Chapter 4: Fufukujyuu (不服従)
XxXxX
"Sealing suit, vitals nominal, Eva standing by for launch," I called out.
"What do we have on the Angel?" Misato asked.
"I'm not sure how to put this… It's a giant… penis?" I replied, followed by nervous laughter.
"What do you mean by that?" Misato asked, apparently unfazed by my description of the fourth Angel.
"See for yourself, ma'am," Maya replied. The screen flickered briefly before showing a camera view of Shamshel.
On screen was a pink and purple insectoid with a red sphere just below its head behind what appeared to be moving ribs. Sprouting out of the Angel's shoulders were two purple tentacles of light.
"So it is, so it is," Misato muttered. She opened a channel to Shinji before speaking again, "Shinji, be careful, we don't know what this Angel's capable of."
"Ready?" I asked the pilot.
"Do I have a choice?"
I hesitated briefly before replying: "No, not really…"
We waited for a moment longer for Misato's commands. "Evangelion Unit-01, LAUNCH!"
The lift launched Shinji towards the surface at break-neck speeds. Were it not for the LCL in the plug, the plug suit and the Eva's armour, I'm certain he'd have been flattened to thinner than paper.
Leaving the elevator, Shinji is attacked by the Angel's tentacles.
"Shinji, deploy your AT-field," the Operations Director barked.
"My what? How?"
"Misato, Shinji hasn't got any pilot's training yet. His first session was scheduled for later today," I explained.
Misato swore before issuing more orders. "Maya, get some cover fire for him. Toshi, you've had some basic Eva training, right?"
"Yes, ma'am," the other bridge bunny replied, typing away madly at her console.
"Only a brief walkthrough of the systems, no actual training as a pilot. Where's Dr. Akagi?" I answered.
Misato let loose a few expletives. Maya answered my question with a solemn look, "She's at a meeting with some science group or something."
The purple-haired woman swore a few more times.
During our brief discussion, Shinji had managed to untangle himself from the tentacles. He pulled Shamshel towards him before kicking it further away. Alas, it was straight into an apartment building.
I saw Misato cringe out of the corner of my eye; more paperwork for her.
Just then, some alarms went off. "Eva-01 has switched to internal power. Ten minutes until deactivation," Maya explained.
I quickly glanced down to find Shinji's system was being flooded with adrenaline. "Misato! He's bordering on cardiac failure!" I called out, scrambling to bring his heart rate down to safe levels.
"Shinji! Retreat through elevator 89D!" Misato barked.
Shinji started mumbling something, but it wasn't loud enough to be picked up by the audio system in the plug. "Prog knife deployed," Maya stated.
"Shinji, I ordered you to retreat! Get your ass back down here!" the Colonel repeated.
Shinji sprang forward towards the fallen Angel as it extracted itself from the rubble of the building. With a scream, he tackled Shamshel and drove the vibrating blade straight into the core. The whips that compose the insectoid's arms flailed madly, destroying several nearby buildings.
"Power supply damaged! Fifteen seconds of power remain!" the lieutenant cried out as more alarms started blaring.
As the purple-armour clad suit powered down, the red sphere that was the Fourth Angel's heart dimmed. It was dead and in near perfect condition for study; Ritsuko will be glad to hear of that.
When the alarms for Shinji's power-supply died off, a couple warnings popped up on my screen. First, Shinji's heart was beating too fast for it to be safe. Second, several cameras in the complex had suddenly stopped transmitting. Thirdly, a half-dozen guards had gone missing. Lastly, one of the surface doors, which was located on the opposite end of the city from where Shinji had fought, had been blasted open.
I set the computer to help bring his blood pressure and heart rate down by releasing a small dosage of norepinephrine. "Misato, there's been a level two security breech, so I have to run. Shinji should be safe enough, providing he hasn't passed out."
The director nodded and I tore off out of the room. Pressing the button on my radio, I issued off a couple orders. "Agent Anno, have a small team assembled, fifteen strong, and meet me at the breech. All agents in the area, report in."
"Roger, full gear?" Anno replied instantly.
"Body suits, assault rifles, and some flash-blangs. I'll suit up and meet you there," I replied, heading for the nearest security station.
"Sector Five Security, checking in. The cameras were down prior to the explosion. A standard response team was dispatched, no contact in fifteen minutes," came another response.
As I suited up, I snapped, "Why the hell didn't I get notified of this earlier?"
"Protocol dictates that—" the officer started.
"I know damn well what it says. There wasn't even a notice sent to me until the response limit was reached. I should have been informed that there was a breach and a team was dispatched the second it happened."
"Logs show that messages were sent."
"I didn't receive anything," I growled as I tried to decide which rifle I wanted. Eventually I chose the FN F2000*, with two smoke grenades, two flash-bangs and two fragmentaries. As much as I hate guns, I hate being under equipped when I'm under a siege. At least this way I'll have a chance if I'm against a small army… maybe. Slotting the two spare clips into the pouches on the body suit, I left the room.
A couple minutes later, I joined up with the team, who were similarly equipped. "Anything on the cameras?" I spoke into the radio.
"Nothing," the officers replied, fifteen in all.
The eighth sector officer was last, "Unauthorized personnel in Sector 8-delta. Lockdown confirmed."
I turned to the agents, "Form up!" The fifteen men quickly moved into formation, which was a three-by-five line. Agent Anno fell into position at the very back, beyond the standard formation, while I was alone in a row, like he was, at the front. "Sound the general alarm for 8-delta. I want everyone out of our way when we come rolling in," I barked. To the rest of the agents, I signalled and started off at a mild jog.
It took us nearly an hour to arrive. Raising a closed fist, I brought the squad to a halt. I moved to the wall and checked the panel that was at each door. The screen showed a feed of the corridor beyond the door. I held up my hand towards the others with my thumb on my index finger, signalling that there were nine hostiles ahead. I pointed to the right column, held up an open palm, gestured to the right hall just behind us, and drew a small loop in the air. The agents nodded and moved out. I repeated the sequence to the left column and pointed down left. They, too, moved out. A minute later, I received confirmation they had arrived at the other two entrances.
Sticking my right arm out straight towards me, I spoke into the radio as the agents fanned out into a line, Anno directly to my left, "Safeties off!" I heard six clicks as switches were flicked. I slid a smoke grenade into the 40mm barrel before issuing another order: "Locks off!"
The door locks released and the doors opened. Once there was enough room, I fired the grenade into the hall, where it joined two others.
Switching to infrared vision on the goggles we all wore, the seventeen of us moved in, guns at the ready. Due to our suits, our heat signatures were actually a different colour than the unauthorized personnel's. They were red, oranges and yellows; we were blues, greens, and yellows.
Thanks to the training and protocol, all agents would aim at the legs, specifically the knees, of the hostiles to allow for live capture.
One of the blobs moved and I opened fire. The two bursts took out any chance of the figure leaving. A few minutes later, two more joined it, while the other six were lying on the floor dead.
As the smoke cleared, I removed my goggles. "I want these men transported to the infirmary and a detail posted outside the room at all times," I replied. Ten of the sixteen others saluted before hauling the bodies off.
I rubbed my eyes and sighed. "Anno, get this cleaned up. Afterwards, the general alarm is to be cancelled. Also, I want that door fixed yesterday. If anything changes, I want to hear, got it?"
"Sir, yes, sir!" the Agent replied, issuing orders. I didn't pay too much attention. I left for the bridge to ask Misato if she'd give me a ride home.
Thankfully, she did. I brought my gear with me, along with my jacket of course. Removing the vest and helmet, I leaned the gun next to the stand by my bed. I collapsed and sleep visited me the second my head hit the pillow.
XxXxX
I awoke to my cat head-butting me fourteen hours later. "Go away, Spaz."
Being the stupid cat he is, a couple swats at him did nothing to give Spaz an idea that I don't want to play.
With a groan I rolled over. "Spaz, do you have something against me sleeping?" I asked, my mind still slightly clouded by sleep. He climbed on top of my chest and started purring. "Clearly, you're an idiot."
And I'm crazy.
I sighed and pushed my cat off me. "What was so damn important you had to come wake me? Hmm?"
Spaz ran off, probably to go terrorize more of my apartment. I rolled over and was about to try to go back to sleep when my phone rang. I reached with habitual ease and pressed the on button. "Can it wait?" Only a handful of people have my home number: Misato, Maya, Fuyutsuki, Ritsuko, Gendo and two or three close friends.
"You're late for work, Toshi," Misato replied.
"I am? It's only seven."
"Try again, kiddo. It's nine."
I checked the clock. 7:05 AM. I dug around for my phone. 0706. "Misato, it's only a little after seven. I'm not due for another twenty minutes or so."
"Toshi, it's 0907. Get your ass down here before the Commander murders you," she threatened.
"How's the possible? Both my phone and clock are set by the Magi," I explain, putting her on speakerphone to change and re-don my gear. As if my day couldn't start off any worse, someone was pounding their fist into my door. "God damn it. Hold on; someone's at the door." Sitting the phone on my desk, I went to answer the door.
Standing outside was none other than Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki. Probably ready to kick my ass out of Nerv. "You've been requested for a trial by Seele," he stated, skipping the pleasantries.
I groaned. "Why?"
"It should be obvious, I think," Fuyutsuki replied, his normal mannerisms gone with the wind.
"The security breaches?" I asked in a quiet, defeated voice.
The elderly man nodded.
"Okay, lemme just grab the rest of my gear and I'll be right out," I explained. Quickly heading to my room to grab the rifle I told Misato I'd be a while due to a meeting and replaced the phone on the cradle.
XxXxX
Picture the most embarrassing thing to happen to you. Now amplify that by twenty. Disturbed enough? Well, that's nothing compared to being in a pitch black room, naked and on a lit platform that doesn't seem to push the darkness back.
If that wasn't bad enough, I was surrounded by panels that had "Seele" followed by a number and "Sound only" on them in red text; nothing more, nothing less. Although, the "sound only" part was a half-truth, at least, I think so. It's hard to say. I'm pretty sure they could see me, but I couldn't see them, which is really disturbing and makes me want to go die somewhere.
"What is your name and rank within Nerv?" Seele-01, Chairman Lorenz Keel, asked. Out of all the Seele members, I've only met Keel once. He was an older man with white hair and that wise and all-knowing look people get as they age. He was of German ethnicity, wore a green suit, and had a strange visor thing over his eyes.
"Major Toshi Kurokawa."
"What is your position within Nerv?" Seele-03 asked.
"Section Two Commander and Director of Security and Personnel Safety."
"How many breeches have there been since assuming this position, when and where did they occur?" Seele-08 asked.
"Two. The first was at the hospital on 12 November 2017. The second was a S-Five surface gate on 13 November 2017."
"How many casualties in each breech?" Keel asked.
"Two agents DOA in the hospital; nine hostiles encountered in the S-Five breech, three detained, rest killed in combat."
"Anything else you wish to add?" Keel finished.
"We are looking into the incidents and will be interrogating the detained men," I concluded.
"That will be all," Seele-09 stated.
I quickly left the room, dressed and set off for the bridge.
XxXxX
Notes: The FN F2000 is an all-purpose rifle from Belgium. The version I used was the rifle with a telescopic sight and a 40mm grenade launcher attached. Picture can be found by searching Google for "FN F200 Modern Firearms", it should be the first result (world[dot]guns[dot]ru). The image is the 3rd image down.
Thanks to Matsuko Hirioko for beta reading.
Next Chapter: Kaigi wa Kaiyou (会議は海洋).