Double update! My way of apologizing for the month long delay. These two chapters are a little shorter then the others i've posted but there are two of them. So enjoy.
Blanca sat by the entrance to the large battleship that he had arrived at. The men that had kidnapped the small girl had arrived shortly before he did and he decided to wait until the others arrived. With all the smells that would be inside the ship he would be hard pressed to find the girl while avoiding the guards, no he would wait until the others arrived before he moved.
He was thankful that the guards weren't paying attention to him or else he would have to run.
As the wind changed he picked up on a familiar scent approaching from the direction of the city, 'About time they showed up.' he thought as he went to meet them, "Blanca! There you are?" Yuri said walking up to make a fuss over the wolf, "Yuri… remember why we're out here?" Shinji said looking at the battleship, "Oh yeah. Blanca is that where the girl is?" the wolf barked once and nodded his head, "Alright. Lets go.".
"Wait your just going to charge in?" Karin asked sounding sceptical of Yuri's plan, "Well yeah… it's worked for us before hasn't it Shinji?", "Yeah remember the Welsh prison? That was rather fun." Shinji said smiling at the memory, "Yeah it was… until you brought the entire prison down around that old hag." Asuka and Karin looked at Shinji with mild shock. "Is that true Shinji…" Asuka asked, "Yeah…downside is that I had to walk back to London. Nearly got run over by a couple of horses…" Karin and Asuka looked at each other and had blank stares, they knew what he was talking about and decided not to mention that they were the riders.
"Alright we'll try it your way…" Karin sighed as Shinji and Yuri took centre stage and cracked their knuckles as they headed for the boarding plank for the battleship, "Give us a minute and follow us in. We'll clear the way." Shinji went first and was instantly spotted by one of the navy guards who tried to stop him but Shinji slammed him into the bulkhead before tossing him over the edge into the water. They weren't aiming to kill anyone just knock them out and get them out of the way.
Running along the deck they found an entrance down into the depths of the ship, but were stopped by another two guards coming out of a side door but Yuri kicked one down the stairs before Shinji head butted the second before knocking him out, "Come on! You three!" Asuka, Karin and Gepetto made their way up boarding plank.
Gepetto looked around the maze of corridors that made up the bulk of the ship, "Alright boys which way?" he asked looking at the two, "I have no idea. We'll be going around in circles before we figure out which way is up." Shinji mentioned Yuri to be quiet as they heard footsteps around the corner, "We'll ask…" he whispered as he jumped the marine that walked around the corner.
"Shut up!" he hissed as he covered his mouth to stop him from shouting out, "Where is the girl?" he shook his head franticly only for Asuka to point her sword at his neck and apply pressure, "Would you like to try that again?" she asked sweetly which made everyone get a shiver along their spines.
"Answer the girl…" Shinji pressed as he slowly moved his hand away, "Bottom deck, aft store room. Two guards at the top of the stairs and another three in the room. The girls in the back." Shinji smiled and patted him on the shoulder before punching him across the jaw, knocking him out cold. "That was easy wasn't it?" Gepetto said as they took off along the corridor making their way to the bottom deck.
"Doesn't matter we'll tear the ship apart if we have to." Shinji muttered as he pulled open the door in front of him, only for Yuri to dash past him and knocking another guard out by slamming him against the door, "Right Shinji." Yuri agreed.
Arriving in the bowls of the ship they saw the final small set of steps ahead of them which was indeed guarded by only two marines standing at attention, "Lets do this quick and quiet. We don't know what the guards inside will try and do.", "They have guns Yuri. We don't." Shinji whispered back trying to come up with a plan of action. Blanca looked around the corner before walking out into plain view of the guards and barked once to grab their attention, both guards headed for the wolf as he backed up as Yuri and Shinji walked out and grabbed the rifles out of their hands and clubbed them out cold.
They waited briefly to see if the guards came out of the storeroom when they didn't Shinji knocked on the door and stood to the side, as the slot in the door opened up, "Who's there?" a gruff voice demanded, Shinji grinned when he heard the lock on the doors being opened.
The barrel of an automatic weapon was poked through the gap and Shinji could hear the heavy footsteps of the owner behind it as he walked through the door, Shinji reached out and grabbed the barrel and rammed it back towards the owner, catching him in the gut and pushing him back.
Before the other two guards could react Yuri kicked the door open as Asuka and Karin rushed in past him with their swords drawn, "Don't move an inch!" Asuka demanded as she held her sword against the mans throat.
"Blanca. Gepetto. Get the girl." Shinji took the gun and slammed it up under the guards chin, sending him onto the guard in a heap, Blanca started to paw at the door behind the two guards, "Is she alone?" one nodded as Asuka pushed the sword harder against his throat, "Yes. She is, she's alone." Yuri helped Gepetto open the door which exposed a store room with a little girl sitting alone on a tied up bundle, "Princess?" Shinji said with a smile, "Shinji? Blanca!" the little girl rushed up to hug the wolf and one of Shinji's legs with joy.
"Princess?" Asuka asked, "Chinese… keep it to yourself the less people who know the better." he had only found out a couple of months after he had started working for Kawashima, it was clear that they had to gain enough trust between them before exposing him to the truth. Which had surprised him.
"Well lets her back to her father, before anymore guards show up." Karin suggested as they left the room, Shinji poked his head back in the room with a smile, "Try something like this again guys and I'll sink this ship with everyone in it. And that's before I tear your military apart." he gave them one final wave before leaving, shutting the door behind him.
Making there way out of the battleship they were surprised not to run into any more marines, the princess had asked about Kurando and Shinji was glad to tell her that he was fine, but just a little roughed up, he really didn't want to say he had been shot by the same people who had kidnapped her.
"Shall we head to the shop?" Gepetto asked looking over his shoulder just in case they were being followed, "No… we'll head for his residence, they wouldn't dare try and take her from there. It'd be like signing their own deaths.", "Lead the way then Shinji." hoisting the young princess onto his shoulders Shinji lead the way back to Kawashima's private residence.
After dropping Yoshiko's sister off at her fathers, who was overjoyed at her return, they headed back to the tram station and waited for the ride back to the village, Yoshiko had been as overjoyed has her father to see her little sister was back safe and sound and had hugged Shinji and Yuri much to their embarrassment. The sun was already setting by the time they reached the station. They found it surprising that they had taken most of the day to find her.
As the tram came to a stop they were surprised to see Keith walk out to greet them, "Hey Keith what brings you down here?", "Shinji… Saki was attacked while out on her walk with Arisu.", "Are they alright?", "Saki is fine, but… they took Arisu." Shinji's eyes widened in shock, and no body could find their voice.
"Who…?" Shinji said simply, "Japanese Special Forces… they wore metal armour with automatic weapons, that was Saki's description. But some wore simple dark brown uniforms." Shinji turned to go back into the city but was stopped by Yuri and Asuka, "Shinji wait a second. You have no idea what you could be walking into, and you know that getting yourself killed won't help Arisu." Yuri said for once being the voice of reason.
He could feel Shinji trembling with anger but didn't want to push him over the edge, he'd seen first hand what that could be like. "She's my daughter Yuri… I'm getting her back.", "Shinji…", "No!" he shouted, "I'm not going to abandon her! I'm not going to be like him! I won't turn into Gendo!" he seethed looking at Asuka, "I'm going…" he didn't get to finish as Keith hit him hard over the back of the head, seemingly knocking him out.
"I hope you can forgive me for that Shinji… Come on lets get him home and maybe we can figure out a plan of action." Yuri and Keith dragged Shinji into the tram but didn't see his AT field expand until it was to late, he catapulted himself out of the tram just as the doors closed and took off into the city, running faster then the others had thought possible.
"Shit! Shinji stop!" Yuri shouted out the window as they pulled away, "Red. Go and tell the driver to stop!" Keith stepped forward as Yuri talked to Asuka and pried the doors open with his sword, "No time to stop Yuri, we'll have to jump." Yuri turned to the others, "We'll stop Shinji from doing something stupid, you tell everyone else what we're doing. Blanca will you be able to pick up our scent?" the wolf barked boldly as Yuri and Keith took one last look at the group before jumping out the tram.
"What has the army done?" Gepetto wondered, "Do you know what Shinji is?" Asuka asked him, "No… apart from he's not entirely human, much like Yuri.", "He's part human and part Angel. In his case he's from Lilith's side and not Adams. It's a long story." she said when she saw the old mans confused expression.
"We we're fighting a war we really didn't know all that much about…forced to be adults when we weren't meant to be…" Asuka said looking down at her hands, "Lets just make sure they all come back in once piece." Karin said trying a reassure her, "But I just hope that the rest of the army makes it out in one piece, Shinji strikes me as the sort to go through hell for his family.", "He's already seen it Gepetto, he'll make light work of it.".
Shinji ran through the streets, keeping to the back streets as much as possible, he didn't have much of an idea of where he was going only that he'd known when Arisu was close. He'd know that Yuri would be hot on his heels before the tram even got to the village station, sure he could use the help but he wasn't going to sit back and wait when someone has his daughter.
He headed for the nearest Army building he could remember which was some sort of research or filing building, but it was a good start for him, "I'll get you back Arisu…" he promised as he saw the rooftop of the building in the distance, "I'll beat anyone who gets in my way.".
Reaching the building he was about to charge through the front door when a pair of hands pulled him back into the alley he was hiding in, "Are you bloody insane!?" Yuri hissed as he and Keith pinned him to the wall, "Do you see the soldiers Shinji? Their not the usual type, they are highly trained and well equipped." Keith said keeping his composure.
"I don't care… I'm not going to just leave my daughter alone." he tried to struggle against Yuri but he held firm, "We're not asking you to! We're your friends, and what do friends do?" he looked at Keith then back at Shinji, "We look out for each other. You came all the way from Japan to Europe to find me, knowing it could of put your relationship with Misato in trouble. Knowing you did that for me meant a hell of a lot Shinji and I can't thank you enough for it, but I can help you with this." Yuri let him go as he looked into his eyes.
"It's not your fight Yuri… You've got your own path you want to follow.", "Yeah I know, but do you think I'd ever be able to look at Alice again if I walked away now?" he felt Shinji relax as Keith let him go as well, "We'll do this together Shinji… it'll be just like old times.", "I believe it was only two years ago Yuri." Keith said correcting him with a smirk.
"Funny… Shinji we'll help you do this." Yuri turned to the gate and grinned, "Shall we go then?" Keith drew his sword and took the lead, causing the two guards to aim their weapons at him, "Excuse me but we're looking for a young girl who was kidnapped. Maybe you could help?" the two guards eyed him and the sword, the way Keith was holding that was like that of an expert and gave them cause to think about their next action.
"There are no children here. Now leave!" one guard said pointing his weapon at Keith, which was quickly sliced off as Yuri and Shinji rushed forward and took out the other one as Keith slammed the pommel of his sword into the other mans face, "What do you think? She's here?", "Must be with the way they reacted." Yuri said to Keith, "Or they just don't like us." Shinji said with a grim smile as he kicked in the doors.
"Guards!" a scientist shouted as disappeared behind a door as a dozen of brown clothed guards with clubs came running out of nearly every door ahead of them, but all Shinji saw were valid targets as he started swinging.
Several guards were heaved into a table as Shinji swung another guard around into them, "Get out of my way!" he screamed as Yuri and Keith hung back as they watched Shinji go on his rampage, "Should we try and slow him down?" Keith asked as they watched his back. "I wouldn't try it…" Yuri shook his head as they watched him throw another guard straight through a door, "Shinji! We've got to keep moving!" Yuri warned him as he thought about more guards arriving.
Swinging the last guard through a nearby door he turned to Yuri and Keith with a satisfied smile on his face, "That felt good." Yuri was about say something when he reached out and grabbed a scientist which tried to run past them, pinning him to the wall he gave him a friendly smile.
"Where's the girl?" he demanded, "Downstairs, in the labs. Go through the door over there. Just let me go please." Yuri paused and let the man drop and nodded to the door, "Get lost." the man ran off without breaking a step as Shinji walked over to the door and ripped it apart with his A.T field, "An elevator?".
The elevator descended several floors and stopped exposing a number of corridors leading away from a central lobby, "Now which way?" Yuri asked as the sirens started blaring away alerting everyone that they had broken in, "This way." Shinji said stepping out, "Your sure?", "I can feel her now Keith. She's that way." Keith nodded in understanding as Shinji led them down the corridor to their right.
It was clear that they didn't know where they were as they hadn't run into any guards, to them the labs seemed deserted apart from one which was at the end of the corridor they had ended up in, "Don't move!" Shinji ordered to the single female scientist in the lab, "You lot really picked the wrong person to piss off. Now were is my daughter!?" he turned the woman around and stepped back in shock, "Dr. Akagi?".
"Do I know you?" the now brunette Akagi asked, "I would hope so… given you dropped the fate of our world on my shoulders by dropping me in the seat of an Eva." Ritsuko's eyes widened as she realised who she was talking to, "Shinji?", "Yeah its me, now…" grabbing her lab coat he pinned her to the wall, "Where is my daughter!?" he spat.
"Shinji please…", "No. I know everything you and that bastard father of mine did, I'm sickened to even look at you! Where is she!?" she stopped struggling and pointed to a side room, "Through there. But there's something else Shinji…" he ignored her as he burst through the door she had pointed to.
Seeing a small cot in front of him he saw Arisu laying awake wrapped up in blankets, "Arisu…" his feelings of anger dissolved as he gently picked her up and rocked her in his arms, "Daddy's here… Lets get you home." Arisu held out her arms to him as he walked back out to Yuri and Keith, "Ritsuko… believe me when I say if you try this again, I won't be restraining myself… I'll kill you if you ever harm my daughter again.".
"Shinji wait!" he paused out the door and looked back at her, "There is more going on in this lab then you know. So much more.", "Like I care." he shrugged, "I thought you cared for Rei." Shinji paused and turned to face her completely, "What?", "Rei is here. She arrived with me when we were swallowed by the Angel, I knew things weren't right between us but I tried to protect her, but he found us…".
"Who?", "Gendo…" Shinji froze before turning to Keith, "Can you get her to safety?", "Yes. Don't worry she'll be safe." Keith gently took Arisu into his arms and she giggled upon seeing one of his godparents, "They won't even see me Shinji, don't worry." Keith faded away until he was fully transparent, "Been a while since I saw you do that.", "It was when we first met I believe. I'll see you back at the village Shinji." they heard Keith's footsteps fade away and Shinji turned back to a shocked looking Ritsuko.
"He's a vampire… where is Rei?", "Shinji… he's trying to control her, she might not just follow you out." Yuri nudged Shinji, "I think it's time for a family reunion, you'll get to say everything you wanted to him." Shinji looked at him in confusion before realising what Yuri was getting at, "I see… Where's Gendo?".
Ritsuko thought carefully about her options, one the one had she could send Shinji and his friend into a trap or she could finally choose her own path without Gendo, without Rei, without anyone always looking over her shoulder. It was a no problem in her opinion.
"He's in one of the main labs, straight ahead when you leave the elevator. Just promise me something Shinji…", "What?", "Don't hold back." he gave her a small smirk and headed back out the lab, "Wasn't planning to." he headed back towards the elevator with Yuri following behind.
"Can she be trusted?", "Maybe not but if I can help her get out from under my fathers control once and for all then it'll be worth it.", "This Rei girl?", "Exactly." Yuri didn't ask anything further because he didn't need to, Shinji was like his brother and he trusted his judgement when it came to serious matters at least. When they reached the elevator they headed in the direction that Ritsuko had mentioned and saw it was only a few turns before they arrived at a metal door which Shinji knocked on loudly.
"Really? Do you have to do that every time?" Yuri whispered, "Yes." they watched the door open slightly as Shinji forced it open the rest of the way with his A.T field, "Hello!" he screamed with an insane grin which caused a few scientists to run away in terror from a table which held a single person.
Rei had changed a lot since Shinji had last seen her, she was now a young adult and had the same blue hair which was now past her shoulders and her skin was still pale as snow, "Is that her?", "Yeah. Rei… It's Shinji, can you hear me?" her eyes moved and opened to reveal her crimson eyes, "Rei…are you alright?", "Ikari-kun?", "I thought I told you to call me Shinji?" he said with a gentle smile, together they undid her bindings and carefully helped her sit upright, "What's happened to you?" he asked.
"I do not recall. The last thing I remember is talking with Dr. Akagi before someone injected something into me.", "Do you remember who it was?", "No but Dr. Akagi seemed to be afraid of him." Shinji could take a guess at who it was, "My father, have you seen him?" Rei pointed to the door behind her, "I think he left shortly before you arrived, all I heard were voices." Shinji hugged her tightly and took a moment to stare into her eyes, "I'm so glad your safe Rei, Yuri can you take her out of here?", "Shinji I'm not going to just leave you down here alone.", "I'll be fine but she needs to be out of here now!" Shinji stressed, "I'm going to see my father.".
Without waiting he took off through the door and was determined to track down Gendo but was surprised to see him waiting on a walkway, overlooking a experiment, looking down he saw the man called Nicolai strapped to some strange machine which reminded him of what Alice had been strapped to in Shanghai. "Gendo!" he shouted getting his attention, "Who are you?", "I'm not surprised you don't remember me, father. You always did look down on me and everyone around you." Gendo stopped leaning on the railing and turned to face Shinji, "Just who are you?", "Shinji Ikari, former pilot of Evangelion Unit One, and your former son." he smirked as he cracked his knuckles.
"I see…Why are you here?", "Well getting my daughter back, and getting Rei out from under your thumb." he ran forward and slammed his former father across the walkway with a vicious right hook, "What mother ever saw in you is beyond me! She said she would never forgive you!" Gendo blocked Shinji's next strike and countered which surprised Shinji.
"I should tell you that I used to get into a lot of fights while I was dating your mother." it was the most he had ever said to Shinji and at the same time it was a challenge, "Well I hope you give me a good fight old man." he cracked his knuckles and got into a fighting stance, "I'm going to tell mother all about what you've done, she'll be so happy when I tell her that I beat you senseless!".
Gendo was taken back at the statement, "What do you mean, tell her?", "She's alive. Ever since the Angel swallowed everything, I've been meeting people from our world father, and you've been on the top of my list!" he slammed his fist across his fathers jaw before kicking him away, "You see I have a lot of anger to unleash!".
Yuri shifted his grip on the strange blue haired woman as he left the laboratory, she hadn't said a word since Shinji had left them and he could feel something off about her, "You alright?", "I'm fine." he grumbled as he carried her down a side street, knowing the trams wouldn't be running they would have to lay low for the night, and the only place he could think of that would be safe was Kawashima's residence. He just hoped that they wouldn't mind them staying the night, that and he hoped Shinji had the same idea.
"Are you a good friend of Shinji-kun?" she asked suddenly, "Yeah. We're like brothers almost, we've been through a lot together. Why do you ask?", "He's changed where I have not." Yuri didn't know what to say, mainly down to the fact that he barely knew Rei and Shinji hadn't really said much about her and he guessed that there wasn't much to actually say about her.
"Look Rei, Shinji has changed but that is because he had a choice, which you now have. So will you change?" making sure the path ahead was clear he helped her across the road and into the street which held the Kawashima residence, "I'm not sure how…" she said as Yuri reached the door which he quickly pounded on.
He was surprised when Kato opened the door, but was relieved, "Yuri? What are you doing here?", "Little problem, maybe I can explain it when I'm not so exposed?" Kato nodded and let them inside, "What's happened?" he asked once Yuri had helped Rei sit on the porch, "Where should I start?".
Yuri explained how Arisu had been kidnapped and how Shinji had gone off the deep end to get her back, encountering Rei and Dr. Akagi in the process before going off to fight his father. "You let him go off alone like that?" Kato asked clearly thinking that the whole thing was beyond stupid, "He wanted to Kato, and besides Rei's safe so I'll be back with Shinji in the a little while." nodding he got to his feet and ran back towards the labs.
Shinji was shocked, not only was he fighting his father but he was actually loosing ground on him, slowly. He hard managed to land a few good hits on his father but clearly his style of fighting wasn't able to match Gendo's. 'This is stupid! I've fought demons for almost three years and this bearded bastard is beating me!' he thought as he blocked another punch, "I see you talk to much." Gendo taunted as he advanced on Shinji and delivered a powerful uppercut, sending him sprawling across the floor before stamping down hard on his chest.
"I'll end it if you tell me where Yui is!?", "Fuck you asshole." Shinji grinned weakly as he expanded his A.T field sending Gendo back several meters, "W-what was that?", "An A.T field, and that's not the only thing I can do." he smiled as the wounds on his face began to heal, "I had wanted to make this a fair fight but now I think, why should I play fair when you never do?". Shinji reached out with his arm and was about to unleash a powerful strike with his A.T field but was stopped by something unexpected.
Neither man saw the two gunshots coming, but Shinji was surprised to see Gendo fall to the floor holding his leg, which now had two bloody holes in it. Looking behind him he saw Ritsuko standing there with a revolver, "I believe your right Shinji. Why should we play fair?" lowering the gun she turned to Shinji, "I'm going to walk my own path. Not his." she waved the gun in Gendo's direction who was busy cursing their actions, "Shinji I hope I can earn your forgiveness?", "Well this is certainly a good start." his healing abilities weren't able to heal everything as he didn't really know what was going to happen in the next few minutes either. "I'll let you live for now Gendo... at least I know where to find you now." Shinji said with a dark smile before turning to leave with Ritsuko.
While he was slightly unsteady on his feet he had to depend on Ritsuko to help him out of the lab but he slowly managed to walk on his own after reaching the elevator, "Never thought I'd see you again to be honest." Shinji said calming his breathing as they ascended to the ground floor, "I didn't think anyone else had come through, but is your mother actually alive or was that a trick to through him off?", "My mother is alive and living with Misato and I, along with our daughter, Arisu." Ritsuko looked surprised at the mention of Misato, "Before you ask I don't know how she'll react when we get back.".
Yuri pressed the button for the elevator repeatedly until the thing started to ascend, "About damn time." he was surprised to see Shinji looking back at him looking rather bruised, "What happened?" he asked taking Shinji's arm over his shoulder, "Ritsuko got a few choice shots off, Gendo will live but he won't be dancing anytime soon.", "Good to hear but lets get out of here. I saw a lot of army units heading in this direction." Ritsuko paused and looked back at the lab before following the two men out to safety.
"Where are we heading?" she asked as they made their way through the streets being careful to avoid any Japanese army units, "We're going to pick up Rei and then head home, but since the trams aren't running then we'll have to hike the way, should take no more then two hours or so.", "Two hours?", "Uphill. We're near a mountain." Ritsuko was already beginning to miss the lab but had made her decision.
Well there we have it Ritsuko and Rei have returned along with Gendo, and what I can say is that is all the people coming back for the time being. It also wont be the last time Shinji goe's toe to toe with Gendo but stay tuned and find out what happens.