Later that night, the man sat on a bench outside the hospital and looked at the plans of the hospital he had gained from the Internet and saw that the room that held one of the pilots was the last one before a small service elevator at the end of the hallway it was on. The way he figured it out, he could go into the service area and go up to the floor and he could kill them without difficulty
"My mission will be over soon" he said to himself and folded up the map and put it away
The man got up and made his way to the service area: ducking into a small closet he changed into a serviceman's uniform so he would be incognito and harder to detect. He quietly made his way into the service area and down the proper corridors: no one stopped him or questioned him because he looked like he belonged there
"Okay, down this hallway, turn left and the lift should be there", he muttered to himself as he approached his goal
After another fifteen minutes of walking he came to the elevator that his blueprints had shown him: it was slightly smaller than he was but not by much. Smiling, he climbed into the lift and pressed the button for level 9: the pilot level.
"This is the place" he muttered and got out of the elevator: it was dark aside from the dim overhead lights
He quietly padded across the floor to the first room: Rei's. He looked and saw that the pilot appeared to be sleeping on her side. All he had to do was stick the knife in the right place and she'd die instantly, no pain or noise. The man allowed a small insane smirk to cross his face as he drew the knife from his jacket and prepared to plunge it into Rei's neck
"I wouldn't do that if I were you", a soft voice said
"What!" the man was shocked that she had heard him come in
"If I chose to, I can get up, go over to you, kill you and be back in bed in a space of less than ten seconds" Rei said and rolled over to face her would be assassin
She stared at him with the coldest look she could muster: it chilled the man to the very bones in his body and he began to walk backwards a little, his resolve faltering
"You are killing the messengers of God, this is his will, as he did with the Earth when he asked it of Noah to build an Ark" the man, obviously religious ranted
"I got news for you, fool. God isn't asking you to do this" another voice joined the fray
The assassin looked behind him to be greeted with glowing green eyes and a fiery yellow field
"I know God; he's a blue midget in a Gi with a white mo-hawk hairdo; and those things ain't his messengers" Trunks hissed and made the man fall over.
Trunks leaned over him now and grinned, showing his white teeth
"Now you have to ask yourself one question, do I feel lucky?" he did a very good imitation of Dirty Harry
At about that time, Nerv's Rent-A-Goon came running in with pistols drawn and a nurse in pursuit, Trunks quickly powered down to normal
"Wow, he's only been in the room, 7 minutes. That's pretty good guys. But I for one am really glad Rei here can look out for herself" Trunks stood mocking the Section2 guards: no one except Rei was still watching the man
The guards sauntered away muttering something about 'kicking arse' and 'arrogant little brats'. Trunks smirked at the words: he was glad the guards hated him, kept them from getting to close to him, and ergo in some fashions, to close to Rei. However, the would-be assassin on the ground was not quite as stupid as one might guess. He reached inside his jacket pocket and pressed a small button. Then, a rhythmic beeping began
"Fools, I have just depressed the fuse on a bomb: there is enough TNT on my back to blow out this entire floor, and then the residual effects will cause a bit of strife too" he gloated.
Trunks sprung over and ripped the jacket open and saw a timer on the lining: it read 5 seconds
"Oh shit" he thought and ran to put himself in front of Rei.
At that moment however, Trunks felt time slow around him and he saw Rei holding her arm up and point it at the man, an orange glowing field surrounded his body, so when the explosive went off, all it blew up was him. Trunks felt the space and time continuum go back to normal and he looked over at Rei: she was glowing white, almost blinding alabaster but it lasted only a few seconds and then she collapsed from fatigue
"Hidden powers indeed. That was phenomenal" Trunks said
What he had just witnessed was a living mortal slow down the very fabric of time and bend it to her will, then use some kind of powerful field to cover the assassin and stop his bombs killing anyone but himself: a feat he had never thought possible. Although Ki shields were usable, a fully enclosed field around another individual like Rei's he'd never seen before: it's Ki signature was also very odd, but it was hers alright, of that he was sure
"I have a feeling that when this power is fully released and controlled, she will become the most powerful being on this planet, maybe even more so than Goten and I" Trunks allowed a devilish grin to cross his face
His father had chosen a very good woman for a wife, and it seemed to Trunks that he had done even better: his soul mate was not only smart, but with training, she would be as powerful as him; a prospect he found very intriguing.
The Nerv goons returned to the room and to Trunks's surprise, did not demand to know why Rei was asleep and why there was a large scorch mark and pile of blood and gore on the ground where an assassin should have been, in fact they missed it totally, as if it never happened and no one knew of it. Once they left, Trunks took care of the 'remains' by zapping them into nothingness quick smart.
"I have to ponder this further" he decided and went to leave
Trunks didn't want to leave with out giving Rei a sort of sign that he had been there, so he flew out of the window and went to a garden and picked a rose, a blue one. Smiling at his simple message, Trunks flew back to the hospital and laid it on Rei's pillow, and in a rare moment of softness, he leaned in and kissed her forehead.
"I'll see you tomorrow" he whispered and left quietly, not noticing the small smile that spread across Rei's face.
*****************
The next day…
*****************
Asuka was grouchy: her leg would be fine but she was still really angry about retreating from the Angel. Goten couldn't work out why, nor could Shinji or Hikari
"I swear, if I get my hands on that thing, ooh" she snarled, her voice trailing into thought
"Calm down Asuka" Goten pleaded
"No one tells Asuka Langley Soryu to calm down!" Asuka bellowed: this event had really worked her up
The four (Shinji, Goten, Hikari and Asuka) were in the lounge room in the civilian area of Nerv, some drinks and cake had been had while they waited for Misato to come back with a status report. Goten could of sworn he sensed Trunks power up last night before he came home, but he dismissed it. Misato finally arrived and sat down, with Ritsuko in tow
"First things first, sorry Goten, Hikari; you two have to go" Ritsuko said
"Why?" Goten protested
"Because this is highly sensitive information, now go" the scientist wasn't in the mood for arguments
Sulking, Goten and Hikari left the room, leaving Shinji and Asuka to be told the extent of what the Angel was doing
"Okay, our work is really cut out for us here: the Angel has begun drilling through the surface towards us in the Geo-Front" Misato said
"What?" the general chorus came out
"We need to get this one quick: Hyuga said that at the current rate of drilling the Angel will break through to the Geo-Front in 49 hours" Ritsuko added
"Oh well fuck me, I thought this was going to be hard" Shinji mumbled sarcastically
"Watch your language" Misato said as she sorted through some other papers
"Sucked in" Asuka gloated
"Asuka, don't forget I have heard what comes out of your mouth when you're angry" Ritsuko said, reminding everyone that Asuka had a bad potty mouth at times
After some other information was given out on its A.T. Field and other defences, Misato showed them a few videos of somewhat failed attempts to find a weakness, but Asuka was ever observant and had an idea
"Misato, how close do these target things have to get before the Angel attacks them?" she asked
"About 50 miles, why" she asked, while watching the tape again, for any weakness
"What if we tried to attack it with a long range weapon from outside that perimeter?" Asuka suggested
"What?" Ritsuko asked
"You know, like a sniper, get a gun with enough range and power behind it so we can blow its brains out from say, 60 miles, giving us a 10 mile safety window" she elaborated her idea
Misato smiled widely and phoned Hyuga, asking him to run a test that would gauge the strength of the A.T. Field of the Angel, she needed that if the plan Asuka put forward was going to work
"Asuka, have you ever thought of becoming a combat strategist?" Misato asked
Asuka puffed up with pride, Shinji looked on in a form disgust at the praise, he'd just seen Asuka's ego inflate a great deal
"Well, I am the great Asuka Soryu, you know" she said in a 'holier-than-thou' tone of voice
Ritsuko chuckled as Misato looked a little foolish; she leaned over to Shinji and whispered in his ear
"My 100 yen says that Asuka will still be rubbing the fact that she thought of the plan a week from now", she offered
"Deal, but the plan has to work first" Shinji said and agreed to the bet
[I'll get you Ritsuko] Misato thought as her eyebrow twitched while Asuka continued to point out how good she was
*****************
Trunks was out wandering around the city: all school days were cancelled until the Angel was destroyed. The Geo-Front was quite nice to walk in during the morning and he found it relaxing
[Still a few hours before visiting time starts at the hospital, then again] he thought and smiled as he prepared to fly to the hospital and let himself in through the window in Rei's room. Before he could though, a voice shouted his name
"Trunks, that's right isn't it?" the man, about 31 asked
"Yeah, what's it to you?" Trunks shot back, eyeing the man with care
He was about 5'11 with slight stubble on his face, his long hair was tied back on a ponytail; a style Trunks had once taken. He wore a blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up, a red tie and pair of brown pants and shoes. His smile was the kind that Trunks himself had, sexy, but this man's smile did not have the dangerous edge, his was more 'devil-may-care' and such
"The name's Kaji, I'm Misato's boyfriend", he explained and extended his hand
"And?" Trunks still didn't know what this guy wanted and ignored the hand
[Just like Misato said, colder than ice with a look to match] Kaji thought and withdrew his hand
"I just wanted to meet the young man fabled around Nerv with claiming the heart of one Rei Ayanami" Kaji said
"The fact she has someone she loves surprises you?" Trunks asked
"Well, yes it does. See, Rei's always been a very lonely person-" Kaji was cut off
"Maybe like me she doesn't believe that there was anyone on this planet worth being around" Trunks snapped
Kaji, however wasn't offended by Trunks's remarks and took them in his stride
"Well, if that be that case Trunks, then that makes you very unique indeed" Kaji said and resumed to water the flowers he had
"I have another theory" he called after Kaji
"Oh?" the man said
"Yeah, maybe, like me again, she only lets those she really trusts, close to her, and I had the courage to try and earn that trust. What say you?" Trunks called
"I still say it makes you unique Trunks, but also I think it makes you lucky" Kaji replied and resumed his task
Trunks smiled and flew away, leaving in a cloud of dust that covered Kaji
"Wow, she said he was strong, but shit, that's really strong" Kaji said and tried to track Trunks: he had no luck
************
Trunks was floating outside Rei's window, looking for a way to get in without damaging the window itself for it was locked
"Oh well, I'll just watch from out here" he said and settled into a reclining position in mid-air to keep a close watch on his lady love
As he did so, the nurse from yesterday came in with a few other nurses, both men and women and she pointed triumphantly the rose Trunks left last night, he listened to the conversation out of interest
"I told you that she had a boyfriend", the female nurse said
"Yeah, and how do we know you didn't put that there?" a male colleague said
"Because I saw him: he was about this tall, purple hair and really cute, lots of muscles too" she replied, indicating with her hand about an inch and a half above her own head to illustrate how tall Trunks was
"Well we'll tell you what, if he shows up by mid visiting time, then you've won, if not, you lose" another nurse said and they all went away, save the woman who stayed to check Rei's vitals
Trunks chose this moment to discreetly knock on the window: the nurse looked up and Trunks waved at her: she blinked a few times
"Hi, can you let me in?" he asked
"Uh, yeah, sure" she mumbled and opened the window, allowing Trunks to fly in and land almost silently on the ground
"If you want to win that bet, go grab your friends" Trunks said and sat down beside Rei's bed
The nurse nodded and hurried off to find them all so she could show them that she wasn't lying. Trunks looked and saw the rose was a little wilted but still looked nice
[Do I feel lucky?], he asked himself and looked at the stirring form of Rei: he smiled
[Yeah, I do] he thought and smiled at her, grasping her hand again
"Hi" he said
Rei only smiled a little and drew his hand up to her face. For some reason she liked how his hand felt: firm and smooth but very gentle if the situation called for it. It was in that very same position that the nurses found them a few minutes later, all of them bar one stunned beyond belief.
[Oh yes, I feel very lucky indeed] Trunks finally felt it, the bond was nearly rock solid now: nothing would ever break it.
