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 Nine
"Please tell me again how you killed the Angel, nee-chan," Nozomi begged as they got ready to leave for school.
"No," Hikari said firmly. "Now stop talking about it before you give away my secret. Besides, I didn't kill it. I just helped NERV kill it."
"Bet they couldn't have done it without you," Nozomi said.
"I'm sure that they could have," Hikari replied. "I wouldn't have done anything except watch if I'd had a choice in the matter."
"Guess it's a good thing you didn't then," Nozomi replied with a smile as they stepped outside.
Hikari sighed softly. Nozomi's awe of her for being Spirit had been rather amusing at first, but now she was starting to get a little annoyed by it. Sometimes it seemed as though everyone liked Spirit more than boring old Hikari, even her own sister.
Still, Nozomi's reaction to the events of the last battle was less worrisome than her father's, despite the fact that he knew significantly less about her part in it. He had been utterly furious when Misato had brought her home and explained what had happened, though the fervent apologies from the Operations Director had placated him somewhat.
Unfortunately, he still planned to "march up to Ikari's office and give him a piece of my mind."
If only a quarter of the things Shinji had told her about his father were true, Hikari knew that was a bad idea, but her own father was not to be dissuaded.
Well, there was nothing she could do about that now, she told herself as she and Nozomi stepped on the school grounds. At least Kodama hadn't freaked out again because of Spirit's latest romp, largely because Hikari had sugar coated the story as much as she could without lying.
Hikari and Nozomi arrived at school and parted ways, and Hikari made her way to class 2-A. She sat down in her seat, and waited for the arrival of one of her friends.
What she got instead was a very excited Kensuke Aida.
"Hey, class rep!" he greeted her enthusiastically. "I heard you were right there for the last Angel battle!"
"Yes, Aida, I was," Hikari answered.
"Sugoi! That's so cool! Man, I really wish that I had been there!" Kensuke said, looking dreamily off into the distance.
"Aida, I was on one of the ships that the Angel sank," Hikari said flatly. "I almost drowned."
The look on Kensuke's face made it clear that he was of the opinion that almost doesn't count. Hikari gave a small sigh. "Go sit down, Aida," she commanded.
Apparently sensing that the class rep was not going to share every thrilling detail with him no matter what he did, Kensuke had the good sense to retreat toward his desk, much to Hikari's relief.
He's utterly, utterly insane, she thought, pinching the bridge of her nose. I wonder why Toji hangs out with him so much.
The PA system crackled to life before she could ponder the question further. "Will the representative of class 2-A please report to the office immediately?"
Hikari arched an eyebrow, wondering what they wanted her for. A couple of the other students snickered softly, immediately assuming that she was in some kind of trouble. Hikari wasn't worried. She knew that if that were the case, or if, heaven forbid, NERV had somehow discovered she was Spirit and was luring her into a trap, they'd be summoning her by name, not title.
She made her way to the school office, and was surprised to see a certain redhead there waiting for her.
"Asuka?" Hikari said.
The German grinned. "Hello, Hikari! I didn't know you were the class representative."
Hikari nodded. "Yes, I am. So, I guess you're going to be attending school here?"
"That she is," the wizened old secretary butted her way into the conversation. "Class representative, it is your responsibility to show her the school and help her become acclimated to Japanese school life."
"I understand," Hikari said with a small bow. She turned and gave Asuka a smile. "Class is starting in a few minutes. I'll show you around the school later."
"Sure," Asuka said, following Hikari off. "So, did you get a fancy new dress with NERV's money yet?"
"No," Hikari answered. "I did get a new dress, but Misato paid for it herself, so it didn't feel right getting something expensive."
"They wouldn't buy you a new dress? Mein Gott! I guess the rumors I've heard about NERV Central are true," Asuka said.
"So, where are you staying?" Hikari asked, rather than questioning Asuka about what the rumors about NERV Central were exactly.
"In a hotel for the moment. They had everything ready for my EVA, but they didn't seem the least bit prepared for me. That's bureaucracy for you," she said disgustedly. "Personally I'm hoping I'll get to live with Kaji!" she added in a dreamy tone of voice.
"The cool guy that was on the Rainbow with you?" Hikari asked.
"That's the one!" Asuka confirmed with a grin.
They arrived at the classroom to find that Sensei had arrived during Hikari's brief absence, as had Shinji. The Third Child looked…taken aback when he saw Asuka.
"Class, we have a new student today," Sensei said. "A foreign exchange student from Germany. I'm sure you'll all make her feel welcomed."
With the exception of Shinji, every boy in the room was gazing at Asuka with an expression of naked lust. Hikari rolled her eyes. Perverts…
Asuka didn't seem to mind the attention, however. She strode to the front of the classroom with her chin held up proudly, a small smirk on her face. Hikari again found herself envying the gaijin's self-confidence.
Grinning, Asuka wrote her name on the board in English, using elegant script. "I'm Asuka!" she said cheerfully. "Asuka Langley Soryu! Charmed, huh?"
Tanaka Horaki had never been up to the Commander's office before, but he'd heard about it. Everyone had; even in an organization like NERV, where it sometimes seemed like the color of the tiles in the bathrooms was classified, people still gossiped around the water cooler.
Everybody called the Commander's office "the lair" behind his back. Tanaka had thought it couldn't possibly be as bad those who had been up their made it out to be.
He had thought wrong.
"I'm a busy man, Horaki," Gendo said without preamble as Tanaka strode inside. "Why are you here?"
Tanaka could feel sweat beading on the back of his neck. This place is even worse than people make it out to be!
"Sir, the NERV Operations Director took my youngest daughter on an assignment with her without my permission and she was nearly killed in an Angel attack," Tanaka said.
"Yes," Gendo replied curtly.
Tanaka took a deep breath, feeling simultaneously enraged and terrified by the Commander. Hikari had almost died because of the actions of a NERV officer. Considering he had joined NERV largely because he wanted to protect his daughters from the Angels, this really stuck in his craw.
It also didn't help his mood that NERV had refused to compensate him for Hikari's ruined dress. It was a small issue, especially since Katsuragi had paid for it out of her own pocket, but it still irritated him. It was a matter of principle.
"I'd like an apology, sir," Tanaka said as firmly as he could.
"Hasn't Captain Katsuragi already conveyed her apologies?" Gendo asked.
Tanaka nodded. "Yes, she has, sir. However, as Commander of NERV, you are ultimately responsible for the on-duty actions of all NERV personnel."
Gendo regarded the man coldly for a long moment. Tanaka could feel his anxiety building by the second but staunchly refused to show any of it.
Commander Ikari leaned back in his chair, finally speaking. "It's so expensive to raise children these days," he commented. "Food, clothing, housing, education…it would be a disaster if a man in your position were to lose his source of income."
Tanaka clenched his fists. If he didn't have a family to support, he would have rushed across the room and punched the Commander in the face.
Judging by the ghost of a smirk on Gendo's face, not to mention the way he'd phrased his rather obvious threat, Tanaka suspected that the Commander knew exactly what was going on inside his head.
He looked to the Vice Commander, who stood still and silent behind the Commander like a sentinel. He would get no help from the older man, Tanaka realized at once.
I guess Hikari was right when she said nothing would come out of this, he thought bitterly.
"I see," Tanaka said.
"Get out of my office, Horaki."
Tanaka nodded, turned on his heel, and marched out.
"You could have just apologized, Ikari," Fuyutski chided once the man had left. "Talk is cheap after all."
"But reputations are not," Gendo replied. "I will not damage mine for a completely replaceable cog in the machine such as Horaki. Now, on to more important matters…"
Hikari was incredibly anxious the next day at school, though, as usual, she tried not to let it show.
Part of it was because she was thinking about the strange Angel she'd sensed on the UN fleet. She hadn't stopped feeling its presence until they'd left the fleet, which meant it had probably been on one of the ships. And that meant that unless the fleet had taken it with them, it was probably in Japan.
Considering that Japan hosted the city that the Angels always seemed to make a beeline for, Hikari strongly doubted that the Angel she'd sensed had left with the fleet.
Most of the reason behind her anxiety, however, was the fact that she could sense another Angel approaching. In fact, this was probably also the reason why she was thinking about the mystery Angel she'd sensed on the UN fleet. She had Angels on the brain, and nothing could take her mind off of them at the moment.
Or so she thought.
"'Photo applications,'" Hikari read off a sign that had obviously been very hastily made and taped to a wall. "'Asuka Langley Soryu: only 30 yen per picture. Spirit: 150 yen per picture.'"
Arching an eyebrow, she moved to investigate and was not terribly surprised to find Kensuke Aida nearby, sitting against a wall and trying to look innocent. She glanced around, instantly realizing that Kensuke was at a very strategically placed spot. It was impossible to sneak up on someone here; he could easily see any teachers or class representatives coming.
"Hello, Aida," she greeted him, placing her hands on her hips.
He looked up at her with a nervous grin. Between the fact that he was sitting down and the growth spurt that had followed her first transformation into her angelic form, Hikari towered over the otaku.
"Hey, class rep," he replied.
"You wouldn't happen to know anything about that sign over there would you?" Hikari asked. "The one about the photographs?"
"Sign? No, I have no idea what you're talking about," Kensuke replied.
His poker face was terrible, Hikari thought.
She knew from experience that if she applied a little pressure, he would crack like an egg and confess everything. A few threatening words, an implication that she already had proof that it was him and that it would be better if he confessed, and he would immediately spill his guts.
"Hmph," she sniffed. "Well, if you should happen to encounter whoever is running this disgusting little operation, let him know that he'd better shut it down immediately. Because if I catch him, I'll have him on clean up duty until he graduates."
Kensuke just nodded as she walked off.
Once she was a safe distance away from him, Hikari allowed herself a small grin. Wow, pictures of me are worth five times as much as pictures of Asuka! She thought.
Of course, she realized that the economics of supply and demand probably had a great deal to do with the prices. Asuka went to their school, making it fairly easy for Kensuke to take pictures of her. Spirit, on the other hand, appeared only very rarely. Kensuke probably had nothing to offer his customers besides screenshots from the video he'd gotten of her.
All the same, finding out that pictures of her were more highly prized than those of the beautiful and exotic gaijin was a nice little ego boost. It was another case of Spirit being more popular than Hikari, but she felt like she could live with this one.
Feeling slightly better, Hikari walked over to Shinji, who was standing on a bridge that separated the elementary school from the junior high school.
"Hello, Shinji," she greeted. "Something interesting going on?"
He gestured, and Hikari spied Asuka talking to Ayanami, who had returned to school that morning. She watched as Rei walked off, leaving Asuka looking confused.
"Asuka tried to make friends with Ayanami," Shinji explained.
Hikari winced, knowing that friendship with the enigmatic First Child wasn't something that came easily.
Before she could comment, Shinji's cell phone went off. He quickly pulled it out and answered. Hikari watched as his face turned grim.
Finally, it's starting, she thought.
"The recent battle against the Fifth Angel has severely damaged Tokyo-3's intercept system," Misato told both the pilots from her place in the mobile command vehicle. "Only 26 of our defensive capability has been restored. In addition, our capability for actual combat is virtually nil. Therefore, we're going to intercept the target at the water's edge. The plan is to attack the Angel in a series of waves. In other words, get in close and take turns!"
"Roger!" Shinji and Asuka responded crisply.
The Second Child's professionalism evaporated a moment later, however.
"This sucks!" she complained. "Why do I have to bring him along for my first battle in Japan?"
"SOP," Shinji replied, opening up an EVA-to-EVA channel. "That's just procedures."
"Well let me tell you something, Third Child! You'd better not get in my way!" Asuka snapped angrily, causing Shinji to stammer wordlessly for a few seconds before closing the channel.
"Message from headquarters, Captain," Hyuga spoke up. "They've picked up the red/blue pattern. It looks like we've got backup."
"Spirit's here?" Misato demanded. "Where exactly?"
"Holding position on the roof of an abandoned building, roughly half a kilometer from the water's edge," Hyuga answered. "It looks like she's going to let us make the first move against the Angel."
"Good!" Asuka chimed in. "That's the only one I'll need!"
"Any orders from headquarters regarding Spirit?" Misato asked, suppressing the anxiety she was feeling.
"So far the Vice Commander has only ordered that we ignore her until the Angel's destroyed, unless she takes hostile actions, of course," Hyuga answered.
Misato grimaced, not wanting to think about what the orders for after the Angel was defeated would be. Asuka had mentioned Spirit several times to her, and it was clear that the Second Child didn't think very much of the winged girl. But Shinji felt that he more or less owed Spirit his life. If Fuyutski ordered the EVA's to capture Spirit…
She shuddered at the thought of Units One and Two brawling on the beach over the girl.
At least the Commander took off for a conference again, she thought.
Spirit stood on top of an old, crumbling building, watching the two EVA Units as they plunged out of the sky, having been released from their massive carrier planes. The two huge war machines landed on the beach, kicking up enormous clouds of sand, and waited while power cables were connected to them by NERV personnel using heavy machinery.
She had decided that she was going to just wait and watch until it was clear that her help was needed. If Asuka was as good as she said she was, then Spirit might never be needed again. She could hang up her mask and never have to worry much about NERV finding her.
The thought of never assuming her alternate identity again was surprisingly painful, she realized. But what justification would there be for her to keep this up if Asuka was good enough to make her redundant? Too many people needed her for her to do such crazy things needlessly.
Even if they are surprisingly fun most of the time, part of her mind spoke up.
All such thoughts were put out of her mind when the Angel emerged from beneath the water. It was a huge, gray and black thing with a strange, yin-yang pattern on what she assumed was its face. The monster was more or less humanoid, much like the Third Angel. Standing ankle deep in the water, it was still a good kilometer or so from the shoreline.
Unit Two went into action at once. The scarlet titan charged forward, using the roofs of old, half submerged buildings as stepping stones once it passed the shoreline. Before the Angel could even hope to react, Asuka brought down the progressive spear Unit Two was holding, cleanly bisecting the Angel vertically down the middle of its body.
Shinji was impressed. Asuka was smug.
Spirit was wary.
Oh no, I already made the mistake of declaring victory too early once, she thought, narrowing her eyes. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
The two halves of the Angel suddenly shuddered, each one morphing into a smaller version of the original Angel, one orange and one greenish gray.
Spirit immediately took to the air.
Unit Two tried to strike the gray Angel with her spear, but it grabbed the shaft of the weapon and began to grapple with the EVA for it. Unit One raised its pallet rifle and immediately began to fire on the orange Angel, but the huge shells just bounced harmlessly off its tough hide.
Deciding to the go to the aid of the less heavily trained EVA pilot first, Spirit flew straight for the orange Angel, white light appearing in her palm.
The Angel leapt into air toward Unit One, and right when it was at the apex of its jump, Spirit fired, the cross blast slamming right into the Angel's core and sending it sprawling back into the water, creating a huge wave of water as it splashed down.
It burst back above the surface a moment later, its core visibly cracked. Spirit grinned. One more hit and this one will be done for, she thought, getting ready for the second shot.
That was when the core glowed brightly, the cracks in it shrinking and then closing up, leaving the red sphere totally unblemished.
Spirit's eyes widened. For all the Angels' healing abilities, she had never seen one regenerate its core before now.
She looked up to see the other Angel approaching, its own core glowing brightly in harmony with its twin's. Had it healed the other Angel's core with its own somehow, she wondered.
Wait a minute. What happened to Asuka? Spirit thought.
She looked beyond the gray Angel and was shocked to see a pair of huge red legs sticking up from a crater in the ground not far off.
It beat her already?! Oh come on! I thought she was some kind of super pilot!
Spirit soared forward, light gathering in her hand again as she advanced on the gray Angel, hoping that Shinji could fend off the orange one. With luck, the two of them could take down the two Angels together even without Asuka's help.
Unit One raised its rifle again, this time firing directly on the orange Angel's core. The Angel immediately stopped advancing, crossing its arms over its torso to protect the red sphere.
If Shinji can keep that one too busy to help the gray one, maybe I can take it out and we can gang up on the orange one together, Spirit thought, readying her shot.
The gray Angel lashed out with one of its spindly looking arms, and, thanks more to pure luck than anything else, managed to strike Spirit right in midair! She screamed, feeling bones fracture from the sheer force of the blow, and went plummeting toward the green water of the ocean.
She landed with a large splash, bubbles coming from her mouth as she groaned, both from the pain and from the knowledge that she'd never get the salty smell out of her costume.
Ugh! Not again! If I never see the ocean again after this, it'll be too soon!
Shocked at seeing what had happened to the girl that had saved his skin in the battle against the Fourth Angel, Shinji did the worst possible thing he could have done in that situation.
He stopped firing.
The Angels wasted no time in exploiting the opening. The one Unit One had been shooting at immediately got back up, and the eye holes in the Angels' bony, vaguely face-like protrusions flashed. Unit One was slammed backwards by a pair of energy blasts. The violet giant landed in the ocean water and did not get up.
Mere seconds later, Spirit burst out of the water and was again flying through the air, her wounds now no more than a memory thanks to the healing powers granted to her by her S2 organ.
She grimaced as she saw Unit One's motionless form. She hoped Shinji was all right, but she had more pressing things to do at the moment than worry about her friend.
Now I'm the one that's outnumbered! She thought in dismay. How can I possibly take out both of them by myself?
The Angels both fired energy blasts at her, apparently just a little ticked off at her for cracking one of their cores earlier. Spirit dived sharply to avoid the attack, turning herself upwards and ascending again mere meters before she hit the sea water again.
They tried to strike her with their arms again, but Spirit was quick, small, and a lot more wary of them than she had been two minutes ago. Barring another incredible bit of luck, they couldn't hit her. Even so, she was amazed at how the two giant monsters weren't getting in one another's way as they flailed about trying to swat her out of the sky.
I've got to figure out a way to finish this, Spirit thought with clenched teeth as she avoided another energy blast. They're going to get me eventually if I don't.
Taking a deep breath, she summonsed up the now familiar sensation of incredible power within her. This time however, she urged it to come more strongly than she ever had previously, until she could feel it building within her like carbonation behind a cork, just waiting to burst out.
White light began to form by both her palms.
"Take this!" Spirit shouted, firing off two cross blasts.
Her aim was true, and the white energy slammed into the two Angels' cores, cracking the red spheres and sending both monsters reeling. They looked up and retaliated with their own energy attacks, but Spirit was too quick for them, diving out of the way easily.
"Just once more," she said to herself, panting.
The double cross blast had taken a lot out of her, draining her far more than doing two separate attacks. But attacking these things separately wasn't an option, and she was going to have to summons up one more such attack to end it.
Her efforts to muster the energy for another double cross blast ended before they really began.
Spirit saw all the military aircraft that had been circling the area abruptly leaving. She glanced toward the shore and saw that the handful of NERV personnel present were also retreating in their trucks and Jeeps, leaving behind the heavy cranes they'd used to connect the EVA's power cords, as well as the EVA weapons cache piled on the beach.
Spirit was no military obsessed otaku like certain people she knew, but even she had a pretty good idea what such an abrupt withdrawal portended.
They wouldn't! She thought, horrified. They're going to use an N2 mine!
Spirit turned and flew away as quickly as she could, desperately trying to get far enough away from the Angels to prevent their AT field from neutralizing her own. She hadn't flown so quickly since Toji and Kensuke had been in danger of being crushed under a few hundreds tons of Evangelion.
The world turned white around her mere seconds later.
The mood in the debriefing room inside NERV headquarters was grim, to put it mildly, as the pilots and other top personnel went over the organization's epic failure against the Seventh Angel.
"Today at 10:56 a.m., Unit Two engaged the target, splitting in two with a melee weapon and apparently killing it," Maya said as she worked the projector, showing a slide of the Angel's original form.
"Twenty seconds later, the Angel split into two sub-Angels, designated Alpha and Beta," Maya continued, moving to a new slide that showed the two Angels. "At this point, the anomaly known as Spirit entered combat, engaging target Alpha."
A new slide appeared, showing Spirit firing one of her energy attacks at the Angel. "Target Alpha's core was damaged, but it soon regenerated and reengaged."
The next slide showed Unit Two buried upside down in a rice patty. "At 10:58 a.m., Unit Two was disabled by target Beta's attack. Twenty-five seconds later, target Alpha managed to strike Spirit, knocking her into the ocean. Unit One was then immediately disabled by attacks from both Alpha and Beta, thus ending NERV's participation in this battle. I believe the Project-E chairperson most accurately summed up the EVA's performance in this engagement."
"This is pathetic!" shouted a recording of Dr. Akagi.
"This is all your fault!" Asuka snapped, pointing an accusing finger at Shinji. "You totally screwed up my debut battle! You and that…that winged witch!"
"You were the one who charged in there like an idiot!" Shinji replied heatedly.
"At 11:59 a.m., Spirit emerged from the water and reengaged the targets," Maya said, ignoring the two pilots and changing slides again. "Using two energy attacks at once, something we have not observed her doing before, she was able to damage the cores of both the Angels."
"At 11:02 a.m., NERV transferred command of the engagement to the UN Secondary Force," Maya continued. "At 11:04 a.m., the UN made an attack with an N2 mine."
"We'll have to redraw the map again!" Vice Commander Fuyutski barked, looking disgustedly at the image of the damage done by the blast.
"Why did we transfer command at all?" Shinji protested, turning to face the old man. "She was winning! There was no need for that!"
Fuyutski just glared at him, and though he wasn't nearly as good at it as Gendo, he was skilled enough to intimidate Shinji and cause him to turn back around to face the screen.
"Spirit apparently saw the UN bombers abruptly breaking off," Maya said. "She disengaged from the battle prior to the mine's explosion and was far enough away from ground zero that her AT field was able to protect her."
Another slide, this one showing the two Angels after they'd borne the brunt of an N2 blast. Large chunks of their bodies had been burned away, and they were slumped rather pathetically, standing back-to-back.
"At 11:10 a.m., Spirit reengaged the targets, attacking with an energy attack."
Maya switched to a slide showing Spirit using one of her cross blasts. It went cleanly through both Angels.
"Both Angels' cores were pierced by this attack. The targets exploded violently following the destruction of their cores. Spirit was unharmed by this blast and left the scene. NERV surveillance devices lost track of her at 11:16 a.m."
"We've been completely humiliated by that girl again!" Fuyutski snarled angrily. "The Committee will be furious about this!"
"Well, at least the Angel's dead, and you really can't ask for much more than that," Kaji said, sounding bemused.
If the Vice Commander heard Kaji, he ignored him completely. Giving the pilots a stern look, he asked, "All right, you two, just what do you think your job is?"
"Piloting EVA," Asuka said.
"Wrong!" Fuyutski snapped. "It's to defeat the Angels! NERV does not exist to make grotesque public spectacles! Therefore, the two of you will learn to work together, in order to avoid this kind of thing in future engagements!"
"Why should we?!" Shinji and Asuka snapped, glaring at each other.
"Enough," the Vice Commander scowled, then pressed a button on a nearby console, causing the personal lift he was standing on to the descend.
"Why does everyone get so angry here?" Asuka asked.
"Adults have a thing about credibility," Kaji answered.
"Hey, do you know where Misato is?" Shinji asked the unshaven man.
He had a sneaking suspicion that NERV had transferred command to the UN knowing, nay, hoping that they would drop an N2 mine out of a desire to see Spirit annihilated. He wanted to ask his guardian if he was just being paranoid, or if it was possible that NERV really was willing to cause people to lob nukes unnecessarily in order to be rid of someone who had done nothing but help them so far.
"Oh, she's taking care of things," Kaji replied with a smirk.
Misato felt a wave of nausea sweep over her as she looked at it. It was perhaps the most horrifying sight she had ever seen…
All right, that was an exaggeration, but only because Misato Katsuragi had been witness to Adam, the First Angel, when he was in his adult state. What lay before her was really that terrible.
Her desk was buried under a literal mountain of paperwork.
"Look what we have here," Ritsuko said, sounding disgustingly cheerful at Misato's predicament. "Here are the complaints and damage reports from the bureaus concerned, a bill from the UN, a complaint from public relations, and…"
The bottle blond scientist picked up one of the seemingly endless forms and frowned as she read it. "…a letter from Hasbro, requesting a meeting to negotiate the rights to produce a line of Spirit action figures?"
Misato's eye twitched. "Why the hell would they ask us about that?"
Ritsuko shrugged. "Who else could they ask? It's not like the girl has her own PR agent. Personally, I'm a little insulted they aren't asking for the rights to make EVA figures."
The Operations Director decided not to tell her friend that Hasbro had already asked about that, but she'd known the Commander would never go for it and had rejected the offer.
"I guess it's just as well, though," Ritsuko continued. "I mean, really, they'd probably make them transform into cars or planes or something and—"
Misato snatched the letter from Hasbro out of Ritsuko's hand, crumpled it up, and threw it into the waste bin. It was surprisingly satisfying.
One down, she thought, then turned to the rest of the paperwork. Only a zillion or so to go.
"You should know that Commander Fuyutski isn't exactly happy with what happened," Ritsuko said, not the least bit phased by how visibly agitated Misato was. "In fact, short of the Angel destroying the city and headquarters, I think the way this battle turned out was the worst case scenario."
"As soon as Spirit showed up, I knew it was good luck that Commander Ikari left for a conference yesterday," Misato sighed. "I just didn't realize exactly why."
"If Commander Ikari was here, you'd have already been fired," Ritsuko said. "As it is, Commander Fuyutski has asked me to tell you that if Spirit gets the next Angel, you're going to be relieved of duty."
"Then I guess I'll have to pull out all the stops next time," Misato grumbled. "It's so stupid. What does it matter who exactly kills the Angels, so long as they're killed?"
"It's all politics," Ritsuko said. "You have to admit that it would look bad if Spirit killed every Angel, leaving the multi-trillion yen Evangelions we built to fight them collecting dust."
"I guess," Misato conceded.
Of course, she mused, governments wasted taxpayer money all the time. Hell, every time the defense grid opened up on an Angel before an EVA was deployed, several billion yen were tossed down the drain. But not using the EVA's would be wastefulness on a far grander scale than people were used to accepting.
Besides, she had her own personal reasons for wanting to see the forces she commanded smash the Angels.
"Well, have fun with all of this," Ritsuko said, gesturing to the papers before she left Misato's office.
Misato sighed. There was nothing to do but roll up her sleeves and get to work.
"…maybe I'll get a coffee first," she said to herself. "That'll help me work faster."
Some people were of the belief that no good deed in life goes unrewarded, that karma or some other force would ensure that any virtuous act would be repaid accordingly.
At the current moment, Hikari was leaning toward the idea that no good deed in life goes unpunished.
"I'm telling you, Spirit and the baka totally ruined everything!" Asuka ranted. "The great Third Child was completely useless, and the winged wonder didn't do anything except get in my way! If it had been just me there, I would have taken out the Angel in no time! But I got chewed out because Spirit got the kill!"
Hikari had been listening to this ever since she had agreed to walk home with Asuka after school. She had agreed mostly because Nozomi was going to a friend's house, rather than back to their own home, and right now Hikari was silently damning her younger sister for it.
"Spirit flew right up between me and the Angel!" Asuka continued. "I couldn't hit it because I was afraid of killing the stupid girl, and the Angel got a free shot! And the baka just stood there like a total dumkopf the whole time!"
Of course, since Hikari had been at the battle, she knew that Asuka's description of events was far from accurate. Unfortunately, she couldn't say anything without revealing herself.
"I'm sure they both meant well," was about the strongest thing Hikari could say in defense of herself and Shinji.
"Yeah, well good intensions aren't going to win this war! I swear, if I ever get my hands on that girl…" Asuka growled, shaking a fist at nothing in particular.
And just the other day I was thinking about how everyone likes me as Spirit more than me as Hikari, she thought, suppressing a sigh.
They at last reached the apartment building that Asuka was moving into that very day. "I hope my stuff's arrived already," the Second Child said, abruptly ending her rant and shifting back to the much more cheerful version of Asuka so quickly that Hikari blinked in surprise.
After a short ride in the building's elevator, they came to the door to Asuka's new home. Hikari suddenly realized she'd been to this very apartment before, back when Shinji had been stuck inside a NERV holding cell and she'd come to deliver his printouts.
"You're living with Misato?" Hikari asked while Asuka went fishing through her bag for her key.
"Yup!" Asuka answered cheerfully. "She's my legal guardian now. I lived with her for a while back in Germany, too."
"But I thought that Shinji was living with Misato," Hikari said.
"I'm sure they found him some place else to live," Asuka replied, finally producing her key and opening the door.
Hikari blinked at the sight of the dozens of DHL boxes that were stacked in the apartment. Could Asuka really have collected this much stuff in Germany?
The boxes have stuff written in German on them, so I guess it must be hers, she thought, wondering what could possibly be inside all of them.
Before Hikari could ask about it, Shinji entered the apartment, looking confused. "Hello, Hikari. Hi, Asuka," he greeted nervously. "What are you doing here?"
Asuka frowned. "What are you still doing here, Third Child?"
"Still doing here?" Shinji echoed. "I live here!"
"Not anymore! You've been dumped for the new model, Third. It makes perfect sense in light of my superior abilities," Asuka bragged. "Though I'd much rather live with Kaji!"
"Asuka…" Hikari said, frowning at the redhead's behavior.
"Hello, everybody!"
The three teenagers turned to see a tired but surprisingly cheerful looking Misato standing in the doorway to the apartment. She turned a slightly chilling grin on Shinji and Asuka. "You two are going to get along real well."
"Huh?" both pilots questioned.
Misato grinned. "The destruction of the next Angel by NERV is top priority," she said, neglecting to mention exactly why she had deemed it so. "Therefore, in light of your lackluster performance against the Seventh, I've decided that the two of you are going to live together to promote teamwork!"
"What?!" Shinji gasped.
"No way!" Asuka protested. "A boy and a girl should not live under the same roof after the age of seven!"
Misato continued to grin, but her grin turned slightly feral. "I'll make this an order if I have to," she said in a dangerously sweet singsong voice.
Hikari cleared her throat, feeling very uncomfortable and awkward. "Uh, I see you've got some…settling in to do. I'll just get out of your way," she said. "Bye, Shinji. Asuka. I'll see you at school tomorrow."
And with that, the class rep beat a hasty retreat, fearing a full scale battle was about to erupt.
"This sucks!" Asuka growled at no one in particular. "I can't even imagine how this day could get any worse!"
Of course, little did she know that without the "winged wonder," Kaji would have finally succeeded in selling that Dance Dance Twister game he'd purchased during college and had been trying to get rid of since graduation.
Author's Notes: The pacing at the start of this chapter felt somewhat clunky to me, and I found myself fervently wishing that I had put Asuka's first day of school at the end of the last chapter.
Then, as I was nearly ready to put this up, I read the most excellent fight scene in the latest chapter of orionpax09's "Superwomen of Eva: Emerald Fury" and felt inspired to tighten up the action here a bit. So if you liked this fight, he's at least partially responsible. :)
Anyway, here we have Hikari seeing a side of Asuka that she wasn't truly exposed to in the series. I'll be delving deeper into their relationship next chapter, which will probably be fairly brief since Spirit can't possibly do anything to help against the next Angel.
Bissek, I had hoped that it would be obvious that the situation had shifted enough for Hikari to become Spirit. However, I suppose I should have thrown in a line about her panicking and calling the wings. Also, I completely never knew Shinji and Kenshin had the same voice actress. I didn't even know Kenshin had an actress instead of an actor, though I did know that about Shinji. Thanks for telling me.
Kenzie, I figured that Shinji and Asuka never really got a chance to take a good look at the core, except when Asuka was performing the "dental work." And at that point they were looking at the Angel's teeth, not its core.
Zoro, that Hikari would eventually lose control and storm NERV in attempt to join with Adam was something I thought about for some time. I reached a decision a while ago. (What, you're not expecting me to tell, are you? That would ruin the suspense. :P)
As always, thanks to my readers and reviewers.
Omakes
Infringement!
"…a letter from Hasbro, requesting a meeting to negotiate the rights to produce a line of Spirit action figures?"
Misato's eye twitched. "Why the hell would they ask us about that?"
Ritsuko shrugged. "Who else could they ask? It's not like the girl has her own PR agent. Personally, I'm a little insulted they aren't asking for the rights to make EVA figures."
The Operations Director decided not to tell her friend that Hasbro had already asked about that, but she'd known the Commander would never go for it and had rejected the offer.
"I guess it's just as well, though," Ritsuko continued. "I mean, really, they'd probably make them transform into cars or planes or something and—"
Misato snatched the letter from Hasbro out of Ritsuko's hand, crumpled it up, and threw it into the waste bin. It was surprisingly satisfying.
One down, she thought, then turned to the rest of the paperwork. Only a zillion or so to go.
Misato never did notice Ritsuko taking the now wrinkled letter out of the trash before she left.
"Where did you get that?!" Hikari demanded as she saw Nozomi playing with a winged action figure.
"From the toy store," Nozomi answered cheerfully. "It's supposed to be you! Isn't it just the coolest?"
Hikari's eye twitched. Nozomi didn't notice.
"And this is me!" the little girl declared, showing Hikari a smaller doll that Nozomi had taped a mask made out of paper to. "I'm your sidekick, Magical Girl Nozomi!"
A vein in Hikari's forehead started to pulse.
Fortunately for everyone concerned, Kodama chose that moment to enter the room. The eldest Horaki girl immediately noticed that Hikari looked like she was about one second away from exploding. Deciding that she would rather not see her super powered sister erupt, she immediately spoke up.
"Are you all right, Hikari-chan?"
"Who makes these things?!" she snapped, pointing to the Spirit doll.
"Hasbro," Kodama answered nervously. "Dad kind of mentioned how NERV sold them the rights to her…uh, I mean your image."
"What right does NERV have to sell my image?!" Hikari demanded of no one in particular. "They try to capture or kill me on a regular basis! They might even be using the profits from these toys to fund their next plan to trap me!"
Nozomi had apparently not thought about that. She put the Spirit doll down and backed away from it a bit, as though it might bite her or Hikari.
"Hikari-chan, calm down," Kodama urged.
If Hikari heard her older sister, she gave no indication of it. "If I didn't have to keep my identity a secret, I would sue NERV so hard!" she declared.
The teenaged girl suddenly snatched up the Spirit doll. "AND WHY DOES EVERYBODY THINK I'M IN MY TWENTIES AND HAVE AN E-CUP! THAT'S WHAT THEY HAVE THE SHE-HULK FOR!"
No good deed…
Shinji was still cringing inside as he walked to the Horaki residence, a number of Spirit costumes under his arm. Just the memory of the scene in his Father's office was enough to embarrass and disgust him.
Maybe I really am a pervert, he thought. Considering the way my parents behaved, I guess it's just in my blood.
Well, at least he'd gotten off the hook and would hopefully never, ever have to be reminded of the incident again.
He knocked on the door to Hikari's home, and the class rep opened it a moment later. "Hello, Shinji," she greeted. "I see that you got my costumes. Arigato. I didn't…"
She trailed off as a Section Two agent joined Shinji on the porch.
"Can I help you?" Shinji asked.
"The Commander asked me to give you this," the man said, handing Shinji a box of condoms and then walking off to a more discreet distance.
They glow in the dark?! Shinji thought as he looked at the package. How messed up is my Father?!
"Shinji, why did your Father tell him to give you those?" Hikari demanded.
"Uh, funny story, really," Shinji said, smiling nervously and sweating.
Thirty seconds later…
"You told him what?!" Hikari shouted.
"It was either that or the truth! I couldn't think up anything else!" Shinji protested. "Gomen nasai!"
Hikari looked like she was going to strangle him for a moment, then composed herself. Rather than kill him, she just calmly took the costumes from Shinji. The Third Child blinked, wondering if he'd somehow managed to escape certain doom.
"You're not going to punish me?" Shinji asked.
"Not right now," Hikari replied innocently.
"Not right now?" he echoed fearfully.
"No," Hikari confirmed. "However, if I were you, I wouldn't be too surprised if I heard a flapping of wings in the near future."
Shinji gulped.
"Good day, Shinji," Hikari said politely, shutting the door in his face.
Chuckling to herself, Hikari went upstairs to put her new costumes away. She had absolutely no intention of going after Shinji as Spirit, but he didn't know that.
Nobody had ever accused the representative of class 2-A of lacking creativity when it came to dispensing punishments.
On his way home, Shinji let out a girlish scream every time he heard a bird flying by.
Fantasy fulfilled
"Man, I am so smart," a tooth fairy praised herself as she flew through Tokyo-3. "Taking Japan was the best idea I ever had. Belief in me is such a western thing. I'm almost finished and it's not even midnight yet! I only have one more place left to hit!"
She pulled out a list and frowned as she saw the last location on it. Lakeside in the Geofront? Well, whatever.
Finding an access hatch, she flew down into the enormous cave. It didn't take her long to spot what she was looking for.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" she shrieked as she saw the pile of massive teeth under a crude pillow made of tarp.
Taking Japan was the worst idea I ever had! She thought as she got to work.
The next day…
"I wonder why the Commander called us all up to his office," Misato mused as a group of people headed toward the huge doors to the intimidating chamber.
"Your guess is as good as mine," Ritsuko replied.
In addition to the head of Project-E and the Operations Director, the group also consisted of the top three bridge techs, Shinji, and Rei.
They opened the door to the Commander's office and walked in. Fuyutski was standing in his usual place at the Commander's side, but Gendo's chair was facing away from the door, so they couldn't see him.
"You wanted to see us, sir?" Misato asked.
The Commander's chair suddenly spun around, revealing that it wasn't Gendo who sat in it, but Asuka.
"Ah!" Shinji screamed. "Wh-what are you doing in my Father's chair?!"
"It's my chair now, baka!" Asuka gloated. "Commander Ikari resigned and left me in charge of NERV."
"B-but, Asuka—!"
"It's Commander Soryu now!"
Misato shot a pleading look at the Vice Commander, but the old man could only shrug. "It's true, I'm afraid."
"But how?" Ritsuko asked. "How did you get him to resign and make you the new Commander?"
"It was easy! I just gave him a few trillion yen. He was off to Geneva like a bat out of hell. He mentioned something about achieving his ends by buying the Frankenstein estate," Asuka said, clearly not caring what Gendo did with the money.
Rei slapped her forehead.
"But where did you get that much money?" Maya asked.
Asuka just smiled like the Cheshire cat.
"Oh, no," Makoto said as he began to connect the dots. "No way. There's no way that could have worked!"
"Well it did!" Asuka retorted. "So now that I'm the Commander, it's time to play everyone's favorite game 'Who wants to keep their job?'"
Asuka pressed a button on her new desk and canned applause burst from unseen speakers.
"Shinji," Rei said softly. "I am…afraid."
"So am I, Rei," Shinji replied somberly. "So am I."