AN: Sorry for the update time, I was hoping to get a nice quick chapter out. but it turned into something a bit longer.
..
..
..
"these things are so fucking itchy" vasily thought as stood at attention in the hanger bay. He soon realized that this was a much more casual affair than what he was used too when he saw the other pilots standing loosely around. Waiting for Misato to come in.
he slacked up a bit and cracked his neck. Before looking at asuka. Her eyes had not deviated off of him since he had entered the briefing room. She stared right into his eyes and deep down inside, he felt a slight twinge of fear.
"can I help you?" vasily said as he turned himself to face her fully.
Asuka simply uncrossed her arms and walked towards him
"why are you here?" she asked angrily.
"to pilot" he said as his puzzlement at the girls anger shown through. Shinji and rei turned and looked at the two of them. shinji half expected asuka to start throttling vasily.
"why are you here? really?" asuka asked as she narrowed her eyes at him
"because I…" he stopped "who are you? I don't know your name? they just shuffled me out here and handed me tight fitting itchy suit"
"yeah they tend to feel like that new" shinji said. Asuka quickly hushed him
"my name is Asuka Langley Soryu and I'm the most skilled pilot here." She said as she put her hands on her hips and twirled her hair a bit.
"….Kay…..I'm vasily illyich ko-'
"I know who you are…" she stopped him. Vasily shrugged and stood back at attention not giving a second thought to what happened. Asuka looked a little pissed that she wasn't getting a rise out of him but vasily, quite frankly, didn't realize that asuka was even being mean to him.
The three other pilots shuffled around a bit pulling at their plug suits, scratching their heads and waiting for their orders, not a one of them chatting with the others. The tension was thick enough to feel, but vasily and rei didn't seem to be bothered nearly as much as shinji. Vasily and rei simply stood at attention
Shinji opened his mouth about half way to speak when he heard the hissing of a hydraulic door opening to his right. The hard clack of Misato's shoes against the steel floors of nerv drove a shiver up vasily's spine. She turned on heel and looked straight into vasily's face.
She tilted her head to one side and furrowed her brow at the young boy who simply looked forward. He looked nervous but didn't deviate his eyes from where they were staring. The cold metal hanger wall that read unit-01 before Misato jumped into his line of vision, Her eyes looking at him sternly as he stood rigid.
Vasily fully expected to get yelled at for breaking rank as she balled the spit up in the front of her mouth the way his old sergeant did in boot camp. But she didn't yell. She held a hand up and with two fingers and her thumb made a 'mouth' with it and moved it in front of his line of vision.
"fishy, fishy, fishy, fishy" she taunted him as he cracked a slight smile
"oh, don't laugh sergeant" she said as vasily's eye twitched and he bit his lower lip. Misato looked down to see that his hand was pinching his thigh to keep him from laughing. "yeah, go ahead, ju-just touch your face, break rank…..I dare, ya"
"Misato, will you stop fucking with him and get on with the assignment" dr. akagi said over the intercom.
he continued to stand at attention as Misato walked away from him. Not phased by the comment of her peer.
"so today we are going to initiate pilot komanov into the ranks of the children. The commander has ordered that all pilots do cross synchronizations training with unit-01."
Rei's eyes immediately widened in fear as she remembered the last time that she had tried to synchronize with that unit. About twenty percent synchronization before the fear started to hit. A cripplingly debilitating fear hat kept her from thinking or breathing. She wanted to run, she wanted to hide, but she couldn't move.
The four of them walked into the people mover to the top of the hanger. As unit-01's head came into view that same crippling fear struck rei. As the people mover's brakes hit and they walked out onto the platform, she had to take a bit of extra strength to move her back leg off the people mover.
"this is unit-01, pilot komanov. Shinji's evangelion."
"ma'am, requesting permission to speak ma'am" vasily said
"granted" she put her hands on her hips
"ma'am, I have my own evangelion, ma'am." He projected.
"yes but its encased in bakelite right now so, you're going to have to use shinji's as its synchronization system is based off of the system on unit-01 as opposed to unit-00 and unit-02 who have custom synchronization systems"
"….ma'am, I have no idea what you just said right now, ma'am"
Misato rolled her eyes and shook of vasily's questions.
"alright. Who would like to go-"
"I'll go first" asuka interrupted as she tried to elbow her way past vasily, but ended up pushing shinji, who was next to him, out of the way instead.
'fucking Russians'
asuka walked up the small flight of stairs to the open plug. She hopped in quickly sand gave a thumbs up.
"you ready to go asuka?" a voice came through the intercom.
"yeah"
Ritsuko turned to Maya in the observation box.
"alright, close her up and get her wet" Ritsuko joked
Maya blushed a bit before hacking away at her keyboard. A loud hissing was heard in the hanger and a hydraulic arm closed the entry plug. A smaller hydraulic arm hooked a clear hose up to the entry plug.
A look of abject terror crossed vasily's face as he saw an orange fluid begin to fill the plug.
"what are they doing?" he leaned over and talked to shinji
"its LCL, it's used to power the evangelion. It's a breathable liquid."
Vasily nodded as the plug slid into unit-01 and a power cable capped it off. The evangelions eyes lit up as it powered on. The locks kept it from slumping over as it does when its joins are unlocked.
Vasily turned to shinji, breaking attention for the first time.
"…hey…how you feel when you're inside of Eva?" vasily said
"…w-well…it's a warm feeling…nostalgic almost…like I'm home" a loud whirring was heard as asuka started taking control of the Eva. "but it sometimes smells like blood" he finished.
The eyes of the evangelion turned from their normal yellow to a light green. A symbol that asuka may have been getting somewhere with the synchronization.
"like blood?" vasily asked quizzically
"yeah…."
The intercom buzzed in
"how are you doing in there asuka?"
"…I'm…I'm doing okay. I feel fine….my legs feel kind of weird. Like I want tom move around" she said "is my sync rate better than the shinji's?"
"mmm, no, but its significantly better than last time." Maya added in
"better than that dumb ruskie's?"
"….I can hear you. The talk back mic is on" vasily said a bit offended
"…..dr. akagi, could you please tell me the next time the talk back mic is on so the ruskie doesn't start crying?"
"I can still hear you"
"SHUT UP RUSKIE!" she yelled over the mic. A sharp crackle of feedback came when her voice came to its shrill peak. The pilots and officers winced. Vasily stuck his pinky in his ear and wiggled it around, trying to get the vibrations out of his head.
"asuka, it looks like you went down a couple of points." Dr. akagi said over the intercom. Asuka shut of her mic
"GOTT VERDAMMEN ES!………" she yelled as her hands slammed down on the control yolks. Her synchronization score dropped a few points. The inside of the plug went form the swirling colors to the side of the view screen, to a dark purple.
"Gott verdammen es…." She muttered. The sides went black as her score dropped further.
"alright asuka. Your test are up…we have enough data" Ritsuko said as she gently shut of the mic and began typing protocols on her keyboard. "her sync score has dropped lower than ever in unit-01….she really has to learn to control her temper better"
as the control plug hissed and discharged from unit-01 and the LCL drained out onto the hanger floor. Vasily looked at the scene with curiosity but then again he had seen stranger things.
"alright pilot komanov, you're up"
"Da, gospozha!" he shouted as he walked up the stairs, his freshly molded plugsuit clinging to his sides and squeaking with every step. Asuka pushed him out of the way as she left the plug and stomped down the stairs
"get out of my way Russian I have no time for you." She pushed against him but didn't move vasily.
He hopped into the plug and saluted before grabbing the control yolks and steeling himself.
"ready"
"hold onto you ass, first time is memorable, vasily" dr. akagi said.
"Da, Gospozha…." He repeated, hearing his voice feedback over the intercom as the plug closed. He felt a sudden jerk as the entry plug sealed into unit-01 and jerked closed. Thick viscous liquid poured through tiny seams in the dark walls of the plug.
He began to panic a bit as the level rose. He held his breath as the liquid went up to his chest, then rose to his neck, then past his nose. His entire head was submerged but he held his breath. It seemed like hours before he finally inhaled and took a breath full of LCL the taste of blood flooded his mouth. He choked slightly as the liquid filled his lungs, but a strong exhale made him feel better
'pennies….it tastes like fucking pennies'
As the unit powered up he felt something strange. A vibration running through him that made him feel uncomfortable, sick even. The view screen came on and he looked down to see the three pilots and Misato standing on the platform next to the Eva.
"how are you feeling vasily?" Ritsuko's face appeared down in the corner of the view screen. One of vasily's cigarette's dangling from her lips.
"my back feels very strange and my head feels heavy."
"that's because he has a big head" asuka said
"talk….back….microph-" vasily stopped as the power cut.
"ma'am, power out. ma'am" he pushed the control yolks back and forth but jerked as the controls locked.
"the fuck?" he pushed the control yolks but nothing happened. the controls locked him out. he pressed a few buttons on the yolk but still nothing. He figured it was a minor mechanical malfunction. He pushed at the yolks one more time in an act of desperation but was immediately met by resistance when they pushed back, jamming up at him
"WHAT THE FUCK!?" he moved out of his seat, further up into the plug, away from the yolks that were trying to pummel him. he squeezed behind his seat
"ma'am there is malfunction….ma'am?! you there!" his radio had died. He was all-alone, locked into the control plug.
"hey! Get me the fuck out of here!" he began banging at the walls of the plug. Loud pounding reverberated through the plug.
..
..
..
"what the hell is going on in there?" shinji asked as the three other pilots watched in a bit of curiosity. The unit had powered off unexpectedly. Its green eyes turning a dull gray after vasily had sealed himself in for more than a few seconds.
"he probably can't meet the sync ration" asuka huffed.
Misato turned to her collar mic.
"Rits, what's going on? Can he meet the sync ratio?"
after a few tense seconds Ritsuko answered her question
"I have no idea what just happened, I think Eva shut us out. vasily is still in there, I can hear and see him but he cant hear or see us…..something strange is going on in there" she answered rather calmly for the situation
"….like what?" Misato asked "what's going on?"
"I don't know, we're doing our best to eject the plug but nothing is happening." Maya said as she hacked away at her keyboard, desperately trying to override the evangelion's computer systems.
"nothing is working sempai" Maya said "Eva is shutting us out at every turn. We cant even access the lock system right now." a worried look crossing her face
"are you telling me we're at the mercy of Eva?" Ritsuko asked as she picked up her coffee mug
"something like that" Maya said as Ritsuko was mid sip. Ritsuko put her coffee down and sighed lightly.
"is there anything we can do?"
"no. not right now at least." The video link cut out as she said that
"and now we don't even know what's happening to him" dr. akagi said as she put down her coffee mug.
"try…try to disconnect external power then, after that go into the root menu and reset the evangelions internal computer."
"we'll start losing a lot of non essential systems"
"like what?"
"refrigeration units, heating, cooling, door locks, elevators…."
"whatever, just get him out of there before he breaks something"
..
..
..
fear gripped him. A fear that was unable to describe, the ear that was reminiscent of when you thought you saw the monster in the closet when you were a kid. he needed to leave. He needed to go home to his nice war sleeping bag in the warm mud. He needed to get the fuck back to Russia and away from this god-forsaken place.
vasily hit up against the concave walls of the entry plug. His fists ground against the steel walls in futility. as he desperately tried to free himself from his prison he didn't realize that His knuckles were worn and raw, and his plug suit had torn around his hands. He couldn't feel his hands anymore.
"LET ME OUT OF HERE!" he screamed desperately "I wanna go home! I wanna go back to the rifles and the mortars" he punched the walls.
"the bullets!" he punched again
"the bombs!" he punched the walls again, tearing his flesh
"the bayonets!" he stopped and looked down at his hands, the bone had shown through on his index knuckle and the skin was hanging off in ragged flaps
he lay on his back and kicked at the walls of the plug. The walls of the plug began to dent in, but it was not vasily doing it. It was then that he felt it.
A tremendous pressure fell upon him, he couldn't think, he felt like he was being crushed in a vice grip. The LCL began to bubble and warm. The heat. The heat was unbearable. The pressure was too much. His bloody knuckles stopped bleeding as the LCL forced itself into his system.
The pain was unbearable. Like an embolism, the LCL forced itself through his veins. His blood needed to escape as his blood pressure rose to levels that his heart was struggling to beat.
The LCL forced itself into his brain. As the oxygen rich LCL pooled up in his head it created a sense of euphoria. Delusion set upon him. He smiled wide as he opened his eyes and saw swirling hallucinations before him. The blood began to force itself into his eyes and they began to turn red.
His nasal cavity was the path of least resistance for the blood escaping his body.
"don't come near my shinji" he heard a voice say calmly before the LCL swayed in a current and smashed his head against the side of the entry plug. A bit of black hair and white scalp wore off on the side of the plug as the tide of LCL smashed him violently up against the side of the plug.
He began to feel the euphoria lifting and the fear gripping him again as he clawed at his head to get the visions out.
..
..
..
Maya jumped up form her seat in joy
"I got it open."
..
..
..
vasily was jolted forward as the plug violently slid out of the Eva his face hit the view screen as the plug stopped. The hatch nearly exploded open from the pressure of LCL.
Vasily leapt out of the plug as he began gasping for real air. Air that you couldn't feel, air that couldn't force itself into your veins and take control of your mind. As he tried to stand he fell down the steps to the hatch and onto the landing.
Misato and the three other pilots rushed over to help him.
He violently jerked his head up to look at them. blood was forcing itself out of his eyes, nose and mouth. Veins were bulging out of his neck and forehead. And a gash on the side of his head was bleeding profusely.
"GET A FUCKING MEDIC IN HERE!" Misato began to panic. She bent down to see vasily. She rolled him over on his back and saw him spacing out, looking at the rafters hundreds of feet up in the ceiling. He coughed a little bit and LCL and vodka from earlier spat from his mouth. He began breathing rapidly and raggedly, forcing air into his lungs
Ritsuko rushed down by his side and propped his head up on her lap, she stroked his short black hair, trying to calm him and keep him from hyperventilating.
"Everything is going to be fine vasily" she tried her best to have compassion, something new to her
his lips moved, but what came out was unintelligible
"I…I cant understand you."
He gritted his teeth and grabbed her by her shirt collar. Blood and LCL smearing on her stark white shirt. He brought her ear down to his lips. He gritted his teeth before slight words escaped him
"don't make me go back in there" he said weakly as his hand shook on her collar.
..
..
..
the door locks slid open in front of Kaji as he waltzed into central dogma. Kaji immediately stopped tapping away at his keyboard and looked at the video screen on his second screen.
He saw what was happening in the hanger bay and chuckled
"sorry kid, but….damn this is lucky for me" he laughed as the door closed behind him
..
..
..
two MT's loaded vasily onto a stretcher and gave him oxygen. he quickly threw the mask to the side of the gurney as they wheeled him to the nerv hospital. Dr. akagi and Misato followed behind. As the five of them left the hangar bay the hydraulic doors slid shut and the three remaining pilots stood there in puzzlement and shock.
Shinji couldn't believe what had just happened.
"that could have been me" asuka said scared as she grabbed her chest. the three pilots stood silent after that
"did you see him?" she asked after a few tense minutes
"…yeah" shinji answered tentatively "I wish I hadn't though"
"he looked….he looked like a fucking animal." Asuka said
shinji looked down at the ground.
"…I'm leaving." Shinji said and unzipped his plugsuit, revealing a tight white tanktop underneath and began to tie the top half of his suit around his waist.
"pilot ikari-" rei began
"shinji…" he turned to her and gave her a look. "we've been over this before" he tapped in a command and the hydraulic people mover came to meet him
"shinji….you are going to UA on a training exercise? that is a serious offence"
"…rei, the last thing I wanna do right now is get inside that Eva" he pressed a button and the people mover. As he vanished out of sight, only asuka and rei stood on the platform.
The two gave each other a curt nod before walking away towards the people movers on the opposite ends of the platform
..
..
..
AN: I think it was a good chapter but I want to know what you all think. Please review.