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An Assassin's Memories
Sixth Shot: Supremely Pissed Off
Shima could tell that something was wrong before his eyes even opened. There were four things that really tipped him off. The first thing being that he was lying on something too soft to be the floor. The second thing was the fact that there wasn't a gun in his hand. The third thing was the person in the room with him. He could tell from their breathing that they were asleep, but it still surprised him that he could sleep with someone else near him. The final tip was the raging pain burning in his torso. "Shit." Shima's eyes flew open and his hand desperately groped from the pain pen on the bedside table. He found it and pressed it against his neck. The familiar prick of pain came and everything seemed to darken for a moment.
"How are you feeling?" Shima turned his head and stared at Ari. She was sitting in a chair next to his bed. Had she been there the whole night?
"I'm getting better ma'am," Shima said as he sat up. He looked down, trying to pin point his wounds, but almost his entire torso was wrapped in white bandages.
"You should stay down," Ari said, trying to push him back down.
"I'll be fine ma'am," Shima said. "We need to leave."
"Why?" Ari asked.
"It is possible that someone from last night remembers my face ma'am," Shima said. "We need to evacuate and go to one of the safe houses."
"I'll start packing the weapons," Ari said.
"I can do that ma'am," Shima said flatly.
"I'll do it," Ari repeated. "Do you understand that Shima?"
"Yes ma'am," Shima said quickly.
(:::::::::::::ii::::::::::::::)
Shima leaned back on the couch and watched as Ari came out of the back room with the last case of weapons. She was sweating rather heavily. That made Shima frown. She must have known that he was stronger then her. It made no sense for her to insist on packing the weapons. "We can leave in a couple of minutes," Ari said.
"Yes ma'am," Shima said. He watched as she ran around the apartment making sure that nothing was left over. The doorbell rang and Shinji stared at the door with a frown of annoyance.
"Who is it?" Ari called. "Shima get the door?"
"It's the fire marshal," a man's voice said from the other side of the door. Shima reached under his shirt and let his fingers curl around the grip of his .40-caliber as he stood up. He paused and let go of the weapon. He opened a smaller bag and pulled out a slightly smaller, but quite a bit heavier 9mm pistol. He pushed a clip in and jacked the action as he walked to the door.
"Are you getting the door Shima?" Ari asked from the kitchen.
"Yes ma'am," Shima said as he pressed his back against the wall next to the door and pressed the muzzle of the suppressed weapon against the door. "Who did you say you were?"
"I'm the fire marshal," the man said. "We've had some reports that this building has a highly flammable insulation material and we're just checking it out."
"Alright," Shima said, trying to find the man's head by his voice. He pulled the trigger twice and ripped the door open. The man had fallen to his knees and there was a single hole in his throat. He looked up as Shima brought the weapon around, the muzzle almost touching his forehead, and fired again. He leaned out and spotted another man a few meters away. He raised the weapon again and fired. The single 9mm round nearly peeled the top of his skull off.
"What was that popping sound?" Shima turned back and saw Ari standing in the doorway leading to the kitchen. She stared at him for a moment and walked back into the kitchen. Shima just shrugged and tucked the pistol into his waist band so he could drag the first corpse into the apartment.
"Why did you shoot the fire marshal?" Ari asked. She sounded exasperated. Shima ignored her for the moment and quickly walked out to drag the second body in. "Don't you dare ignore me Shima." Shima patted the first man down and drew a black semi-auto from under his shirt.
"He's not the fire marshal," he said flatly.
"What if he was?" Ari asked. "There was no way you could have been sure."
"He was an obstacle," Shima said as he hunted through the bag and found what he was looking for. "Obstacles are for destroying." He quickly set the heavy-duty explosive and shoved it under the couch.
"What did you just do?"
"That bomb should sufficiently destroy the bodies that we will have a head start," Shima said with a nod as he unloaded the 9mm and stuck it back in its bag. He reached into another and dug out a compact suppressed AK-104. He pushed a magazine into it and pulled back the assault rifle's charging handle. "We need to go now."
(:::::::::::::ii::::::::::::::)
"The squad of agents sent to ascertain the location of the assassin has disappeared." Yuji winched and held his cell phone away from his ear. After nearly a moment he couldn't hear the old man's screaming and brought it back to his ear. "I'm sorry sir, but the whole apartment building was destroyed."
"How?"
"There was an explosion," Yuji said. "The building had several gas lines and it would have been quite easy to use a small bomb to ignite them."
"I see. Has the trail ended?"
"Yes sir," Yuji said. "I doubt we'll be able to pick it up until he kills again."
"That is acceptable."
(:::::::::::::ii::::::::::::::)
Shima pushed the door to the small apartment open and swept the main room with his shotgun. He stepped lightly into the room and moved to the back area. Finally satisfied he returned to the main room and saw Ari setting down the bags she had been carrying. "Is everything safe?"
"Yes ma'am," Shima said.
"This is a safe house?" Ari asked. "This building looks like it should be condemned."
"It might be ma'am," Shima said. "I believe that you should make your report now. I will retrieve the rest of the equipment."
"Okay. It should only take a few minutes."
(:::::::::::::ii::::::::::::::)
Ari frowned as she stared at the response to her report. The door opened and she turned to see Shima walk in with the last of the bags. He set them down and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a pain pen and Ari felt a flash of anger at herself. She had forgotten that Shima was injured. "I've got the response."
"Are we evacuating from the country ma'am?" Shima asked.
"No," Ari said. "They are really pleased with your work. Their orders are to change our appearances as much as possible. Another assassin is also being sent in." Shima nodded and Ari frowned. "The Assassin is Number Twenty-One."
"Good," Shima said. "She is excellent at what she does."
"She?" Ari asked. "I didn't know there were female assassins."
"Of course there are ma'am," Shima said.
"You're new alias is Takumi." Ari looked at him carefully. "We need to dye your hair too. Can you do that by yourself?"
"No ma'am," Takumi said. "I believe that I might be cause permanent injury to my right should by continuing to move it." Ari sighed and reached into her medical bag. She found a sling and helped Shinji put it on.
"I've got three different hair dye colors," Ari said, "red, black, and blond. Since your hair is already black its down to red or blond."
"Either is fine ma'am," Takumi said. Ari stared at the young man.
"Red," she said. "I guess I'll also have to restyle your hair."
"Yes ma'am." Ari grinned broadly.
"Let's start."
"Yes ma'am," Takumi said. Ari dug around in her bag and found the two boxes of hair dye. "I thought that you were going to dye my hair red ma'am."
"I have to bleach it first," Ari explained. "If I just dyed your hair red then it would just get a slight color shine."
"Oh."
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Ari stared at her handy work and whistled appreciatively. "That looks good."
"It is very conspicuous ma'am," Takumi said with a frown as he ran his good hand through his new red locks. "This style is also slightly awkward."
"What do you mean?" Ari asked with a frown. She had shortened the back and sides and then left the top and bangs long. They were just long enough to swing down into his face.
"My bangs will get in the way ma'am," Takumi explained.
"Oh," Ari said. "I thought you didn't like it."
"Functionality aside," Takumi began, "its different ma'am."
"Different good or different bad?" Ari asked.
"I'm not sure about either," Takumi said.
"You didn't say. . ."
"Ma'am." Ari sighed and massaged her temples. "Now get out. I have to do mine."
"Yes ma'am." Ari watched as Takumi turned and her eyes locked on to his back. "Is that a tattoo?"
"Yes ma'am," Shima said, turning to face her.
"I thought that tattoos were strictly against regulations," Ari said.
"Tattoos in visible areas are," Takumi said. "My back is never exposed, therefore I can get tattoos there. That is also why the scars on my chest have no been removed."
"What?" Ari asked. "You've had scars removed? From where."
"My face, throat, and my arms," Takumi said. Ari leaned closer to him and noticed dozens of barely noticeable pale marks. One caught her eye.
"What happened to your throat?" she asked as stared at the pale line going from ear to ear.
"Training was murder," Takumi said simply. He turned and walked out. Ari stared at the door in abject amazement.
"That was a joke." She frowned as she realized it was a joke about getting his throat cut. "Okay, so maybe it was a pun."
"I'm going out," Takumi called. "I'll be back soon."
"Be careful!"
(:::::::::::::ii::::::::::::::)
Rei Ayanami was walking down the hallway to her apartment when something strange happened. A young man with crimson hair stepped out of an apartment two doors down from hers. As far as Rei knew, she was the only tenant of the building. The man walked past her, paying her absolutely no attention. That normally would have been fine with Rei, but there was something about the man that was not normal. Thus Rei did something very abnormal. She tried to initiate a conversation. "Hello." The man stopped and looked at her over his shoulder before turning to face her.
"Good evening," he answered, his voice low, but pleasant.
"I was not aware that anyone except for myself lived here," Rei stated.
"I just moved in," the man said. "My name is Takumi."
"I am Rei Ayanami," Rei said simply. She looked at the man carefully. "You look very familiar."
"I have one of those faces," Takumi explained.
"No," Rei said, "you don't."
"Well I can say that I've never meant you before," Takumi said.
"Then I am mistaken," Rei said. "Good bye Takumi."
(:::::::::::::ii::::::::::::::)
Alex stared at the young man who had walked into the bar and walked up to his seat. "I don't believe we've met."
"We haven't," the young man said. "My name is Takumi."
"Alright," Alex said. "It's nice to meet you Toc. What do you need?"
"I need information on the man heading NERV's investigation," Takumi said.
"Alright," Alex said. "I'll have all I can find in two hours." Takumi nodded. He stood and walked out. "And I thought that kid couldn't get any weirder."
(:::::::::::::ii::::::::::::::)
Takumi pressed his back against the alley wall and hefted his weapon. The massive approximately 4-gauge shotgun felt good in his hands. "Shima?"
"Takumi," Takumi corrected. "I can't talk. I'm busy ma'am."
"You didn't tell me," Ari said, her voice loud in his ear. Shima heard the engine of his target vehicle. He spun around the corner and fired. The massive shotgun recoiled painfully into his arm and the massive 80 gram slug hit the vehicle's hood and probably mangled a good part of the engine. Takumi pumped the handle of the shotgun and he sprinted forward. He jumped and landed on the mangled hood aiming the shotgun's muzzle at the driver behind the armored windshield. He fired again. This time it was a 4-gauge shrapnel load. The face of the man behind the armored windshield was turned to hamburger. Takumi wasn't sure where he had heard that, but he thought it was appropriate. He pumped the weapon's handle. "Are you done yet?" Takumi moved to the roof of the vehicle and fired down into the passenger compartment.
"Probably." Takumi climbed down and opened the door. He stared at the mangled corpse. "Definitely."
"Oh," Ari said. "Is that all you did?"
"I also needed to talk with Alex," Takumi said. "I want to know who NERV has hunting us."
"That makes sense."
"Hey you!" Takumi turned and put two .40-caliber rounds through the cop's chest. He holstered the pistol and tried to fit his shotgun into the guitar case. Even with the butt stock folded it didn't fit.
"Did you know that there is a young woman living a couple of doors down from us?" Ari asked.
"Yes ma'am," Takumi said. "Her name is Rei Ayanami."
"I'm wondering what a young woman would be doing living alone in a dump like this," Ari said.
"What would you like me to do ma'am?" Takumi asked. "I'm an assassin. Would you like me to kill her?"
"Of course not," Ari said.
(:::::::::::::ii::::::::::::::)
Yuji stared at the scene of carnage in front of him and said the single word that came to his mind. "Damn."
"Have you ever seen anything like this?" the cop next to him asked.
"Sure," Yuji said. "Afghanistan, Iraq, and a few several countries in Africa."
"What kind of weapon could do this?" the cop asked. "It punched right through the limo's light armor and bullet proof glass."
"This looks like a big ass shotgun," Yuji said as he eyed the sheet-covered driver. It he hadn't known better he would have thought that the sheet was red normally. 'I really do not want to look under that.'
"Looks like that Shima Ryoji guy wants to show everyone that he is supremely pissed off," the cop said.
"I hope so," Yuji said. "If he's pissed off then he's going to make a mistake sooner or later. If not them we're screwed."
-End
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-Author's notes. And thus Shima disappears and Takumi appears. Much like Shinji Ikari did. The story has taken a very different path then the original and is sticking to it.