Chapter 30
"Shinji!" Misato gasped, rushing towards him.
"I'm—uhh!—I'm okay," Shinji grunted, struggling to his feet.
"If you're okay, then move your left arm," Rei said combatitively.
Shinji glared at her and tried to raise his left arm from the shoulder. Of course, he couldn't do it, no matter how much he tried and strained. The effort of exertion was also making Shinji's shoulder burn worse and worse by the second.
"As I thought," said Rei.
"What's wrong?" Misato asked.
"Dislocated," Rei answered, "When he caught me just now."
"Would you have preferred I let you drop through the tree branches and break your neck?" Shinji snapped, his pain making him angrier.
"Of course not!" Rei said indignantly, "But I really don't like seeing other people hurting themselves for my sake."
"I caught you at a bad angle," Shinji said, "It put extra strain on my shoulder joint beyond a standard catch. Excuse me for just one second, please?"
With that, Shinji walked over to the side of the hot tub house and stood at one of the corners. He lined up his hurt shoulder with the broad side of the building and threw the front of his shoulder against it as hard as he could. Shinji grunted loudly as a fresh lance of fire struck through his entire arm, nearly causing him to pass out from the pain. As it was, he stumbled and fell onto his backside.
Very dignified, he told himself in a belittling manner.
Misato strode quickly to Shinji's side and helped him up.
"What the hell did you do that for?" Misato demanded, confused.
"He just reset his own shoulder," Rei explained, walking over, "Where did you learn to do that?"
"Picked it up on my trip," said Shinji, eyes still slightly crossed from the extreme pain, "I am in serious need of an ice pack right now, and…Misato?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm fine, so don't baby me, okay?"
Shinji walked into the house and made his way up to the home-theatre room. Once there, he plunked down onto one of the recliner couches and switched on the projector screen. From there, he selected a monster movie from the playlist menu and tilted his chair back to relax. A few minutes later, Rei came into the room to give Shinji his ice pack.
"What are you watching?" she asked.
"Frankenstein meets the Wolf-man," Shinji replied, not looking away from the screen, "Thanks for the ice, Rei."
"You're welcome," Rei said, then turned to leave.
"Rei?" Shinji said, turning to look at her.
"Yes?" Rei asked hopefully. She stopped and looked back at Shinji. She sounded breathless, almost the same way she had the first day she had met Shinji, all those months before. She was still excited by him, despite both of their relationships with Misato. For her, it was a case of the "forbidden fruit" attraction. He and Misato were both something that she wasn't supposed to have, so therefore, that made her want them more. While she had had them both at one time or another, Rei found that, despite her love and attraction for Misato, she still liked Shinji more.
"Would you like to stay and watch the movie with me?" Shinji asked. Rei's heart leapt with excitement.
"I'd love to," she replied.
Rei walked back over to the couch that Shinji was sitting on and sat down next to him on his left side. She glanced over at Shinji, who was now watching the movie screen again. Rei noted that, even with the ice pack in place on the shoulder, the deltoid muscles were beginning to swell.
Poor baby, Rei thought sympathetically, Your shoulder is going to be sore for a while, isn't it? I feel bad now, because you did it to help me.
Rei started to sink in self-pity. Shinji smiled covertly. He could sense the waves of despair rolling off of Rei. He shook his head a little bit.
I know what you're thinking, Rei, Shinji thought to himself, You're blaming yourself for what happened to me. You shouldn't, you know. I would have done it again in a heartbeat for anyone. Besides, barring any unforeseen circumstances, I should be back to normal by tonight. I can already feel my shoulder mending.
Shinji relaxed and shifted his full attention back to the classic monster movie. Shinji couldn't help but laugh at some of the "scarier" moments in the movie. Rei looked askance at him.
"Oh, come on," Shinji chuckled, "A five-year-old could see how fake this is. I just find it funny that people used to find these movies scary."
"It was a simpler time back then," said Rei, "People weren't as cynical then."
"I suppose that's true," Shinji agreed, "Ah, well."
Shinji lifted his arm experimentally. Sensing her opportunity, Rei ducked under his arm and snuggled against his body. Shinji, briefly shocked, chuckled good-naturedly and put his arm down and around Rei. Rei sighed happily as she settled deeper against Shinji's chest and listened to his heart beating. Shinji had to admit, it felt good to have Rei near him. It didn't change the way he felt about Misato, but he did still feel things for Rei.
Something suddenly felt wrong. Shinji's eyes slid out of focus as he listened away from the surround-sound system. It was no good. Shinji couldn't hear well enough during the day to tune it out. He muted the movie.
"What's wrong?" Rei asked.
"Shh," Shinji hissed sharply. He concentrated hard, putting all his conscious effort into straining his hearing to the max. Shinji suddenly jumped to his feet and raced out of the room. Rei dashed after him. Shinji charged down the stairs to find a large group of troops, dressed in covert-ops gear, dragging an unconscious Misato across the floor towards the back door.
"It's him!" one of the troops exclaimed, alerting the others to Shinji's presence.
"The Councilmen want him alive," the troops' commander said, "Non-lethal ordnance only."
"What about the girl with him?" one of the troops asked.
"She's expendable," the commander said viciously.
Shinji snarled and charged headlong into the fray against the heavily-armed men and holding their attention. Rei pulled out several knives from her belt holster and flung them at the troops. The knives struck home on their targets, stabbing into the gaps of the troops' tactical assault armor. As Shinji bowled headlong into the lead group, Rei used her throwing knife skills to pick off troops at the edges of the group.
"Get the woman out!" the leader ordered, "She's essential to the Council's plans!"
Two of the troops disengaged from the melee and carried Misato out of the house. Shinji tried to go after them, but even with Rei's help he couldn't reach the door in time to stop them. He could hear an airship hovering over the house. Rei joined Shinji in hand-to-hand combat with the soldiers, utilizing her ninja martial arts skills as well as her knives to inflict large amounts of pain in their attackers.
"Shoot her!" one of the soldiers shouted. Shinji snapped his head around to see another of the soldiers bringing an MP5N sub-machine gun to bear on Rei's back.
"Rei!" Shinji shouted, "Behind you!"
Rei ducked and rolled behind Misato's couch just as the soldier pulled the trigger and released a barrage of deadly bullets. Shinji picked up one of Rei's thrown knives and whipped it at the man. Shinji missed any of the gaps in the armor, but he got the man's attention, which was exactly his plan. The man, seeing his chance for glory, quickly reloaded his weapon. At the top of the clip, Shinji saw the unmistakable glint of silver bullets.
Great, Shinji grumbled inwardly.
Luck, however, was on Shinji's side. The troop commander's voice rang out over the soldiers' radios:
"The woman's secure! All units pull out! Repeat: All units pull out!"
The man grudgingly turned around and began to retreat for the exit.
"Rei!" Shinji shouted, pointing at the man, "I want him able to talk."
Rei picked up two more of her knives and slung the blades hard into the back of the fleeing soldier's thigh. The man, unable to run, dropped to the floor. Shinji leaped on him and kicked away the man's machine gun. Now, his assailant disarmed, Shinji rolled the man over and ripped one of the knives rudely from the soldier's thigh.
"All right," Shinji snarled, "talk! Where are they taking Misato?!"
Silence.
"Talk, or I put this knife someplace a lot more painful than your thigh!" Shinji said angrily, threatening the man's crotch with the blade.
When the man still refused to talk, Shinji slowly started digging the point of the knife blade into the man's private area. Rei looked away as Shinji continued to torture the soldier. The screams were terrible. Finally, the soldier screamed:
"To the High Council! They're taking her to the High Council!"
"Where?" Shinji roared, digging the blade in harder and twisting it.
"A warehouse," the unfortunate soldier gasped, "F-fourth Avenue and Underhill. Please! Oh, god, I've told you where! No more!"
Shinji reached up and twisted the soldier's head, snapping his neck. Rei watched in horror as Shinji executed the man.
"What did you do that for?" she demanded.
"He was my enemy," Shinji said, his tone almost as vicious as the troop commander's had been, "Now, he is dead."
"What happened to you while you were gone?" Rei wondered, "You used to be so gentle."
"Being gentle almost got me killed!" Shinji snapped, "Okay?! The world is not a gentle place! To survive against evil like the Moonwatcher's Council, you have to be just as ruthless; just as cruel."
"The knives I threw today killed every one of their targets, except the last one, because you said you wanted him alive," said Rei, "You just killed an unarmed man after torturing him."
"He wouldn't have talked any other way," Shinji said resolutely, "Now, come on. Misato needs us."
Rei reluctantly followed Shinji out to the garage. A few minutes later, rolling down the road, Shinji pulled out his cell phone and called Angel.
"Angel Investigations," Spike answered, "We help the—,"
"Spike, just can it and listen up, okay?" Shinji said briskly.
"That you, Shinji?" Spike asked, "How are you, mate? Have a good time in Europe?"
"Dandy," Shinji said, just as briskly, "Now shut up and listen to me. I need your help. I need you, Angel, and Illyria to meet me at Fourth Avenue and Underhill Street. I'll explain once I see you."
"It's still bloody day out, kid," Spike protested, "I'm sure Angel would be more than willin' to show up, but we're not all that fond of bursting into flames."
"There's an overpass just south of Fourth Avenue," Rei said, "We can meet them there."
"Did you hear that?" Shinji asked.
"Sure did," Spike replied, "We'll see you two there in about fifteen minutes."