Jasmine Falls
It wasn't much to look at. A simple two-storey building in a grassy field. In the distance, he could see a small waterfall, and smell the jasmines that were blooming. Any other time, he'd find it serene, relaxing, but now his senses were working overtime, trying to detect anyone that could put him in harm's way. The dim moonlight was enough for him to see with, with his enhanced, superhuman senses. He concentrated, trying to fix in on the smell of humans in the area. It was there, faint, as if masked.
He had left Misato's car in the woods a few miles back, and as he made his way here to Jasmine Falls. It was still in the small hours, and he could still hear the loud chirping of crickets which told him that he had made it here before Misato. He made his way across the open field, keeping his profile low and moving as quiet as a shadow. The building had heavily tinted windows, but he could make out the interior quite well. The interior of the building was quite sparse, the original furnishings must have been removed, he thought, leaving nothing but bare walls and concrete floor. And a wide staircase leading down, unguarded. He used his claws to cut open a hole in a window, small enough for him to unlatch it and enter. He didn't trust the doors, not after his experience with the computer controlled doors at the Geofront.
He quickly made his way down the wide staircase, coming down to a junction of narrow corridors. Gehirn architects, he ruefully thought to himself. Fortunately he memorized the maps Misato showed him. He made his way left along the brightly-lit corridor. He didn't see any cameras, no booby traps. It was like dealing with amateurs. He heard the whirr of helicopters overhead. He cursed, they got here early.
"Everyone get ready! We're moving in!" shouted the pilot over the headset. Five agency helicopters bore down on the open field, the men and women inside pouring out the sides in a perfectly rehearsed maneouvre. Their cargo safely off, the helicopters took off again, heading for Tokyo-3. They would only return when their mission is complete.
Misato and the others ran as hard as they could towards the building, as one of them fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a wall, knocking it down with a loud bang. They ran towards the smoking hole, weapons ready, and made their way down the central staircase without meeting any resistance. A small detachment split off from the main group, as they made their way along the long winding corridors. Someone gave the group the order to halt.
Misato was ordered to come forward, and as she quickly made her way to the point man, she saw the two bodies on the ground. She understood perfectly what was expected of her. Shouldering her weapon, she roughly turned the two bodies with her foot, just like in training. They were dead all right, she signalled to her group. She smiled as she saw Logan's handiwork. He kept his end of the bargain. She gave the all-clear and continued moving.
"Down!" someone shouted, as several beams of laser light hit the tunnel behind them. Misato's group hit the ground and began pumping the corridor ahead with lead. That's the experimental laser rifles from the armory, she thought. Just what else could these people throw at them? She fired a few rounds at something moving in the distance. It was going to be hard to move when the enemy had these kind of weapons. They were going to have to crawl every inch of the way and kill everything that moved. Which meant the enemy was trying to buy time. She crawled forward to her section leader, who has reloading his weapon.
"Sir! I'm going to find a way to flank the enemy!" she shouted to her commander, more a statement than a request, which he waved through. She got up and ran, miraculously not being hit by enemy fire, and managed to turn a corner, breathing a little heavily.
"Okay," she thought. "Find a way around, or get Logan and get him to go through," she decided . She ran, the sounds of gunfire and screams fading away from her ears. The cultists responded a little early, she thought ruefully. She made her way through the corridors, chillingly empty. She heard a skittling sound to her left and chased off in hot pursuit. It was possibly an enemy contact, and she had to make sure that whoever it was didn't interfere with her group's mission.
"Logan!" she shouted, as he turned a corner, trying to find someone, something that could lead him to the prize. He immediately spun on his heel towards the direction of the voice. He relaxed a little when he saw it was Misato running at him. She stopped a few feet from him, a little breathless from the exertion.
"Hey girl," he said, smiling. "Where's the rest of your happyland crew?" he asked. Misato spoke with long pauses in between breaths, obviously a little tired. "Firefight.. I'm supposed..find a way around. How's about giving a poor girl a hand, eh?" she asked of him. He barked a little laugh. "Sure," he said. "I'll walk point and you cover me." He started to make his way down the corridor, Misato behind him, weapon drawn. The smell of her perfume wafted into his nostrils. It was almost funny, Misato wearing Chanel no. 5 to combat.
Then it hit him.
The bullet struck his shoulder blade just as he tried to roll away. Misato snarled in frustration. It hurt, but nothing really serious.
"Nice try, bitch!" he snarled at Misato, or rather, Mystique impersonating Misato. She didn't feel like changing back to her normal form, deciding instead to use this body to taunt him. She laughed cruelly. "You and your little slut won't walk away this time, Wolverine," she taunted, the gun trying to find a vital spot.
"And there's no hole you can throw yourself down, either," he said, charging as the gun went off and hit him square in the ribs. He staggered back, but fortunately the bullet failed to penetrate, instead, it hit his adamantium-coated ribcage and stayed there in his chest, until he quickly picked it out with his fingers. Mystique took advantage of the situation to aim the gun at his head, but Logan wasn't worried. He could hear the pitter-patter of running feet, and he recognized the sound the boots made on concrete. Still, he had been a little careless. If Mystique had used the lavender perfume that the real Misato was fond of, he'd be in deep trouble.
Mystique gasped in shock as a shot went through her hand, shattering the bones and making her drop the gun. Cursing, she turned around to see Misato charging at her. She ran towards Misato, planning to launch a flying kick, but Misato was faster, landing her foot square on Mystique's chest before she could even jump. She was thrown back, towards Logan, who wasted no time grabbing her and throwing her hard on the floor, his hands quickly grabbing her neck and squeezing the air out of her lungs before she could do anything about it. The shock and pain broke her concentration and she slowly turned back to her blue-skinned, scaly natural form as Logan tightened his hands on her throat.
"Know what this is? It's payback. This is for the shit you put me through in Seoul," Logan snarled.
"Wasn't.. me.." Mystique managed to say.
"Who was it that tried to get Ritsuko at my apartment? Did you have anything to do with that?" Misato yelled.
"Don't.. know.. guy.. SEELE sent him, does whatever Pierce tells him to.." Mystique said, between coughs.
"WHY?" Logan shouted again, his fingers digging deeper into her throat.
"SEELE wants you out of the picture," Mystique snarled, as Logan's hands began to choke the life out of her.
"You ain't answering me. Now, before I forget I'm a nice guy. Tell me. Why?!" he asked again, angrily, his spittle running down the corner of his mouth as he tried to control the bloodlust.
"Who? Who's SEELE?" Misato shouted at Mystique.
"Adamantium," Mystique gasped. "They want the adamantium," then she cast her baleful yellow eyes at Misato, pleading with her to make Logan let go.
"That's enough, Logan!" Misato shouted. He looked at her like she just sprouted a third eye on her forehead, but he let go of Mystique's throat.
"They own you," Mystique said, her eyes burning into Misato's own. "You do their dirty work but don't even know it!" she croaked, coughing blood as she desperately fought her injuries. Misato had so many questions to ask, but she knew there wasn't much time. She knew it probably wasn't effective, but she quickly cuffed Mystique's arm to a metal pipe mounted at the wall.
"Why do they want it?" Misato asked hurriedly.
"Because they want to be gods," Mystique snarled. Misato didn't spare the time to try and understand the cryptic answer. Logan was already dashing down a corridor, and Misato had to keep up with him, or lose him.
The cultists had dug this tunnel with shovels and pickaxes over the past few months, and they were glad for the investment. Kaji and Creed made their way down the rough tunnel in almost pitch-darkness. Creed carried the metal, slung over his back in a hastily wrapped sheet of canvas, as Kaji covered their rear. He certainly didn't want to get shot by NERV now, that would be an ironic death, seeing that he was the one who called them here.
"Logan! Logan! Slow down!" Misato shouted after him, as he ran this way and that, his nose held up high as if to chase the scent of something. She could barely keep up with him, even as she shouted out for help from her comrades.
"Takeda! Davis! Anyone!" Misato shouted, only to be greeted with the echoes of Logan's footsteps. Where the hell was everyone else? She turned a corner, only to see him, claws extended, snarling at a dead end. She gripped her weapon tightly, unsure of what his reaction would be. She was relieved, if still surprised, to see him kick and claw at the wall in front of him, with a low-pitched animal growl, until the wall basically collapsed, revealing a rough-hewn passageway behind it. This wasn't in her maps.
He turned to face her, his teeth gritted in a ferocious mask of hate.
Kaji felt the tunnel slope upwards, gently at first, then the incline got higher and higher, and eventually, he could see a dim light up ahead. He bounded forward, almost overtaking Creed's steady, unhurried gait as they both made it out, to the open field near the small waterfall, the light of the false dawn highlighting the small white building, which looked so peaceful now that they're too far away to hear the gunfire.
"I'm going to skewer a little rat I shoulda skewered a long while back," Logan said to her. "You better get back to your own people. This ain't your business," he warned her. Misato narrowed her eyes angrily, her finger gravitating towards the trigger of her weapon. "Is the adamantium down there?" she asked with as much authority as she could muster.
"Well, is it?!" Misato asked, more insistent this time. He merely turned his back on her and ran into the passage.
"Then I'm coming with you," Misato said to Logan's back.
"Now what?" Kaji asked aloud. There was no way they could make it out of here on foot. There was no cover. They were still screwed.
A whining and whirring sound answered him from above, silently at first, then getting louder and louder, the wind picking up as the sound got closer, whipping his ponytail around. A helicopter. Creed smiled in satisfaction. Kaji noted the type of helicopter, the futuristic sharp angles, the dull gleam of high-tech polycarbonate plates, and the relative silence of the rotor blades. It was a helicopter design he had never seen before.
A door slid open, as an attractive young woman stuck her neck out of the helicopter and beckoned them to get in. They hurriedly made their way towards freedom.
A salvo of bullets stopped them, ricocheting off the ground and hitting Kaji in the ankle. As he fell, he saw Creed dump the sack on the ground to face their attackers, who were emerging from the shadows of the tunnel. Creed adopted a fighting stance, ready to charge and rip out the guts of whoever it was.
Kaji painfully tried to stand up, the whirring rotor blades whipping up small eddies of dust into his face. He hobbled a bit, trying to ascertain the damage to his leg. It hurt to stand, but it wasn't too bad. Whoever shot at him was good at his work.
Then a figure, stocky and muscular, leapt out of the tunnel towards Creed. Creed snarled and leapt forward, meeting the enemy head on, punches and claws flying as they collided with a thud and fought and gouged each other, rolling on the ground.
It was Wolverine, and he was pissed.
The helicopter stayed there, its pilot unsure whether to stay or flee.
Creed drove a fist squarely on Logan's nose, the impact twisting his head with a sickening crack. Logan reeled back, snarling as he stopped the momentum of the blow and charged forward, slashing at his opponent. Kaji merely stood back, placing his weight on the uninjured foot. This was a crucial moment and his next course of action would determine the future.
"You! Stay there! Hands where I can see them!" shouted a female voice emerging from the darkness.
Kaji's next course of action was to stand rock-still, as Creed and Logan traded blows. He felt sick. He knew the voice.
Misato emerged from the dark tunnel, her eyes darting back and forth from the fight between Logan and the big wild man, and the slim young man with his hands in the air. The silhouette was familiar to her.
Logan sent Creed reeling with a knee to the gut, but Creed managed to slash his own claws on Logan's face, leaving four jagged rivulets of blood on his left cheek. Logan sheathed his claws, his hand wiping the blood from his face, and licking the warm salty blood, spitting it out on the ground as Creed laughed maniacally.
"First blood, runt," Creed said haughtily. Logan glowered, sizing up his opponent, looking for an opening. He was aware of something going on with that slimy bastard Kaji, but he figured Misato could deal with him first.
"KAJI?!!" Misato practically shrieked.
Logan felt some surprise she knew the slimeball. Creed chuckled softly as they both circled each other. He made a lunge for Logan, but he dodged it, whirling around as soon as Creed's bulk went past him.
"Well well, loverboy's in trouble," Creed said in a gloating tone.
"Not as much as you're in right now, bub," Logan said, as a guttural cry escaped his lips and he charged his opponent, claws slashing wildly.
"Katsuragi. I can explain this. Your superiors can explain.."
"Shut up, Kaji! Just shut up!" Misato said, holding back tears of some strange emotion she couldn't identify. "You filthy double dealing bakayaro! How could you do this!?"
Kaji just eyed her nervously.
Logan clutched his stomach, where Creed managed to slash him, the blood already soaking his shirt. He howled in rage and battle-lust, as Creed nursed the arm where Logan stabbed it with his claws. Creed slowly made his way to the discarded adamantium, backing away inch by inch away from his enemy.
"Do you have any idea of what you've done?" Misato shouted wildly at Kaji, locks of her hair being whipped in her eyes by the downdraft from the waiting helicopter. "You could have destroyed all humanity!"
Kaji stood there on one leg, arms raised in surrender. It was time he used the Ritsuko card.
"Katsuragi," he shouted, above the din, "Ritsuko can explain all this. I'm working on your side,"
"WHAT?!" shouted Creed, his head swivelling to take a look at the traitor. It was enough of a lapse to let Logan stab him in the chest with his claws. With a sickening crunch, Logan felt his claws cut through one or two of Creed's ribs before he savagely pulled them out. Creed made no sound as he staggered a few steps, then fell down.
"Look, I'm surrendering, okay? Take me back to the Geofront and find out then, if that's what you want." Kaji said, sounding exasperated.
"I don't believe you.' Misato snarled.
"Just shoot him, girl," growled Logan. His eyes bore a hole through Kaji's skull. There was no telling of how many times Kaji probably screwed with them both. It could have been him trying to assasinate him back in Seoul. He could have sent Mystique out to steal the adamantium that he needed to figure out the fragments of his past. He had a simple policy that he lived with. Backstabbers get stabbed in the heart.
The pilot of the helicopter decided he didn't want any part to play in this drama and decided to take off.
"Hands in the air! Drop on your knees now!" Misato shouted. Kaji complied, mercifuly giving his injured ankle a rest. As she made her way to him, ignoring the downdraft of the departing helicopter, she felt a hand clamp on her wrist.
It was Logan's hand. "Don't tell me you're taking him in?" he asked, incredulous. "He's too dangerous a slimeball. Shoot him now and get it over with," he told her. Misato was taken aback at the suggestion. Sure, she had felt like shooting him, but when the opportunity presented itself, she didn't pull the trigger. Kaji looked at her with desperation in his eyes.
"No. I'm not you," was her simple reply, shaking her wrist free of him.Kaji's expression changed from fear to uncertainty, as if he was about to make a big, important decision. Misato holstered her weapon, reaching for a pair of handcuffs attached to her belt. "You never change, do you? Always causing me problems. What kind of girl would even love someone like you?" she mumbled to Kaji.
Kaji opened his mouth to say something.
"DIE!!"
Logan whirled around, but it was too late to stop Creed from rushing past him towards Misato and Kaji. He had forgotten about Creed's own mutant healing factor and it had cost him. Creed quickly bounded the distance, and struck kneeling, helpless Kaji across the chest with his claws, despite Misato's desperate attempt to push him aside. Kaji gasped in shock, then mercifully slumped to the ground, unconscious.
"No!" Misato shouted, before unleashing a left hook at his head with all her might.It connected, but Creed showed no response. He raced towards the abandoned canvas sack Logan chased after him. The helicopter made a dramatic turn, and swooped down low, releasing a long rope ladder for Creed, which he grabbed.
Logan managed to slash at his legs as the helicopter pulled him up with the heavy adamantium, but it wasn't enough. He had tried to grab the ladder himself but Creed made it impossible, kicking him away before he could reach for it.
Creed managed to flash a rude sign in contempt at Logan as he was whisked away.
Logan howled a long, horrible, animal howl which was horrible for Misato to hear. She rushed to Kaji's side, to see if he would make it.
"Stand aside. Let me kill the scum," Logan said coldly.
"No. He goes back with me. NERV will be most interested with him." Just as she herself would be very interested to know what Ritsuko knew about this and wouldn't tell her. Ritsuko's secretive nature had cost her much this night.
"You'll never make it in this business," he barked at her. "You're too soft. He drops a few names and you .."
"Oh shut up, Logan!" Misato shouted, exasperated. She didn't expect him to understand. She stood up, and turned to face him as fast as she could, bearing her weapon down on him in one swift motion. "I've had enough of your bad-ass routine, you hear me? You couldn't even keep that man down even when you wanted to!"
She pointed her weapon at him, the look in her eyes indicating she would have no problem pulling the trigger.
"We had a deal," he reminded her.
"No recovery. Deal's off," she snarled back at him. "If you think I'm too soft, this is the time to find out, Logan. Even if it hurts me more than you…" her voice trailed off. Her ferocity in protecting Kaji surprised even herself.
Logan raised his arms as Misato stepped close towards him. "Neither one of us wants this," Logan told her.
"I must do my duty, Logan," she replied. He sighed, staring at Kaji's slumped form. There was a spreading bloodstain on his shirt, but Creed didn't cut deep. He'll live. "We debrief the two of you," Misato said. "Once we're satisfied you pose no threat to the agency, we let you go. That's the best deal I can salvage from this monumental screwup," Misato said back.
"Then I guess there really is no other way, darlin' " Logan said, disappointed.
There was a slight sadness in her eyes. "I am sorry, for all it's worth. I've never met a man quite like you," she said as she slowly inched closer, close enough to try and cuff his wrists.
"and you're going to be someone, girl, even if you are in love with that useless butt-sucker," he said.
Misato began to protest that she didn't love the useless butt-sucker, bur Logan cut her off with a fist square to her jaw. The blow floored her instantly, just as he had hoped. No, as they had both hoped, because he knew she had a chance to dodge but didn't. He kneeled over her, kissing her on the lips one last time. He admired the elegance of her solution. Without the adamantium, she would be duty-bound to bring him, the last known source of adamantium, in to that Frankenstein blonde, Ritsuko. No telling what the good doctor would have done to extract the metal from him. Her professional sense of pride would never allow her to simply let him walk away.
He only hoped he didn't hit her too hard, as his fingers brushed the soft contours of her cheek and jaw one last time. Then in the light of the dawn, he walked away northwards. It was time he bid Japan and this whole business goodbye.
"Brother Pierce, it is done," said the gravelly voice of Chairman Lorenz on the special radio that Brother Pierce carried with him at all times.
Huddled away behind a makeshift barrier in the Confessional Hall, Brother Pierce was elated to have received the message on the radio. His men were brave, but they were no match for NERV, and he knew it. They were slowly being pushed away to the back of the hall, further away from the only exit, which was now crawling with NERV agents. The gunfire was surprisingly sparse, a few shots fired here and there, instead of the rain of ammunition both sides were expecting. The cultists had focused their firepower on the narrow entrance to the hall, making it hard for NERV to come in, but they had the advantage of superior firepower, and it was only a matter of time before the cause was lost. Brother Pierce took a last look at his hall, his followers and the shadowy figures of his opponents. It had been worth it. The adamantium would be safe, and when the Angels returned, NERV would be unable to defeat them.
A bullet hit its mark directly above his head, but Brother Pierce took no heed of it. He only needed a few more seconds as he removed the device from his pocket. As he did so, one of his flock standing barely three feet away was shot in the head, killing her instantly. He felt a twinge of sorrow for not being fast enough.
Now it was up to Mother Diana to claim them and keep them safe.
He hurriedly activated the device, pressing a few buttons in a pre-determined order. As soon as the last button was pressed, he keeled over and died. His followers throughout the complex died with him instantly. It took a few minutes for NERV to realize what just happened.
In the War Room at the Geofront, NERV's top officers could do nothing but watch as the dot on the radar disappeared. The operator tried desperately to regain contact, but couldn't. Ritsuko cursed under her breath, while Fuyutsuki shook his head resignedly. Commander Ikari had no expression, he never shows any when Rei wasn't around.
"Can we give chase?" Ritsuko asked. "The helicopters we used to drop the extraction team..."
"Too slow," interrupted Werner, the director of Operations. "And we don't want to alert the JSDF about this," he reminded her. If the Japanese government found out about this, it could get the agency evicted from the whole country.
Fuyutsuki calmly surveyed the situation, his arms behind his back. He slowly made his way to Ritsuko.
"Let it go, Doctor. We'll let them win this one," he said to her. Noting her condition, he continued, "take a few hours of rest, Doctor Akagi. You've been working too hard since all this started."
"With all due respects, sir, I'd rather wait until our men come back," Ritsuko protested.
"That will take a few hours. Take a break till then," Fuyutsuki told her again, with a firmer tone of voice this time. She silently left the war room, heading for the nearest bed. She stopped in the middle of a deserted corridor, and changed her direction, heading towards the Director of Investigations' office.
5th Cranial Nerve Ward.
"Rit-chan..hey. I always said I'd see you in the brain damage ward,"
Ritsuko managed to smile at that remark. One of the nurses brought her a chair.She sat down at the foot of Misato's bed, waving away the nurse, who discreetly closed the door as she left.
"Enjoying the medical leave, Misato?" Ritsuko asked. "You have a few more days before they discharge you, but the bandages on your head stay for a week longer. That was quite a blow to your head."
Misato managed to mumble a reply. She was found unconscious and flown back to the Geofront's on-base hospital. She had stayed there for three days now. She had a few visitors, mostly her family, and today was Ritsuko's first visit.
"Sorry we couldn't get it back," she said, apologetic.
"We got you back. Not a total loss." Ritsuko said, in the closest approximation of a soothing tone she could manage.
"Hey, is it true the cult all killed themselves? Or are the guys just pulling my leg?" Misato asked.
Ritsuko raised a curious eyebrow, then remembered. "Oh, that's right. You weren't there. Yes, Misato. They all killed themselves. Some kind of psychic blast using our old equipment. Killed every member of the cult below ground. Except for one very lucky man who was above ground at the time.."
"Kaji?"
Ritsuko cleared her throat. "Yes, Kaji. He was on our side the whole time. It seemed he found out about the cult, and tried to get it back for us,"
"Why?"
"He thought it would impress us enough to hire him. Sorry we couldn't tell you that back then," not that Ritsuko believed that story when she heard it the first time.
Misato's eyes rolled into the back of her head. "I knew the man had a crazy streak a mile wide," Misato said. "What did you do? Hire him?" she asked, fearing the answer.
Ritsuko only smiled. "Well, at least it wasn't my decision." She interrupted Misato's groan. "My decision was to send him off to Operations in Germany. At least he'll be out of our collective hair for a while."
"My old boyfriend, in Operations. Weird," was all Misato managed to say.
"Fortunately, in Germany. If he was in Tokyo-3 neither one of you would report to work for a week," Ritsuko said mischievously.
Misato almost turned green with embarassment. "Ahhh! Ritsuko! Don't bring that up again!" she begged, reflexively covering her face with both hands.
"Well, both of you did skip class for a week," Ritsuko said, relishing her friend's embarassment. "Seven days seven nights of X-rated bliss in the apartment, give or take a few hours." How she enjoyed watching Misato squirm. She should do this to her more often. "On the bright side," Ritsuko said, "your role in the operation was an eye-opener,"
"What? What does that mean?" Misato asked, confused. She didn't feel her role was major at all. In fact, she didn't feel good about her taking part in raiding Jasmine Falls at all.
"The Director of Investigations said many nice things about you in his report. In fact, he recommended you for a promotion," Ritsuko told her.
"Promotion?!" Misato said, shocked numb with joy. In the back of her mind, it had felt a little bit strange. The Director barely knew she existed, and she wasn't exactly a star performer in her department. "God, I must be dreaming!" she said excitedly.
"No. Not a dream." Ritsuko continued, "I've also decided that you'd do us a whole lot of good in Tactical. You'll be overseeing combat operations of the EVAs. You can't pilot, but it seems you do have the ability to command."
Misato's head was spinning. "Pinch me! This can't be real!" , she said, wincing in pain as Ritsuko pinched her arm, proving that this was indeed real.
"So when will you be taking me to the celebration dinner, Captain Katsuragi?" Ritsuko asked playfully. "And don't even dream about a home-cooked dinner for two. I've had quite enough of your attempts at cooking. I want a real restaurant, where I can actually wear a nice dress and not feel silly about it," she said, grinning widely now.
"You like steak?" Misato asked, unbearably happy.
If on a winter's night...
"Look at the damage," Misato sighed in resignation.
"But you have to respect the repair crews," said Makoto Hyuga, Misato's adjutant. "They never complain." he finished. He was an earnest young man, barely in his mid-twenties. His hair was dark brown, short and spiky. He kept saying it was easier to maintain that way. His thick, horn-rimmed glasses were old-fashioned beyond anything that can be said as "retro". Misato had often kidded him for his nerdish appearance, but the man was a good officer, calm under fire, and very friendly to her.
They sat on a park bench in the underground forests that surrounded the pyramid building in the Geofront. Only that it was no longer a complete pyramid. The apex was blown off, and a gaping hole in the northern face of the pyramid was a brutal reminder of the Fourteenth Angel's attack on the Geofront. Misato sighed. The Angels came at last, mostly in the form of gigantic biomechanical monsters, one by one, and proved increasingly difficult to kill. The latest one,the Fourteenth, was almost unstoppable, and had even broken through to the command center where Misato was desperately trying to evacuate the staff. Were it not for Evangelion Unit One coming to the rescue, she'd be dead then.
"Colonel?" Makoto asked, unsure if his commanding officer was paying attention to him.
"Yes?" Misato asked, trying to shake the memory of that battle from her mind.
"You wanted to discuss something,"
"Is it too much for me to ask, Hyuga-kun, if I asked you to look after the pilots for a while?" Misato asked him. "I don't know how long I'll be in Canada, and they're just kids," Misato said. "I won't make it an order, but if you could, I'd like that very much" Misato said, gently resting her hand on his.
"Rei too?" Makoto asked. Misato shook her head. "So it's just Shinji and Asuka?". Misato smiled at him. "Please?" she asked hopefully. "They're fourteen year olds. They wouldn't give you too much trouble," Misato said.
"Sure, Colonel," Makoto replied, resignedly. "But there's something I need to talk to you about before you leave." Makoto looked left and right to make sure they were truly alone. Maya was nowhere in sight. The woman was very likeable, cute even, but she was also Ritsuko's adjutant and her eyes and ears. There are things that went on smoother if the Chief Scientist didn't know about them.
"Colonel," he said, his voice lowered to a whisper.
Misato drew in closer, drawing back a lock of hair away from her ear.
"These long periods late at night when you keep disappearing..." he whispered. Misato frowned. If Makoto noticed, others could too. "It's getting harder to cover for you, ma'am." he finished.
"I'm grieving for Kaji," Misato said, her jaw set tight. As an afterthought, she added, "It's a very private time." She was lying, and she hoped she masked her body language enough.
"The senior staff might not believe that much longer," Makoto objected. "Ritsuko's been very considerate but the others worry you might not be contactable when an Angel appears."
"Duly noted, Lieutenant."
Misato buttoned her red jacket, the collar star that signified her rank brushing against her hand. It had only been six years since she joined NERV as a lowly lieutenant. Six years ago, she was just an MP in Investigations, and her major worries were murdered personnel and missing adamantium. How innocent she was those days. Now she was NERV's Tactical Director, and third in command in combat, actually outranking Ritsuko when the Geofront goes into red alert. She commanded the agency's three Evangelion units, and two of the teenaged pilots actually lived with her.
After almost six years of avoiding him, she gave Kaji a second chance at a relationship, only to have him found dead in a ventilation maintenance tunnel. Shot in the stomach, chest and groin. That was several weeks ago.
"I'll be taking an agency plane from Kankuu airbase," Misato said. "The children have exams, but I'd appreciate you coming," she told Makoto.
"Of course," he said. So what if tomorrow was his day off?
Makoto noticed that Misato had disappeared again that night.
Misato hated the cold. The MAGI memory core were kept supercooled, and stored in a room where the temperature barely stayed above freezing. She won't risk being seen wearing thermals, as all the techs knew the only area in the Geofront that required warm clothing is the memory core room. So all she could do was shiver in the cold, and keep her jacket tightly wrapped around her body, as well as cursing herself for wearing a skirt in here.
The laptop rested on the bare skin of her thighs. It was an older model, and it ran hot, but here, it was a welcome source of warmth. As her fingers typed out the commands, it spat forth a torrent of text and pictures, data stolen from deeply hidden recesses of the MAGI. Data that Kaji had carefully hoarded and kept and passed to her before he died.
There were gigabytes of information that she just couldn't begin to digest, about Angels, destiny, SEELE, the secrets of the Evangelion project, evolution, but it wasn't what she was interested in tonight.
The file she was looking for came up on screen. She had seen it many times, but she just had to be sure of it before she left.She didn't understand the scientific gobbledygook, but she knew it was an old Gehirn report on the Weapon X program. It recommended that certain candidates be retrieved after a set number of years and certain biological material extracted from them for some kind of experiment.
At the top of list of candidates to be "retrieved" was the name "Wolverine" , the man she knew as Logan.
There was a date when the procedure would begin. It was three months ago. There was another report, auto-retrieved by the MAGI. It was a Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrest record of a man in the Yukon named Jake Smith that looked exactly like Logan, just as she remembered him. It was already a month old. Only the MAGI supercomputers had the power to search so many worldwide databases for him, and only a senior NERV officer could authorize such an activity. A senior NERV official, so far unidentified, who was secretly doing the bidding of some kind of secret organisation called SEELE.
Logan was in danger. She didn't understand what SEELE wanted from him, or what they would do to him once they have him. She only knew SEELE had something to do with Kaji's death and he was killed for denying them what they wanted, so she could do no less than to continue his fight.
She will keep Logan safe from them whether he wants her to or not.
It was a crisp, breezy winter's morning at Kankuu airbase, and Misato was in high spirits, her travelling bag slung over her shoulders. She liked to travel light, and she could always buy whatever else she needed in Vancouver before continuing on her mission. Makoto was there to see her off. So was Ritsuko, which kind of surprised her.
"I don't think it'll take too long," Misato cheerfuly told them both. "It's a simple inspection tour,"
"Of every NERV facility in Canada." Ritsuko said, cutting Misato off. "Do you remember the emergency frequencies?" she asked.
"Yes, Mother, I remember the emergency frequencies. Would you like to make sure i'm wearing thermal underwear too?" Misato asked scornfully, causing Makoto to giggle a little before he quickly covered his mouth. Ritsuko made a disapproving tsk sound, but Misato had ignored it for years now.
"Say hello to Donna for me," Ritsuko said. "Oh, never mind," she said as she saw the blank look on Misato's face.
Misato hugged Ritsuko, gave Makoto a handshake, and climbed up the steps into the airplane.