Evangelion: X-Treme Measures
Chapter 7: Shadow Cat
Hikari Horaki was being chased by something. She didn't know what and she didn't know where she was going, all she knew was the feeling of a horrible presence following her. She kept running down a seemingly never ending hallway with various twist, turns, and changes of direction. She just kept running never knowing what was behind her.
However her little run was cut short by a dead end. She looked back behind her, and again while she saw nothing she still had this overcoming sense of doom approaching. All intelligence and sense of reason went out the window as she began to pound on the wall hoping for some way out. The feeling got closer and closer, Hikari closed her eyes tight and hoped this situation would end, still pounding on the wall. And then she felt the wall give way.
Her eyes were still shut when she landed with a light thump and rolled on to the floor. She quickly took in her surroundings and found herself in the living room of her house.
A dream! Thank goodness! Hikari thought with a sigh of relief.
"Hikari?" She heard a voice say. She turned her body towards the hallway and saw her sisters standing at the entrance to the living room, looking at her with looks of concern.
" I had a nightmare. Nothing to worry about." Hikari told Kodama, her college age sister. Kodama walked towards her and checked her face where a slight bruise was forming.
"You sure? Because it looks like you fell down." Kodama told her.
"I did feel like I fell. Maybe I was sleep walking?" Hikari mused.
"Maybe." Kodama said.
"Hey Nozomi, what's up? Usually you'd be chattering away by now." She said looking towards her and Hikari's usually chatty baby sister
They saw her looking confusedly at the ceiling just above their head. They looked up to where she was looking and gasped wide eyed at what they saw.
Hikari's blanket and pillow where literally hanging halfway out of the ceiling as if they'd gone through the floor.
NERV Headquarters
Logan busted into Stryker's office with a angered look on his face.
"What's the deal Stryker? Can't go two minutes without screwing me over!" He accused the colonel.
"What do you mean Logan? I gave you the new weapons and my people are still looking for Victor as our deal entailed." Stryker said with a calm demeanor.
"Yeah but you never said I'd be shipped to some base in Japan while I'm out." Logan shot back.
"I'm working here now Logan. Team X are guarding the Evangelion pilots. I have to be here. And If you want my help it'd be a good idea to stick close." Stryker explained his logic.
Logan seethed for a few minutes but realized Stryker had a point.
"So where's Victor then?" He said unleashing his new claws.
"Last we heard he was heading south, maybe to the Mexican border." Stryker said. "But our investigator was killed by Victor and the trail went cold."
"That's all you can give me? A maybe?" Logan asked.
"You know Victor. He'll cover his tracks as long as he knows we're after him." Stryker said.
"Well what am I supposed to do while you sit on your bum and try to get a tracker with enough balls to go after him?" Logan said, his anger rising again.
"Maybe reintroduce yourself to the team and help us out here?" Stryker suggested.
Logan stared at the man before walking back towards the door.
"I'll find him myself." He said without looking back.
He walked out the door and glared at Zero, obviously Stryker thought he'd cave under that offer to join the team again. Although after about ten minutes of walking around similar hallways with seemingly no progress in finding a way out he wished he'd asked for directions.
"Kaji leave me alone!" Logan heard from down a hallway.
"Oh, I know you don't mean that Katsuragi."A male voice responded to the previous female voice.
The female voice sounded annoyed and agitated. Logan approached the voices and came upon a woman with purple hair trying to pry her hand away from a man with a ponytail and five o'clock shadow.
"Stop it Kaji!" Misato said once again trying to pull her hand away from the spy's grip.
"Now, now my dear Misato. We can still be civil, can't we?" Kaji said pulling her closer to him.
"We could! But you just want to get in my pants! Now BACK OFF!" Misato said now trying to get her arms out of Kaji's grip, and sounding particularly pissed off.
"Hey bub." Logan decided now to speak up.
The spy turned to Logan, Misato even in her awkward position tried to look at the newcomer.
"I think the lady wants to be left alone." Logan said stepping forward.
"Oh well, you don't know Misato like I do friend." Kaji said putting on his best smile.
"No, but I can tell when a woman wants to be left alone, now let go of her!" Logan said raising his voice slightly.
Kaji dropped the grin and let go of Misato. He stared at Logan for a few seconds before smiling again.
"Sure thing Chum. Just messing around." Kaji said putting his hands up defensively.
"I'm sure." Logan snorted.
Kaji put his hands in his pockets and walked away from Logan and Misato, when he turned a corner Logan looked at the woman standing next to him.
"I hope I wasn't out of line there." Logan said flatly.
"No. Thank you." Misato said rubbing her wrist. She looked at the man who came to her rescue.
"Aren't you the one Col. Stryker brought in the other day?" She asked, mildly recognizing the man.
"Yeah, but I'm not staying for long. Can you help me find away out of here?" Logan responded.
Misato chuckled and explained that she could barely find her way around the huge base, but she would help any way she could. So they walked around for a few minutes before they eventually found the car elevator so Logan could get back to the surface.
"Thanks I thought I'd be down here forever." Logan said before he got on the tram.
"No problem." Misato said with a smile. Logan turned around to get on the tram before he turned back around.
"Oh before I go. You might want to kick him really hard in the balls." Logan said pointing behind Misato. Misato turned around and saw Kaji ducking around the corner to avoid being seen.
Misato's eye twitched. "Thanks."
Logan chuckled and got on the tram. As he went up he swore he heard a grown man cry out like a little girl.
A week later
Hikari had been having trouble sleeping ever since he incident several nights ago. She hadn't slept in her room, she slept with her sister Nozomi to avoid seeing the pillow that was still stuck in the ceiling of the living room. She hadn't gone to school all week and when Asuka came over she immediately suggested they go out somewhere, so Asuka wouldn't see anything.
Kodama couldn't explain anything and actually didn't want to. She felt horrible for Hikari, she was the guardian but she couldn't help her little sister. She looked out in the living room and saw Hikari looking up at the ceiling, she'd been doing this all week, she'd stare at that stuff hanging out of the ceiling somehow trying to explain how they got half way out of the ceiling.
Suddenly a door bell broke her little exploration of weird ass crap. Hikari quickly went to the door and opened it revealing Asuka, Zero, and Fred.
"Hey Hikari!" Asuka said cheerfully.
"Um, hey Asuka. What're you doing here?" Hikari said looking at the two men behind the redhead.
"You've been cooped up all week! So as your friend I'm taking you to the mall to get you some fresh air." Asuka said with an affirmative nod.
Hikari stood their wondering how to get out of this. When she couldn't she decided to just give in and go. What's the harm?
"Okay. Let me get my shoes." She told the trio.
Hikari grabbed her shoes and put them on quickly as she didn't want to make the three wait long.
"Kodama, I'm going to the mall with Asuka. I'll be back later." She shouted as she headed towards the door.
Hikari stepped out of the house. "Okay let's go."
The two girls and their mutant bodyguards piled into the black car they had arrived in and drove off.
Tokyo-3 Mall
Logan was a little pissed at himself. He was most definitely angered at Stryker's adding to their deal but he probably should have realized that with out him, or money, he wasn't able to leave Japan and search for Victor.
Logan had tried to find employment of some kind but unfortunately his Japanese was rusty, so people were less likely to hire him.
Now he was wandering the mall trying to kill time...and trying to decide if he should go back to Stryker.
The mall was quite large and had three different floors. Logan was currently on the second one and just looking out over the huge structure. When he happened to see a large, muscled blonde man and a Korean dressed formally, following two teenage girls.
He chuckled at the two former killers turned into glorified babysitters.
"We have spotted the target." Logan heard a man say. He turned to the right and saw a man in a black trench coat talking on a cell phone.
"Yes two of the body guards are here with the pilot. Along with an unknown girl, probably an acquaintance. Prepare the teams." He said before putting his walkie-talkie back in his pocket. He looked around, probably to check for more of Team X when his eyes caught Logan.
Logan realized his mistake and quickly put his head down and walked away. He walked for a few minutes before looking back and seeing the same man about ten feet behind him. Logan knew he had to warn Zero and Fred, but first he had to lose the nut-job behind him.
Logan walked briskly into a store and walked to the very back corner of the store, away from other people and pretended to look through the shelves. After confirming the man in the trench coat was still following him he decided the best way to loose the man was to get rid of him. He grabbed a leather jacket off a rack and headed towards the changing room.
He closed the curtain and turned toward the mirror away from the entry way and waited.
"I am sorry for this but I guess you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time." The man said behind him before Logan felt the distinctive sting of a bullet breaking skin but with his new metal laced bones he was able to quickly spin around and grab the man, stabbing him in the gut all in one smooth motion.
As the man looked down in horror at the claws stuck in his stomach Logan said "So were you." before letting him drop to the floor dead.
"Number 1, have you taken care of the variable?" Logan heard on the dead man's walkie-talkie.
"Number 1, I repeat, have you taken care of the variable?" He heard again as he picked up the device. He pushed the button and said.
"Hello. This is the variable, Number 1 is dead."
"SHIT!" Logan heard as he left the dressing room.
With Zero, Fred, and the girls
Zero hated this job. He hated that Stryker made him babysit this spoiled brat and her friend. Plus he had to be partnered with Fred Dukes, the laziest member of Team X. In short Zero was having a bad day.
It, however, got worse when he heard a shotgun blast rattle the mall, and cause everyone to scatter and scream.
Zero and Duke turned around to see two men holding shotguns, one of them had his aimed in the air. Neither were paying any attention to the crowds of screaming people just staring at the two men and the girls.
"Oh great more jokers with guns." Fred said with a roll of his eyes. Zero had to silently agree.
"Actually big boy you have to deal with our friends over there." One of the men said moving his gun slightly to another part of the mall.
Fred looked towards the direction the man pointed and saw two men standing in the entrance of a Gap with an RPG.
"Oh shit! Zero get the girls out of here, I'll deal with this!' Fred said running towards the two men.
The pair aimed and fired their rocket, Fred stopped mid-step and punched the projectile which exploded on impact with his massive fist.
"Now ya' did it." He said as the smoke cleared around him. "Now I have to hurt ya'.
He stepped closer to the men when he was blind sided by another RPG.
He looked to where the shot came from and saw another team with similar weaponry and the first team was already taken aim again.
Damn. Was all he thought.
With Zero and the girls
Zero had done as he was told and killed the two men, making sure Hikari wouldn't see the carnage as best he could, last thing he needed was Stryker chewing him out about a girl in shock.
He had herded the girls behind a wall when they were shot at by a machine gun. Zero was taking blind shots to try and kill who ever had the machine gun.
"Asuka take Hikari and get out!" Zero said reloading.
Asuka did as she was told and grabbed Hikari's hand. They ran as fast as they could ducking and weaving between stores to avoid any further enemies that may be in the mall. After a few minutes of running they found an exit door. They pushed it and found about a dozen men in similar clothes to the ones earlier.
The men grabbed the two teens before they could react.
"We have the target." A man who appeared to be the leader said into a walkie-talkie as he looked at the two girls he and his team had now had in their possession.
"What do you want us to do about this one?" Another man asked indicating Hikari.
"She's not a pilot and not of any use to us." He said coldly and stared at the freckled faced girl. "Kill her."
Hikari and Asuka's eyes widened. The world suddenly went into slow motion for Hikari. She saw one of the men pull a pistol out of his holster, he took aim, and steadied his hand, Hikari heard Asuka begging for the men to spare her friend, she heard the cock of the gun.
Hikari was going to die and she couldn't do anything, she closed her eyes tight. She felt hollow inside, she felt cold, she felt... weightless.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Hikari kept her eyes shut tight but didn't feel anything as she heard the shots. Then she heard a man groan in pain?
Hikari opened her eyes and looked around and saw the man that was holding her had four bullets in him, but she didn't feel any wounds on her body. What was going on?
"YOU IDIOT! SHE WAS NOT BUT TWO FEET IN FRONT OF YOU! HOW COULD YOU MISS HER!" The leader asked the man in a screaming voice. His plans suddenly had a very odd bump in the road.
"Probably have shitty help." The leader heard a gruff voice say behind him. He spun around before having a fist impact it.
The man was laid flat out from Logan's metal laced punch. The Canadian looked to the remaining men and the two girls.
"How do you want to do this? The easy way?" Logan started.
"Or the hard way?" He finished as he unsheathed his claws for all to see.
The men looked at each other and as if silently giving each other signals several rushed Logan while the remaining three took the girls elsewhere.
"Have it your way." Logan said with some annoyance as he cut down the first man.
With Hikari and Asuka
Three men had grabbed Hikari and Asuka and ran down the hallway the exit door lead to and were currently running to escape the clawed man and his counterparts. But they were being slowed by the struggling of two panicking teenage girls.
"Damn it just knock them out or we'll get tracked by those freaks they have as bodyguards!" One of them said.
Hikari wasn't stupid she knew that would be the end of them if they got knocked out before the bodyguards caught up. She remembered the feeling of the dream she had a week ago and before she was shot. As one of the men walked up to Asuka to knock her out she took a deep breath and launched herself towards Asuka.
She phased through the arms holding her and the man in front of Asuka. She turned back to normal and crashed into Asuka by pure accident but in got the two girls away from the men who captured them, if only a few feet away.
The men that Hikari phased through panicked at the odd site he saw and pulled his gun.
"STOP!" He commanded. Hikari saw this from her position on the floor and grabbed Asuka while concentrating again.
They phased through the floor and heard the shot the man had fired when they escaped.
The girls fell from the ceiling and landed in the parking garage of the mall. A powder blue Prius broke their fall as the two girls hit it with a grunt of pain. They rolled off the vehicle and onto the concrete floors of the garage.
Groaning and rubbing away the pain in they're limbs from the fall they both sat up. Asuka looked at her friend and asked the only thing that came to mind.
"Hikari?" She started softly.
Her friend looked at the German with some worry.
"What was that?" Asuka asked.
Hikari thought over the last week to try and find an explanation for the odd circumstances she was in. She quickly ran out of logical options.
"I don't know." She told her friend.
The whole group was back at NERV HQ now. Hikari was a little nervous having never been in the imposing facility before.
She was left in a waiting room of the medical facility. Everyone else had shuffled off to somewhere else.
NERV Command Center
"And that's when I told Pilot Sohryu to take Miss Horaki and run colonel." Zero said giving the summary of what he saw during the attack.
"Very good Zero. Major Katsuragi." Stryker said letting the purple haired major step forward.
"Thank you. This is the second attack this month and the third in the last three months alone. This can't be a coincidence; we need answers about who these people are." Misato said in a commanding tone.
"I think I can shed some light on that Major." Logan said stepping forward. He had come with the group back to NERV to make sure everything went alright after the attack...and to get a place to stay.
"Most of those men were unmarked but on one of the group that grabbed the girls had this on them." Logan said throwing a patch, like the kind one would sew on a jacket, on the table. On it in bold print were the letters HYDRA.
"Well we have a name for these guys and they're getting more and more organized, and bold. We have to find a way to deal with them and fast." Misato said taking the patch and examining it more closely.
"I'll have my team keep extra close to the pilots. Especially now that we have our team at full power?" Stryker said looking at Logan with a questioning gaze.
"Yeah, yeah. I'll stick around until things settle down. But Stryker if you find any information on Victor I'm chasing it. Pilots or no pilots. Understand?" Logan commanded without any room for argument.
"Deal Logan." Stryker said with some reverence in his eyes.
"WOO! Our old mascots back on the team!" Wade said grabbing a hold of Logan.
"Let's say we get you a Team X decoder ring." The madman said.
"Let's say you have ten seconds to let go of me before I pay you back for that shotgun blast the other day." Logan said dryly.
Wade quickly scurried behind Ritsuko to avoid the Canadian.
"Well, well it seems things have been hostile since Commander Ikari's death." A new voice said with some humor is it.
The group turned around to see a man with a long black coat and a fedora standing in the doorway to the command center.
"Who are you? How did you get in here?" Ritsuko said with some hostility.
"Quick to the point aren't you Dr. Akagi? I suppose I should introduce myself." The man said taking off his hat.
It revealed an elderly man with white hair and blue eyes. He held a certain royal quality but also a look that left no room to be messed with.
"My name is Eric Lensher. The Marduk Institute sent me. I'm the new commander of NERV."
Author's Notes: For those who aren't sure that's Magneto that just walked in.
Well sorry for keeping you guys waiting but I ran into some troubles when I was writing this. But I hope this makes up for it. I found what I wanted this to be didn't really pan out when I was writing it, originally it was just an action chapter but I like it better now that it focuses on Hikari.
For those wondering why I had Hikari be the one to get powers it's for the same reason I paired Ritsuko with Wade. They're both underused or misused characters, they're both very interesting characters if you look at it but they aren't used a lot due to an already large cast of characters. Similar to the X-Men actually.
Her little arc will be completed next chapter hopefully.
There wasn't a lot of Wade in this chapter so no development in him and Ritsuko's relationship. Maybe next chapter.
I can't say when the next chapter will be released but I will finish this story.