Chapter 2: And then all hell broke lose

You know, I've always considered myself to be a truthful kind a guy. Ya see, some people, they say 'ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies'. Well, you rest assured, you don't need to worry your pretty little head over whether or not what just came out of my mouth is going to cause my nose to grow an inch or two.

It's bound to be one hundred percent genuine fact…

Who am I, I hear you asking? Oh, that's another thing that shouldn't worry you. I'm nobody.

Well, obviously I'm somebody. I have something that resembles a family, a car, a home and a mortgage to boot, but here… Well, as much as I hate to admit it (though I'll be the first one to, you can be sure of that) I'm no one special when it boils down to it…and as I said, I'm not the kind of guy who's kid myself into thinking I am. Ha, I hardly even know what's going on here myself.

And just where is here, you ask once more.

Why, here is NERV, the single largest, most high-tec and expensive military body in the whole of Japan, maybe even the world…

…It also happens to be the most hushed up as well. I mean you'd think with me working here and all, I might just have some idea as to what the hell's going on in this place, right?

Wrong.

All I know is that they've told me to stand guard at this particularly faceless entrance for the next X hours with this here rifle and to call in if anything… out of sorts happens.

End quote.

Now, I may not be in the know like those Doctors and commanders and, above all things, children you see strutting around this base knowing that they're someboides, essential cogs in this piece of well oiled machinery if you will, but these ears do pick up on things.

Things like the tone of the voice that issued that particular order. Now normally, these guys on the other end of the communicators sound like a bunch of robots unless there's something seriously nasty going down (and trust me, over the last couple of months I've spent as a member of NERV's security unit I've learnt that it takes something SERIOUSLY nasty to rattle these guys) but today, they were on edge. It wasn't obvious, but anyone would have been able to hear what lay beneath the calm and authorities tone they're always trying to churn out like their live depend on it (come to think of it, they probably do. I mean, if I heard one of them openly panic I'd probably thing the apocalypse or something was coming straight at us).

Fear and uncertainty.

There was just a hint of it, but that's all it takes to know there's something bad in the air with these guys. Very bad.

And just what is this looming prospect that got them all so on edge, so up in arms you cry. Well, I'm almost in the same degree as dark as you, my friend. In short, I don't have a hint clue… Don't look so puzzled, I mean, I did tell you about the fact that anyone asides from the commander's inner circle is just about as ignorant as you are when it comes to what's really going on in this place, didn't I?

You must think that's kind of funny. I mean, how am I going to know what it is I'm trying to stop coming bursting in through this here door behind me?

Well, there are the rumours and I'm going to be totally honest with you, they scare me even more than the thought all's not right with the head honchos…

See, our captains and what not, they've been clued in for once, and it doesn't take to much for a tongue to slip and dish out some real juicy info.

Only this info's enough to make my heart stop dead mid beat.

According to a string of rumours that are blazing through this base faster than a bush-fire, the U.N's deployed it finest to come and shut NERV down. For good.

Now, you can probably imagine that that's quite a scary prospect… I mean, the thought of a small army winging its way here on chopper's blades with guns prone and ready for a bit of good, old fashioned slaughter is enough to make anyone feel a little like dropping everything and running a blue mile.

Now, my friend, before you ask just what have we at NERV been up to for the rest of the world to want to wipe us clean off the map, I'm going to have to feed you an old line;

I don't know, and the last time I checked, we were the guys saving the world.

Oh well, it probably just is a rumour that's grown a little to big for its breeches, if you know what I mean. Something's is on its way, but it can't be as big as that…

Right?

…

…?

What's that noi- GAH!

8 8 8

The knife noiselessly slipped in and out, slicked by the guard's free flowing blood as a black clad hand drove it into his unsuspecting back. He was barely aware of the soft moan of the doors behind him as they slowly rolled up while he sunk to the floor in a limp, lifeless heap of limbs that were slowly forgetting how to function.

There was what seemed like such a distant, far-away clack of cold metal on metal, followed by a fading murmur of foot fall but that was it for him. The guard let his final breath of air go, helpless to stop himself from drifting off into the beckoning darkness.

His eyes had already glazed over as the army of shadows rolled in.