I own nothing. This story is set in an alternate universe. There will be OOC. You have been warned.
While You Were Sleeping
Chapter Ten: Same old shit again
Shinji took and sip from the bottle of whiskey hidden in his desk and sighed. He leaned back in his seat and glanced at the new tall, ridiculously muscled Demon guard leaning against the wall with his Type 36 slung over his shoulder. "You want to tie one on Private?" Shinji asked, offering the bottle to the young man. The oversized Private glared at him. "Your loss," Shinji said with a shrug. Someone knocked and Shinji sighed in annoyance. How was he supposed to finish the paperwork that he had been putting off with so many visitors? "Come in." The door opened and Asuka walked in.
"Hello Captain."
"I'm not a Captain," Shinji said. "Well at least not in any sense that is would matter to you. I heard you got a promotion and a transfer to the Demons."
"Yeah," Asuka said. Shinji glanced up and sighed in annoyance.
"Do you want anything else?" he asked.
"Why are you doing this to me?" Asuka said. Shinji's eyebrow rose.
"The last time I checked you did something to me," he said dryly.
"Exactly!" Asuka declared, making both Shinji and the guard jump slightly. "Why can't you be mad at me like everyone else would be?"
"You think me being pissed off at you will help you?" Shinji demanded. "Well too fucking bad Lieutenant. I'm not mad, now cowboy the fuck up and accept what you've done."
"But why the hell aren't you mad?" Asuka demanded.
"I'm not mad because I knew I was dead," Shinji said. He was struggling to explain. "I knew I was dead when I met Colonel Durst."
"Is he related to General Durst?" Asuka asked. "The CO of the Saviors?"
"General Durst was Colonel Durst about seven years ago," Shinji said. Asuka's eyes seemed to light up as she connected the dots.
"Colonel Durst recruited you into the Saviors," Asuka said.
"Yeah," Shinji said. "He recruited me, he trained me, and he was my Commanding officer."
"That's what you meant when you said that you got that knife from a Savior colonel!" Asuka exclaimed. Shinji reached into his desk and tugged out the Savior combat knife. Beside him the oversized Private shifted his weight nervously. "He personally presented this to me."
"Oh," Asuka said.
(:ii:)
"I was wondering when you would show up," Pierce growled as Shinji walked into the armory.
"I had to finish up some paperwork," Shinji said.
"That's why I never tried to get a commission," Pierce said.
"You're the smart one," Shinji said as he sat down on one of the benches. "Have you finished memorizing the route?"
"Yeah," Pierce said. "Do you really think the best route is to go through Tokyo-2?"
"Yes I do," Shinji said. "We're more extensively trained to operate in urban conditions then in forest. There's also the advantage of surprise."
"What surprise?" Pierce asked. "They know us Captain. They know which route we would take."
"Even so," Shinji allowed. "We're still better off in building-to-building fighter."
"Right," Pierce said as he pulled on his combat vest. "God I hate this thing."
"It's too heavy," Shinji said. "I heard you the first time and every time after that."
"What happened to the day when snipers just had to wear ghillie suits and a forty-five kilo pack?" Pierce continued his usual pre-mission ranting.
"We aren't really snipers any more," Shinji said. "We're more of a designated marksman then sniper."
"That's very close to an insult," Pierce said.
"I know," Shinji said as he quickly changed into his urban BDUs and began to pull on his combat gear.
"So," Pierce said.
"So," Shinji repeated.
"Are you going to do it?" Pierce pressed.
"Do what?" Shinji asked.
"You know damned well what!" Pierce snapped. "Don't play dumb with me Major."
"Sorry," Shinji said with a sigh. "I wasn't trying to, I just have a lot on my mind."
"Well?" Pierce pressed.
"I'm still thinking."
(:ii:)
Shinji stepped into the hanger and strode towards the H-Jet. He had thought that he would feel more like a death row inmate, but to his surprise he felt at ease. 'Maybe I'm just drunk,' he mused. "Whoa." The entire hanger was filled with people.
"You're here."
"I didn't have much of a choice General," Shinji said. Arlington nodded and looked around. "Did you ask them to come?"
"Hell no," Arlington said. "They all are here of their own accord."
"We figured we'd give you a real send off." Shinji turned and saw his squad. "You take care of yourself Skipper," Gordy said.
"I will," Shinji said.
"I am sorry Captain." Shinji sighed and stared at the red-haired woman in front of him.
"I told you to stop that," he growled slightly. "You stay the hell away from Ryoji. He's nothing good, trust me."
"I know," Asuka said. Shinji smiled and held out his hand.
"Good luck in the Demons." Asuka flinched viably at that, but she reached out and shook his hand. Shinji nodded and walked around the large H-Jet that would take Pierce and him where they needed to go. Shinji paused as he glanced back at the crowd and then climbed on the jet.
"Did you do it?" Pierce asked.
"Do what?" Shinji asked as he sat down across from the older man.
"Propose to Hikari," Pierce said.
"Yeah," Shinji said simply.
"Does that hickey mean that she said yes?" Pierce asked.
"Yeah."
(:ii:)
"Okay Shinji," Asuka said. "Let's see what's so important." She pulled the small one-gig flash drive that Shinji had slipped her out of her pocket. There were words scrawled on one side. "Meet me over it? What the hell does that mean?" Asuka stared at the tiny drive and plugged it into her laptop.
"What are you doing to my computer?" Asuka nearly jumped out of her skin and Maria walked into the room.
"Shinji gave me something," she explained. "I'm trying to open it."
"Well let me step outside," Maria growled. "If the Skipper is anything like me then it's a bomb." Asuka sighed and watched as a pass word login screen popped up.
"It's got a password."
"Well he must have given you a clue," Maria said as she sat down on her bed and stared at the screen.
"He just wrote something on the drive," Asuka said.
"Meet me over it?" Maria read aloud in puzzlement. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"That's what I'm trying to figure out," Asuka said.
"Meet me," Maria repeated. "Where did you meet the Major?"
"Rainbow!" Asuka yelped in surprise. "Of course!"
"What?" Maria asked.
"I met him on an aircraft carrier called the Over the Rainbow," Asuka explained as she typed the word into the password spot. She paused and then entered her own name into the used name spot. To her relief the drive began to automatically upload its information. "Oh my God."
"What is it?" Maria demanded.
"This is information on an investigation led by Pierce, Shinji, and General Gambit," Asuka said. "They had their own investigation into the spy."
"Does it prove anything?" Maria demanded.
"Not conclusively," Asuka said as she searched through the information. "They have a list of suspects."
"Well it doesn't concern me," Maria said with a shrug.
"What do you mean?" Asuka demanded.
"Genesis was supposed to be absorbed into the Demons," Maria said. "That sure as hell wasn't part of the contract. Neither was having to watch our backs around our own guys."
"You're quitting?" Asuka asked.
"Yeah," Maria said. She stared at Asuka and saw down on her bed. "You can join us. The Skipper wanted you to stay with us. He figured you were safer that way."
"I can't leave," Asuka said. "I have a duty to fulfill here." Maria nodded her understanding.
"See you in Valhalla."
(:ii:)
"What the hell?" Kaji demanded as he stared at the group of soldiers in the hanger. They were all dressed for war. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he demanded angrily.
"We just quit," a man said. He was an older man with Gunnery Sergeant stripes on his vest.
"You can't do that!" Kaji snapped.
"We can," a new voice said. Kaji turned and stared at General Gambit. "Check our contracts." Kaji's mind spun desperately. NERV was hardly more then a thousand people with the Genesis soldiers. At last count Genesis had twenty-two squads of ten soldiers. Then there were the Genesis in training and the junior officers who weren't truly counted as part of the squad. In all there were two hundred and eighty-five of them. 'Eighty three now,' Kaji thought.
"You can't take that gear!" he snapped.
"We stole it fair and square," Gambit said. "If you want it then you can get it like we did, from the owner's cold dead fingers."
"I mean it," Kaji began as he reached for the pistol under his arm. Everything spun violently as a rifle butt collided with the back of his skull.
"Well that was stupid," Gambit said. "Now listen to me you arrogant little prick. Genesis is leaving. I'm staying to take care of a few things, but in the end there will be no Genesis here. Congratulations. You didn't want any mercenaries here and now there won't be any."
(:ii:)
Pierce looked around the inside of the H-Jet and glanced at Shinji. The younger man was fast asleep. "We're ten minutes from the drop zone!" one of the crew chiefs yelled. Pierce nodded his understanding and prodded Shinji with his boot. The former major went from asleep to awake faster then Pierce could blink.
"Are we there?"
"We're ten minutes away," Pierce said. "You should get your harness on." Shinji nodded and stood up. He yawned and began to strap on one of the parachute rigs. Pierce glanced at the crew chiefs and pulled on a pilot-style helmet with an oxygen mask clipped to one side. The crew chiefs were already wearing full pressure suits. 'I could probably take them,' Pierce mused as he stared at the bulky suits.
"You've got that look in your eyes," Shinji said.
"What look?" Pierce asked innocently.
"You know what look," Shinji said as he pulled on his helmet and buckled it into place. He tugged the air hose down and connected it to the tank on the front of his harness. Pierce grinned and leaned closer to Shinji.
"We could take them," he whispered. "I doubt that they can even aim those things." Shinji eyed the Type 36Cs that the crew chiefs carried.
"You're forgetting something," Shinji whispered back.
"What?" Pierce asked. Shinji jerked his thumb towards the small box on the band around his neck. "Oh. That."
"Yeah that," Shinji said as he locked his oxygen mask into place and pulled down his visor. Pierce mimicked his moves.
"Hey fly boys," Pierce called. "Can we load our weapons?"
"That's against the rules of your mission," one of the men said.
"Come on," Shinji said. "Do you know how hard it is to load a weapon in freefall?" One of the crew chiefs looked around and snapped the laser pointer on his Type 36C on. The crimson dot played over Pierce's heart.
"Don't try anything," he growled lowly.
"Thank you," Shinji said. Pierce picked up one of the magazines lying on the bench and pushed it into his DMR. He pulled the charging handle back and secured the rifle to his harness. He quickly loaded his pistol and his Type 408.
"Ready to go."
"Same here," Shinji said as he held up his hands to show that they were empty. The lead crew chief nodded and punched a button on the bulkhead of the H-Jet. Red lights began to flash and the rear cargo ramp began to descend.
"Here we go again," Pierce murmured.
"Same old shit again." The ancient military cadence had taken on a whole new meaning. The flashing red lights finally turned a solid green and Pierce leapt out of the gunship.
(:ii:)
Misato stared at the picture in her hand and sighed. "How did it come to this?"
"Ma'am?" Misato glanced at the intercom on her desk and pushed the button.
"What is it?"
"Brigadier General Gambit is here to see you," Misato's secretary said.
"Send him in," Misato said. The door opened and an older man in a pair of urban BDUs stepped into the office.
"Pierce and Nagisa are on the ground," he said. "Staring at pictures ma'am?"
"Just an old picture," Misato said as she held out the picture. "This was a promotion party a long time ago."
"Is that the Nagisa?"
"Yeah," Misato said. "And Sohryu and Suzuhara and Horaki and Ryoji."
"Of course this was back when he was Ikari," Arlington said. Misato jumped up so fast that her thighs slammed into her desk rather painfully.
"You know about that?" she demanded.
"Of course I do," Arlington said. "I am his commanding officer. Are you coming? I can guarantee that the show will be quite interesting."
(:ii:)
"That could have been a better landing," Shinji said as he stared at the canopy of his parachute.
"Yep," Pierce said as he opened a small case and pulled out two headsets. "Here." Shinji slid his headset on and flicked the tiny camera on the right side of his head.
"Is this thing working?"
"We can hear you loud and clear Nagisa," someone said.
"Who is this?"
"It's Brigadier General Ibuki," the woman said. "Colonels Aoba and Hyuga are here too."
"Remind you of something?" Pierce asked.
"Yeah," Shinji growled. "Lot's of bad memories." He tugged his parachute roughly and the thin material ripped. It fell to the ground and Shinji quickly bundled it up. "Could you get a GPS reading?"
"No problem," Pierce said. Shinji quickly forced the parachutes into a hole they had already dug and began shoving dirt back into place. "They're going to be able to tell that there's something there," Pierce commented.
"Nothing we can do about that," Shinji said as he straightened up. "How's our position?"
"The entrance to the runoff drain is ten meters southwest," Pierce answered. "It's that way." Shinji nodded and adjusted the sling of his Type 3. Pierce began walking and Shinji followed him with his Type 3's stock pressed against his shoulder. They walked for almost a moment in complete silence before Pierce stopped. "It should be here somewhere." Shinji poked through the fallen leaves and sticks.
"Found it." He kneeled down and began to brush leaves and dirt off of the small metal disk. "Give me the crow bar." Pierce handed the tool to him and Shinji carefully pried the lid off of the tiny tunnel.
"We're supposed to go through that?" Pierce asked. "Thank God I'm not claustrophobic."
"It's our only way in," Shinji said simply.
"We can't get through it," Pierce said. "Our gear won't fit."
"Why else would we bring drag bags?" Shinji asked as he pulled off his combat vest and began stuffing it into the drag bag.
"Can't we just do it the old fashion way?" Pierce asked.
"Banzai charge at a gun emplacement?" Shinji asked as he carefully put his Type 3 into the bag.
"We're going to die anyway," Pierce said with a shrug.
"Now you're just stalling," Shinji said as he drew his .45-caliber SOCOM pistol and began to put his utility harness into the bag.
"This is a storm runoff," Pierce said as he finally began to pack his gear into his drag bag. "If it rains we'll drown."
"It's an emergency runoff," Shinji corrected. "It would have to rain a lot."
"Oh well," Pierce said. "I always wondered what my Grand Daddy went through in Vietnam."
"What did he do?" Shinji asked as he strapped the bag's leash to his waist.
"He was a tunnel rat," Pierce said simply. "So how far do we have to go?"
"A little over two miles," Shinji said as he carefully lowered his upper body into the steeply angled tunnel and began crawling.
(:ii:)
"Attention on deck!"
"As you were," Misato said quickly. "This is quite an operation."
"Disgusting," Arlington said. "All this was originally designed to take command away from the leader in the field."
"I never thought of it like that," Misato said.
"I wouldn't have expected you to," Arlington said. "With all due respect of course."
"What's their status?" Misato asked.
"They've cached their parachutes and managed to find an underground passage that will take them past the defense perimeter and into the city," Shigeru said. "What are you still doing here sir?"
"I have a few things to take care of," Arlington said. "Don't worry, I'll be gone soon too." Misato frowned at the comment and turned to Shigeru.
"You mean there's a passage that leads from the forest to the city?" she asked. "Why didn't I know about that?"
"Did I say passage?" Shigeru asked. "I meant two mile long hole in the ground. They can't even get through it with their armor on."
"What?" Misato asked.
"Just look at the screens ma'am," Arlington said. Misato glanced up at the screens that dominated one whole wall of the command center. Two of them showed strange and rather disorienting pictures. "Are they using visible lights?"
"Yeah," Makoto said. "The tunnel is just too small for them to wear NVGs. All their equipment is in drag bags."
"What's that?" Misato whispered.
"It's an equipment bag that's secured to the waist by a strip of material," Arlington explained. "They're crawling?"
"Yes sir," Makoto said.
"Are they saying anything?" Misato asked.
"Nothing of any important," Maya said.
"Put it on the speakers anyway," Misato said.
"You know," Shinji's labored voice said. "If this pipe is broken anywhere we're going to have to backtrack."
"I know," Pierce said. "Don't forget, this is a storm runoff drain. If it rains then we're both going to drown."
"I think I saw some pretty nasty clouds coming in," Shinji commented.
"How can they joke about that sort of thing?" Misato asked in wonderment.
"It's part of the Savior mentality," Arlington explained. "If you're going to die, you might as well die laughing."
(:ii:)
"Just let me through for a second," Asuka growled at the young sentry.
"I'm sorry ma'am," the young man said. "We can't let you through to talk to General Gambit."
"It's important," Asuka argued. "We need to talk to him."
"I'm sorry ma'am," the sentry repeated. "We can't let you through to talk to General Gambit."
"That's the problem with Demons," Asuka spat, ignoring the fact that she was now a Demon herself. "Not much happening upstairs."
"Is there a problem?" Asuka spun and stared at the tall, sharp faced First Lieutenant who had spoken.
"I was just trying to have a word with General Gambit," she explained.
"Why don't you then?" Fuyutsuki asked as the sentry saluted him.
"Well I'm having a little trouble with this guy sir," Asuka said.
"Trouble?" the old man asked.
"I have orders sir," the man said.
"I see," the Lieutenant said. He stepped forward until his face was only a centimeters from the other man's. "Move." The guard stepped to the side quickly. The Lieutenant pushed the door open and stepped into the command center. As he did so Asuka caughtsight of the crest tattooed on the back of his right hand. He was Genesis.Her helper walked over to Arlington and whispered something to him. Then he saluted as walked out. Arlington turned and looked at her. "What can I do for you Lieutenant?"
End
(:ii:)
Author's notes. Still have nothing to say.