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An Assassin's Memories

Twenty-Third Shot: Death

"Damn it!" Kari cursed as she was knocked to the ground. She managed to climb to her feet and duck out of the way of the mass of humanity. She looked around trying to locate the person who had fired. Near the center of the square Michael was doing the same. Who the hell had been firing? What the hell had they been firing at? What the hell was going on?

(:ii:)

Michael ducked into a park and broke into a sprint. This new pursuer was not one to be toyed with like the woman. He threw himself to the left as he drew his pistol. He rolled to his feet and leveled the weapon in the direction of the park's entrance.

Someone was playing with him. He did not enjoy that.

(:ii:)

Kari sprinted towards the park's entrance. She had seen Mike got into it. Someone grabbed her should and Kari tumbled to the ground. "Ouch!" She turned to glared at her attacker.

"Stay here."

"Who the hell do you think you. . ." Kari trailed off as she stared at the man.

"Who do I think I am?" the man asked. "I think I know who I am ma'am." He turned and walked away. Kari stared helplessly. She was officially more confused now then ever.

(:ii:)

Michael readied his Colt and glanced at the park's front gate. The other would be waiting, aiming for that entrance. Michael knew it because that's what he would do and the other was him.

With that in mind Michael scaled the nature covered gate and dropped into the park. He immediately stepped into the trees. The other couldn't have carried any medium or long ranges weapons, so he much have been close to maximize the lethality of his weapon.

Michael looked around carefully. He needed to find the other. Death would have to wait momentarily, Michael had some questions he wanted answered. That was a complication; after all, Michael never had been very good at keeping things alive.

"Just don't shoot them in the heart or the head and you'll have time to get answers," Michael repeated the words of one of his old instructors.

(:ii:)

Michael lay in wait. He had the perfect position. He was prone, well hidden by the bushes, the frame of his new Glock 34 resting on a tree's route. He would kill his pursuer. A form stepped into the park's entrance and Michael's finger tightened on the trigger of his pistol.

"Damn it." It was the traitor. She could not have made that shot. Still it would be better to kill her now. He had a viable excuse in that he thought she was his pursuer. Michael felt the hair on the back of his neck lift. He rolled, trying to aim. A gunshot rang out and a scream of pain was torn from Michael's throat as a bullet tore into his right arm. His Glock, his only real weapon, flew through the air. "You!"

"Me." Michael scowled at the man in front of him. "I know who I am, but who are you?"

"I am Thirty-Three," Michael spat. The man's face gave nothing away as a second shot ripped through the darkening park. Michael felt his jaw clench as a second round ripped into his arm.

"Fair enough," the original said. "What are you?"

"I am the future," Michael said. "You are outdated."

"Is that why SEELE wants me gone?" the original asked.

"It's as good a reason as any," Michael said.

"Freeze!" Michael turned and saw the traitor.

"Shoot him!" Michael yelled. "He's a clone from SEELE."

"Drop the handgun," Kari ordered.

"You don't understand what is happening here," the original said. There was another gunshot and Michael watched as the skin on the side of the original's face split. He gave no sign of even noticing the cut.

"I said drop it!" Kari snapped. Michael watched as the original tossed away his weapon. Michael rose to his feet, leaning against a tree and pressing his hand against the wound in his leg.

"You have to kill him," he said.

"Kill him ma'am," the calm voice of the original cut through the forest easily. Michael watched in shock as the traitor pivoted and fired, at him.

(:ii:)

The pistol buck hard in Kari's hand. Shock and surprise flooded Michael's familiar face as he fell back in a spray of blood. The other Michael, the one with bandages on his arms and face picked up his pistol and moved to the other's side. "What is SEELE planning?"

"You should know that," the dying Michael said. "Be careful." Michael raised his pistol and fired, obliterating the injured man's brains. He straightened up and turned to face Kari.

"Well?" Kari managed to choke out.

"Well what ma'am?" Michael asked.

"Are you my Michael?" she asked. "Are you the real one?"

"You already know the answer," Michael said as he kneeled and picked up the pistol that the other Michael had dropped. Kari stalked up to the man and grabbed his face. She made him look at her and stared at her eyes. His slightly mismatched blue eyes bore into hers. In an instant everything that had just happened came crashing down on her. She sobbed and grabbed him tightly.

"Ma'am?" She felt Michael tense and that single response meant more to her then anything else at that moment.

"Please?" she asked. "Just for a minute Mike."

"Very well ma'am." She felt him slump slightly and then an arm awkwardly wrapped around her shoulders. "I need you to do something for me ma'am."

"Anything," Kari said, trying to control her sobs as she pressed her face against the crook of his neck, ignoring the fluid warmth of the blood from the wound she had inflicted.

"I need to die," Michael said. "You'll help me, won't you?"

(:ii:)

"Get out of my way!" Misato shoved the police officer aside and stormed into the park. She could see Kari crying on one of the park benches. In the woods just behind the park bench Misato saw two men lifting a long black bag onto a stretcher. "Wait!"

"You don't want to see this ma'am," one of the men said.

"Don't tell me what I don't want to see!" Misato snapped angrily.

"Alright ma'am," the man said. He unzipped the bag and pulled the two halves apart.

"God," Misato managed to sob. Michael stared at her, a gaping hole in his forehead. The man quickly zipped the bag back up and both of them manhandled the stretcher over the park's uneven road.

"A man came into the park and pulled out a gun." Misato turned and saw Kari, he eyes red with tears. "They fought and I fired. I hit Mike and then the man shot him in the face." She broke down into incoherent sobs again

(:ii:)

Yuji brushed past the security guard and pushed the doors open. The two men standing on either side of one of the long metal tables. Yuji moved quickly to the table and stared down and the dark-haired man laid out on it. "Shit!"

"A friend of yours?" one of the men asked timidly.

"You could say that," Yuji said. He stared at the body of his fallen comrade and frowned. Something wasn't right. Something he had learned long ago was eating at the edge of his mind. His eye's shot to one of the man's ears. It was plain and unmarked. He glanced at the next one. "Did he have any tattoos?"

"What?" one of the men asked.

"Tattoos!" Yuji bellowed. "Ink work! Does he have any?"

"Uh. . .yes," the man said. "Help me." The two men managed to muscle Michael's body onto its side. "There." Michael stared at the tiny tattoo on the back of Michael's neck.

"Thirty-Three Mk. 2," he read. The plain bold text seemed strange on his otherwise unmarked back. "Mark 2?"

"We see all kinds of strange things like that," the coroner said. "Remember that guy who came in with ball bearings implanted under his skin?"

"How could I forget?" the other man asked. "His family wanted them removed for the viewing and you made me do it." Yuji ignored them. 'The number on the back of their earlobe is the designation.' Yuji's eyes widened as Michael's words filled his head.

"What the fuck is going on?" Yuji turned and walked out of the morgue, his mind full of confusion.

"Was it him?"

"I. . .I don't know," Yuji said.

"You don't know?" Ginji repeated. "Was his face that badly disfigured sir?"

"No," Yuji said.

"You seem off," Marlene said. "Are you okay?" Yuji turned to look at his wife. He was about to speak when his cell phone began to ring. He fished it out and flipped it open.

"Kaido."

"SEELE is coming," a calm, familiar voice said. "Prepare yourself."

"What?" Yuji demanded.

"Prepare to defend yourself," the man said. The line was cut and Yuji stared at his phone.

"What is it?" Ginji asked.

"Get on the horn with everyone supplier you know," Yuji said. "Get every fucking weapon you can?"

"What's happening?" Ginji demanded. "Are we going to war sir?"

"No," Yuji said. "The war is coming to us and we will not be caught unprepared. Get to it!"

"Yes sir!" Ginji snapped.

(:ii:)

"It's done," Gendo said.

"Don't you find it odd?" Kozo asked.

"What?" Gendo asked.

"You require Michael to be dead and a stranger takes care of him," Kozo said. "We don't know who the attacker was, nor whom he works for."

"He was not ours," Gendo said. "Therefore he must have been with SEELE."

"We don't know," Kozo said. "I have a bad feeling about this. Something is off."

"Nothing is off," Gendo said. "Everything is going according to plan. Soon we will put our plan into motion."

"You value your control too much," Kozo said. "You value it so much that you refuse to acknowledge when its gone."

"I am in control sensei," Gendo said. "Nothing has happened to force us to deviate from the plan. This matter with the Third Child was bothersome at first, but now an unnecessary threat has been eliminated."

"I think you underestimate him," Kozo said. "He is your son after all. And let us not forget who his mother is. If he is anything like her then this will not end as you hope."

"The boy was nothing like his mother," Gendo said.

"You're wrong," Kozo said calmly. "The boy, as you put it, is very much like his mother."

(:ii:)

Marshal glanced up as the doors to the HQ opened and a young man stepped inside. "Is it done?"

"Yes sir," Michael said as he crossed the large supply room. He reached under his jacket and drew out a silver pistol. "I have procured a new weapon, I know longer require this." Marshal stared at the Colt.

"You can keep it for a bit long," he said. "You won't find a more accurate or hard hitting weapon in Japan. I still want it back when this is over."

"Yes sir," Michael said. "SEELE is coming."

"Good," Marshal said. "My men have been itching for a straight fight for a long time. Curse of pulling them from the military instead of intelligence I guess. Will you be standing with us, or are you going to be off fighting on your own?"

"I will probably end up in the Geo-Front," Shinji said. "We'll need the Evangelions to survive what is coming."

"Great," Marshal said. "We're going to be saved an angel slayer. Guess I was already screwed when I started killing people for a living. Though shall not kill and all."

"Actually its though shall not murder," Michael corrected. "That's what you get for reading the translation."

"Oh," Marshal said. "Thanks for clearing that up."

End

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Author's notes. Well this is finally starting to draw to a close. This has got to be one of my longest stories. I'll babble on sentimentally in the last chapter which may or may not be the chapter after the next.

I'm not sure about the length of this particular arch, but I just felt that it needed to end. I enjoyed confusing everyone, but all good things must come to an end eventually. I only have a few more chapters to do for this one and a few more for While You Were Sleeping. Then I'll bring in some of the new stories I'm working on. One is already posted elsewhere and has recieved a few reviews of high praise, so I think you'll like it.