Chapter One
The tall man in glasses walked out of the airport. Just arriving in Japan from America, he sported a tan, short-sleeve, button up shirt with matching pants. He wore a pair of small sunglasses that just barely hid his eyes from the view of others, and also had on a tie. His sandy hair was cut close to his head, and he had a singly bag slung around his shoulders. Aside from his physical aspects, the man gave off a feeling of being far superior to those around him.
His expression never changed, no matter who, or what he passed. He didn't wonder, as many others were, why the sky had been completely clear a moment before, and was now totally gray. He didn't point and stare at the multitude of crows that were flying over head. He didn't even bat an eyelash as he passed the Japanese vending machine that was dispensing woman's panties, something that had caught the devout attention of many an American. He wasn't going to let anything hinder him, no. He had a purpose.
The man smiled as the memory came to him again. The fools. They thought they knew his motives; they thought he was their loyal lapdog. Those old men knew nothing of him. They didn't know who he was.
But it didn't matter now. Those pathetic fools would be long gone by the time he started to put things in motion. The man glanced at his watch. Yes, they should be starting to feel the effects just about now, he thought. It was a pity that he couldn't be there to watch the horror creep over their faces, but he had more pressing matters at the moment.
As the man walked down the streets of Tokyo-Three, he passed many people, non of who even glanced at him. It was as if they were ignoring him, or perhaps they didn't even know he was there. But each and every one of them shivered as the man passed them. That was the sign of his existence that was given.
As the man rounded a corner, he saw the sun glint off the steel skyscrapers of Tokyo-Three. He smiled at the sight; however, that smile would have chilled the soul of even the cruelest murder alive.
The man breathed in deep, before letting the air out. It was time to put his plans into action.
The Supreme Commander of NERV, sat in his office, having just put down the phone. Gendou Ikari folded his hands before him and stared out over his desk, thinking. This was… an unexpected development.
"What did SEELE have to say this time?" Kouzou Fuyutsuki asked, standing behind Gendou. He could tell that something hadn't gone as his former pupil had been planning.
Gendou didn't turn around, nor did he take his eyes off of whatever he was staring at in the distance, but he answered Fuyutsuki.
"Apparently," he said, "they are sending us the Fifth Child."
Fuyutsuki's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Already?" he asked. "But we've only defeated fourteen out of the predicted seventeen angels."
Gendou shook his head slightly. "There is no guarantee that he is the seventeenth, and at the moment, he is the least of our problems."
"The least?" Fuyutsuki said. "I take it that wasn't all they had to say to you."
Gendou nodded. "They didn't say anything," he said.
"Excuse me?" Fuyutsuki said.
Gendou looked at his second in command. "The old men are dead."
Fuyutsuki just stared at Gendou, leaving a long pause before he responded. "How did this happen?" he asked.
"Poison," Gendou said, looking away from his former teacher and back over his desk. "Each and everyone one of the old men died approximately twenty four hours after ingesting and unknown substance."
"This came at a bad time," Fuyutsuki said. "We are in need of more funds than ever to continue repair's on Unit One. If the old men aren't available to grant it… Still," Fuyutsuki continued, "this may be a blessing in disguise."
Gendou nodded. "Indeed. While the succession of the council will provide difficulties that should have been otherwise avoided, it may provide an opportunity to increase our control over the Council."
Fuyutsuki nodded. "And increase your own rank in the council as well?" he asked, though he already knew the answer.
Gendou smiled. "It would prove useful to have the council under our control," he said. There was no need to say that whoever controlled the council controlled the UN, and thus the world.
"But still," Fuyutsuki said, "it all depends on the twelve chosen to succeed the old men."
Gendou nodded. "Either way," he said. "This has completely changed the Scenario." He glanced at Fuyutsuki. "They mean to send us the sixth and seventh child as well."
Fuyutsuki answered slowly. "I don't recall any mention of a sixth or seventh child."
"Exactly," Gendou glared into the darkness of his office. "Apparently, the old men had been planning something."
Fuyutsuki glanced at his former student. "But there are no free Eva's," he said. "Unit's Zero, One, and Two are all fully operational and they already have pilots."
"According to the temporary Council," Gendou said, "The Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh are merely back up's, in case one or more of our pilots becomes unusable."
"Well, that would certainly help. The Second Child has been showing signs of instability of late, though I think that they were just eager to wash their hands of the old men's schemes."
"There is one more… problem," Gendou said. "The temporary council is also sending someone to… watch over my command."
Fuyutsuki let out a short laugh. "They know you'll try to take advantage of this situation," he said.
"That may be," Gendou said. "However, it seems that the overseer was dispatched shortly before the old men's deaths."
Fuyutsuki looked thoughtful. "If you take this in context with the appearance of the Sixth and Seventh child," he said, "it sounds as if SEELE was planning to remove you."
Gendou nodded. "It seems that their deaths came at the perfect time," he said. "The problems generated by their sudden demise are only a small price to pay." Gendou's eyebrows lowered, and a small grin spread over his face. "Let's see if we can squeeze a little more use out of him," he said.
"You want him to spy on the overseer?" Fuyutsuki asked.
"Yes," Gendou said. "If we play our cards right, we may kill two birds with one stone."
Suddenly, a shriek erupted as a crow burst out from behind Fuyutsuki. Immediately, both men spun around, weapons in hand and they fired.
Looking at the dead bird on the floor, Gendou put away his pistol. His lip curled. "Disgusting," he said, standing up from his desk. "Fuyutsuki, have someone clean that up, and find out how it got in here."
Fuyutsuki inclined his head. "Yes, sir."
They both left the commanders office, and Fuyutsuki told a passing worker to get the bird cleaned up; however, when the worker entered the office, he found no bird, nor even a trace of blood.
"Yeah!" Misato yelled as she downed a can of beer. "Nothing like a beer after a hard days work!"
"Misato, you had the day off," Asuka said from the couch.
"Oh, I did?" Misato said. "Oh well. Nothing like a beer after a nice relaxing day!"
Asuka shook her head in disgust. Misato's carefree attitude was really starting to annoy her.
It wasn't just Misato though, everything had begun to annoy her, ever since she had lost completely to the fourteenth angel. Stupid Shinji. How come he had defeated it?
She heard another beer can open up in the kitchen and Asuka turned off the television, disgusted. She couldn't bear to be in this apartment a moment longer. Standing up, she walked to the door.
"Where you goin'?" Misato slurred.
Asuka glared at the woman. "I'm going to visit Hikari, alright?" she said sharply as she put her shoes on.
"Hey, what's got you in such a fowl mood?" Misato asked.
"I'm leaving!" Asuka yelled, slamming the door shut behind her.
"Hmph," Misato said. "No need to be in such a bad mood." She sipped her can of beer.
Suddenly, Misato shivered as she sensed a presence behind her. She whipped around, but there was no one there. She turned back to the table.
She had been having this same feeling all day, and it had started to unnerve her, which was one of the reasons why she had started drinking as soon as she returned to her apartment. As soon as she left work, she kept feeling like someone was watching her, but every time she turned around, no one was there. It must be her imagination.
Misato looked at the clock. It would still be a while before Shinji returned home with the groceries he was picking up. Misato looked over her shoulder to make sure that no one was there. She needed another person in the house.
"Obviously I'm not drunk enough yet," she said to herself before downing the can.
Asuka kicked a can that was on the ground as she walked to Hikari's house. Really, why did Misato have to go and get drunk all the time? It was disgusting! And then there was the way that she behaved with Kaji. It was so indecent that it made her sick.
Asuka was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she wasn't looking where she was going, and before she knew it, she had bumped into somebody.
However, Asuka wasn't the sort of person to admit that she had made a mistake, and she immediately started yelling and whoever it was she bumped into.
"What the hell?" she yelled. "Why don't you watch where—" she cut off when she saw the boy in front of her.
He toward over her, seeing as he was a good six feet in height, but aside from that, he didn't look much older than she was. This was the first time that she had to tilt her head back to look one of her peers in the eyes since coming to Japan, and she soon discovered why. The boy was not Asian, which accounted for his height. He had short, tanish colored hair, and brown eyes as well.
"—going…" she trailed off as she looked at him.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I must have been daydreaming."
She noticed that he spoke Japanese with a bit of an accent, and she immediately switched to English. "Are you American?" she asked him.
The boy smiled. "Yes, I am," he told her without missing a beat. "My friend and I have always wanted to visit Japan, and we had the opportunity to transfer to the school here." He looked at her for a second. "I must say, I hadn't expected to meet someone from Germany so soon, nor someone so beautiful."
Asuka smiled. This boy seemed to have a much more refined sense of beauty than any of the Japanese around here. He even knew that she was of German descent "Thank you," she said. "But I'm also American, though I am of German descent and did live in Germany for quite sometime. I'm Asuka, Asuka Langley Soryu." She stuck out her hand.
The boy took it. "It's nice to meet you, Asuka," he said. "I'm Chris Perry," he told her before releasing his hand. "Perhaps we could meet up again and talk," Chris said. "I'd love to here about Germany, as I haven't yet had the chance to visit that wonderful country."
Asuka smiled. Yes, this Chris was obviously knew much more about what was better than any of these stupid Japanese did. "I would like that," she said, and it was true. She needed to get away from Misato, Shinji, Kaji, everybody! She wanted to be rid of all those stupid people. She was much better than them. It wasn't her fault that her Eva failed to defeat the Angel after all.
Chris stuck out his hand again, and Asuka shook it, before he said that he needed to be on his way. Asuka nodded and said that she had somewhere she needed to go as well, before he turned and left.
As he was walking away, Chris turned around. "Oh," he said, "Asuka!"
Asuka turned and looked at him.
"Perhaps we'll be in the same class at school tomorrow," he said.
Asuka smiled. "Perhaps," she said.
Chris nodded and said, "See ya," before he turned and continued on his way.
Asuka, now in a much better mood, skipped all the way to Hikari's house.
Rei felt the high security door slid shut behind her as she exited the NERV compound. She had been performing tests with Dr. Akagi the entire day, and, although she wasn't exactly happy, she felt slightly grateful that the tests were over.
It confused her a bit, that feeling did. Before, she had never felt grateful for anything, save for spending time with the commander, but that had slowly changed. She no longer enjoyed the commander's company like she used to, after seeing how he acted towards his own son. She had been more worried than she had ever been when she learned that Shinji had been absorbed into Unit One.
But Shinji was back now and she no longer had to worry, though she did find that she enjoyed his company as she had once enjoyed the commanders. She felt the same way about Misato as well, even if the feeling was slightly different. However, though she didn't like the commander as much as she used to, she would still follow his orders. He was the commander after all.
Rei sensed a presence above her and stopped walking before looking upwards. She found herself staring into the small black eyes of a crow perched on the streetlight above her. She stared at the crow. Something wasn't right about it, but before she could puzzle it out, the crow took off. She continued on her way.
"Um, excuse me!" someone called out to her.
Rei turned around, and saw a boy running up to her with a bicycle.
"Yes?" she asked emotionlessly. She did not recognize the boy who looked to be about her age. She did note, however, that he lacked any Asian facial features and that his hair was tied back in a pony tail, much like the way that Special Inspector Ryoji Kaji did.
"I'm new around here," the boy said, scratching the back of his neck, "and, well, I was wondering if you could tell me how to get back to the center of town. I kinda got lost while exploring the city."
Rei nodded and pointed in the direction of the school, which was fairly close to where the boy wanted to go. "It is in that direction," she said.
The boy looked where she was pointing and bowed to her. "Thank you very much, miss."
Rei just nodded to him and resumed her trek towards home.
The boy smiled after her, and then got onto his bike and started peddling in the direction she had pointed to.
Caw!
Shinji looked up as the crow passed overhead. For some reason, the black bird outlined against the gray sky made him feel uneasy. Shinji shook himself as he shrugged off the feeling. Reaffirming his grips on the grocery bags, Shinji continued on his trek back to Misato's apartment.
There hadn't been any angel attacks for about a month now, and for that, Shinji was grateful. Ever since Touji almost died in the incident with Unit-Three, Shinji had become increasingly worried about Asuka and Rei when they went into battle. It hadn't bothered him at all that his Eva had absorbed him for almost a month, and that he himself had almost died. He was more worried about almost losing another friend.
"Hey! Watch out!" someone yelled.
Shinji looked up just in time to jump out of the way of the biker heading right for him. Seconds later, he heard a crash as the biker fell.
Shinji got up quickly, leaving the spilt groceries and ran over to the boy who had crashed his bicycle in order to avoid running Shinji down. The boy currently had a hand rested on his head and was squeezing his eyes shut as he sat on the ground, propped up with his free hand. His bicycle lay on the ground beside him.
"Are you all right?" Shinji asked when he reached the boy.
The boy opened his eyes. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said, giving himself a little shake. He stood up. "What about you?" he asked. "Are you all right?"
Shinji nodded. "Yes," he said. "I'm fine."
The boy smiled, "Good."
Now that he was sure that the biker was fine, Shinji observed the boy. Shinji was sure that he had never seen the boy before. He was obviously not Japanese, Shinji noticed, nor even Asian for that matter, since he was lacking any Asian features. He was taller than Shinji, by a few inches, and his brown hair was tied back in a ponytail going just below his shoulders. His eyes were brown behind a pair of glasses, which he adjusted as he dusted himself off from the fall.
"You really need to watch where you are going," the boy said. "You might not be so lucky next time."
"I'm really sorry," Shinji said as he bowed in apology.
"It's alright, just be careful next time."
Shinji nodded and then went to pick up the fallen groceries. Luckily everything that wasn't wrapped in plastic hadn't fallen out of the bags. Soon after Shinji began to pick up the remaining groceries, however, he found that the boy had come over to help.
"Here," the boy said as he held out one of the bags he refilled.
"Uh, thanks," Shinji said.
"You're welcome," the boy said, smiling.
Shinji stood up. "What's your name?" Shinji said, "I don't think I've seen you around before."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I should have introduced myself." He said as he bowed. "I'm Colin Harvie, I just moved here."
"You're not Japanese," Shinji said.
"I thought that was fairly obvious," Colin said, grinning a little. "I came from the US." He bowed slightly to Shinji.
"It's nice to meet you," Shinji said. "I'm Shinji Ikari." He bowed his head as well.
"It's good to meet you too," Colin said. "Well, I'd better get going. Maybe I'll see you in school tomorrow." Colin walked over to his bicycle and righted it, before he mounted it. He looked back at Shinji. "It was nice meeting you, Ikari," he said.
"You too," Shinji said.
Colin nodded, and sped off down the street, before he rounded the corner and out of Shinji's sight.
Shinji thought it a bit odd, since, aside from Asuka, people only moved away from Tokyo-3, never to it. It was dangerous after all.
Shinji sighed. There was no use thinking about it. He would just have to ask Colin the next time he saw him. Shinji quickly made his way back to Misato's apartment, never noticing the crow that had been watching him and Colin the entire time.
As soon as Colin had rounded the corner, a display had popped up in the left lenses of his glasses. Using his glasses' RMT (Retina Movement Tracking) technology, he quickly pulled up Shinji Ikari's file just by moving his eye.
"Well met, Shinji Ikari," he said to himself. "Pilot of Unit-One. I gather we'll be seeing one another plenty in the future."
He quickly scanned what information Shinji's NERV Personal file had, as he had done many times in the past, before he closed the file and continued on his peaceful bike ride, heading back to the base.
Omake #1:
Gendou sat in his office, having just put down the phone. He folded his hands before him and stared out over his desk, thinking. This was… an unexpected development.
"What did SEELE have to say this time?" Fuyutsuki asked, standing behind Gendou. He could tell that something hadn't gone as his former pupil had been planning.
Gendou didn't turn around, nor did he take his eyes off of whatever he was staring at in the distance.
"All your base are belong to us," he said quietly.
Fuyutsuki looked at Gendou, puzzled. "Excuse me?" he said.
"That wasn't SEELE," Gendou said. "It was CATS."
Fuyutsuki's eyes widened in surprise. "But… we haven't heard from them since someone set up us the bomb."
"I know," Gendou said. "We will have to take off every Zig."
"For great justice."
Gendou nodded. "For great justice."
