"NERV FACILITY"
Same Night
The guard's head is struck with the speeding bullet, passing right through the augment brain and out the other side.
Shinji screamed out as he watched the flatlined guard fall to the ground, With his mind already fresh with his trauma being shown to him.
V jumped down to the platform below, taking more shots at the guard and the Netrunners.
"Fucking hell V!"
Panam followed suit, shooting one of the Netrunners in the head.
Shinji screamed in terror and cowarded under a console as bullets were exchanged between the two parties.
BANG
BANG
BANG
Seconds passed and there now three newly flatlined bodies on the ground.
Breathing and crying heavily, Shinji covered his ears trying to block out the sounds of the now finished firefight.
V looked around for any more hostiles nearby, finding no one else.
"Fuck V, now they are going to look for us, and this kid!"
Panam snapped, very pissed about the present situation at hand.
"I'm not going to let this kid get exploited more, especially not by corpos! We take him, and we delta!"
Sighing, Panam gave up, and let V talk to the kid.
"Shinji was it? We came to rescue you from them. We can take you to a place where you won't be forced to do this anymore."
He took a scan of Shinji to see if he was calming down, which only did a little bit.
"We can't stay here long or those corpos will get us and you."
Shinji kept on crying, still scared at the situation going on.
Panam groaned and Grabbed Shinji by the arm and dragged him with her.
"Let's go, they'll realize something is wrong when they don't report back."
"Right, I'm taking one of these things in case we need to come back and get something from here."
"Whatever, just hurry up and Delta."
V quickly rushed up and climbed up the platform, grabbing the laptop next to the pink pillow.
"Got it!"
He jumped back down below and grabbed the black box as well before running with them, putting both on his back.
Halls
Shinji screamed in horror as he saw all the blood splatters, and torn clothing on the ground as they ran by.
Stepping in the sticky… LCL, they made a dash down the hall, with Shinji barely able to keep up. His fully organic body (A 14 year old body mind you) already past exhausted compared to the cybernetics of the other two.
"Intruders! Get them!"
Militech guards raised their weapons at the two, making sure to never hit the boy. V and Panam paused momentarily before turning to their right down another hall.
"Open fire!"
A fury of gunshots erupted, as the trio ran down the ruined green hall.
"Don't hit the kid, get those two fuckers!"
Bullets whizzed past them as Panam decided to just pick up Shinji and run, allowing both of them to go faster without him slowing them down.
V scanned around him looking for alternate routes to take. The Kiroshi scanner had a hard time scanning through the thick metal walls, only getting fuzzy outlines.
"Uhh, This way!"
He said, taking pot shots at the pursuing guards, with a few of them hitting.
"V, Grenade em!"
"Gotcha!"
All of this took place internally, neither of them speaking out loud, so neither the guards or Shinji could hear them coordinating attacks.
V pulled out a grenade from his stash and armed it. He made a quick calculation and threw it at the corpo guards.
It hit one of them square on the head and detonated, blowing up and instantly blowing apart his head and killing the other in the blast.
Shinji was about to scream, but Panam covered his mouth.
"I know this is too much, but we can't have you screaming. We are trying to save you from these cunts. They won't help you if they get you."
Shinji quietly sobbed as they made their way to another exit. They could hear the alarms going off outside as they reached an entry point.
"Shit… We need to get to a fence and to the car quickly!"
Panam was starting to panic.
They could already see the dozens of Militech and Arasaka armed soldiers rushing to them in groups.
"Don't let them take the kid!"
Just as they were being rushed, an armored car burst through the main gates and mowed right through the army and stopped beside the escaping trio.
The car had painted on black and white checkers lined up on the side, a Stylized D was painted onto the hood of the now heavily modified limousine. The door flipped open, allowing entry into the vehicle.
"Hop in quickly you two!"
The car had no driver, only a voice emanating from an external speaker.
"You called in Delamain?"
Panam asked, surprised with her partner's choice. V simply grinned.
"Quickly now!"
The two complied and placed Shinji inside, who looked like he was about to faint from all the excitement. V took the back seat and Panam took the front seat, with the doors quickly closing behind them.
"Alright Jr, to the camp, make sure they don't follow us!"
V ordered, keeping the boy's head down in case the glass broke.
"Rodger, Let us Delta out of here!"
The tires heaved up dust and metal scraps into the air, as the tires squealed out of there. Mowing down more of the corpos.
It made its way through dozens of them, with each one trying its best to stop the Armored Taxi from escaping.
"Would you like me to initiate combat mode?"
"Only If they chase us out of here!"
"Rodger."
The AI drove its way out of the site and into the expansive desert that surrounded it.
It drove faster and faster, avoiding rocks and desert trees with precision.
They moved farther away from the lit up area, and closer into the darkness of the night.
Shinji was still crying although softer. His sobs slowly died out as he soon fell asleep. His eyes are still moist and puffy from the crying.
V watched him sleep with pity. The sins of others being put on him and two others. He had the weight of the world on him when he didn't truly want to do this in the first place.
V would try to compare this to having Johnny in his head, but nothing could compare to saving all life on the planet.
Watching those clips made V feel sick to his stomach.
"How's the kid?"
Panam asked from the front passenger seat. She watched her truck follow them nearby autonomously.
"His vitals are currently relaxed, albeit fluctuating. He is currently dreaming. Heart Rate is stable."
Delamain stated, with his Biometric sensors able to read from fully organic individuals, just like V's Kiroshi Mk III scanner.
"Good… Hope this kid was worth the trouble V. Saul will have your ass about this."
V tiredly chuckled.
"I know… But it seems they can't activate it without him, which is a good thing. I don't want him to have to do their bidding. Especially with that thing being as monstrous as it is."
. . .
"Let's just get him back to camp. We can talk about what to do with him in the morning."
"Right."
Aldecaldos Camp
Midnight
The cars carefully parked alongside the rest, making sure to not wake up the sleeping kid with the sudden stop.
V and Panam quietly exited the car, with V picking up Shinji. He wasn't very heavy. They could see the lights of the trailers turn on as people stepped out.
All of the trailers and tents were all in a circular fashion, where a large smoldering fire pit sat in the middle of it all.
People came out of tents and trailers to see who could be up this late in a car. One person however stood out the most.
Saul.
Just as he was about to yell at the two for their escapade, Panam held up a hand. She already knew what he was about to say.
"Before you say anything, it was originally a scouting mission. Then V saw this kid and got him out, it seems he has been through alot."
Panam pulled the two pieces of tech from off of V's back.
"We can prove it. Here is a blackbox and a laptop from the place. It's kinda hard to watch…"
She handed the stuff to Saul, who took it in his arms. He quickly examined it and sighed.
"What will you do with the kid, because I'm leaving him completely in your hands. You went through all that trouble to get him, he's your responsibility."
V sighed.
"Let's just get him to bed and I'll explain everything."
. . .
Aldecaldos Camp
Morning
Shinji woke up with a yawn. His eyes were crusty with the tears he shed yesterday. He looked around the room he was in. It was a tent of sorts, with worn out items scattered about.
There was a fine layer of dust on everything.
. . .
"Another unfamiliar ceiling."
He tried getting up, but his body ached.
"Gah!"
He cried out, his back and legs yelling at him to stop moving. He laid back down and sighed, he felt useless.
He could hear people chatting outside, all of them speaking in English, with a few speaking in what he thought was Spanish.
He could also hear footsteps approaching the tent.
A set of them.
The tent flaps opened, revealing two people. A man and a woman. Both of them he saw yesterday. He began remembering yesterday's events.
He remembered the gunfight.
He remembered the heads exploding.
He remembered what they showed him.
He remembered his sins being played before him.
He remembered he killed them all.
He remembered.
Shinji wanted to cry again, but his eyes wouldn't let him. He was out of tears. He was still too tired to do so anyways.
The man kneeled beside him with the women standing behind the man.
"How you holding up?"
He asked. Shinji could see the metal lines running down his face, his eyes had a red robotic iris, and a slot on his neck.
"Who… Are you?..."
It was obvious English wasn't Shinji's first language, but he could speak it well enough to hold long conversations.
"Nane's V. This is Panam. We uhh… Saw your story on that monitor… And we found out more on the laptop we took… I thought it would've been best to take you with us, since the guys that woke you first wouldn't have treated you well…"
Shinji tried to process what he said. They saw everything he did, but they didn't see what he did outside of Eva. They didn't see what he did to Asuka. They didn't see what they did to Misato. They didn't see what he wished. They didn't see what he saw…
"Look, just seeing that stuff… Might not mean much from an outsider, But I'm sorry you had to go through that, No kid of your age should ever go through that…"
V's voice was one of sympathy, he felt that he actually cared.
"Just… Please don't make me pilot it again… "
. . .
"I promise you we won't make you…"
. . .
Shinji gave a weak smile.
"Thank you."
. . .
"Now then…"
V patted Shinji's shoulder.
"Let's go get some breakfast."
Well then! Seems Shinji here is going to get a brand new life! How will he cope with his own guilt? How will he cope with his loss?
How will he react to the world he now lives in?...
Thank you for the kind reviews!
Until the next chapter!
-DerpymanMT
Deus