Hi there!
Sorry for the huge delay in updating, this chapter was the victim of huge writers block, and several re-writes. So it took a veritable age to be finished. It was also going to be a much longer chapter, but I've decided to split it up into two parts, to stop it becoming too unwieldy.
Unbroken
Chapter 7
{"Si Dieu nous a faits à son image, nous le lui avons bien rendu."
"If God has made us in his image, we have returned him the favour." – Voltaire}
Still Life with Giant Robots
Rei Ayanami was confused. This state of confusion was a new experience to the blue haired girl… and she didn't like it.
Confusion would indicate uncertainty. Uncertainty would indicate doubt. The First Child had been conditioned never to doubt what she saw before her. Never to doubt what The Commander told her. Never to question what were clear and immutable truths.
Now Rei Ayanami knew doubt. For the last week it had assailed her. Doubt gnawed at the back of her consciousness like a mouse on a power cable. Doubt crept through the myriad passageways of her psyche and whispered seditious words in her ear. Doubt sat smugly at the core of her being and played Jenga™ with the building blocks of her life.
Rei Ayanami was beginning to get seriously annoyed with doubt and sought this day, in her own direct manner, to evict it from its new-found residence. The biggest problem she faced was this; her limited life experience hadn't really equipped her with the tools she need to solve her unfamiliar problem. That morning things had changed. As she had gone about her morning routine the solution had come to her seemingly from out of the blue.
Rei Ayanami now sought out the Second Child. Throughout that day at school she had been unable to gain the access that she had so desired to Asuka Soryu. During recess and the lunch hour Class Representative Horaki had been hovering closely by her target's side. Rei began to grow more anxious as the urge within her grew more strident.
If she had been asked, she couldn't have explained why speaking with the pilot of Unit 02 was suddenly so important to relieving her of the burden of her doubt. It was as if a voice, her own, but at the same time not her own, was pushing her to interact with the redheaded pilot.
Now the school day had ended and the three pilots had gone their separate ways before having to head to Central Dogma for the latest round of synchronisation testing. Rei walked briskly along the footpath. She almost always went straight from school to NERV on testing days. The other two Children usually spent the intervening hour or so with friends or doing homework. Rei had little need of either of those activities and would usually walk to NERV to prepare for the testing and then wait outside the Commander's office in case he should require to speak to her.
Today was different. Today, unlike every other day, she went straight past her usual entry point to the Geofront. Today the First Child walked with a purpose usually absent from her measured stride. Those very few that knew her well would immediately have spotted the difference in the girl. The educated observer would have seen that Rei Ayanami was clearly looking for something.
Or someone.
The day was warm, the humidity eased somewhat by the light breeze that played through the leaves of the plane trees that lined and shaded the footpath. Rei paid it no heed. At last knew that she was approaching her quarry as a flash of colour and movement caught her eye in the distance.
She saw the familiar silhouette and unmistakeable red hair of the girl who had been at the centre of her thoughts for the last few days.
The Second Child was walking alone less than one hundred metres in front of her. Rei hung back a little and observed the other girl as she walked. Asuka's gaze was cast down and she would kick at the occasional pebble that crossed her path. The blue haired girl was puzzled. The behaviour of Pilot Soryu had been aberrant for a couple of weeks now. Beginning with her unexplained outburst during Second Impact Studies and culminating in her unusual actions of the moment. The normally fiery redhead had definitely been much more subdued in recent weeks. Less liable to violence and sarcastic remarks than before and much more often preferring to keep to herself while at school.
The Second Child's involvement with Pilot Ikari had taken an even more dramatic turn. From Rei's observations it seemed as if Shinji was avoiding talking or interacting with Asuka while they were at school. At the same time she often noticed that Pilot Soryu could be found staring pensively at the young Ikari.
The usual drills and combat training at NERV had kept them mostly separated over the last week but she could still detect a definite coolness in the interactions of the other two pilots. Something deep inside her goaded her to discover the reason behind this unwarranted change in her world.
Rei waited at a set of pedestrian lights as she mused on these strange developments. In the distance ahead of her the slight figure of the Second Child had become lost in the crowd of shoppers making their progress along the retail districts that lined the way.
The signal changed to green and Rei crossed the street with an unfamiliar nervous tension twisting inside her stomach. The shopping crowd had dispersed itself amongst the busier side streets, but Asuka was nowhere to be seen. She quickened her pace and reached the spot where she had last spied the redhead.
There was no sign of the other girl. Rei pressed her lips together in annoyance. She walked further along the rows of small businesses and stopped again at an otherwise nondescript convenience store. She surveyed it curiously. On an impulse she walked through the door and into the dimly lit store. The clerk at the counter looked at her apathetically for a moment before returning to his manga. Apart from Rei it seemed that the shop was totally empty of patrons. Around her brightly coloured packages of instant meals and snack food lined the shelves. People she didn't know smiled out at her from the covers of the magazines in the rack next to the counter. There clearly was nothing to help her here.
She was about to leave when the sound of a car's engine being revved loudly caused her to stop in her tracks. Through the doorway she saw a dark green sports car pull up at the kerb in front of the store.
Rei hung back in the shadow of the doorway as the driver and sole occupant of the vehicle stepped out of the car. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she recognised him almost instantly. Special Inspector Kaji was well known to the First Child. She didn't trust his easy confidence and glib charm. She knew that the Commander and Sub Commander didn't trust the man entirely, though they seemed to tolerate him and even draw him into some of their confidences.
The pony-tailed agent did a quick head check around him. Rei instinctively stepped back a pace into the recesses of the store, but he made no sign of having seen her.
"Are you going to buy something, or are you just gonna stand there?"
Rei turned around to look at the store clerk. The man sat behind the counter stared over the top of his manga at her. A scantily clad girl with unrealistically coloured hair and eyes posed provocatively on the cover. His greasy hair hung down over his eyes as he leered at her openly.
"I do not wish to purchase anything." Rei answered the man.
"Then get out. This isn't the Shibuse Hyper-mall." The clerk replied surlily.
Rei looked back out of the doorway and saw that Kaji had moved on. Without giving the clerk a second glance she stepped through and back out into the humid afternoon sunshine.
Blinking rapidly to adjust her eyes to the brighter light outside she looked left and right before catching sight of the back of a pony-tailed figure disappearing around the corner. Quickly Rei walked to the corner and peered around it into the street beyond. She instantly recognised Agent Kaji as he crossed the road about twenty metres away, making a bee-line to a small sidewalk café on the other side. Sitting with her back to Rei's position at one of the tables that sheltered beneath a large canvas umbrella, and apparently talking to a waitress, Rei once again recognised the figure of the Second Child. The waitress moved away and Asuka looked back and smiled and waved as she saw Kaji approach. Rei hung back and attempted to conceal herself behind one of the plane trees that lined the street-scape.
Such hiding and subterfuge were usually completely beyond the blue haired girl's experience, but now they felt like the natural thing to do. She felt that if she were detected by the pair that she would be upsetting Asuka and she wished to avoid the Second Child's ire at this point. Rei still hoped to converse with her to attempt to quiet her own sense of unease.
Shortly the waitress returned with two cups of coffee and placed them in front of the two. The redhead took a large sip from her cup and from what Rei could tell she began to speak, seldom giving the pony-tailed man a chance to interrupt. Oddly, to Rei at least, she saw that the normally confident Second Child didn't once raise her eyes from her cup the whole time that she spoke, and her hands seemed unable to hold still, but fiddled with and spun the cup constantly on its saucer in front of her.
From her vantage point Rei was unable to see Asuka's face as she spoke to Kaji, but she was able to clearly discern the older man's reaction to the conversation. At first the man's confident façade remained intact as he smiled indulgently at his younger companion. Then quickly his smile faded and a look of puzzlement sat on his features. Finally his face appeared to show a genuine shock at whatever the girl sitting opposite him was saying.
Eventually it appeared that Asuka had finished speaking. Both of them sat silently for several minutes, the redhead apparently dabbing at her eyes and face with a napkin.
Kaji stared at her with his hand over his chin for what felt like an age to Rei. Eventually he spoke at length to the young pilot, who seemed to answer him in much shorter sentences, still staring all the time at her cup. Then finally Kaji stood up, pulled his wallet out and drew several notes from it and placed them on the table in front of Asuka. Placing his hand on the girl's shoulder he spoke a couple of words before walking back across the street towards Rei's position. Rei slid herself further around its trunk so as to remained concealed, but the pony-tailed man strode by without even a sideways glance at where she stood. Within seconds he had vanished back around the corner.
Looking back to the café she could see that the Second Child had departed as well. Once again Rei was unable to tell which direction Asuka had gone. Not wishing to give away the fact that she had been spying herself, Rei waited until she saw the green sports car pass the end of the street before making her own way back to her usual entrance to the Geofront. As she walked her inexperienced mind attempted to make some sense of what she had witnessed. She knew that in the past Pilot Soryu had made no secret of her infatuation with Agent Kaji, but this had seemed much different from a childish confession of love from an immature girl to an older man.
The spy's candid reaction to whatever Asuka had told him hinted at something beyond what Rei was able to grasp. Much to her annoyance, her confusion had increased dramatically when she had merely sought to diminish it.
Maybe if she asked the Commander he would be able to help explain what may have happened more satisfactorily.
Almost instinctively she knew that this would be an unwise move. She had never kept a secret from Commander Ikari in her entire life, but something inside her told her that he would not appreciate her interest in the doings of the Second Child.
Resolving to keep her knowledge and doubts to herself until she could learn more, Rei swiped her access card through the reader at the main gate and descended into the labyrinthine passageways of the Geofront.
The latest round of sync-testing was due to start in less that half and hour.
"Come on Asuka, concentrate!" The Major encouraged her charge. She was deeply worried about Asuka. Sure the girl's behaviour had been… unusual… recently, but now Misato was beginning to really worry about her with this sudden new development. The telemetry data on Ritsuko's screen told what would be a devastating tale for the redheaded pilot.
Asuka's synchronisation rate was currently hovering barely above Rei's.
"Come on Asuka.." Misato repeated to herself quietly. This wasn't supposed to even be possible. This was just a run of the mill synch-test. How had it all gone so awry?
The simulation bodies was merely conduits to the Evangelions themselves, enabling the scientific team in Project E to control the interface and, if the worst happened, physically sever the connection between pilot and their Unit without the risk of the Eva going berserk. They had been quickly jury-rigged to prevent a repeat of the damage to personnel and equipment that had resulted from Unit 00's disastrous activation back before the Angel's had attacked Tokyo-3 . To the Pilots in the plugs, apart from lacking the visual normal feedback, there was little tangible difference between sitting in the simulation plug and being in the Evangelion itself.
Asuka sat in her plug as she tried to clear her mind and reach out to the Evangelion like she had done so easily in the past. Though she had been nervous in the lead up to the test, deep down she had been buzzing with the excitement of what finally being able to bond with Unit 02 would actually mean.
Donning the plug suit had certainly felt… well… weird at first, but frighteningly familiar all the same. The last time she had worn it she had been a battered and filthy waif staggering through Tokyo-3 during the first days of her struggle to survive after the Third Impact. She slid the clean and shiny bright red suit out of its sealed plastic package and stared at it apprehensively.
Shedding her school uniform she left it in an untidy heap on the locker room floor. Tentatively stepping into the bright red suit she felt the familiar whoosh of air as she pressed the switch and it tightened around her body.
"Ikuhayo Asuka!" She had breathed to herself, clenching her right fist in front of her she exited the locker room and walked purposefully to the testing lab.
Fighting down a small rush of panic she settled into the test plug Asuka closed her eyes and forced herself to breath in the first sickly-sweet breaths of the uncharged LCL.
"Initiating start-up sequence" Came the disembodied voice of Maya Ibuki.
The kaleidoscope of colour swirled around her for several seconds before resolving back into the inside of the test plug, albeit somewhat clearer due to the now electrolysed LCL filling both it and her lungs.
Immediately she reached out with her consciousness as she had been trained to do since she was five. Beyond the thought noise generated between her and Unit 02 by the link she could now feel the massive psychic weight of her Evangelion hungrily rushing forward to envelop her. 'Hello, Mother.' She thought to the presence in the plug with her.
Instantly the temperature seemed to drop in the LCL she was sitting in. She could immediately feel the confusion and blunt rage of the Evangelion focusing on her. The intensity took her breath away.
"Asuka, what's wrong? Your sync-rate is barely in double figures!"
Asuka ignored Misato's question as she struggled to link with the Eva and gain control of the swirling raw emotion that it threw at her. She swore at herself for her cockiness. She had just assumed that knowing the secret of the ghost in the machine that it would welcome her with a mother's loving embrace. She had thought that she would quickly be able to establish her position as the top pilot and therefore able to better influence the upcoming battles and be better placed to protect Shinji from the horrors that she knew were to come.
Instead the Evangelion's aura recoiled from her as if she were a stranger to it. She could feel its incoherent and primal anger buffeting her senses as she battled with its will.
"Disconnect the nerves links, there's too much feedback in the system! Terminate the test!" She could hear Dr Akagi shouting.
"No!" Asuka screamed. "I can do this!"
"Asuka!" Misato cried in concern.
"Trust me Misato!" She panted. "Just give me a few seconds!"
Asuka took a deep breath of the LCL and cleared her mind, ignoring the wailing feedback from the nerve connections and the searing pain that lanced through her body. She focused her will on that of Unit 02. The presence of the Evangelion backed away from her a little in confusion. She now recognised what the problem was. The last time that she had synchronised with Unit 02 in this timeline she had been a precocious and self obsessed young girl. The Evangelion had known her and accepted her presence from the time she was five years old. It had grown and bonded with her. It had loved her in some primaeval kind of way. Now suddenly an Asuka who had experienced the end of the World, her own death and dismemberment and fought for survival for a year in the wilderness was sitting in the entry plug and expecting it to welcome her as its prodigal daughter. There was only one problem with this.
The Evangelion didn't recognise her as the girl who had last synched with it just over a fortnight ago in its own time frame. Its basic and primitive mother instinct could feel that Asuka was able to link to it, but the blunt and unfiltered emotion that the beast within was capable of reacted in violent confusion at her now unfamiliar psyche.
Asuka gripped the control yokes tightly and concentrated all of her will back at the soul within the creature at the other end of the link. Latching onto the small part of the beast that she knew still recognised her she bent her thoughts towards it to the exclusion of all else. She was aware of Misato shouting instructions, but she ignored them. All she was concentrated on that tiny but significant link to the Evangelion.
Slowly, but inexorably, the psychic raging that buffeted her grew steadily quieter. Still she stayed focused on that link, shaping it with her mind until it responded to her will. Then, like someone inching along a precipice to safety, she drew herself towards it, gradually the beast at the other end of the link grew still and acquiescent to her will. Drawing in a deep breath of oxygenated LCL she opened her eyes to see the worried face of Misato Katsuragi staring wide eyed at her on the open com screen.
"Synch-Rate stabilised at fifty-eight percent." Maya Ibuki's voice echoed hollowly over the intercom.
"Well done Asuka!" Misato breathed.
Asuka just closed her eyes and nodded.
"What the hell just happened?" She heard her guardian ask the scientist to her left just before the Major closed off the com-link.
Ritsuko Akagi turned to her old friend. "It would appear that instability on the part of the pilot caused feedback in the synchronisation matrix." She said.
"You're saying that Asuka caused this?"
"No other explanation is possible." Ritsuko replied smugly. "All of the telemetry from Unit 02 indicated that the cause of the instability originated from the simulation-plug."
"But it is stabilised now, right?" Misato asked anxiously.
Ritsuko spent several long seconds poring over the data on the computer screen in front of her.
"According to the Magi the Second Child's psycho-graph is currently within a stable threshold with that of Unit 02. They predict a 99.8 percent probability that Asuka's current ratio will not undergo any further such anomalies in the future."
"A simple 'Yes' would have sufficed." Misato muttered.
Dr Akagi chewed the end of her biro pensively for a moment before re-opening the communication link to Asuka's sim-plug. "Come on Second Child! Fifty-eight percent! You must be able to do better than that!"
"I'm trying Doktor Schweinfrau!" Asuka replied testily.
"Jeez Ritsuko!" Misato said, having returned to her seat at the back of the control centre. "Stop riding her so hard, you know Asuka's had a tough couple of weeks!"
"That's no excuse Misato, and you know it!" The blonde scientist answered without even looking back at the major from her seat at the front of the room. "We need to have all of our pilots performing at maximum efficiency no matter what the circumstances! The Angels don't care if Asuka is having an off week or has just been acting like a spoiled little brat and, frankly, neither do I."
"Man… who rattled your cage?" Misato muttered to herself. Ritsuko's previous animosity towards the Second Child really had been taken to a new level recently and for the life of her Misato couldn't figure out why. "At least she's stabilised… What about the others?"
"Hmm… " Ritsuko replied, checking the other readouts on her monitor. "Rei is stable at 54 percent.. and Shinji, well, see for yourself!"
Misato leaned forward so the she could read the screen in front of the blonde scientist. "Wow! 72 percent! That's his best score yet! At least there's some good news to come out of this test!"
Ritsuko smiled bitterly before opening the channel to all of the pilots. "Good work Rei, you're up two points from last time."
"Yes." Replied the blue haired pilot, her face unreadable on the screen in front of her.
"And very good work from you Shinji!" Ritsuko continued. "You're at 72 percent! That's the highest score we've ever had from any of the pilots."
Shinji's usually guarded expression changed to one of shock and then a quiet smile finally showed on his features.
"Th-Thank you…"
Misato could see that Ritsuko was really enjoying herself as the blonde doctor continued. "That's fine Shinji, you deserve it! With your score up so high and Asuka's score down near Rei's, you're now our Number One Pilot!"
The Third Child continued smiling for a few more moments before his expression changed again and he looked down at the image of Asuka on the screen in front of him. Asuka, however, seemed unable to meet his eyes and just kept her head lowered before shutting off the feed to her own plug. Shinji's features betrayed some shock as the window disappeared before looking back out at Ritsuko and Misato.
"D-Did I really do well?" He asked, still unsure of how to handle his swirling emotions at this time.
"You sure did Shinji!" Ritsuko replied. "Like I said; 'You're Number One!'"
"Misato?" Shinji asked, still unsure.
"Not the words that I would have chosen…" The Major muttered to herself, before shaking her head and seeming to come back to herself. "Well done Shinji… " Misato answered him finally. "That's you're best score ever!" She gave him the thumbs-up as encouragement.
"Thank you." He said, finally allowing himself to look pleased.
"We're done here." Dr Akagi said, shutting off the video. "Maya, eject the simulation plugs and send all of the data through to Commander Ikari once you're done processing it."
"Yes Ma'am."
Misato picked up he coffee cup. "Send that data through to me as well please Lieutenant." She said more brusquely than she intended to Maya. She didn't notice the young tech's confused expression at the tension between the Major and her Senpai.
"Yes Ma'am."
Misato exited the room, her mind troubled by the events that had just occurred. She was genuinely happy for Shinji at having achieved such a great score. Lord only knew that the boy needed every boost to his self esteem that he could get. She couldn't help being deeply concerned for Asuka though. The usually brash on self confident German girl had really been out of sorts lately, and this synch test would surely be nothing less than a disaster in Asuka's mind.
Misato had a bad feeling that the worst was yet to come.
Rei walked out of the showers just in time to observe the Second Child venting her fury on her closed locker door with her right foot and fist. The light steel buckled under the barrage of kicks and blows that rained down upon it.
"Arrrgh!" The aggravated German screamed. "I wish this was that fucking Akagi bitch's pointy head!" More kicks and fist strikes pounded the locker until finally Asuka ceased her attack and turned on Rei who was still standing watching her.
"What do you want?" Asuka snapped.
"I fail to see the efficiency in destroying NERV property because you are disappointed at losing your premier piloting position to Pilot Ikari."
Asuka frowned darkly at her, the redhead's breaths echoing harshly in the confined locker room. "The last thing that I need right now, Wondergirl, is a lecture on 'efficiency' from you!"
Rei stared at her few a few seconds before she turned her back to her and began to dress in her school uniform.
Asuka nursed her bruised hand as she stared daggers at the other girl's back. "For your information, Ayanami, I'm angry because I that snooty bitch Akagi was lording it over me just because Shinji beat my score! She'd like nothing more than to see me fail, even at the expense of defeating the Angels!"
"You are still capable of operating your Evangelion." Rei replied without turning around. "I fail to see the justification for your current outburst."
"You wouldn't!" Asuka spat. "It's not just that Shinji beat me. It's that I failed to beat him. Don't you know how much I needed to… I couldn't… Arrgh! Why should I even try to explain this to you?"
Rei fastened the neck-tie of her uniform and turned around to meet the glare of the Second Child with an even and unblinking stare.
"What?" Asuka said impatiently.
"I am experiencing doubt."
"Congratulations, you're having what we humans call an emotion. I'm very happy for you!" Asuka said sarcastically. "Unfortunately I don't have the time now to throw a party for your 'real girl' awakening! I've got my own pile of shit to deal with!"
"You are referring to your failure in the synch-test?"
Asuka clenched her fists and suppressed a snarl. "Failure?" She said through clenched teeth. "I still beat your score, Wondergirl!"
"This is true. Yet you were lower than Pilot Ikari's score. Is this the source of your anger?"
"Why, all of a sudden, do you even give a fuck?" Asuka snapped, growing impatient with the blue haired girl.
"I have been troubled by the instability of the recent circumstances surrounding yourself and Pilot Ikari. I have recently developed the strong feeling that you could assist in making this more clear to me."
Asuka's eyes widened. Did Rei suspect anything? No, how could she? All Asuka had managed to do so far was bumble around her old life screwing things up even more than they were the first time around.
"I-I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about!" She stuttered.
"Nevertheless, Pilot Soryu, I have conceived a desire to converse with you, if I may?"
Asuka smiled nervously. "You? Want to 'converse' with me?" Asuka said incredulously. "Sure, why not? My day can't get any worse after all. Go ahead Wondergirl, talk!"
The blue haired pilot of Unit 00 hesitated, seemingly uncertain of how to proceed.
"Come on then? Spit it out Wondergirl!"
"You have changed." Rei said bluntly.
Asuka was entirely taken aback. "What do you mean, Changed?"
"You appear different to me. Your essence has altered."
"Essence!" Asuka screeched. "I have no idea what the hell you are on about, First!"
"You have changed, I have seen the inconsistency in you since your outburst in the classroom. I have also observed the difference in the relationship between yourself and Pilot Ikari. You are not the same."
"I'm don't know what they've been slipping into your LCL Wondergirl, but I'm still the same top pilot you'll never be!" Asuka said quickly trying to cover her nervousness at the other girl's apparent insight. Was she really that naked and transparent that even social hermit and poster child for introverts and shut ins everywhere could see straight through her?
"Nonetheless," Rei answered with a sense of unassailable finality in her tone. "I sense a profound change has taken place in you, Pilot Soryu. Throughout this day I have been experiencing a strong desire to discuss this with you."
"Well I sense a wind-up doll who is pissed off that even at my lowest she knows that she still can't beat me behind the controls of an Eva!" Asuka snarled back at her. "What does your new-found insight say to that?"
Rei seemed unable to answer Asuka's challenge. She stared unblinkingly at the German for thirty long seconds.
"Well?" Asuka snapped. "What do you have to say now, Wondergirl?"
"I am not a doll." Rei finally answered quietly.
Asuka snorted "Is that the best you've got?" Asuka snorted "Don't you have somewhere else to be Wondergirl?" She said testily. "I'm sure that your sparkling interpersonal skills are required elsewhere!"
The First Child stared at her for a little longer before seeming to realise the meaning of what Asuka had said. She blinked twice and then picked her satchel up from the inside of her locker and slung it over her shoulder.
"I'm leaving." She said as she turned and walked from the locker room without further communication.
"Thanks for that Wondergirl." Asuka said blowing a sigh into to the now empty locker room. "It's been educational!"
"I see that your dietary habits haven't changed."
"You're starting to sound like Ritsuko." Misato griped as she kept spooning the contents of the jar of chilli flakes into her bowl of cafeteria ramen.
Kaji grimaced as he took a swig of his coffee. "Well, as usual, I've got to say that I can't fault her logic." He replied dryly. "After all, it is only 10:30am."
The major just 'hmphed' at her former lover as she screwed the lid back on the jar and began slurping the soup out of the bowl. "For you perhaps. You haven't been up since 5am pulling the early shift. For me this is a late lunch!"
The pony-tailed agent pursed his lips and watched as Misato made short work of demolishing the questionable meal in front of her. While she finished he took a quick head count of the other occupants of the NERV cafeteria. At this time of the morning the cavernous space was virtually deserted. A couple of maintenance workers slouched over their mid morning coffees in the far corner, three of the back-up bridge staff chatted and joked as they ate from their metal lunch trays and that was pretty much it.
Kaji had done several surreptitious sweeps of the base after he had arrived in Tokyo-3 and had been surprised to discover that the cafeteria was a black hole insofar as Section 2 surveillance was concerned. The space was too open and public for anyone to pay it much notice as a venue for possible espionage. So in many ways it was the perfect place for the meeting that Kaji had in mind.
Finally Misato slurped up the last of the noodles left in the bowl and looked up at Kaji who sat patiently waiting for her.
"So," She said, wiping her face and hands on a paper napkin with a red half leaf logo in the corner. "Why did you want to meet me here? I'm guessing that it's not to reminisce about the old days and watch me eat ramen."
"Well, not entirely." Kaji replied with a smile. "Though it has been fun so far."
"Har-de-har." Misato answered dryly.
Kaji glanced around as the maintenance workers pushed their chairs back with loud metallic scraping noises and shuffled out of the cafeteria, presumably heading back to their shifts in the Evangelion bays.
"You seem a little on edge." The purple haired Major said. "What's going on Kaji? Has one of your ex-girlfriends caught up with you and started demanding paternity payments?"
"You know that you were always the only girl for me Misato!" Kaji said turning on his easy charm. She poked her tongue out at his glib response.
The spy quickly grew more sombre and leaned forward across the table. "Misato..." He said in a serious tone. "Has Asuka been acting… you know, kind of weird or unusual lately?"
"Asuka?" Misato said in surprise. "I guess she's been a little moody lately. Not that that's anything unusual in itself… She's a highly strung teenage girl with a lot of pressure on her. You've gotta expect all of that weight on her shoulders to cause her to cause her to give vent to a little steam from time to time!"
"Hmmm.." Kaji replied. "You do know that she asked me to meet her at a café downtown before the synch-tests yesterday?"
"Did she?" Misato asked with an amused smile. "You of all people should remember that she has had a crush on you for a long time now. I would have thought that an experienced Don Juan like you would have no problem letting an infatuated young girl down gently." She teased.
"I'm not talking about a bit of teenaged angst or schoolgirl crush or anything remotely like that." Kaji replied tensely. "She said that she had asked to meet because she wanted to warn me."
The Major met his intense stare with a questioning look. "Warn you?"
Kaji did another quick nervous head check around the cafeteria.
"What's wrong with you Kaji?" Misato asked worriedly. "You're acting like the Stasi are about to swoop in and nab you!"
"Maybe I am… but I have my reasons." The agent said with a wry smile, before again growing very serious. "Misato, what do you know about the Human Instrumentality Project?"
"The Human what Project?"
"Exactly." Kaji said. "It's Top Secret level S12 clearance information that I've only just barely been able to scratch the surface of. As far as I can tell, it appears to be the driving force behind Project E and the entire Evangelion program itself."
"W-What's this have to do with Asuka?"
"I told you that she said that she had wanted to warn me. She told me that I should go back to Germany before things got "too bad", whatever that meant. She also told me, and I quote; "If you keep poking around the Human Instrumentality Project, they're gonna kill you Kaji.""
Misato looked at him incredulously. "That has to be a mistake. If this Instrumentality thing is as Top Secret and high level as you say it is… There's just no way… I mean I haven't even heard of it!" The Major sputtered. "You're not bullshitting me here Ryouji? How could a fourteen year old girl… ?"
"Exactly." Kaji interrupted. "She couldn't. You've just shown me that you don't know anything about this, so where did she find out about it?"
"And what makes her so convinced that you're "poking around" in it?"
"Those are my questions exactly Misato." The agent replied. "Asuka's a smart kid, her constant bragging isn't just some childish act. The kid's a certified genius! Even so, how could she possibly know about this kind of stuff?"
"I… I don't have the faintest idea." Misato answered perplexed.
"Neither do I. But I do know one thing. If she lets anyone else know about this her life is in terrible danger. I told her as much yesterday. You know what she said?"
"What?"
"She said, "They've already killed me once already… I think I can risk it! " When I asked her what she meant she just said that she was just kidding, but it seemed to be kind of like it was some kind of a sad memory for her when she said it."
"I don't understand any of this Kaji!" Misato said in a hushed tone.
"Neither do I Misato." Kaji replied. "I want you to keep an eye on Asuka for me… I don't know where she's getting this information, but if she's not careful she could be in grave danger."
"You want me to spy on her, snoop through her stuff? I can't do that Kaji! I've worked hard to gain her trust and co-operation, if she finds out I'm spying on her I can kiss that all goodbye!"
"Better to lose her trust than for her to lose her life! I'm serious Misato! She could be in great danger because of this."
"You don't understand, I… "
Misato's reply was interrupted by the shrill beeping of her NERV pager. The Major plucked the small electronic device off her belt and quickly read the text on the tiny screen.
"Speaking of putting children in the path of danger…" She said standing up from her chair. "An unidentified object has just been reported in the airspace above Tokyo-3."
"An Angel?" Kaji asked.
"Well I somehow doubt that it's a runaway Gumby balloon from the last Hallowe'en parade!"
At that moment the klaxons of the main Angel Alert alarm began their deafening bellowing. Once again warning the citizens of Tokyo-3 and surrounding areas that their city was yet again the target of impending destruction.
"We'll talk about this later!" Misato yelled over the sirens before scurrying off to the direct lifts to Central Dogma.
Kaji skulled the last of his tepid coffee. "Assuming that there is a 'later." He muttered to himself as he also headed off to his pre-ordained emergency station.
Within a few short minutes the entire facility was locked down. Pilots were rushed from their school to NERV in large black saloon cars. The Bridge crew sat poised to react to whatever form the attack from the new interloper may take. Non-essential staff huddled in their cramped shelters. Many of them staring at creased and fingered photographs of loved ones taken out of wallets or held in small frames that they had brought from desks and workstations. Universally all of them were praying that the end would not come for them on this day.
End Chapter 7
A/N:
Alright then! :)
I had planned to do this chapter all the way through the Angel battle, but at already roughly seven thousand words I thought I might finish this one off at this point and devote the proper amount of space and time to the crucial first Angel battle that Asuka is a part of in her new timeline!
Sorry for it being all buildup and no action, all mouth and no trousers, so to speak! it was initially intended to be the opening movements of a very important chapter, but it kinda took on a life, and size, of its own! Even after two rewrites I'm not completely happy with it, but it's gone beyond my abilities to improve, so I put it out there!
I also realise some of you may see discrepancies within Rei's behaviours and perceived motivations in relation to earlier events, these should be addressed later in the story. Depending on if I have the skill to pull off that particular story-arc!
Chapter 8 is already well under way, so it shouldn't be too long until the all important battle is underway. Thanks, in advance, for your patience!
Cheers!
Donderkind.
