Previously on...
EVANGELION: AGE OF MARVELS
After suffering a strange reaction to a spider bite on a school field trip, Hikari Horaki awoke to find herself changed. She was stronger, faster, more muscular, and ravenously hungry. As she learned the extent of her powers, she confronted Asuka Soryu von Doom and rescued Kaworu Nagisa from her bullying. Meanwhile, Ritsuko Akagi began the process of reintroducing herself to Nerv and taking her mother's place as the chief engineer of the Eva division, and Gendo received a cryptic warning that the promised time is at hand...
"POWERS AND ABILITIES"
Hikari desperately wanted this day to be over. Between Shinji, Asuka, and Kaworu, she'd had a belly fully of weirdness.
Unlike traditional schools, like the middle school she'd attended, the Academy followed the American model- the students moved from class to class, while the teachers stayed in the same room, even if they all looked the same. Hikari perched in her seat in the back row- for some reason, being elevated above the others at the top of the lecture hall felt more natural, and she felt an itch to climb the wall- and thought, realizing she was losing track of Mr. Lawson's lecture, something that had never happened before. Shinji wasn't in this class, which only made her think about him more.
She should have put him out of her mind. There was a certain danger in messing around with the boy who'd somehow been committed to marry the daughter of Doctor Victor Freaking von Doom, but there was something about him, a quiet way that he had, and… he was cute. Hikari scratched her head and slumped into the chair, trying to banish his blue eyes and quiet smile from her mind, and the way he somehow made his uniform look good.
Of course, Toji and Kensuke had to show up and ruin things. Hikari sighed.
Sakura leaned over to her. Toji's sister was eerily similar to him -she would be, they were twins- and nudged Hikari's elbow. She opened the chat and found an invite to a private session. Sakura slumped in her seat and tried to look casual as she typed.
"What's wrong?"
Hikari shrugged. "Boys."
"Heh," Sakura typed back, followed by an audible snicker. Then, a moment later, "What's his name? It's not my brother, is it?"
"Shinji," Sakura typed, glancing around.
"He's cute."
Hikari put chin on her hand and shook her head, dismissing the window. They could talk later, she had to concentrate. Lawson was moving around the front of the lecture hall, speaking in grandiose tones, talking with his hands in his excited, foreign way. He was a master storyteller, and he seemed to speak individually to her.
"The most important event after the trial was the passage of the Power and Responsibility Act, which became a model for international legislation, including Japan's own Mask Law. The Act did not simply ban superheroics, it banned all masked activity, and authorized the governors of the American states to call on the National Guard and request federal aid in dealing with masked criminals."
Hikari's hand shot up, and when his green eyes leveled on her, she felt a twinge of excitement. "What about Dr. Doom?"
She realized what she'd said and froze. At the front of the room, Asuka sat up and turned around, very slowly, and faced her. Lawson ignored it.
"Well, Hikari, the good Doctor certainly wears a mask, and since he's never been convicted of anything, I'd hesitate to call him a criminal. No law is perfect. Many masked individuals of dubious morality operated internationally or were heads of state themselves, and not under any jurisdiction. Others flouted the law, but were forced underground. The changes that Second Impact brought largely crippled the international fraternity of masked criminals, and as the more prominent ones aged and retired, died, or faced capture, fewer and fewer rose to replace them.
"The law was sponsored by then senator J. Jonah Jameson, author of the pro Spider-Man treatise The Trial of Peter Parker. Spider-Man was of course an influential figure, and became a polarizing figurehead for the pro-vigilante movement, despite vanishing after the trial was interrupted."
Hikari raised her hand again. "Why would he do that?"
Lawson gave her a smirk. "I was just getting to that. It was Jameson's notion that there should be a registry of heroes, that they should receive support and training, and most importantly that the government shouldn't leave it to untrained, unpaid individuals to risk their lives and families to deal with criminals the government would not or could not tackle. Unfortunately, the vagaries of politics meant that the law came out of the legislative process more as a mask ban than a superhero registry. Jameson was responsible for a number of other…"
He glanced off at the clock. "Ah, but it's Friday, and it's five minutes until school ends. Pack your things, and when the bell rings, begone. I've had enough of you for the week."
Hikari closed her laptop and stuffed it in her bag, remembering the battered paperback the teacher had handed her that morning. Sakura slid down the row of seats and plopped down next to her; Lawson gave his students more liberty to move around than some of the other teachers.
"I heard you ate lunch with him," she whispered. "Toji told me."
"I didn't eat lunch with him," Hikari sighed. "There were three other people there."
"Who?"
"That Kaworu girl," said Hikari. "There's something weird about her. It's like she doesn't know how to be a girl. She was in the…"
"Yeah, I heard. I'm in the gym class after that."
Hikari shrugged. "Asuka and the others were really mean to her."
"I heard you stood up to her, too," said Sakura. "Toji was really excited about that. He said if you get into a fight with her I should take pictures."
Hikari stared at her flatly. She gave a mirror of her brother's mischievous grin, which on her set boy's hearts fluttering, even if she wasn't the type to notice.
"Well, maybe she's a late bloomer, or it's something to do with her mutation."
"Mutation?" said Hikari.
"Oh come on, I saw her. The nurse was walking her out of the gym. If she's not a mutant, Mari isn't either."
Hikari blinked. She hadn't even thought of that. Did that mean she had superpowers, or did…
She froze. Was she a mutant?
"Hey," said Sakura. "The bell rang. Are you alright?"
Hikari nodded and got up, shouldering her bag.
"I'll stick with you. You'll need backup if the Latverians launch a sneak attack."
There was little chance of that. Asuka was already storming out of the room, to meet Mari, standing outside. Hikari let most of the students file out before she jogged down the steps. Her stomach was rumbling again, and Sakura flinched as if she'd heard it.
"Hikari?" Lawson said, catching her at the door.
Hikari touched Sakura's arm and moved over to his desk. He was leaning back in his chair at a dangerous angle, one booted foot propped up on the desktop, holding the textbook in his lap with his glasses pulled down his nose, little round spectacles that looked oddly old, not from wear but from something else she couldn't quite put her finger on.
"Are you alright? You seem upset about something."
Hikari blinked. She should have been excited about this. He was paying attention to her.
"I'm fine."
He clapped the book closed and plucked his glasses from their perch on his nose. "You most certainly are not."
She felt her lower lip trembling. She had to tell somebody. She couldn't tell Kodama, she'd blow a gasket, both about the spider bite and about Shinji. She tried telling it simply.
"I was bitten by a spider at the field trip," she said, hugging her arms around herself. "I got really sick, and when I got up this morning I felt fine," which was technically accurate, "and then…"
"Tut tut, miss Horaki. I know a lie when I see one. There's more to it than that."
Hikari frowned. "I think I might be a mutant."
"You might be," said Lawson. "There are more mutant students at this school than you realize, dear. It's nothing to be ashamed of. You didn't choose to be different. Your choices are what you do with what you've been handed, no more, no less."
Hikari sniffed, and he handed her a tissue. She hadn't even realized she was crying. She brushed the moisture off her cheeks. "That's not all."
She told him about Shinji. He'd seen the confrontation in the morning. It just spilled out, all of it- Kaworu, Asuka, gym class, everything. She found herself reciting it all in detail, without even realizing why she wanted to. When she was finished, her tissue was in tatters and he handed her another one.
"That's quite a predicament," he said. "I must admit, I'm a poor source for relationship advice. Some of my… entanglements would prove more complicated than you imagine."
Hikari nodded. "I don't know what to do."
"Give it time, and think things through. You're young, young people fall too deeply into these things too quickly. Don't build him up into something he can't be for you. You barely know him, and here you are crying about him, and on a Friday afternoon, no less. Go, get him out of your mind. Read that book I gave you. You promised you would."
"What's going on here?"
Hikari whirled. Miss Katsuragi was leaning against the door frame, arms folded under her impressive bust.
"Did you make her cry?"
"I was trying to make her stop crying," Lawson said, smirking. He dropped the book on the desk and stood up, grinning.
"Liar. I'll bet you started it."
Hikari suddenly felt like an extra presence in the room, and started to slink away. She was suddenly a stranger in the world of adults, and no matter what else happened, she felt a little pang when she saw the way the man in woman in the room, one of which she had a crush on, sort of, were looking at each other. Hikari hadn't seen Miss Katsuragi smile like that in class. Ever. Or stand that way, with her hips cocked to one side and her chest thrust out, her chin held high and her lips all pouty.
She looked at Hikari. "Don't ask men for relationship advice. Men get all poetic about it and then they fall for the first pretty thing that walks in front of them."
"You are far from the first that walked in front of me," said Lawson, stepping past Hikari. He stepped aside, opening a space in the door. "Would you excuse us, my dear? We have teacherly things to discuss."
Hikari didn't need a blinking neon sign, though she did move in a bit of a daze as she left the room and jumped as the door clapped shut behind her.
She was alone in the hall. The live-in students had to be in their dorms, and the last few walkers and riders were hanging by the door. She gave the Suzaharas and Kensuke a wave but didn't join them, instead jogging off towards home. She decided she'd walk, and maybe pick up a pile of food somewhere on the way. At this rate, she was going to have to get a job. She cut through an alley between two low brick shops and headed towards the residential district.
As she stepped out, an ice pick rammed into the back of her skull. On pure instinct, she jumped, just in time to see a car passing under her, a big black sedan. Everything moved with ponderous slowness, even the air currents on her skin. She threw her arms up, partly for balance, but on pure instinct, something in her wrist tensed, and she heard a most peculiar sound.
Thwip!
There was something in her hand. She grabbed it, held on for dear life, and swung in a tight arc right into a brick wall. She let out a yelp when she hit, but the impact didn't feel that bad, more like hitting a gym mat. She swung there for a moment, and looked up. Somehow, a surprisingly thin strand of silvery material had shot out of the underside of her hand and she was now hanging by it. She took it with her other hand, reaching up, and started to climb, until she reached the spot where it had made contact with the roof of the building, sticking there like a spider's web. Using her hands and feet, she pulled herself up and over the ledge and perched in a crouch at the corner of the roof, and stared at her arm.
"I did it before," she said, "I can do it again."
She turned her palm up and pointed her hand in a vaguely across-the-street direction, and… nothing.
"What the?" she said, shaking her arm. "Come on. Do it!"
"Web!"
"Spin!"
"Spider!"
She grunted, and sighed, moving her fingers. There was something about her middle and ring finger. When she moved them, they felt stiff, like there was something squeezing them. She curled them both towards her palm.
Thwip!
Her jaw dropped. A thin streamer of web shot out across the street and, hitting nothing, curled on itself before it started to drift on a stiff breeze and landed against the far roof, leaving a thin silvery line. Hikari swallowed, then lowered herself back over the side of the building and crawled back down, hand and foot, clinging to a flat surface with just her hands.
She'd officially had enough of this. She was hungry.
Asuka paced through her quarters, angrily muttering at the floor in three languages. She'd yet to strip out of her uniform, but Mari was already lounging in her athletic bra and underwear, and would be doing so casually all night, no matter what the matron who oversaw the girl's dormitory told her. She tended to find clothing… confining. Asuka was both annoyed and envious of her; she hated even putting on a swimsuit, or changing in front of the other girls with their jealous eyes. She'd resolved, some time ago, that when she assumed the throne, she would wear a magnificent suit of armor like her father's, but polished, of course, and with no mask to hide her beautiful face. It would, of course, be red. She'd make Shinji wear the stuffy uniforms, sitting beside her as her Prince Consort.
Mari lay on her stomach, pretending to care about her homework. "You're pacing again."
"I am not pacing," said Asuka, as she made another circuit of their room.
The girls were two to a room, each a rectangle running from the door to the window, with a bed, closet, desk, and space for a refrigerator other odds and ends on either side. The way she and Mari arranged their room, it made it so Asuka could stroll from one end to the other while in contemplation. She was not pacing.
"You're pacing," Mari sighed, kicking her feet. "What's wrong?"
"I think perhaps I was too harsh with the new one," said Asuka. "What was her name?"
"The skinny one with the silver hair? Kaworu, I think. Odd name."
"Yes," said Asuka.
The door was open. Some of the other girls were gathering in the common area. It was Friday night, and they often left with one of the matrons to see a film at the theater or break up and go shopping in the mall. Asuka disdained such things, and when Asuka disdained, Mari ignored, most of the time. Still, she paused, gazing through the door at them. Some of them met her gaze and shied away, moving so they'd have an excuse not to look at her. Asuka rubbed her arms and resumed her pacing.
"You can go if you want," said Mari. "I'll go, too. I'll even wear pants. Maybe a shirt."
"I cannot," said Asuka. "Father would not approve. I have my studies."
Mari twisted on her bed and made a sound, half like an animal yowl and half like a yawn, and then rolled over, flopping her arms behind her head. She sighed.
"Father this, Father that. Father is twelve thousand miles away. Live a little. You think he never had any fun when he was your age?"
Asuka looked at her sharply. "No."
Mari snorted, kicked her legs, and sat up. "What's really bothering you? You're upset about something. I can tell by your scent."
Asuka flushed, but shook her head in denial. "Nothing, and stop doing that."
"Liar," Mari purred, leaning on one arm.
"Fine. That girl. She bothers me."
"Who, Kaworu? You were too harsh, I admit it, but-"
"No, the other. The Horaki one, that touched my Shinji."
"Oh," said Mari, sighing. "That one. I don't see why you're so upset. You don't even like him."
"I do like him," said Asuka. "Though he is an idiot, and a lout, and a lecher, and undisciplined. Too much like his father, so cavalier."
"No," Mari rolled her eyes and made a motion with her two hands. "Like him."
Asuka's eyebrows shot up. "Oh. He would not be my first choice, but royalty do not have the luxury that commons have in that regard. I'm sure he will be… adequate."
"You would know this how?"
Asuka looked at her flatly, and then turned around. She stared out the door again; the other girls were gone, now.
"We could sneak out," said Mari. "You know we could."
"I can't," said Asuka. "I have work to do. I must keep my grades up, or Father will be displeased."
"You have all weekend," said Mari, whispering in her ear. Somehow, since Asuka turned her back, she'd crossed the distance between them in silence, padding on her bare feet. She reached over Asuka's shoulder and swung the door shut with a push, and settled both arms on her shoulders. "Seventy-two hours. You can give up a few hours for something… fun."
She let out a throaty purr, settling against Asuka's back. Her heart jumped, and she tried to shrug out of Mari's grasp, but Mari twined her arms around Asuka's neck and leaned into her, breathing sharply in her ear.
"We can't," said Asuka.
"Sure we can," said Mari. "Your Father isn't right here, right now."
"The betrothal…"
"Do I look like a boy to you? You can't be with a boy."
"I told you," Asuka said, more sharply than she meant to. "Last time was the last time."
Mari purred in her ear. "Oh, that's not what you said at the time. 'Oh Mari.'"
Asuka ducked and turned out of her grasp, taking a step back against the door. Mari stood with her hip cocked to the side, fist planted on it, and Asuka could not peel her eyes from her, from her toes to her shapely legs to the ears on top of her head, now pointed straight at Asuka. Mari smiled her cat smile, little fangs glinting, and stepped forward. Asuka made no move to stop her, but pressed up against the door as Mari settled against her.
"We can't do this," she protested, "The rumors."
Mari clicked the lock on the doorknob, and spread her fingers on the blue steel. She made a little hissing sound and tensed her hands, an sharp claws flicked out from under her fingernails, each an inch long, and deadly sharp. She grinned, baring her fangs, now a little longer than before, both top and bottom.
"Let them spread rumors," Mari purred, pressing against Asuka. "You think I care? What good does it get you to be a princess if you can't do what you want?"
"I can't do what I want," said Asuka, "I must do what is necessary."
Despite that, her arms were draped around Mari's waist, and a moment later, she was too busy to protest.
Maya woke up to the sound of a fist pounding on her apartment door. Groggily she got up, pulled on a bathrobe, and marched to the door. She opened it, realized she hadn't looked through the peephole, and jumped when she realized that Ritsuko was standing outside her door. She was rather oddly dressed.
It was the pants she noticed, first. Ritsuko had never worn yoga pants before, at least never in Maya's presence, which, now that she thought about it, wasn't the proper venue for yoga pants. She was, presently, wearing a jet black pair that were very tight except for where they flared over a pair of heavy boots that gave the older woman about an extra inch or so in height. She was wearing an overly tight t-shirt with English lettering on it. Squinting, Maya thought it was for a band, something called "Black Sabbath". Over that she wore a leather jacket that came down to just under her chest, and she was wearing a pair of sunglasses.
"Maya," said Ritsuko. "This is important. It's Friday night. I need you to do something."
"What?"
"Drive," said Ritsuko. "I'm going to get stumbling drunk. I need you to make sure I don't get run over by a car. The fate of the world depends on it."
Maya blinked.
"Oh, and put on something sexy. We're going clubbing. Then we're going to Denny's. I've been living on a combination of gruel, water, and hospital food for the last nine months. I want a Moons Over My Hammy."
"Uh, okay," said Maya.
"Be warned. One of or both of us may have a new tattoo tomorrow."
Rei woke up.
It was something of a process. A brilliant light, brighter and hotter than a hundred suns, burned in her vision, and she took her first gasping breath only for her lungs to fill with liquid. She coughed and sputtered, the LCL around her bubbling as she screamed for air that would not come. She thrashed, the bonds on her wrists and ankles digging into her tender skin. Dimly, she heard a thrumming draining sound, and the liquid fell away. She thrust her chin out, gasping for breath, forced to expel a coughing gout of liquid first as she was finally released, stumbling forward into the empty air. The world was a harsh blur, and she landed hard, skidding on her side on the hard floor. She curled up in the fetal position and lay there for a moment, coughing, hoping she would be able to see. A hand clamped around her arm dragged her up.
Her feet slid under her, scrabbling for purchase, slick with LCL, and the drying liquid on her body was suddenly frigid, making her shudder and shake and try to clutch herself, but the iron grip on her upper arm would not release. She was pushed back and fell against the extraction tube and blinked the tears out of her eyes in time to see a dozen of her own faces staring back at her, smiling stupidly.
"Stop that," Dr. Summers snapped, batting her hands away from her chest. "Nothing I haven't seen before. Let's go."
Rei managed to keep her feet under her as she shivered her way under the decontamination shower. The hot water sluiced over her, so close to scalding it made her scream, or so she thought; the scream escaped her mouth anyway. She scrubbed her hands through her short hair to get the most of it out that she could before the water stopped, and it was mostly gone when it cut off, circling around her feet at the drain. Summers walked casually into the shower, seized her around the shoulders, and dragged her out of the cloning chamber and into her lab, lifting her up onto a cold metal examination table.
"Hold still, Five," she snapped, and shined a light in her eye.
Rei flinched, but held. If she tried to move away, Summers would hold her. If she held her eyes shut, Summers would pry them open. She was too strong, too fast to resist. Her eyes were red, but they were not like Rei's eyes. Dr. Summers hated her. Rei thought she hated everyone.
"Pupillary response normal. Open your mouth."
Rei did as she was bid, and coughed as the tongue depressor was rammed into her mouth, and clutched at her throat after it was withdrawn.
"I'm thirsty," Rei rasped.
"Shut up," said Summers, touching a frigid stethoscope to Rei's chest. "Breathe normally."
Satisfied, she took Rei's arm and listened to her pulse.
"Get off the table. There's water in the refrigerator."
Rei walked over to the small refrigerator, pulled the bottle of water out, and tried to open it. She had to put it between her legs; she was too weak to open it with a twist of her wrist, and would be for a while. Summers tossed a plugsuit at her feet, and when Rei finished gulping down the bottle, she pulled it on. Summers didn't quite look at her when she pulled on the suit, but didn't give her any privacy, either. Rei shuffled the loose garment up to her shoulders, made sure the pack would be set in place on her back, and pushed the button. With a rush of air that shot up her nose and made her cough, the suit compressed around her, clenching around her belly, and it made her feel a rush of nausea. She stumbled, but kept her feet, and looked up.
"Good," said Summers. "Grab your helmet. We need to run some tests."
Rei started for the door, passing the other exam tables.
"Remember," said Summers, "Not a word to anyone about you see down here," she seized Rei's shoulder, squeezing hard, "Not a word about about anything. You live in an apartment and you're very comfortable, and I tutor you."
She turned Rei, to make sure they saw eye-to-eye.
"Remember one thing. If you so much as look the Commander in the eye, you little bitch, I'll skin you alive and bring out Rei Six. You can be replaced."
Rei nodded, and silently, walked towards the elevator.
Slowly, groggily, Hikari woke up. She had a pile of homework to do, but that could wait. One of the perks of attending the Academy was an actual two days off, Saturday and Sunday, and she was alone in the house, as Nozomi was at school and Kodama was out with her friends. Hikari, for her part, was lying in bed, one leg hanging off the edge, still in her school blouse with a dog-eared copy of The Trial of Peter Parker spread across her chest.
"I am such a nerd," she said, to no one in particular.
She sat up and scanned a few more lines from the book. Despite the title, it wasn't just the story of the trial. Jameson pieced together Parker's entire life from interviews and documents, and put together a narrative of almost everything that happened to him from when he was bitten by the spider -Hikari shuddered- to August, 1973. She stared at the cover of the book, a faded, flat looking drawing of Spider-Man swinging through the air with a criminal tucked under his arm. She marked her page, put the book down, and yawned. She was hungry. Food, she needed food.
While a microwave breakfast meal turned in the oven, Hikari scratched her chin. She needed to think this through. It didn't make any sense. Was she a mutant? Did she get powers because a spider bit her? Why did she put on so much muscle so quickly? Were those spiders some sort of attempt to re-create…
She looked down at the empty tray of food in her hand, a few crumbs of sausage and dry pancake clinging to the plastic. Her hands were sticky. She didn't remember eating it. She dumped it down the incinerator chute, wiped her hands, and started fishing for more food. Kodama was going to flip out if she ate everything, but she was so hungry. She ended up making herself a piled up sandwich of four layers of toast, various meats, various cheeses, and some lettuce and spinach, and she probably would have poured milk on it if she wasn't paying attention. She sat down and started chewing, focusing on actually tasting the food. The kitchen clock said it was ten in the morning.
A thought occurred to her. She could go out and do things. Help people. Nothing major. She groaned at the thought. The police would be after her, and the military, even, not to mention Nerv; there were lots of rumors about goons in dark suits, and her father, as little as she saw him, worked there. Turning into some kind of vigilante was out of the question. She should have been more careful already. If someone saw her at school… she shuddered.
She took another bite, and realized there was a spider sitting on the table. She froze. It lifted up its front legs and waggled them at her. The size of a pencil eraser, it wasn't very intimidating, but it was just staring at her with two big eyes. Some part of her accessed a dusty, ill-used file in her brain and recognized it as a jumping spider. It must have landed on the table while she wasn't looking.
Big sister.
She blinked.
Big sister two legs.
She didn't hear a voice, not exactly. It was more like an image, a towering huge spider with two legs, standing above others, at the center of a great web in darkness.
Big sister two legs danger come
Images flooded her mind- scorpions, bigger spiders, a shoe, a rolled up newspaper, but her mind translated it to danger. She rocked back in her seat, the chair creaking under her, and blinked. It wasn't just a warning, it was a strong one. When she looked again, the tiny creature had gone, and she was holding the very last part of her sandwich in her hands. She stuffed it in her mouth and headed for the bathroom, jaws still besandwitched, chewing it and swallowing it bit by bit as she ran the hot water and slipped out of her shirt. She showered, looked through her wardrobe, and ended up stealing some of Kodama's clothes, a pair of pants that shouldn't have been tight on her but were, and put on a clean uniform shirt on over that, untucked.
Once dressed, she stuffed some cash in her pocket, grabbed her ID card, and headed out. She took the stairs slower this time, more measured, wondering if anyone might see her. Once out on the street, she stuck her hands in her pockets and looked around. She had no idea where she was actually going, only that she needed some air. She took off towards downtown. There was the mall; that sounded like a good idea. She headed for the train station, she'd need to catch the train.
Or would she?
Instead, she ducked between the apartment blocks, and looked around. There was no harm in it. She put her hand on the wall, felt it catch, then put her other up. Her feet seemed to slip in her heavy sneakers, so she slipped them off, knotted the shoelaces, and draped them around her neck. She sagged a bit on her feet, then jumped, sailing into the air, and slapped against the wall, held by her hands and feet. Shying away from the windows, she crawled up the side and pulled herself up and over the edge. The roof was hot asphalt and rough, so she slipped her shoes back on, and walked along the edge. She moved with an alien grace, like someone was holding her by an invisible hook on the top of her head, her body moving fluidly under it. She walked the ledge easily, and when she looked over at the street eight stories down, she didn't feel a twinge of fear or unease; she could have been standing on the sidewalk. She dropped down onto the roof anyway, bolted, and went for a running start.
When she hit the edge of the roof, or near it, she kicked off, and flew higher and further than she expected, sailing over the next roof. She came down easy anyway, dropping into a crouch with one hand on the asphalt, one behind her for balance, and looked back. She must have jumped fifty or sixty feet, maybe further. The next building was a bit further out, far enough that it made her uneasy to jump it. She could crawl back down and hope no one saw her.
Yet, between her and the next roof, there was a crane.
She licked her lips and aimed her wrist at the crane, and tensed the muscles in her fingers. She felt the eerie sensation of the web spilling out, flying into space, but it missed by a mile, or at least a few feet, and slithered through the air like a ribbon. Hikari frowned, and tried it again. This time the web caught, bounced, and tightened her in her hand; she had to grasp it to keep the end from slipping from her fingers. She took it in her other hand and walked to the edge of the roof, glancing at the ground far below and the streamer of web hanging from the crane. She put her foot out, closed her eyes, realized that was a terrible idea, opened them again, and stepped off the roof.
She screamed. The ground was very, very far below, and she was swinging with great speed towards a concrete wall, rapidly rushing to meet her face. She couldn't let go, she couldn't let herself run into it. Time slowed, the same way it had before, and she became aware of her surroundings, like she could feel the air currents moving over the objects around her. There was the corner of the building. If she…
She threw her other arm out, and a web spun from her wrist, arced up, and touched the corner of the building. She let go, and as he momentum carried her forward, her weight fell on the new web and she started to swing to the side. As she passed the side the building, she kicked her feet, and swung around the corner. There was no time to think, only react. She was on the edge of the business district, and there was another building. She tossed out a web, but this one was even longer, to reach, and as she swung into the dip she picked up terrifying speed, her stomach leaping to her throat, her eyes wide. She swept through the bottom of the swing, slowed as she rose to the apex of the curve, and tossed out another line. By the time she'd taken the third or fourth swing, it was like second nature. She saw the mall in the distance, a squat four story building that was much wider than it was tall, with an attached garage. Dropping somewhere a security camera would see her was a probably a bad idea, so she let herself swing between two buildings, swinging her feet to the side, and ran along the building until she slowed, and was able to gently swing over and touch her hands to the wall and let go of the web.
Using her hands, she made her way down until she was about forty feet off the ground, somehow knew it was safe, and dropped, landing easily. She strolled out of the alley and walked into the flow of people, none the wiser. She had the day off, but most adults didn't, and it was lunch time by now. She headed for the mall, flexing her arms; she wasn't even sore.
At the mall, she showed her ID to the guard, who waved her through. Not all of the schools were off on Saturday, but she was used to showing ID; there was someone checking it everywhere she went. She tucked it back in her pocket and walked into the crisp air conditioned air of one of the biggest malls in the world, striding out into the open atrium. There was an amusement park at one end, and a massive arcade on the fourth floor, which was her destination. She took the clear elevator up, lamenting that she couldn't just jump. It would be faster.
I am getting used to this too fast, she thought.
As she walked into the arcade, she heard a familiar hooting and shouting. Toji, Kensuke and Sakura were at the dancing game machine; Sakura was bouncing on her pad wildly, and shaming her brother in competition. She even did little turns and spins. Hikari headed towards them.
Shinji walked past her.
He was alone, with a sort of vacant look on his face, carrying a bag of what appeared to be… cooking utensils. She followed him for a few steps, then said "Hey, Shinji!"
He looked over his shoulder at her, startled. "Oh, Hikari. Hi."
"Hi yourself," said Hikari, jogging up to him.
He shuffled with his bag. While he was distracted, she brushed the top button of her shirt. It just happened to pop open. Honest. She was hot, anyway. She'd been exercise.
"What are you doing here?" said Hikari.
"Shopping," he shrugged.
"At the kitchen store?"
He looked down. "I like to cook. It's… soothing."
"Do you live on campus?" said Hikari.
"No, I live with my father."
Hikari nodded. "Are your parents divorced?"
He looked at her for a pained instant, and her stomach lurched.
"No, she… I was young. I don't really remember."
She grabbed his hand. "I'm sorry. That was a dumb thing to say, I-"
He started to pull away, but stopped, then slipped his hand out of her fingers. Hikari shifted on her feet.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to be so, um forward, I-"
Shinji cocked his head to the side. "Are you hungry?"
Hikari blinked. "Yes. Yes, I'm hungry."
"Let's get something to eat."
Hikari stumbled after him, and then rushed to walk by his side, looking around nervously. She began to wish she hadn't unbuttoned that damned button, and picked at the tail of her shirt, hoping it didn't make her butt look too big. She stood up straight, trying to remember how she'd walked when she was on the ledge, and then realized she was maybe an inch taller than Shinji. He didn't seem to care, walking with the same casual air as usual. He was wearing part of the school uniform, too; the pants, she guess, and a blue t-shirt.
"Where are you going?" said Shinji.
"The food court is this way," said Hikari.
"I'm not eating that," Shinji said haughtily, only for his cheeks to color a moment later. "Come on, there's some restaurants on the top floor."
Hikari followed him up; they took the stairs. On the top floor of the mall, which was the smallest and overlooked the rides, there were a number of restaurants. Shinji looked around.
"Traditional? Italian? American? French?"
Hikari looked around again, and felt her stomach rumbling. "Italian," she decided.
Shinji nodded and led the way. He walked right up to the hostess' stand at the front of the restaurant, and the woman gave him a look until he produced a card, probably his ID, and slipped it to her. She did a double take and handed it back, and returned with a pair of menus. There was a board posted outside. She glanced at the prices, and tugged on his sleeve.
"Shinji, I can't afford this."
He glanced at her and smirked. "I can."
She blinked, and the hostess came back with a pair of menus in hand. The place was dark, lit by candles flickering in heavy glasses on the tables, all covered with linen. The hostess led them deep into the place and to a booth that was a step up from the floor, and cavernous. Hikari felt dwarfed by it as she sat down. It was a pit style, without any corners. Shinji slid over and sat next to her, reading her menu instead of his.
She could feel his breath on her neck. She was really close to him.
"Can I get you something to start?"
"Calamari fritti," said Shinji, "an appetizer sampler and an order of mozzarella sticks."
Hikari blinked, but nodded.
"We'll try the house wine," said Shinji.
"Sir," the waitress said, a slight emphasis on the word, "You're underage."
Shinji folded his hands on the table. "Perhaps you'd like to explain that to my father."
The waitress stared at him.
"Commander Ikari."
The hostess shot the waitress a nod, both their eyes widened, and the woman rushed off.
Hikari stared at him. "Wait, Ikari as in that Ikari?"
Shinji sighed. "Yes."
"Oh my God," Hikari said, "I didn't know, no wonder… I should have figured it out earlier, I-"
"Please," he said, "Please don't start treating me different because of who my father is."
Hikari nodded. "I won't. I was just surprised."
The food came with surprising speed, along with a pair of glasses. The waitress poured out some wine in each, not really filling them, and Shinji waved the bottle away. Hikari was about to lift hers when he touched her hand.
"Let it breathe."
She stared at the appetizer hungrily, wincing when she realized she'd actually licked her lips. She was all but drooling.
"Go ahead. I ordered for you. I know you'll eat most of it."
She looked at him. He threw his hands up.
"I'm not saying you're fat. You're not fat!"
She grinned, and loaded her plate up with a stack of cheese and peppers and garlic bread and age hungrily. There were some ring things, they looked like little onion rings. She took a bunch of those on her fork and ate them. They were good, so she had some more.
"What is this?"
"Calamari," said Shinji.
"I know, but what's that."
"Squid."
"Oh," she said, burping. She blushed again. Damn it.
Eh. She kept eating.
The waitress gave her a look when she walked back up.
"What would you and the lady like for lunch, sir?"
"I'll have the veal marsala. The lady will have the three meat lasagna and spaghetti."
"A side of spaghetti. Very good."
"No, a full order, and we'll have your most expensive white wine."
The waitress looked at her again, then walked off.
"Shinji, you're scaring me a little," said Hikari. "How do you know I can eat all that?"
"It happens like that, sometimes, when your powers come in. Your body needs extra fuel, especially if it increases your metabolism."
Hikari froze.
"Uh, what powers?"
Shinji sighed, shrugged, and picked a butter knife up from the table. He put the tip to his palm, planted his other palm on the back of the handle, and pressed down. Hikari winced, expecting it lance through his hand, but there was a small ptang sound and with a creak, the stainless steel folded in his hand, until he was holding them together. He held his hands as if they were at prayer, and when he opened them, a ball of metal rested on his hand.
"Wow," she said. "Cool."
"I'm not done," he said, and smirked.
He touched the ball lightly with his finger, and it moved, shifting like liquid in his hand. It flattened out, and drew when he touched it with his fingertip, moving along with him. Slowly, he shaped it, spinning his finger around it to make edges, finer and finer, until he'd folded it into a flower. He picked it up with his fingers and touched the base, drawing out a flat stem an inch long, and reached over and carefully stuck a tiny steel rose in the pocket of her shirt. Hikari gaped at him.
"I can do more than that," he sighed. "I can't do it here. It messes up computers and credit cards."
"Wow," Hikari whispered. "That's amazing."
He smiled, and his cheeks reddened, just a bit.
Hikari took a drink of wine. She'd always imagined it to be kind of sweet. Adults drank it like it was. Instead, it was acid, tasting of grapes but without much of a sugar quality at all, almost like a sting, but it tasted okay. She tipped back some more, noting how it stripped all the tastes out of her mouth, and began feeding again. Shinji seemed almost amused by it. He sipped his wine and picked at the calamari. By the time the appetizer plates were cleared away, Hikari was feeling only slightly peckish, and then the main course arrived, and she dug in.
"You said you knew Asuka since you were twelve," said Hikari. "I hate to bring this up, but how did you meet?"
"I was sent to Latveria, to train with… her father," Shinji said, glancing around nervously.
"If you'd rather not…"
"No, no, it's alright. I went there to train with my powers."
Hikari looked around. "When did you first realize you could, um, do that?"
"I don't remember," he shrugged. "I guess always. You shouldn't let anyone know what you can do."
"Why?" said Hikari. "I mean I know why, but-"
"If you're special, people will want to use you," said Shinji. "They'll want what you have for themselves."
Hikari touched his arm. "I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault."
"I wish you didn't have to marry her," Hikari said, glumly. "That's so dumb."
"So do I."
He looked down at his food. He'd eaten about half of it. He pushed it away. "I shouldn't be here. I shouldn't do this." He looked at her. "It's not fair to you. I can't… I can be your friend, that's all."
He pulled a sheaf of bills out of his pocket and tossed them on the table. "This should cover everything. I should go. I took enough of a risk bringing you here. If they see me leaving with you…"
"Who?" said Hikari. "If who sees you?"
"My life isn't mine," said Shinji. "I belong to somebody else. I'm sorry, Hikari. I'm truly sorry. I… you're very pretty, and you seem really nice, and… you liked to sit with me. I liked that a lot, but this can't go anywhere. I hope I can be your friend. At school."
He slid out of the booth and Hikari grabbed at him, but didn't really mean to catch him, and so she didn't. He scrubbed at his eyes as he ran out of the restaurant, but stopped, slowed, and composed himself before stepping out. He'd left his bag of kitchen stuff in the booth. Hikari pulled it to her side, and looked at the food. She put the fork down. She wasn't hungry anymore.
She let out a long sigh, and started to shift towards the edge of the booth. The waitress came over and picked up the stack of money.
"He's cute. I don't know what you did, but you should go after him."
Hikari glared at her.
Then, she doubled over, forgetting everything, forgetting Shinji, even, though her hand shot to her chest and she clutched the little metal rose, hoping she didn't cut herself or crush the delicate, razor petals. It was like her neck was on fire, and she knew, knew that something huge was coming her way, something incredibly dangerous.
A low whining sound started, drawing from everywhere at once, building to an ear-splitting crescendo, almost drowning out the commotion as the cooks and wait staff ran from the restaurant. Hikari got her footing and ran with them. It wasn't possible. This was never supposed to actually happen.
It was the evacuation alarm.
Maya woke up on her new pillow. It was a very soft pillow, and it was very nicely shaped, as it cradled her head in a sort of cleft in the middle. She licked her lips and pushed her face into her pillow. Her head was pounding like a drum, and her mouth felt like it was stuffed with cotton. She hugged the pillow, which turned out to be much larger than she realized, and shifted her weight, hoping to fall back asleep. Instead, it gradually dawned on her that her pillow was alive, because it was breathing, had a heartbeat, was snoring, and smelled like tequila. She lifted her head up.
"Holy shit!" Maya squeaked, lifting her head from Ritsuko's chest.
"Quiet," Ritsuko snapped, "I drank all the booze, shut up."
Maya rolled off of her. Ritsuko was still wearing her Black Sabbath shirt and a pair of underwear that was both black and most definitely a thong. Maya, at least, was still fully dressed.
"What the hell?" Maya said. Her head was pounding now, every movement making it feel like her brain had detached and was moving inside her skull. "How much did I drink?"
"Four beers," Ritusko groaned, "Pussy."
Maya clutched her head. "It hurts."
"Listen," said Ritsuko, "We have bigger problems," she groaned, "than that. I can't move my legs."
Maya blinked.
"Relax, it's normal. It's also probably why I'm not wearing any pants. Unless you tried to molest me in my sleep, you little devil. It's always the quiet ones."
Maya shook her head. "What do I do?"
"Well, my pants are off, so we can skip that step. Help me roll over."
Ritsuko twisted, and Maya blushed a little. She had very defined muscles on her stomach, more so than Maya would have expected, even those little on the side. Maya swallowed hard against her dry mouth and helped the turn by putting her hand gingerly on Ritsuko's hip.
"Just do it," Ritsuko sighed.
Resting her hand on Ritsuko's backside, Maya pushed, and when she was able to get her other hand under her, Ritsuko turned onto her stomach.
"In my purse, there's a wire with a plug on the end."
Maya found it, spooled it out. The jack at the end looked very ordinary. She plugged it into the wall.
"It goes in at the space of my spine, right at the tailbone."
Maya hovered over her, holding the other end of the wire in her hand. "I, um, your underwear-"
"Look, I had a man do this for a month, an old man who was going bald, smelled like cabbage, and turned out to be a super soldier who tried to kill me with a table. Just do it."
Maya sighed, and pulled the top of Ritsuko's underwear down. That one spot seemed to be the only place it actually covered.
"Um," said Maya. "Do you, um, exercise?"
"I used to do yoga. I guess I'll have to watch my diet now. Why?"
"No reason," said Maya, sliding the jack in. It clicked, there was a beep, and Ritsuko's spine lit up, glowing under the thin cotton of her shirt.
"Um," said Maya, "Were you wearing a bra when you came here last night?"
"No," said Ritsuko, "Thanks for asking."
Maya felt her cheeks heating. "Is there anything I can do to make this headache go away?"
"Drink more?"
Maya shook her head. "Ugh. No."
"We never got to Denny's," Ritsuko sighed.
"How do you know?" said Maya. "I don't remember anything."
Ritsuko sighed. "I'm not vomiting. I have to pee, though, so my back is starting to work again. Give it a few minutes. The charge takes maybe half an hour or so."
Maya nodded and got up. She had to eat something, if only to settle her stomach, something nutritious. She hobbled into the kitchen and reached into the cupboard, looking for something easy to make, and settled on some noodle cups. Water didn't help her dry mouth, and she didn't want to know why there was a bottle of scotch in her refrigerator now.
Ritsuko trundled out, still wearing nothing from the waist down but her skimpy underthings, and plugged her butt into the wall next to Maya's little kitchen table. She plopped down in the seat and winced.
"Cold!"
Ritsuko stirred her noodles and sighed. "I should get back to work."
"You should put on some pants first," said Maya.
"My God, she made a joke."
Maya smiled a little, and poured the rest of her soup down her gullet, and let out a tiny little burp, then blushed, covering her mouth.
"You are just too precious," said Ritsuko.
Eventually, Ritsuko's back beeped, and she coiled up the wire and stuffed it back in her purse. She tugged her pants back on, muttering at the effort it took to pull them up over her backside, and Maya mostly looked away, except for the few times she didn't. Ritsuko could be very… bouncy. She emerged from the bedroom and flopped on Maya's couch.
"Let's watch TV," said Ritsuko.
"I thought we were going to work?" said Maya.
"It's Saturday," said Ritsuko. "We should…"
Their phones went off at once, and outside, the evacuation alarm begin to spin up. Maya trembled.
"Let's go," Ritsuko said, suddenly serious and on her feet, stepping into her shoes. "We have to get down to HQ, and we have to do it now."
Gendo walked out onto the bridge, and immediately buttoned his uniform jacket as he walked to the parapet above the technicians. Fuyutsuki took a place behind him. Summers was in the cage with the pilot, and Akagi should be there soon, and if she wasn't, Summers could handle prepping Unit Zero. He nodded at his subordinate. Two of the three senior techs were in place, and the third, the Ibuki girl, was running for her position. Ordinary he would have chastised her, or rather had Fuyutsuki chastise her, for being so out of uniform, but she was likely off duty when the alarm sounded.
"Status report," said Gendo.
Lt. Hyuga spoke without looking at him. "Blue pattern detected, inbound from the southeast. It's going to pass dangerously close to the Odo Island anomaly."
Gendo nodded, and folded his arms behind his back. "Inform the monitoring station, and order them to high alert. Contact the United Nations and the JSSDF, and initiate a radiological scan. I want to know if it begins moving. Inform them I am assuming operational command."
Aoba sat up. "Commander, sir, we have visual confirmation from units in the field. A creature is emerging from the bay. It's an Angel."
"Order the JSSF units to fall back, they're wasting their time. Decouple the secondary and tertiary arc reactors from the city grid, and spin up the auxiliaries. I want the city in combat configuration in twenty minutes."
Gendo walked to his desk and picked up the phone at the corner, switching to the intercom. His voice rang hollow in the command center, and in the entire base.
"This is the Commander speaking. Action stations. Rig for Eva launch. This is not a drill."
He put the phone down. "My son and the von Doom girl. Where are they?"
Fuyutsuki nodded. "En route. There was some trouble with Kyoko's girl, but Shinji came quietly."
"The civilian evacuation?"
Fuyutsuki looked at his tablet. "Eighty percent. Some of them aren't going to make it."
"They should have taken the drills more seriously," said Gendo. "You have the deck. I'm going to the cages."
It was time. At long last, it was time.