Disclaimer: See the Prologue
File #3: Shephard's Encounter
Adrian Shepard, 22-year-old Arizona born American had suffered just as greatlyas everyone else on Earth once it hit Y2K. His parents and older brother were killed during the Valentines War , leaving with emotional scars that would never heal, as well as physically when a building collapsed over him. Somehow, he miraculously managed to survive and got away from scarring on the back.
Spending years in a orphanage, he grew to become socially withdrawn and after leaving at age 15, he travelled Arizona doing oddjobs and occasionally got mixed up in crime.
Knowing his life wasn't going anywhere, he joined the Marine Corp at age 21. He was a natural soldier, proficient with any weapon and adaptable to an situation, he was selected for advance training and transferred to the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit, the organisation responsible for launching the cover-up operation on the Black Mesa Research Facility during the Lambda Incident.
But before that, however, the HECU was charged with another vital mission…
…Terminating the Angel known as Tabris, where it was located in Las Vegas, Nevada; only a few miles from Shephard's base.
The roar of the Osprey's engines was all that could be heard as Adrian and his squad flew over Las Vegas. Their destination: The Ambassador Hotel.
Adrian's squad mates: Jackson the Engineer, Private Tower, Owens the Medic, Private Eddy and their squad-leader Sergeant Miles were all feeling very uncomfortable, seeing how they were about to go after an Angel masquerading as a human. But not Adrian, as he fallen asleep from the long trip from the base.
Eddy looked over at him.
"Man," he said, "How can Shephard be asleep at a time like this?"
"Wake his ass up, man!" Tower exclaimed, "He's pissing me off!"
Eddy shook Adrian's shoulder gently, "Hey buddy, wake up!"
Adrian woke with a start, clutching his MP5 with attached grenade launcher.
"Wha…" he begun, "Have we arrived?"
Jackson laughed, "Not yet, kid. Edger to see an Angel's ugly mug up close?"
Adrian glared at him, despite it not being see behind his mask, "Very funny Jackson."
"I know it is," the Engineer replied, smiling and lighting a cigarette.
"Settle down people," the Sarge cried with high-pitched authority, "We're nearing the target location now. We will enter through the rooftop alongside Squad D while Squads B and C will have access through the main entrance. After we've Tabri's human identity, we will move in and blow his Angel ass off the face of the world. DO YOU GET ME?"
"SIR YES SIR!" Adrian and the other Marines cried.
On the streets of Vegas tore 2 Armoured Personnel Carriers towards the hotel, followed by a Mobile Command Vehicle. Inside, Colonel Odessa Cubbage sat, wearing his green coloured beret.
'An Angel? Here?' he thought, 'I don't believe it.'
Suddenly, his 'cell' phone rang. He answered it.
"Colonel Cubbage speaking," he began.
Is everything in place? the other line spoke, which sound both familiar and sinister.
"Yes sir it is," Cubbage replied, "We're on our way to intercept Tabris now."
Excellent, the G-Man said, I can now give you his name and location. Kaowra Nagisa, Room #187.
"Thank you, sir," Cubbage replied, hearing the other line go dead.
He then turned to the technician right beside him.
"Relay this information to all squads," he ordered, "That target is identified as Kaowra Nagisa, located in room #187."
"Right away, sir," the tech replied, typing at his terminal.
In room #187 of the Ambassador Hotel, the Angel known as Tabris watched out the window down below, where he saw the military convoy stop at the entrance of the hotel, and the men pile out.
He frowned some. He had crossed with the military before, they weren't going to make the mistake of letting him live. He went over a put a shirt on.
The Osprey landed on the roof, where Adrian and the squad stepped off the helipad.
"Alright men," the Sarge begun, "The target is in room #187, only 2 floor down. Let's do it!"
The squad exited the roof area made their ways downwards, passing through curious hotel workers. Meanwhile, Marines poured in through the front entrance, going through the stairs and the lifts.
To all units, take scattered positions around hotel, the Marines' radios ordered, Weapons live, Marine!
3 Marines were up agains the door of room #187, not realising that in the darkened room, Tabris leaned against the wall near the door, his red eyes cutting through the darkness.
"Open up, Tabris!" he heard then order, "Come out now or we will bust in there!"
Tabris didn't buy it, he knew that they were afraid of him, but decided to play along.
"Are you willing to let me live if I surrender myself?" he said, smiling slight.
The Grunts looked at one anther questioningly.
"Er…we are willing to if you surrender to the US Military," a beret wearing Grunt said, ackwardly.
Tabris smiled in the dark; "I will be right out."
A second later, the 3 Marines were thrown from the door as it shattered off it's hinges, before out stepped an white-haired albino 15-year-old boy that had a hexagon shaped shield around him. An AT Field.
"OH GOD!" another beret-wearing Marine cried, before ordering, "SQUAD, NEUTRALISE TABRIS!"
They begun firing at the boy, but the shield were absorbing the bullets.
"YOU LIKE THAT, ANGEL-BOY?" a Marine cried, before launching a grenade, which connected with the Angel.
They stopped firing, letting the smoke clear. They eyes widened when he was still standing, shield still up. He then glared and stretched his hands forward, causing them to fly backward into the wall at the far end of the corridor, ala' Force.
Adrian and his squad came to the corner when those Marine were flying towards them.
"DOWN!" the Sarge cried, "ARGH!"
Adrian ducked out the way, but the others were knocked down.
"F#$#!" Adrian swore getting up, looking back to see his fallen squad, all unconscious.
He then looked at whatever threw them: A boy.
"What the…?" he begun, squinting his eyes at the supposed Angel, who was smiling at him.
He shook his eyes, thinking he was delirious, but found he was still a boy.
'This can't be,' he thought, 'He is the Angel?'
Tabris begun to walk away, Adrian quickly reacted.
"Hey!" he exclaimed, pointing his gun at him, "Don't move!"
Tabris stopped and slowly turned around, seeing the much older than him Marine aim his gun down at him. He then begun to walk forward.
Adrian's mind snapped.
"I said don't move!" he cried out again, "I mean it!"
Other Marines saw this as they ran to join him.
"Oh shit!" one of them cried, seeing a whole group of men down and the Angel stepping forward towards Adrian.
"Shoot him, Shephard!" another one cried, "FRAG HIM!"
Adrian began to panic. An angel was bearing down on him, disguised as a young boy, and he had already taken down his whole squad, who lay unconscious behind him.
"KILL HIM GODD#$#$IT!" the Marine cried, "F#$#!"
Adrian closed his eyes and pulled the trigger, where Tabris put his shield up and the bullets vaporised the second it hit the shield. Tabris then frowned…
"Shephard!" Tabris said.
Adrian's eyes widened.
"What?"
Suddenly, Tabris stretched his hands forward and Adrian flew backwards into the wall, cracking it. He then fell down, face first. In unconscious, he somehow heard more gunfire, before cries from his fellow soldiers and finally, silence.
Adrian woke some time later, sitting in a corner of a room, his head feeling several sizes too small and the heat hurting his eyes.
"Ah!" he cried, "That's smart!"
Wondering where he was, he got up. But suddenly froze when he saw 2 red eyes stare at him from the darkness.
'Oh no!' Adrian thought.
Out of the shadows stood Tabris, smiling at Adrian and holding his tag in his hands.
"Corporal Adrian Shephard?" Tabris said.
Staying in the corner, Adrian nodded his head, "Yes."
"How nice to meet you, Adrian," Tabris said, "A warrior of the human race."
Adrian felt fear creep into the back of his mind.
"What do you want from me?" Adrian begun, tensed.
Tabris smiled and stepped forward towards him.
"Don't kill me, man!"
"Why do you fear me, Adrian?" Tabris asked, "I only wish to communicate with you."
The Grunt then looked at him questioningly.
"What?"
Tabris then looked at him oddly, causing Adrian to hastily reply.
"Because you are an Angel!"
"And why do you fear Angels?" Tabris asked again.
The Grunt sank to the floor as he said, "Because you kill people."
Tabris sat down on a washing machine, which indicated right away that they were in the basement washhouse of the hotel. Adrian wondered where all the other guys were.
"Yes," Tabris said, "We do kill people. Only because we in turn feared humanity as well."
"Huh?" Adrian replied, curious as to why he was still alive.
Tabris looked straight at the frozen form of Adrian Shephard, "I know you, Shephard. Life has always dealt you the wrong hand. You hadlost you family, your home, had to spend years in a unsavoury orphanage and most of all, joined the military."
"There was nothing else I could do," Adrian replied, knowing the fact he's conversing with an Angel, out of trying to distract him until his buddies find him.
Tabris nodded, "There were other options you could take besides joining your country's armed forces. Lilam always has a choice."
"Lilam?"
"We refer to you all as Lilam," Tabris explained.
"I see," Adrian said, feeling fear slip away from him.
"Isn't it ironic?" Tabris asked
"What is?"
"That a lilam is conversing with an Angel. Two mortal enemies talking with one another," Tabris said, "Humanity has always wondered why the Angel's attack it, but never seek to actually speak with their enemies."
"It is ironic," Adrian said, "But you never give us the chance to try to reason with you."
"My brothers and sisters didn't want to attempt to communicate with humanity," Tabris said, "They only focused on saving themselves. And that is destroying whatever they could find that is lilam."
"What about you?" Adrian asked.
Tabris smiled sadly, "I seek not to destroy humanity, but to reason with them, like what I am doing with you."
Adrian looked at him, interested.
"Ask me a question?" Tabris asked.
"Er…" Adrian said, "Alright."
He cleared his throat.
"How about…Why are you doing here in Vegas?"
"I am merely recuperating here until I move on with my journey," Tabris answered.
"Your journey?"
"I am planning to go to Japan and the NERV branch there," he said, "One of my brother's calls to me and I must see him. I trust you know what NERV is?"
"I do," Adrian replied, hearing about the organisation tasked with defending the planet sometime in his life, "What do you plan to do?"
"Once I find him, we will seek to bring about change for this world," Tabris said, "For the better."
"Why?" Adrian asked, "Why to do want to help us?"
"It is in order to strike back against life's greatest enemy," Tabris said, "'They' have already consumed much of the universe and 'they' plan to bring their presence to this world."
"Who are 'they'?" Adrian asked.
"That is what you will find out for yourself," Tabris said, "In the meantime, I must stay as far as humanly possible from him."
"Him?"
"He seeks to erase me, just as he had already done with my brothers and sister," Tabris said, "He is also 'their' enemy and he seeks lilam's help in stopping them. When the time comes, he will come for you as well."
"And I must find him for myself?" Adrian asked.
Tabris nodded, "But…for me to continue my journey, that is up to you."
Adrian's eyes widened as Tabris pulled out a gun: Adrian's .50 Desert Eagle. He put his hand up.
"Hey," Adrian said, fear coming back to him, "Go easy, man!"
Tabris smiled and tossed the gun at his lap. Adrian looked at it, before at him.
"You seek to destroy me," Tabris said, "Because you believe that all Angel's are evil being that must be destroyed to ensure the safety of Earth. I am giving you that opportunity to make your superiors proud."
Adrian picked the gun up and flicked on the laser sight.
"What do you plan to do?" Tabris said, "Do you still wish to erase me?"
Adrian looked at the gun, then at the boy. He aimed the gun at him, the sight on his forehead. Sweat begun to trickle down his forehead, his heart beating against his chest. Tabris closed his eyes, anticipating the bullet through his skull.
"No!"
Adrian lowered the gun, Tabris opened his eyes, look at him questioningly for the first time.
"If you have a higher purpose to serve," Adrian said, "And that you don't seek to destroy humanity, then I'll take your word for it."
Tabris smiled, "Is that your decision?"
Adrian nodded. Tabris smiled appreciatively; apparently not all of humanity is out to destroy him, especially when he was able to talk to him and reason with him.
Tabris got and went for the door. He spun around to find Adrian still sitting there, look at him. He nodded, and left, leaving the soldier alone.
Adrian then looked at his gun. He then threw it away and tore his mask and helmet off. Realising that he just talked to something he was suppose to despise, yet saw peace and humanity within it, and that it in turn spared his life and he spared his…he wept.
Some time later,the G-Man watched from the crowd surrounding the front of the hotel as paramedics moved Adrian to a waiting ambulance, suffering from a cracked rib from being thrown into a wall. He spoke into his cell-phone.
"We were unsuccessful in terminating Tabris," he begun, "I expect he will be on his way to NERV Japan, but that is no conquence. I'll alert Commander Ikari myself. He will see to Tabris' termination personally.
"As for Shephard…"
He smiled.
"I will have to keep an eye one him."
Tabris escaped from the HECU's grasp and escaped to Tokyo-03, Japan and the NERV branch there, where the Angel he believed to be Adam waited for him, but soon met death at the hands of the other 'lilam' he became close to. Weeks later, Adrian Shephard and his unit was assigned to Black Mesa and the Lamda Incident there
Shephard is currently detained in an unknown location until further notice.
So what do you think? Also, please check out my other fic Zoids: The Strogg War. It badly needs reviews and I badly want inspiration to work on it.
I will be honest with you. I decided to do 'EVA-Life: The G-Man Files' because I thought everyone was disappointed because I dropped the Opposing Force project and in turn, would not review my other stories because of it.
