I still don't own anything. This is the sequel to my story Lycanthrope. It takes place ten years after the last chapter of Lycanthrope.
Lycanthrope 2: The Prophecy
Chapter Seven: How about Jen?
"One of these days someone is going to shoot you in the head."
"Probably," Shinji said with a shrug. "Are you done yet?"
"But how can it be?" the older man demanded as he looked over the X-rays and then at the scars in Shinji's torso. "Where are the bullets?"
"I think we broke him," Touji whispered.
"What can I say?" Shinji asked as he sat up. "Some people just have trouble when they find out that their preconceived notions are not only wrong, but have a poster child."
"The only thing you're a poster child for is psychotics anonymous," Touji said.
"I am," Shinji said. "But you can't tell anyone. I'm anonymous."
"God give me strength," Touji murmured as he rubbed his temples. "You want to go get drunk?"
"Go home and get the shit kicked out of me or go get drunk and then go home and get the shit kicked out of me," Shinji said, holding out his hands as if he were weighing his options. "To the pub!"
"Pub?" Touji asked.
"It's like a bar," Shinji explained. "Only more Irish."
"I like the Irish," Touji said. "They have great beer."
"Guinness?" Shinji asked. Touji nodded. "I know. I'm not much of a beer drinker, but I can drink that stuff all day and all night."
"Let's get the hell out of here."
"Yeah," Shinji said. "Where's my shirt?"
"I think someone threw it in the furnace," Touji said.
"I loose more shirts that way," Shinji said sadly. "They get a little blood on them and Yuki or Asuka burns them. If I didn't love then as much as I do then I'd kill them."
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"You're lost."
"I'm not lost."
"You're lost."
"I'm not lost." Jen looked up from her report and sighed in annoyance.
"Who let those idiots out?"
"You're lost."
"I'm not lost." Jen stood up and stalked to the door. She punched the keypad and let the door slide out of the way.
"You're lost."
"Would you two dip shits shut up?" Jen screamed.
"Wow."
"The power of Screech compels you!"
"Shut up," Jen growled. She stepped aside and waved them into her office. "Where's your shirt?"
"Someone burned it because there was too much blood on it," Shinji said. Jen sighed and watched as the two men stepped inside. "What the hell is that?"
"What?" Shinji asked, turning to face her.
"Dude!" Touji exclaimed. "You got a tattoo!"
"What does it say?" Shinji asked as he tried to look over his shoulder and began walking in vaguely circular patterns.
"It's an angel," Touji said. Shinji stopped.
"Oh I've had that one," Shinji said. Jen just stared at it. The tattoo showed a beautiful blue-haired woman with several massive wings sprouting from her back and a sunburst of red stripes. The strange portrait took up almost all of Shinji's back. "Why in God's name do you have an angel tattooed on your back?"
"To remind me," Shinji said simply.
"Of what?" Jen asked.
"Not what," Shinji said. "Who."
"Lillith?" Touji guessed. Shinji nodded.
"She saved my life and nearly gave her own," he said. "That's something I doubt I'll ever be able to repay."
"What's with the sunburst?" Jen asked, touching one of the red stripes. Instead of being flat against his skin it was slightly raised.
"Those aren't tattoos," Shinji said. "They're scars."
"How did you get them?"
"He has an energetic mate," Touji said.
"Oh," Jen said as she snatched her hand back.
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"Hey Jen?" Marvin knocked on the door and opened it. The first things his eyes fell on were his daughter and a bare-chested Shinji. "What the hell is going on?"
"Can I borrow a shirt?" Shinji asked. "Someone burned mine."
"Oh," Marvin said. "The Commander has been looking for you."
"Does she need a punching bag again?" Touji asked brightly. Marvin nearly jumped out of his skin in surprise, but years of Special Forces training kept him from doing so.
"She wished to apologize for that," Marvin said as he eyed the shiner. "How many times did she hit you?"
"Once," Shinji said. "I got this one from a brawl."
"A street fight?" Marvin asked as he sat down. "Boy am I glad that your well being isn't my job anymore." Shinji grinned cheerfully.
"So what does Misato want?"
"We found the files that bar tender had for you," Marvin said.
"Oh shit."
"Shit indeed," Marvin said. "Hunting down SEELE?"
"Everyone needs a hobby," Shinji said.
"Why are you hunting SEELE?" Marvin demanded.
"One moment," Touji said as he grabbed Shinji by the ear and led him into a corner where Marvin could still hear them. "Do you think bringing NERV into this is a good idea?"
"We might be able to make use of their contacts around the world," Shinji said.
"We don't know for sure if NERV really has gotten rid of SEELE's control," Touji argued.
"Then SEELE had probably figured out that we're after them," Shinji said.
"Fine," Touji said. They both turned to look at Marvin and Jen.
"We're hunting SEELE because they're trying to start a. . ." Shinji paused and looked at Touji.
"Well there wasn't really a Third Impact," Touji said. "Maybe we can call it the Second Attempted Impact."
"They're trying to start the Third Impact again," Shinji said.
"You've got to be kidding me," Jen said.
"Nope," Shinji said. "If you people want to stop them then you are going to release us and my informant."
"You're going to have to take this up with the Commander," Marvin said. "This is out of our power."
"Great," Shinji said. "Do you have a shirt I can borrow?"
"I'll find one."
"What about my weapons?" Shinji asked. "You said I could keep that sub-machinegun."
"The Commander has them," Marvin said. "Insurance to make sure that you go to her."
"She wasn't the tactical operations officer for nothing," Touji said.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"She knew exactly what would make you come running," Touji said. "She got inside your head."
"I feel sorry for her," Shinji said with a broad maniacal grin.
"I'll set up some psychiatrist appointments," Marvin said.
"For him?" Jen asked.
"For the Commander."
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"Knock, knock," Misato looked up as Shinji's head poked into her office. "Hello."
"Come in," Misato said as she set the weapon she had been examining down on her desk. Shinji walked into the office and looked around.
"Hey! You got rid of the tree thingy on the ceiling."
"Very technical," Touji said sarcastically as he walked in behind Shinji and shut the door. "Now cut the deal and let's get out of here."
"Right," Shinji said turning to Misato. "Here's the. . ." He stopped when he saw her face.
"Where the hell have you been?" Misato demanded. "It's been ten years and I haven't gotten a single call, fax, e-mail, or letter!" Then she hit Shinji with her deadly weapon: a pout.
"Uh. . .well," Shinji said intelligently. To his credit he could actually speak.
"The deal idiot," Touji growled.
"Ah. . . deal," Shinji said. "Right." He turned back to Misato and frowned when he noticed the weapon she had been holding. "What were you doing with my Python?"
"Your what?" Misato asked, surprised beyond all believe that Touji Suzuhara, of all people, could resist her.
"The revolver," Shinji said as he walked up to the desk and retrieved the weapon. He checked it carefully and frowned when he noticed that the cylinders were empty. "Where are the bullets?"
"NERV policy returns confiscated weapons, not ammunition," Misato said automatically.
"I'm going to have a talk about that with Marvin," Shinji growled lowly. "Damn NERV bastards. Always taking my stuff." Misato did not like how this was going.
"Are Asuka and Yuki here?" she asked. "I mean if you're still together with Yuki."
"Yes I'm still together with Yuki," Shinji said. "We got married a couple of years ago."
"And you didn't bother calling me?" Misato demanded.
"Don't worry," Touji said. "They only did it so that they could have a honeymoon night."
"Did you know that honeymoon suites have fuzzy handcuffs?" Shinji asked.
"They do?" Misato asked.
"Yeah. They have really good ones."
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"I'm starting to get worried," Mana said. "We haven't seen him for almost two days."
"He's fine," Asuka said dismissively.
"How do you know?" Mana asked.
"That big gun fight yesterday," Asuka said. "It has 'Shinji' written all over it."
"She's right," Yuki said. "We'll find him sooner or later."
"And then I am going to go get drunk," Asuka said. "I would suggest you do the same."
"What? Why?" Mana asked. The only answers she got were a lecherous grin from Yuki and several crude hand motions from Asuka.
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Misato looked at the papers spread out on her desk and sighed. "I need Aspirin."
"Here." She looked up and stared at the bottle.
"Do you just walk around with a bottle of Aspirin in your coat?" Misato asked.
"Pretty much," Shinji said. "I threw it in one of the pockets a couple of years ago."
"Thanks," Misato said. "So this is all the information you have?"
"That's pretty much it," Shinji said. "You did release my informant, right?"
"He knows too much and he's too good at his job," Misato said. "I couldn't release him."
"So you hired him?" Shinji asked.
"Yeah," Misato said. "Half the people working for NERV are convicted of one crime or another."
"I'm not surprised," Touji said flatly.
"So," Shinji said. "Can we count on the support of NERV?"
"Absolutely," Misato said. "What do you need?"
"We'll probably end up needing various pieces of artillery," Shinji said with a shrug. "NERV sounds better then some third world shit head peddling that Soviet-era crap."
"The AK-47 is Soviet-era," Touji said.
"I meant missiles," Shinji argued. "Modern missiles are far more explosive and effective."
"If you say so," Touji said.
"I do say so," Shinji said.
"I know," Touji said. Misato sighed and shot back to pills dry.
"I want you to take one of NERV's soldiers," she said. "You won't find anyone better trained outside of this organization."
"We'll be fine," Shinji said dismissively.
"Can you use a man-portable 84mm recoilless rifle?" Misato asked.
"Yeah," Shinji said.
"You can?" Misato asked in surprise.
"You bet," Shinji said. "There are these little pictographic instructions on them."
"I guess you proved it," Touji said.
"Proved what?"
"The military really can make idiot-proof instructions."
"How about Jen?" Misato asked, trying to break up the fight before it became physical.
"Jen?" Shinji asked.
"What's wrong with me?" Shinji turned and saw the young woman glaring at him.
"She's too firmly grounded in her own sanity," Shinji said with a nod to himself. He reached up and pulled a clump of black hair off his head.
"Is that a cat?" Misato asked. Shinji nodded and set the small kitten in his lap.
"Do you have any skills?" he asked.
"Jen is one of our top scoring agents in hand-to-hand combat,' Misato said.
"So?" Shinji said. "Hand-to-hand combat with us usually leaves humans as ribbons of flesh." To demonstrate he held up his hand and let his claws extend. Jen's jaw dropped slightly as she watched.
"Just what the hell are you?"
"Would you hit me if I said that I was her worst nightmare?"
"Yeah," Touji said. "I would really just have to."
"I would probably have to too," Shinji said.
"He's a werewolf," Misato said.
"Right," Jen said.
"Do you have any other 'useful' skills?" Shinji asked.
"She's an excellent sniper," Misato offered.
"She's a big girl," Shinji said. "She can answer for herself."
"I'm an excellent sniper," Jen said.
"I need a drink," Shinji said.
"Pub?" Touji asked.
"Yep."
-End
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-Author's notes. Uh. Hi? I got more positive responses to Jen, so she's going to stay with them. Look forward to many attempts at getting her drunk and ditching her. I hate quick edit. This is the third time I've had to change my paragraph divider.
