Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.
Chapter Six
Rei Ayanami was laying on the bed in her desolate and dilapidated apartment, holding a pillow and appearing to stare at nothing.
To most of the people who knew Rei, this wouldn't have seemed the least bit unusual. After all, the First Child did spend most of her time in school gazing silently out the window at passing clouds. However, Rei's current state was anything but usual.
She was confused.
Rei wasn't used to confusion. After all, she had known what her ultimate purpose in life was since she had been old enough to understand it, and her loyalty to her creator was absolute. Such knowledge and attitudes did not breed uncertainty and internal conflict.
Yet despite this, Pilot Ikari's actions had still managed to confuse her. He had done the same thing the Commander had, opening her superheated entry plug with his hands, and he had requested nothing more than a smile in return. Rei simply could not comprehend why Pilot Ikari had done such a thing for her.
Granted, he did not know how completely expendable she was, but that still failed to explain his actions. She had struck him mere hours earlier, and he had seemed…terrified of her when he was at her apartment. They were not friends, and he had not even known her for very long. She was not the keystone of any plan of Pilot Ikari's, as she was for the Commander's scenario.
Rei picked up Commander Ikari's ruined glasses from her bedside table and looked at them for a long moment. She had no memento of Pilot Ikari's rescue of her, yet it was that which plagued her thoughts.
Simply put, Rei didn't know how she was supposed to respond to what Pilot Ikari had done. Clearly, such a…dramatic act required some kind of response from her beyond a mere smile, but Rei had no idea what would be appropriate.
"Do I now 'owe him one?'" she wondered aloud, recalling a phrase she had heard her classmates use on occasion.
She paused, frowning very slightly. "And if so, one of what?"
Not long after their mother had died, Hikari had tried to institute a new tradition among the Horaki girls, namely movie night. This was back before NERV had gone into overdrive, forcing their father to work late virtually every night; at that time, he'd usually only worked late on Friday nights. With their mother newly dead, their home had seemed oppressively empty when their father was absent, despite how much noise Nozomi made.
Hikari had been quite pleased with herself for coming up with movie night, which she viewed as a simple but elegant solution to the problem, giving them something to focus upon besides how quiet it was. Unfortunately, the tradition had died in the cradle.
The problem was that their taste in movies was too different. Nozomi would loudly complain if they tried to watch one of Kodama's science fiction flicks or documentaries, while Kodama would point out every single physical impossibility in the kung-fu movies Nozomi tended to favor.
And they both hated Hikari's romantic comedies. Nozomi would make loud gagging sounds at the romantic parts if they watched one. Kodama would attempt to tolerate them with good grace, but she'd always fall asleep and start snoring.
Thus, after only a few weeks, movie night became TV night, which usually involved gratuitous amounts of channel surfing and fighting over the remote until they found something they could all stand watching.
At the current moment, Nozomi had the remote, which meant only one thing.
"Damn it, Nozomi! I am not watching American Gladiators!" Kodama snapped, trying to take the coveted device from her youngest sister. "Why do we even get American Gladiators? We're in Japan, and it's all reruns anyway!"
"Who cares why we get it?" Nozomi replied, sitting on the remote in an attempt to keep Kodama from laying her fingers on it. "It's awesome!"
"It's idiotic! Now gimmie!" Kodama demanded.
With a grunt of effort, the chemistry major picked up the eleven-year-old, revealing the remote. Nozomi squealed and snatched it up a moment before Kodama could. The eldest Horaki girl responded by unceremoniously dumping Nozomi back onto the couch, and the two began to wrestle for the remote.
Seated on an easy chair that their father usually occupied when he was at home, Hikari sighed contentedly, tossing a kernel of popcorn into her mouth from the bowl she had on her lap. This certainly wasn't what she'd had in mind when she'd proposed movie night and then TV night, but it did have a certain sisterly charm to it.
This is way more entertaining than any movie could ever be, she thought with a grin.
As Kodama and Nozomi fought, one or both of them hit one of the buttons to scroll through the channels.
"The economic situation—"
"Mixers are on sale NOW for only—!"
"Hey there, kids! I'm—"
"For a limited time only—"
"Rise Shining Gund—!"
"A hostage situation—"
"Live at the Tokyo-2 Dome—!"
"Wait!" Hikari barked, abruptly causing the fight on the couch to pause.
"What is it, Hikari-chan?" Kodama asked, even as she retained her death grip on the remote.
"Go back a few," Hikari ordered.
Kodama and Nozomi traded a glance, then both seemed to shrug. Nozomi let go of the remote, and Kodama obediently began to scroll back through the channels.
"There! Stop," Hikari said when Kodama flipped to a news program.
"—of Tokyo-3 Municipal Junior High School," the voice of the news anchor said, the picture showing a building near the center of the city that was surrounded by police. "He was abducted this afternoon at approximately four thirty, police say. The heavily armed kidnappers are now holed up inside this building, engaged in a tense standoff with police. Strangely, the kidnappers have not issued any demands."
"Tokyo-3 Junior High? That's your school," Kodama commented.
Hikari nodded silently, not taking her eyes off the screen for a moment.
"We at channel three news have just obtained a photograph of the victim," the anchor said.
Hikari gasped as Toji's school picture appeared on the screen.
"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the boy and his family," the anchor continued. "Channel three news will be bringing you updates on this story as it develops. In other news…"
"You know him, Hikari-chan?" Kodama asked.
Hikari nodded. "He's in my class at school."
"Why would anyone kidnap him?" Nozomi asked. "Are his parents rich or something?"
Hikari shook her head. "Not so far as I know," she said. "Um, I think I'm going to go to bed now."
Nozomi frowned. "It's only eight o'clock!"
"I, uh, don't feel too well," Hikari explained lamely, getting up and placing her bowl of popcorn on a nearby coffee table. "Good night."
She quickly headed for her room, leaving her confused sisters behind. Good thing I've already gotten a new costume, she thought as she hurriedly ascended the stairs. Not that it had been a difficult task, considering that all the costume shops in Tokyo-3 were selling Spirit costumes now.
Hikari hadn't really planned on going out as Spirit for anything besides the Angels, especially after Shinji had told her that NERV viewed her as a hostile for some reason. For Toji, however, she could make an exception.
Besides, it wasn't as though she'd have trouble against human opponents, no matter how heavily armed. She could get there, rescue her crush, flirt with him a bit, and be back in nothing flat.
I wonder what I'll come up with to say to him this time? She mused with a small grin as she finished donning the costume.
Hikari opened her window. "I have wings," she whispered.
Seconds later, Spirit soared out into the night.
Special Agent Takehito Yamadera was nervous.
Actually, he considered, nervous was an understatement. He was anxious as all hell, and it was only by the virtue of his training that he was able to keep himself from becoming visibly jittery.
As a member of Section Two, he'd known that he might be called upon to perform black ops for NERV. However, kidnapping some civilian kid off the street and holding him hostage in order to get a girl with the powers of an Angel to show up simply went beyond the pale.
"It's been three hours now," complained one of his subordinates, a man named Gao.
"She'll show up eventually," Yamadera assured the man automatically. "Once she hears her little boyfriend's been captured, she'll come. Just a question of when that is."
"Damn, but I wish we had bigger guns than just these pistols," Gao continued to whine. "If the cops bust in—"
"The police aren't going to burst in here," Yamadera growled. "The Commander's pulled strings with the police chief. They'll wait out there until doomsday if they have to. And it would look kind of suspicious if a group of guys who are supposed to be just a gang of crazy criminals had semiautomatic weapons, now wouldn't it?"
"Still—"
"Shut the hell up," Yamadera snapped.
Men like Gao were the problem with Section Two, Yamadera mused.
Really, the ideal candidate for Section Two needed only two things: military training and a complete lack of scruples. Unfortunately, such men were in high demand in the post-Second Impact world. While the first world had pulled itself back together since that cataclysm, the third world hellholes had only gotten worse. Every tin pot dictator and rebel leader wanted mercenaries who could shoot straight and didn't care who or what they were pointed at. As a result, NERV was often forced to scrape the bottom of the barrel, and sometimes hired people who lacked both morals and adequate training.
Yamadera tapped a button on the radio headset he was wearing. "This is Birdcatcher. Report on the hostage's status."
"Still pissed off, but pretty quiet," came the voice of one of the Section Two men on a lower floor of the building, where they were keeping Suzuhara.
Yamadera nodded. "Good," he said, then turned to his team. "Unless the girl has X-ray vision and feels like busting through a window, she'll come here first. We're right by the only rooftop entrance to the building."
"You've said that six times in the past hour, boss," Gao pointed out.
"At least I'm not the one bitching and moaning!" Yamadera barked. "Now shut the hell up!"
Yamadera's headset suddenly crackled to life. "Birdcatcher, this is headquarters. We've detected the red/blue pattern. The bird is heading your way."
"Finally," Yamadera grumbled. "Places everyone."
With humans as her enemies that night, Spirit had feared that her quarry would be difficult to find. After all, her sixth sense for the Angels had always led her to foes in the past, and the fact that they had all been enormous so far hadn't exactly made them harder to locate. Fortunately, she only had to fly around the city for a few minutes before she sighted the building surrounded by police cars and illuminated by spotlights.
Front door's obviously not an option, not unless I want to fight with the police, Spirit thought. I guess that means I'm going in from the roof.
She landed lightly, and soon spied a single door to that would lead her down to the building's top floor. Spirit marched over to it, prepared to rip it off its hinges. She was surprised to find that unnecessary; it was unlocked. She opened the door…
And found herself face to face with half a dozen men in black suits, all of whom had guns pointed right at her.
She smirked. "Don't even bother trying, gentlemen. Just point me towards Suzuhara and get out of my way."
One of the men fired.
Spirit tried to raise her AT field, but to her horror it failed to materialize.
The bullet slammed into her shoulder, and she screamed at the intense and unexpected pain, falling backwards as her costume was stained red by her blood.
"You idiot!" one of the other man spat. "Our orders are to take her alive if possible! Ikari will have our asses if she dies from that!"
The words, and what they meant, didn't immediately register in Spirit's mind. She was too caught up in the incredible pain, feeling as though she had a small, burning coal lodged inside her. The wound was smaller than the one she'd sustained against the Fifth Angel, but the agony was much deeper and more intense.
Fearing that her regenerative abilities would cause her body to heal around the bullet if it was left alone, Spirit steeled herself and reached into the wound. Tears poured from her eyes, staining her mask, as she dug into her damaged tissue and gripped the deadly piece of metal.
She was amazed at how small it was; the thing felt a lot bigger.
With a cry of mingled triumph and pain, she pulled the bullet out and flung it across the rooftop, never wanting to lay eyes upon it again. The wound was already starting to close up when she did so.
Spirit sat up…just in time to see one of the men fire a stun gun at her.
"There," Yamadera said, casting a dark look at the agent who'd fired the .22 at Spirit. "That's the way we were supposed to do it."
One of the agents stepped forward and placed heavy handcuffs around both Spirit's wrists and ankles.
Yamadera tapped a button on his headset. "Headquarters, this is Birdcatcher. Stage three of the operation was a success."
He was surprised when the unmistakable voice of Commander Ikari responded. "Well done, Birdcatcher. Return to headquarters immediately."
"Roger, sir."
Spirit began to stir, to Yamadera's amazement. The high powered stun gun could have knocked a horse out for hours, but this costumed teenager was regaining consciousness after only a minute.
She opened her red eyes. "How?" she croaked. "My…field…"
Yamadera smirked. "We installed an AT field neutralization zone generator in this building," he explained. "It's impossible to deploy an AT field here."
"I see," Spirit said. "Fortunately for me, all my other powers still seem to be intact."
Before Yamadera could respond, she snapped the chains of the cuffs on her wrists and ankles as if they were made out of paper, then kicked Yamadera, knocking the wind out of him and sending him flying into the other Section Two men, knocking them over like bowling pins.
"Stop her!" Yamadera gasped out. "Kill her if you have to!"
Shots rang out, but it took the Section Two men a moment longer then they actually had to get to their feet and get over the shock of Spirit's sudden escape. The first few bullets went wild, missing the winged girl entirely. Before they could take more careful aim, she had made it to the edge of the roof and leapt off, soaring off into the darkness and quickly moving beyond the AT field neutralization zone.
"Damn it!" Yamadera swore. He turned on his headset again. "Commander, this is Birdcatcher. The target has escaped. Repeat, target has escaped."
"I see," came the voice of Commander Ikari, colder than ice and promising to reward failure with endless torment. "So the operation was a complete failure?"
Yamadera spied the bloodied bullet that Gao had shot Spirit with. He went over to it and gingerly picked it up. "Maybe not."
He could almost feel Commander Ikari arching a curious eyebrow. "Indeed? Well, hurry back with whatever you've managed to salvage. I've just been informed that the leader of the police squad outside the building disobeyed the orders of his chief. The authorities are storming the building as we speak."
Yamadera cursed. Their escape plan was to go to the basement of the building, which connected with the ceiling of the Geofront, and dive down with parachutes that they'd brought along. Obviously, a squad of police between them and the basement made that plan a great deal more difficult to execute.
"You should remember that if you are captured, NERV will disavow you," Ikari advised before closing the channel.
Spirit stood on the ledge of a building neighboring the one that the NERV agents had holed up inside, cloaked in shadows. It had been twenty minutes since she'd escaped their trap, and nothing had come out of the building yet, even though she'd seen police going in. She didn't dare venture back there, back where she couldn't manifest an AT field and where men with guns intended to capture her or, failing that, kill her. Besides, she told herself, they weren't interested in Toji; he was just the bait to lure her in. They wouldn't hurt him; they had no reason to.
At least, she hoped not.
Finally, a group of policemen emerged from the building, escorting a shaken looking but unharmed Toji Suzuhara. Spirit heaved a sigh of relief, and then took off, heading for home.
I can't believe I was stupid enough to actually fall for that, she thought as she glided through the dark sky.
It had been an obvious trap in hindsight. The fact that the boy Spirit had saved twice already had gotten kidnapped by people who demanded no ransom should have raised red flags in her mind at once, especially knowing how NERV wanted to capture her.
But she hadn't given it a second thought, too eager to again go rushing off to her crush's rescue and flirt with him behind the safety of her mask. Even after the last Angel had shown her that she wasn't invincible, she had still recklessly plunged into the breach.
I'm definitely going to have to be more careful in the future, she thought, glancing down at the large blood stain on her costume. And I'll need another new costume…oh well. Toji's safe, and I'm not being taken down to NERV for experiments. All's well that ends well, I guess. At least this ordeal's over.
Reaching her home, she carefully entered her room through her window. With a sigh, she peeled off her mask, still slightly damp with her tears of agony.
And at that exact moment, the screen separating her room from the hallway was slid open. "Nee-chan?" Nozomi said from the doorway.
The little girl's jaw dropped when she lay eyes upon Hikari. "Oh my gosh! My sister's Spirit!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, jumping up and down in her excitement. "This is so cool! SUGOI!"
Hikari suddenly felt like a ball of ice had formed in her stomach. "N-Nozomi! Be quiet!" she demanded with as much force as she could muster at the moment. "What are you even doing in here?"
"I was worried about you and came to check on you. When you said you weren't feeling well, I was afraid that you might be getting sick again," Nozomi explained hurriedly. "Can you take me flying with you? Oh, how about showing me those cross shaped blasts? Was killing the Fourth Angel hard?"
Before Hikari could make any kind of reply, Kodama appeared in the doorway next to Nozomi.
"Nozomi-chan, what in the world are you yelling…" she trailed off as she turned and saw Hikari, her eyes growing wide. "...about?"
Hikari smiled weakly. "Hello, nee-chan."
Ten minutes later found Hikari back in her normal clothes and form, sitting in the living room with her sisters and explaining everything to them. The only things she held back were how drastically her attitude changed when she was being Spirit and how she had repeatedly flirted with Toji. Nozomi's eyes grew wider and wider as Hikari told her story, looking upon her with an expression of naked awe that the middle Horaki girl was quite unused to. What really concerned her, though, was the steadily increasing look of worry on Kodama's face.
"And then I came back home, and Nozomi-chan saw me just as I took my mask off," Hikari finished.
"Yatta," Nozomi whispered reverently.
Kodama sighed. "Hikari-chan," she began, wiping a hand across her face. "This…I can't believe you'd do something as insane as this. You could have been killed."
"If I hadn't helped Shinji kill the Fourth Angel, everyone could have been killed," Hikari pointed out. "You're…you're not going to tell Dad, are you?"
Kodama sighed again. "No," she decided. "Dad's been too overprotective of us since Mom died. He'd be afraid that these powers are killing you or something, and he'd take you to the doctors and tell them about it. Or even worse, he might not believe you about NERV being out to get you and take you there. We won't tell anyone about this."
She gave Nozomi a pointed look as she added the last part. The little girl pouted but didn't argue.
"But," Kodama continued, "you have to stop being Spirit."
"Wh-what?" Hikari sputtered.
"It's too dangerous," Kodama said firmly. "If you keep this up, you'll be captured and experimented on, or worse. Just leave the Angels to NERV."
Hikari narrowed her eyes, feeling resentment bubble up within her. Back when their mother had died, it had been assumed that Kodama, as the eldest sister, would be the one to take over her responsibilities. But Kodama had proved too inept a homemaker, and she had had college to think about. The burden had defaulted to Hikari as a result, and she had been the one to carry it, doing so without complaint.
Yet now, after abdicating all the motherly duties to Hikari, Kodama was trying to order her around like she was her mother. In spite of traditional Japanese deference to those older than yourself, Hikari was infuriated and could barely keep from showing it.
"I've told you about Shinji," Hikari argued. "He doesn't really know what he's doing, and he's very unsuited for the job of piloting EVA to boot. He's NERV's only active pilot. I have to help him."
Hikari and Kodama locked eyes for a long moment, neither one looking away.
Finally, Kodama sighed. "I'm not going to dissuade you, am I?" she asked at last.
"No," Hikari said flatly.
She didn't add "And you can't stop me, either," but it was implied clearly enough.
"Fine," Kodama said, resigned. "Do what you want. But if I have to explain to Dad how and why you died, I'll kill you."
Knowing the strange ways Kodama's brilliant but sometimes scattered mind worked, Hikari wasn't entirely sure how much humor her older sister had intended.
"Bye, Misato!" Shinji called as he left the apartment.
"Have fun at school, Shinji-kun," Misato called back.
Hearing the front door close as her charge departed, Misato grabbed a few cans of beer from the fridge and made her way to the couch in the living room. The purple haired woman, as scantily clad as she usually was when loafing around her home, plopped down onto the couch with a contented sigh.
"This is what days off were made for, Pen-Pen," she said sagely.
The warm water penguin, who was lounging in a corner of the room and playing with a fishbone, didn't even bother to look up at her. Misato shrugged, grabbing the remote and turning on the TV, then cracking open a can of Yebisu.
She began to gulp down the nectar of the gods with relish, only half listening to the morning news program she'd turned on.
"…and the expected high is a balmy 78 degrees," said the overly perky anchor girl. "In other news, Tokyo-3 Police are still unable to discern a motive behind the kidnapping of Toji Suzuhara that occurred last night."
Misato nearly sent beer flying out her nose at hearing the familiar name, but was able to prevent herself from wasting the precious liquid in such an unpleasant fashion. She set the can down on the coffee table and gave the TV her full attention.
"As you may know," the anchor continued, "Suzuhara was kidnapped yesterday afternoon. His captors holed themselves up inside of Yoshimata Tower and then engaged in an hours long stand off with the police. Captain Yuki of the T3PD decided to storm the building when the mysterious Spirit was spotted landing on the roof. Though Spirit retreated from the scene only minutes later, the police were able to rescue Suzuhara. The kidnappers are all presumed dead. Those who did not die in a pitched gunfight with police apparently committed suicide, leaping from the building's basement into the Geofront below.
"When asked to comment on his bold actions, Captain Yuki said, 'When I saw Spirit land on the roof, I knew those monsters inside would be distracted and that I wouldn't get another opportunity as good.'"
The anchor girl lightly touched the small earpiece she was wearing. "I'm just getting breaking news on this story. Apparently, one of the kidnappers was found with a NERV ID card identifying him as Hiro Saki. NERV Commander Gendo Ikari has denied any NERV involvement in this crime via a written statement. Now in sports—"
Misato turned off the TV, her carefree feelings from moments earlier quite gone. The kidnapping had Section Two written all over it; she recognized their shoddy work, and it wasn't hard for her to figure out their motives at all. The discovery of the NERV card only erased what little doubt she might have had otherwise.
She picked up her can and downed the remaining beer in one swallow. I never would have guessed that Commander Ikari would resort to something so illegal, she mused.
Absently tossing her now empty can in the general direction of the trash bin, Misato then popped another one open and began to drink. Something was very wrong inside NERV, that much was for sure.
But what exactly was it? What drove the Commander to treat Spirit like their worst enemy? And what could she hope to do about it?
Hikari had thought that, after having angelic wings burst from her back one day, she could never know surprise greater than she had already experienced. She thought wrong.
Rei Ayanami approached her at the start of the lunch period.
Rei Ayanami approaching anyone by choice, save perhaps for her fellow EVA pilot, was something Hikari had rated as slightly less probable than the Earth spontaneously starting to rotate the other way.
"Representative Horaki," Rei said in her usual soft voice, "I would speak with you in private."
"Um, all right," Hikari said. "Let's go up to the roof."
Rei nodded and silently followed her up the stairs. Once they had reached their destination, Hikari turned and gave Rei an expectant look. Surprisingly, the blue haired girl actually seemed rather uncomfortable.
"You are Ikari's only friend, are you not?" Rei asked.
Hikari blinked, wondering where Rei could possibly be going with this. "Well, yes, I suppose so," she said.
"Are you Spirit?" Rei asked in the exact same tone she'd used to ask her previous question.
Hikari felt as though she'd been punched in the gut. "How did you know?" she asked, eyes wide and terrified.
"Until now, I only suspected," Rei said, and Hikari shut her eyes, realizing how stupid she had just been. "I could sense that there was something…different about you after you returned from your sick leave."
"Are you going to tell NERV?" Hikari whispered.
"No," Rei answered. "Pilot Ikari…did something for me, and I do not wish for him to become distraught. I believe the loss of his only friend would make him so."
"Yes, I'm sure it would," Hikari agreed earnestly. "Is this why you called me up here? To ask me if I'm Spirit?"
"No," Rei said. "I wanted to warn you, if you were Spirit."
Hikari frowned. "Warn me? About what?"
"Section Two was able to obtain a sample of your blood after your confrontation with them last night," Rei explained. "They ran tests on it, but were unable to use it to discover your identity, due to how much of your genetic code has been overwritten by Angelic DNA. Commander Ikari has ordered all the high schools and junior high schools in Tokyo-3 to conduct random blood tests on all students one week from today. Ostensibly, the tests will be conducted for the purpose of finding students who use illegal narcotics, but the true reason will be to find you."
"I'll have to call in sick that day," Hikari mused.
"You will be tested when you return to school," Rei said.
"Then what do I do?" Hikari demanded, becoming frantic.
"I do not know," Rei answered.
Hikari sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Arigato."
Rei nodded and began to walk toward the stairs. She somehow looked incredibly lonely as she did, and Hikari reminded herself that Rei hadn't been obligated to warn her about the blood test.
"Ayanami, wait," Hikari said.
Rei stopped and turned around.
"Would you like to eat lunch with me? I'll invite Shinji to sit with us, too," she added, deciding that with Rei there as well, the school's rumor mill probably wouldn't go into overdrive.
Rei hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "That would be acceptable."
Author's Notes: After all the Gendo in the previous chapter, I decided to focus almost entirely on Hikari for this one. I hope you enjoyed it.
I had originally planned to more or less ignore Rei in this fic, but then I thought about it and realized that ignoring the key to the Instrumentality Project was probably a bad idea. I needed someone to warn Hikari about the blood tests, anyway, since NERV would have to be pretty stupid to allow the schools to announce them beforehand and I do like the character.
The AT field neutralization zone isn't just something I made up, by the way, though by no means was it ever prominent in the anime. To the best of my knowledge it was only ever mentioned once: when the Fourteenth Angel was tearing its way into the Geofront, Misato asked what Unit Zero's status was, and Maya responded that it was in the AT field neutralization zone, but was still missing an arm.
Orionpax, yeah, spidey went through three costumes in the first movie alone, I think. Though the first one did pretty much suck. Fortunately for Hikari, she can just buy fresh ones now. Thanks for the suggestion about Misato.
As always, thanks to my readers and reviewers.
