I own not a right to Evangelion or Saints Row or their characters, though I wish I do for the latter.It is awesome, in my opinion at least.Enjoy!

My warning is still in effect.

Good Morning

Chapter 8: Skirmish

Pale Lotus, Tokyo-Three

Of all walks in life, every man woman and child deserved a day off from the rigors that gave them stress. The Ronin were by no means an exception to this, especially where drinks and women were involved. If they were scantily clad then that was simply a bonus. With a woman or two, even three, for each arm or... elsewhere, the Ronin could be found everywhere that could ensure some measure of privacy for themselves to bask in their company's affectionate "attention."

"Hey Shogo!" The one addressed, dressed an inverted style of the Ronin's typical fashion of yellow and black respectively in dominance, his trimmings however were more golden in appearance than the other lieutenants of their organization. "Great party!" He smirked, ran his hand through his short, spiky hair and leaned back into his couch as a smirking woman in geisha makeup crawled onto his lap with nothing on but red satin panties.

"Hey boss!" someone whispered into his ear much to his displeasure and scowl.

"What!?" he let out in an exasperated sigh while turning to a worried. lower ranked older man in uniform.

"Should we really be doing this? If your father—"

He scowled even further. "He left me in charge with dealing with these upstarts in this section of this boring shithole. Let me be concerned with how I run things and just concern yourself with doing what I tell you to do!"

The man scowled and backed away, leaving him with no one but his 'entertainer' as he grin widely at her whilst she smiled back, a hand of her reaching up to her hair and slowly pulling out a comb that held it in place. She smirked and before he knew it a blade jutted out from the comb's handle, and in the following second it sliced through his neck just before the entire club came to life with screams of men caught with their pants down and the chorus of gunfire.

XVX

Streets

Beep-beep!Beep-beep!

"Hello?" Shinji spoke into the phone as he lounged in his limo seat.

"It's done sir."

"Ah!" A small grin split his face. "Very good! Any problems if I may ask?"

"Just a few. Nothing that you haven't covered however."

"I'll admit even when you were recommended I was a little... iffy given your particular specialization but I'm glad to see your reputation is well deserved."

A small giggle reverberated through the phone. "I'll have you know, sir, that I don't give discounts for flattery on principle."

"Can you blame someone for trying?" he sighed.

"No, I cannot. You have our number if you need us again."

"Thank you and—"

CRASH!

"THE FUCK!?" the driver screamed as their car spun and rolled in a scratched up, dented, battered mess of what it once was. The limo, armored as it was, was not above the concept of physics, especially in terms of momentum in the form of a bus going sixty in a thirty mile per hour zone. With no seat belt to hold him down, his bodyguard all but tackled him in mid air to act as his cushion lest he bounced about the cabin like a tennis ball.

Not even a full second later the familiar drum of bullets rained down on the cracked windows and the smashed side. Immediately a cell phone flickered to life in Shinji's hands just as a gun was cocked.

XVX

Warehouse eight, docks

"You know I never figured us to be some kind of military!" a member laughed as he donned a pilot's helmet and adjusted the mic attached to it as the roof opened up to the warehouse-turned-helipad.

"Well sometimes punks just can't get the message that comes from a gun!" an operator half joked. "Skies are clear! You know what to do!"

"I better get a bonus for this!"

"You're saving the boss, what kind of dick wouldn't give the guy who saves their hide a bonus?"

"I heard that," Oleg rumbled through a speaker.

"Crap."

XVX

Daisuke street

If there wasn't an issue about loyalty, and at times medicinal reasoning such as a exceptionally weak heart or even the body itself outright rejecting the transformation, rare thought that may be, then it was a pure shame that most of Syndicate's members were not augmented. Yet for all it was worth, well toned machinery still had distinct advantages over the human body, augmented or not, when put to their intended use. Sophia, carrying her charge like a bride much to his never ending embarrassment as made evident with his hand covering his face, made it five blocks away from the scene before the performance enhanced vehicles caught up with her despite snaking her way through twists and turns through the city. Even for purposes they were not meant for, such as when the bodyguard charged into a office building, the cars and even some motorcycles were affective enough rams to plow through the doors and low hanging windows leading to the lobby to continue their chase.

One car unfortunately found itself wanting in that regard when it slammed into a exceptionally tall woman who lifted it as if it were a toy and chuck it as if it weighed nothing at a passing biker.

Yet where she had the greater strength and endurance, they had greater numbers. Immediately those that had entered the lobby and were unscathed by a storm of wrecked metal, bodies, and gunfire for a pistol had taken cover either behind their cars or anything else that provided a modicum of ample cover. Only a few dared to pass her whilst still mounted on their bikes and effectively taking likewise cover elsewhere the second the stopped, one however didn't seem to consider hopping off his bike, instead he looked around as if trying to find someone through the tinted visor of his helmet before noticing the red LED numbers of a elevator being used to ascend the floors. Darting his head to a nearby staircase, he revs the engine, charges the stairs, pops a wheelie and climbs up it with the rear tire. With a masterful jerk he aims the bike to the side without it tipping forward and again to climb another set of stairs.

XVX

Twenty-fifth floor

"No. I have no idea which building I'm in," Shinji all but growled into the phone as he stepped out of the elevator. "A team found it? Good. If they swarm her like they do everything else then she's going to need all the help she can get... speaking of, any leads as to where their base is yet?"

Rrrrrrrr!

A skeptical yet suspicion frown was aimed at a nearby stairwell while deaf ears barely heard the response. Both eyes shot themselves wide open as a biker came up the stairs, slamming his front tire onto the ground with a heavy metal screeching 'thwump' and drawing his katana from its sheath after spotting Shinji.

"... Gotta go!" The line went dead as he dove into a hallway seconds before the driver gunned after him at full throttle only to be forced to slow down to take the corner.

XVX

Roof

In almost the exact same moment that he burst through the door of the roof access he slammed the door back into place and drew a gun, a KA-1 Kobra no less with all of its known augmentations, and hugged the small wall as he slide away from the door which he warily eyed.

He was not disappointed.

Soon the screeching of tires, muffled as they were, came from the closed off stairwell as well as a equally muted 'thwump' like before followed shortly by unintelligible shouts of frustration once the engine died down.

BAM!

A biker's boot smashed through the door and subsequently the biker himself charged through, sword at the ready like a charging samurai of old complete with a war cry. By the time he learned of his folly it was too late. A scream split from his masked lips as two bullets tore through his leg, forcing him to tumble onto his back while he was still spinning in place to face his target.

"God damn it!" he screamed as he writhed in place, his sword clattering onto the ground as he clutched his leg. "This was not suppose to happen!" He turned up and apparently glared at a nonchalant Shinji who was approaching him, gun up at the read as he looked down at him with distant distain. "You think you're going to get away from this, you fucker?!"

He only stared at the biker till the sound of a helicopter rotor was heard by the both of them. Tearing his gaze away from him, Shinji made his way towards the edge of the rooftop where a helicopter approached from above and made to land atop it.

"Come back here damn it! You're not going to hospitalize my sister and just walk away!"

He stopped and turned a incredulously raised brow at him.

"You and your damn robot... You damn near killed her when you were stomping about that thing!" he growled as he attempted to get up, his hand blindly clawing the gravely roof for his sword. Meanwhile Shinji's brow lowered and the lids of his eyes dropped in exasperation.

"Since I don't recall smashing a fist into a bunker lately, I'd say the blame falls somewhere between you and her. And frankly—"

Pewt!

With its new adornment the biker's head thudded against the rooftop in a lifeless grace while the shooter tucked the gun back into the folds of his coat as he sauntered towards the landing transport.

"You're a more convenient target," he half mumbled as his hand whisked a packet of cigarettes and a lighter from an inside coat pocket. He placed one to his lips and began to flick the lighter into use when he heard it. With wide, disbelieving eyes he whipped himself around, his lighter forgotten, and clumsily dove his hand back inside for his gun just as an RPG whistled past his head by a good foot on a clear course for a much heftier target. A heavy taser gun however made sure he only got as far as halfway retrieving the gun from its hidden holster.

BOOM!

"We captured the target ma'am," a woman in battle fatigues styled for urban combat plus the cameo to compliment it said into a handheld radio with a smirk. The sleeves of her uniform, however, were rolled up to settle themselves above her respective elbows.

"Oh good! Would you mind putting the dear on the line?" another woman, an obviously older woman, spoke up from her end of the radio.

"Yes ma'am," the other woman said as she kneeled down, the radio itself lowered and a hand held up to better reveal the stun gun proper to suppress any would be resistance from her stuck target, still wired to the gun thanks to its darts and wiring.

"Hello Mitilda. I was under the impression you were still out on contract," Shinji grouched as he tried to split a glare between the device and the smirking woman above him.

"Oh you know how it is, contract complete and a request came through. I assure you it's nothing personal."

"It's a little hard not to take it personal when you're nearly blown up by a rocket—"

"RPG."

"RPG, whatever! And the taser is not helping things." He a quiet groan he tilted his head back to observe the flaming wreckage that was the helicopter thanks to a well placed shot to the only opening inside the vehicle.

"Yes well we are under contract! And I for one am not going to make it a habit of failing one when your organization is in the way. Denise!"

"Yes ma'am." Zttt!

"S-s-stop t-hat!"

"Bind his legs!"

"Got it!"

"I got the hands!"

Perhaps inconsequential as far as his situation warranted, by some small lapse on his part he failed to notice the other women around "Denise" who were on him with mechanical proficiency, binding his feet together and his hands behind his back before one of the more muscular women in their troop.

"I demand a lawyer!" Shinji cried.

"Make a fuss and we're going to show you all three seasons of Nyte Blade."

"... You wouldn't dare..."

XVX

Oleg's command

"Sir, we're not getting any contact from Echo!"

"Do we have eyes up here?"

"No sir!"

Deep-deep!

A exceptionally large cell phone was immediately whipped out from his coat pocket and hefted towards the massive man's ear. "Oleg here."

"Uncle! He's been captured! I don't know who but the helicopter had been shot down!"

"Calm down—"

"Sir! The team's following a elevator car down—"

Stern eyes leveled upon the operator who spoke up as his own hand went to the side of a headphone as if unsure of what he heard. "Hello? Someone speak up!"

"... It seems they were ambushed, sir..."

A lip curled into a scowl as he eyed the graphic table he normally hovered over. "Which floor?" The screen turned from a rough layout of the city as it was to the building of the abduction site and in turn shown its blue prints.

"Basement."

His scowl deepened as he turned his attention to his phone. "Pull back Sophia. It seems Matilda has finally deigned to show herself."

"But—"

"If I were to guess then she somehow staged the Ronin's attack. Otherwise then we somehow stumbled upon a outpost and they saw a target of opportunity. Either way they have came prepared for this; pull back and regroup."

"... Yes, uncle."