Chapter 5.

Former Teiyo Industries warehouse. 7:40 A.M.

The small, unassuming warehouse was a relic from before the Second Impact; fifteen years since, it had somehow barely avoided sinking along with most of the other piers nearby. The shutter door's orange face had almost completely rusted away, the few windows that were still intact had accumulated plenty of cobwebs and mold, and the concrete exterior was egregiously cracked in several spots. The large, stylized white 'T' emblem of the long-defunct Teiyo Group almost appeared to be melting off of the building.

It was so obvious as a bad guy hideout that Misato cursed herself for not thinking of searching the waterfront sooner.

From behind the decaying six-foot-high chain link fence — lined with grayish burlap as an added layer of security — that surrounded the warehouse's perimeter, Misato and one half of Alpha Team waited patiently to make their move.

Across from them, on the other side of the busted security gate, the strike team's other half squeezed through the gap to breach the perimeter, their rifles at the ready and their footsteps as silent as possible.

The plan was for the first group to go around to the back of the building and cause a distraction, allowing the second group to enter from the front with less resistance... in theory, anyway. Misato had no idea as to how many enemies this operation involved, or if said enemies were even a legitimate threat against NERV's military-trained personnel.

But hey, over-preparing never hurt, right?

"We're in position at the back of the building," the first group's leader whispered over the shared comms channel. A pause followed.

"Breaching the door in 3... 2... 1..."

The loud, heavy 'CLANG' of metal against metal was the cue for Misato and the rest of the team to make their move. Rushing past the gate and the shutter door, they stopped before the warehouse's emergency exit door at the front end. One team member set charges on the door's hinges while the others stood back.

"Good to go," he said as he retreated to a safe distance.

"On my count," Alpha Team's commander said. "3... 2... 1... Breach!"

The charges blew and the metal door flew off of its frame. Misato and Alpha Team quickly entered the building one at a time, and took cover behind corners, empty crates, and cable spools — whatever was available. Across the warehouse floor, towards the rear of the building, the first group had also taken cover where they could.

At the center of the room, just barely illuminated by the morning light filtering through the building's few windows, a man sat in a cheap folding chair at a cheap folding card table. In front of him was a highball glass and a bottle of whiskey. He had no visible weapons, and seemed far calmer than most people usually would be in the midst of a raid.

"I'm going in; watch my back," Misato said over comms, before quickly yet carefully checking around the crate she'd used for cover.

No one else was hiding behind any of the stray obstacles. It was just her, Alpha Team, and the lone stranger. He stayed as still as a statue, save for his steady breathing.

Misato slowly approached him with her handgun pointed directly at his head.

"Nice of you to stop by," the stranger said, not looking at her.

"Who are you?" Misato asked, sternly.

"Doctor Martin Ashcroft," he answered. "Pleased to make your acquaintance."

Up close, Misato could clearly see that he was not at all Japanese. He had a full head of almost curly hair and a short but thick beard, both brown with a slight blond tint. He certainly wasn't properly dressed for a shootout; he wore a black turtleneck shirt, sweatpants, and casual slippers of the kind one would wear around the house on a cold morning.

"Where is Shinji Ikari?"

"Oh, don't worry, he's close by," Dr. Ashcroft said, then reached for the bottle.

"Stop," Misato ordered.

The stranger paused and very slowly turned his head to look her in the eye. "Relax, please," he said. "I'm pouring myself a drink, is all."

Misato kept her aim on him, not flinching for a second, as he once more reached for the bottle, poured himself a serving, and returned the bottle to the table to cap it.

"I'll tell you whatever you want to know," he said, swishing the dark brown whiskey around in the glass. "The truth and nothing but." He took a slow, deliberate sip. "I just want to have one last drink as a free man, for the foreseeable future."

Misato kept as cool and as steady as she could, her gun still pointing at Ashcroft's skull.

"Why did you kidnap Shinji Ikari?"

"I didn't kidnap him," Ashcroft replied. "I hired someone else to kidnap him. You think I had the time to do the job myself? I needed to focus on my experiment."

"What experiment?" Misato hissed.

Ashcroft chuckled. "Don't worry; Shinji is perfectly safe, I assure you." He took another sip. "Well, not perfectly, really, but he is safe. You see, for this experiment that I just mentioned, I needed someone that I knew had a traumatic past — someone for whom anger, fear, and sadness were constants in life. By all accounts, Shinji Ikari was the perfect fit. From there, I just needed to give him the right push."

Misato tried to keep the swelling rage within her at bay.

"I don't know if you or anyone you know heard about this," Ashcroft continued, "but years ago, I worked on a project that was supposed to rehabilitate certain people: addicts, the disturbed, those without a true purpose... to turn them into individuals who would actually benefit society. I was close to completing the project when Second Impact hit, and I had to choose saving my life over saving my research. It took me fifteen years to piece everything back together."

"What are you getting at?" Misato said, demanding more than asking — and one step closer to pulling the trigger.

"If you give a gun to someone and don't teach him how to properly use it," Ashcroft continued, "he'll more than likely shoot the wrong person. But if you teach him how to use his own body as a weapon in and of itself, you won't even need to give him a gun."

He slowly rose from his seat, placing the glass of whiskey upon the card table. Misato's gun barrel followed him.

"You gave Shinji Ikari the controls to Evangelion Unit-01," Ashcroft went on, "and after all this time, have you taught him — really taught him — how to actually use them to their full potential? Think about it. The answer is, no, you didn't; you've only barely kept him from getting himself killed after all this time. Now, on the other hand, I have taught Shinji how to not only use but legitimately control the untapped potential within his own self... with help, of course, from my fifteen-plus-year research."

"Where..." Misato snarled, "...is he?"

Ashcroft smirked. "Shinji's been right here with us the whole time. Isn't that right, Shinji?"

Just behind Ashcroft, the air began to shimmer and ripple as if it were water. Misato's eyes widened with horror as she realized that the ripple was neither an optical illusion nor some sort of spooky phenomenon.

It was a living creature.

"This is your end," Ashcroft said, "and our beginning."

The inhuman thing unleashed a blood-curdling shriek as it charged past Misato in the direction of the members of Alpha Team.

"Shit!" Misato exclaimed. "Everyone, spread out—!"

Before she could finish calling her order, what was possibly a tail whipped backwards with frightening speed—

—and impacted hard against Misato's lower spine.

She hit the concrete floor in less than a second. Her vision was already fading, and she tasted blood in her mouth.

The last thing she heard before her consciousness slipped away, after the shouts and gunfire from Alpha Team, was the creature's horrible, horrible scream.