Chapter 17 - Mobsmen on the Spot, Part 2
"You two were terrific up there!" Hikari said as she congratulated Asuka and Rei on their performance. The show had ended a short while ago, and the various students were now commiserating with their friends and family as they got ready to head home. The three of them, in particular, were walking outside as Hikari was going to be picked up by her father.
"Of course that's a given," Asuka replied as she held the two movie passes triumphantly in her hand. "In spite of my lack of experience in the field, the great Asuka Langley Sohryu can conquer any stage, global or theatrical!" Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Rei observing her with a look of slight incredulity on her face. "*Ahem!* But I wouldn't have gotten so far without my trusty understudy by my side!"
"...Understudy?" Rei posed with a slightly-arched eyebrow, bringing to mind a certain pointy-eared science officer.
"...Oh, all right, my co-star," Asuka corrected herself, with a miniscule hint of reluctance. "But I still get top billing!"
"I can work with that," Rei said in turn.
Asuka then turned her focus towards the other end of the school parking lot. "Hey, Hikari-that's your dad over there, right? Who are those guys with him?"
"Hm?" Hikari replied as she looked towards where Asuka had indicated. "I'm not sure-I don't think I've ever seen them before."
Rei's eyes narrowed as she followed her two friends' gazes. "...Something is not right," she said as she started moving faster towards the spot.
"What the-Wundergirl, wait up!" Asuka said as she and Hikari moved to catch up with her. Over at the door they'd exited, Shinji stepped out, intent on collecting Asuka and Rei so the three of them could head home with Misato, only to see them moving towards some people standing by a parked car. It didn't take him long to figure out that trouble was about to erupt, so he quietly followed the trio of girls as he donned his other guise within the darkness.
[Suggested music: "Rise of the Mongol Warriors", Jerry Goldsmith, The Shadow OST.]
Kojiro Horaki had been incredibly grateful for the luck he'd had up until now for today. His repair team had wrapped up 90% of their tasks while working on Unit-02, and Dr. Akagi had given him the opportunity to leave work early in order to spend time with his daughters. Right now, he'd intended to meet up with one of them after she'd attended a performance her friends were putting on for a school event. Where his luck began to change was when he'd been just now approached by a couple of unsavory-looking men. He would have pegged them for Yakuza, except upon getting a closer look he found they weren't Japanese, in spite of their speaking it fluently enough.
"Mr. Horaki? Mr. Kojiro Horaki?" one of the men asked. He had long, slicked-back hair and wore an earring on his right ear-in a way, he resembled an Asian Vincent Vega from Pulp Fiction. "We'd like a moment of your time, if you'll indulge us a bit."
Kojiro kept a wary eye on the newcomers as he answered. "...What can I help you with?"
"Right to the point. I like that," the man responded. "We represent an organization with a great interest in all things NERV, and were hoping to get our foot in the door, as it is. Now normally, we'd go the more administrative end of things, but we figured it might be better if we get to know the grunts of NERV first-you know, foster a bit of goodwill from the ground up."
"Why me, specifically?" Kojiro asked.
"As head of maintenance for Evangelion Unit-02," the other man-bald and with a goatee-said, "your position grants you a level of access to some of the most bleeding-edge technology on the planet. We feel that some of that tech should belong to the rest of the world, so we want to set up a relationship-one of mutual cooperation-where a discreet exchange of tech and resources can take place. It's a win-win situation for all involved. You'd be well-compensated for your part in this."
"Daddy?"
The three men turned at the sound of that voice, to see Hikari, Rei and Asuka walking up to them. In the back of his mind, Kojiro thanked god Hikari had shown up, as it reinforced the refusal he was about to respond to the two men with.
"Are you okay?" Hikari asked. "Who are these guys?"
"Just a couple of businessmen, honey," Kojiro answered, before facing said 'businessmen' with a stern look on his face. "They were trying to sell me something. Something I was just about to plainly refuse. If you two don't mind, I'm not interested, and I think you both should leave."
The two men looked at each other briefly before facing Kojiro. "Now, now, don't be too hasty," the one with the earring said persuasively. "Give it some thought, if not for your sake, then maybe your family's...?"
"Leave them out of this," Kojiro strongly insisted. "Just walk away and I'll forget I even saw you."
"You sure we can't change your mind?" the bald one asked.
Asuka, in spite of the dim glow of the street light above them, was able to make out a hint of a shoulder holster under the bald man's jacket.
"Hey! Cueball!" she barked out. "Since when are businessmen armed while trying make a sales pitch? Last I checked, that's only in certain kinds of movies. What're you, Yakuza?"
Rei, eyes still narrowed at the two men, spoke up. "These are not Yakuza, Asuka."
"What?" the redhead said with surprise. "Then who-?"
"There is no doubt," Rei elaborated, "these men work with the same two who tried to kidnap me before you arrived in Japan."
Asuka's eyes widened on hearing this. "Scheisse..."
Hikari let out a quiet gasp as she got closer to her father.
The two men eyed Rei and Asuka. "Pretty perceptive, little lady," the one with the earring said. "So you're the kid Boroo and Chono went to all that trouble for, only to get their asses handed to them?" He shot his partner a glance. "You know what, Timicin? We might just be able to make up for their screw-up."
"Yeah, maybe you're right, Gansükh," Timicin concurred. "Plus we can throw a bonus in with the redhead. According to our sources, she's the Second Child, correct?"
"Right you are," Gansükh answered as he slowly moved for his holster.
Double-scheisse, Asuka thought to herself. Rei was even more worried. Though she could, she could not risk utilizing her AT-Field, as doing so would expose secrets about herself she did not want out in the open. Even so, and even with hers and Asuka's Krav Maga skills, the two men having guns was not an ideal situation.
"So, how about it, ladies?" Gansükh asked. "Come quietly with us, and nobody gets hurt. Sound good to you?"
"Leave them alone!" Kojiro shouted as he stormed towards the gunmen. Timicin, responding to this, grabbed Kojiro by the sleeve and shirt collar and pulled him into a sudden twist and a hard shove, throwing him against a car.
"Daddy!" Hikari cried as she went to help her father.
Timicin turned back to Asuka and Rei. "That make it easier for you two?"
Before either girl could respond, a haunting, sinister laughter sounded and echoed throughout the area.
[Suggested music: "Someone's Coming", Jerry Goldsmith, The Shadow OST.]
The laughter took everyone by surprise, no more so than Asuka. She'd heard Kensuke's over-enthusiastic ravings about the mysterious vigilante running around Tokyo-3 but never paid them much heed-until now. Secretly, hearing those rumors struck a chord of familiarity within the Second Child, making her remember certain times when she'd visited her grandmother and listened to certain stories she recounted.
"I thought I sent a clear message the last time someone went after any of the Evangelion pilots," the Shadow warned, his voice heard but his face unseen. "Looks like I'll have to repeat myself. Are you prepared to listen, where your comrades failed to do so...?"
Gansükh attempted to draw his weapon, only to find himself on the receiving end of a shuriken now embedded in his forearm. Another soon found itself in his left knee, causing him to kneel in pain. When Timicin moved to try and help Gansükh up, from out of nowhere he received a punch to the face, followed by one to the gut. Timicin swung in an attempt to get at the assailant, only for a third blow to him on the back of the head, knocking him out cold. A gaping Gansükh barely cursed in his native tongue before a similar blow laid him out as well.
"Guess not," the Shadow said as he emerged from which he took his name. Asuka, Hikari, and her father stared in subdued awe at the sight of the dark-suited figure with the red scarf covering half his face as he helped the Horaki patriarch up. "Is everyone all right?"
"I...I'm good," Kojiro replied. "A little roughed up, but some rest should do me good. I'm just glad you stopped them before they could lay a finger on the girls here."
"Thank goodness," Hikari added.
Rei gave the Shadow a bow. "Thank you again, Shadow-san," she said. "That is twice I owe you my life."
"Y-yeah. Thanks," Asuka said, a slight hint of hesitation in her voice before her prideful nature reasserted itself. "Honestly, if those two weren't packing heat, I'm sure me and Wundergirl here could've handled them."
"I suppose that could be possible, given your skill level in krav maga, Ms. Asuka Langley-Sohryu," the Shadow replied.
Asuka was surprised at her name's mention. "How'd you-?"
"As I have heard him state before, the Shadow knows, Asuka," Rei clarified for her. "How he does, no one can know for sure."
"How comforting," Asuka said with a slightly sarcastic roll of her eyes. "We'd better get Section-2 over here, they'll need to detain these guys and probably ask Mr. Shadow her some ques-"
When she looked to where the Shadow had been standing, she was astonished to see no one there. Damn, that's spooky, she thought. Another slightly-unsettling thing occurred to her while Rei called their Section-2 details over. Guter Gott, Oma...All those stories you used to tell me-they really are true, aren't they...?
End Chapter 17.
**Author's Note(s)**
*WHEW!* Man, that was a severe case of writer's block. I admit, I was kind of struggling with thinking up a proper conclusion to this particular duo of chapters. At the same time, I've been uploading some of my stories, including this one, up on Sufficient Velocity, so that also contributed to the delays. As a disclaimer, I'll be taking a short vacation, so don't expect the next chapter up at the end of next week. Thanks for following this so far, I really appreciate it.
Anyway, now for a bit of fun courtesy of our next guest omake writer! They certainly drew from the pulp well for what they wrote, as the last thing anyone had done with this specific character, they were featured in comic books published by the same folks behind the current Shadow comics, Dynamite Entertainment.
Guest Omake 3 - "The Return of Martyrdom's Web" by GainaxVel3o
Shinji couldn't believe his luck. Tommi and 'Bandit' had informed him of a Neo-Xanadu operation within the Tokyo-3 sewer system. Any specific plans were kept vague, but he had to check it out as soon as possible.
It was a simple matter to breach the tunnels. The Shadow knew what lurked within them, thanks to memorizing the layout when he arrived. Off in a corner was a distant light. Perhaps this was the meeting place?
'I don't hear anyone though,' Shinji thought to himself. 'Perhaps I should wait.'
He sniffed the air and froze. Blood. Flies. Shinji smelled the former each time he entered the entry plug of Unit-01, with all that orange goop he surrounded himself in, but the flies…that could only mean one thing.
The Shadow abandoned the darkness, rushing quickly towards the bright light. As soon as his eyes adjusted, the Shadow could only stand agape at the monstrous sight in front of him. It was very apparent that whatever had happened, these men had not entered the afterlife peacefully. A mountain of faces stared in his direction, horrified at the terror responsible for their torment.
The Shadow dared not look any further. The brutality on display was nothing short of beastly, made with a single-minded hatred towards their actions. Allard may have been ruthless in his day, but not even he would stand for this.
"What did this?" the Shadow whispered with a growl. "Who?!"
His answer came in the form of a single note, left on the ground; innocent in placement, it was neatly folded among the carnage. Shinji picked up the note and recognized the eight-legged symbol upon it.
"You know what lurks in the hearts of these men," a cruel-sounding laugh sounded, seeming to come from all around. "To eliminate them from the world would be a mercy, the kind of sacrifice needed for mankind."
"The Spider!" the Shadow yelled out, putting the card with the arachnid symbol into his pocket. "Come on out!"
Allard had told Shinji much about the masked vigilante known as The Spider. Richard Wentworth was a millionaire who, like him, served in the First World War, later taking out his anger and need for bloodshed upon the gangsters of his day. The Shadow had tried many times to capture him, even succeeded in outing Wentworth's identity at one point, but like his namesake the Spider was a slippery animal. In spite of first appearing on the scene around the same time as he did, the Spider was much different from the Shadow. Wentworth believed that he, and only he, could save all of humanity through his mission of vengeance. That the Spider had seemingly outlived the Shadow might prove him right.
"Not quite yet, Puppy-boy," the voice replied with a slight cackle. "This was just a demonstration. The smell of blood can be quite intoxicating, wouldn't you say?"
The Shadow caught a glimpse of a figure in the dark. The shape seemed to be that of a woman, wearing a ghastly face that belonged to a witch. Could it be Nita, Wentworth's lover? No, the height didn't match. That, and there was the matter of her having been dead for a couple of decades. Yet the mention of 'Puppy-boy' seemed familiar to him...
"Come here, you!" the Shadow roared. "Show yourself!"
"Nuh-uh, I've barely gotten started," the mystery figure refused. "The Shadow has himself a son, so it only made sense that the Spider's daughter introduced herself, right? Maybe we can save the world from NERV and SEELE together. Have a little patience-we'll meet very soon..."
It was a brief chase. The Shadow could not find the Spider, not here. Not in the dark. Shinji banged on the wall with his fists.
"Damn it…She won't get away next time," Shinji said. "Even a Spider won't be able to escape its shadow…not forever..."
-XXXX-
Author0fntent finished looking over the omake script he'd been presented with by GainaxVel3o.
"Well...it's got potential for an alternate take side story," the author said to his fellow writer. "But it seems a bit grim and gritty for an omake."
"Yeah, I might have gotten a bit carried away with this one," GainaxVel30 replied. "I was utilizing the same sort of crossover style from my 'Shinji Ikari The Amazing Spider-Man' story, but I'll also admit, I may have overlooked the need for humor in this."
"I can tell," Author0fntent said. "Also, I don't believe I told you this yet, but I have plans for Mari in a different role in the main story itself. Still, this is an interesting concept for an alternate take on events."
"Tell you what, I've got another idea for a guest omake, one that'll be a little more funny", GainaxVel30 offered. "Give me a week and I'll have it ready for you."
"What's this one like?" Author0fntent asked.
"Here's a hint," GainaxVel30 answered as he held up a yellow album cover, whose name had in the center a red/yellow circle over a black/silver one and a red lightning bolt diagonally going through it.
"...Ah-ah..." Author0fntent said with an understanding nod.