Shinji Steel 10
Disclaimer; I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion or Max Steel. Wish I did, though.
Author's Notes: I know I made it this far without doing an author's note, but I figured I might as well include one for this chapter. Any of you familiar with the 'HALO' spin-off 'Red-Vs-Blue' will undoubtedly notice a certain scenario. Only done a little differently. Along with a twist later on. Enjoy.
As he stands across from Psycho, Max gives Ritsuko a glance and can't help but shake in rage on the inside.
'That dumbass jackass has gone too far this time! Sending Psycho to a school.' Focusing his eyes on Psycho's mechanical arm, he can't help but snicker meanly. Psycho, however catches the snicker.
"What's with the snicker, Steel?" He doesn't reply as to why he's snickering. Instead, he yells the words Psycho's heard many times in the past. Both from Max Sr. and Jr.
"Going turbo!" Max suddenly bolts forward and punches the wrist joint where the claw and arm meet. Causing the casing to fall off of the arm, allowing Ritsuko to get free. "Go. Get out of here!"
"I'm gone!"
Ritsuko then bolts away, wanting to be clear of the fight zone. Yet she can't help but feel as if she'd seen that nod before somewhere. Putting it out of her mind, she concentrates on what Psycho had said about Gendo.
'He said Shinji's birth Father wanted me disappeared. Almost as if he doesn't want Shinji to be happy. At all!' Her face going feral, she thinks, 'I don't care what that dumbass old man says. Shinji's my boyfriend and I'm going to ensure he's happy. Even if that dumbass doesn't like it! Shinji deserves to be happy!'
Back in the fight zone, Psycho nods at Max before snarling.
"I guess all that time fighting me gave you a clue about my arm's weakest point. Took you long enough. Not even your Dad could figure it out."
"My Dad and his buddies kicked your tin ass back in the day. I've kicked it several times in the past year. If there's one thing you don't do, it's underestimate a Steel." Berto can't help but chime in.
"Hey. That's actually pretty catchy."
"I know. I made that mistake far too often. But, I also picked up a few tricks." Touching his right hand with his left, Psycho sprouts a pair of wings before blasting off through the roof. "Follow me if you can, Steel!"
Max can't help but roll his eyes as he summons the Sparrow with his bio-link. Jumping up through the hole Psycho made, he soon hears the Sparrow approaching and turns around. Once it's de-cloaked, Max gets in and takes the controls. Intent on following and subduing the cybernetic maniac.
"Can you track him, Berto?"
"Already on it. He's landed at a machine-only construction site. What the heck?"
"What is it, Berto?"
"He's not doing a thing. He's just standing there. Tapping his foot. Looking as peeved as possible if his mask is any indication."
"That's really fucking weird. In any case, I'm there now."
Leaping out of the Sparrow in mid-air, Max drops down onto Psycho's shoulders. The impact is so blunt, it brings Psycho down into the ground. Right where concrete is being poured into by the automated machinery there. Psycho shakes his head before rising to stand. His entire front, sans his face, covered in concrete. He then tries lifting his right foot to step out. Only to find out that the concrete is just now finishing drying. Prohibiting movement of his feet and legs.
"Aw, crap. You're kidding." Looking up at Max, he can see that Max is struggling to keep his composure. "You wouldn't leave me here, would you? You can't possibly be that mean. Right, buddy?"
"I dunno." Max gives a casual shrug before going on. "Dad left your ass in Antarctica ten years ago on a glacier. Here, I think this'll 'cement' your position in life." With that, Max bursts into laughter. Unable to contain it any further. Prompting Psycho to groan. While the Sparrow vertically lands behind Max.
"Aww, now that was a bad pun, Steel. If there was a law against it, you'd be guilty of criminally bad punning."
Max only gives Psycho a smirk before walking off to the Sparrow and getting in. Once the Sparrow's taken off and fades rapidly out of sight, Psycho chuckles.
"And people say my puns are bad. I sometimes wonder whose kid he really is. Gendo's or Max's. Gendo's evil mean and Max is good mean. Yet Gendo doesn't do puns of any kind while Max does. Oh well."
With that, he flexes his cybernetic arm's frame. Pleased that while it's without its shell, it's still strong enough to break free of the concrete. Bringing out his new NERV-issued phone, he punches in a number he'd been given. A minute later, he hears a voice he'd been hoping to hear.
"Hello. This is Deidre." At the feminine voice, Psycho gives a smile.
"Deidre, it's Psycho. I…" He soon finds himself stopped as the voice continues.
"Sorry I can't come to the phone right now. Just leave your name and number at the beep and I'll get back to you." At the beep, Psycho starts.
"Deidre, it's Psycho. I…" Next thing he knows, another interruption. Only it's not Deidre's voice.
"You've reached the voicemail system."
"Okay. Come on. Come on."
"If you'd like to leave a message, you may do so after the beep."
"I know how to leave a fucking message."
"Once you've finished recording your message, you may either hang up or press 'pound' for more options."
"Hang up? Really? No shit. I just thought I'd keep talking until she decides to check her voicemail."
"For delivery options, press 5."
"Just give me the damn beep!"
"To leave a call-back number, press 8. To page this person, press 6."
"Come on!"
"To repeat this message, press 9."
"I will fucking crush you, computer phone lady!"
"To mark this message as urgent, press 11."
"There is no 11, you fucking whore!"
"To hear these options in Spanish, press 7."
"I hate you!" Next thing he hears is the beep he'd been waiting for. "Deidre, it's Psycho. I'm…" Once again, another interruption. The same voice as before.
"I'm sorry, but this person's voice-box is full."
With that, the phone on the other end cuts off and a defeated Psycho slumps downward. Shaking his head in dismay.
"Ugh, I'm gonna kill myself. I'm gonna kill myself."
Three minutes later, his phone rings. Without looking, he accepts the call.
"This is Psycho."
"Hey, it's Deidre. You call me?" Relieved to no end to hear her voice, Psycho can't help but have his mask smile widely.
"Yeah. Yeah I did."
"If you're wanting to get together to make trouble, we can do it tonight."
"Great. But that's not why I called."
"Oh?" Deidre's voice has no small amount of curiosity as it goes on. "Why did you call then?"
"Any chance you can come down to the machine-operated construction site and pick me up?"
"I don't see why not. But, why can't you leave the site on foot?"
"It's actually a pretty funny story." Psycho lets out a sheepish chuckle before he goes on. "One you have to see to believe."
"I'll be there as soon as I can."
With that, the call ends and Psycho waits patiently. Well, as patiently as possible for him, anyway. Forty minutes later, she calls back.
"Which site are you at?"
"The machine-operated one."
"Which one, though?"
"Huh?"
"I've gone by at least six machine-operated sites so far, Psycho. That's why I need to know which site you're at."
"Hold on a sec and let me see if I can see a sign or any landmarks nearby." Psycho then looks around and sees a sign with a Shelter number on it. "I'm at the site by Shelter number 30."
"Shelter 30. Got it. I'm just three blocks away from you. Just sit tight."
"I'm actually standing. But I know what you mean."
"Huh?"
Two minutes later, Psycho hears Deidre's van pull up. Along with her voice on the phone. With Deidre sounding immensely annoyed.
"Where the Hell are you at? You're not in front of the site."
"I'm in the site."
"What do you mean by…" All of a sudden, her voice screeches through the air off the phone.
"WHAT IN THE FUCKING HELL HAPPENED TO YOU?"
Psycho can only chuckle sheepishly as he ends the call and puts the phone back into place. As Deidre enters the site, she has a hard time controlling her urge to laugh. Yet Psycho doesn't blame her one bit. If he was in her shoes, he'd be laughing his head off already.
"Go ahead. Get it all out. I deserve it."
The sight of Psycho covered in concrete is just too funny for her to take. From his chest down all the way to his feet. Unable to control herself, she then bursts into giggles.
"I know you never really aspired to have a statue of yourself, Psycho, but why did you try to become one?" At that, she lets out a peal of laughter. Psycho can only release a partial shrug before giving his reply.
"It was an accident. Max landed on my shoulders and knocked me down into where the concrete-bot was pouring the foundation's concrete. It's a good thing none of it got onto my face." Laughing still, Deidre gives a nod before calming down to a light giggle.
"Indeed. It'd have made talking impossible for you."
"I don't know about impossible. Improbable, perhaps." Deidre can't help but accept that reply.
"Okay. Where did you meet him at?"
"Tokyo-3 High School."
"What were you doing there? Looking to become a teacher?"
"You know, now that you mention it, it actually does sound like an interesting career choice. But, no." Taking a deep breath as Deidre picks up a jackhammer attachment for the machinery, he says, "I was after Ritsuko on the orders of 'Commander Dumbass', believe it or not."
Freezing in place, Deidre turns toward him. Fire in her eyes. Putting down the jackhammer in the process.
"What did 'Dumbass' want with my Ritsy?"
"He wanted her disappeared. Apparently, a happy Shinji is not conducive to what Gendo had in mind for him."
"How far were you going to go?" Instead of picking up the jackhammer again, she picks up the rivet gun attachment for the machinery. "Your answer better be to my liking. If it isn't, old colleague or not, I'm going to find this to be quite riveting." Psycho can't help but let out a groan.
"You've been hanging around Max Jr. when he's Shinji, haven't you? You're making puns as bad as his!"
"Yep. That and Ritsy has a weakness for terrible yet slightly amusing puns. So it's not avoidable at all." If Psycho could roll his eyes, he would. Instead, he shakes his head.
"Oh, I can just imagine those kids that come from their love toward one another."
"So can I." Deidre gives a fond smirk at the thought. "Feisty kids that make terrible yet slightly amusing puns." Psycho can't help but gape at her in shock. "What?"
"You sound like you're actually looking forward to it."
"Well, I am. Ritsy's wanting to become a Mom after all. And while I'm not sure I'm ready to become a Grandmother just yet, I'm going to be happy for her. She deserves that much."
"I thought you were raising her. If anyone deserves something, it's you deserving peace and quiet."
"I was raising her. Yet, at the same time, she was raising me." Her eyes starting to drip tears now, she murmurs, "Oh, how can you possibly understand, Psycho? You don't know what it's like to raise up a child from infancy on. I had no idea either. Thus I had to learn as I went on."
"You're right." Psycho's voice is unusually soft for him as he goes on. "I don't know what it's like to raise a child. Nor do I think I'd be up to the task. You learning on the fly, however, means you're well suited to parenthood."
Deidre can't help but smile brilliantly before putting the rivet gun back down in favor of the jackhammer. Positioning it against the dried concrete around his feet.
"Wanna hear something funny?"
"Sure. No bad puns though, okay?"
"Okay." Triggering the jackhammer and smiling as the end-piece hammers against the concrete, she goes on. "Earlier today, I was wondering why I'd saved Ritsy after Second Impact when I could've just gone on by."
"Sounds like a somewhat reasonable, if not dark, question."
"To say the least." Psycho gives Deidre a nod at her reply.
"What'd you find?" A shrug is Deidre's nonverbal reply before she verbally replies.
"Nothing. I couldn't find the reason. I don't know if I'll ever find out. But I won't trade it for my old life."
"You're sure about that? Even though the money on our side of the fence was good?"
"I am. That is for certain. Bringing up Ritsy has turned out to be more fulfilling than what I'd been doing beforehand." Giving off a light chuckle, she adds, "I may have come close to pulling out my hair on more than one occasion, but I can honestly say that she's the best thing that ever happened to me."
"Then that's all that matters." As Deidre makes significant progress in chipping away at the concrete, he can't help but, in an admiring tone, ask, "How'd you get to be so good with a jackhammer? Not even I'd have that kind of control with one. At least I don't think so, anyway." At that, she smiles fondly.
"Wait till you see me with the rivet gun. After I adopted Ritsy, I had to pay the bills somehow. So, I took a job at a rebuilding site in Kyoto-2. I was one of the riveters on-site. Of course, it did take some learning, but I got the hang of it. The money may not have been as much as I was making before, but it was good, clean and honest." Psycho can't help but snap his fingers.
"That's what you sound like right now. A modern day 'Rosie the Riveter and Jacker'. Why not use the funds from your time as Dragonelle, though? It'd have taken care of the both of you without any problems."
"True. Three reasons kept me from doing that, though."
"Now this I gotta hear."
"One, I wanted to distance myself from that life as far as possible. Far as the world's concerned, Dragonelle 'died' in Second Impact."
"That's understandable."
"Two, I wasn't really sure about using the money from those times."
"You're still cautious as ever."
"Three, and this is key, the accounts were frozen when Dragonelle 'died'. I had no access to them whatsoever."
Psycho can't help laughing in hilarity. To him, it was the funniest damned thing he'd ever heard.
"That must've pissed you off to no end!"
Deidre can't help but find his laughter contagious, as she starts laughing as well. Causing the jackhammer to lightly sway while she laughs.
"Yeah. But, at the same time, I actually felt good about them being frozen. I don't know why. Call me 'crazy' if you like." As the concrete around Psycho's feet vanishes, Deidre adds, "It was a chance for a new life. Ritsy was still a baby when we got shore-side and I had some currency on hand that I could use for adoption fees, housing, food and what-not."
"I don't think you're crazy." After a minute, he asks, "What about her birth parents?"
"They were declared missing, presumed dead, at first." Her eyes start to drip tears, though she puts it up to the concrete dust. "Three months later, they were declared dead when their bodies washed ashore. Shattered on the inside." Psycho can't help but close his mask's eyelids. Though he puts it up to the concrete dust flying up.
"How was identification done on them?"
"Their yacht was named 'Perseus', with it being in their name. When they washed up ashore, they had their wallets in their pockets." Deidre gives a visible shudder just as Psycho's feet appear. "I just thank God that Ritsy was too young to see their bodies, let alone understand what happened. No child should ever have to see their parents in that state."
"Did you ever tell her about why you look different from each other?"
"Yeah. She was five when she asked me why we looked so different from each other. I tried to break it gently to her, but she wound up crying anyway. I just held her close as she cried. It was all I felt I had the right to do at the time."
"Then you did the right thing, Deidre." At that, he looks down at his feet and sees they have concrete on them. Albeit in small amounts. "Now since that's done, might as well see if I can get this concrete 'cobbler' off of my legs so I can move them." Deidre lets off another giggle before nodding.
"Okay. Though it's time for the rivet gun. I may be strong with the jackhammer, but I'm not that strong."
At that, Deidre turns back toward the tools, puts the jackhammer down and picks the rivet gun back up. Turning back to Psycho, she then holds the rivet gun horizontally. Right at his waist area. Just above his crotch.
"Hold still. This may be a little unpleasant for you to feel." Psycho can't help but chuckle unsurely.
"You're joking with the 'hold still' thing, right? I can't even move!"
"You know what I mean." Pressing the rivet gun to his waist area, she pulls the trigger, allowing the end-piece to hammer against it. Quickly, it starts breaking up the concrete. "I've got some good news for you, Psycho. This won't take as long as your feet did."
When Psycho doesn't reply, she looks up at his face and sees he's trying to keep from laughing. The thing that gives it away is his clenched jaw, his mask-face in a goofy smile. Golf-ball sized eyes. Tears of barely-suppressed mirth running down his face.
It's enough to make Deidre almost burst out laughing again. She then looks back down in time to move downward along his right leg. Once she's at the bottom, she switches to his left and goes up. Once she's done, he bursts out laughing uproariously.
"That tickled, Deidre!" As Psycho laughs helplessly, an amused Deidre can only shake her head.
'I've never known Psycho to be ticklish. Not even in our service to Dread.' Looking over to the side of the site, her eyebrows then arch upon seeing a pressure washer marked 'Concrete dissolving agent within. Use only for workers and/or machinery covered in concrete'. 'I never noticed that! Oh well. If anything, it'll get the remaining concrete off of Psycho's chest.'
Once Psycho's gotten his laughter under control, Deidre tugs him out of the spot he'd been 'stuck' in and over to the washer she'd spotted. Upon closer inspection, she comes across a startling fact.
'Even if I had spotted it when I first arrived, it wouldn't have done any good. It's padlocked into place!' Shrugging, she then starts it up, saying, "When we're done here, you're getting a shower and your clothes laundered."
"Where and why?"
"At my house. As for why, concrete dissolver tends to stain clothes permanently unless washed off within two hours. Black especially. Trust me on this. It's not good for the color."
"I'll take your word for it. As to the offer, though, I'm afraid not. If you're wanting to distance yourself from your past, you can't very well do that if Ritsuko's there while I'm there. She'll ask questions that'll make you feel very uncomfortable."
"Good point." With that, she starts washing him off. Within five minutes, the remaining concrete's been dissolved. "Done. Now, remember what I said Psycho. You've got two hours before the dissolving agent sets and stains your suit."
"Got it, 'Nelle. Catch you tonight?"
"You better believe it." Unable to help herself, she gives Psycho a peck on his chin and bolts away before he can return the favor.
(En-route to the apartment; forty minutes ago)
As the Sparrow flies, under 'stealth', Max switches back to Shinji. He then thinks about how easy it was for him to bring down Psycho. For some strange reason, he can't help but feel it was too easy.
"You're thinking it strange Psycho was defeated so easily, right, Shinji?"
"Yeah, Kat. 'Smiley' usually puts up more of a fight. Even more, he never had that weakness on his arm before. At least that I know of. Dad, what's your take on this?"
"In all the times I fought 'Smiley', he never once had that spot on his wrist. It's almost as if he had it put on recently."
"Sure looked recent. Of course, I hadn't seen him in a while. Berto? Anything strange about how he was acting?"
"You mean as in strange as usual or even stranger?"
"The latter."
"Well, he was waiting for you to arrive at the construction site. Psycho's not given to wait under any circumstances. That belongs in the latter column."
"Which can only mean one of two things. One; Psycho's got a crazy scheme in mind. Two; he's getting sick and tired of being marginalized by Rokubungi."
"All I guess we can do is hope for the latter, plan for the former as best we can."
"I agree, Dad." Upon seeing the apartment building, he smirks and adds, "I'm arriving at the apartment now."
"Okay. A word ahead, though."
"Sure. Go ahead, Berto."
"I found something interesting that you may like. I sent it to your inbox."
"Cool."
Curious as to what it is, Shinji squelches it in time to maneuver the Sparrow to the balcony. Once in place, he puts the Sparrow on autopilot and hops out. As the Sparrow flies clear, Shinji crosses to his bed and brings out one other piece of his CARE package from under it. A laptop with the 'N-Tek' logo on the cover. Turning it on and ensuring the crypto is active, he logs in for a vid-con.
"I'm here, Berto. Opening inbox now."
"Got it, hermano." As Shinji opens the inbox, a widely smiling Berto asks, "You know how I've been searching high and low for pictures of your Mom ever since you came into our lives?"
"Yeah. I do. And from what I recall, you haven't had much luck in that area."
"Today, hermano, that changed." As Shinji clicks on it, Berto beams happily until he sees Shinji's jaw drop in shock. "Shinji? What is it?"
"Do you have that image of Ayanami from that day I spoke with her?"
"You bet I do, Shinji. Why?" In the background, Josh and Kat join Berto. Concerned for Shinji as well.
"Bring up a side-by-side frame if you please. Mother's face in one and Ayanami's in the other."
"On it, Shinji." A minute later, Berto murmurs, "Holy Mary Mother of God." Josh and Kat can only nod.
"Agreed. Shocking, isn't it? She's practically a dead ringer for my Mother."
"I'm running a comparative scan now." A minute later, a clearly shaken Berto says, "Comparison indicates a 75% match."