Doctor Akagi's voice rang out through the speakers in the entry plug, her usually clipped tone replaced by a screech of shock.
"ERROR?!"
Shinji pulled again on his butterfly controls, willing his EVA to fire the gargantuan rifle upon its shoulder...
Shinji opened his eyes. He felt as though every muscle in his body had been liquefied, while his head pounded like a drum.
"Another unfamiliar ceiling" he whispered bitterly. Unable to fight off the fatigue in his body, he faded into unconsciousness.
Edmond_Dantes presents:
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Remade
Season 1: Episode 7: Memories and Tears, Part 1
"How is he?"
"He'll recover, Misato." Ritsuko answered, though a trace of worry underlined her methodical clip.
Misato nodded absentmindedly, her eyes glued at the bed-ridden figure in front of her. Her chocolate-brown eyes were red-rimmed and her brow creased in worry.
Ritsuko hesitated, the 'best friend' within her screaming to give the tortured woman in front of her a break- however small, from her troubles. But there were more things at stake than the heart of a woman, however cold it may sound.
Even if it was regarding your best friend.
"If we concentrate our efforts, Unit-01 will be ready within the week..." she said quietly. "Unit-00 is in far worse condition, however. Even if we were to focus exclusively on Unit-00, it would take atleast 3 weeks."
Since when did she dance around the subject like this? Sure, the operation of the Evangelions was a primary concern of NERV's chief tactician and Operations Director, but that was hardly the main concern here.
"This is serious, Misato."
Serious would be an understatement. Never mind the amount of damage Unit-01 and Unit-00 suffered in the last battle, or the fact that Shinji had only been awake twice since the battle, or that Unit-02 was still a full month away, leaving Tokyo-3 virtually defenceless for the next week. Those were bumps on the road compared to this.
The head of NERV Project-E slumped into a nearby chair. She sighed, the distinct smell of disinfectant overloading her synapses as she did so. The pseudo-blonde lazily turned her bespectacled gaze to the purple-and-red figure, still slumped over the IV-attached boy lying in the hospital bed.
"Someone tried to sabotage NERV" she whispered.
"The old men are a lot more active than we thought, Ikari." Fuyutski commented. He moved his bishop away from the imminent threat of Gendo's knight.
The Supreme Commander of NERV nodded, a barely perceptible movement of the chin, from behind his gloved hands.
"They are frightened. Their actions were not one born of certainty, but fear."
His older companion gave a sceptical eyebrow, but kept silent. A silence descended upon the two most powerful men in Japan, interrupted intermittently by the clicking of chess pieces on the wooden board.
Realizing the result was no longer in doubt, Fuyutski softly tripped his king. "Unit-02 will be arriving by the end of the month" he commented offhandedly.
And Adam.
Gendo remained silent. Nothing needed to be said.
"But you already know that" the Vice-Commander chuckled mirthlessly. He moved his king-side pawn forward as he added, "What are we going to do about the other one?"
Kaji frowned. Things were looking poor. Both Unit-01 and Unit-00 were out of commission, and Unit-02, which he was currently accompanying, still had 1 more stop to make before they arrived in Tokyo-3.
Hong Kong...then Shin Yokosuka...
Reports sent to him from Section-2 in Tokyo-3 indicated that there had been a major security breach during the last operation. Taking another lungful from his cigarette, he exhaled slowly, cigarette held two-fingered, while he looked out at the might of the combined UN Pacific Fleet.
A flash of sunlight off a reflected surface caught his attention.
What was that?
The agent's eyes narrowed behind his shades, as he tried to locate any sign of the mysterious light. He shook his head slightly, and chuckled, lighting up another cigarette as he did so.
"Yo, Toji!" Kensuke yelled happily.
"Hey, 'Suke" Toji replied dully. A week had passed since the last Angel battle, and the track-suited boy had been subjected to a battery of tests and even more training. With Shinji still in critical condition, Ayanami and the Fourth Child remained NERV's only pilots in Tokyo-3.
Not that it matters...I can't pilot that monster...neither can Ayanami.
Suzuhara shuddered. Monster. Yes, it was an appropriate name for Unit-01. Toji had once heard the long-haired techie at NERV...Aoba? call Unit-01 'The Beast'. He now knew why. He shuddered again. He would die before he would step into that thing's Entry Plug.
Next to him, the boy otaku stopped his tirade on the impending arrival of the entire Pacific Fleet to Japan, worried at his friend's lack of enthusiasm. "What's wrong man? You're never this dull in the morning."
The Fourth Child shook his head, managing a half-decent grin. "Don't worry 'bout it man...it's nothin', 'airight?"
Unconvinced, Kensuke nodded, fixing his glasses as he did so. The two boys continued on their walk to school.
"Both EVAs seriously damaged. Tokyo-3's Defence System is currently below 15% optimal capacity." Chairman Keel read.
"These are some damning reports, Ikari." The French Committeeman commented snidely. The man's Japanese was barely passable through his thick accent.
"There are sufficient grounds for your IMMEDIATE termination" another member added, his electronically-disguised voice booming in the chamber.
Commander Gendo Ikari didn't bat an eyelid, his hands folded in front of his face, his expression unreadable behind his shades. "On what grounds?" Fuyutski demanded. As usual, the Vice-Commander of NERV stood to his superior's right, standing behind his unflappable superior.
"Incompetence." Keel said quietly. The single word resounded through the chamber, as silence gripped the Instrumentality Committee's meeting.
"Give us one reason NOT to dismiss you." The French Committeeman demanded.
For the first time during the entire two-hour 'meeting', Gendo Ikari spoke. "Treachery."
The reaction was obvious, if not a little chaotic. The members of the Human Instrumentality Committee exploded, as each member struggled to be heard over the din of outraged voices. No-one noticed the Vice-Commander making his exit, shaking his head in disgust.
Finally, it was Chairman Keel who took control. "You DARE accuse the committee of baseless treachery, Ikari?!" he demanded. Even through the electronic speakers, the quavering of his voice gave no doubts that he was in a state of absolute rage.
Once again, the Supreme Commander of NERV looked completely unperturbed. "No" he said simply. "Just one." He turned his gaze to the member whose voice had been electronically disguised. "Isn't that right, Mr. Minister?"
The purple behemoth known as Evangelion Test Type Unit-01 was roughly 40m in height and 15m wide at the shoulders. It had enough special fortified compound armour to withstand a direct hit from an N2 Mine, and that was discounting its AT-Field.
A lone figure gazed upon its armoured head, the horned exoskeletal plate protruding from the sea of Bakelite that immersed the rest of its giant form.
The figure shuddered, unwelcome memories associated with the Beast flashing through her mind. Like everyone at NERV, and the world at large, she had it to thank for her life. It didn't make her like it anymore; or fear it any less.
The blaring of the internal announcers broke her from her reverie.
"Captain Misato Katsuragi to Cranial Ward 3; Repeat..."
Shinji...
Kensuke frowned. The situation was anything but normal. It needed to be remedied. With extreme prejudice. Putting every ounce of slyness he could put into his voice, the otaku opened his mouth.
"Did you and the Class Rep do it and it sucked?"
His best friend looked up, and even managed a small glare, but quickly returned to the sombre expression that had attached itself to his face like a mask.
"..."
Kensuke's shoulders slumped in utter failure. He took his eye off his camera, which he had whipped out in hopes of catching what should have been a classic Kodak moment. Fat chance of that now the sandy-haired boy thought glumly.
Inserting a new tape into his beloved camcorder, Kensuke reattached his eye to device, turning his gaze-
-straight into the face of a VERY irate Class Representative of Class 2-A.
"Aida! What kind of immature garbage have you and Suzuhara been sprouting!"
The otaku swore the growl emitting from the pig-tailed girl was anything but human. Even as he raised his spindly arms in a warding gesture, Hikari turned her baleful gaze to the tracksuited boy behind him, who looked like his favourite pet had died.
The brunette's gaze softened from her patented commanding gaze into one of concern, a frown etching on her lightly freckled face.
"What's wrong with him?" she whispered out of the corner of her mouth.
Kensuke shrugged, though his face wore a similar look of concern, as the two youths looked on at their oblivious friend.
Behind them, a red-haired girl observed them silently.
Pain. It was something Shinji Ikari had long associated with his short existence. It did not make it any easier to bear, however.
He screamed, the sound distorting in the LCL within his Entry Plug, even as the blood-like fluid bubbled and boiled around him, his limbs flailing wildly, the butterfly controls clicking with each spasm.
Something which he vaguely registered as Misato's voice filtered through the speakers, though the words weren't addressed to him. As suddenly as it appeared, the pain disappeared, leaving the brown-haired boy choking on the copious amounts of LCL he had accidentally swallowed.
"Shinji!" Misato's face appeared on a projective screen. "Help Rei!"
Shinji let out a small groan. He felt sluggish and a little sore. The brown-haired EVA pilot took in his surroundings, from the IV drip attached to his arm to the methodical beeping of the machine that monitored his body.
How long have I been out? he wondered. The boy tried to push himself up with his arms- and froze.
What happened to my leg?!
Toji sat in a stool in Central Dogma, flanked by Section-3 men in Special Ops gear, as technicians and NERV officers scrambled around him, their voices interlacing into a single incomprehensible jumble as they exchanged data and updated statuses with frightening efficiency and speed.
On the main tactical display, the smoking, battered form of Unit-01 rose to its feet, just as the screen fizzed out.
At the same time, a technician with shoulder-length brown hair turned from his station. "Enemy probe has just breached the Geofront!" the technician yelled.
Another technician turned from his station. "Unit-00 is DOWN! Entry plug has been successfully ejected! Retrieval team is on their way..."
The same long-haired technician turned again. "Massive AT-Field surge!"
Vice-Commander Fuyutski looked down at the technician sharply. "Is it the Angel?"
"No sir, it's Unit-01."
The old man drew his breath sharply. "Berserker..."
"Suzuhara!"
Toji broke his gaze from the window, his hands still draped on top of the handle of the mop, even as he leant all of his weight on it. The dying sunlight emitting through the windows, casting the classroom in an orange-and-red hue.
"What is it, Hikari?" he asked softly, his gaze shifting lazily from his window vigil to the girl in front of him.
The pigtailed girl started slightly, and if it were not for the glow of the sunset, a pinkish tint would have been noticeable on her freckled cheeks. "S-Suzu-hara..." recovering from her mistake, the girl put on her best 'Class Rep' tone. "SUZUHARA! You were supposed to have finished cleaning the room an hour ago!"
To her utter surprise, the dark-skinned boy didn't even flinch, instead turning his gaze back outside. "Sorry bout that, Class Rep" he muttered.
Noticing he was making to effort to do his job, the brown-haired Japanese girl sighed, her huffed-up shoulders slumping, her furrowed eyebrows releasing their pent up tension into a slight crease and an expression of tenderness- something which the spaced-out boy in front of her failed to notice in his current state.
She hesitated slightly, trying to muster her resolve. Ignoring the fluttering butterflies in her stomach, she raised her gaze -which had somehow ended up on the dusty floor- to the boy in front of her.
"Toji," she began, ignoring the rapid thumping of her chest and the perking of the boy's ears, "Is...Is there something-something wrong?" she asked timidly. Hikari's gaze fell back to the floor when the taller boy's eyes met hers. "It's just... It just seems like something's bothering you" her right leg wrapped behind her left, scratching her calf, even as her fingers fidgeted nervously where they met behind her back. "Maybe...maybe I can help?"
She cursed herself for her timidity, but more for the lilt of hopefulness in her tone, which made her seem so...needy. She managed to stop staring at her feet, raising her eyes back up to the tall boy. She tried really hard to ignore the emptiness in her chest when she found that his gaze had once again fallen out the window.
There was a long silence, interrupted only by the squawking of birds in the dying day and the buzzing of crickets. Just when she thought he wasn't going to say anything, Toji opened his mouth. "...it's nothing."
The girl felt, rather than saw, the tears welling up in her eyes. "I see."
And she turned and ran, bolting out the door, trying her hardest to stem the tears.
Misato cackled wickedly, her laughter echoing on the plaster walls of the hospital room.
"It's not funny." Shinji muttered angrily, his face set in a deep scowl. The bubbly, purple-haired woman's merriment was usually infectious, and her teasing funny.
Just not when it was at him.
"Y-You thought, oh my god!" Unable to continue standing of her own power, the purple-haired woman leaned herself against the wall, her laughter only interrupted by occasional gasps for breath.
Beside her, the brown-haired boy continued to grumble under his breath about drunks, a certain NERV Captain and a certain human orifice.
The scream he had let out had been enough to awaken the ample-bosomed Captain who had basically grafted herself surgically onto the boy's leg...and half of NERV as well. Misato had reacted poorly, ending up sprawled on the floor, then in the air, her Glock miraculously making its way to her hand. Once she had recovered from her surprise and realized what had happened, she was in no condition to wipe the drool staining her NERV jacket.
It was only when he became acutely aware of the absence of noise that Shinji's attention turned to his co-guardian and superior officer.
And then it hit him.
The days in prison.
Misato's harsh words.
Father.
Rei.
Toji.
Unit-01.
Pain.
A myriad of emotions, jumbled and confused, welled up in him. A sullen frown cast itself on his face as recent events came to the front of his memory. The laughter and banter, the good mood permeating through the room mere seconds ago had been snuffed out, to be replaced by a stifling, awkward tension. Unsaid words hung in the air, the deafening silence casting itself in the atmosphere of the room like a thundercloud.
Misato stood silently. The guilt of her recent actions flowed through her, freezing her in indecision like a state of cryostasis; a part of her wanted to step forward, to envelop her tortured young ward in her arms and to tease him till his face turned shades of red as diverse as the colours of the rainbow. Another part of her screamed obscenities at herself, declaring her unworthiness to do so; her insensitivity, inhumanity and selfishness pounding like mallets against her conscience.
They had come at a cross-roads, Misato realized. Their relationship had changed, and much as she –and he, too- wanted things to go back to the way they were, it was impossible. They both knew the futility of that, and thus dismissed such an approach- hence the barrier between them. That wasn't the problem, however. It was that they didn't know how to breach said barrier- to establish a new status quo, to take that step into the said new relationship. The old one was broken, perhaps irreversibly. It would take time to regain the trust –the building block of any good relationship- of her young charge. Misato wasn't sure she knew how, or if it was even possible, considering her actions. But for now, there was something that needed to be said.
"...I'm sorry."
Better late than never, and better now than not at all.
The accused member of the Human Instrumentality Committee didn't take too kindly to being accused of treachery. That would be like saying a berserk Unit-01 is a harmless bunny. An gross understatement.
"HOW DARE YOU?!" even through the distorted speakers, the rage in the man's voice was clearly apparently.
Chairman Keel also looked less than impressed. "Explain yourself, Ikari."
Beneath his hands, Gendo smirked.
Electronic beeps emitted from the speakers of the members of the Human Instrumentality Committee, as a surprise arrived on their desktops. There was a terse silence as the members of the Committee read the freshly-delivered Section-2 Report. Finally, Keel spoke, his voice quavering with barely-controlled fury.
"Explain yourself, SEELE-04!" he demanded.
There was no response, though after a moment, the communication from the committee member ended abruptly.
Gendo Ikari shifted slightly, fixing the position of his reflective lenses upon his nose. "I had your traitor...taken care of."
There was a collective gasp among the members of the Human Instrumentality Committee, as the deeper meaning of the Supreme Commander's words took realization in the committeemen's minds.
The elder Ikari smirked, as the look of contempt and anger amongst the Committee members evaporated without a trace. He stood, the fear on their faces visible staring right back at them through the reflective surfaces of his frames. A small grin etched on the corner of his mouth as he turned and walked out of the conference chamber. The silence from the room which he had recently vacated, only broken by the clicking of his boots spoke louder than a thousand words.
All goes in accordance with the scenario.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This Chapter is divided into 2 parts, because it flows better that way. Part 2 will be updated soon, so stay tuned!
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