A short chapter.

Chapter 1 Part II

The windows blew in spraying shards of glass throughout the rooms of the home. The sound of gunfire erupting like firecrackers. Shinji threw his back against the kitchen wall and spotted Asuka and Carla had ducked under the table, the American girl clutching tightly the syringe that contained her experiment. He then heard the voices of several dozen men ordering to each other for various tasks. He didn't know what to do. Just trying to stay alive wouldn't make much of a difference considering he was at a dead end. The only way out of the kitchen was through the doorway which was directly in front of the blown out windows and most presumably where the enemy was planning to invade.

Just then he saw Carla quickly slide from under the table where she then headed towards the refrigerator and began to pull it from its place.

"Help me!" she barked at them. Shinji and Asuka nodded and aided the American girl. As they began to pull the fridge away the sudden breeze of air conditioned wind came blowing from behind it. Asuka looked behind and was amazed to find a hidden doorway with metal bars restricting anyone from entering. Carla eyed the doorway for a moment and cursed under her breath.

"What's the password...?" she mumbled. They could all hear broken glass being crushed underneath the weight of soldiers just several rooms away.

"You don't know the password? What the hell is wrong with you?!" yelled Asuka as she frantically began tapping the small number pad.

"Cut it out, you're going to override the system!" the American yelled back pushing her away, "I think I remember it."

She began to press several buttons but the voices of the soldiers began to draw in closer.

"Come on..." whispered Shinji.

"Give me a sec..."

"They're coming..."

"I know..."

"They're down the hall..."

"I know.. shut up..."

She continued to input numerous numbers into the small screen, her hand hovering nervously over the number pad. Shinji watched as she quickly tapped fourteen numbers into the screen leaving one space for the last number.

"Oh God..." Carla whispered.

"What? What's wrong?!" Asuka said.

"I forgot the last number."

"WHAT!? HOW DO YOU FORGET SOMETHING LIKE THAT?" spat Asuka snatching a look over her shoulder.

"I don't know! I don't know!" the girl said frantically.

Her hand hovered over the number pad, her eyes darting from number to number.

"Hurry up, HURRY UP!"

"... four plus x... sigma that..."

"Stop counting and just hit a damn number!"

"Square root... sixteen... four..."

"They're in there!" a soldier called.

The American girl clutched her syringe tightly and shut her eyes, her lips mumbling incoherent syllables. A man dressed in military clothing appeared in the doorway, a gas mask concealing his face and a faint rose stitched on his arm. He lifted his rifle and slid his finger into the gun's trigger. Shinji's eyes widened.

"Got it!"

Without another moments hesitation all three teens forced themselves into the doorway narrowly missing stray shots the soldier had squeezed off. The interior of the secret door was dark and the only thing Asuka and Shinji could see was the faint lights that directed them down a ramp and deeper into the bowels of the Earth. The air was crisp and bitter cold. It was like walking into a freezer. The three of them continued to run down the elongated hall and lower into the Earth.

"I deleted the code behind me, that should bide us some time." panted Carla.

"Where are we?" asked Shinji. They stopped in front a large cage that was bathed in red light from the numerous spotlights that cascaded below it. It took Shinji a moment to realize they were looking at an elevator.

"Get in. This will take us to my mother's lab."

They all stepped into the elevator and descended into the darkened abyss, the periodic blinking of red lights signifying their travel.

"I can't believe they found us..." whispered Carla. Through the darkness she could see Asuka turning her head towards her no doubt a look of disgust on her face.

"Are you going to stand there and tell me you know who those guys are?" she asked. Shinji waited for a response but he could tell from the silence she already knew the answer to that.

"They are after my mother's research and mine. They chased us through several states and for some reason they keep finding us. My mother changed my name so many times I don't even remember my birth name. They want this." she said holding up the syringe which was now glowing in the darkness.

"So, what does it really do... or rather... supposed to do?" asked Shinji. The American girl sighed as she scratched her head and lifted the glowing syringe. She tapped the needle allowing small droplets of the liquid to drip.

"I guess we'll find out right now." she said.

She stuck the needle into her neck and slowly plunged a tiny amount of the concoction into herself. Asuka and Shinji watched and were soon cautious when Carla's blue eyes began to glow sharing the same luminosity the liquid held. She closed her eyes and ceased to speak or move.

"Are you alright?" asked Shinji. The girl didn't respond. He lifted his hand to move her but was stunned when it met an invisible wall. He pressed his hand against it inducing a holographic like grid to form around his hand. He was speechless.

"This girl wasn't lying." whispered Asuka. The red haired girl went over to touch the invisible wall but instead of curiosity being appeased Asuka's body hovered into the air, her limbs furiously flailing about, her hands scratching at an invisible force wrapping around her throat. Shinji looked at Carla whose soft and innocent demeanor was now replaced by a sinister grin, the soft hearted glow that was emitting from her eyes had turned dark red.

"Carla! STOP!" pleaded Shinji. The glow that had been leaking from the American girl's eyes faded allowing her to blink innocently as Asuka fell to the bottom of the cage, gasping for air.

"Is something wrong?" Carla asked clearly unaware of what had just happened. Asuka stood and grabbed the American girl by the throat and began to squeeze.

"I COULD KILL YOU!"

"Stop it, Asuka!" Shinji said trying to break up the clash.

"I didn't do anything to you!" Carla protested.

The elevator continued to fall, the sound of shouts and cries echoing throughout the mighty length of the shaft. After several more moments the elevator finally arrived. When the doors opened Asuka hovered Carla with the blond's long hair entangled in her hands, Shinji over Asuka's back attempting to pull her away. They turned their heads into the massive warehouse like area, computers, towers, monitors, scientific equipment of all variations sat quietly throughout. The teens ceased the squabble and walked in, their eyes darting across the random equipment except for Carla who merely walked away from them whilst fixing her hair and staring angrily at a computer monitor.

Shinji quickly looked over to the girl, she was completely fine now. Why? He walked over to her and said, "Are you alright now?"

"Oh yeah, sure. I'm totally used to some German chick strangling me." she said.

"Well, you were choking her."

"No I wasn't"

"So you don't remember?"

"Of course I do, I injected myself with my own drug and nothing happened and then suddenly your 'girlfriend' attacks me for no reason."

Asuka spun around and was attempting for round two but before she could Shinji stopped her and continued to question.

"Does your drug have side effects?" he asked. The blond haired girl looked at him with a slight look of annoyance.

"I wouldn't know. It doesn't work obviously." she said. Shinji looked over to Asuka.

"Well anyway, here." said Carla. She pressed a button on the computer and suddenly another door opened from another section of the lab. Shinji looked over and could see several long wooden crates. He turned to Carla.

"What are those?"

"Weapons. My mother buys them from a dealer every month just in case our lab ever got raided. If she hasn't come back yet, there's a good chance she's already dead."

The capacity of those words fluttered so easily from her lips that it made Shinji feel uneasy. He already knew her mother and her shared little closeness but he didn't know it ran this deep. To so casually speak of the death of a parent as if it were so matter of factly haunted him. She guided them into the room where the crates were, she kicked the side of one of them unfastening the top. Shinji looked in and was surprised to say the least. The mere sight of so many weapons in a single box definitely had a weird sensation acting on him. Asuka picked up to what seemed to look like an automatic pistol. She eyed it, released the magazine, checked the ammo and reload it. Shinji and Carla staring blankly at her.

"What? I had training." she said plainly. Carla pointed at the box.

"Shinji, I advise you take something. If the outer defenses can't hold up in time for me to initiate the self destruct sequence we are going to have to hold them off ourselves until we can."

"Wait, how are we going to get out of here?" asked Asuka.

"In the next chamber there's a sewer line. But the path is blocked from the outside. So if someone from the outside in the sewer were to walk past they would only see a wall and nothing else. Once the self destruct sequence is activated the path to the sewer will blow exposing the path out. Once the sequence is completed charged explosives from the house itself will set off and a cave in will permanently block the path from the outside. If that's not enough my mother rigged several tanks of special acid that will leak in here and reduce everything into waste so if anyone were to go through the remains they would only encounter black residue and nothing else. The only problem is in order to put in the code I would have to run several programs and manually install the virus that initiates it."

"Nothing is ever simple in this world." scoffed Asuka.

The floor trembled and dust from the ceiling fell. Shinji looked at Carla who went wide eyed.

"They're using explosives. That will set off the tanks too early." she said. She frantically went to several computer monitors and began to type frantically. More explosions rocked them but they sounded much closer than the previous ones. Shinji darted towards the open crate and pulled out a handgun and placed his back against a wall while Asuka did the same but closer towards the entrance to the lab. Carla stood several feet away from her still clicking away.

"How long is this gonna take?" Asuka yelled over the explosions. The blond girl looked over her shoulder and then back at the computer screen.

"I won't lie to you. It's gonna take me more than a few minutes."

Asuka felt her gut fall. The explosions grew louder until they were behind the elevator door. Asuka quickly ejected her magazine and then reloaded again. Habit. She pulled the slide to allow a bullet into the chamber and held the handle with both hands. This was much different than firing at dummies. The entrance door flew open and several enemy soldiers appeared brandishing their weapons. They took a look at Carla who was directly in their sights and aimed.

Now.

Asuka pulled away from her hiding spot and lifted her own weapon and took aim. She closed her eyes and pulled the trigger. She heard the scream of a man and when she opened her eyes the soldier she had pointed to was on the ground clutching his shoulder. The soldier behind him turned to her and fired.

She quickly withdrew behind the wall she hid behind and pulled herself into a ball hoping and praying the bullets couldn't fly through the wall. Shinji saw that their attention was distracted and lifted his handgun. He blindly fired at them but instead he hit the computer Carla was so busily typing away at.

"You damn idiot!" she screamed as she retreated behind several towers of motherboards escaping the fire that was now being aimed at her.

"I told you he was an idiot when we met didn't I?" screamed Asuka from cover. Several more men entered and fortified the entrance. Asuka pulled out from her spot and fired again this time killing two men as they ran inside.

"Teargas, use the teargas!" one of the soldiers yelled. The next thing they knew they heard the sound of hollow metal hitting the floor. Shinji looked and saw what looked like a spray paint canister but a much smaller version of that. White fumes began to eject from it. Carla darted towards the crates and withdrew an M4 Carbine. She quickly gathered several cartridges and stuffed them into her pants considering she had no pockets. She then made her way using the fumes of the teargas as cover as she hid next to Shinji.

"You do realize you made the situation ten times worse right?" she said stuffing a cartridge into the rifle. Shinji was too mesmerized by her skill handling a gun that he didn't even acknowledge her question.

A sudden feeling of deja vu filled him.

Carla screamed and Shinji looked over to her. Her right shoulder was smoldering but from what? He looked up and spotted droplets of a orange substance leaking from between two ceiling panels.

"Shit, one of the acid tanks must be damaged." she said as she tore off her lab coat which she always wore. The teargas cloud was larger now but that didn't stop Carla from jumping out from cover and shooting blindly into it.

Asuka could hear more men arriving. The teargas drew near to her. She lifted the collar of her shirt over her nose and continued to hold onto her gun with a precious grip. Her heart raced with her breathing. Then suddenly out of the white cloud a small bluish glow began to come from within. The glow came closer until it was revealed to be the syringe Carla just had. She looked at it for a moment and took it. She flicked the needle several times and held it up to her neck.

"Freeze." said a voice.

She looked up and there she was staring into the barrel of a gun, the bullet visible through the chamber. The men stood before her, his face concealed behind a gas mask.

"Drop that needle." he said. Asuka lowered the needle but not far. She hesitated.

"I said drop it."

She lifted it and stabbed herself in the neck with it.

He fired his gun.

Blood ran down her face.

"What the hell?" the soldier whispered. The bullet was only a centimeter within her skull but the rest of it stuck out like a knife stuck in a chopping block. Her hand that held the needle fell to her side lifelessly along with the gun. Her body did not move but the bullet refused to fall. He took a step back not knowing what to do. A red liquid like substance fell from her closed eyes as if tears. The red substance then began to glow a deep red. The solider lifted his gun and fired several more times but to his dismay the bullets went nowhere. The only thing they managed to do was cause several small grid like patterns to form in mid air.

" :)"

"What?"

":P"

"What are you saying?"

":("

"Get... get out of my mind..."

":)"

Blood erupted in all directions.

:D