Prologue
This story is the second part in a series. For the first part, please visit The Blue Rose
There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends. - John 15:13
Who Dares Wins. - British military proverb
Amid the echo of his own footsteps the agent made his way into the darkness. He was following the path inside of an underground concrete tunnel and given only the most minimal light by tiny green floodlights that showed him the way to a larger passage that was partially filled with water.
As he approached the larger passage the agent checked his watch again. Running late. He'd better be here. He stopped suddenly at the larger passage, almost dropping into the water himself. The agent moved carefully around the water running down the concrete gulleys while he listened to radio traffic on his earpiece. His "day job" was in Section Two, NERV's Intelligence and Security branch. He had been employed by Section Two for several years, working his way up in the organization and earning trust while reporting back what he was learning about NERV to his true superiors. A recent chance meeting with an old friend had changed everything for him and for those who had sent him to Tokyo-3, resulting in the rendezvous that he was now making.
"Subject was spotted in East Auxiliary Drainage Tunnel B," the voice on the radio said. "Send all available agents there now!"
They're getting close, he thought. The man moved as fast as he could, but with a nearly 200 pound weight encased in the black vinyl bag he was carrying over his shoulder it was difficult for him to run. Fortunately he didn't have to go much farther.
The agent and his bag arrived in a large chamber with a giant propeller, built to fan out bad air from the open spaces of the GeoFront. Standing below the propeller was a Japanese man in his late twenties, with long black hair tied in a pony tail and an unshaven face, dressed in a light blue shirt and black pants. The man in the ponytail smiled at the agent as he entered the chamber.
"There you are!" the man said. "I was afraid you'd be late!" The agent didn't reply but threw the heavy bag down and unzipped it in front of the man standing next to the fan. Inside of the bag was what appeared to be a human body, one with the same face and dimensions as the man now standing in front of the agent.
"A flesh dummy!" the ponytail man mused as he saw what was inside the bag. "You're going to an awful lot of trouble on my account. Quite a handsome devil there. He's almost as handsome as…" As the man was speaking, the agent had reached into his jacket and pulled out a pistol equipped with a silencer. Before the other man could react the agent aimed for the chest and quickly pulled the trigger. A plop was heard and the fugitive immediately went down, eyes rolling as he went.
The agent walked over to where the other man slumped down and rapidly drifted into unconsciousness. "You always talked too much," he told him.
