Shinji Ikari was well aware of where he was. He had always been aware. For the eternity that he floated above the world he had known. It was a slow realization. After he had awoken in the darkness he had floated for years and his mind, after destroying itself, began to piece together what was reality and what were hallucinations. Shinji had felt alone on Earth. He learnt of true loneliness floating among the noiseless vacuum of space. It was his punishment and he was, while not happy, willing to take it: to float in his prison for destroying humanity.
Unfortunately the world below was not content to leave him in peace.
To leave him to his fate.
XXX
Time
XXX
There was a voice, a girl, talking beside him. He finally directed himself to look over at her. "…'cernible paralysis in the extremities. Yes, his eyes are opening."
The voice leaned over into his vision. She was a young woman with brown hair and strangely caring eyes. He stared back up at her impassively. She asked, "Can understand me?"
He nodded. She smiled and went back to talking to herself, it was a little irritating that she seemed so friendly and yet was so dismissive. "He's responsive. He seems to have returned to a conscious state."
He glanced over at the armed gunmen around him and stared blankly at the nearest one. He was rewarded with the man gripping his weapon tighter. He blinked and then glanced over at the girl again, "Why did you bring me out of orbit?"
She sounded surprised, "Continuity of memory seems to be exceptional."
Suddenly his view was occupied with a picture of a young boy.
"Is this someone you know?"
"It's me," Shinji sneered.
"He is capable of self recognition as well." she accepted, "There seems to be no problems."
No problems? No problems? There was a hell of a lot of problems. Like how he was practically grafted to the table and the armed guards.
After the rough reentry had knocked him unconscious he had barely made it back to consciousness in that weird coffin. Now he was being shuttled somewhere as a prisoner. Shinji glanced down at the thing around his neck. It didn't look like a good thing and probably was meant to kill him.
Plan Iroha.
Shinji, in the eternity he spent in orbit had a lot of time to realize what had happened down below. He also had a lot of time to plan. He had scenarios for almost everything that might happen down here. Planning and re-planning was really the only thing he could do up there. Plan Iroha was that he would be reviled and then promptly executed.
Plan Oshimai, his last and least probable plan? That they would welcome him back with open arms.
XXX
The door cut away and suddenly the mechanical silence of the hallway was replaced by the din of a group of people talking. He couldn't readily discern any of it. What little he did understand was technical in nature. Like a bridge of a ship or a control room. He was wheeled past a central tower and then he was stopped.
What towered above him looked vaguely spider-like. The girl started yelling above him. "Subject DM-03 is in our custody."
DM03? Was that his designation? Third child obviously but what did the DM stand for?
Another female voice, older and colder, spoke above him, "Understood. Release him."
The restraints released with a hydraulic hiss. Shinji sighed as the noise registered. Talk about overkill. They really were trying to make him feel welcome.
The guards lifted their rifles and then stepped away. He forced himself to sit up. Not easy. His body fought his attempts to move it into an upright position. Every movement was a chore and his joints fought attempts to move. How long had he sat completely still in that capsule? It was lucky that LCL was a hardcore preservant or he might have ended up a wasted skeleton.
He glanced up at the highest point of the bridge.
It was a red garbed human who stared forward with its arms crossed. It refused to look down at him even as… he glanced forward to the arms of the spider machine. The entire group was looking back at him. Perhaps it was for the best that the red figure at the top was looking forward.
The crew looked ready to murder him. They were all glaring from the men to the women. Perhaps he did deserve it. Still it felt annoying to actually confront the hatred. Did they think he meant to kill off the world? He returned the glare at all of them. None of the crew backed down but Shinji had to give them their entire fair share.
He took a deep breath and then glanced up at the red human.
Now she, her face was that of a woman's, was silently staring down at him as well. Her large glasses only made her façade seem even more hateful. Yep, that was Misato. Far gone was whatever warmth she once held for him, instead it was a distinctly… Gendo-like quality. She was staring at him now, well glaring but her large glasses were hiding it. He recognized some of the other bridge crew as NERV officers as well but there were some new ones.
They had all seemed to age rather gracefully for however long he had been floating. It felt like ages. There was a lot more hate though. He stifled a chuckle and then tried to rub the pain in his neck. It drove most of the crew into angry murmuring. A part of him was hurt by that. The angry part of him was delighted.
"It is Ikari Shinji, isn't it?" She asked someone behind her.
Another female answered, "So it would seem. His psychical data is identical to Code Third Boy."
He finally threw his feet over the side of the gurney and fought to stand up. For all her kind words and posture the girl from earlier did nothing to help him. He stared back up at Misato as the voice behind her continued to talk. Admittedly he was starting to feel a little angry.
So much hate directed at him. Well it was still within plan Iroha. All the preparation in the world doesn't prepare for the pure hatred of your former loved ones though.
She spoke, her tone not acknowledging him, "and the application of the DSS Choker?"
The invisible voice spoke, "its installation has already been arranged, Captain Katsuragi."
So Misato is the person in charge. His neck made a sound and suddenly he was acutely aware of the collar around his neck again. He touched it lightly but didn't panic. He closed his eyes and smiled despite himself. Even if a plan was painful it felt nice to be right.
Maybe after an eternity he was a little weird.
"Activation nominal."
The voice brought him back to staring up at Misato. She had been joined by a blonde in a green trench coat, who was handing the Captain something. Shinji vaguely recognized her as a future Ritsuko Akagi, "Passcode is set exclusive to the captain."
Misato took it.
His collar made another sound; he fought with it some more before giving up. "A collar? Will it kill me?" He asked the girl next to him. He felt strangely calm, he didn't fear death after all his life was over the moment he killed all of those people.
She didn't answer. He glanced up at the bridge above him.
The Captain spoke, "Interview complete. Take him to quarantine."
"Brrr," Shinji murmured.
The bridge came alive with a red screen. It was something about an emergency. The bridge fell into combat mode. It was all rather official sounding except for a few who seemed confused over their actual duties. Shinji watched it feeling distant.
So this wasn't NERV. NERV would have never accepted new people into their power structure. Or at the very least, they would have trained them better. Were they desperate or was this someone else. He had nearly destroyed humanity but NERV always seemed to be above the chaos of daily life.
Shinji contented himself simply to watch all of them interact. He was all the rage only a few seconds ago but now he was being safely ignored. Except by the girl who had escorted him here. She started talking about something that felt irrelevant to him.
Shinji disregarded her like she disregarded him. Sure she was talking but it was at him not to him. He was well versed in polite disdain from before Third Impact. Apparently he wasn't going to be moved to quarantine just yet. So he contented himself to watch the action unfold before him.
The Captain stood there calmly among the chaos. It was actually kind of awe inspiring at least until she yelled something about flying. That drove her crew into hysterics about the impossibility of using the engines and how dangerous it was.
The Captain started yelling into the radio. Eventually the red window to his left started moving. He watched it as numbly as the rest. A giant humanoid thing floated by, an EVA. He recognized the shape as Unit-2.
"Good luck, Asuka," he couldn't help but murmur.
She was the one who pulled him from orbit. He remembered because unit-1 came alive for a brief moment and gave him the power to destroy that angel that was guarding his prison. The girl looked at him strangely but he ignored it.
Eventually, after more yelling, the entire apparatus started to rise into the ceiling.
It was absorbed into cylinder and then the entire crew disappeared.
Shinji watched the battle unfold by looking at the red ocean below him. The girl that led him here simply let him watch the battle unfold silently.
XXX
"So you're using Unit 01 to power this war ship?" Shinji asked.
The screen in front of him was a diagram of the Autonomous Assault Ark Wunder. Shinji marveled at the pace of technology, it had raced forward in his time away. He hummed, "So I serve no purpose anymore. Though apparently that wasn't the main intent of my," he was hesitant to say this, "rescue."
He looked over at the girl who was escorting him though the ship. It had to be her because he couldn't see past the screen in front of him. She wasn't looking him in the eyes.
"You weren't after me," Shinji summarized.
No one answered. Ritsuko did, however, continue her explanation, "Also your sync test results have come back."
The screen in front of him beeped before Ritsuko answered, it was zero. "Even if you were to get in the Eva, it wouldn't activate,"
The girl behind him made a gasp of excitement, "Really?"
That was her source of happiness? That his one source of power and significance was destroyed? Shinji rubbed his eyes and fought the urge to snap at her. "Isn't that great news Ikari-san!" she exclaimed.
Shinji groaned, more at her then the diagnosis. Which he knew to be false. Unit-01 would obey him no matter what Ritsuko said. She illustrated his point.
"Even so," the screen showed footage of his last moments in his prison, "We cannot overlook the fact that, earlier, Eva-01 suddenly entered an awakened state for twelve seconds. As a result, the DSS Choker has been installed on you."
Shinji took offence to that last one, "She asked for my help! What was I supposed to do? Let the Angel kill us?"
"That may be. But the choker is for our safety."
Shinji interrupted again, "Yeah. Yeah. Don't blow up the world again. I wouldn't do that anyway, it hasn't exactly ended up being in my benefit."
He heard the people on the other side of the barrier shift. The girl behind him was much more animated; he could make out her gripping her clip board tighter. Perhaps he was being insensitive? He honestly couldn't help it. If plan Iroha was being played out any better he'd imagine he was still in that prison dreaming.
Shinji slumped at the thought. Was he still trapped? He dug his nails into his wrist until it bled and he was still in the patient robes. Good, good. It was real. Something he never realized he had taken for granted, at least until the prison.
Ritsuko, who by now was exceptionally annoyed, ground out, "It is also a symbol of your punishment."
Shinji snorted, "Yeah eternal youth does seem like an easier punishment. Let me guess the collar will kill me?"
She sounded angrier than ever, "Yes. It will explode," she seethed.
Shinji's eyes bulged. Explode. That was a little… extreme. He would have called it overkill but he was a walking apocalypse so he didn't verbally fight that point. He glanced over at the girl behind him and silently directed her to back away.
She glared down at him annoyed. Shinji honestly thought it a little amusing, it was really quite fun being a jackass. He should have done it sooner. Finally the screen gave way to a window. Misato was leaning against one wall, still cold as ever, and Ritsuko was staring at a computer.
Shinji sighed again, "So what now? A cell? Or maybe a kangaroo court? Hard Labor? Torture?"
Shinji was actually kind of curious, his guess was a sort of hard labor, then torture, and then thrown into a cell to starve out his days. It would be a while then.
Ritsuko didn't look at him, "We'll be keeping you close at hand."
Shinji sighed, "Well at least it will be better than being in low orbit."
"You were awake?" Ritsuko seemed genuinely curious.
"The entire time," he let that stew, "How long was it exactly? My sense of time was a little warped."
"Second Lieutenant?" Ritsuko ordered.
"The girl behind snapped to a more alert posture, "Yes, Ma'am?"
"Introduce yourself."
"Yes, Ma'am." She snapped to attention in front of him, "um, it's late, But I'm the medical officer in charge, second lieutenant Suzuhara Sakura. Nice to meet you."
"Liar."
"No, my name is…"
"Not your name!" He contemplated adding dipshit but decided not to, "That it's nice to see me. You're a shitty actor. Every time you look at me you give off enough hate to render anything you say complete and utter bullshit."
Shinji sighed as she backed away hurt, "That being said," Shinji dropped to the floor and bowed his head till it touched the floor, "I am deeply sorry for the pain I have caused you. Both before and after Third Impact. Toji's little sister."
Shinji didn't lift his head from the floor. The entire room was silent for a good moment.
"Get off the floor, idiot!"
Shinji smiled despite himself and sat up. He gave Suzuhara a polite bow and then dropped himself back in his chair. Asuka was standing in the room beyond the glass. She was in her pilot suit but covered up in a jacket and hiding under a hat.
Shinji did his best to keep a straight face. It was nice to see her despite that she hadn't aged. So it was the LCL that had kept him young. She probably wouldn't be happy to see him. Indeed she threw his fists out of her pockets and then strode over to the glass. Shinji took a deep breath but didn't move from his seat. This wouldn't end prettily.
CRACK!
She actually cracked the quarantine glass in front of him. She made some monologue about not being able to stand his face.
"Punching glass? How childish," Shinji murmured.
"Childish!" Asuka demanded. She stood up on the lip of the short wall.
"What do you call a twenty eight year old woman who punches a glass wall?"
"Angry," she ground out. Shinji shook his head.
"By the way," he turned to Sakura, "that's what you call mounting behavior. It's an unconscious way of trying to prove dominance."
Asuka kicked the glass this time, nearly as hard as her punch too. The glass cracked ominously again. Shinji took a deep breath, "It is good to see that you're alive however."
"Save it. Brat," she turned to walk away.
"We're the same age," Shinji taunted in a sing song voice. He had a feeling that this was going to be his only source of amusement for the next few years. It felt good to be talking again, and not just to himself. He was going back into a cell soon.
Asuka left. Shinji sighed and the room fell into silence. "Neh?" Shinji finally asked, "How many casualties?"
Misato finally spoke, "1.5 billion."
Shinji deflated, "That's a lot of atoning. What is that 37.5 Billion years at the base sentence?"
Shinji waited for someone to demand if himself was all that he ever thought about. It never came.
"No good deed goes unpunished," Shinji sighed and struggled to stand up. "Come on Suzuhara-san I better start working off that time."
"Y-yes," she stuttered meekly.
"Wait." Ritsuko ordered, "We found this in the entry plug. The inspection yielded no problems. We'll return it." A small drawer popped open with an airtight hiss. It was the SDAT player. Shinji pursed his lips, "Destroy it. Or give it back to Gendo. It doesn't actually work."
In the distance something exploded. Both Ritsuko and Misato both exploded into action on their respective phones.
A voice started talking in Shinji's head, "Ikari-kun, where are you?"
It sounded like Rei. Shinji closed his eyes, Rei Ayanami was dead. This was just another clone. Suzuhara was blabbering on her own phone. Shinji walked behind her, "Ready?"
She looked at him strangely but complied, "This way."
The room exploded.
Shinji threw himself over Suzuhara to protect her from the explosion of dust. He was rewarded with a heavy blow to the back. Shinji grunted in pain, it actually felt good to feel something after so long in the entry plug.
Rei's voice was now much clearer now, "Ikari-kun. Come this way."
A giant hand had plunged itself into the room and Unit-0 was staring inside. Shinji helped Suzuhara up and then looked over at a very angry Misato. Her glasses were cracked and she pointed the choker control unit at him.
Shinji shook his head and let Suzuhara open the door to go further into the ship, "Rei Ayanami is dead."
"Ikari-kun?" The Rei clone asked again.
Shinji ingored the booming voice.
He had a sentence to serve.