Alternating Possibilities
By Gesser87
Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion and all its characters, concepts, etc., belong to Gainax.
Chapter 1 – The Arrival
"Hold your position and await further orders." Misatos's voice came over the comm system, as Asuka patiently waited for the targeting indicators to align.
As she looked at the Angel's image in her visor, the pain returned. The sharp pain her shoulders that reminded her of her last fight with an Angel.
She could still remember it's face; that looked as if it was laughing at her while it sliced of her arms.
Her angry growl, as she tried to ram into the Angel.
The feeling of it's sharp arms slicing thru her neck and the sudden power down of her EVA.
The defeat itself was great shame for her, but what made her shame even worse was the fact that she was saved by Shinji. The coward that ran away and left them weakened to the attack, only to return later and prove his reputation as the 'Invincible Shinji'.
Since then her sync ratio has been steadily dropping and she knew that it was a matter of time before the Marduk Institute would find another pilot. A pilot that will replace her. The thought of loosing her EVA, the only thing left from her mother, made her blood boil.
'I won't lose to anyone .NOT TO SHINJI. NOT TO REI. NOT TO ANYONE.' She angrily thought, as she tightened her grip on the controls.
A lonely figure walked down the streets of Tokyo 3. He knew that something was going on, but didn't know what. All the signs in the street have changed and some kind of announcement was constantly played through the PA system.
'I should have bought that dictionary while I was at the airport.' He thought, as he started to have a bad feeling. He walked over to one of the massive buildings and leaned against it, dropping his back-pack by his side.
"Congratulations. Your easy-way-no-problem tactics have backfired. Again" He said to himself.
With the corner of his eye, he noticed a large, silver tube that made a great contrast against the monolith buildings. He turned around and saw that the tube belonged to a massive cannon that was held by a red giant. His mind was immediately devoid of any kind of thoughts as he watched the sight that was before him.
"What the….," was all he could say.
'TARGET OUT OF RANGE' The display flashed.
"Verdammt!" Asuka said, feeling tempted to smash the controls, but she managed to calm down and reset the sequence.
"Ma'am, there is a civilian close to Unit 02!" A technician's voice came over the comm. Misato immediately demanded to know how the civilian managed to get close to the Eva. But before she could finish her sentence, Asuka was blinded by the brightest light had ever seen. It only served to mask the hell the she was about to experience.
And then, it all began to come back to her, the images that she tried to forget.
A little girl running down the hallway, wanting to tell her mother the great news.
The girl's excitement of seeing her mother happy.
As the girl approached the door at the end of the hallway, Asuka knew what was about to happen. She wanted to close her eyes and run away from the horrible scene, but she couldn't do anything.
The girl slowly opened the door.
"Mutti, Ich habbe…" The girl stopped dead in her track as she saw a body hanging from the ceiling, accompanied by a small doll.
"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!" Asuka screamed, hoping that it will drive the images away. But it didn't help.
"Abnormal patterns in psychograph. Mental contamination will commence soon." Maya Ibuki almost said, reading the data that were displayed on her terminal.
Misato was almost frozen by this sudden turn of events. She had to do something and save Asuka from the Angel's attack, but the only thing she could think of were Asuka's screams of pain. It brought back the memories of the Second Impact, when her father died protecting her.
"Rei is in position. She'll be able to fire in 40 seconds." Aoba said, waking Misato out of her trance.
"ANOTHER FIELD DETECTED!" Maya yelled as the screen of her terminal was flashed in a new color.
"Another AT field?" Misato said, hoping that the situation won't make a turn for the worse.
"No, it's not an AT field." The technician answered. "It's constantly altering between the orange and an unidentified pattern."
"Asuka's psychograph is returning to normal." Ryuga said with amazement.
"Charging cycle is at 68. Rei's targeting computer has confirmed lock-on." Aoba announced.
Arael, the Angel of Birds, was finishing of one of the lilim's guardian. She could feel its mind weaken under her assault.
'Soon Adam, we will be one.' she thought.
She could feel another one of the guardians approaching, but she didn't care. She knew that as long as she kept her distance, she would be safe from their weapons. Suddenly, her mind was assaulted with images.
The Second Impact, the day when Adam was lost.
Adam and his horrifying scream of pain.
Her brothers and sisters; that have died by the hand of lilims.
She couldn't understand how it was possible to be attacked by her own attack. It couldn't have been one of her brethren. She thought that the lilim had something to do with this, but she knew that they weren't capable of doing something like this.
Before she found out her answer, she saw a large white ball heading in her direction.
And then, her whole world went black.
Inside the dark plug of an unpowered EVA, Asuka silently cried.
She could hear Misato's voice over the comm., but she didn't care. It was all over for her. From a couple of weeks, her replacement will arrive in a couple of days. She was now good as dead.
Suddenly, the plug was no longer cold. She opened her eyes and saw the plug was lighted, as if the EVA was still active.
She felt someone embracing her from behind. The grip was gentle, but firm. The warmth of the second person was almost intoxicating. She thought of the only one person that could give her this feeling.
"Kaji…" She managed to whisper his name.
"Sorry, but I'm not Kaji." Said a voice, much younger than the one she was expecting. She turned around, hoping that it was here mind playing tricks on her. She looked into his blue eyes. His face was that of the 14 year old boy with whom she shared the apartment. The sight of his simple face brought comfort to her. She tried to demand how he ended up in the plug and end up affect by the Angel, but Shinji placed his finger on her lips.
"It's alright, Asuka. You're safe." He said in a calm and comforting manner.
She began to think that this Shinji was maybe another image created by the angel, that would only hurt her even more once she lowered her guard.
As if sensing her doubts, Shinji placed his hand on the side of her face and gave her a smile.
"Don't worry, Asuka. I'll keep you safe, no matter what. I promise."
Asuka was taken back with what he said. It wasn't what he said, it was the way he said surprised her. There were no traces of insecurity or in his voice. As his warmth started to make her feel drowsy, she lowered her head and leaned against Shinji. He gently hugged her and gently stroked her hair.
"Shinji…" She quietly said, feeling completely intoxicated with his presence.
"ASUKA!!" Misato's screaming made Asuka look up. Instead of Shinji's face she was Misato's face on the screen. Shinji's presence and the warmth suddenly disappeared. She looked around the plug, trying to find Shinji.
"Are you alright?"
"Stay put. A retrieval team is on it's way."
With that, Asuka brought her knees to her chest and closed her eyes. Till the team arrived and opened the plug, she tried to recreate that feeling.
Minutes later….
A black car stopped in the middle of the deserted streets of Tokyo 3. Two agents, dressed in black suits, left the car, leaving a third one behind the wheel. They approached a man that was leaning against the wall, covering his face with his hands. One of them stepped forward.
"Sir, are you alright?" He asked. The man nodded in response.
"Sir, you will have to come with us." The agent said in a cold tone that bordered with giving an order.
"I haven't done anything." The man silently said, taking his hands of his face.
"Sir, you will have to come with us." The agent repeated, reaching for something at his waist.
The man immediately reacted to the agent's gesture and punched the agent right in the face. The second agent moved in grabbed the man's right hand, trying to flip him on the ground; but he was suddenly stopped by a sudden pain in his groin. He fell down on his knees a second before the man's fist made contact with his face.
"Sorry, brother." The man said to the unconscious agent. A strange sensation went down his back. It felt like gentle caressing and hard pulling at the same time.
Suddenly, he felt 2 sharp pricks on his back. Before he could turn around, he felt another set of sharp pricks, followed by an intense pain as the electric current contracted every muscle in his body. The pain lasted for several agonizing moments before the world around him began to spin and then faded to black.
The third agent waited for several moments to see if the target was unconscious. He walked slowly to the unconscious body, holstering his tranquilizer gun, and cuffed his hands. The sudden sound of a low groan made him twitch. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the second agent was trying to get on his feet. He walked over to his colleague and gave him a hand. The first one pushed him away and got up on his own. He slowly walked over to the unconscious man and gave the man a mighty kick in the ribs. Just as he was about to do it for a second time, his colleague pulled him away.
"We need him alive!"
The second agent walked away, mumbling something. That left his colleague with an uncomfortable task of carrying the unconscious bodies of his fellow agent and their target to the car.
After several minutes of trying, he managed put their target in the back seat of the car and drove of to NERV headquarters before the civilian populations returned to the streets.
Three days later…
Inside a dark, cavernous room; 12 dark monoliths surrounded 2 people that were at large desk.
"This was not a part of the scenario, Ikari." The first monolith said.
"Even though the Angel is destroyed and the damages to Unit 02 and it's pilot were minimal; there is the issue of the mysterious field that managed to protect Unit 02." The second monolith said.
"This was not written in the scrolls."
"It could affect our scenario."
As the monoliths went on with their discussion about the possible effects on the scenario, Gendo Ikari stood still and patiently observed them. This wasn't the first time that he was in this kind of situation. And it wasn't the first time that he managed to squirm his way out of it. The secret of it was patiently waiting for the members to run out of arguments. Which was happening right now.
"Yes. It's true that was not a part of the scenario but, it could work to our advantage."
"Go on." The first monolith said.
"We are presented with a great opportunity and you can't allow your blind faith in the scrolls to let it slip away. A field that is powerful enough to reflect the Angel's attack and send it back can have many useful applications."
"You don't even know what created the field or it's location."
"It has shown itself once, it will show itself again. It's a matter of time before it resurfaces."
"Very well, Ikari. You will be given funding to locate and capture this 'entity'. But remember what our true goals are."
The human figure nodded, seconds before the light under it disappeared.
"He is starting to act independently." One of the monoliths said.
"So far, his actions have been according to the scenario. If he begins to defy us, it will most likely affect all of our scenarios."
"Should we continue to trust him?"
"I leave that choice completely to you" A cheerful voice said.
"Who is this?" one of the monoliths demanded.
"Oh, how rude of me, i forgot to turn on the video scanner. Give me a second."
A couple of moments later, in the place where the commander and vice-commander of NERV stood, a figure appeared. Its form looked human, but it was entirely black except for the eyes that glowed with a dimmed yellow light.
"Now, let's get str-" Before he could finish his sentence, one of the monoliths cut it off.
"Who are you and how did you find us?"
The figure sighed and slumped it's shoulders.
"No matter how old some people get, they still show no manners when speaking to others."
"How did you found this channel?" Another monolith demanded.
"For someone that wants to keep their talks secret, your security codes are outdated. It didn't took much effort to find this channel and to decode it." With that, all monoliths became silent.
"As I was saying," the figure continued, "I have come across some information that could be useful to you, and you have the infrastructure that is necessary for some things that I would like in return for this information. I suggest that we trade."
"Are you serious? What kind of information do you have that we don't already posses?" The first monolith said in an arrogant tone.
"Watch your mouth, Lorenz Keel. I have more than enough information on you and your Instrumentality project to lock all of you up for good." The figures 'eyes' distorted, showing anger which was in total contrast with it's happy voice.
Sensing their fear, the figure decided to seize the opportunity. The shape of it's eyes returned to their normal shape.
"As a sign of good will" The figure began to move it's hands, as if it was trying to type something on an invisible keyboard.
"What is the meaning of this?" One of the monoliths spoke.
"Exactly what it means, NERV's latest acquisition. A pilot that is not only an adult, but also has military experiences." Its last statement caused and uproar amongst the monoliths, all the figure needed to do now was to deliver the finishing blow.
"Looks like you are going to have a hell of a time dealing with NERV from now on."
Mumbling and whispering filled the room as the monoliths discussed whether or not they should trust this figure. After several minutes of debating, the monoliths made their decision.
"Very well, You have proven yourself." The first monolith spoke. "How can we reach you?"
"Use this channel. You can reach me at any time you want."
"How do you wish to be referred as?"
The figure paused and assumed a thinking pose. It hummed a tune for several minutes, until it came up with its name.
"Call me Glados."
End of Chapter 1