The Package
Seven
Sitting in his quarters in Berlin Ryoji Kaji sighed as he puffed on his smoke, the lanky, black haired man studying the reports. His attempt to stop Ikari's kid from reaching Tokyo-3 had failed. It seemed the Lagoon Company was as good as their reputation, and they were speeding to the city crossing the East China Sea.
Oh, Kaji COULD stop still them if he really wanted to. His contacts in the Japanese government could get the military out, A 'accidental' encounter between a customs ship and the Lagoon, weapons fired... yeah, he could do that. But killing the kid was never part of his plans. He needed Shinji alive to find out why his father needed him so much.
Kaji put the word out through his contacts to announce the bounty on Shinji Ikari was off. It would take time to trickle down to the street level, but the word would spread pretty fast. He also did his best to make sure nothing else could be traced to him.
Well, his first plan to find out what was going on in NERV had failed. But he had other options, and there were always new angles he could explore. Besides, he would be in Tokyo-3 himself soon enough along with his charge...
There was a knock on the door, then a attractive if young redhead stuck her head in the door. "Kaji, I'm bored!" Asuka Soryu Langley complained.
Kaji sighed and got up, even as he tried to figure out something to keep the kid occupied. And hopefully not get him arrested for statutory rape.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Meanwhile, Captain Misato Kasuragi was monitoring the progress of the Lagoon Company, even as she wondered how the hell things had gotten so far out of control. How the hell had Shinji ended up out of their reach and in mortal danger? What had happened to the security teams that were supposed to be monitoring him?
(Well, actually Misato had found out what happened to the Section 2 security team that had been supposed to be following Shinji covertly on his tour. A follow up team found their bodies in a hotel not far from where Shinji had been staying. They had followed him as ordered, and ended up getting killed for it.)
Misato supposed she should be greatful that the Lagoon Company had been able to get to Shinji as fast as they did. Someone with resources had been getting ready to move on Shinji, probably the same person who targeted him with that damn bounty.
She left the command center and headed up to the next floor, heading for the Commander's office. Commander Ikari frowned as Misato entered, the bearded man sitting behind his desk as she walked up to him. "Commander," Misato nodded, "we got a update on the Lagoon company."
"What is their estimated time of arrival?" Gendo asked coldly.
Misato did her best not to ask him why the hell he had asked Lagoon Company to bring Shinji back, rather than use her own military forces. "Less than a day," she told him briskly, "we've made contact with Benny, they don't expect any further problems."
"Good," Gendo said seriously, "the safety of the Third Child is critical for our operation."
'Third Child, not your son?' Misato thought even as she strived to keep the scorn off her face. "I'd like permission to meet the team at the docks," she managed to say calmly, "Shinji will need a escort here to NERV, after all."
Gendo gave her a thoughtful look, indicating she might not have hidden her emotions as well as she thought. Still, he nodded as he said, "Granted."
Misato headed out, even as she considered what to do next. She still didn't know what the mysterious urgency in having Shinji brought to Tokyo-3. Her best friend and chief scientist of this nut house, Ritsuko, had been suspiciously quiet. The only think Misato knew was that getting Shinji here was vital... and it could NOT be past the cut off date later this week.
'Piece of cake,' Misato decided, praying nothing ELSE would go wrong.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Well, fuck me," Revy said.
This time, her surprise was NOT due to something going horrific wrong. In fact it was because Shinji had successfully nailed the row of targets she set up. And even more impressive, he had done it on a rocking boat racing across choppy seas. The kid wasn't talented, exactly... he flinched too damn often, for one, to be a natural. But damn was he determined to improve.
"That means I'm getting better, right?" Shinji asked, the wind ruffling his hair.
"A bit, yeah," Revy agreed. "At least you can hit what you're aiming at," she added, not wanting to praise the kid too much.
Like Revy taught him Shinji put the safety on, made sure there was no bullet in the chamber then holstered the gun. As a Japanese citizen he had never been familiar with guns, even after the Impact Wars and their aftermath. But he understood the concepts well enough, and Revy was a good teacher. When she wasn't pissed off, anyway.
They were crossing open water towards Japan, and Shinji was eager to be home. He missed the people of the remote town he lived in, his class mates... hell, he even missed his emotionally remote Uncle and Aunt. And what he REALLY missed was not having people shooting at him. He missed that most of all.
The hatch onto the deck came up as Rock emerged from the ship, the businessman looking a bit wilted in his white shirt, tie and black pants. He nodded hello to Shinji then walked over to Revy, saying something to her quietly. She laughed and hit his shoulder, a much more relaxed expression appearing on her face.
'I wonder how two so different people can get so close?' Shinji wondered.
Shinji still wasn't quite sure what to make of Rock. The other members of the Lagoon company were... if not obvious, at least were pretty clear. Dutch was the captain and all around badass, Benny did the computer thing, Revy was the gunslinger. But Rock was harder to pin down... he negotiated, but not just that. From things Benny said Rock was a devious man, a planner and plotter when needed. And Dutch didn't say much, but he did admit that Rock came up with the craziest plans...
"Dinner's about ready," Rock told them, "it's a bit rough, but we didn't want to stop." He looked at Shinji, "We'll have you home in a few hours."
"It's not home, exactly," Shinji admitted, "but thanks."
Shinji wondered what his father wanted him for. He rather doubted it was for a warm, father and son reunion. (Tho he WAS rather impressed by how much trouble he had gone to recover him. Even if his father was a jerk, he could throw money around.) Whatever the reason, Shinji had to hope he could handle it. There was really nothing else he could do.
"Hey, it's time to eat!" Benny yelled from bellow.
"Come on, let's go," Revy nodded, the three headed down into the boat.
As Shinji followed Revy down, he did his best not to notice how... skimpy her outfit was. The toned, athletic woman sauntered about the ship in just cut-off shorts and a skimpy t-shirt. It took a heroic act of will for him not to look at her ass sway in front of him...
Then Shinji noticed he was noticing and blushed furiously, especially seeing the amused look on Rock's face.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Dutch couldn't hide the sense of relief he felt, finally reaching the Japanese coast. Not that this area was a hundred percent safe, but it was DAMN safer than most of the Chinese coastline was. The only thing he really had to worry about was looking out for sunken buildings and such, when much of the original coastline was flooded during Second Impact.
There were coast guard ships watching them, and Dutch did his damndest not to get nervous. If someone wanted to do them dirty now would be a great time, with these armed ships all around. One 'mistaken' order and this could get very messy, very fast. But no one challenged them as they headed to the docks, and saw a figure there waiting for them.
'Where the hell did they get a patrol boat from?' Misato had to wonder as the boat neared. Three figures got out onto the deck, two adults and Shinji, and the boy looked well. Which was good, considering that NERV expected the shit to hit the fan soon.
Rock made sure the woman matched the photo they had been faxed, then they pulled up to the docks. "Captain Katsuragi?" he called, just to be sure.
"Misato, yes," she agreed, looking amused. "You made it just in time." she said as she passed the briefcase over.
"We do our best," Rock said as he popped the catches open and double checked the money. Not that he didn't trust them, but they'd been conned before.
"I thought we had a week of margin left?" Revy demanded as she helped Shinji up the gangplank to the dock.
"Some things came up," Misato said dryly The attractive woman looked Shinji over again as she asked, "You all right?"
"I'm fine," Shinji gave the expected answer but added, "other than the whole chased by crazed bounty hunters, ran out of town, shot at and so on. Other than that, I'm just peachy."
Rock had to hide a smile at that, but Revy laughed.
Shinji moved to take off the pistol Revy had lent him, but the older womanh shook her head. "Keep it," she said, "you might need it."
"Thank you," he told Revy and Rock as Shinji added, "and thank you for everything you've done for me."
"All part of the Lagoon company service," Rock said as Dutch ordered the lines undone and they started to pull away from the dock.
"Give us a call if you need a ride out of here," Revy yelled as they sailed off, "we'll give you a discount!"
Shinji had to grin at that even as Misato scowled. "Come on," the older woman in a red jacket and short dress said as she lead him off, "we need to go see your father."
The trip into NERV was rather surreal, though thankfully nothing exciting happened. Well, other that Misato getting lost. A nice brown haired girl named Maya rescued them from that, and in short order they arrived in a hallway outside what looked like blast doors where a blond haired woman in a lab coat waited for them.
"You got lost?" the blond looked annoyed.
"Sorry, Rits," Misato sighed.
They were lead into a dark chamber with scaffolding, and as Shinji followed he really wondered what these people were playing at. The lights came on 'dramatically' revealing the upper part of a purple... giant robot? Kind of. It looked armored and humanoid, but as Shinji looked at it he was also reminded of a living being.
"Welcome to NERV," the voice boomed, and Shinji had to fight HARD not to dra his gun and fire. (Which probably would have felt good, but...) His father, Gendo Ikari, stood on the platform above them, trying to look impressive. However, considering how often Shinji had people try to kill him lately, it rather fell short.
"What do you want, father?" Shinji asked flatly, sounding distinctly unimpressed.
That rather threw Gendo off, but he ecovered quickly. "This is the ultimate fighting machine, Evangelion," he gestured to the robot grandly, "and I want you to pilot it."
"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?"
End?
Notes: This started out as just a very short fic where Shinji was rescued by the Lagoon Co, had various adventures off panel and grew enough spine to tell Gendo off. Expanding on it was fun, tho I admit it has a lot of plot holes.
I MIGHT continue this eventually, if only to explore how the criminal world was hit by Second Impact. Maybe.