I don't own anything here...
The last hit was powerful and it rocked his face to the side, blood spewing from his mouth. His right cheek began to swell, matching his now bloodied eyes and broken nose. Baked blood protruded from his nostrils and ears, and one of his eyes had swelled shut. But he was still able to think clearly.
"Do you have any idea what's going to happen when the Commander gets here?" The man who punched him said. "Now, I don't want to see what he's going to do to you, and I don't think you do either. So why don't you do yourself a favor and tell us what we want to know."
The man slowly raised his head with great pain, and simply stared, through his good eye, at his captor. After capture, he had been placed in a cell, with no bed, for two days without food, sustained only by water. But his military training was not to be easily diminished. Every time he was interrogated, they would shackle both his wrists and ankles, and sit him on a chair, and though the cuffs were electronically sealed closed, they were still prone to water reaching their delicate circuits. And this time the interrogator did not check thoroughly.
After the last hit, he composed himself and began to rub his wet fingers against the handcuff's lining. It slowly started to peel away, exposing the delicate circuitry. Once separated, he applied pressure on the opening, trying to withdraw any water drops that remained in his fingers, until finally he felt the small drops enter the sensitive electronics.
He looked at the interrogator who kept talking, annoying him more than anything else. He already had an idea as to how he would get rid of him, but the problem was the guard outside, the one beyond his reach. He started to inspect the one closest to him, trying to find something of use, but finding none in the man's belt. But as the man turned around, he noticed something on in the inside of his forearm. Upon closer inspection, he noticed it was a retractable baton.
"I'm waiting for an answer," said the interrogator.
He stared at his captor for a second before he grabbed him, and turned him around. Immediately, he took the baton, and in one swift move, threw it at the second guard, hitting him in the head and knocking him unconscious.
"Show me where the mech bay is," he whispered as he pushed the baton against the man's throat, cutting the man's breathing.
The interrogator took as deep a breath as he could and elbowed the man's ribs. He immediately let go, and was pushed away.
"You're good," said the interrogator rubbing his bruised neck, "but you'll have to do better than that. Now, I'm a reasonable man, and if you beat me, I'll tell you where the mech bay is. I beat you; you tell me what I want to know. Deal?"
"It is a deal," he responded. "But I want to know first where my pack is."
"You see that door?" The interrogator said, pointing to one of the doors in the adjoining walkway. "Right in there. Now it's my turn to ask a question. What's your name?"
"Alexis McMillan is my name."
"Alexis, I'm Don Treivan," he said as ran towards Alexis, meaning to tackle him. Alexis simply moved aside and hit Don on the back of the head as he ran past him, dropping him heavily on the floor.
"Now, where is the mech bay?" He asked as he pushed the baton against Don's throat.
"There are 9 bays, each holding a lance," said Don gasping for air. "They all surround the building."
"But where are they?"
"Two floors above us. But you'll never get past that point. All mech bays are heavily guarded."
"And where's the new mech. Where are you keeping it?"
"It's underneath us. But if you have problems getting to our mechs, it will be impossible for you to get your hands on the new unit."
"Let me worry about that," he said as he knocked Don unconscious.
Alexis looked through the man's pockets until he found the release card. He passed it over the restraints on his feet, and they opened up. Undressing both himself and Don, he swapped clothing, and once he was dressed in standard military uniform, he immediately dragged the other guard's body inside the cell and locked the door. Seeing that no one had yet been alerted as to what happened, he softly walked to the door Don had pointed to. He opened it and peered inside. In one of the cabinets was placed his knapsack with all of his equipment spread out and labeled. He ignored everything with the exception of his dark glasses, the scope, and a small camera. Once he had placed everything safely inside the uniform pockets, he walked out the room and headed for an elevator.
He grabbed the glasses, and on top placed the camera and scope. When he was done accommodating them one of top of the other, comfortably, he turned the glasses, the scope, which he left at its regular settings, and the put the camera on "record." He selected the floor below, and the elevator began to descend. Not wanting to be surprised by anyone, he stood next to the door, his back against the wall. Before the elevator came to a stop, he knelt before the doors opened. Once they did, and giving it a few seconds for anyone to inspect it, he quickly glanced outside. Noticing no one, he walked to the door and peered outside from side to side. To the left was a wall, and to his right, a corridor. He began crawled down the corridor trying to keep within the shadows. Midway through the corridor, the wall on his left ended and a window continued.
He glanced out the window, and saw a large pool of red liquid. He kept inspecting around the pool, and noticed several walls blocking something from view. He moved further down the window and tried looking around the walls, until he noticed a long purple bent cylinder with teal highlights that ran from inside a wall into the pool. He kept moving trying to see more when something metallic came into view. The farther he moved, the more was revealed, until he realized that he was looking at a face, and the cylinder was one of its arms. And the walls were not walls at all, but restraints.
Immediately, he felt a presence behind him. With one quick look as he turned around he grabbed the baton and threw it at the person. He waited for the sound of a body falling, but none came. What he heard were footsteps getting closer. He was about to pounce the stranger, when she came into view. Instantly, Alexis refrained himself, as he stared at a girl no more than fourteen, her pale complexion fitting her light bluish white hair. She was dressed in a school uniform; gray and white, making her look even paler. But what caught his attention were the girl's red eyes.
"This is yours," she said handing him the baton he had thrown at her. "There is no one here. You can get up."
Without hesitating, or confirming if what she had said was true, Alexis stood up. He noticed that her expression was always never changing, always without emotion. When she looked at him, she did move her eyes away, and it was him who finally turned away.
"Thank you," he said.
"You were sent here to investigate the return of Unit 01," she said without deviating her eyes from his. "There it is."
"How do you know that is what I was here for?"
"You're the only one here, and you were crawling on the floor while recording Unit 01."
"True," he said embarrassed at having asked such a stupid question. "So, you will report me now, are you not?"
"No," she responded. "That's not my duty. I'm here only to answer questions."
"Then tell me about this mech."
"This is an Eva. It is Unit 01," she said, turning to look at the mech. "Unique, and far apart from all others."
"And what is it that separates it from everything else?"
"Unit 01 can destroy entire worlds, if given the change."
"What does that mean?" He asked, confused at having been given such a strange answer.
"It means exactly what I said," shed responded turning back to him. "It has done it once, and it will do it again."
"And when was this?"
"This was long before your time. Even before your group was ousted into the unforgiving winds of space. Long before man had even attempted to colonize the stars, Unit 01 existed, and with its existence came destruction. Alexis, it cannot be allowed to do that once again."
"How do you know my name?" He asked in shock.
"You told Don your name. They also know he told you where to find the mech bay and Unit 01, and they'll be coming here soon. You must go and warn your group about Unit 01."
"What about you? What will you do?"
"I'm an Eva pilot, I will know what to do."
"You mean you pilot this thing?"
"No," she said. "I pilot Unit 00, and I will try to keep Unit 01 from destroying this world once more, as far as I am able to. Now go."
He was about to turn around when he decided to ask her, "what is your name, child?"
"I am Rei Ayanami."
There were voices coming from the elevator, so he decided to run, knowing that he would not be so lucky again. As he hurried away, he looked back at the girl, but she was gone. He heard shouts, telling him to stop, so he immediately jumped into a room, as shots flew past him. Closing the door behind him, he started to look for anything to use a shield, but the room was bare of anything useful. He looked up and saw an air vent wide enough for him to fit in and give him some crawling space. He jumped once and released the panel. He jumped again and held the edges, making an effort to hold on, and an even bigger one as he pulled himself up.
The door was kicked open, and the guards flooded the room, but he was gone.
=====
He slowly crawled through the narrow vents, each push exhausting him. He felt he was closer to dying with every push his body gave, but it paid off. As he turned a corner, he met a wall with a ladder, going, both, up and down. He grabbed the closest step, and with great effort pulled himself out of the vent. Now as he looked up, he noticed that the ladder went infinitely. That's when he realized a floor did not mean small four-meter walls. It meant that every floor was large enough to stack 2 mechs one top of another, resulting in about 20 to 30 meters in height. With that in mind, he took a deep breath, and began to climb.
What must have felt hours to him was in reality thirty minutes. But when he had climbed the three floors, he threw himself, again, into a vent and laid still, regaining his strength. After a couple of minutes, he decided to continue, and began to crawl through the vents. Again he pushed his body to its limit, as he began to look for a mech bay. He must have spent another twenty minutes looking for something similar, and was about to give up, thinking that Don had not met his part of the bargain, when he passed a vent grill. He looked through it and found himself looking, about 40 meters away, at an Annihilator. He looked to the sides and noted the large number of armed guards. And several more were added constantly to them every few minutes.
=====
Captain Valdken was extremely busy organizing the incoming guards. After being notified that the intruder had escaped the sub-levels through the air- vents, it was a given that he would come to the mech bays. Guards, looking to apprehend the intruder when he exited the vent, were flooding every mech bay. So far it had not happened, but units into the vents had already been deployed. It wouldn't be long now.
Valdken continued barking orders, soldiers and techs running past him, looking for their positions. He turned around and bumped against a guard.
"What the hell are you doing?" He roared. "Where are you supposed to be?"
"I'm sorry," said the guard trembling with fear. "I have to disengage that last mech."
"Then get to it," he screamed in the man's ear.
The man quickly went away, picking up tools as he went. Now, even more infuriated, Valdken began calling the other mech bays, asking if the intruder had been apprehended. Having no news, he began to look through the terminal, seeing if he had missed anything, checking that every orifice in the Main Building had been accounted for. He went through every mech bay, until it came to his. As he looked through his perimeter, he noticed that all the mechs had been disconnected. An hour ago.
"No," he whispered, realizing what had just happened.
He turned around. And for the last second of his life enjoyed the beautiful colors of a Particle Projection Cannon.
=====
He began firing, now, into the other 3 mechs, making sure no one would be allowed to use them against him. He recognized the Atlas, the Inner Sphere's pride and joy. Next to it, stood two Mad Dogs, or Vultures if called by the IS. Sadly, he aimed and fired a single shot into each of the immobile mechs' cockpits, rendering them useless. Then he turned into the bay and began firing his pulse laser's into every door by which backup could arrive.
"All available units," the intercom crackled. "Intruder is in mech bay 5 and now pilots an Annihilator. Fire at will."
He took a deep breath as he waited for his mech to cool down. Once it had, he fired the lasers into the hangar doors, destroying them, and allowing him to exit. He walked towards them, but did not step outside, fully. He looked to his right and noticed an Avatar slowing down, ready to fire its Long Range Missiles. Alexis immediately took aim and fired one his PPCs, hitting the Avatar the moment it fired its own missiles. The missiles were erroneously targeted, and safely flew away from him. But there was no relief. Alexis felt the impact of several shots as armor was stripped away. He looked towards the aggressor and found two Bushwackers. He took aim, but both were moving in different directions and were too quick for him to correctly target. He finally got a lock and fired at one of them, in the leg, making it fall. He was about to fire again upon the downed mech when he again felt the impact of an Autocannon. He tried not to loose his target, the downed Bushwacker, but was furiously shaken by an impact. He looked to the right, and knew that the Avatar had been the one to hit him from a distance. The downed Bushwacker was already getting up, when he noticed a Vulture ready to fire in the distance.
He knew it was a lost battle. With the Bushwackers tearing away armor, and the Avatar and Mad Dog keeping him from firing correctly, Alexis knew he was a dead man. But he had to at least try to take out one of these mechs. He fired an Alpha Strike on a Bushwacker, destroying the leg. But the blast proved too much for the Annihilator and its heat sinks.
"Shutting down," said the computer over the now blaring alarm.
"Override," he shouted, restarting the mech immediately, but the alarm still shrieking.
"Flush coolant," offered the computer, as if it staying alive was a priority to it.
"Negative," he responded.
He picked up speed and ran towards the other Bushwacker. He did not stop but ran so fast towards it, that he pushed it down to the floor, him falling on top. He did not try to get up, but fired an Alpha Strike. The mech did not respond. It simply blew up, swallowing the remaining Bushwacker with it.
=====
"Where is he?"
"He ejected," Kadena reported.
"Damn it!" Screamed Takihiro. "Where did he land?"
"Outside the lake. By the time we find the ejection seat, he'll be long gone."
Anger was making his blood boil. This had never happened before, and it would not happen again. He was going to make sure that the person responsible for this would pay.
"Kadena," he barked. "Put a arrest warrant for Dr. Daniella Evans."
Yuri immediately turned around at hearing that her teacher would become Nerv's prisoner.
"Commander?" She asked in shock. "Under arrest? Under what charges?"
"Treason."
The last hit was powerful and it rocked his face to the side, blood spewing from his mouth. His right cheek began to swell, matching his now bloodied eyes and broken nose. Baked blood protruded from his nostrils and ears, and one of his eyes had swelled shut. But he was still able to think clearly.
"Do you have any idea what's going to happen when the Commander gets here?" The man who punched him said. "Now, I don't want to see what he's going to do to you, and I don't think you do either. So why don't you do yourself a favor and tell us what we want to know."
The man slowly raised his head with great pain, and simply stared, through his good eye, at his captor. After capture, he had been placed in a cell, with no bed, for two days without food, sustained only by water. But his military training was not to be easily diminished. Every time he was interrogated, they would shackle both his wrists and ankles, and sit him on a chair, and though the cuffs were electronically sealed closed, they were still prone to water reaching their delicate circuits. And this time the interrogator did not check thoroughly.
After the last hit, he composed himself and began to rub his wet fingers against the handcuff's lining. It slowly started to peel away, exposing the delicate circuitry. Once separated, he applied pressure on the opening, trying to withdraw any water drops that remained in his fingers, until finally he felt the small drops enter the sensitive electronics.
He looked at the interrogator who kept talking, annoying him more than anything else. He already had an idea as to how he would get rid of him, but the problem was the guard outside, the one beyond his reach. He started to inspect the one closest to him, trying to find something of use, but finding none in the man's belt. But as the man turned around, he noticed something on in the inside of his forearm. Upon closer inspection, he noticed it was a retractable baton.
"I'm waiting for an answer," said the interrogator.
He stared at his captor for a second before he grabbed him, and turned him around. Immediately, he took the baton, and in one swift move, threw it at the second guard, hitting him in the head and knocking him unconscious.
"Show me where the mech bay is," he whispered as he pushed the baton against the man's throat, cutting the man's breathing.
The interrogator took as deep a breath as he could and elbowed the man's ribs. He immediately let go, and was pushed away.
"You're good," said the interrogator rubbing his bruised neck, "but you'll have to do better than that. Now, I'm a reasonable man, and if you beat me, I'll tell you where the mech bay is. I beat you; you tell me what I want to know. Deal?"
"It is a deal," he responded. "But I want to know first where my pack is."
"You see that door?" The interrogator said, pointing to one of the doors in the adjoining walkway. "Right in there. Now it's my turn to ask a question. What's your name?"
"Alexis McMillan is my name."
"Alexis, I'm Don Treivan," he said as ran towards Alexis, meaning to tackle him. Alexis simply moved aside and hit Don on the back of the head as he ran past him, dropping him heavily on the floor.
"Now, where is the mech bay?" He asked as he pushed the baton against Don's throat.
"There are 9 bays, each holding a lance," said Don gasping for air. "They all surround the building."
"But where are they?"
"Two floors above us. But you'll never get past that point. All mech bays are heavily guarded."
"And where's the new mech. Where are you keeping it?"
"It's underneath us. But if you have problems getting to our mechs, it will be impossible for you to get your hands on the new unit."
"Let me worry about that," he said as he knocked Don unconscious.
Alexis looked through the man's pockets until he found the release card. He passed it over the restraints on his feet, and they opened up. Undressing both himself and Don, he swapped clothing, and once he was dressed in standard military uniform, he immediately dragged the other guard's body inside the cell and locked the door. Seeing that no one had yet been alerted as to what happened, he softly walked to the door Don had pointed to. He opened it and peered inside. In one of the cabinets was placed his knapsack with all of his equipment spread out and labeled. He ignored everything with the exception of his dark glasses, the scope, and a small camera. Once he had placed everything safely inside the uniform pockets, he walked out the room and headed for an elevator.
He grabbed the glasses, and on top placed the camera and scope. When he was done accommodating them one of top of the other, comfortably, he turned the glasses, the scope, which he left at its regular settings, and the put the camera on "record." He selected the floor below, and the elevator began to descend. Not wanting to be surprised by anyone, he stood next to the door, his back against the wall. Before the elevator came to a stop, he knelt before the doors opened. Once they did, and giving it a few seconds for anyone to inspect it, he quickly glanced outside. Noticing no one, he walked to the door and peered outside from side to side. To the left was a wall, and to his right, a corridor. He began crawled down the corridor trying to keep within the shadows. Midway through the corridor, the wall on his left ended and a window continued.
He glanced out the window, and saw a large pool of red liquid. He kept inspecting around the pool, and noticed several walls blocking something from view. He moved further down the window and tried looking around the walls, until he noticed a long purple bent cylinder with teal highlights that ran from inside a wall into the pool. He kept moving trying to see more when something metallic came into view. The farther he moved, the more was revealed, until he realized that he was looking at a face, and the cylinder was one of its arms. And the walls were not walls at all, but restraints.
Immediately, he felt a presence behind him. With one quick look as he turned around he grabbed the baton and threw it at the person. He waited for the sound of a body falling, but none came. What he heard were footsteps getting closer. He was about to pounce the stranger, when she came into view. Instantly, Alexis refrained himself, as he stared at a girl no more than fourteen, her pale complexion fitting her light bluish white hair. She was dressed in a school uniform; gray and white, making her look even paler. But what caught his attention were the girl's red eyes.
"This is yours," she said handing him the baton he had thrown at her. "There is no one here. You can get up."
Without hesitating, or confirming if what she had said was true, Alexis stood up. He noticed that her expression was always never changing, always without emotion. When she looked at him, she did move her eyes away, and it was him who finally turned away.
"Thank you," he said.
"You were sent here to investigate the return of Unit 01," she said without deviating her eyes from his. "There it is."
"How do you know that is what I was here for?"
"You're the only one here, and you were crawling on the floor while recording Unit 01."
"True," he said embarrassed at having asked such a stupid question. "So, you will report me now, are you not?"
"No," she responded. "That's not my duty. I'm here only to answer questions."
"Then tell me about this mech."
"This is an Eva. It is Unit 01," she said, turning to look at the mech. "Unique, and far apart from all others."
"And what is it that separates it from everything else?"
"Unit 01 can destroy entire worlds, if given the change."
"What does that mean?" He asked, confused at having been given such a strange answer.
"It means exactly what I said," shed responded turning back to him. "It has done it once, and it will do it again."
"And when was this?"
"This was long before your time. Even before your group was ousted into the unforgiving winds of space. Long before man had even attempted to colonize the stars, Unit 01 existed, and with its existence came destruction. Alexis, it cannot be allowed to do that once again."
"How do you know my name?" He asked in shock.
"You told Don your name. They also know he told you where to find the mech bay and Unit 01, and they'll be coming here soon. You must go and warn your group about Unit 01."
"What about you? What will you do?"
"I'm an Eva pilot, I will know what to do."
"You mean you pilot this thing?"
"No," she said. "I pilot Unit 00, and I will try to keep Unit 01 from destroying this world once more, as far as I am able to. Now go."
He was about to turn around when he decided to ask her, "what is your name, child?"
"I am Rei Ayanami."
There were voices coming from the elevator, so he decided to run, knowing that he would not be so lucky again. As he hurried away, he looked back at the girl, but she was gone. He heard shouts, telling him to stop, so he immediately jumped into a room, as shots flew past him. Closing the door behind him, he started to look for anything to use a shield, but the room was bare of anything useful. He looked up and saw an air vent wide enough for him to fit in and give him some crawling space. He jumped once and released the panel. He jumped again and held the edges, making an effort to hold on, and an even bigger one as he pulled himself up.
The door was kicked open, and the guards flooded the room, but he was gone.
=====
He slowly crawled through the narrow vents, each push exhausting him. He felt he was closer to dying with every push his body gave, but it paid off. As he turned a corner, he met a wall with a ladder, going, both, up and down. He grabbed the closest step, and with great effort pulled himself out of the vent. Now as he looked up, he noticed that the ladder went infinitely. That's when he realized a floor did not mean small four-meter walls. It meant that every floor was large enough to stack 2 mechs one top of another, resulting in about 20 to 30 meters in height. With that in mind, he took a deep breath, and began to climb.
What must have felt hours to him was in reality thirty minutes. But when he had climbed the three floors, he threw himself, again, into a vent and laid still, regaining his strength. After a couple of minutes, he decided to continue, and began to crawl through the vents. Again he pushed his body to its limit, as he began to look for a mech bay. He must have spent another twenty minutes looking for something similar, and was about to give up, thinking that Don had not met his part of the bargain, when he passed a vent grill. He looked through it and found himself looking, about 40 meters away, at an Annihilator. He looked to the sides and noted the large number of armed guards. And several more were added constantly to them every few minutes.
=====
Captain Valdken was extremely busy organizing the incoming guards. After being notified that the intruder had escaped the sub-levels through the air- vents, it was a given that he would come to the mech bays. Guards, looking to apprehend the intruder when he exited the vent, were flooding every mech bay. So far it had not happened, but units into the vents had already been deployed. It wouldn't be long now.
Valdken continued barking orders, soldiers and techs running past him, looking for their positions. He turned around and bumped against a guard.
"What the hell are you doing?" He roared. "Where are you supposed to be?"
"I'm sorry," said the guard trembling with fear. "I have to disengage that last mech."
"Then get to it," he screamed in the man's ear.
The man quickly went away, picking up tools as he went. Now, even more infuriated, Valdken began calling the other mech bays, asking if the intruder had been apprehended. Having no news, he began to look through the terminal, seeing if he had missed anything, checking that every orifice in the Main Building had been accounted for. He went through every mech bay, until it came to his. As he looked through his perimeter, he noticed that all the mechs had been disconnected. An hour ago.
"No," he whispered, realizing what had just happened.
He turned around. And for the last second of his life enjoyed the beautiful colors of a Particle Projection Cannon.
=====
He began firing, now, into the other 3 mechs, making sure no one would be allowed to use them against him. He recognized the Atlas, the Inner Sphere's pride and joy. Next to it, stood two Mad Dogs, or Vultures if called by the IS. Sadly, he aimed and fired a single shot into each of the immobile mechs' cockpits, rendering them useless. Then he turned into the bay and began firing his pulse laser's into every door by which backup could arrive.
"All available units," the intercom crackled. "Intruder is in mech bay 5 and now pilots an Annihilator. Fire at will."
He took a deep breath as he waited for his mech to cool down. Once it had, he fired the lasers into the hangar doors, destroying them, and allowing him to exit. He walked towards them, but did not step outside, fully. He looked to his right and noticed an Avatar slowing down, ready to fire its Long Range Missiles. Alexis immediately took aim and fired one his PPCs, hitting the Avatar the moment it fired its own missiles. The missiles were erroneously targeted, and safely flew away from him. But there was no relief. Alexis felt the impact of several shots as armor was stripped away. He looked towards the aggressor and found two Bushwackers. He took aim, but both were moving in different directions and were too quick for him to correctly target. He finally got a lock and fired at one of them, in the leg, making it fall. He was about to fire again upon the downed mech when he again felt the impact of an Autocannon. He tried not to loose his target, the downed Bushwacker, but was furiously shaken by an impact. He looked to the right, and knew that the Avatar had been the one to hit him from a distance. The downed Bushwacker was already getting up, when he noticed a Vulture ready to fire in the distance.
He knew it was a lost battle. With the Bushwackers tearing away armor, and the Avatar and Mad Dog keeping him from firing correctly, Alexis knew he was a dead man. But he had to at least try to take out one of these mechs. He fired an Alpha Strike on a Bushwacker, destroying the leg. But the blast proved too much for the Annihilator and its heat sinks.
"Shutting down," said the computer over the now blaring alarm.
"Override," he shouted, restarting the mech immediately, but the alarm still shrieking.
"Flush coolant," offered the computer, as if it staying alive was a priority to it.
"Negative," he responded.
He picked up speed and ran towards the other Bushwacker. He did not stop but ran so fast towards it, that he pushed it down to the floor, him falling on top. He did not try to get up, but fired an Alpha Strike. The mech did not respond. It simply blew up, swallowing the remaining Bushwacker with it.
=====
"Where is he?"
"He ejected," Kadena reported.
"Damn it!" Screamed Takihiro. "Where did he land?"
"Outside the lake. By the time we find the ejection seat, he'll be long gone."
Anger was making his blood boil. This had never happened before, and it would not happen again. He was going to make sure that the person responsible for this would pay.
"Kadena," he barked. "Put a arrest warrant for Dr. Daniella Evans."
Yuri immediately turned around at hearing that her teacher would become Nerv's prisoner.
"Commander?" She asked in shock. "Under arrest? Under what charges?"
"Treason."