VTOL TRANSPORT

10 MINUTES UNTIL LANDING

"-en minutes!" She was forced out of her slumber by the person sitting next to her shaking her shoulder, pointing their thumb to the front of the cockpit where the copilot was saying something.

"Ten minutes until landing!"

The co-pilot had turned around in his seat, holding up his fingers to indicate the time left. As much as her neck hurt from the weird position she had fallen asleep in, she was grateful for the sudden awakening. Her sleeping brain had decided to remind her of what had happened right after the third impact. Of course, it had been about that damn boy.

WILLE had told him nothing, vilified him, strapped a bomb to him, and somehow had been surprised when he decided to go with the only friendly familiar face? She couldn't even really blame him for the fourth impact despite how much she wanted to. In his mind it had seemed like the only way to fix things. Why wouldn't he have tried it?

To add insult to injury, when they finally attempted to kill him, apparently that angel boy with him had managed to take it off him. She had found the boy, crying in the entry plug, covered in the others blood and brain matter. They had dragged him, borderline vegetative from trauma back to the Wunder, tossed him in jail, and still somehow wanted him to work with them. What a bunch of fucking morons.

Her mind seemed like it also had something to say about it.

Seems someone finally started thinking for themselves.

What do you want?

I only have one, simple question for you. I'll know if you're lying, I am you anyway.

What is it?

After everything you've learned, do you still hate him?

She would have immediately defaulted to her standard of denial, but she supposed she really couldn't keep lying to herself anymore.

No. I guess I don't hate him. Not anymore.

She received silence in response. Apparently her mind had been satisfied by the response for the time being. After a few minutes of silence, boredom overtook her, and she resorted to looking out the window of the VTOL to try and pass time. As she observed the landscape, she noticed something out of place. What seemed to be a small group of five people were on a building rooftop, a pickup truck in the street below.

What the hell are scavengers doing around these parts?

She watched as the group seemed to fiddle with a large object, one inserting something into it before handing it off to the man near the front. As she continued to watch, the man near the edge of the rooftop stood and hefted it onto his shoulder, the other men behind him stepping to the side. Her eyes widened in recognition, remembering one of the military formations she had been taught in pilot training years ago.

Ah Hell. Those aren't scavengers.

Before she could yell out her thoughts, the pilot beat her to it.

"MANPADS! GET DOWN!"

A ship tilted as the pilot forced the VTOL to tilt, just barely missing the missile that had flung by it. The radio crackled to life as the co-pilot attempted an emergency broadcast.

"Break Break! This is Delta 26, we are 120 clicks from Toulouse, taking anti air from an unknown ground unit!"

"We have you on our radar, support will arrive in-" The entire bird shook violently as the comms were knocked out, the side of the aircraft blowing open. Asuka shrank back, holding on for dear life as decompression from the outside forcibly sucked out multiple crew members close to the blast zone.

"Engine 02 is out!"

"We're losing altitude! We need to land now!"

"We're going down! Brace for impact!"

Asuka watched as the situation unfolded, heard as metal broke, fire raged, and screams rang out as the aircraft quickly descended towards the ground.

The VTOL impacted only a few seconds later, a violent jolt throwing nearly everybody within around as the ship finally slowed to a halt within on the ground. She opened her eyes to see that, yes, she was indeed still alive, and that yes, there were still others alive. Coughing was heard as dust flooded the now grounded ship. The co pilot was standing near the front, the other pilot having not survived the crash.

"Alright, who's not dead? Sound off." A chorus of groans and half mumbles were the response.

"Good enough. Now, everybody who can move, get any casualties out of here."

Asuka groaned and stood up, the newfound bruises on her body were likely going to take a while to go away. God, her head hurt like hell. Hopefully she didn't have a concussion. She walked out, meeting the co-pilot who was currently busy cursing at a radio. He turned to her.

"Seems my radio got busted in the crash. Mind if I see yours?"

She nodded and grabbed the radio clipped on the strap of her pack, handing it to him.

"This is pilot Brecken of Delta 26. We have been shot down in enemy territory by unknown assailants, at least 40 percent casualty rate. We need out, does anyone copy?" Receiving nothing in response, he grimaced and released the talk button, turning back and handing the radio back to Asuka.

"Looks like the signal here is shot, and our signal repeater broke in the wreckage. We're on our own here." He sighed, before turning back to Asuka.

"Alright, let's work on checking the woun-"

BANG

His sentence was cut short, courtesy of a gunshot turning the upper left portion of his head into a fine red mist. Gunfire erupted as the area immediately turned into an all out firefight, Asuka running for cover, instinctively drawing her handgun as she moved. The outfits and tactics were undeniable. They were dealing with SEELE.

"Contact!" She began to exchange gunfire with their assailants, their numbers far superior. Most of the VTOL crew was non combat personnel, the majority only having their service handgun at best. Untrained and outgunned, the fight was already in their opponents favor. After a few minutes, it was clear they were losing, the number of still living WILLE members quickly depleting.

After a few minutes, her slide locked back empty after a shot, her last mag finally spent. Ducking behind a piece of downed aircraft, she turned to the few people still with her, the majority of them also low on ammunition. Their faces were grim. They all knew what happened to people killed by SEELE. They had seen the strung up corpses in towns before. Suddenly, a yell managed to cut through the gunfire.

"Ceasefire! Ceasefire!" The gunfire immediately stopped, and footsteps approached the group. Why did they stop? Peeking out of cover to get her answer, she and a few others immediately raised their hands as multiple rifle barrels were swung in their direction.

The apparent leader of the group stepped forward, staring them down.

"Looks like we hit the jackpot here. Stand up. NOW!"

The rest of the remaining WILLE members stood up, leaving their cover, raising their hands in surrender.

Her breathing hastened as they advanced towards her. They were currently surrounded by what seemed to be a platoon's worth of violent megalomaniacs. Of course they also had to be armed to the teeth. Just her luck. She watched the leader let his eyes scan the remaining crew. She gulped as his gaze settled on her, her heart rate skyrocketing as a grin plastered itself on his face. He stepped forward, the larger man smiling down at her.

"Well looky here. If it isn't one of the pilots." He reached up and grabbed a lock of her hair. She slapped his hand away.

"Don't fucking touch me!" He chuckled at that, still leering at her.

"Feisty too. We'll fix that." He nodded to a man next to him. The other stepped forward, slamming the butt of his rifle against her head. She crumpled to the ground, trying to stay conscious as her vision swam.

"Useless without your little robot, huh? Absolutely useless." She groaned again as he slammed his foot into her stomach, desperately trying to stay awake.

Before she could even try to get back up, he kicked her in the chin, the final hit knocking her out cold. He spat on her now unconscious body, and turned towards his men.

"Alright, listen up! Those WILLE bastards likely are already on their way, so start moving! And as for the prisoners…" The leader paused for a moment in thought, turning his gaze towards his newfound hostages, their eyes wide in fear. He smiled.

"Take the pilot. We need her alive. You know what to do with the rest." The unconscious Asuka was dragged away to their vehicles as a chorus of cheers and laughs rang out from the now advancing gunmen.

"No, please!"

"I have kids!"

"Stop, we didn't do anything!"

The pleas of the WILLE members were silenced a moment later by the sound of multiple gunshots at once. The commander watched as his men finished their work, checking bodies and shooting any who were still alive. He turned towards his personal car, the gunner and second in command already waiting for him. He smiled again as he settled himself into the backseat, feeling the car move forward a moment later. Turning to the seat next to him, he grinned at the unconscious pilot in it.

He was going to enjoy what happened next.

ELSEWHERE

ABOARD THE WUNDER, CAPTAINS QUARTERS

"NO SURVIVORS?" Misato sighed internally, knowing the girl would have reacted like this after the news she gave.

"Makinami, please, calm down." Ritsuko quietly approached the clearly distraught pilot, attempting to put a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Calm down? CALM DOWN? Fuck you! This is my goddamn sister we're talking about!" She roughly shoved the doctor's hand away, running shaky fingers through her hair, her eyes stinging from unreleased tears.

Misato herself was quiet, managing to keep her expression neutral, despite the trembling in her hands that wouldn't go away. For WILLE, they had lost an important member. For her, she had just lost a daughter. One of the few lights of hope for her in this hellish world, now gone. First Shinji, now Asuka? She was barely holding it together and she wasn't even related to Asuka by blood. She couldn't begin to imagine the kind of grief Mari was going through.

Watching silently, Ritsuko knew Mari wouldn't be able to handle any more of this, and it was obvious the distraught girl wasn't paying attention either way. Despite her disdain for the girl, she couldn't help but feel some sympathy for the other, watching the normally carefree girl try to hide her choked sobs.

"Lieutenant Suzuhara, please remove Pilot Makinami from this room."

Rei watched as Sakura stood up with her arm around Mari's shoulders, glancing over to Rei before she exited. The blue haired girl turned her attention back to the screen in front of her, lowering her head in thought. Misato's voice once again echoed throughout the room.

"The majority of the crew was found shot dead at the crash site. Captain Shikinami's body was not found."

"Do we know if she was lost in the depressurization?" Misato had managed to keep her emotions in check as she asked the reporting crew. One shook his head before speaking.

"Unlikely. The wreckage suggests that she was in, and survived the initial crash. Parts of her kit such as her radio and service handgun were found at the site." He reached out and offered photos to his superior. Taking them with trembling hands, she flipped through the images taken, trying to ignore the images of the many deadWILLE members.

"Any theories, sergeant?" The man in question cleared his throat, straightening his posture before speaking.

"We have good reason to believe SEELE captured her. Footprints imply them dragging a body, and it would make sense from their standpoint to capture an experienced pilot. She's a highly valuable asset. They're crazy, but they aren't stupid."

"Then start searching. Dismissed." Misato's tone left no room for rebuttals, which no one gave. The room cleared out within moments, no one wanting to feel the wrath of their superior.

"Ma'am?" Misato looked up from her paperwork to see the form of Rei Ayanami in front of her.

"Yes Ayanami?" She kept her tone professional for the girl.

"I would like to request permission to join Suzuhara and Makinami." Ritsuko lifted her head up, staring at the girl with a puzzled expression.

"And why do you ask that?" The girl hesitated for a moment, mulling over her thoughts before answering in full.

"I do not know. I believe it... feels right?" Ritsuko stared at her, slack jawed at the completely uncharacteristic display from the girl. Snapping out of her daze, she answered the stone faced girl.

"Uh, yes. You can go, Rei." The pilot thanked Ritsuko, turning and leaving to head to the barracks where she assumed the other pilot had gone. The room was quiet again, the two women deep in thought. Misato broke the silence a minute later.

"Seems Sakura's been doing more good for her than we thought."

"That's an understatement."

Meanwhile, Rei stood silently in front of the door to Mari and Asuka's room. Knocking on the door to Mari's room, the door opened up a moment later, Sakura on the other side.

"Rei? What are you doing here?" Before she could respond, another voice cut in.

"Who is it?" Sakura turned back to look inside the room.

"It's Rei." A sniffle was heard, a response given a second after.

"Let her in." Sakura wordlessly stepped out of the way, letting the blue haired girl enter. She approached the bed Mari was on, sitting on the other side of it.

"Pilot Makinami?" The other looked up, having been crying in her hands for the past few minutes. She let out a wet chuckle upon hearing Rei's voice.

"How many times have I told you to call me Mari?"

"Apologies."

"Don't be sorry. There's nothing to apologize for."

Mari looked up at the other and Rei could finally see the state the other was in. Bloodshot eyes peered out, nose red and runny from crying, lips trembling with a sad smile.

"Thank you." Rei tilted her head in confusion at the others' words.

"For what?"

"For being here. Both of you. I'm a mess right now. Thanks for sticking around." Sakura smiled gently at this, looking at the red eyed girl next to Mari. Rei remembered what had been said after Mari's departure.

"What is it?" Mari, despite her crying, could still read most people like an open book, and sensed the girl wanted to say something.

"I don't know if I should say this or not." Mari closed her eyes, looking away from the two.

"Is it about her?"

"Yes."

She hiccuped, trying to force herself to speak without stuttering.

"Did they find it? Did they find the b-" She stopped herself, not trusting herself to keep it together if she finished her sentence. Rei responded after a moment.

"No. They believe she may be alive." Both immediately swung their heads towards her, shock evident on their faces.

"What do you mean?" Mari was now staring into her eyes, anxious to hear what the other had to say.

"They believe she has been taken by SEELE as a prisoner." Before the blue haired girl could blink, she felt arms wrap around her tightly as Mari pulled her into a tight hug, whispering into her shoulder.

"Thank you."

The news wasn't good, but the hope that the other was still alive sparked a flame of hope within her. Rei sat there for a moment, unsure of what to do about the girl currently hugging her. What was she supposed to do? She turned her head towards Sakura, the other nodding and smiling at her. After a moment of hesitation, she followed what her heart told her to do.

Reaching up, she put both of her arms around the other, and reciprocated the hug.

ELSEWHERE

EARTH, SOMEWHERE WITHIN THE BORDER BETWEEN FRANCE AND ITALY

She awoke to a very unfamiliar ceiling. Her head hurt like hell and her vision was blurry. She definitely had a concussion.

Sitting up, she could see that she was in some sort of cell, the concrete room empty save for a steel door to her left. Seems the assholes from before had taken her prisoner. The sound of a lock turning interrupted her thoughts, the door opening a moment later, three men stepping in. Two were armed, the third one having his hands clasped behind his back. Focusing her vision, she recognized the man as the same leader of the unit she had fought not long ago. He looked down, gaze piercing through her.

"Well, it looks like sleeping beauty finally decided to wake up." A sickening grin spread across his face as he stepped forward, looming over her. He reached towards his hip, pulling out an extendable baton, flicking it open.

"You have information that I want. And you're going to tell me."

SOMEWHERE WITHIN FRANCE

The small group within the abandoned city was obviously SEELE's boys, having set up camp within the area for the night. Shinji had stumbled across them on his way to the WILLE base that was a few days worth of travel West. Keeping himself quiet, he did his best to pass through the area without being seen or heard. As he slipped over a gate, only a half block away at best, he overhead a few talking amongst each other.

"-own the whole VTOL. Slaughtered the morons like animals." Another laughed as he responded, poking the embers of the small fire they sat around.

"Good riddance. Heard they also got one of the pilots, apparently they planned to beat some info out of them before killing 'em." Please don't let it be who Shinji thought it was.

"Really? Which one?"

"The redhead one, dunno the name. Company commander said she was hot." Of course it was her.

"She still alive?"

"Yep. Apparently she's a real stubborn piece of work. Seems like WILLE's real good at indoctrination." Was he going to do this?

"Shame. They got her up in the facility up in France right?"

"Yep." Damn. He was going to do this.

Originally, Shinji had planned to simply ignore them and continue on. There was no point in attacking them as it hadn't been worth the risk. Clenching his fists in anger, he knew what he was about to do. He could have just walked away, continued on with his mission without hassle. He also knew he was not about to do that. Drawing a handgun, he sighed deeply through his nose.

He was probably going to regret this.

3 DAYS LATER

SEELE FRANCE HOLDING FACILITY

The road was dark, the headlights of the truck he was driving his only light source. He had been driving for a few hours now down this road. He was beginning to lose hope that this was the right place. The lack of road signs didn't exactly fill him with confidence either.

This has got to be, by far, the dumbest fucking thing I've ever done.

And the third and fourth impact weren't?

Eh. Fair point.

He pulled out a small GPS device, double checking the coordinates he had gotten courtesy of a SEELE grunt. It had been a pain, and the guy had been more concerned with the bullet wound in his knee, but after a few broken fingers and missing teeth, they had spilled what they knew.

Noticing the small dot of a campfire in the distance, he shut his lights off and slowed the car to a stop, hopping out, leaving most of his equipment in the car. He had to be quiet, the amount of men here was unknown. He was going to have to go in on foot from this point on if he wanted any chance of success. After a few minutes of walking, he came within 20 meters of the small fire.

The uniforms confirmed who they were, the SEELE grunts in various states of consciousness, most sleeping or getting ready to sleep, two keeping guard. One of the two pulling security stepped away from the campfire, heading away to urinate. Seemed like this would be his best chance. Shinji quietly waited, blade in hand, watching as the other went nearby to a tree and unzipped his pants. Picking up a rock, he threw it in the opposite direction of where he was, watching as the man fumbled to zip back up his pants before grabbing his rifle, aiming it in that direction.

He quietly closed the distance, the man too focused on the direction the noise had come from to notice Shinji quietly approaching. He covered the man's mouth with his left hand, letting his right plunge the knife he had been holding sideways into the other's neck, burying the blade up up to the guard. With a swift motion, the blade was swiped forward out of the neck. The man quickly went limp, the man dying before he had even realized what had happened. He let the body fall to the ground, the sound of the impact softened by the soil he was standing on. Looking down at the now motionless body, he noticed a similarity. They were roughly the same height and size as him. An idea came to mind.

A moment later, and the body was hidden in a bush, Shinji now in the man's uniform and gear. He was thankful for the face mask most of the SEELE grunts wore to hide their identity. Walking back towards the camp, another who was sitting on their sleeping mat turned to him and grinned.

"Henri, qu'est ce que c'est? Etes-vous avec de la merde?"

Well, that was a problem. These guys were members straight from France. Seemed like the disguise wasn't going to do much good now, considering he couldn't understand them. He slowly reached towards a side pocket on the combat vest he was wearing as the other stared at him, waiting for his response. As the other began to frown, he gently pulled his thumb back inside the pouch, the metallic click almost inaudible.

"Henri? Henri?" The other began to grow concerned, leaning forward to begin standing up. Without warning, Shinji tossed a small cylinder in front of the other, turning and closing his eyes.

The flashbang proved useful, disorienting the others long enough for him to dispatch most before they even realized what had happened. Once he was certain that he was alone again, he bent down, and began to scour the bodies for supplies.

He stopped as he came across the corpse of the last one he had killed, having dropped them as they were crawling out of the tent disorientated from the flashbang, weapon forgotten. Reaching in, he grabbed their weapon, noticing that it felt far heavier than a normal rifle. As he pulled it out, he understood why. Seems this had been the gunner of the team. He quickly observed the weapon, the 200 round belt of ammunition lightly rattling in it's box. After ensuring it was ready to go, he stood back up, and continued walking, making his way towards the facility a few kilometers away.

Things were going to get messy.

The SEELE commander was pissed off. This WILLE pilot was either a complete moron, or lying through her teeth about everything she had told him, and he didn't know which made him angrier. It was mostly silent as he continued trying to figure out WILLE supply routes. The voice of one of his men down the hall broke through his musings.

"Arretez, to-"

BANG

He jumped at the noise. Seems WILLE had found them. Grabbing his rifle, he turned towards the few others in the command room as more gunfire became audible. No matter who won this firefight, he would make sure that pilot wouldn't survive this.

"Le pilote. Tuez-la." The men followed him as he made his way to the prisoners room, gunfire echoing in the facility. The three men behind him stood wordlessly as he reached the lock, pulling security as he took out the key for it. Unlocking the door, he swung it open, the light illuminating the figure huddled in the corner of the room. The redhead's face was mottled with bruises, her lips dry and cracked from dehydration, her body thin from the lack of food. She turned her head upwards, eyes widening at his presence.

"Please, no more." He ignored her protest, grabbing her arm and yanking her up violently.

"Move you WILLE whore!"

She stood unmoving, posture hunched, mind and body filled with fear and exhaustion. Growling in frustration, he drew his handgun, clicking off the safety and aiming at her head.

"Rot in Hell."

The sound of automatic gunfire only a few meters away made him flinch, the movement making him miss the shot he had just taken and miss its target by a few centimeters. The round whizzed by the girls head, the round impacting the concrete cell wall. Turning his head, he saw the three men who had come with him now on the floor motionless, crimson pooling around them. A figure dressed in likely stolen SEELE clothes stood wordlessly in front of them, weapon in hand. He couldn't help but notice the faint crimson stains that were scattered over the fabric. At first, he suspected WILLE, but he never remembered them being so violent. Whoever this was, they definitely weren't WILLE. They didn't fight like this.

Whoever it was, they obviously weren't here for a friendly chat. Swinging his arm to aim at the other, he was stopped mid attempt as another burst of gunfire was let off, this time aimed directly at him. He crumpled to the ground, the lack of body armor on his person allowing the copper jacketed projectiles free reign on his center mass.

Asuka watched her tormenter collapse to the ground, wheezing from the punctured lung he had. Dazed from far too much pain, she could only watch with half lidded eyes as the unknown man walked forward, a loud thump sounding as they dropped their weapon. She barely noticed the gaze the other sent her way, too tired to notice the faint flash of red behind the dark goggles they wore. The other seemed to linger on her for a moment, before turning back to the dying SEELE commander, raising a foot above their head.

A moment later, boot and face became one.

Her breath caught as the other turned and walked towards her, closing her eyes as their footsteps neared. She hoped that the other would at least make her death quick and painless, although the grotesque display of violence a moment ago said otherwise. She flinched as the other stopped a foot away from her. She heard rustling as the other reached towards her, clenching her eyes shut even tighter, awaiting her likely imminent death.

She was surprised to instead feel a strong, but gentle pair of hands grab her, lifting up her thin body. Opening her eyes, she found that she was still very much alive, and unharmed by the other. Letting her tired mind think for a moment, she realized she was now being moved, being carried bridal style by the silent figure. She would have tried to wriggle out of their hold, as she had no idea what their intentions were, but she knew it would be pointless. Whoever this was evidently didn't want to kill her, and if they did, she couldn't have stopped them. She was far too weak to try now anyway, so she tried her best to relax, and hoped for the best.

Only a few minutes later, exhaustion won over. Her eyes began to shut involuntarily as her head fell against the other's chest, the light rocking of their gait lulling her to sleep. She felt surprisingly safe in the other's arms.

As she fell asleep to the steady heartbeat of her unknown savior, she couldn't help but feel an odd sense of familiarity.

LATER

Opening her eyes, she noticed an unfamiliar ceiling. The surface she was on was soft, and after turning her head, she realized it was a couch. She tried to get up, but after a failed attempt, she quickly realized her body was far too weak to move much. A small needle was taped in place on her wrist, some sort of IV. Seems she was being given some painkillers, if her slightly dazed state was any indication. Reaching over to take it off, she stopped when the door behind her clicked open. The scent of food wafted in as the door creaked open, closing a few seconds later. She was too weak to turn to see who was behind her, only hearing as their footsteps neared.

A moment later, a man walked out in front of her, identity hidden behind a mask and goggles. He stood silently to the side of the sofa, arms crossed, waiting for her to speak. She recognized the man, even in his new clothes. She couldn't help but tense up slightly at their presence, his violent actions from not long ago still fresh in her mind. His stance and posture was calm, and relaxed, almost self assured, a stark contrast to the almost feral man he had been before. It seemed whoever this was cared about who knew what they looked like, the only identifier being their light skin color visible on their hands. She couldn't figure out his nationality beneath the clothes and disguise, and pale skin wasn't exactly uncommon in Europe, so she defaulted to English in the hopes the others would understand her.

"You're not going to kill me, right?." She received a head shake in response. She quietly studied the other. They didn't seem to be lying, so she just hoped they were telling the truth. The person understanding her made things even easier. A language barrier would be a massive pain right about now.

"I have a question for you, if you don't mind." The other nodded his approval.

"Who are you?"