Chapter Five
Sunlight shone through the window and Misato sat up in bed to find that it was just at sunrise. She was surprised that she couldn't smell anything being cooked and she got out of bed, slowly allowing her body to wake up.
Grabbing the beer off her nightstand, she walked out into the hallway as she cracked it open and began gulping it down. Her morning routine never seemed to change, but she didn't want to wake anyone if they were still asleep.
No one was in the kitchen, so she went ahead to the living room and she found that three of the children were still asleep, but Tai was standing in front of the window. He seemed to be concentration on what little of the city he could see.
"Is everything alright, Tai?" she asked, stepping around the others to stand beside him.
"I detected the power signature again," he said. "She's hunting me." He turned to her and looked as if he was about to make an important decision. "After the sync tests, I need to disappear. Section Two is not going to be able to follow me."
Instead of speaking her mind and asking more questions, she just nodded her head. "I see you already have a plan."
"No," he told her. "I'll be hunting her myself. It will be better for me to find her than for her to find me." He walked over to where his futon was and removed the weapon and scanning device that he had hidden there when he set out the futon and sheets last night. "I'm taking Rei with me when I go, but we will be back before midnight."
"I don't approve of you going out on your own like that," Misato told him, sternly. "Section Two is there to protect you against our enemies and people who just want to harm you for who you are. You shouldn't ditch them."
"Believe me when I tell you that I can take care of myself better than anyone else I've ever known," he said, but then a small sound was heard. She watched as he removed a small badge from his pocket and pressed it. "Fergason here. Who is this?"
"I see that you are here in the city," came a female voice. "Where are you?"
Tai's face contorted into an enraged expression and he turned away from Misato to walk down the hallway. "The question is, where the hell are you!" he shouted, waking the others. "Stop taunting me and tell me how the heck you even remembered what you are!"
"Meet me at the mall this evening and I'll tell you all you need to know," the voice said. "I should also warn you that Liger is here too. I've hidden his power signature from you, but Red is right out in the open so much that I could target you from here."
Tai restrained himself from trying to triangulate her signal. "Alright, I'll meet you there at eight. Come alone and with no weapons. Deal?"
"I'm bringing one other," she said. "Someone I've met here. I agree on the no weapons deal though. We both know that they would do neither of us any good."
"Very well then."
"Be nice to see you again, hon. Gordan out."
When the comm channel closed, Tai slammed the combadge down onto the tiled floor and crushed it under his bare foot. He was obviously very angry and frustrated about whatever was going on and Misato assumed that that was the person who was hunting him. Calming after a moment, he moved his hand to the phaser that was holstered at his side and removed it.
Rei stood from her futon and tried to get close to him, but there was some kind of electrical barrier refusing to allow her to get any closer than a few inches. He didn't even know she was there because he was busy examining the weapon, and then he just stepped into his room.
"What's going on, Misato?" Shinji asked, concerned for Tai and trying to calm Rei down.
"He's being hunted," she answered, not really believing what just happened herself. "That was the huntress that he was talking to."
"What's he going to do?" Asuka asked, swallowing a lump in her throat. Tai had always seemed to be very calm, even when in battle. While he was talking to that person, it seemed as if he was enraged though. It didn't seem possible to her that he could be that way.
"I don't know," Misato answered, and then finally turned to Rei. "It's alright, he'll think of something." The phone rang and she went to answer it. "Hello, Katsuragi residence. Yes. Yes. Hang on a moment and I'll get him for you." Taking the portable phone in her hand she made her way, cautiously, to Tai's door where she knocked lightly. "Tai, the phone is for you."
He came out of his room, now back in his uniform and took the phone from her. "Hello?" he asked. There was a short pause and then he said, "Authorization Fergason Tango Alpha 335."
"I see that you still have a few of your memories," a familiar voice said.
"Cryo stasis wasn't just abandoned by myself I see," Tai answered. "What's going on Mike?"
"I'm sending over support when you need it," he said. "Base One will be back in working order in a few weeks."
"Thanks for the good news," Tai said. "Can you track Grey Lightning for me?"
"No," Mike answered. "We've been wondering where it is."
"I'll have to find it myself then," Tai told him. "Gordan's back and she's decided to hunt me."
"Good luck, sir," Mike said. "I'll have support to you in a few days."
"Thanks," Tai told him, letting out a held breath. "Fergason out." He handed the phone back to Misato and then glanced at Rei. "Do you want to come with me?"
"If you will let me," Rei said as she stood back up and looked at him.
"Get changed and put get a jacket," he said. "If you don't have a warm enough one you can borrow my other uniform jacket from my room."
"Yours will do," she said. He nodded and went back to his room to get it as she went to her room to get changed.
Misato followed Tai to his room and she noticed that he had various cases set out on the floor now that looked to be weapons cases. He removed a small weapon from one of the cases and handed it to her. "This is a Type One phaser," he told her, handing the small device over that looked like a remote control. "It cannot be detected by metal detectors or weapons inspections. Keep it on you at all times. I've set it to only fire on stun setting and have locked it."
"Is this really necessary?" she asked, taking the weapon and slipping it into her pocket. "I mean, will this person attempt to capture us as well?"
Tai scowled at the thought of that and looked at her. "It's just a precaution." He then walked out of his room and met up with Rei at the door where she pulled her shoes on and he stepped out into the corridor. Misato followed them, accompanied by Asuka and Shinji until the elevator, where they could get a look at the car that was parked beside Misato's car.
"I've never seen that car before," Misato said.
"It's mine," Tai said, the door to the elevator closing as he and Rei made their way down to the ground floor. After a moment, they had come up beside the door and he opened it to allow Rei to get in. She did so without much thought about it, but when she saw the interior of it she gasped. "Just don't touch anything and you'll be fine. Red, activate defence systems and charge weapons," Tai said, getting in behind the wheel.
Misato watched the car pull out of the parking lot and when it hit a straightaway it seemed to arc back and disappear very quickly. "And you complain about her driving, Baka-Shinji," Asuka said.
"That was fast," Misato said, then led the two remaining children back into the apartment.
About ten minutes later, Tai and Rei were still cruising around the city and he was trying to collect sensor data to attempt to find out where Grey Lightning was hidden. So far, they hadn't been able to get any readings that would even suggest where it would have been. He was beginning to get frustrated and he didn't like the fact that he was, yet again, being threatened.
In the days that he had been piloting before Vanessa Gordan had joined up, it was easier. Revenger had been his unit then, but the Lightnings were already in the planning stage. There were complications with the police in the area, but that just spiced things up a bit and he was able to thwart their efforts to capture him. If only it was so easy here. Now he was up against a pilot that was just as experienced as he was and she had access to every weapon that he had.
There was one thing that he had an advantage over her with, however. Since he was one of the lead designers on the Lightning project, he knew that there were back doors in the AI system. If he could get close enough to be able to access Liger he would be able to execute a shut down command. Otherwise, he would have to play a game of cat and mouse with live ammunition, possible making it a life or death struggle.
Rei sat in the passenger's seat, observing his every move and making sure that she wasn't distracting him. She had never seen anything like this before and she was certainly baffled by the fact that he was being so open about it to them all. This was something that obviously pained him and he was now on a mission to attempt to keep them out of the equation. Nothing that he was doing was adding up in her logic though, because he should be just keeping this to himself and dealing with it on his own.
Logic, however, she had learned, didn't work all the time and this was one of the situations where it didn't. Some aspects of this new identity were troublesome to her reasoning and her feelings about him, but she was taking things as they were put in front of her. Mainly, this would turn out if she had the strength to help him through it, but she knew that this was a situation in which a firefight was possible.
"Do you want anything to eat?" Tai asked, keeping his eyes on the road.
"Are we stopping for breakfast?" Rei asked.
Realizing that they hadn't had anything to eat before they left he turned to the replicator. "Coffee, double-double," he ordered from it. A cup materialized on the console and he picked it up and took a drink from it. "Just ask for what you want and you shall have it," he told Rei.
"Ramen noodles," she said, not really believing it. True to his word though, the replicator came to life once more and produced what she had asked for. She took a taste of them and quickly ate the rest because they tasted like they had just been freshly made.
Tai chuckled a bit. "Replicated food isn't that good, but I guess since it's the first of it you've ever had you'd think so."
"Energy pattern detected," Red reported. "Signal is consistent with that of an Andronian implant."
"Location?"
"Unknown."
"Triangulate the signal and report location."
"Unable to comply. Signal has been lost."
Tai sat back in his seat as he shifted to the next gear, the highest one without engaging the modified engines. He had just about had enough with the taunting that Vanessa was doing. This evening he would not only find out what is going on, but he would stop it once and for all.
Next stop was back at the apartment, where he would try to put this behind him for the time being and then he would go to the Geo Front with the others for the sync tests so that Dr. Akagi would be satisfied. Then they would begin the night op that he would win at, one way or another.
The mall was packed from one side of the corridor to the other, but Tai knew exactly where he had to go. The small dinning area was deserted, except for two people that sat in the shadows of one of the booths. One was putting out the unique energy signature that would only be emitted from Andronian technology.
"Hello Vanessa," Tai sneered, taking a seat across from her at the table. A man sat with her who seemed to be very serious about what he was doing, but he didn't say a word.
"Hello Brian," she answered, greeting him with a kindness that was beginning to get under his skin. "You came alone I see."
"Not very observant today, are we?" he asked. "I brought a friend with me, who I taught how to use Red's self-destruct system. She's waiting outside this building ready to flip the switch if I don't return within a certain amount of time."
"Always with your finger on the button, now aren't you?" she asked, mocking him as if he was only a child.
"Enough of this crud, what do you want?"
"Simple," she said. "I want you to return with me. We have a lot to discuss about our future together."
He sat there, his scowl growing in intensity. "There is no us anymore, Vanessa. You ended it years ago. I will not be drug back into that kind of relationship ever again. You were heartless and untrustworthy."
"I'm hurt," she pouted, taunting him further. "Fine, since you will not comply, I will have to prove to you my worth in battle."
"Stealing one of the Lightnings is not what I think will prove you in battle," he retorted. "Nor stealing a piece of technology that could kill you when interfaced with it."
"We shall see," she said. "This discussion is over."
Tai tapped his combadge and spoke one word, "Tango."
Vanessa watched as the hologram disappeared and then she just how much of a mistake she had made. "We have to get out of here."
Tai brought his phaser rifle to bare on the fire control systems and blasted it with a quick pull of the trigger. The alarms blared and the sprinkler system came to life as soon as the blast struck it. Everyone in the mall began to evacuate, thinking that there was some kind of fire.
Only a few moments passed before he got an alert that a transporter system was activating. He smiled as it was blocked by the transport inhibiter field that he had set up. There were a lot more cards that Vanessa held in her hand, but he just took a very important one away.
The next alert that his implant gave to him was that a clocking field was being used. He detonated a small EMP weapon that knocked out the cloaking field generators on both his implant and hers at the same time.
Now, with some of the most impressive systems off-line that the implants had to offer, they were on even grounds and trapped within the mall. He tossed the phaser rifle toward the entrance to the building after setting it to overload and watched as it exploded, reducing the doors to rubble.
Standing from his position on the upper floor, he began his own game, in which there would be no escape. He slung his second phaser rifle over his shoulder and made a quick run for the shadows as the sprinklers continued to rain down upon him.
"Where is he?" Vanessa sneered as she walked though the corridors of the mall, staying as close to the walls as possible. She had retrieved her phaser rifle and pack from a public locker she had found when she walked in, and she had just gotten in moments after realizing her former boyfriend's treachery. Inside the pack were a multitude of plasma grenades and a few bricks of homemade C4.
Catching movement out of the corner of her eye, she tensed up and kneeled down on the floor. Waiting to see if there would be another flash of movement, she heard a splash from behind her and whirled to come face-to-face with an armor-clad Brian. He wasn't what she was immediately worried about though. It was the phaser rifle he had lowered to her skull.
"You wouldn't really shoot me, right?" she asked, trying to get an advantage by distracting him.
"Wrong." He pulled the trigger and the video feed from the sensors was obliterated.
Standing there in the downpour form the sprinkler system, Tai wondered just how many more holographic emitters he'd have to go through to get top the real deal. However, he didn't have to wait long because his target stepped out of the shadows fairly quickly.
"You destroyed the only one, Tai," she said. "I want a duel with you, on fair and even grounds. No weapons, technology, armor, or shields."
Dropping his armor and allowing the pouring water to soak through his uniform, he fixed her with his trademark cold stare. "Think you can handle me hand-to-hand, eh?" he asked, watching closely as she copied his movements in disassembling the phaser rifle she carried. "Didn't we already do this once?"
"Just before we separated," she answered. "That day put you into a state of depression that would last for well over a year."
He tossed the disassembled particle weapon aside as she did that and her pack. Then he stepped a little closer to her to enter hand-to-hand range as he copied the maneuver. It was just like back before they did separate. This time though, it wouldn't be one of the harmless training sessions they had gone though back then.
Getting into a fighting stance that assured him cover from all directions, he narrowed his eyes to lock onto his target's weak points. "I got over that, and have since moved on," he said, as they circled each other. "Now, as your enemy and teacher, I'm telling you to back off."
"Not a chance," she sneered. "Gender doesn't apply here, so don't hold back."
"Very well," he said, cracking his neck as he allowed his eyes to close for a moment, then he looked back at her with a dark look in his eyes. "Protocols rescinded, begin!"
She unleashed with a spin kick, that he quickly parried with a punch to the underside of her leg. It made her fall back a little, enough for him to get a few well-placed punches in. He drove her back quickly, allowing his full power to resonate.
As he was moving at full speed she saved her power and then threw a punch that intercepted a flying kick and knocked him back for a moment, but he recovered quickly.
"You still don't know how to anticipate your opponent's movements," he said, kneeling to rest for a moment. "This will not end well for you."
"Keep talking," she snorted, then launched herself into the air.
Tai remained kneeling as he braced for impact and soon felt the pain as she came down on his head. Damage was minimal, but it made his head spin for a moment. All of her weight was put into the next blow that was made onto his shoulder and then she punched his arm in the other direction. The sound of shattering of bones seemed to please her and she backed off and turned around so that her back was to him.
"You are now below one hundred percent combat effective," she announced, pride in her voice. "You are no longer able to continue with that arm of yours."
"I thought we weren't using any technology,"" he told her as she remained turned around. The calmness in his voice was taunting her to a great extent. "Check your readings again."
She stood there with her back still to him, but he could see the light from her now decloaked implant's display screen. "Two hundred and fifty percent combat effective?" she gasped as her implant was finished recalibrating its scan results. "How is that possible?"
"That grief period, that tortured me for so long, served as a training period for me," he said, standing without effort. "This arm of mine that you have broken is only dropping me by fifty percent, but watch."
Now, turned to face him in shock, she watched as he moved his right arm so that it hovered over his broken left arm's shoulder and then slowly glided it along its length. On her implant, the scan confirmed that he was repairing the injury, and with it his combat effectiveness percentage rose to an even three hundred percent.
"Stay back," she chocked, deploying her armor and raising her shields.
"Don't think so," he said as the power readings she was getting from him went off the scale. "With protocol in the state that it is, I must follow without it. In other words, you made the biggest mistake possible when you told me not to follow it. Thus, with protocol rescinded, I must now finish this battle." He walked up to her, without the use of his own implant and he got back into a fighting stance. "This ends here, and now."
Receiving the signal that she had been waiting for, Rei decloaked Red Lightning and opened the door. Outside was the lobby of the mall, but it looked as though a war had been fought there. She gazed at the tricorder that she was holding and followed the signal in the direction that it was indicating. Walking through the corridors, she could see that the sprinklers were still running and thought that the system had been damaged by whatever kind of battle was fought here.
As she was about to turn the corner, the beeping sounds from the tricorder escalated in speed and intensity. Closing it, she rounded the corner and there he was. Kneeling down beside him, she looked at the young woman who was lying unconscious in front of him. She looked like she had been beaten up badly, but he also looked like he'd gone through quite a battle because he was bleeding a bit from scrapes on his arms and cuts on his face.
"Hand me the tricorder, please," he said, weakly. She handed it to him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders to give him some degree of support and comfort. He looked at her and gave a weak smile before scanning the woman as she continued to lie there, but then he announced the results. "She's still alive, but just barely."
"What happened to her?" Rei asked.
"Hand-to-hand combat that she was over confident in," he answered. He then reached to her wrist and tore the Andronian implant, an exact replica of his own, from it. "Thankfully she won't die because of me removing this. She hasn't interfaced with it correctly. Now, just to get her somewhere to patch her up before she does die on us."
"Why do we need her alive?"
"She has questions that I want answers to," he said, picking her up and allowing Rei to lead the way back to the lobby. "We'll have to take her back to the apartment where I can interrogate her."
"Is she a danger?"
"Without this," he said, holding up the implant in one hand while he balanced her in his arms, "she's just as weak as Shinji is when he is severely depressed. Just to be safe though, I do have a few forcefield generators back at the apartment among my belongings."
We'll need them then, as a precaution." She rounded the front of Red Lightning and got into the passenger's seat. Tai placed the limp body of the woman into the back and then sealed the compartment with the metal shield. He then sat down behind the wheel and sighed in relieve as she gazed at him. "Who is she?"
Tai turned to her as he keyed in the manual command to cloak the car. "She's a former officer of my organization, holding the rank of commander," he answered. "Her name is Vanessa Gordan, and she was also my former girlfriend of one year."
The room was dark and it elicited a feeling of dread as she opened her eyes and flexed her damaged muscles. What surprised her most of all that her thought of them being damaged was flawed. They had been punished in the fight with her ex-boyfriend, but now they felt as if that had never happened. She knew it couldn't have been a dream, but now she got another feeling.
She looked around and found that there was a window and she looked out it, without moving, and found that it was still dark. "What hit me?" she asked.
"I did," came a familiar voice out of the darkness, but it was older than she remembered and it was also full of venom.
"Brian," she asked, and then she remembered exactly what had happened to her. "Where have you taken me?"
He smiled a cold smile as he stepped out of the darkness and stood, leaning against a wall beside a door, on the other side of the room from her. "Somewhere where I can hold you behind a forcefield until you answer a few of my questions."
"You know that because of the implant, forcefields cannot hold me," she said, sneering. But then she noticed what she had overlooked. He had removed it. "What have you done to me?"
"The implant gave you the abilities that would have made it possibly for you to escape," he said, holding it up in a small stasis tank. "So I removed it shortly after you fell unconscious."
"So, what are you going to do now that I'm as helpless as every other human being?" she asked, ignorantly.
"Where is Grey Lightning?" he asked, ignoring her question.
"Hidden away from you and on autopilot to change locations every few hours."
"Why were you so eager to engage me in combat?"
"I want you back."
"That cannot, and will not, happen, and you know that!" he yelled, slamming his fist against the wall as emphasis. "Now, where is the Lightning!"
For a moment she saw something in his eyes that made her fear him, but then she regained her self-confidence and turned her face away from him. "I will not tell you."
Another figure stepped out of the shadows and stood beside him, at the same time handing him a phaser riffle. He nodded to the newcomer and she keyed a command in on a tricorder that drooped the forcefield. "If you will not tell me, then there is no use for you. This phaser riffle is set to vaporize. I'm sorry it had to come to this."
As he raised the weapons tip to be level with her head, she huddled into a corner and brought her knees up to her chin. She was genuinely afraid of him now, and the only thing she could think of suddenly happened. "I can't even find him!" she shouted. "It's a random program with the computer's AI!"
After a second, he lowered the weapon and removed the power pack from it. "You will stay in this room or you will be killed, is that understood?"
"Yes, Admiral."
He then left the room and closed the door behind him and his companion. Vanessa lowered her head so that her forehead touched to her knees and she sobbed. "Why has it come to this?"
Tai made his way to the living room where he sat down to think about what his next step would be. There was a definite danger to the public if a rouge Lightning was allowed to operate in the area, especially that one. The AI programming of Grey Lighting was flawed to a point where a special pilot was needed to keep it under control, and now it had no pilot.
"Is it wise to keep her there without that forcefield of yours?" Asuka asked, sitting down on the couch beside him to watch TV. "I mean, she could just walk out of here."
"And if she does try it, I will be alerted," he told her. When she looked at him with a confused expression, he tapped his wrist where the implant was. "I tagged her with a tracking device. If she moves beyond the confines of that room, she will trigger it and my implant will alert me."
"I see," Asuka said. "Won't she be able to find it and remove it?"
"She'll have to rip herself apart," he said, keeping his calm voice that irritated most people, including Asuka. "I put it in her stomach, and it should last for a few months."
"That's sick," Asuka said, turning a shade of green thinking of it. "So, what are you going to do now?"
"That's what I'm going to figure out."
Shinji walked into the room, carrying a platter of food and Rei was behind him carrying in the drinks. The four teens enjoyed the small snack that Shinji had prepared for him, and Tai continued to think about the events that could happen. He had sent Red out on a scouting mission and she would be reporting in if she found any sign of her fellow Lightning.
"You kids still up?" asked Misato as she came in to join them. "It's three in the morning."
"Tai blew up the mall today," Asuka told her.
"I heard something happened there, thankfully no one was injured." She then noticed the cuts on Tai's face. "Tai, what happened to you?"
He reached up and touched his fingers to the wounds. "More battle wounds," he muttered. "I was in a fight, and I won."
"He also has a prisoner in the spare bedroom," added Rei.
Misato sat down as he explained what had happened and she stared at him as he finished telling her what the battle had been like. "So she's in there now, beaten up that badly! She's got to be taken to the hospital!"
"She's alright," Tai assured her. "I brought some technology with me that serves medical purposes."
"Technology my holographic butt," came a voice from behind Misato.
"Who the heck are you?" the three other pilots and Misato asked in unison.
"I'm the Emergency Medical Hologram," the man replied. "Most people who know me call me Doctor."
Tai frowned, realizing that the hologram's autonomous controls had been reactivated. "Who activated you?" he asked, irritated now.
"I did," the Doctor said, smiling. "While you were out of the room, I finished treating Miss Gordan and had time to reactivate my autonomous controls."
"Great," Tai muttered, hanging his head low and taking interest in the hardwood floor for a moment.
Rei was puzzled about what was going on and asked, "What is wrong with that, Tai?"
He didn't even bother to lift his head. "Now he'll be ordering me to get more sleep and be complaining about every little thing I do. He's a vicious, life sucking monster from which there is no escape."
The Doctor looked at him and frowned. "I'm a doctor, not that teacher you had to deal with in high school years ago."
"Whatever." Tai stood and made his way to his room to get his futon. "We all sleeping in the living room again tonight?" he asked. When he received the response from the others that they were planning on it, he dragged his futon out and got it ready for later. He then made his way to the washroom with a pair of jogging pants and a t-shirt draped over his shoulder.
"You are not planning on sleeping with these women, Admiral," the Doctor said, appalled at this. It elicited a series of chuckles from the others as Tai stopped dead in his tracks. "And you, how do you consume that much beer?"
Misato pulled away from the hologram as he attempted to remove the beer from her. This made the others back away from the scene as her face contorted into a glare. "I see what you mean now, Tai. How do I deactivate him?"
"I assure you, this will not help your health," the Doctor said.
"Remove the device that is on his left arm just below his shoulder."
"Now just a minute-"
"Thank god," Tai said, hearing the familiar sound as the Doctor faded away into holographic oblivion. "Now give that to me." Misato handed him the small device that was the Doctor's holographic emitter and he made a slight modification to the circuitry with a tool he removed from it and then he placed it on a shelf. "There, he won't be able to bother us whenever he wants to now."
"This whole hologram thing still freaks me out," Asuka said, shivering just a bit. Shinji put his arm around her in the moment that seemed so rare and she didn't bother to shrug him off.
"He won't harm you," he said, and then added, "physically. The only danger there is is him talking your ears off." Receiving a laugh from that he proceeded back on course to the washroom to get changed.
"Do you think that he has any more surprises that we don't know about?" Misato asked, looking at the other three children. "It seems that we can't go, even for a few hours, without something else popping up!"
"Let's just be thankful that he's on our side," Shinji said. "If he wasn't and was looking to attack us, I'd be a little worried."
"The prisoner's vehicle is still out there somewhere," Rei added, back in a voice that seemed hollow and void of emotions.
Shinji looked at her with a questioning look on his face. "What does that have to do with it? Without a driver, it cannot be a problem."
"Those 'cars' are weapons," Tai said, now back in the room and leaning against the doorframe. "Just like the Evangelions, they have a mission in their existence as well. I can pilot and Vanessa can pilot, not because of sync ratios, but because of training. The AI does a lot of the work for first-time pilots, but left on its own it can become quite destructive without a pilot." He closed his eyes for a moment before letting out a breath. "And there's always the possibility that she has given it a few extra instructions that we don't know about yet."
"Can you force the information out of her?" Misato asked.
"Not without getting back to my base," he said, not looking very enthusiastic about it. "And the fact is, I don't even know if we could do anything there or not either. When I last saw it, the whole place was in ruins."
"Then we will have to question her further," Asuka said. "First thing in the morning."
Misato nodded and then got up to go to bed herself. "I'll see you all in the morning."
"Goodnight, Misato," they all said in unison as she retreated from the room.
Rei was the last one to get changed and she sat there as Tai typed commands in on the implant that he had attached to his wrist. She was curious about it and her gaze drifted from it to his face as he worked. "Where did you get that?" she finally asked.
Tai stopped and recloaked it as he looked up to meet her gaze. She visibly shivered as his eyes met hers and then he sighed. "That's a story that is very long and very troublesome," he said. "To put it in a short form, I got it just before a very dear friend of mine was killed. Along with several hundred other people that I used to work with."
Silence fell on the room after that and he slipped in under the covers as she looked at him with an expression that was unreadable at first, but then became apparent that it was one of wonder.
Rei had simply taken the answer as a shock to her very core. She had never heard anything like that before and, now that she was beginning to get in touch with her emotions; she realized that that information was terrifying. Wondering how he could even stand to remember such a thing worried her and she felt driven to comfort him again, yet resisted. This person that lay on the futon beside hers was obviously one more mystery after another and she was only held back by her worry that she may uncover something worse.
A past that had not occurred to her before was that he had lived before Second Impact, was left to sleep though it in suspended animation, and then revived in time to pilot Eva. It had been rough on Shinji when he first began piloting, but this seemed to be even worse in her mind. Now he had not only piloting Eva to worry about, but also piloting this vehicle that he referred to as a Lightning.
"Come to bed, Rei," came his voice, soft and unemotional. "You need your rest."
Almost feeling reluctant to do so, she layed down and covered herself with blankets that she had spread out for her futon while pondering these things. Shinji and Asuka were already asleep and she knew that they wouldn't be woken up so easily. She layed on her side, starring at the back of Tai's head as he layed there and breathed in a steady motion that forced the blankets to rise and fall with it.
Suddenly, he rolled over and faced her. "Thank you."
"For what?" she asked, feeling better in some way that he had faced her. He had a caring disposition that she enjoyed and basked in the feeling of it as he gazed upon her, the edge and darkness now out of his expression.
"For doing what you did for me today," he said. "Most others have been reluctant, and even too scared to even attempt what you did."
"Why?"
"The people who have done that for me in the past just never understood and they were too frightened by the fact that I was a pilot of a weapon like Red," he said. "I saw the fear in your eyes as you gazed upon it too, and I was almost ready to take you back when I switched everything to an alerted status. But I commend you for your ability to operate in a tense situation such as that was."
"I understand," she said, inching a little closer to him. "Do you mind?"
"Of course not," he said, draping his arm around her and pulling her closer. "It comforts me more to have someone beside me than being alone."
"Me too."
With that said, they both found a resolve in the night and then closed their eyes to fall asleep. Tai was about ready to drift into unconsciousness when his exposed arm rippled and the Andronian implant decloaked again. He opened his eyes as he felt this happen and gazed at the screen, which read 'Security Breach' in large, bold, red lettering.
Looking over to where he knew that a pair of eyes gazed upon him, he found his prisoner standing there, looking at him. She seemed very upset by what she saw, but he didn't really care about what she felt. The mere fact that she had wanted to harm him brought anger welling up inside him as she stood there, but he suppressed it, like he did everything else that was negative.
"Tyler, are you awake?" she asked.
"The silent alarm sounded when you exited the room," he answered, "so, yeah, I'm awake." He looked at her, clad in her officer's uniform. "I am still armed, I advise that you return to your room before I am forced to escort you and reactivate the forcefield to detain you."
"That won't be necessary," she said, her head dropping to gaze at the floor. "I just need to use the washroom."
"Then do so, and then return to your quarters," he said, closing his eyes. What he said was more along the lines of an order the way it sounded. "I will deal with you in the morning. And the doors and windows are armed with forcefield generators as well, so don't attempt an escape."
"I won't," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
When he didn't hear any footsteps retreating from the other side of the living room, he opened his eyes again to see her still standing there. "Is there something else?"
"Yes," she said. "I'm sorry."
He blinked and then snorted at that comment. "You threatened me and then attacked me," he said, his voice kept low so he wouldn't wake the others. Rei was asleep in his grasp, her back to him, and he really didn't want to worry her. "Your apology is accepted, Vanessa, but I can never forget the fact that you mercilessly broke my arm earlier today."
"I'm sorry," she repeated. "I really didn't know what to do, and I acted on impulse when I saw you with her."
He looked back to the mop of blue hair that protruded from the blankets in the futon next to him. It brought joy to his life, just having her there, but it also reminded him that he had finally found someone who wouldn't leave or betray him. "She means a lot to me, Vanessa," he confessed. "Even though I only met her a few days ago, she means a lot and I've gotten very close to her. If you truly do care for me, you won't interfere."
"I understand," she said, still standing there, now looking at him as he looked intently at his new love and then back to her. "I won't interfere."
The man that she had known for years then uncovered himself, separated from his new girlfriend, and crossed the room to her. She didn't know why he had done this, and the only thing that came to her attention was the phaser that he gripped at his side. Before he got to her, though, he unclipped it from his waist and set it down on the television in the corner. He then closed the distance between them and embraced her as she began to sob.
"It's alright, I forgive you," he said as he held her and she openly cried into his shoulder. Tai had always been a very forgiving and caring person, but she had never expected him to forgive her for what she had done to him in the last few hours. Then, just as unexpected, he guided her to the washroom.
Once she was finished, she emerged, still sobbing openly, and then she saw his face. He looked very tired and she remembered that look only from when she first seen him behind the wheel of Red Lightning. In fact, it had been the first time that he had even piloted the car himself. "You're very tired," she managed, between sobs.
"I feel like a truck hit me," he said, adding a soft chuckle after saying that. "But I still have enough energy to get this one last task done for the day."
"Carry me?" she asked, feeling very weak.
Without hesitation, he scooped her up off her feet and began carrying her back to her room, her arms locked around his neck to assist him. It reminded her of when they were still together, and she missed those days . . .
Three years had passed before she even knew that he had been in her life before. Then another two years passed before she discovered that he was actually a real person, and not a hallucination, but then ten years passed when he and his family suddenly disappeared . . . along with those amazing vehicles that they had both piloted.
She'd found the base over a year ago, thanks to a few people that she was able to contact in the military. Then she got everything together in an effort to actually get there. The dive gear that she got together was the best that she could afford with her job, the way it paid, and then she had to get someone to instruct her on cave diving. Once that was done with, she was able to make an attempt.
It took her months of diving during her hours off work and she never found the entrance, and then, a few days ago, she found it. Second Impact had rose the water levels to the point where the entrance to Base One was submerged under several hundred feet of water, and the small, one-man submersible, had felt like a coffin. On every dive she had made, she had felt uneasy about it, but when she discovered it, she made sure to log the coordinates and then get back to the surface before her oxygen ran out.
Back aboard the small boat that she now owned, she docked the submersible and then climbed out of it to let it charge and allow her to get some sleep. The thing used up an amazing amount of power, but it beat trying to find any other fuel that would drive something like it.
To be honest, the boat and the sub were archaic compared to what the top researchers owned nowadays, but it was what she could afford. Since she learned of Tai's disappearance before Second Impact, she had saved an incredible amount of money, but had to take many jobs to get it. In the end, it was all worth it though.
The next day, she took the sub back down into the depths and docked it, awkwardly, with the man-sized hatch away from the launch tunnel and main entrance to the base. The pressure of the water would have killed her if she had not checked to make sure that the seal was perfect, but she was thankful that he excitement had not gotten the better of her. When she popped the hatch, she descended into the base, but quickly found that the flashlight she had brought with her was a great idea.
The power was off, and the only light was from her flashlight that she held, and a scattered few consoles that were flickering. The main hangar was damaged, and looked like Second Impact had taken a tole on it. Many of the ceiling panels were jostled free and it seemed as though the only reason that the hangar launch doors were holding was because of something that was added.
Debris was scattered around in all directions, and she could see bodies in some places that had decomposed with time. It had to be one of the most sickening sights that she had ever layed eyes upon. The resemblance was that of petrified wood. Locating where her Lightning would be stored, she was about to move a little closer when she began to hear voices.
Everyone down here is dead, she thought, how could I be hearing voices?
It wasn't long before she saw that the voices she was hearing were real. Three men, carrying weapons that looked to be machine guns, emerged from the main corridor that would lead down to the officer's ready rooms. Behind them was something that shocked her even more. Tai was there, along with his family, but they looked as though they hadn't aged a bit! That was impossible! Unless they were in stasis. What she heard next eliminated all doubt of what she was seeing.
"You can go now," came Tai's voice, drifting across the large room and echoing off the walls. "We have our own transportation to the surface."
"Yeah, right, kid," was the sarcastic remark from one of the two soldiers that emerged from the rear of the group. "It took us days to get in here, and we had to use a sub."
"This facility is underwater?" came the unmistakable voice of her former friend, and Tai's sister, Jodi.
"Yes," came the answer, most likely the lead soldier talking. "There is much to explain."
"That can wait until we are where you have to take us," Tai said. "Where is it that we are going?"
"Nerv's fifth branch," came the reply, a woman talking who sounded more relaxed and joyful. "It's in Ottawa."
"I'll be there," Tai responded. "Get going now, I have to get something done here before I leave."
"Kid, we were sent to get you and I have to-"
"Enough!" Tai shouted. "I said that I have to do something and I want you to leave, now! I have transportation out of here, water or no water, now go!"
Vanessa cringed at the tone he was using, reminding her of how angry he got when someone had questioned his orders in the past. This was no different.
"Whatever, kid," the soldier said, and then began to walk off toward another room. "The level below this one is flooded, I suggest you stay out of there."
Within minutes, the soldiers had left and then Tai turned to one of the computer banks that were still active. "Computer, recognize."
"Fergason, Brian," the computer responded. "Rank, Third Star Admiral, pilot of Lightning unit zero."
"Open storage bay Alpha Zero One," he ordered, and the computer replied by beeping and then the door that was stripped with a red line opened. "Prepare Red Lightning for launch."
The next few minutes were a sad sight as she kept herself hidden, thinking that he wouldn't recognize her if she revealed herself and would consider her an intruder. She then watched the crimson vehicle speed out through the launch tunnel and disappear from view.
After she was sure that they were gone, she walked up to the console that he had accessed and followed his example. "Computer, recognize."
"Gordan, Vanessa," it responded. "Status, decommission, designated pilot of Lightning unit one."
"Open storage bay Alpha Zero Two."
"Unable to comply, storage bay Alpha Zero Two is under lockdown protocol."
"Since when is a Lightning locked down around here?"
"Please restate the question."
"I've always hated you."
"Please restate the question."
"Override lockdown command, voice authorization Gordan Alpha nine five three." After she spoke those words, the computer chirped and the door that was stripped with a grey line began to open. "Prepare Grey Lightning for launch."
"You going to be alright?"
Snapped out of her memories, she looked at Tai as he lowered her onto the futon she was to stay in tonight. "Yes," she answered. "Just remembering things."
"I'll see you in the morning," he said, then his expression returned to one that told her that he was being serious. "I expect answers when I come back."
"I know," she said. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight," he said, then left the room.
It had only been a few minutes ago that he had begun to show any degree of sympathy toward his ex-girlfriend and now he was beginning to feel a little bit better. The fact remained that she could still be a threat, but it felt better to him that she was now beginning to come around.
He walked back to the living room and adjusted the sheets over Rei so that she wouldn't be cold during the night.
"Is she okay?"
"You're still awake, Rei?" he asked, a little surprised. "Did you hear all that?"
"Yes."
I'm sorry that I've kept you up," he said.
"It's okay," she said, shivering under her blankets. "Could you climb in next to me?"
He pulled back for a moment, and then realized what she was asking. "You want me to cover us with both our blankets?"
"Is there a problem?" she asked.
"No," he said, adjusting them and making sure that his futon was right up beside hers. He then crawled in under her sheets with her and covered them with his as well. She turned to face him as he did this, and then they just layed there looking into each other's eyes for a moment.
"Let's get some sleep," he said. "I'm going to need to be at my best to deal with her in the morning. She could be back to being nasty."
Rei gave a nod, and then turned away from him and he embraced her from behind. They fell asleep like this and never stirred all night, both content with sleeping like this.
Well, that's it. I'm very tired right now because it is going on quarter to one in the morning. I hope that more people will review this story, because, until I get different people reviewing with some POSITIVE feedback or critisism, I will not be forking over the last chapter and the epilogue. Get reading! And review! Let me know that someone else is out there reading this!
Until next time, Fergason out.