PRESENT
ABOARD THE WUNDER
Footsteps echoed amongst the steel hallways of the ship.
Rei was walking back to the captains office from the break room, having made a steaming cup of coffee exactly how her superior liked it.
The walk was long, and her normally blank mind began to wander.
Why am I still here? Should I have not been killed by now?
Her musings were cut short as a blur of pink moved in front of her, the
"Hey Blue, how ya holding up?"
"Pilot Makinami. It is good to see you." She turned to the redhead that had shown up also.
"Pilot Shikinami, it is good to see you as well."
"Verpiss dich." The redhead growled at her, tone anything but friendly.
Rei was not fluent in German, but knowing Shikinami, she assumed it wasn't a polite greeting.
"Having fun being a doll for Doctor Malpractice?"
Somehow, nearly two years down the line, the redhead was still the only person who managed to actually elicit annoyance in her.
"I am not a doll."
"Oh really? Because I'm willing to bet money that coffee is for Akagi, and that she didn't say 'pretty please with sprinkles on top.' to you either. Only a doll follows orders like that."
"I was given an order by a superior. It is my duty to follow it, is it not?"
Asuka's face began to contort in anger, likely ready to go on another pointless tirade.
"Look here you-"
"So!"
Mari decided now would be a good time to interrupt before the firebrand could get started.
"Rei, I've been meaning to ask you, if you have the time, why don't you have lunch with us?"
Asuka whipped her head around, an incredulous expression on her face.
"Four eyes? Are you fucking with me?"
"No ma'am."
"You invited her."
"Yes."
"Rei."
"The only person here who has that name around here, yes."
"To eat with us."
"Yes. Is that a problem princess?"
The two continued, Asuka bickering while Mari answered in a fake sweet tone to piss the other off.
Rei all the while had been standing in silence, wondering how she should respond to a question.
She didn't particularly like Shikinami. While her piloting skills were admirable, nearly every other trait annoyed her. The lack of respect, the smug tone, the "holier than thou" attitude she carried with her.
And frankly, most of the time, she just wished the girl would shut the hell up.
However, the other, the Makinami girl, was different.
She was surprisingly pleasant, even if her nicknames and constant teasing could be grating at times. She wouldn't mind spending time around her.
Now, the question in her mind still remained.
How do I proceed?
Another thought followed that one.
What would Ikari suggest?
After a moment of choice, she made up her mind. Speaking up so she could be heard over the current argument.
"If the deputy commander allows it, I will accompany you both."
Both stopped and looked at her, disbelief painted across both of their faces.
Mari was the first to recover, a sly grin making its way onto her face as she savored her small victory.
Asuka recomposed herself, glancing between the two. She noticed the smug smile Mari wore.
Heaving a sigh, she said nothing, opting to roll her eyes.
She wasn't in the mood for this shit.
"Report."
"Earlier this morning, a hunter killer team from SEELE was found."
Misato raised her eyebrow.
"Have you interrogated them yet?"
Ritsuko sighed, running a hand through her now almost nonexistent hair.
"Well, it turns out dead men aren't very good at giving information."
She paused, glancing up from her tablet, staring at her subordinate, eyebrows furrowed.
"Explain."
"The three man team was found by a WILLE expedition party, from what the medical team have gathered, whatever killed them was recent, the bodies only show about 2 days worth of decay. The gear they had was nothing out of the ordinary, nothing we haven't seen before."
Misato fought the urge to heave a sigh.
"Then why are you telling me this?"
"Because one of them had a bodycam."
Her attention was immediately focused completely on the woman in front of her. She watched as the other fished in her lab coat pocket and pulled out a flash drive, tossing it to the captain.
"Here, we extracted the footage and audio, nearly three hours of video came out of it."
Misato plugged it in to her tablet, opening the single file that popped up on the screen.
"Most of it was worthless, nothing that could give us info on where their base of operations are, or names of them. They all use callsigns and keep tight OPSEC."
Misato sensed she wasn't done.
"But, we did find out how they died. The video that concerns that is in that drive."
A few button presses later, and her tablet screen was connected to the holographic display on her desk, the widescreen image far easier on the eyes.
Dragging up the short video file, she hit play.
They swept through the corridors with calculated efficiency, clearing corners and checking closets.
If intel was to be believed, that Ikari kid was around here, currently using one of these abandoned dorm rooms as a hiding spot.
Orders were to capture him, alive or dead, to bring back to the boss. A cut and clean job.
"Got something!" The breacher who was currently taking point had stopped at a door, having noticed it was one of the only ones slightly ajar on this floor.
The other two stacked up on him, and the breacher nodded, moving to the other side of the door frame, before gently turning the doorknob, finding it unlocked.
They would have normally tossed in a flashbang, but that was too loud. If he was in this building, the noise would without a doubt scare him off.
The whole mission would be for nothing, and valuable equipment would have been wasted. They had to remain low tech for this.
A slight shuffling behind him sounded, and the pointman felt a tap on his shoulder signifying the final man ready to enter.
They entered wordlessly, and again, came upon an empty room.
Damn.
However, before they could regroup and leave, the pointman noticed the backpack and empty ration pack that was hastily stuffed under the bed.
Somebody had been here.
The breacher turned to the pointman, and the other nodded his permission, watching as the shotgun wielding man walked towards the bed, reaching under the bed.
The pointman watched as the other came up, pulling security while the other began to search the item.
A moment later, the world was enveloped in white.
The pointman awoke to ringing in his ears, his head dizzy with pain.
Did they really just fall for the disguised bomb trick? That was practically the oldest trick in the book. How embarrassing.
He turned his head, and saw the others, or at least what was left of them.
He was pretty sure arms weren't supposed to be twisted that angle.
He would have felt bad for them, but right now he was a little too preoccupied with bleeding internally to think about much.
Before he could even try to move, he felt the presence of another next to him.
Somebody was standing over him, a tall figure staring down, facial features hidden by a ski mask and black goggles.
He couldn't help but notice the man's hands, and the rifle that was held by them in a low ready.
They were silent, or maybe they were talking. It was hard to hear over the ringing in his ears.
Without any warning, the safety was clicked off, the rifle brought to the shoulder.
The person lined up their sights with his center mass, and a moment later, fired.
The sound of the rifle firing from the footage echoed in the small room, Misato turning off the video as the other in the video began to search through the dead mans body, going through pockets and pouches.
Misato was impressed. The attack was clean, efficient, and brutal, a perfect execution. The military woman in her couldn't help but admire the handiwork of the unknown individual.
"So we have some sort of hunter killing their grunts?"
"It would seem so. He could be responsible for the others that have shown up in the past year that we had originally dismissed as failed village raids."
Misato sighed. This was interesting, but useless. She was about to voice this opinion to Ristuko when the other spoke up again.
"However, I'm sure we both know that doesn't matter much to you. What you might find interesting, however, is the conclusion the MAGI came to about the identity of this person after analyzing the video."
Ritsuko silently reached into her jacket, pulling out her tablet. She handed it to Misato, who accepted it wordlessly.
"Thought you might want to know this."
A very familiar name and mugshot greeted her eyes.
Ah, shit.