Chapter 29: The American Team

A/N: Another filler, but one that should answer your question of, 'what's going on in America?'

Disclaimer: I do not own NGE, Gainax does. I do own all original characters, and if there is any resemblence to real people or caracters of other stories, it is merely coincidental

Preread by YouarenotasrandomasI

Now, on with the show!


Tension filled the air. Cairn flickered his eyes to the man they kidnapped a week ago before quickly turning them to Hunter. His face was emotionless and he kept his gaze on the other man, who had a confident smirk on his face. Unable to take the stress, Cairn swallowed and closed his eyes. Suddenly, the dark man's hand flew out swiftly, flying towards the grinning man.

Snatching one of the cards in his hand, Cairn opened his eyes slowly and groaned, "Not again"

Chuckling, the man said, "Oh yeah, my turn"

Snatching the last card in Cairn's hand, the man put down the last pair and said, "I am the champion"

Groaning, Cairn said, "I'm always the old maid"

In the weeks since the man's capture, he had grown used to the odd ways of the Avatars. He was given access to pretty much the entire campsite, although he was told not to leave the grounds. The first few days, he tried to sneak away, when everyone else was asleep. Every time, he was caught in some form of trap and was left in it until morning, when Hunter would come out and free him. It had gotten to the point that the man just gave up and accepted his stay at the camp

At least he wasn't kept locked away, and for that he was grateful. He was even able to make a few calls to his family, making sure to tell them that he was okay and not to worry about him. If anything, he thought, they should feel worry for Cairn, who was constantly being beaten by him

"Argh, once more!"

Looking at his watch, Hunter asked, "It's about noon, what do you guys want for lunch?"

Cairn replied, "Anything, just don't interrupt us" as he dealt a new hand

"Colonel Sanders?"

"I'm fine with anything," the man replied, "Just warn me if you're using animals like snakes or rabbits"

Nodding, Hunter got up and went to the stove and began to prepare another meal. A tent, situated a good deal further away from the other tents, had green smoke coming out of the vent in the roof.

"Kaitos," the military Avatar called out, "Stop before you blow something up again"

"In a minute, I almost have it!" the cripple shouted back

Sighing, Hunter and Cairn simultaneously counted down, "5, 4, 3, 2, 1"

A small blast blew the tent roof another hole at the count of one. The tent door opened and a big puff of green smoke poured out as Kaitos crawled out, coughing his last lung out. Sanders, who was becoming used to this, chuckled as Cairn groaned

"That's the fourth time you blew something up today," the dark man said, looking at his cards, "Give it a rest before you blow yourself up"

Swigging down a whole bottle of medicine, Kaitos gasped out, "You may have a point there. In the name of alchemy, I will take a momentary breather"

Sighing, Hunter said, "If you don't mind, watch the pot while I go out and grab some meat"

As he passed, Cairn reminded him, "No poisonous reptiles. The three of us will be alright, but I'm not sure about Sanders"

Waving his hand as he took a card from Cairn's hand, he replied, "I'll be fine. You guys just need to remember to remove the poison sacs before you cook them"

A little while later, Hunter returns with a pair of hares. Making sure that Kaitos didn't contaminate the stew with any chemicals, he then skinned the hares and cut them up. Adding some vegetables with the meat, Hunter set the pot to simmer and went over to where Cairn and Sanders were playing.

Picking one of the last two cards in Sanders' hand, the dark man picked joker again, "Aw damn, again?"

Shuffling his hand, Cairn held it out, praying that Sanders choose the joker. He groaned as the other man didn't and won again.

"I give up," he said as he shuffled the deck of cards again, "Let's play something else"

Shrugging, Sander said, "You are only going to lose, are you sure?"

"Of course!"

This is how most of the days pass for the Avatars and Sanders. Every once in a while, one of the Avatars would disappear for the day and wouldn't return till late at night. It was now around the middle of December, and he began to notice a feel in the air. Sanders remembers this feeling sometimes in his team as they prepared for a big mission.

After lunch, Kaitos got up, "I need to check one last thing on the AX unit before we send it over tomorrow"

Waving his hand, Hunter laid on his back as he pulled out a PDA. Raising an eyebrow, Sanders looked towards Cairn to find him pulling out what looked like a chess board.

"Okay, so I can't beat you in card games," the dark man said, "So how about some Battle Chess?"

Feeling a bit wary, Sanders asked, "What kind of game is that?"

Setting the board on the table where they ate lunch, Cairn said, "Come over here and I'll show you"

When he sat down, the man looked down to see that 3-dimensional images floated in front of him. There were three objects, one was a ball, another was a cone, and the third was a square cube. Sander looked up to see that Cairn had selected the cone. He closed his eyes as he randomly pointed at one of them. Opening his eyes, Sander saw that he chose the ball.

"Okay," he asked, "Now what?"

"Watch"

The images disappeared and a set of figures appeared on each side of the board. Sander's set had eight figures; half were holding pikes and standing in front of the others. The remaining figures were of heavily armored knights. On Cairn's side, he also had eight figures, half of which were archers, the remaining half a set of ogre-like men.

"Um, what now," Sanders asked in a confused tone

Chuckling, Cairn said, "Just watch"

Taping one of his archers, he had it advance two spaces forward. Sanders looked up to see that Cairn was waiting for him to move. It soon became clear that the game was very similar to regular chess, with a few variations. In the game, the front row acted like pawns, but depending on what set you chose, the pawns had different abilities. Sander's pike men could attack pieces two spaces away, but Cairn's pawns could attack from four spaces. Then there were the other sets, which apparently had individual characteristics. Each figure had its own personalities, and depending on the personality, the pieces either did what you wanted or something else entirely.

"No, no, no," Sander said frustrated, "You go two spaces diagonally, come on"

Cairn didn't have that much more luck, but he was leading the game, "Yes, looks like the game is mine"

However, the dark man underestimated the man's leadership abilities. Within five minutes, Sanders was able to get his pieces to do what he said, and was completely demolishing Cairn.

As the last piece was put away, Cairn put his head in his hands as he moaned, "Come on, is there any game you can't win?"

Chuckling, Sanders replied, "Nope"


The Next Day

Sanders got up earlier than usual, and walked out of the tent he was given. Rubbing his eyes, he stood up straight and stretched his sleep filled muscles. As he yawned, he saw something moving in the corner of his eye. Nonchalantly turning around, Sanders saw that Hunter was talking with what appeared to be a floating Sputnik satellite.

"Thanks again," the military Avatar was saying to the device, "I'll see you again in two cycles"

The machine made a few beeping noises before it floated away. It disappeared into a green swirling vortex that appeared from nowhere. Hunter turned, carrying several tubes in a bag.

"Ohayo," Hunter said absentmindedly as he looked at the labels on the tubes, "you're going to have to wait a bit before breakfast is served"

"Um, what was that and what are those?" Sanders asked

Tapping on the door to Cairn's tent, Hunter didn't answer him, calling out, "Cairn, mail call"

The tent door unzipped, and the dark Avatar's head stuck itself out, "Alright, what'd I get?"

Tossing a few tubes, Hunter replied, "I don't know, open and find out"

Sanders walked over to next to Cairn, and looked over his shoulder. The Avatar had opened up one of the tubes and had pulled out a scroll of papyrus. Reading the contents over his shoulder, Sander was unable to make heads or tails of the writing.

"Who's it from," he asked

Smiling, Cairn replied, "A friend from another world is telling me about his wife's new child"

"Oh," Sanders said, "I see, that satellite thing was a delivery machine with mail"

"Bingo," the dark man replied, "every two cycles, it comes around delivering mail to Avatars like ourselves"

Intrigued, Sanders asked, "Who do you usually get mail from?"

Opening another tube, this time revealing a folded envelope, Cairn replied, "Oh, friends from worlds we visit and from home"

"That's cool," he said, "Must be nice to travel around to so many strange and amazing places"

"Certainly is," the dark man replied, "You know what, why don't I get you a recommendation to become an Avatar?"

Surprised, Sanders scratched the back of his head, "Wow, I'd love to, but I have family here. I can't just up and go on a journey like you guys"

Chuckling, Cairn opened up another tube, which contained a set of beads on a blue string, "Don't worry, we can do a little time manipulation as well, so that you can return about an hour after you've left. We don't age in Central or in-between trips, and we have the power to change your age so that when you go home, it'll be like you never left"

"Central?"

"Oh, Central Station," Cairn answered, opening another tube that contained four different colored feathers and a seed, "It's the central point of the Avatar organization. All new recruits are trained there, and it also has so much variety from so many worlds"

Putting his mail away, the dark man faced Sanders and told him, "It is impossible to properly describe what Central Station is like. The only thing close enough to describe it is a cross of a super mall and a subway system. I'm going to ask again, would you like to become an Avatar?"

After a moments thought, Sanders asked, "Is the work going to be dangerous?"

"Oh, depends on what missions you're given. Though for newbies they tend to give easier missions, to ease them in"

"Pay?"

"Good pay," Cairn said, "although you do have to go and exchange currencies often, and some worlds barter"

"How about vacations?"

"Since time isn't a major problem, you can have a vacation any time without having to worry about falling behind"

Another moment of thinking and Sanders answered, "Sounds like a fine idea, I'll take you up on your offer"

Grabbing his hand, Cairn enthusiastically shook it, saying, "Great, I'll put in the recommendation and we should have you in training about a week from now"

"Um, I thought you said that you could manipulate time?"

Sighing, the dark man scratched the back of his head and replied, "I know, but you have to consider how damn many people put stuff in for the council. Even they would be overwhelmed considering the amount of work they need to do"

Chuckling, Sanders replied, "Good to know that even people like you get bogged down by mundane things like paperwork"

Joining him, Cairn said, "I know. Well, if things go well, you'll be seeing me soon"

Seeing the confused look on his face, the dark man continued, "I'm a teacher. I teach Disguise, Basic, and Cultural Relations"

"I understand Disguise, but what's this about Cultural Relations?"

A wry grin on his face, Cairn explained, "Not all civilizations are like the one here on this world"

Catching the drift, Sanders got up, "Well, I guess we'll have to wait for the mail drone to come back"

"No need," the dark Avatar said, getting up, "Aside from the Council, I am one of the few people who can create my own portals to travel in-between worlds. Everyone else needs help, either technologically or magically"

He then pulled out a PDA, "Besides, I can just email them"

Later that day, Cairn had informed Hunter and Kaitos of Sanders' decision to join the Avatars. Both congratulated him and gave him words of advice.

"If you get Iak, transfer out," Kaitos warned him, "I don't care if you have to bribe the Council, just stay out of his class"

Hitting his good arm, Cairn said, "Come on, you're only saying that because you failed his class"

Hunter added, "Don't worry, Iak's a good friend of ours, we know him well. He's not a bad person, and, although he can be strict, he is pretty good"

"Sure," the cripple interjected, "You're saying that because the three of you are all teachers, as well as old time buddies"

Shrugging, Hunter turned to Cairn and asked, "Did you already send a recommendation?"

"Of course"

"Very well," he said, pulling out a piece of paper and writing stuff down, "In the case you do get selected, follow these directions. They will help you get through the first few moments of Central Station"

Reading the paper, Sanders saw a list of what to do and not to do when in Central. Skimming the text, he raised his eyebrows a few times before he looked up at the trio.

"Two left turns is the bathroom and the fourth on the left is men's?"

"Trust me; there are more than just men's and women's restrooms"

"If you see a purple line, walk to the left of it, never on or to the right of it?"

"For your safety," Kaitos said fervently, "Please do as that one says"

An odd look, Sanders looked at the last one on the list and said, "Who's Zany?"

"Cairn," Hunter said jokingly, to which the dark man fake punched

"It's actually one of the kiosk people," Cairn explained, "It'll direct you to where you need to go"

"It?"

Shrugging, Kaitos replied, "No one asked its gender, and a few people are afraid of it"

Deciding to let it lie until he actually went to Central, Sanders folded up the piece of paper and stuffed it down his shirt pocket

"Do I need anything special?"

"Nothing special," Cairn said

Coughing a little, Kaitos took a swig of medicine before adding, "Unless you have something like medicine or something similar, you don't have to worry about what you need"

The discussion continued for days, as Sanders asked the three Avatars everything he could about the organization they were a part of. It was about a couple of days before Christmas that Cairn received another mail tube, this one sent through a portal. It was during the middle of a game of poker, Sanders was leading as usual, that it came in.

"Oh, looks like they finally sent back a reply," the dark Avatar said, popping the top of the tube

After reading the first few paragraphs, Cairn handed the letter over to Sanders, "Congratulations"

"Wow, I can't believe it," Sanders said in amazement as he read it

"Believe it," Cairn told him, and then got up from the table, "It came in time too, and it's about a few days from Christmas. We're done here, so we might as well get things moving"

Sanders watched as the trio began to pack up camp, each in their own way. Hunter manually took down his tent, stowing it away in a bag before packing the rest of his stuff in his rucksack. Clapping his hands together, Kaitos used his alchemy to transform his tent into a small ball of canvas. The cripple then began to put his beakers, test tubes, and other assorted instruments into metal lead-lined boxes, sometimes with thick gloves. For Cairn, he just widened his pocket and sucked his gear into its unfathomable depths.

"You really should put it away properly," Hunter reprimanded, "It's only going to make things harder to clean up later"

"I'll do it later"

Within the hour, the campsite was taken down and all traces of their residence there cleared.

"Hey," Sanders asked, "What's going on?"

Slinging his bag over his shoulder, Hunter said, "We're done here, our job was to delay Unit-04's test activation. With what we've done, they won't be able to until sometime in January"

Knowing that his new friends were going to be leaving, Sanders got up and shook each of their hands, "It was nice meeting all of you. I look forward to working with you again"

Returning the handshake, Cairn replied, "Sure will. Expect a letter from the Council sometime in May. It will be accompanied by an Avatar who will escort you to Central and take you to the orienteering"

Waving goodbye, Cairn raised his hand and opened up a black portal. Hunter went through first, saluting to Sanders, who returned it. Following him, Kaitos also waved goodbye, immediately turning around and talking something about moving something manually, followed by the dark Avatar

"See you later," Cairn shouted as the portal closed

It was then that Sanders realized that he was left in the middle of nowhere. He was about to shout when he saw his radio on the ground. Picking it up, he fiddled with it until he got the frequency of the base. He then saw a note attached to the bottom of the device

Get as far away from the Nevada base before the date the Evangelion is to be activated, unless you wish to die

The Avatars meant well, so he decided to follow the directions on the label.

"This is a restricted frequency. Whoever is using it, identify yourself immediately, over"

"This is Colonel Sanders," he said into the receiver, "I have just escaped the insurgents and require pickup, over"

"Sanders? We were worried about you sir. Transport will be sent, please tell us your location, over"

Taking seat on the ground, Sanders waited for the pickup and wondered about what life would be like as an Avatar.


There you go, another chapter to read. R&R and I'll get back as soon as I can