1Chapter 10: Welcome to the Crew

The last week of Asuka's recovery was filled with the intensity of preparations. With the addition of the teen pilots to DEA's vague plans, everything could apparently be sped up. The air was charged with a new urgency as every staff member focused on mobilization. As soon as the doctors deemed Asuka to be healthy enough for sea travel, DEA's "New York Sector" was sending the bulk of it's clientele across the Atlantic. Being hardly briefed on just what could be sped up or why there was such a rush to do it, the pilots simply lazed about and watched the worker bees buzz. It was strange to find themselves with nothing to do, but their bodies welcomed a reprieve from tension and abuse.

With a speed that astonished them both, the doctors performed physicals and collected basic data on the pilots' health. Everything recorded went into more red folders: blood type, metabolism, blood pressure, DNA hair samples, urine samples… samples of all sorts of things that the children gave up with shrugs or winces. They were tested for every anomaly, mutation, or defect that could be revealed without prior reasonable suspicion and one nurse even performed an allergy test. Shinji discovered an allergic reaction to some awful thing called a "fire ant", much to his surprise. Asuka smirked with a superior air when she did not react to any of the allergen samples, but was shocked to learn that her malnutrition had included a slight case of scurvy before DEA's treatment. Being the young teens that they were, an endless discussion of pirates ensued and infected the entire nurse staff.

There was no doubt that the addition of the strong-headed youths boosted the morale of DEA's younger members. For the first time in a long time, jokes spread through the hallways and more than a few employees were growing excited for the "cruise" to their Scotland base. With sarcastic talk of pirates and sun tans, the men loaded inconspicuous mail trucks and vans with precious equipment. Because the secrecy of the move was paramount, even the superior figures of DEA did not rebuke the nonsense and humorous talk. Better to talk about jolly rodgers than the actual plans. Only one man was straight-faced and sober, much to Shinji's amusement.

Gordon did not throw a pirate snarl back to his men or tousle Shinji's hair when he checked in on Asuka. His stubble was back and long shadows seemed to cling to his face in any light. This was not lost on Asuka and she decided that it was an important detail; something to talk to Shinji about. At last strong enough to walk around, she waited patiently until everyone had settled down for the night. Most of the staff were out of the building and setting up their departure for the following morning, so this was her best chance to talk to Shinji privately—about Gordon, the departure, and his secret. It was late, but she knew how to find his room.

Ever since signing into DEA, the pilots had been unable to meet privately. Whether it was intentional or incidental did not concern Asuka. She had already made up her mind about the sketchy way she was kept separate from Shinji. There always seemed to be someone hanging around them. Their physicals, therapy, and meetings with Gordon had been separate, of course; but there was no explanation for the way they were shepherded into separate rooms during the several hours of down time each day.

Although they sat together, and apart from all others at meal times; they never had a chance to discuss their commitment to DEA and what came next. Asuka suspected that the whirlwind of confusion was convenient for Gordon. There was no time to answer their questions or explain anything. The perpetual response was, "As soon as we get to the UK, you'll see. Just wait." They were decidedly unsatisfied with that answer, but the prospect of traveling to a place far out of the way of Angels or a NERV branch was welcome. Scotland and the bulk of the surrounding isles had been uninhabitable for almost three years after the Second Impact, but weather patterns had regulated enough to make it livable and largely unpopulated in coastal areas. It's only NERV base was the smallest in existence. There wasn't even a division to develop its own Eva.

With as much stealth as she could manage, a barefooted Asuka padded into the hallway outside her room, rolling her IV tree with her. The way was clear and she swiftly crossed to the end of the hall and around a corner. There she leaned against the door that should be Shinji's, if she had remembered his directions correctly. Already out of breath, she twisted the handle slowly until it clicked. The door was heavy and swung silently into the dim room where he was napping lightly on his cot. Shinji had obviously been waiting with his head propped up on one hand, but exhaustion took over and left him wide-mouthed and snoring. Asuka carefully closed the door and dropped down at the foot of the bed, equally tired and not a little amused at the boy's sleeping face. Her presence jolted him to waking and he sat up to face her, wiping his mouth on his forearm.

"We need to talk." She said gravely. "We've got a lot to decide and no time to do it."

Shinji nodded and stretched, prepared for a mental lashing from his friend. "Okay, let's get to it. You first."

"Did you tell him?" She raised her eyebrows urgently. The dim light made her already exaggerated features stand out sharply with shadows. He was getting used to her shaved head, but her expressions were still doubly effective.

"No. Not yet… I'm still a little confused about it. Besides, I wanted to know your ideas first."

"I think he's made up his mind about it. He must have, or he wouldn't have let us out of that room. Not that I could have told him much…"

"I'm sorry, I really am. I was planning to tell you but so much happened."

"Forget it. Don't ever be sorry, just don't keep things from me. Especially things like the existence of a giant weapon that should be destroyed, by all logic." She sighed, letting her anger go in a hot breath. There was no use in getting worked up about Shinji forgetting to share the details of his capture with her. A lot had happened… She guessed that the main reason he hadn't told her about hiding his Eva—aside from their separation and desperate situations over the last months, was guilt. Not for keeping the secret from her, but for keeping it from Seele in that hellish camp. They left that awful fact unsaid: If he had told Seele about his Eva, she wouldn't have been the choice for the experiments. Asuka wasn't sure that she would have changed her situation, even now. Her torture only made her more resolute in her hatred for Seele and keeping unit 001 from them was important. How could she have wanted to save herself by sacrificing Shinji with unit 001, and therefore the fate of the planet?

"Anyway… I haven't told him anything. I didn't deny it, though."

"Good. You're a horrible liar. You've got the poker face of a toddler."

"Hey!" he retorted with a crack in his voice. Asuka raised her eyebrows in a way that meant "case and point". She scooted back on the bed until her back was against the wall and closed her eyes. Shinji watched her and did the same, keeping a fair distance. "Anyway… I guess you want to know how I managed to hide a giant purple weapon and still get captured."

"And how those idiots didn't think you knew where it was. Did they even question you?"

"Yes… but it wasn't so much of a 'questioning', as a 'suggesting'. They never asked me if or where I hid it. They seemed pretty sure that it was destroyed. They asked me things like, 'when you ejected, what happened to it? Where will we find the head? How much of the body is intact? Where did you land…?'"

"They assumed that your Eva was wrecked, like mine."

"Yes, but they couldn't find any pieces. I never answered them directly. I would just start screaming and covering my face…"

Asuka squinted at him. "You faked trauma?"

"Well… it was mostly fake. Whenever I started those fits, some men would hold me down until I stopped. The only thing I ever told them about the Eva was a lie. I said the angel was eating me." Shinji's eyes glossed over with memory… how close to true, but not quite. Asuka was impressed with the thought that he had given his situation. Se would have never guessed that he had it in him to fool his captors into thinking him mad. Why hadn't they suspected something…?

"I guess you were pretty convincing… It's hard for me to believe they didn't torture you. So… what did you do with your Eva. How did you hide it? How did you get away from the angel and Seele?" At last the question was asked. Shinji leaned forward to hold his knees and took a loud breath.

"It all happened so fast." He began. "When I saw Rei go down, I tried to run to pull the angel off of you, but my power cable was severed and swung around to trip me. If it hadn't been for that fall, I wouldn't have noticed all of the tanks swarming in the streets."

"You… tripped."

"Yeah, I fell. It was a good thing, though. At first I assumed the tanks were after the angel for some reason, but when I fell they all started to point their guns at me. I know it wouldn't have done them much good with those weapons, but I was panicking. I started swatting them away as I got to my feet, and I ran to see if they would train their missiles for me if I moved. They didn't. As I ran towards you, I saw them crushing NERV cars and filing towards headquarters…"

"I never saw that part. The angel was…faster than me and I didn't get a good look at anything."

"I saw it decapitate you. Someone must have been watching out for you in NERV at that point. I lost contact with them before I could warn anyone, but someone must have disconnected you before you were hit and ejected." Both pilots felt a sudden heavy sadness for that someone pull at their hearts. Someone who was now dead or worse at the hands of SEELE. "When you stopped responding, I ran. The angel was following me and I wanted to lead it away from your plug. If I had known about the jets, I would have taken care of them first…"

"Where did you go? I thought your power was cut."

"It was. I only had about a minute to do something, so I ran to the nearest beach. The angel was so hard to attack, with the way it kept on the offensive. I took a lot of damage and only had seconds left of power. Then I lost it."

"The angel?"

"No—awareness. I felt my panic rise to the point where I couldn't focus on anything. I thought I was drowning in the LCL. I glanced over the angel and saw about 40 planes headed for the city pass by without dropping any N2 mines. I thought that was the end. Then I remember the entry plug going dark and hearing the angel pounding against my chest…the Eva's chest. I'm pretty sure it threw me into the water." Shinji's eyebrows furrowed and he rubbed his forehead.

"Then what?"

"I guess I went berserk. I must have walked along the floor under water and gone after the angel. I think I threw it into some trees. I don't know how far we got from that point, but when I woke up fully, my plug had ejected and I was being pulled out by soldiers. I remember a helicopter and someone doing cpr on me—then I was at the camp."

"Wait—so you don't know where your Eva is? You went berserk and the thing ejected you? How is that possible?!" Asuka hated being confused when this was so important.

"That's all I remember for certain, but there is something else. When I got in the helicopter, there was no ocean in sight. I must have been in the Eva for a while before it ejected me. It either was eaten by the angel… or…"

"What?" Asuka watched him rub his temples and saw that it was hard for him to make sense of it all. She softened her voice. "You don't think that's what happened, do you?"

"No. I can't remember it myself, but I keep having this dream. I'm standing over the angel in some gorge and I'm… I'm eating the core. Every night… It's always exactly the same dream. I'm eating the angel and then I'm not in control anymore. I rip—no, the Eva rips out my entry plug and tosses it and I'm flying through the air. That's it. That's when I wake up." He shuddered and closed his eyes. "I don't know where the Eva is. Seele could really have it for all I know… but maybe it hid itself."

"Impossible…" It wasn't a statement so much as a desperate questioning of what appeared to be the only answer. Asuka shook her head slowly.

"I know it sounds… insane, but I think that there's a chance the Eva gained enough power to control itself. "

"That goes against everything I ever learned…"

"Maybe it's something you were never taught… or nobody understood." Shinji offered. "I remember when I first saw unit 001, it acted on it's own to shield me from some debris in the holding cage. We were under attack and Gendo was asking me to pilot when I was almost crushed by a piece of something that the angel's attack knocked loose. It was able to free its arm from the restraints and shield me without my ever piloting it." Shinji thought hard about what he just said. "And I wonder… why they call them 'restraints', anyway…"

"Okay, so what were getting down to is the evas can probably move on their own. At least, unit 001 can. Maybe it did hide itself. But where? For how long? I just don't feel safe about taking any of this as concrete. I don't think SEELE has it, though…" she said. "If I had to draw one conclusion from this, it would be that nobody knows where that eva is… and now at least DEA thinks that you do."

"Yeah.. I've been worried about that. Something tells me that Gordon won't be too pleased when he finds out that I have no real clues for him about the eva. Sure; I can help him by answering questions… but in the end we're unable to give him what he wants."

"Unit 001. I'm sure that's all he wanted from the start. Maybe he is upset about using young pilots… who knows for sure? Doesn't it all seem too neat?"

Shinji nodded and leaned back against the wall again to stare at the tiled ceiling. "So what can I tell him? We need their help… we're alone in this and the only chance to save anyone from this mess. SEELE's trying to capture us, NERV is gone, Unit 001 could be anywhere… and then there's still the Angels to worry about. Everyone is missing or dead and we'll probably never really know. I'm so stressed out…" His eyes were closed, but Asuka could tell he wanted to cry. She looked away but did not bash him for weakness. This time—she could accept it.

"Let's not try to control things out of our hands, okay?" She squeezed his shoulder and tried to be comforting despite her own tension. We need to worry about us, first. Then we can assess our ability to make a difference." Suddenly she wondered why nobody had ever given her that same advice.

He sighed and blinked back his tears before they could escape. "Okay. Let's do that."

"Right. First of all we need to go over what we know. Where are we?"

"New Yorku, New Yorku" he mumbled.

"New-York. Close enough. Okay we're headed to Scotland. We'll be closer to Japan, but still very far. Scotland is closer to Germany, and I've been there before. Now—what else do we know?" she felt like a teacher.

"DEA can help us stay hidden from SEELE, and maybe find someone from NERV. That's important." He saw her nod and continued, "And Gordon probably wants unit 001. We need his help, so we should cooperate with him without letting him know that the Eva is… loose."

"Good thinking. The sooner we find someone else we can trust, the better. So let's focus on getting our strength back, staying hidden, finding help, and answering our questions. We'll leave it to the bigger powers to worry about SEELE, the Angels, and the likelihood that war will break out soon. There's nothing we can do about that." She sighed and felt a little better, having organized her thoughts. As long as we keep hope… I can't do this if we don't have a plan.

Shinji seemed tremendously relieved to have Asuka's advice and restrained himself from hugging her with thanks. For one she had smoothed him out instead of ruffling his feathers. "Thanks. I'm glad we were finally able to meet up without a chaperone." He beamed at her without knowing how his last sentence sounded. Se couldn't help but laugh quietly—causing him to blush a bit before laughing as well.

"About that. I should probably sneak back to my room before someone catches us and makes a crazy assumption," she smirked.

"Better a crazy one than the right one. We can't let anyone know that we're keeping information from DEA, even vague details."

"True… but I'd rather prevent the chance that any assumptions will be made. I'm heading back." She slid from the bed silently, keeping her gown in check. Shinji watched her and felt loneliness creep in. He leaned forward, reached for her wrist, and caught it lightly, causing her to freeze in mid-step.

"What is it?" she asked with concern.

"Make sure we don't get separated tomorrow," He asked quietly.

"Let's both make sure."