I don't own anything.
Company of Wolves
-Chapter Ten:
"Hurry please," Shinji ordered as he tried to watch the entrance of the restaurant and the alleyway at the same time.
"Patience is a virtue," Mana replied from under her car. "At least, it is when missing something can lead to your rather messy demise."
"Why haven't they shown up yet?" Misato asked, she was sweating rather profusely and her quick movements had all the earmarks of someone tweaking on a combat high.
"If you found your buddy with his head bashed in by the guy you were chasing, you'd probably reevaluate your tactics too," Shinji stated.
"We're clean!" Mana announced as she squirmed out from under the car and shoved her keys into Misato's hands. "You drive stunt man."
"I'm not that bad!" Misato protested. "Besides, I'm not familiar with this thing. It's huge."
"Its classic American muscle," Mana corrected as took the MP5. "You can drive manual, can't you?"
"Of course," Misato stated as she climbed behind the steering wheel somewhat uncertainly. Shinji and Mana quickly piled into the back. The convertible's massive engine roared to life.
"I've been meaning to ask," Shinji stated, "where the hell did you find a '65 GTO in Japan?" When no answer came he glanced at the woman beside him as saw her staring at him in shock. "What?"
"You recognized my car," she whispered almost reverently.
"Well, yeah," Shinji answered. "It's pretty hard to mistake a beautiful First Gen for one of those post-Seventies models or those horrible new millennium models. Tell me, did you at least replace the standard brakes? Those drums with the organic linings always made me nervous at high speed. At least it sounds like you haven't done anything too ridiculous to the engine like some people who were trying to get better emissions and mileage. This is the Tri-Power engine, isn't it?"
"You have no idea how turned on I am at the moment."
"Keep it in your pants," Misato ordered as she hit the gas and the massive American muscle car roared into traffic. "Looks like they aren't going to follow us."
"I don't know," Shinji replied as he dug out his cell phone. "Did you allow Misha to go back to school yet?"
"Not yet," Misato stated, "but she is allowed out of the Geo-Front with a full Section-2 guard detail. We figured she'd be safe if she didn't have a schedule."
"Didn't have a schedule?" Shinji repeated. "Do you know that girl? She's gonna head right for the departments stores the moment you turn her loose." He flipped open his phone and began dialing.
"Who are you calling?" Mana asked.
"Misha," Shinji stated. "She's more competent than those idiots trying to protect her."
"Better make it quick," Mana commented. Shinji glanced at her and she pointed behind them. He shot a look over his shoulder and saw a large black van charging through traffic towards them.
"Uh, Misato? You might want to go faster."
"I can do faster," Misato replied.
(:ii:)
Mana watched as her lover flipped his phone shut and tucked it into his pocket. "Is she okay?"
"She's in the Geo-Front," Shinji stated. "You wouldn't happen to have anything here that can take out a van, would you?"
"No."
"Damn it." Shinji checked his Kriss carefully.
"Just a thought," Misato began, "what if the van is Section-2?"
"Than I'm going to shoot them anyway," Shinji stated. He stared hard at the van and someone popped out of the passenger side window. That someone had a pistol. Shinji raised his Kriss and put a double tap in the man's chest. He went limp and slid out of the window before his friends could react. "Bull's eye! Twenty points mother fucker!"
"There's something wrong with you," Misato called.
"Says the woman who used to guess how many points it would be if she hit different people with her car," Shinji shot back.
"But, I never actually hit anyone!" Misato protested.
"Well obviously, you weren't good enough," Shinji stated flatly. "Mana, you got anything that punches harder than a .45?"
"Sorry, I didn't think to bring my God damned RPG," Mana stated sarcastically.
"Why not?" Shinji asked.
"That was sarcasm," Mana pointed out.
"I figured, but seriously, why wouldn't you have an RPG in your car?" Shinji demanded. He raised his sub-machinegun and fired another burst, this time at the windshield. The glass starred wildly, but didn't break. "Fuck. Please tell me that the MP5 has armor piercing rounds."
"Hell no," Mana retorted. "I've got a mag full of hollow points."
"Shit." Shinji growled. He frowned and dug something out of his pocket.
"What's that?"
"Bluetooth," Shinji stated. "I've got a call to take."
"You're going to take a call at a time like this?" Misato demanded. "Is that normal?"
"There isn't a damn thing normal about his entire company," Mana stated. A bullet whizzed over her head and she ducked.
"Taking pot shots at my company again?" Shinji asked. He lined up his weapon and fired another burst. "Fucking run flat tires."
(:ii:)
"Shinji Ikari speaking, how may I help you?"
"Hey it's me," Kaji stated.
"Hey Ka. . .uh. . .Kevin."
"Kevin?" Kaji repeated. "Thank you for reminding me why we usually send you into places where the only quick thinking you have to do involves violence."
"Fuck you old man!" Shinji snapped. "I never had to fake my own death to get out of a tight spot."
"No, because you usually leave places in such chaos that you can slip out pretty easily," Kaji replied. There was silence for several seconds.
"You are implying that I constantly start wars," Shinji stated, sounding surprisingly calm. "I never thought you would stoop to their level."
"Anymore, that's not so much a joke," Kaji commented. "What's that sound? Is that gunfire?"
"No that's not gunfire!" Shinji yelled. "I haven't caused any problems since I got to Tokyo-3."
"Didn't somebody try to kill you already?"
"That's one," Shinji stated, "and he tried to kill me first."
"You killed Ritsuko," Kaji added calmly.
"That's two and that one needed to happen too. Now what the hell do you need? I'm busy."
"Doing what?" Kaji asked. "You're staying away from the Jäger chick, right?"
"Of course I'm staying away from her," Shinji stated. Kaji frowned as he heard a woman yelling something from the other end of the line.
"Who's that?"
"That's. . .Misato," Shinji stated.
"And that's an automatic weapon," Kaji stated as he heard another serious of explosive bangs.
"You're just going senile," Shinji stated. "That's a jackhammer, not a gun."
"I'm not even twenty years older than you!" Kaji snapped.
"You have gotten a couple of decent bangs to the head over the years," Shinji commented.
"You're one to talk," Kaji retorted. "Anyway, shit's going down pretty quick on this end. I'd don't even see why I need to tell you this, but we're going to need NERV dismantled. There's an organization in the area that I want you to get into contact with."
"Name of organization?"
"The Brotherhood of Saint Michael," Kaji stated.
"What?"
"The Brotherhood of Saint Michael," Kaji repeated.
"Why does that sound familiar?" Shinji wondered. Kaji winced slightly. He wasn't going to like this. "Wait! They're the assholes who are trying to kill me!"
"Well, you and all the other people involved with the Evas," Kaji corrected. "Anyway, they've given up on the odd hitman or two and have sent a mercenary assault team."
"Anybody we know?" Shinji asked hopefully.
"No, they're all freelance," Kaji answered, "but that's not necessarily a bad thing. These guys don't give a shit about the cause, just the job. Get in touch with them."
"I'm gonna need a lot of explosives." Kaji sighed and massaged his temples. That did not sound good.
"Try not to level the city before Janet approves."
"Right." There was a long pause. "I'll think about that. Thanks Ka-Kevin. I'll talk to you later." The phone went dead and Kaji considered the small device. There was something going down in Tokyo-3. Someone knocked on Kaji's door.
"Come in!" The door opened and Janet stuck her head in.
"Did you call Shinji?"
"Yeah," Kaji stated.
"And?" Janet pressed. Kaji sighed in defeat.
"It sounds like he's already started," he admitted in defeat.
"I win," Janet stated. She sat on Kaji's desk. "I can't believe you actually thought he could make it through this entire job without causing trouble."
"Well, it took him over a week for the situation to devolve into violence," Kaji protested weakly. "That's something, right?"
"Not enough," Janet replied. "He is never going near a peaceful zone again."
(:ii:)
Shinji stared at his cell phone in disbelief. "Who was that?" Mana asked.
"Kevin," Shinji stated blankly.
"Any particular reason you were lying to him?" Mana pressed.
"Because he needed to be lied to," Shinji replied. "It's rude to listen to other people's conversations, you know?"
"True, but it's also rude to lie to people," Mana countered. "It looks like they're falling back." Shinji glanced back and saw that the van was indeed pulling back.
"We should go after them," he stated. If those clowns showed up at the Brotherhood base, flapping their gums about how he had killed several of them, it would make negotiations rather difficult later.
"Shinji," Mana began slowly, "they're in a heavily armored van. We only have sub-machineguns. I think we should go somewhere safe and think up a real plan."
"We have them on the run," Shinji stated. "We should pursue and finish them off."
"See, that's not a real plan," Mana replied. "That's a half-cocked plan that usually ends with everyone dying, so I'm really not in favor of that one."
"Second," Misato stated. Shinji frowned and collapsed back into his seat with a sigh of annoyance.
"Fine." This was going to complicate things later. Mana stuck her MP5 down by her feet and reclined in her seat. After a moment of silence among the three of them, she began to laugh. Shinji stared at her for a moment before he too began to laugh.
"What the hell is so funny?" Misato demanded. "We could have been killed!"
"But we weren't," Mana stated. She reached over suddenly and grabbed Shinji by the back of his head. "Come here stud." Shinji was all too happy to oblige as she mashed her lips up against his roughly.
"For crying out loud," Misato complained from the driver seat. "Can't you two wait and do that later?"
"Might not be a later," Shinji replied during a break for air before turning back to his other female companion.
(:ii:)
Asuka sighed in relief as she saw Mana's familiar car pull out of the car elevator. The massive convertible rumbled over to her and pulled to a stop. "Hey Red," Shinji stated. Asuka decided not to mention the fresh looking hickey on his neck. "Is Misha safe?"
"She's fine," Asuka answered.
"Good."
"You know, you seem to attract ambushes like lint," Asuka stated, quickly hiding her joy at seeing her friends alive.
"I have friends who would agree with you," Shinji replied as he climbed out of the convertible, a tan sub-machinegun dangling loosely in one hand.
"They'd agree with me because I'm right," Asuka stated.
"She has a point," Mana added as she followed the dark haired man. Asuka eyed the pairs' automatic weapons as their hands clasped.
"Guess I don't have to worry about you two."
"No, we can take care of ourselves," Shinji replied, "although, there is a problem with the fact that you ordered our weapons to be taken."
"I did?" Asuka asked. She raised an eyebrow at the well-armed pair. "Didn't do anything, I see. Let me guess, it was Section-2, right?" Shinji nodded. "They must have snuck that one onto my desk."
"I would hope so," Shinji stated, "otherwise it would seem that you're trying to get rid of us."
"At the rate you're going, I think you're going to get rid of yourself," Asuka replied.
"I've had bigger and better-armed organizations trying to kill me," Shinji replied with a shrug.
"The UN?" Mana ventured quietly. Shinji shot her an annoyed look.
"I told you, I'm legitimate. I work for the UN."
"Sure," Mana replied. "We're still going to have to talk about that."
"I'm a good guy," Shinji protested. "Tell her Misato!"
"With a strait face?" Misato asked. Shinji frowned and turned to Asuka.
"Don't look at me," she replied. "I'm still too pissed at you for my dress to lie for you."
"What'd you do to her dress?" Misato asked.
"Nothing," Shinji stated quickly, elbowing Asuka in the ribs. "Well, nothing I wasn't paid to do."
"Huh?"
"Nothing," Asuka replied with a forced grin as she elbowed Shinji in the ribs.
"Jesus Christ, this is just like when I used to come home and find something broken," Misato groused. "Forget it. I need to go check on something."
"I'm going to go kill a Section-2 agent every five minutes until I get my pistol back," Shinji stated. "Make an announcement about that for me, would you? I'd hate to have to kill them all; it removes cannon fodder between me and the guys trying to kill me." With that he cocked his sub-machinegun and walked away.
"He's joking, right?" Asuka asked.
"About which part," Mana asked, "him killing Section-2 agents or not wanting to actually kill them all?"
"The first I guess," Asuka stated.
"I doubt it," Mana stated. "Sounds like a good idea to me." She cocked her own weapon. "I want my 36 back too." Asuka watched the second contractor walk away.
"There's something wrong with those two."
"I don't know," Misato replied, "that sounds like a good idea to me. I'd probably do the same thing if you tried to take my USP while people were trying to kill me."
(:ii:)
Misato frowned as she walked into the Tokyo-3 coroner's office and made her way towards the man sitting behind the room's only desk. "Doctor Tonkawa?"
"One moment," the man replied without looking up. He finished the form he had been filling out and finally glanced up at her. "Can I help you?"
"I'm Misato Katsuragi," Misato replied.
"Ah, yes, of NERV," the man replied as he rose to his feet. "Your compatriots were already in here. Did they miss anything?"
"This is personal," Misato stated. "I'm. . .was Ritsuko's best friend. I'm here to fill out the paperwork about where her body will be released to."
"Friend?" Tonkawa asked. "She didn't have any family in the area?"
"She doesn't have any family at all," Misato stated as she dug out the papers Ritsuko's lawyer had given her and handed them to the man. He glanced them over and nodded to himself.
"Such a shame," he commented quietly. "Hmm, a western style funeral home for cremation. Very well, I'll get the forms you'll need to fill out." He walked to filing cabinet and began to go through it.
"Do you mind if I see her?" Misato asked. He glanced over his shoulder at her in surprise.
"Wouldn't you prefer to wait for the viewing?" he asked. "I'm a coroner, not a mortician, so I must warn you that she isn't at her best."
"There isn't going to be a viewing," Misato stated. "We both decided that we wouldn't bother with that back when we were in college. We thought that we had already been through too many."
"We all felt that way, I suppose," Tonkawa replied, "I guess it won't be a problem. Follow me please." Misato nodded her thanks and followed the man out of office and through the noisy hallways of the Tokyo-3 police department towards the morgue. He pushed the door open and led her inside. Ritsuko's body was on a gurney against the far wall with a sheet draped over her. Tonkawa pulled the sheet down and stepped back. "Would you like me to step outside?"
"No, it's fine," Misato replied as she stared down at her oldest friend's face. The blond actually looked peaceful for once in her life. "And you always said I'd be the next to go." Ritsuko would have understood the last jab. If their roles had been switched, the blond certainly would have done the same. Misato glanced up at the doctor. "Did she suffer?"
"No," Tonkawa stated as he read the clipboard hanging from the gurney. "She died of a single knife wound that pierced her heart. Her blood pressure would have dropped as she hemorrhaged and she'd have blacked out very quickly." Misato stared at him.
"Do they have any details?"
"Yes," Tonkawa stated. "It's an ongoing investigation, but. . ."
". . .but I'm a high-ranking NERV officer and NERV is conducting a parallel investigation with the full cooperation of the Tokyo-3 PD. Your ass is covered Doc."
"Always make sure that's true," Tonkawa stated. "She was caught completely by surprise. There are no signs of a struggle."
"Or she knew her attacker," Misato replied. She had no idea where she was going with that line of thinking, but something was eating at her.
"Unlikely," the doctor replied. He gestured towards another covered gurney. "The investigators feel quite sure that this man is her attacker, though the evidence is mostly circumstantial and his own fate has caused some doubt." Misato pulled back the second sheet. The man looked about thirty, Caucasian and very clean cut.
"A British national, though I doubt that has anything to do with it" Tonkawa stated, "formerly of Her Majesty's Royal Marines Commando and a veteran of several low-intensity conflicts. He died from a single shot to the back of the head. The entry hole in his skull suggests a .45-caliber weapon and the lack of a projectile or exit wound and the gratuitous damage to the brain suggests a frangible round."
"Shot to the back of the head sounds like an execution," Misato commented.
"Executions are normally point blank. This shot was taken at some range and at the same level as his head. The bruising on his face suggests that he fell from approximately six feet, about his own height, so it's likely that he was standing when he was shot."
"And the weapon that killed Ritsuko?" Misato pressed.
"A double-edged stiletto at most six inches in length," Tonkawa stated. "A weapon matching those statistics and covered in Miss Akagi's blood was found in a sheath on his belt. The type of weapon certainly lends credence to this not being random. That kind of knife is, more-or-less, only a weapon. Random attacks or muggings with a knife usually involve either a kitchen or utility knife. The style of execution is certainly professional. Such a precise strike would take years of training and experience. Such an accomplishment is, thankfully, rather rare. Though, I suppose, as a Royal Marine Commando, this man might certainly have that kind of experience."
"He probably wouldn't have been easy to get the drop on," Misato commented.
"Quite," Tonkawa stated. "He was taken by surprise as well. There are no recent signs of struggle on his body except for the damage to his face from the impact with the ground and, in my experiences, Marines of any nation tend not to be the 'go quietly into that good night'-type of individuals. He would have fought tooth and nail if he had known he was about to die. I hope that helps NERV's investigation."
"I'm sure it will," Misato replied as she cast one last look at Ritsuko. "Thank you Doctor."
"My pleasure," the man replied as he covered the two corpses up again. "If you'll come up to my office, I can give you those forms." Misato nodded absently and walked out of the morgue pondering these revelations. Something wasn't sitting right, something about how the doctor had explained Ritsuko's deathblow. She had heard that description of events before, but where? The answer made her freeze in her tracks.
"Shinji."
"What?" Doctor Tonkawa asked.
"Nothing," Misato replied. So what, her mind demanded. Shinji was an expert with a knife, so? He was a professional soldier, just like the dead Marine on the gurney. Lots of special operations guys were good with a knife. The head of Section-2, an Australian SAS officer, kept a throwing knife target of the former Commander Ikari on his office wall. It didn't have to mean anything, so why wouldn't the idea of Shinji killing Ritsuko leave her alone?
-End
(:ii:)
-Author's notes. So, no new Angel Eyes. I'm a tad stuck on it, damn romance. I think it might be on hiatus for a little while. You know, finishing this story, I realized that I had left a fairly significant cliff-hanger. Wow. Dick move, but hey, I'm a dick so that's fair. You know, I've got to get off this serious kick I've been on. It's really harshing my inner whimsical sociopath. I must keep him appeased. The world is a better place for it, trust me.
Okay, now for a good old fashioned rant. I know I'm going to draw flack for this one because this week's rant is. . .RELIGION. Buckle up kiddies. This is going to be a wild ride, oh, and feel free to tell me I'm going to hell. I've heard it before. And one more thing, when I say "God" here, I mean any higher power from any religion.
Now, how to kick this off? How about this, I don't like religion. Oh, sure, the idea behind most religions is nice. Don't steal, don't lie, don't harm your fellow man and you'll be rewarded when you die. That's all well and good I suppose, but what I hate is how people use religion. I have yet to hear a tyrant of any shape or form declare that their God wasn't on his side.
Let's face it, just about every major bad thing, and I'm mostly talking wars and genocide here, that has happened has been justified by someone as being some deity's work. Colonial soldiers wipe out a native population? They're doing God's work. A religious organization kills hundreds of thousands of individuals from another organization? They're doing God's work. People have been using the excuse that they're doing God's work to take away any blame to themselves since the dawn of time.
I say, until God or whoever comes down to Earth and flat out tells the population what he wants done, anybody claiming to do God's work by hurting someone else can go fuck themselves.
Alright, there's my opening. Depending on what you guys think, I'll add more next week.
You know, a couple of my friends have told me that I should start a forum so that I can get some good debates going. I would, if it weren't for the fact that, eventually, it would devolve into a bunch of posts by anonymous people telling me that I'm a very bad person in various ways.
P.S. She had a boyfriend.