Secrets should never be forgotten…
Chapter 1
Prologue
2015, sometime during summer
Tokyo-3
It was another fairly normal day within the city boundaries of Tokyo-3. The sun shone, a light breeze scattered some leaves around the streets, people milling about their daily lives, all was calm. Life here seemed to merge seamlessly with the constant attacks from the mysterious creatures known as the Angels. The public of course knew nothing of these beings; just that they had to be evacuated when the warning klaxons went off.
The people who knew always feared the next alarm. NERV, the agency designed to counter the offensive of these Angels, had at its disposal the use of large mecha known as Evangelions, piloted by fourteen-year-old children. One such pilot, Shinji Ikari, was currently at a loss. He hated the alarms, it meant that he would have to step into that thing again, Eva Unit-01, knowing full well that he was only there because of his unique ability to pilot that particular Evangelion.
He sat at his desk alone. His friends had left Tokyo-3, Touji Suzahara was in hospital still, but transferred to another city, Kensuke Aida had left also, his father telling him to leave the city now before it was too late. The class was now vastly more empty than usual, a resilient few decided to stay. The Second Child, Sohryu Asuka Langley, had become more hostile to Shinji since her incident with the fifteenth Angel; in fact she began to despise everyone around her, especially Ayanami Rei, the First Child, who had saved her life from that Angel. Rei… She had somehow survived the self-destruction by Unit-00 with a few scratches, but something else was bothering him. He now knew what she was, a clone made by his father, the sheer essence of the dummy plug system. What was she to him now? He looked at her for a few seconds, but she was staring out of the window, otherwise preoccupied. A shadow crept across his table; he glanced up and inwardly flinched as he saw was Asuka. She then began a tirade of insults, mostly involving him and 'Wondergirl', as she liked to call Rei. This was interrupted by the emergency klaxon. The class was cleared out within seconds.
Resigned to his fate, Shinji picked up his school bag and walked towards the exit, onto NERV. He did not bother to catch up to Asuka who was marching on in front of him, nor did he try and slow down to move alongside Rei who remained cool throughout. They all made their way to one of the NERV entrances, conveniently located near to the school. Asuka slid her card through the slot first, walking past the Section 2 agent into the specially designed lift, Shinji and Rei following not long after. The ride down to the Geofront was deathly silent, Rei had nothing to say since it was not related to orders, Asuka was fuming inside at having to wait for Shinji, and Shinji was afraid to speak up for fear of Asuka hitting him in anger.
Command Deck
"What do you mean you don't know what it is?!" Misato had barely a night's sleep since Unit-00 destroyed itself along with a large portion of Tokyo-3.
"The Magi cannot say…" Maya relayed the results that the three supercomputers calculated.
"Is the pattern fluctuating?" Misato asked fearfully. The last time an Angel's pattern changed was when Shinji almost died.
"No…" Checking the monitors again, Maya clarified, "No, they are definitely not. However there does not appear to be a pattern associated with this energy output. There is no AT-Field detected either."
"Where was it located again? We need to get our bearings on the object." Misato relaxed a little as the large map appeared on the main viewer. Two red circles indicated Tokyo-3 and the energy output respectively.
"According to our readings," Makoto typed in a few commands, "the town of Mabase seems to be the source of the disturbance."
"Destination?" Misato spoke softly this time.
"Unknown, but it is not heading towards us." Makoto spoke back.
"Magi probability that it's an Angel?"
"The Magi are withholding judgement given the lack of variables."
Misato furrowed her brow. An object that is not heading to Tokyo-3 is detected by the Magi as a potential threat, which in itself is unusual. However it does not possess the typical properties of Type Blue blood that Angels do, although that could change considering the last Angel. I guess it wouldn't hurt to send one Evangelion there to scout out…
Turning to the Sub-Commander, and trying not to be intimidated by him, she spoke up, "Sir, permission to have Unit-01 flown over to the town of Mabase to check out the disturbance?"
Fuyutsuki stood there, unsure of what to say. "I cannot make a decision like this lightly, risking the protection of NERV Headquarters by taking away the only available defence…"
"Permission granted." The figure of Gendo Ikari approached the front and spoke down to Misato, "Although the risk of Unit-01 going berserk may be high, the risk these new enemies possess is higher."
"Ryoukai." Turning to the NERV staff on her level she began issuing orders. "Have Shinji-kun taken to the VTOL Launch Pad 2 along with Section 2 agents. Remove the restraints on Eva Unit-01 and send it to the Evangelion ATU (Airborne Transport Unit). Have a Mobile Command VTOL meet us on VTOL Launch Pad 2 in fifteen minutes, then join me there."
Misato stood back and watched as Maya, Makoto and Shigeru relay the orders to the relative divisions. Gendo sat there watching the proceedings, his hands interlocked beneath his nose. Fuyutsuki leant over and spoke to Gendo in hushed tones.
"Why the sudden change of heart Ikari?" Gendo remained silent. "Unit-01 is still unstable since the incident with the fourteenth Angel, the only reason you'd change your mind is if…"
Realisation suddenly dawning upon him, Fuyutsuki stood up and smirked. "So, the old men are worried are they?"
"Yes." Gendo replied, with a hint of mirth in his tone of voice, "According to their scenario, this wasn't supposed to happen. As you know, they fear irregularities and conflicts, anything that contradicts the Dead Sea Scrolls."
"How on Earth did you manage to get their blessing over the release of Unit-01?" Fuyutsuki was interested at this point.
"By mentioning that Instrumentality might be halted by these new foes." A sadistic smirk appeared on Gendo's face as Fuyutsuki chuckled to himself.
"I see… threaten them with what they fear most of all, and even the old men would crumble." He looked down at Gendo, "I assume you will be waiting here to hear of the results?"
"Yes, but I must retire to my office for some business." With that he stood up. "I leave the rest in your hands Fuyutsuki." He then left the command deck and made his way to his office.
14 minutes later
VTOL Launch Pad 2
"Where is Mabase Misato?" Shinji was looking at a large map of Japan (2010 edition Post Second Impact), the wind making it harder to read.
Pointing over his shoulder, she indicated a region that managed to survive the sudden rise in the sea levels. It already existed as a town before then, but began to grow as more people moved to higher land. An unremarkable town, with no distinguishing features according to the map.
Watching from a distance, Asuka began to grind her teeth as she saw Shinji standing there looking down at the map with an empty expression on his face. Baka Shinji, why does he continue to pilot if it hurts him? She then stopped, knowing that she was the same as him. Taking one last glimpse of him, she turned away to go down the stairs, back into the Geofront.
Shinji continued to read the map whilst Misato was barking down a phone asking where the VTOL was. Maya was typing furiously on a laptop computer over some more updates of what was happening in Mabase. Makoto was relaying some more information to the Eva Unit retrieval team, naming some weapons Misato thought would be appropriate for this occasion. At last the VTOL had arrived, a minute late, which by Misato's standards was very late. After giving the pilot a verbal beating, and sweatdrops from everyone else in the aircraft, they took off, the Eva ATU close behind them, flying high above Tokyo-3 before they set off for Mabase.