Neon Genesis Evangelion
A Thousand Years of Secrecy
Disclaimer: I own neither Evangelion nor Altered Carbon (or any other book in the Takeshi Kovachs series). If either Gainax or Mr. Morgan have an issue with any of the content presented, please contact me by e-mail to remove it.
Five – Untold / Welcome
"Ice and steel, turned apart by idle hands. One's shelter will crumble above the childrens' heads, and the other shall sweep them away into the dark."
The streetlamps flitted past on the closed bridge over the choppy Pacific waters of the bay, stirring in the darkness below; night had settled fully revealing the moon's pale glow ghosting into the sparse stars above the two of them. She squeezed her arms around the his waist tighter, pressing her cheek into the back of the leather jacket and shivering as he throttled on the accelerator just a little harder into stinging November wind. The bike responded gracefully, slipping the road away beneath them at a speed that would have been illegal on any other road in the United States. But this was not any other road.
The NERV automated gate and roadblock had only given them one dumb-struck cargo truck to pass since they'd turned onto the bridge for the Second Branch. No outgoing traffic. Into the distance before them Alcatraz glittered like a jewel encrusted point of light perpetually out of reach.
Shinji did his best to shutdown the hormones swimming through him at the sensation of warmth produced by her thighs pressed around his; he tried not to consider softness of her breasts against his back or the clutch of her arms wrapped around him. Somewhere an erection was trying and failing to throb in his pants, a feeling that he was more aggravated with than enjoying. He didn't have time to enjoy it for the moment. He kept his gaze aimed on the glistening jewel of the entrance.
Maybe we should ride to school like this...
He chuckled somewhere else in his head and pushed the bike a little harder. The hydrogen burned swifter in response and, he reveled in the burning chill of the wind stinging his cheeks; he was thankful that it was diverted by the glass cover extending off the nose of the bike. The goggles kept it from being unbearable. The speedometer blinked triple digits at him. Asuka shivered again somewhere behind him and he felt his crotch respond lazily.
Fucking hormones.
They hadn't spoken since the start of the start of the ride, despite the near silence of the engine at the red lights between the shop and gate. For the time being, it seemed they were both content to ruminate over their conversation in the parking lot.
The Second Branch loomed in the distance, its undying twinkle drawing nearer and brighter.
"This is S-Hop. Go secure."
"Yes ma'am. Verifying now... Verified. Secure established. Connecting to command now."
"Sub-Commander Katsuragi, Lieutenant Ibuki here. How can I be of service?"
"Good evening, Ibuki-san." She tried to stay cheery, ignoring the tense feeling in her gut.
"It's morning over here actually, sub-commander," Maya corrected.
"Sharp as ever, Ibuki-chan," the "oaf" cut in. Misato glared death at him. Kaji shrugged and produced another grin from his unending supply.
"Oh. Hello Agent Kaji... I wasn't aware this was a conference call." The operator sounded only mildly upset.
"Can you patch us through to the commander, Maya?" Misato continued, ignoring their exchange.
"Hmm, Ritsuko and he are in a meeting right now with Admiral Turner. I will see if I can reach them."
She was left to ignore the semi-agitating stare of her partner for the moment while Ibuki put them on hold.
"This better be important." The voice sounded placid, but she knew his meaning was anything but.
"Very, sir," Kaji broke in. Misato tried the glare again.
"Sir, we have possible situation developing here. I have reason to believe the Second Branch may be..." She didn't finish. If he was in a meeting with Turner, they were probably on the flagship super-carrier of the UN's Fleet. The MAGI's encryption was nearly unbreakable but there was no guarantee of physical security; there might be bugs inside the cabin trying to pick up on his sub-vocals or the speaker implant in his ear.
"Beethoven's Ninth," Kaji whispered the code word they had decided upon before the trip for SEELE.
There was a lengthy pause on the other end.
"I understand. Unfortunately, for the time being, I am not able to make any sort of discussion on this matter. The meeting should be adjourned shortly. Contact me in thirty minutes with an update."
The line clicked dead.
Misato wiped the back of her hand across her brow. Kaji patted her back. This time the glare removed his offending hand.
"Don't sweat it," he joked.
"Baka."
"Sorry for the interruption admiral, where were we?" he said casually, making the "time-sensitive" gesture with his left wrist just obvious enough that Ritsuko would catch it. She nodded almost invisibly before returning her attention to the admiral.
The man had a graying mustache and European features that were rudely interrupted by the strict tones of an American military upbringing. His posture was almost painfully flawless, his gray-blue eyes glimmering with the sort of hell he had no doubt lived through in the post-flood wars of the twenty-first century; one didn't exactly become the supreme admiral for the entirety of the UN fleet without some experience. He'd probably had more than his fair share of that in the third World War. Ritsuko guessed his impossibly well-pressed uniform didn't have enough space on its breast to contain all the medals he'd earned.
It was entirely possible.
And judging by Fuyutsuki's evaluation of the man before this meeting, his tactical brain for naval warfare was also nothing short of breath-taking. That didn't stop him from being a total hard ass; he had given up one of his ships as a temporary headquarters for NERV, a fact he seemed perpetually agitated about.
"Your doctor and I were just discussing the Japanese government's involvement with this Tokyo-3 business." He said "business" with a twitch in his voice that betrayed only mild disappointment in the N2 massacre; fighting through World War III would do that to you, Ritsuko reasoned. "However, if you two are short on time don't let me keep you..."
Damn perceptive too, she thought, trying to contain any surprise.
Fuyutsuki grinned the sort of grin he only ever gave to his enemies and his rivals.
"It is always a pleasure, admiral. Unfortunately your unyielding observation has proved entirely too correct. It appears that a situation is developing which requires our immediate attention," the commander replied sharply. The way they spoke English to one another betrayed that they belonged to the same generation. It was infuriatingly eloquent, rarely the way military men chose to be in these times.
"Thank you for giving us this opportunity," Ritsuko clunked out with her best accent, flushing deeply even as the words came out. A smile flitted somewhere beneath the admiral's visage as she spoke, perhaps impressed she would even try to struggle through his native tongue again after their somewhat stilted conversation while the commander conversed with whoever could be important enough to interrupt him on his private line—Misato most likely.
"Of course, Dr. Akagi. I hope we will get to see more of you both in the future, perhaps at a more convenient juncture," he said, shifting his gaze back to Fuyutsuki.
The commander nodded stiffly at the admiral.
"Excuse us," Fuytsuki said and with a gesture of the other man's hand they turned to leave. The only entrance to the chamber slid open before Turner interrupted their departure.
"One more thing, commander."
Fuyutsuki and she both turned, something tight in her superior's smile. She would have thought it almost looked strained had she not known him better.
"The Security Council is primarily concerned with the detonation that annihilated the city and its populace but, once this matter is resolved they will also be looking into the second attack that wiped out half of the JSSDF in the aftermath. There are rumors flying that it was not another N2 device but rather some other, more exotic weapon. Any cooperation from your organization would be greatly appreciated."
Something twinkled in the war-heavy, blue eyes that stared them down.
"Of course. Our personnel have been looking into it extensively. When we have found the culprit we shall identify them for you," her commander replied quietly.
"I will inform my superiors of your continued support," he said flatly. With a nod from Fuytsuki, they left the carrier's bridge.
They walked through the polished halls of the super-cruiser with their armed escort in total silence. Judging by his set jaw, Fuyutsuki was mulling over some part of his private conversation or the meeting itself. Somewhere on the deck of the carrier, their VTOL's engines were whirring to life in preparation for shuttling them back to the headquarters. Ritsuko ventured a glance at him in between strides.
He shook his head barely.
They would not be telling Misato this. Not yet.
"You have to be fucking kidding me."
"Well, we did get through the front gate at least. You know, we probably wouldn't have been locked down in this thing if you hadn't back-handed the receptionist," he chuckled.
"Bah. We had First Branch IDs and they were treating us like spies! Plus don't pretend like you didn't see him staring at my breasts. That hentai."
Shinji put on his best pretend-innocent face, lips pursed and eyes aimed at the overhead lights. She burst into laughter.
"Dumbass." She jabbed him in the arm.
He rubbed at it, feigning injury, then sat down on the floor of the elevator.
"So what now?" he said, crossing his legs and looking up at her.
Her face twisted into a mischievous grin. She whipped out a PDA from her back pocket.
"Oh please," he balked.
She stopped tapping the stylus and stared at him. He accepted the contest.
"What?" she said sharply, brow furrowing. He shook his head at her.
"You're good Asuka, just not that good. This is the main shaft down to Second Branch."
"Ye of little faith..."
She turned away, and continued tapping. Then pried open the emergency call box under the only two floor buttons, both of which were unmarked. She wrenched the phone off its holder in one swift motion and tossed it into the far wall of the elevator with a crash of plastic and the crunch of breaking mechanics.
Shinji made a "pssh" noise and rolled his eyes again.
"Heh, I'm sorry if I offended you, miss super-hacker, but they aren't exactly going to have the softest security for the only way into Second Branch that's not under water. I mean we're already in the damn elevator car. You really think they'd be dumb enough to actually—" With a jolt the car was descending again.
She looked back at him, arms crossed decisively, grin just as mischievous and confident as before. He blinked at her. Blinked again. Tried to find his tongue.
"How—how the hell did you—"
"Hack the elevator? My mom taught me some neat tricks before she flipped shit," she said, sitting down next to him. She rested her head sideways on her knees, letting the red bangs temporarily conceal her face and the darkness that had gently swept into it.
"But you must have been like—"
"Seven?" Her head jerked back up, maniacal grin returning. "Yeah. So what? She'd already crashed the Nikkei before she was my even my age. You should have seen it when she got the all the commercial flights over Europe to spell out her name for a full minute. But I mean, come on Shinji. You already knew she helped write the MAGI coding for Christ's sake."
"Is that how you—"
"Knew how to hack the Rail Device? Yeah."
The smile grew even wider, watching him take all of this in for the moment. Somewhere in his head, her threat level had been bumped up a notch. A compliment in the most basic Envoy sense.
"Could you stop finishing—"
"Your sentences? Sure thing."
They laughed uproariously for a few seconds together, chests heaving wildly and filling the tiny confines of the elevator with their elation. Somewhere beyond the four walls of their car, the Pacific Ocean threatened to spill in at any moment as they sank further and further beneath its surface.
"What happens when we get out at the bottom?" Asuka started once they'd finally let the last of the giggles go.
"Hmm. That depends," Shinji pondered. "If our clearance has already been forwarded to command, they might be able to get the message back down the line to security in time for them not shoot the hell out of us when these doors open again. However, seeing as how you just snapped their security in two and how unlikely it is that command has even verified it's us in this car yet, I'm sure they have a whole set of security routines if anyone actually managed to do something this stupid or reckless. Truthfully I'll be kind of disappointed if we aren't greeted with guns drawn."
"'They will make you walk in circles for so long you'll forget what you were asking permission for,'" she quoted for him.
"Quell still on your mind?"
"When is she not? Plus, you said we were doing this in her spirit. I figured she'd appreciate the 'stupid and reckless' part of this."
He laughed softly.
"Yeah, probably. Say." He was looking at the floor buttons again. The little red timer above it was not changing. "Why isn't the countdown clock working anymore?"
She looked aside, brow quirking slightly. "Uh, you know, they killed it when they stopped the car."
He snorted at her.
"What? It was a rush job!"
He laughed somewhere in the back of his throat.
"Okay, so I couldn't preserve all the functions of the car to get us moving... big deal! Who got us going in the first place? Me!"
The car stopped again fully. Shinji laughed even harder at this. She did not.
"What now, super-hacker?" he jeered.
"I only made sure it would get us to the bottom of the shaft and stay there. We're at the base now for sure."
The doors were not opening. Silence consumed them for a few breaths.
"Oh," he finally replied. "Shit."
He stood. She did as well.
"What do we do now?" she said, watching him from the corner of her eye as something nervous trembled under her voice.
"Oh, they'll open the doors. Eventually," he said, removing the wallet from his pocket and carefully placing his Nemex onto the floor. As soon as the gun was free of his grip the doors slid open silently. There were guns drawn, in fact. Many guns.
Definitely didn't reach command in time...
"They what?"
Misato sounded only slightly hysterical. Probably for the condolences of whoever was on the other end.
"I'm very sorry, sir. They should know better than to act like that."
Kaji rolled his eyes beside her. The apology definitely wouldn't have sounded authentic to Envoy ears even if the disappointment in her voice was real.
"Of course. Well, we didn't exactly plan on them visiting either. Not this soon anyways."
Kaji, hummed something to himself between sips of tea. Misato's cup was cooling fast and untouched.
"Yes but I assume you know what the Fourth Child did today as well. Shinji was more than a little eager to apologize for the 'misunderstanding.'" Her tone got vaguely ugly at the end and Kaji nodded in approval, eyes firmly embedded into his tea cup.
"You and I both know it wasn't an accident, so let's not pretend like it was and waste each other's time." Kaji shook his head at the unseen voice on the other end of the phone, a smile hovering in the line of his jaw; the diplomatic route had never worked well with Misato and probably never would.
"I'm not suggesting anything, I will leave that entirely up to Shinji's judgment. If it was the sensei's fault, we will make arrangements as need be."
Her tea was hardly steaming any more. Kaji flicked his vision to his watch. Almost thirty minutes. Fuyutsuki would want them right on time. As usual.
"Commander, I wouldn't suggest trying to pull rank on me. The First Branch has supreme authority in these situations and it is in our mutual self-interest to acknowledge that."
So she could be diplomatic when she wanted to. In a bossy sort of way.
"I'm not going to waste his time on such trivial matters. If Shinji said the order was given, it was given."
Uh oh.
"You want to hear the order yourself? Fine. I'll get you his fucking signature on a written copy while I'm at it. In triplicate. It's not my neck on the line." She slammed the phone down. "Asshole."
"That sounded like it went well," Kaji spoke, amusement seeping into his baritone. His gaze danced over the skyline in their windows.
"Oh shut up. Stubborn bastard just doesn't want to lose his job over this."
"Fuyutsuki won't fire him over what happened today, you know that."
"Well he doesn't. Yet. It probably was the sensei. It would explain Touji's ego problems, wouldn't it?"
"Maybe he's jealous of you. Let's play who's the best Envoy," Kaji intoned with a disdainful grumble.
"I've never even met the guy. Oh. And. Asuka is a walking tornado."
He met her annoyed stare, with the languid sort of "who dun it" expression crafted just well enough to really set her off. She took the bait.
"She broke the receptionist's jaw! For crying out loud Kaji. Did you teach her anything about respect? Decorum? Anything?"
He giggled into his cup, mostly at the tone she'd taken with him.
"And one of the security team member's big toe is broken. Not to mention part of the main elevator is completely out of order at the moment."
"She did all this?" He asked innocently.
"What do you think?"
His grin returned.
"Smartass."
"She's a passionate girl, what can you say?"
"Just because you don't know anything about passion..." she muttered.
He tapped on his wrist watch, ignoring the jab.
"Right. Right."
She picked up the phone again and dialed.
"This is S-Hop, go secure."
"Don't move or speak." The two of them complied, freezing in unison.
A cluster of twin black lenses stared at them—gasmasks, no doubt chock-full of completely unnecessary imaging software: infrared, heat, lidar. Redundant for this operation but part of the standard package. Somewhere behind those twin black reflections, superimposed onto the plexiglass for each operative, crosshairs hovered over each of them, marking the spot where the barrel of each pitch black gun was aiming. Only the best for NERV.
Shinji recognized the tiny sleek forms in their grip as the latest Fabrique Nationale submachineguns, almost toy-like in the hands of these gene-pumped grunts; their body-type was identical in an unsettling way, genetically and chemically altered to match whatever model NERV had decided for the optimum security operative.
Shinji almost felt bad for them in a way. Their bodies were more the property of NERV now than anything of their own. Then again, their spouses never had to worry about children with Cystic Fibrosis, asthma, or any of the other genetic faults the Chinese genelabs had mapped out of the human genome now. Dental wasn't the only perk of being in security.
The weapons stayed trained on their chests, as he watched the identical shapes under identical uniforms hold deathly still; there was no visible rank, name, or insignia—all hastily covered over with what looked like electrical tape. Covered in full Kevlar and all the trimmings, he could hardly tell the males apart from the females save the subtle suggestion of breasts under armor plating and the not-quite-identical stances. Their SMGs were probably full of animal-stopper or paralysis tranqs but neither he nor she were moving. They were dealing with pros no doubt, knowing NERV as he did, but the two of them weren't going to try something stupid. Not that stupid, at least.
The in-and-out of their masks' rebreathers filled the sterile silence of the loading bay for the elevator. Shinji quickly scanned stacked gray boxes scheduled for the surface and other equipment pushed against walls, finding more hastily placed tape covering whatever sort of contents list or brand name had been marked on each of them.
Give the minute's time they'd had to prepare, the operation was looking airtight thus far. Shinji mentally nodded in approval to whichever of the shapes happened to be the commander.
A single heavy security member edged forwards on a belly crawl, keeping his sidearm aimed at Shinji as his equipment scratched across the white linoleum tiled floor. Shinji would have thought it an odd tactical betrayal of himself but it gave his twenty or so comrades a clear line of sight on them, even if the two of them tried something drastic. The figure grabbed Shinji's pistol with his free hand and slid back away from the car at the same pace. Then it was just the sound of his and her breathing, the rebreathers, and the hum of the fluorescent lights filling the silence.
"The female steps out of the car. Slowly. The male stays frozen." The voice was unreal and tinny, scratching weirdly through the space between them. Some sort of speaker system was projecting the commands from one of the masks. It made the voice sound oddly more authoritative in an inhuman sort of way. There was voice masking software eliminating any distinctive features or personality for whichever one of them had said it—he had no way of knowing as they all remained motionless and fixated on he and she.
Asuka nodded and walked out very carefully. When she was all the way out of the car two of them rushed her and mashed her firmly up against the closest wall. Hard.
"Mutherfucker," she muttered behind their grip as her temple smacked against the side of the wall.
Shinji found himself taking an unusual amount of will power not to clench his fist by his side at that moment, reminding himself that this was NERV they were dealing with, not some bozos.
Relax...
"Now the male."
Shinji mirrored her pace and two others rushed him as he stepped over the precipice the outer set of doors made. He found himself pressed up against the wall on his side of the elevator. The doors slid shut silently beside him.
"Check the wallet," he croaked beneath their unflinching grip.
"Shut up or we'll gag you," one of them buzzed from behind him as they frisked him.
The guns were still trained on him.
"The ID," he croaked again.
Someone elbowed him in the side. It stung.
"Shut. Up."
Shinji heard what sounded like a pressurized helmet coming off. Then an un-modulated voice too real and human to be from any of the masks. It sounded aggravated.
"Fuck! Stand down. Stand down."
The hands frisking him paused, unsure.
"That is a direct order! Stand down!"
They released him and her both at the same time, recoiling away though still cautious. Shinji straightened out the collar of his jacket and dusted himself off a bit as the guns pointed at him reluctantly turned towards the floor. He turned to her and nodded. She ran her hands through her hair, rubbing gently at the temple and returning his nod. A few of the soldiers were now also taking off their masks, betraying the same confused expression of what he assumed was their captain.
The man sighed, eyes closed and massaging his forehead with a gloved hand before addressing them.
"My apologies, sir. Command didn't..."
Shinji shook his head.
"Not at all, captain... Uh, captain whom, might I ask?"
The man looked as if he had suddenly just remembered the entirety of his decorum training in a single instance. A hand shot to his brow in a sharp salute, quickly mirrored somewhat unevenly by all of his squad behind him.
"Captain Hollens, sir!" he belted out.
Shinji returned the salute but they continued to hold the hands firm. Asuka, after a pause, reluctantly saluted them as well and the rest of the hands in the room dropped from their brows. She was still somewhat miffed about her head.
Shinji noticed no one seemed to be returning to the forklifts or any of the other equipment in the room. They wouldn't be for some time. Child Envoys were a secret heavily guarded, even within NERV itself. Anyone who'd seen them would probably be told that they were the temperamental children of some higher-up from another branch. The security team, other than Hollens probably had been fed this line already as well. Hollens, however, hadn't been able to resist his urge to salute. No point in playing that game any further then.
"Captain Hollens, yes, you'll have to forgive our unannounced arrival. Ms. Souryu and I thought we might give you a little security test to inaugurate our first visit to the facility."
"Of course, sir." The man grimaced a smile at him, clearly embarrassed by the whole situation. He was in his late twenties with a strong jaw and a pair of brown eyes to match ruffled hair. Could be Misato's age. Shinji ignored the whispers as to just "what the fuck is going on" or "who the fuck we're saluting."
"I hope everything was satisfactory, sir?" he added, trying to cut out their chatter as best he could. The icy tone stopped the whispers quickly. The soldiers behind him must have finally understood that they were really addressing a superior officer—even if it happened to be a superior officer a good decade younger than their own captain.
That the two of them were Envoys—well, he doubted if even Hollens knew that much. Maybe he'd already pegged them as intelligence prodigies of some sort, pruned from a young age or some other convenient nonsense. Whatever command happened to be selling.
"Very well done, though the belly crawl was a bit out of the ordinary, don't you think?" Shinji said, trying to lighten the mood which was nearly as tense without the guns drawn.
"Yes, sir. It was, sir," he said firmly, looking out past Shinji's shoulder now as if he was being hammered by his drill sergeant in boot camp all over again. Shinji smiled, taking pity on him. He'd probably never been in situation quite like this before. Certainly not with an officer Shinji's age.
"Unorthodox doesn't necessarily mean bad, captain."
"Yes, sir! Thank you, sir!" The reply was almost automatic though authentic.
Shinji noticed everyone was held firmly facing front.
"Ah, at ease." The rest of them slowly started taking off helmets and armor again. "Sorry, I'm not. Really used to being an officer," Shinji muttered mostly to himself. Asuka chuckled somewhere to his right.
The captain had no response for this. He was improvising if anything, by this point. And what the hell did one do with a pair of superiors half one's age, having just nearly broken in to the Second Branch?
"Sir?"
"Yes, captain?"
"Command wants to know why you've chosen to grace us with your presence this evening, if I may ask, sir," Hollens said hesitantly.
"We've come to see the Special Ops facilities," Asuka said coolly before he could reply, still slightly seething from her run in with their greeting party. Shinji was briefly relieved she had the good sense not to let their real reason slip free, not entirely anyway. Not that she would. He had to keep reminding himself that she was an Envoy too.
Hollens swallowed.
"Of course, ma'am... Command would like to have a word with you first." He said it with the reluctant calm that he was speaking about the only group he knew for certain went above their heads. He was almost correct. Almost.
"They can meet us there," Shinji said quickly. He was not getting sidetracked by any diplomatic or bureaucratic bullshit this time. The sensei was getting a piece of his mind, one way or the other.
"Sir, I don't think—" Hollens started.
"Captain, we are here on a direct order from the First Branch, to enter those facilities ASAP. I don't think I need to tell you just who we are on behalf of for you to understand the urgency of this." He lied softly and flawlessly as always. A sliver of pity inched into his voice for the bewildered security squad, caught in this power struggle. Shinji watched the name "Fuyutsuki" pass through the captain's head before his tight, stressed smile returned, even more compressed this time.
"Command has not confirmed that order, sir," he said with infinite deference.
Shinji realized Hollens was speaking to Command directly and right now, probably through the same sub-vocals he'd used time and again. It quickly explained the over-strained smile of his. Poor bastard's caught between a rock and a hard place. The man's throat was covered over by the Kevlar collar otherwise he would have seen the tell-tale motions of his Adam's apple already—it had to be huge given the genetic overhaul of these brutes.
"Command also thought we were terrorists until about a minute ago. We don't have time for this," he said, overplaying his annoyance.
Asuka joined his long strides past the captain without hesitating.
The crowd of men and women parted like the wake of a boat before them, completely and thoroughly lost by this point.
"Wait!"
Shinji did not.
Hollens jogged up along side them and matched their pace.
"Command is getting in touch with your branch right now. They'll meet you at Ops. I'll show you the way."
It wasn't as if they didn't know how to get there. That was just the best he could do for the order he'd been given: to keep an eye on them. And that was probably Asuka's fault more than his, something Shinji found oddly amusing. He couldn't quite put his finger on why.
Shinji nodded, and Hollens' contracted smile relaxed a fraction.
The moment of peace was shattered as both Shinji and Hollens turned at a shout of pain from beside them to find Asuka standing over one of the biggest grunts of the pack. He was bent over and clutching one combat boot, teeth clenched in a mix of pain and fury. She ignored Shinji's accusing stare and Hollens trying his hardest not to gawk.
"The chikan should know the difference between patting down and feeling up, ne?" she said, mixing in the Japanese absentmindedly. How Quell of her. Shinji vaguely wondered if she had picked the right one; they all looked like the same damn person with the masks on. She must have kept an eye on him from her frisking until this point. She could be stubborn if she wanted to be.
"I'm married, damnit. She could be my daughter for crying out loud," the grunt bemoaned to his captain, massaging the toe of the boot.
Shinji chuckled lightly, trying to smooth the ruffled feathers.
"Sorry, she's a bit temperamental," he said under his breath. "Oh and sorry about the receptionist's jaw. And the elevator."
Captain Hollens, once again found himself at a loss for words.
Five Fin
A/N: Well, I broke my promise. Sorry guys. I just needed the Christmas break too much. But now I'm back in Tokyo and back on track. I just started reading Woken Furies and it's awesome! If you guys were curious as to where I retooled the Envoy concept from, or some of the other little touches in this story, I strongly suggest the Takeshi Kovachs series of books. I like to delude myself into believe Morgan and I share a similar style but that's really all it ever is—a delusion.
Anyways. Things should be coming out more on time from here on out. I've planned out the entire story now and God only knows how many chapters it will be. I think my earlier estimate might have been a little conservative.
I was a little concerned with how to end this chapter properly. If I had tried to get into the meeting Touji's sensei I think it would have ran a little long and a little more dark. I figure I'd try and lighten the mood a bit again after last chapter.
Once again, I must offer and huge thank you to all of my readers. You guys are the best (as you have no doubt guessed by my new summary). Here's hoping I can reach out and touch even more of you as time goes on. Thanks for your enduring patience as well. Ciao!
Japanese lesson for this chapter:
-Chikan and Hentai actually translate as two different words but they have virtually the same meaning: pervert. That should be no surprise coming out of Asuka's mouth. Hentai literally means perverted, so one can do hentai things, or even look hentai. Chikan is more firmly in the noun role and is the specific name for the kind of pervert who feels up young girls on the subway or trains. I think that's where the "chi" comes from, as in "chikatetsu" (subway).
-The "ka" particle is literally "or," but it also serves a dual purpose as do most particles. It is the question particle. If anyone says something in Japanese to you with "ka" on the end, they are asking you a question.
-Mangaka was used in the last chapter. That's an author of Japanese comics (manga).