I don't own anything

I don't own anything.

Infantry

-Chapter Seven:

Shinji looked around the small, but comfortable, living room of the Klack family. "How long did you know him?" Melissa asked as she handed him a cup of coffee.

"Not very long actually," Shinji explained. "I was in his squad. We were buddied up so he could keep an eye on me. A lot of guys with that job let it go to their head a little, but he was really decent to me.

"How did he die?" Melissa asked as she sat down at well. Shinji swallowed dryly and sipped his coffee.

"We were moving to recover a rocket launcher from our squad leader after he bough the farm," Shinji stated finally. "We were in mid-bounce. Klack saw something in the dirt below us, something that told him it was a covered bug hole. I didn't notice it, wouldn't have noticed it until it was too late. He hit me in mid-air, knocking me aside and landing on the bug hole. The ground gave way and he went inside."

"I see," Melissa croaked. Shinji could see tears bright in her eyes. "Did he suffer?"

"No," Shinji stated, his voice was cracking slightly too. Had anyone ever been so close to him? So close that they would give their life without a second thought? "I should have died. I don't have a God damned thing to live for. He should be here, with you." He felt something hot and wet role down his face. To his shock, Melissa moved next to him and wrapped an arm around him. He had come all this way and she was comforting him? He was a veteran combat infantryman and a civilian woman not even out of high school was comforting him? Shinji reached into his pocket and dug out a box. "I want you to have this."

"What is it?" Melissa asked, leaning back and taking the box. She opened it and stared at its contents.

"It's the Terran Valor Medal," Shinji stated. "Klack should have gotten it, not me." Melissa stared down at it silently for a moment before pushing it back into his hands.

"I can't wear it," she stated. "Why don't you wear it for him?"

"I. . ."

"I mean it," Melissa interrupted. Shinji chuckled and stuck the box back in his pocket.

"Alright." Shinji looked around the house. "Do you have any family left?"

"No," Melissa replied. "Don't worry everything's fine here. I have Matt's life insurance policy."

"It's a lot of money," Shinji admitted, "but it won't last forever."

"I know," Melissa stated. "I enlisted with the Navy. I'm leaving right after I graduate in a few years." Shinji stared at the tiny girl next to him. He had looked up Klack's family to find her and had learned quite a bit. Her mother died in the Third Impact. Her father was a Navy test pilot who had died on one of the first deep space explorations. With what the military had done to her father and her brother, she had still enlisted.

"You got guts," Shinji commented. "Too bad you're a lady; you'd make a hell of a grunt." Melissa grinned brightly.

"Matt used to tell me that," she stated. Shinji grabbed the notepad he had taken to carrying out of his pocket and quickly scribbled down his address aboard ship.

"If you have any problems, anything at all, write me, okay?"

"Sure," Melissa replied as she took the paper.

"Even if you just need someone to talk to, I'm here," Shinji stated. Melissa laughed openly at that.

"Does that mean I can write you about all the girly stuff we girls talk about?" she teased.

"Maybe not that." She laughed again and Shinji had to join in. It felt good to laugh again. It made him think that maybe, just maybe, he did have a future.

(:ii:)

Shinji pushed the door to his room open and staggered inside. "Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in." Shinji glanced up and saw Chris leaning against the wall with a magazine in his hands. "You're looking happy."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Shinji demanded.

"Nothing!" Chris replied quickly as he held up his hands in surrender. "You met with Klack's sister, right?"

"Yeah." Chris nodded and turned back to his magazine. Sometimes, friends just knew when to drop it. "The Boss swung by. He was trying to find you for something."

"What'd you tell him?"

"Hadn't seen you in a while," Chris stated from behind his magazine. "You back to being you?" Shinji thought about that as he sprawled on his back.

"No,' he replied after a moment, "but I'm a lot better than before."

"Good," Chris grunted. "You were really starting to depress the fuck out of me." Shinji chuckled at that. He had spent the short flight over from Australia thinking about the direction his life had taken.

"I better go see what the Lieutenant wanted." Shinji sat up and stretched. He was tired, but he did want to know what Ford wanted. He couldn't think of anything in particular. The door banged open and Ford stomped in. "Speak of the devil."

"Did you get done what you needed to get done?" Ford asked. Shinji stared at him and realized, quite suddenly, that he had never told Chris his plans.

"Do you have somebody spying on me sir?"

"This isn't my first rodeo Blue," Ford stated. "It's not the first time I've lost men and had to deal with the survivors, so I'll say it again. Did you get done what you needed to do?"

"Yes sir."

"Good," Ford stated. "Something's come up."

"What?" Shinji asked, feeling his stomach drop.

"Our little break has been extended." Shinji's jaw dropped. That wasn't exactly the horrible news he had been expecting. After a moment of thought, he decided that good things never happened in the military for good reasons.

"Why?"

"The War Dogs are being reorganized and reassigned," Ford explained. "We are now the First Platoon of the Regiment's Quick Reaction Battalion."

"What does that mean for us?" Shinji asked.

"It means that our roles have suddenly changed a bit," Ford stated. "We're now a step above being just plain infantrymen."

"We're like Recon or something sir?" Chris asked.

"Different mission and nowhere near as elite," Ford stated. "We're the cavalry now. When somebody gets in trouble, we're going to be their guardian angels. As such we have to be trained for desperate situations. Blue, as a scout, you're being sent through the basic reconnaissance course in Australia."

"The basic reconnaissance course?" Shinji parroted. That was a course normally reserved strictly for troopers who were joining Recon or the senior scouts from regular infantry platoons.

"Yeah," Ford stated. "You've got five hours before your shuttle leaves. Get packed."

"Isn't there a rank requirement?" Shinji asked.

"Technically it's for NCOs and grunts going into Recon only," Ford stated. "They're still only going to let grunt E-3s and higher go through."

"But sir, I'm a. . ."

". . .brevet Lance Corporal," Ford stated. "Our deal still stands though. I'll take the rank back without a mark on your record when you return, but you can get it back after five drops. Shouldn't take long with our new mission."

"Gee, should I salute?" Chris mocked. "What about the rest of us?"

"Hope you're ready to train," Ford stated cheerfully.

(:ii:)

Shinji dropped his sea bag and dug in the pocket of his uniform jacket for his cigars. "I heard you got a bump for the school, Blue." Shinji turned and stiffened immediately. The man before him was the War Dog's senior scout, Corporal Yazzie, a man who had survived Big K in a scout suit and Shinji's most direct boss.

"Yes Corporal," Shinji answered as he self-consciously touched new rank sewn to his upper arms.

"I can't argue with the Boss's decision," Yazzie stated as he held out a lighter. Shinji quickly lit his cigar and handed it back. "I've seen your scores. You are damn good. Oddly enough, you're just as good in combat. Most people have a significant different between their performance in testing and their performance in combat."

"I'm just good with armor, Corporal," Shinji stated. Yazzie eyed him warily.

"You're not just good," he stated. "The other five are coming now."

"Are you going to the basic recon course too, Coporal?" Shinji asked. Yazzie lit a cigarette and took a long drag on it, exhaling through his nose.

"Yeah," he stated after a moment. "You know the deal with who's in charge of you, right?"

"Yes Corporal," Shinji stated. "I'm a trooper for Corporal Kurosaki until you need me to act as a scout." Yazzie nodded.

"This will be interesting," he mused. "You'll be among the first non-NCOs from the regular Infantry to go through his course."

"Do you think that will cause trouble Corporal?"

"Trouble?" Yazzie repeated. "Blue, you're a combat veteran. Not only that, but you were awarded a Terran Valor Medal. If anything, they're going to respect the hell out of you." Shinji frowned. He had never really thought of it, but he was a veteran now, of an intergalactic war for that matter.

(:ii:)

Ritsuko frowned as she looked at the e-mail spread across her laptop's screen. "Hey Maya."

"Yes, Doctor?" the brunette asked as she made her way over to where Ritsuko was sitting on the Eva's catwalk.

"Look at this." Maya kneeled and read the electronic message quickly.

"Misato's coming back?"

"On shore leave," Ritsuko stated. "She joined the Navy." Maya frowned and reread the message again.

"But she hates the Federation!"

"That's what I thought," Ritsuko commented. "Maybe she's still looking for Shinji."

"We should contact him immediately," Maya stated. "He said that he'd be on leave for a few more weeks. That's just long enough to meet her!"

(:ii:)

Ford frowned as he surfed through the computers onboard the White Feather. There was a little message winking in the corner of his screen. He clicked on it and frowned as an e-mail alert popped up.

As the platoon leader, all messages to absent platoon members were flagged for him so that he could forward them. A quickly glance at the sending e-mail address told him all he needed to know.

Blue had told him that there was no one at NERV he really wanted to talk to. Sorry to say, this R. Akagi from NERV would just have to wait to pester Blue when he got back. There was another message waiting. The sender's name was Klack, maybe Klack's little sister? After a moment Ford forwarded the message to his young apprentice.

It wasn't invasion of privacy of course. They were in the military. No soldier had ever had or every would have real privacy.

-End

(:ii:)

-Author's notes. So. . .short. Sorry folks. I just couldn't add anything else. But there is good news! I just save a bunch of money. . .no really. I just found out that my favorite (sort of) super hero is going to appear in the X-Men Origins movie.

Knowing you guys the way I do, I have no doubt that you too will cheer the Merc with a Mouth's big screen debut.

In his honor, I'm working on my next screwball odyssey: Evangelion as told with Shinji Wilson, son of Wade! With heavy inspiration from my favorite cartoon show of course. I won't tell you what that show is, but I'll leave you with these parting words: Chicks dig giant robots.