Autor's Notes: Thank you very much for your reviews, everybody. I'll try to be more quick with the updates. This chapter is much shorter then the last one, but I plan to get the next one up to 10.000 words at least. Please keep sending your opinions on this work, I very much appreciate them.
Disclaimer: Not mine, funnily enough.
Chapter 2.
"Asuka, we're flooding the plug. Everything alright on your end?" Asuka nodded sharply into the com window, where Misato stood, her customary cigarette in hand. The LCL rushed in with the usual hissing noise, enveloping her. The A-10 link connectors itched briefly before the feeling subsided, as well as the rush of colors around her, finally revealing the Eva cage.
"Beginning synchronization." A voice sounded.
Asuka took a deep breath of LCL to calm herself. Everything was going to be alright.
"Absolute borderline cleared." Again the voice, a male one and not Ibuki's. Who's voice was it?
"Hey, I have a weird feeling…" she commented, noting that the LCL became murky and dark around her.
"Continue the test." Commander Ikari. That's who's voice it was.
"Hey! I said there's something weird…"
"Synchrograph reversal noted. The bio-neural pulses are changing direction!"
"Synch rate 370% and rising!"
"Shut it down!" Misato.
"Belay that. Continue the test." Ikari Gendo. The commander.
"What the…" Asuka stopped midway, staring at her arm in horror. The red plugsuit was melting away.
"Hey! Stop it! Let me out! Let me out, damn it!!" It was unheeded. The com window closed off, shut down by someone. Asuka just knew this someone was the Commander. The plugsuit, as well as her hands, were melting, disappearing into liquid. She was disintegrating.
"NO!"
The channel popped open once more. In the small window, Commander Gendo Ikari could be seen, playing with a doll. A very familiar doll. The doll was smiling at her.
The cool air of her bedroom washed over her, as she jerked up on her bed with a scream. Heaving with quick, shallow breathes, she tried to calm herself, shivering slightly. She was covered in sweat, she discovered.
Making a face, she rose from her bed and made her way towards the kitchen, turning the lights on everywhere in her flat on her way.
It was already three days after the battle with Shamshel, and she still couldn't sleep properly. Akagi should've kept this whole shit to herself, she decided, opening the fridge and taking a soda and a vat of ice cream with her to the living room. Plumping down in front of the low Japanese table, Asuka opened the container and cursed in german, now calm enough to be properly pissed off. The clock showed three in the morning.
School, Asuka found out once more, was irritating. Oh, she received the attention that she was due and the course work was so easy it was almost an insult to her superior intellect. The kanji were still a bit of a mystery for her, but she was progressing nicely, so there was no reason to be concerned.
No, the young girl's main source of annoyance was the bespectacled geek. Aida Kensuke was one of the two people whom she had almost crushed in her last fight against the angel a week ago and he had a camera with him at the time (always, actually), having snuck out to film a real Eva-Angel battle. His friend, the idiot Suzuhara was with him then but, having broken his leg, couldn't pester her for now. Aida could. And he did. Continuously. For a week.
"Sohryu, hey, can you tell me again what the rifle you used first was?" the redhead sighted, receiving a pitying glance from Hikari.
"It was a pallet rifle." Asuka tiredly slumped in her chair, having given up long ago, "Depleted uranium rounds. Armor-piercing."
"Not so fast, not so fast, gotta write it all down!" Kensuke cheered, typing on his laptop with Impressive Speed. Asuka cast another baleful glare in his direction. Why was she so nice, anyway?
A shadow fell onto Kensuke, causing him to turn around and blink in surprise. There, Ayanami Rei stood, now rid of most of her bandages, a book in hand. She was gazing at Asuka passively.
"Pilot Sohryu, I have finished the book you have loaned me. I thank you for your kindness." The blue-haired girl intoned softly, proffering said book towards Asuka.
"Tell me, do you have more books you could loan me?" Ayanami inquired just as quietly, as Asuka accepted her 'Faust'. The redhead nodded tiredly, still recovering from Kensuke's twenty questions game. Ayanami's brow furrowed ever so slightly.
"Is something wrong, pilot Sohryu?" she inquired, studying the bags under Asuka's eyebrows, which had eyes buried somewhere deep inside. The other girl shook her head quickly.
"No, everything's alright. Just wasn't sleeping well lately, that's all. I'll bring you something to read tomorrow." Asuka shrugged, slumping even deeper. Her fight with Shamshel and the revelations afterwards had shaken her badly. Here she was, thinking that she was piloting a big robot, a slightly selfaware cyborg with a like for classical music, at most. And it turned out that she sat inside a human being with a different body. She piloted a person that was turned into a doll.
The thought caused her to shiver slightly. How was he still sane inside there? In the darkness, without power? Why was he even still there? If she was sucked into the Eva, she'd break out and… Yeah, and what then? Run around to frolick in the wilderness? Ikari didn't have a choice. If he'd take control of the Eva and run away, or disobey his keepers, he'd be destroyed sooner or later, AT-Field or not.
'it's difficult without power…' he had told her. The girl shivered once more. A gentle nudge returned her to reality. Apparently, Rei was worried enough about her to actually touch her on the shoulder. The albino's frown deepened, as Asuka turned to her with a jerk. With a quick turn, Ayanami stared down at Kensuke.
"Pilot Sohryu does not feel well. You will leave at once and stop interrogating her." She informed the bemused and slightly creeped out boy calmly, then quickly pulled a surprised Asuka out of her seat and marched over to Hikari, dragging the protesting redhead after her by hand.
"Representative Horaki, due to my concern for pilot Sohryu's wellbeing I shall take her to the nurse's office at once. Please inform the teacher of our absence." Rei said, then continued on her track towards the door, Asuka too sleep-deprived to put up much of a fight. The class followed them with astounded eyes.
"I'm fine, I told you already!" Asuka shrieked, as Rei ever-so-calmly dragged her into the nurse's office, her grip on the redhead quite iron like. Ayanami ignored her protest, searching the room they entered for medical personal with her eyes. Finding none, Rei once more walked forwards, forcing Asuka to follow. With a quick, but forceful push, the german redhead found herself sitting on a bed, while Rei went to inventor the medical supply closet.
"What the hell, Ayanami?!" Asuka shrieked, beside herself with embarrassment. Here she was, dragged all over the school building, pushed around, almost thrown on a hospital bed with great aplomb, and Rei had the guts to do that all without even so much as an explanation?! No way.
Her dark musings of terrible revenge on the albino were interrupted by Rei's calm voice, however.
"You are not well. As your fellow pilot, it is my duty to ensure your wellbeing." The blue-haired girl informed Asuka solemnly, still digging through the medicaments inside the closet.
"No, it is not!" Asuka countered, preparing to jump her suddenly crazy fellow pilot, "I can take care of myself!"
"Certainly." Ayanami agreed, finally exiting into the main room and carrying a tray with a few pill bottles on it, as well as a glass of water.
"However, you appear exhausted and sleep deprived to the point of ignoring those around you for minutes at a time. Under these circumstances, you are unable to meet objective decisions, as your effectiveness is reduced. Should there be an Angel attack, you would be unfit for combat and under such scenario, may suffer injuries or be killed. That is not acceptable." Having finished her small tirade and putting the tray down onto the bedside table near the slightly mollified Asuka's bed, she popped a few pills out of different pill bottles, before continuing.
"Drink these." She shoved the pills into the surprised german's hand, then proferred the glass to her.
"What are these?" Asuka finally asked, surprised by the sudden vehemence in the usually contrite girl's voice.
"Muscle relaxants and vitamins, as well as a very mild sleep inducing drug." Ayanami answered, still holding out the glass with clear water. Asuka eyed her wearily, then finally took the pills and swallowed them, snatching the glass and angrily gulping down the cool liquid.
"There. Satisfied?" she grumbled, putting the glass back onto the tray and leaning forwards to untie her shoes. Might as well make the best of the situation, she figured.
"Yes," Ayanami answered, taking a chair and positioning it beside the bed calmly.
"What are you doing?" Asuka asked in surprise, sitting straight once more.
Rei answered without hesitation:
"As the Section 2 protection detail is not informed of your current location, I shall insure your safety while you rest. Be assured that I will not let anything disturb you."
Asuka boggled at that, slightly unnerved, then gave up, suppressing a yawn. She really didn't get much sleep in the past week, so she decided that she didn't care right now if Rei was going to sit here and watch her sleep. Stretching out on the hard hospital mattress, she threw a blanket over herself and tried to relax with moderate success. Rei stood there for a few seconds, then went off, returning seconds later with a medical book she probably nabbed from the nurse's desk. Sitting down onto the chair, the blue-haired girl opened her find and started reading, totally ignoring Asuka' stare.
"Rei?" the redhead inquired finally. The red eyes left the pages and centered on her.
"Thanks, I guess." the german muttered grudgingly.
"No thanks is needed." Ayanami replied smoothly, again turning her attention to the book, "It is my purpose to protect humanity from Angels. If it means that I must insure your health, then I will gladly do so. I shall not fail again."
The last cryptic remark piqued Asuka's curiosity.
"What do you mean by that?" the asked, suppressing another yawn with effort. Rei thought for a moment, as if searching for words.
"Due to my inability to pilot humanity was endangered due to Ikari-san's death. Tokyo-3 was left with no further defenses until you arrived. Ikari-san's death is also my failing, as it was me who was injured in the reactivation attempt of Unit 00 and Ikari-san agreed to pilot to protect me, I was told. My failure must not be repeated in the future."
Asuka's already half-sleeping mind digested this.
"It's not your fault you got injured," she murmured, "and I bet Ikari doesn't blame you either. I'll try asking him next time I pilot."
For a second Rei just stared at her book, not comprehending. Then, she turned to Asuka.
"I… do not understand…" But Asuka Langley Sohryu was already sound asleep.
"The expectations you set to the project are nearly impossible, Commander." Ritsuko seethed, trying but failing to remain calm enough for a coherent discussion. The cold man behind the desk didn't help with his attitude.
"I have stated what I expect of you, Doctor Akagi."
"But it's insane! If I can get the acceleration factor even up to 10%, the probability that the epidermal tissue won't be stable enough to withstand air pressure is immense! The sample won't survive! And you want a clone ready in month? I'm not a god, Commander."
"I trust you to find a way, Doctor."
"But…"
"Dismissed."
"Ok, Asuka. Nothing bad'll happen. Just do everything as usual." The redhead muttered to herself, then gave up and leaned her head against the hard steel of her locker. The plugsuit was already on her and pressurized, but she couldn't bring herself to leave the pilots' locker room. Not just yet.
Taking a deep steadying breath, the german girl pushed off from the metallic surface and closed her eyes, repeating a short mantra of "Everything'll be ok" under her breath a few times. Plastering a confident smile on her face, she opened the door and marched through the corridor and entering the cage where Unit 01 was housed. Calmly rising up the stairs of the umbilical bridge, she looked over the horned face of the beast that was actually Ikari Schinji… don't think about it.
The huge head dipped very slowly, issuing a loud rumble of stretched metal and suddenly Asuka found it impossible not to think about it. Damn it.
Snorting softly, the girl threw her hair over her shoulder and made the rest of her way towards the entry plug with easy strides to mask her anxiousness. The hatch of the plug was open and behind it, everything was dark. Asuka never was afraid of the dark, since she knew it was just fear of unknown, but right then she suddenly understood why so many people were sleeping with lights on at night.
With slight hesitation, the girl climbed inside, taking her place in the command chair and the entrance sealed smoothly behind her. The uncomfortable feeling of being moved came and went, as a dull 'thunk' informed her that the plug had been inserted and sealed in place. Immideately, the com channel popped open.
"Asuka, everything ok there?" Misato inquired, her face showing worry. Only now, Asuka noticed that her guardian too had huge rings under her eyes and the styrophorm cup of coffee shook in her hands. Letting a smile she didn't feel was very sincere-looking pass over her face, the girl gave the purple-haired woman a thumbs-up.
"Yeah, no problems, Misato." The older woman sighted, visibly not reassured, but gave the the okey sign to someone Asuka couldn't see. The LCL came quickly, filling the plug in seconds. The colors flashed before the redhead's eyes, and immideately after, the darkness around her was filled with the Eva's ocular perceptions. Clutting off the communications, Asuka closed her eyes and concentrated.
"Ikari? You here? Can you hear me?"
"No reaction." Ritsuko commented, scowling, "I still can't believe you've talked me into this. Do you have how much energy it takes to maintain activation? We're burning through thousands of US dollars here in minutes."
"Ritsu, stop being the workaholic bitch." Misato lit another cigarette, scowling. Her nicotine consumption jumped up quite a bit in the last few days, she noted absently.
"I'm just being honest." Ritsuko answered, ignoring the insult. She turned to Maya.
"Open the circuits up to 1-8-7-5 and then up to 2-5-5-0, but in 50-steps. Stop, if Asuka gets a reaction."
"I hope this works." Aoba muttered, quietly enough not to be heard by others.
"God damn it, you punk! Answer me right now or I'll have you painted a vibrant pink!" Asuka raged inside her plug, still receiving no reaction from the machine. Her synch ratio was currently being artificially reduced and only gradually allowed to raise to her normal level, she knew that, but the lack of progress was nevertheless daunting and irritating at the same time. The view around her was solidifying slowly and the LCL was warming too, so she knew she must be approaching her limit, but she was intent to get the ex-pilot of Unit 01 to talk, even if she had to actually pilot a pink Evangelion.
"You're at 94% Asuka. Waiting for Eva's reaction." Ritsuko calmly informed her over the com she closed immideately afterwards.
The expected reaction came soon afterwards. Asuka knew from her feelings that she once again was at 150% synch ratio.
"Well?" she asked into the LCL, quite irate.
A reply that came sudden and unexpected.
The plug went dark around her and a small ball of blue light danced before her face.
I'm here.
The voice came directly into her mind, without such an unnecessary thing as her ears.
"W-well, I just thought I'd… drop by to check on you, you know?" God, that was so lame, she innerly decided.
How nice of you. The voice appeared to be slightly sarcastic.
I thought I told you not to come here, or you won't be able to get out, didn't I?
"I don't know what you're talking about. I feel absolutely fine." Asuka ground out, the admonishment grating on her nerves.
Sorry. It's just very difficult not to let you sink in deeper then that. The voice answered, soft and hesitant.
You're safe enough, for now, I think. So, what do you really want?
"What, can't I just want to talk to you?" Asuka wondered, slightly irritated. Ikari Shinji was turning out to be quite different from what she imagined.
As if. The voice sounded bitter. What did my father send you here for?
"Listen up, Arschloch, I'm here because I wanted to talk to the dude that's stuck inside a huge robot I'm piloting, ok?!" Asuka screamed at the voice, her sympathy for the 'poor Shinji' evaporating in seconds.
The voice hesitated.
Well, it begun, if my father didn't send you, what do you want? A freak show? Look the dead boy stuck in an Eva! He can talk! He can even move on it's own! Only ten yen to see the wonde…
"Shut the fuck up." Asuka firmly stated, enraged by the impromptu pity party. Well, she couldn't really fault the kid for being bitter, but she was intent to show him that she wasn't the right target for his ire.
"I came here, because I thought that you're going nuts coped up here, but apparently I was mistaken." She went on curtly, then switched the com on:
"Misato, get me outta here."
Wait! The voice cried, suddenly desperate. Asuka paused in her efforts to desynch, awaiting further comments.
Sorry. the voice said after a pause, it's just… so frustrating.
Asuka nodded slightly, unsure if Ikari's presence could see the gesture.
"Ok, I'll let it slide this time, baka. Now, my name is Asuka Langley Sohryu…"
I know. The voice interrupted, sounding genially pleased with the conversation now, I have limited access to the Magi. I sorta pulled your files when the talk about getting you here started.
Asuka counted to ten slowly to calm herself and promised to go through with a pink paintjob for the snooping soul.
"Don't" she grated "do that again. It's private! I mean, what the hell? Did you hack into the locker room's cams to watch me change too?"
There are no cams in your locker room. The voice immideately informed her, slightly ashamed.
"And how, pray tell, do you know that? You tried, didn't you? Hentai!"
Ghm. The cough sounded slightly incredious, you know, I'm not that desperate for company. And there wasn't anything private in your file, just a photo and some ground info. Oh, and plugsuite measurements.
A small silence reigned, when Shinji obviously realized that he should have kept the last tidbit for himself.
"Hentai. I'll get you for that." Asuka finally commented, too calm to not be enraged.
