
"Section-2 is almost gone. They were loyal to Touji. Without him here they've gone in search of him and we have no way to contact any of them," Asuka explained. "We don't have any other military force. The only troops we have are my personal security detail and, even though they're all ex-Spec Ops too, I don't want to risk them against Shinji and his team."
"Then what's the plan?" Jenny asked.
"I'm thinking," Asuka growled. She had nothing. How could she trap a man whom she wasn't entirely convinced was a real human under that skin? "Have you been able to contact SEELE yet?"
"No."
"What about Ayanami?"
"She's not picking up either," Jenny stated.
"Where the hell is all of our backup?"
-End
(:ii:)
-Author's notes. Well, being Easter Bunny was fairly amusing. I got to traumatize a couple of kids, so I was happy. It was definitely fun to have a parent trying to say that the bunny was harmless when suddenly the bunny stands up and has a good foot on mommy without even counting the ears.
I'm a bit baked right now from a long and rather emotionally-exhausting day that had nothing to do with bunnies. I'll get more out next time. Till than!