June 17th, 2015
"Well, that's depressing." Reginald said to himself as he read the paper.
"What's depressing?" Misato asked.
"Seems one of those 'end time' cults drank the cool aid. Fifty-three of them found, including about a dozen children." With a sigh, he passed her the paper to show her the article. "What's worst is they only found them because social services was there to take their kids away."
"Well that's just terrible. Is there any good news in here?" Looking over the titles, Misato didn't find anything to brighten her spirits. From one article to the next, the continual theme seemed to be 'the world is ending, why care about anything?' It almost seemed like the media had given up on the idea of victory.
"Well, there might not be good news in there, but at least our instruments finally got here." Mary said as she entered the dining room. In her hands she held a large box, as did Jon behind her.
"Those ungodly things are only here because we're the ones playing the memorial next week." Mana informed her.
"Oh, what's wrong Mana, don't like the music of my people?" Mary asked with a grin.
"I don't know what I did, but god only created the bagpipes to punish me." Was Mana's reply as she laid herself down on the couch next to Rei. The reaction gave Mary a laugh while Jon just rolled his eyes.
"I have never actually heard someone play the bagpipes before, but if it is as bad as you claim, why make an instrument out of it?" Rei asked.
"Ah, it's just because Mana never grew up with the sound of the Celtics around her." Jon said, trying his best to fake a Scottish accent. To Rei it just sounded like a butchered Ainu one.
The calm morning chatting before leaving for the base was abruptly ended by everyone's cellphones going off simultaneously, followed by sirens going off throughout the city. Dropping what they were doing, everyone ran out the door.
1.1.6: Enemy Within
Nerv main base of operations
Command center
"What's the situation?" Misato asked as she and Reg ran into the top level of the command center.
"S.W.O.R.D. has detected an object fifty thousand kilometers above us in geosynchronous orbit. It's confirmed pattern blue." Makoto informed them. "The Apollo and the Sun Tzu are moving in to intercept them."
"Alright, get the city shield activated and get the city fortifications activated." Reg ordered. "Maya, get the government and tell them to evacuate immediately."
"No need sir." She replied. "They're already evacuating as we speak."
"Typical." Misato muttered. "Alright get the proton cannon ready and spool up the miracle gun."
As the techs went about their duties, Reg and Misato looked over the holographic projection of their battlefield. "What could it possibly be thinking?"
"I'd think it was going to drop itself on us, but it isn't moving. I have a bad feeling we're going to have to be the ones reacting to whatever it is that thing has thought up." Reg replied.
Bridge of the Apollo
"All fighters deployed captain in starburst defense formation." The weapons officer stated.
"Alright, how close are we to maximum effective range?"
"Sir, the target is well within our maximum effective range." The officer answered. "Sun Tzu is requesting orders."
"Tell them to ready their beam cannons for a simultaneous strike with everything we have."
"Yes sir." The communications officer waited a few moments in wait for an acknowledgment of the orders. "Ready and waiting sir."
"What's the status of our beam cannons?"
"Fully charged and on target sir."
"Alright. All cannons fire."
In the quiet depths of space, two beams of light escaped each of the ships towards the awaiting Angel. Without a sound, the strike hit the Angel and immediately started to burn the creature. The beast did not scream, as it knew what its role was. Absorbing the energy, it turned it onto its enemy.
"Sir!" The weapons officer yelled to the captain. "There's a feedback loop detected in the cannons. All energy is being diverted to the hyperdrive."
Throughout the bridge, sparks flew from consoles as alarms went off. From the window, the captain saw a hyperdrive window open.
"Hyperdrive window has opened, we're being pulled in!"
Before anyone could react, the two ships where drawn into hyperspace, propelled away from Earth in uncontrolled FTL. It wouldn't be until the next day that either ship would regain control of its engines.
Nerv command center
"What the hell just happened?" Misato yelled as the Angel and two ships disappeared from their sensors.
"Another Angel has been detected, just off the coast." Makoto said. As the map readjusted to show the new battlefield, another blue blip appeared on the map. "Correction, two Angels."
"How long until they get here?" Reg asked.
"There's no movement detected sir, I can't answer that."
"Get the JSSDF and tell them not to attack them unless they move. We need to figure out what their plan is." Reg turned towards Misato. "Get Dr. Akagi to analyze the data we have. I want to know what those things just did with our ships and why they're just sitting there."
"I don't think she'll be able to answer the second one, and isn't the first S.W.O.R.D. jurisdiction?" Misato asked in return.
"Good point." He leaned forward, looking out at the displays. "Get the Evas loaded on the copters. This might be the most fortified place in the world, but better on the coast then here."
"Yes sir."
Japanese coast
"I can't see them, are you use they're out there?" Shinji asked. From his vantage point he could only see ocean beyond the sea side hotel he was using as cover.
"I can't see anything either, they must be too far." Asuka added. Her own lookout was two towers tall enough to conceal her Eva.
"No, I can see them. Part of them are sticking just above the horizon." Rei informed them. From the top of the mountain that sandwiched the small city with the coast, she was using the proton rifle. With its scope she could see part of the Angels, but just barely.
"If you can see them, why don't you shoot?" Shinji asked.
"What are you, stupid?" Asuka asked back. "Didn't you learn about how water and light work in school? If she can just see them above the horizon, it means there isn't a straight line-of-sight with them."
"So it would need to shoot threw a massive wall of water to reach them." Jon finished.
"Jon? Why are you on our comm. channel?" Asuka asked him.
"Because you accidently used the general channel for your answer. I don't know or much care what you're saying between yourselves, but stay off the general comm. unless you need us to hear it."
"Yes sir. Sorry sir."
"Oh what's the big deal, cap?" Mary asked. "I accidentally use the general comm. all the time."
Looking over his shoulder for a second, Jon made sure her fighter was where it was supposed to be.
"That's different, you don't tend to do that during an operation. We need to be professionals here. I'm not having another one of us go MIA because of these things." He explained. "And it's a lot less accidental with you then you're trying to make it look."
The three Avalons flew over the city, their third time doing so since they began their flight.
"You need to lighten up, being too stressful impairs your ability to operate." Mary casually informed him. "Have you thought about taking your girlfriend to a movie or dinner? I hear that releases stress. Though there's something else which works much better."
"Mary, now's really not the time or place. And for the last time, she is not my girlfriend." He barked back. After a moment, he pressed his palm against his head. "You just said that to everyone just now, didn't you?"
"Yes she did." Asuka replied.
"Oh yeah." Toji said, Kensuke's laughter being heard behind him.
"Alright, that's it. When this is all over, I want 3 laps around the lake in the Geo-front from you. And no copying Shinji's powers either. Is that understood?"
"Yes sir." Mary replied all too cheerfully. "And well worth it."
While they had been talking, Mana held the pendent Shinji had given her before the last operation. The small gem at the center had disappeared, lost while she was in the realm of the monsters, but she cared not for such a trivial thing. It did give her comfort, and that was enough.
Back on the ground, the Eva pilots continued their conversation.
"You know, now that I think about it, why do we call them Angels?" Shinji thought out loud.
"What, you're just asking this now?" Asuka asked.
"Well, do you know the answer?" Shinji asked back.
"No, but at least I thought about it before now." She replied. "And before you think about looking into it, the answer is restricted Level Six. None of us are allowed to know, so don't bother."
Rei, who hadn't been paying too much attention to their chat, spoke up.
"They're moving."
In that instant the children where brought back down to Earth, the almost casual demeanor replaced with concentration on their task.
As the Angels slowly appeared over the horizon, the Avalons changed from their patrol and moved to intercept them. Before they could reach them, the fleet which had been assembled by the JSSDF began pounding the massive aliens with cannons and missiles.
The white ring-like Angel showed no response to the assault. Most of the attacks missed, and those which hit did not penetrate its AT field. Its companion, a spider-like beast, was not so lucky. Where those which had come before it had a barrier to protect them from the weapons of man, this one did not.
Holes started to riddle its massive legs as missile after missile struck it, cannon blasts lodging themselves into its skin.
But it didn't matter, the beast had its target, and with the beast having intentionally prevented its pain receptors from forming, it felt nothing.
The Avalons flying overhead rose higher into the air to being a diving strafe. As they came down they unleashed the power of the cosmic cube onto the creature. Their streams of blue energy struck their mark, and two of the spider's legs where cut off, a third taking great damage.
But the monster didn't care. It readied itself, bending the legs which remained in anticipation. When the three craft started to pull up, it saw its chance. Leaping with all its strength, it grabbed the low flying craft with its remaining legs.
Nerv command center
"The Angel has gone silent. Only one target remaining." Maya announced.
"That was too easy." Misato muttered as the display showed the Avalons moving back towards the coast. "Wait, what the hell are they doing?"
"Avalon 1, what's the situation?" Makoto asked. He got no response. "Avalon 1 this is Nerv, respond. Jon, what's happening?" Again no response. "Avalon 2, what is your situation? Avalon 2 respond." With no response, he tried with Mary, to no avail.
"Sir, none of the Avalons are responding."
"Try a direct connection to A.D.A.M." Reg ordered. He leaned forward and spoke in a low tone only Misato could hear. "Get the city defenses ready to change their IFFs from friendly to hostile."
She didn't like the order, but the same thought was going through her mind as well.
"Sir, no response from A.D.A.M." Shigeru informed them. On the holographic display they could see the craft returning over dry land and heading for Tokyo-3.
"Alright, patch me through to all three." Reg ordered. He picked up the phone built into the seat and waited for the signal. When he got it, he started. "Alpha Strike, you have thirty seconds to respond and to change course, is that understood? If you fail to comply we will assume hostility."
There was no answer. As the moment kicked away, the M.A.G.I. started to react.
"Sir, we're getting a new signal." Maya yelled. "It's coming from inside the Avalons, pattern blue. It's an Angel!"
"Get the EMP guns spooled up, change their IFF signal to hostile and change the shield frequency to block adamantium. I don't want any of them getting through." Reg yelled. "Contact Section Two and tell them to get everyone they have patrolling the chock points, and tell them to get Charlie Strike down there with them." He took a moment to think about his options. "And get Delta Strike out of its cage."
Coastline
"What's with all the commotion?" Shinji asked. The three pilots had not taken their sights off the approaching Angel.
"Nothing important, just stuff on Nerv's side of things." Asuka lied. Unlike Shinji and Rei, she had herd every word. She didn't like it one bit, but she had a job to do here and now. "What's the status of your weapons?"
"Proton Rifle ready for use." Rei answered.
"Miracle Gun at 87%, deploying now." Shinji replied. Using the hotel in front of him as a base, he placed the two legs of the machine on the roof and readied himself.
"Alright, hold until my mark." Asuka said as she held two assault rifles and pointed them towards the approaching enemy.
"The enemy is now within firing range." Rei informed them.
"Hold until it's within Shinji's as well. I don't want it to get away if you miss." She replied. The moments went by slowly as the Angel moved towards them. The fleet had stopped their engagement of the Angel due to either depletion of ammunition, or being too dead to fight.
"It's in range." Shinji stated.
"Alight, fire!" In that instant Rei unleashed the power of the proton rifle while Shinji did so for the Miracle Gun. Where one was a large stream of energy, the other was a rapid discharge of small but very numerous pellets of energy.
The Angel dodged the attacks, turning from a ring to a helix, then into a simple snake like creature. Behind it billions of gallons of water evaporated. It chose its target based on how dangerous they were to it, and concluded that it was the one who had the most power.
Dashing forward, Asuka and Shinji continued to fire on it as it reached the coast and made a b-line for Rei.
"Out of ammo." Asuka yelled as she dropped the guns and pulled out her prog-knife.
"I'm overheating." Shinji said as well. The barrel of his gun was glowing a bright white and part of the top was melting, deforming it.
As Asuka began to run towards the Angel, Rei lifted herself and the proton rifle up and tried to aim it towards where the Angel now was. Before she could, it struck itself into Unit-0's abdominal area. Alarms went off within the cockpit as the Angel started to infect the system. Rei, through the pain, grabbed onto part of the Angel's tale and held it against the rifle's barrel. When it finally recharged, she pulled the trigger and disintegrated the area which had been hit. The 'tail' falling off, the Angel had no visual reaction to the event, continuing to corrupt the Evangelion. Then the cockpit went dark.
"Die!" Asuka yelled as she dug the knife into the Angel, cutting it in half along its length between where it had burrowed itself into Unit-0 and the end which was still it the Evas hand. The Angel stopped moving. "Well, that was easy."
Inside the cockpit, the lights returned. Rei was about to give a sigh of relief, but stopped as a large red timer opened in front of her. It was counting down, starting at 10 seconds. By instinct, she pulled the ejection lever and felt the force of the entry plug being propelled backwards.
"Langley, run." She stated into the comm.
Asuka didn't need to be told twice as she realized what had happened and ran away from Unit-0. When the timer reached zero, the Evangelion glowed vividly, before being consumed by fire.
"What just happened?" Maya asked over the comm.
"Angel has been destroyed, though so has Unit-0." Asuka informed her. "Orders?"
"We need you here now."
"But we don't have the power to-"
"Abandon the Evas." Misato said, cutting Asuka off. "We need you here right now, so get moving."
Following their orders, Shinji and Asuka lowered their Evas and pulled out of their plugs. Rei, whose plug was still descending with its parachute, kicked her door open and let the flowing LCL drag her out.
Now in the open air, she used her powers to fly herself to Unit-2.
"If you need a lift, I am more than willing to help." Asuka didn't say anything, but her now green-faced expression answered for her. As the two began to fly, they could see a dash of movement in the distance as Shinji started to run.
City shield perimeter
"I cannot get through." John thought as he dodged another volley of gunfire. With every attempt he made to cancel out a part of the shield with his powers, point defenses would shoot at the hole that was created.
"We shall find another way then." Marie thought back. Her attempt at duplicating his power hadn't been strong enough to block the defenses.
"Here." Manna thought. With the flick of her wrist, the manhole cover before her went flying. Not waiting, she jumped in. Her two companions did the same.
"Now!" Reg ordered from the control center. An instant later, every manhole on the street had fire coming from them as the gasses within where ignited.
"Signal still clear, we didn't get them." Maya announced. A few moments later a manhole cover on the inside of the city shield flew up into the air, and the road around it broke as a visible sphere came out from the ground containing three figures.
Hundreds of point defence guns opened fire on them. The trio moved to quickly for the shots to hit them, dodging or using their powers to deflect them.
"Where is Beta?" Misato asked as they watched the three moving quickly up the street towards the city center.
"Thirty seconds until they get here." Makoto yelled.
"Lower the shield." Reg ordered. "Divert its power to internal defences and prepare the bakelite."
"Sir, the Angels have broken into the ventilation system." Makoto informed them.
Maintenance shaft J-1610
"This feels like the right way." Manna thought as the three descended down the shaft.
"Well of course it does, we're going down. Where did you expect them to keep mother?" Marie though back.
"Both of you quiet." John thought. "If I had known fracturing myself like this would cause the pieces to take in a bit of the host personality, I only would have taken the girl."
"Don't complain to me, it was your idea." Marie thought.
"Of course it was, but that still makes it yours as well." John thought back.
"You're both putting too much thought into this." Manna thought to themselves. "Let's just finish this so we can go back to being one mind."
As the three continued to descend, they entered the cavernous geo-front. Their decent was quiet as they reached the ground, but the moment they did there was a disturbance.
Before they could react, John found itself being propelled by a massive foot that sent it flying as a mighty roar filled the underground ecosystem.
The two which remained took in the sight of the offender. The beast stood twelve meters high, with rigid face that was to angular for a human's and without genitals.
In this distance John was starting to return to the ground, but was propelled back into the air as another massive foot sent it flying. The new creature was as tall as the other, but where the other had skin, this female one had its muscles exposed across its body.
"Delta Strike has engaged the Angels." Shigeru announced.
"Looks like we're going to see if they can fight." Reg commented quietly.
"I can't believe you turned them loose from their cage at all." Misato called back.
"Well, we need all the help we can get."
"And they're just as likely to fight each other or us as the enemy." Misato reminded him.
"And that's why I had them engage the Angels in the geo-front." Reg explained, intertwining his fingers in front of his face.
Surface
The three children stood on the edge of the hole which lead down to the geo-front, staring into the abyss.
"So, should we just-" Shinji started, before being pushed into the hole by Asuka, who leaped in after him. Rei did the same, and used her powers to allow the three of them to descend safely.
"You know, you could warn me next time!" Shinji yelled at Asuka.
"You'd protest too much if I did." She replied.
After several long seconds of falling, the trio exited into the geo-front. As they fell Shinji caught a glimpse of a small battle below. The water below them started to approach rapidly, and he took a moment to glance at his companions. He couldn't see Asuka, but Rei was already leveling out her flight.
With the water less than a hundred meters away, Shinji pulled the shout that was built into his plug suit. To his left, he could see Asuka diving towards the water. A moment before she hit the water, she pulled her own shout and then detached herself from it as she landed feet first into the lake. By the time he reached the water, she was finally reaching land.
Hitting the water running, he unbuckled himself from his shout and made a sprint in the general direction Rei was flying in. Dashing threw the forest, he saw a massive head full of steam flying overhead.
"Delta has been neutralized." Maya informed them over their earpieces.
"I've got Jon." Rei informed them.
"I see Mana." Asuka yelled as she bounced from tree to tree.
"I guess that means I take Mary." Shinji said to himself.
High above the trees, Rei flew towards the lone figure which had taken to the air. Having just fought a now unconscious giant, John was alerted to Rei's approach to with only enough time to turn to see her approach. No time to react, her full momentum went into its chest. Her right arm at its neck and left arm pushing on its chest, she forced them both to the ground. Before it could recover, she punched its head with her left hand. John struggled under her as her eyes glowed a bright red and a dark aura surrounded her.
The creature paused for a second, fear entering its mind. Though it tried to free itself harder, it became paralyzed as the aura consumed it.
"Get out." A thought said to it.
"What?" John thought back.
"Get Out!" The thought screamed. The dark energy consumed it as it filled every cell in its body. "No, this is MY body!"
A red mist escaped the Jon's mouth and nose as the Angel fracture left his body. With no safe host to use, John's mist disintegrated in the air, unable to hold its vapour form. Her energy depleted, Rei collapsed onto him as she fall into unconsciousness. His own strength gone, Jon forced his arms around her as he too lost the fight to remain awake.
"Thank you." He whispered to her, sleep taking them both.
Command center
"One of the Angels is gone sir." Shigeru informed them.
"What's the situation with Delta Strike?" Misato asked.
"They've been recovered and are being sent to the med center." Maya answered.
"Have Hikari sent to them now." Misato ordered. "We need them-"
"Beyale that order." Reg interrupted. "Have Hikari and Kensuke sent to entrance G-1982 and get Shinji to force Mary there."
On one of the large holographic screens showed two lines flash by, occasionally smashing into one another as they ran. Misato looked Reginald with a questioning look. He didn't say anything, but his stern look made her know he had a plan.
Geo-front entrance G-1982
"This seems like a bad idea." Hikari stated nervously.
"You have a better one?" Kensuke asked. As he asked, he opened a control panel and ripped it open. Grabbing the exposed wired, his hair straightened out and went in all directions as the power flowed threw him. The sight made Hikari chuckle, to which Kensuke just rolled his eyes in annoyance.
"You look so ridiculous." She laughed.
"Yeah, well at least I make this look good." His comment made her laugh harder.
"Snap out of it you two, they're coming." Makoto ordered.
Not a moment later two blurs came into sight and rapidly approached them. The moment the two passed them, time seemed to slow down for Kensuke as he tightened his grip on the wires with his one hand, and unleashed his power with the other. He couldn't tell which of the two was which as he unleashed the massive jolt of electricity, so he did the only thing he could.
He hit both with full force.
Tumbling over themselves from the shock, they rolled for dozens of meters before coming to a stop. Stopping to take note of which was Marie, Kensuke unleashed another bolt of electricity into it, earning a loud scream. Though the screaming ended moments later, the burst of power did not as he kept taking energy from the power grid and using it against it.
Long moments passed as Marie started to steam and its skin visibly burn.
"Kensuke, stop!" Hikari yelled. "She's had enough!"
Doing as she told, the sparks of electricity stopped. Marie was on its knees, skin marked full of second and third degree burns and black smoke being released from its body. From the body's mouth, a red mist escaped and dissolved into the air.
"Second Angel has been destroyed." Maya announced.
Hikari ran to Mary, carefully laying her down.
"Someone get me a med team with two stretchers." She asked on the comm. while rubbing her hands together. "This is going to hurt."
Taking in a deep breath, she placed her hands on Mary's abdomen and channeled all her energy into reviving the legally dead body. With a light green glow the burnt skin slowly replaced itself with healthy patches. Her hair returned, growing back to its original length as her heart started to beat again. After a long minute of healing, Hikari collapsed from exhaustion, her work complete. As she went into darkness, she felt content as she saw Mary breathing under her own power, life once again flowing threw her veins.
Elevator shaft 8311
Manna tired of this. Not bothering to fly, it allowed itself to free fall to get away from the green woman and the screaming man which had been pestering it. Descending at freefall, Manna had not anticipated Asuka would throw Toji down the shaft to intercept it, let alone the force of the impact that was caused by the act when he did.
Weather from being simply outsmarted or from having two thirds of its mind forced back into its home dimension, it did not matter, as it was smashed against a steel girder.
"Sorry Mana." It herd as a fist made contact with its face. There was only an opportunity for one hit, as Manna came back it its senses and caught Toji's hand as he tried to strike a second time. For a thousandth of a second it planned to push Toji into the concrete wall with enough force to kill him, or at least enough to keep him from being a pest to it anymore.
But that thought was replaced by another as it realized that the strength of its host was at its limit.
Without another thought, red mist escaped Manna's mouth and entered Toji's. After a few moments to get used to its new host, Tojee left Mana laying on the girder as it jumped down to the next one down the shaft, then the next, and continued until it had descended down to the six hundred sixty sixth sublevel.
Finding no resistance, it quickly walked through the halls to where it knew mother was. One corridor after another, with random lefts and rights where its senses told it the path. The path lead it to a lab, with the marking "616" on it.
Without a thought, Tojee pushed in the doors, needing to utilize its host's strength to open the reinforced locks. The massive room held many objects, but what got its attention was the large tanks which lines the lab on both ends.
Filled with LCL, the tanks contained thousands, no, tens of thousands, of them in hibernation. There was only supposed to be one of them, only one which had survived, only one which reached Earth. But no, here they were. Why had its senses pulled it here of all places?
It wasn't until it had a moment to calm down that it realized that they were not matured, they did not know of it or what they even where. With its nerves calmed and its breathing steadied, it realized that this place, this horrid place, was only in its way, and its destination was at the other end.
Moving to the door at the end of the massive room, it once again forced its way through, finding itself in yet another hallway. Not taking time, it ran down towards its destiny. Minutes seemed to pass in a moment as it arrived to a set of doors which seemed like any other. But it could feel it, mother was there.
Kicking the door in, Tojee could see it now. Not a hundred meters before it, mother lay on her cross above a pool of LCL. The sight was partly revolting, partly comforting, and completely consuming. Even with only a third of its mind remaining, Tojee knew what had to be done.
Its steps where slow now, almost cautious. As though any sudden movement would make mother disappear once more, ripped from it and its kin by those who neither understood nor cared. So transfixed on mother was Tojee, it did not notice that the substance on which it walked had changed from concrete to LCL, it could not hear the silent cry from mother, the astral projection of the abomination, or the presence of the soul known as Agent Ryoji Kaji.
This last act of ignorance was its undoing, as a bolt from the Revenge-class Kaji held knocked it off its feet and sent it into the LCL. Without enough strength to complete its mission now, red mist exited Toji's mouth. Unlike its counterparts, it found safe refuge in the depths of the base computer grid.
"So that's what it does." Kaji said to himself as he lowered the cannon. Dropping it, he quickly drove into the LCL.
In the command center, the bridge crew let out their collected held breath as the base self-destruct timer was frozen at one point zero eight seconds to detonation. Taking his hand off the cancel button, Reg rubbed his face with both as he leaned back.
"Deploy recovery teams." He ordered. His voice was low, but with the calm quiet in the command center, it carried a fair distance. "I want birds in the air to get the Evas in 5 minutes. Send out the hazmat team to get the Avalons. I want every one of the children who aren't already heading there to be sent to medical now."
He got up as he left for to inform the Triskelion of what had happened. Misato behind him, the two walked quietly towards the communications room. Reaching an elevator, neither spoke until they entered.
The first thing Misato did was slap Reginald. He said nothing as he had been expecting it, and didn't resist as she grabbed his collar and pulled him into a kiss. It lasted several seconds, but it all ended too soon as they returned to reality and straightened themselves out before the door opened.
The Blu Beatle
That Evening
The two patrons in the usually busy restaurant sat quietly at the bar. The male one took a sip of their drink.
"This brings back memories." He said with a sigh. "We were so young and naïve back them."
"We weren't naïve, we were idiots." The woman replied. Because of an injected suppressor, her green skin had temporarily been returned to its old paleness and her muscles reduced to that which would be expected of a normal woman. She took her drink and took in all in one shot.
"Careful there, we've got a job to do." The man reminded her.
"Shut up Shin, it's not like they can stop us." Paying the bar tender, the two walked out into the barren street. The only other people on the street where a young couple walking towards the restaurant they had just left, a nerd and a red headed girl.
"Looks like some things never change." The man commented as the young couple walked by. "You think they'll work out."
"You're a fucking asshole, you know that?" The woman told him. She started to walk faster. "That wasn't funny and you know it."
"I wasn't making a joke." He replied, picking up the pace to catch up. "Things might not actually work out between them. Things are different this time, the fact that the Miracle Gun is already being used or the fact that those two are the ones who got out of this one instead of Toji means things are already changing. In big ways."
"Yeah, well, it's still not funny." She shot back.
"Regardless, we have a job to do. Let's get it done sooner rather than later."
Office of Director Fury
Triskelion
Fury looked over the last of the reports that had flooded his office after the latest battle. Much to his disappointment, the collateral damage had been much higher than the previous battle had, though not nearly as much as the first one. That meant upset people, and that meant upset politicians. And when politicians got upset, they asked questions which made him very upset.
"A little late for work isn't it?" A voice asked from his door. As the man entered, the security system announced him as 'Haida, J. Level 7'.
Usually an intrusion such as this would have earned a reminder that the director had once been a sergeant, or even having his gun pulled out.
"About time you showed up." That wasn't one of these times.
"I apologise director, I've been busy consolidating my power in SEELE." He explained. "Am I right in assuming my companions and I are completely off the record?"
"The other directors know, but everything is off the books. Well, except for maybe A.R.M.O.R.'s books, but neither we nor the enemy would ever know." Fury informed him.
"That's actually why I'm here." Jay informed him. He passed him a USB key. "I hope you're right about that."
"What's this?" Fury asked.
Jay didn't answer, only walking away to the door.
"Sorry about the inconvenience. It'll be hard to explain why I was at two places at once." With that, he left, leaving the director with the USB. His curiosity getting the better of him, he locked down his office and connected the device to his computer.
"Good morning director Fury." A young male voice said.
"Who are you?" He asked it, the voice clearly not that of his normal computer system.
"I am S.E.T.H., at your service."
"S.E.T.H.? A full A.I.?"
"Correct, I am the first second generation AI"
"Second generation? What does that mean?"
"All in due time, there are many things while need to be discussed first."
"Important? Like what?"
"H.Y.D.R.A."