12

The Problem child

"Never hate your enemies, it affects your judgement."

/


Asuka fumed as she paced back and forth in the waiting room, seeing Hikari carried out of the apartment, blood on a wadded-up piece of cloth had scared her. Asuka had nursed the unconscious girl's head in her lap on the way to the hospital, and she had been so relieved when Hikari had come around. Asuka had then been in disbelief when the doctors had said they had virtually no funds, for what kind of medical centre was underfunded? Then the answer had been provided to her by Ayanami, the sort that was not a Nerv installation. Asuka had been left confused, was it really that bad out in the real world? Had she been so sheltered in her upbringing that she simply hadn't noticed? A mental image of herself with her head stuck in the sand had drifted through her mind, Asuka the Ostrich, that had been her. Section two agents had arrived about an hour ago, as had their chief of staff Cooper, the man had an aura about him and the agents looked uncomfortable. Ressler was talking to the man now, they spoke in hushed tones but Asuka had good hearing. This whole thing with the mask collector had been a feint, an assassin had infiltrated Nerv. Fortunately, the would-be assassin had gotten cold feet, and was now being held for questioning.

Again, someone had tried to harm Shinji yet again. What kind of lunatic was out there, and why did they have such a hate on for the idiot? Asuka glanced at Ayanami and saw the girl's eyes narrowed, clearly their thoughts were not so far apart. An idea occurred to her, and Asuka did something she seldom ever did, and gave gentle encouragement. "I'll bet you could trace it, find out who sent that guy?" Rei turned expression shifting to one of contemplation, "I would require direct access to the MAGI, and an able assistant." Asuka frowned, she wasn't much for using computers herself. "Mojtabai, that guy knows his stuff." Asuka offered. Rei nodded and Asuka could see the cog wheels turning, Rei already working her apparently gifted brain around the puzzle. Something needed to be done, before someone actually succeeded in killing Shinji, or before the idiot decided to try and bolt. They waited in contemplative silence until the doctor emerged, "Your friend will be fine, physically anyway she just needs rest." Asuka felt relief flood through her, "her face? They were able to sort it right?" Asuka asked, the doctor inclined his head lips tight. "She will have a scar, though it should be faint. The surgeon we got in was one of the best, I just hope your Mister Holman can pay him."

"That won't be a problem dearie." Kaplan spoke announcing her arrival, the old woman looked exhausted as if she had just finished having a heated argument with someone. "I've been sent ahead to settle any bills and get these two back to base, Steven sends his apologies but he's with his god son at the moment." So Reddington had gone straight back to headquarters, if that didn't clinch Rei's father theory then nothing did. Asuka ran that through her mind, trying to imagine the events that might have led to such a happening. She didn't know anything about Yui Ikari, what sort of woman she had been. Theory, Asuka pointedly reminded herself, it was at this point still just a theory. Perhaps Reddington really was just Shinji's godfather, she snorted recalling a film of the same name. Yet in a way it was like that, oh a more modern take on the mafia of old for certain, but Reddington was the Don of his family. Shinji Ikari had the favour of that Don, which meant whoever was trying to kill Shinji, was a dead person walking. Kaplan returned shortly after paying up Hikari's medical bills, and then gestured at Ressler then at Asuka and Rei. They fell into line without a word, Ressler glowering darkly at the suited men around them. Asuka felt like groaning, it seemed that section two had dropped the ball yet again.

/


Shinji sat in the chair next to his bed arm slowly working up and down, the movement was starting to become a lot easier than when he had first started rehabbing. At his feet the small dog was curled up fast asleep, Shinji had been surprised when Reddington had brought the dog in. Apparently, Bella needed rehoming, and whilst Shinji thought the dog cute it would not be with him. 'A life on the run isn't for dogs, or kids for that matter' he mused, then shook his head to clear his thoughts. He didn't plan to spend his entire life running, they needed to find this Grey and stop him. Once that was done with, maybe he could get his life back to some semblance of normal. Reddington was talking quietly with Baz, his godfather seemed concerned for the man's wellbeing. Reddington could be such a walking contradiction, on the one hand capable of terrifying violence, yet on the other so dedicated to those who were loyal to him. Shinji switched hands and began a fresh set of reps, now more than ever getting back on his feet was vital. As soon as Misato got back he planned to get back in the pool, this waiting around almost doing nothing was starting to wear on him. He had already explained his plan to Reddington, Shinji had not been surprised when the man had agreed.

It scared him if he was being honest with himself, the idea of going to places unknown for an unknown amount of time, perhaps even running into this Grey guy. Yet after he had heard that Hikari would be ok, Shinji had resigned himself to do what had to be done. The problem with his plan was his current physical status, and until he was able to move under his own power, Shinji knew he wasn't going anywhere. The idea of an unintended erection around either Misato or Asuka was potentially embarrassing, but he was more concerned about somebody else he was close to being targeted. The dog chose this moment to sit up and stretch, then looked up at him expectantly before pawing at his leg. "Don't look at me, I can't walk you." Bella sneezed before letting out a little ruff and pawing at his leg again, "I think fuzzball here wants to go out." Shinji called loudly, Reddington peered inside then letting out a sigh carefully leashed the animal. Moments later he found himself in his wheelchair outside in the Geofront, Bella unleashed was running around in a quite manic state. Reddington sat on a bench and Shinji eased himself out of the wheelchair and onto the bench, "your arms are getting stronger." The man noted, Baz took up his usual guarding position nearby.

"With everything that's happened, I'm surprised they let us out here." Shinji mused aloud, it felt good to be out of the main base just for once. He allowed his gaze to travel upwards, the trainlines ascending to the city surface far above him. "I have it on good authority that we have a little breathing room, I don't think Grey expected this plan to fail." Shinji let out a grunt, then a mental image of a shadowy figure throwing a hissy fit entered his mind causing him to laugh. Reddington looked at him askance, and Shinji had to fight the fit of giggles he was having. "The thought of him throwing a fit, any inconvenience to him is fine by me." If by avoiding dying he could spite this Grey, then Shinji planned to live forever. Reddington seemed to sense the shift in his wards mood, "It won't be easy, being on the move. I have a few places earmarked to go to, at least one we might get a few months out of." Shinji nodded, so long as at least one person knew what to do and where to go. Bella returned having relieved herself tail wagging frantically, and she had a stick on her mouth. "you know, for a pudge you can't half move mutt." Shinji said playfully, sighing he reached down and retrieved the soggy stick before handing it to Baz, who made a face before sending the dog on another fetch quest.

/


Gendo felt exhaustion pulling at him as he approached the holding cell, Katsuragi was stood outside her face like thunder. For his part he had just gotten done sorting through section two, three men had received orders supposedly from SEELE. They had cleared the medical floor of everyone save Reddington's hired thug, opening the way for their little infiltrator. Three men who he had terminated himself, knowing full well that if he didn't do it, Reddington would. The awkward embarrassment of trying to slowly mend bridges with Shinji, combined with the constant threat to the city was starting to wear on him. "She'll only talk to the highest office." Katsuragi growled, his operations officer looked as strung out as they all felt. Gendo paused, when had they all gotten so concerned about the boy? The answer was easy, when Raymond Reddington had arrived and made it clear the boy was of import to him. The whole scenario was in danger of coming off the rails completely, yet more and more Gendo found himself curious about the boy. Where had he really come from, who had Yui chosen and why had she chosen him? Gendo was willing to risk rejection to get closer, to just maybe get an answer as to what his wife had been thinking, then of course there was the matter of the assassin.

The girl was sat handcuffed at the table, her expression was serene as if there was nothing untoward going on. Gendo dropped the file onto the table before sitting down, "Miss Makinami." The girl raised one eyebrow in mild surprise, "so you found my old file, I'm surprised it's still in the system, all things considered." Gendo grunted, at least she wasn't going to pretend she was someone else. It was odd in truth, the girl had been sent in to assassinate the third child, she had instead opted to renege on her contract. "Mari Illustrious Makinami, declared deceased aged fifteen. That was in two thousand and five, eleven years ago." Gendo read the profile sliding the picture they had onto the table, aside from the colour of her hair and different glasses it was her, exactly and unchanged. "You were assigned to Bethany base, as one of the earliest and oldest test pilots." The girl nodded slowly and Gendo gave her space to speak, "understand I know exactly how the Eva's work commander, my mom and I had an… agreement. She made her sacrifice, so I could be the first, the best." Gendo saw the raw emotion in her eyes, the anger suddenly bubbling up inside the girl. "After my first successful test we went through standard procedure, medical checks the usual."

"They discovered something odd, apparently my cells had stopped aging, an apparent side effect of the synchronisation process." Gendo glanced up at Katsuragi who was nodding, that confirmed their own theory's and the girl blinked. "You knew?" Makinami demanded. "We've noted identical effects in our current roster of pilots." Gendo stated, he didn't see the point in trying to keep that information a secret. The girl was sat seething, her breaths came in angry little huffs. "And you haven't tried to experiment on them? Threaten to dissect them to find the secret to eternal youth?!" Beside him Katsuragi shifted her hand to her mouth, Bethany base had always had a bad reputation even after it was shut down by SEELE. "My father was on the scientific committee there, he died getting me out of that hell hole!" Gendo nodded slowly, it was all too easy to imagine how angry the girl must be, at Nerv in particular. Betrayed by the same group who were supposed to protect her, were supposed to train her up as a pilot, he could only imagine what might have been if they had only done their jobs. "He managed to get in touch with a man called the Major, my father gave everything for me in the end." Gendo felt an unexpected emotional sting, though the girl could not have been trying to needle him, still it rankled.

Behind the girl was a two-way Mirror, everything was being recorded for Cooper while the man oversaw security at the hospital. Ironic really, Gendo no longer felt he could trust any of his own people, Cooper at least would do nothing to bring harm to the base. "Did this Major have a name?" Katsuragi spoke at last, the girl glanced up at the older woman. "I only ever knew him as Bill, he took me in and trained me, put me through the education system." "I wasn't special, he had loads of kids at his spy school, but he became like a second father to me." The girl's expression had not changed from one of anger, "then because of Reddington, I lost another important person to me." "I was told a man named Tom Keen killed the Major, one of his prized students no less." There was a pause the young woman took a drink of water, "Grey approached me three months ago, told me about Keen's involvement with Reddington, kids a bit of a freak truth be told." "He told me about Shinji, I should have sensed he was too emotionally involved but the bait was too good to pass on." "Reddington was connected to Keen, and he was attached to the boy, so… kill the boy and have a measure of revenge." Her head drooped, and Misato leaned on the table, "but then you actually talked to Shinji, and started to have doubts." Blowing out a sigh Makinami nodded.

"If you'd put Reddington in front of me, that would have been one thing. Instead I see this physically busted up kid, weirdly he reminded me of myself for some reason." Gendo sat putting the pieces together, the girl's death had been faked by the commander at Bethany, clearly trying to cover up what they had intended to do. "The real Doctor Destapo?" Gendo probed, they were still struggling to piece that particular puzzle together. The information was proving frustrating to get a hold of, as if someone was deliberately muddying the trail. "I don't know, but if Grey is anything to go by she's likely dead." "My doctorate in psychology was one of the reasons he chose me, any idiot can say "tell me how you feel?" Gendo snorted, this Grey boy was well connected and well-funded to boot. A sudden thought occurred to him, what if Grey was the one who had stolen the funds from SEELE? "What did he look like this Grey?" Makinami met his gaze, "he stayed in the shadows the whole time, but his voice was young. Heck I'd say no older than fifteen at most." Gendo frowned, to pull off a caper like this at such a young age? Robert Grey had to be a genius, and he was clearly completely psychotic as well.

One other thing occurred to him as he sat gathering his thoughts, Grey had to be close to SEELE in order to pull off the theft, assuming it had been him. It was Katsuragi who spoke next, "you've offered up this information, don't you want something in return?" Makinami smirked turning her gaze to the older woman, "reckon you're the heart around here." "Protection, I want protection. I reneged on my contract, you don't think Grey is gonna try and off me for that?" Gendo folded his hands together, assuming the girl could be controlled there was potential here. He wouldn't trust her around Shinji just yet, but assuming she was telling the whole truth about her background? "Perhaps then you can help me kill two birds with one stone Miss Makinami?" The girl met his gaze and he tried his best fatherly smile, it probably came off as well as a Terminator smiling judging by the girls flinch. "We need to get pilot Ikari back on his feet, however between assassination attempts and Angel emergencies, it has proven… difficult." Misato had shifted her position again her expression wary, "assuming you agree to certain safety precautions, I can offer you the protection you seek." The girl ran a nervous tongue over her lips, "and what would I have to do exactly?"

/


Misato was beside herself as they exited the interrogation room, "absolutely not, intent or not she was sent here to kill Shinji!" Her commanding officer regarded her frostily, "we have access to the DSS choker, that will guarantee her good behaviour." Misato flinched, not at Gendo's apparent irritation with her, but at the idea of strapping an explosive device to anyone. Nobody no matter how misguided deserved that fate, "It will be insurance, nothing more." Misato recognised a dismissal when she heard one, and shaking her head made her way to Shinji's room. The boy was not there, however a text message to Reddington had her heading out into the Geofront. She found them sitting on a bench, Reddington made way to her as his phone began to ring. Misato sat down sliding one arm around the boy, going over what they had learned during the interrogation. Shinji grimaced as she described the commanders plan, to fit Makinami with a bomb choker and have her pilot. "Guess Kensuke will be happy at least." The boy muttered, Misato shook her head and he blinked at her. "She's to pilot unit two, after a training period. Asuka will be under orders to focus on your rehab." Shinji sat silently for a moment, "Asuka wont like that." Misato smirked recalling his plan of leaving, "She'll get over it."

Shinji snorted eyeing her sidelong, "guess I walked right into that one." Misato leaned back into the bench one hand absently stroking the boy's hair. Out here things could almost be normal again, but more than anything she just wished Shinji could come home. Hikari however had been snatched from outside her residence, and that meant bringing Pen Pen down here now. It meant until Shinji was gone she would have to live on base, anything else was simply too risky. A commotion to their left drew everyone's gaze, as over the rise a small furry animal raced its ears flapping violently. It had what looked like a vine in its mouth and bouncing behind it tethered to the vine was a round green object, "what the hell?" Shinji asked blinking. For behind the dog was running one Ryoji Kaji, and he looked quite vexed at the little Shih Tzu. "Stop thief! Seriously whose dog is this!?" Misato felt her lips start to quiver, the dog was coated in mud and running like its life depended on it. "My melon!" Kaji wailed as the dog pulled up in front of Shinji tail wagging. Reddington had finished his conversation and was simply staring, the mans expression one of amusement. Shinji smirked as he scooped up the melon, "bribery will get you everywhere, but I still can't keep you."

Misato looked down at the animal, it's little tail wagging frantically as it pawed at Shinji's leg. She then looked at Reddington who seemed to be waiting for something, then she blew out a sigh like she carried the weight of the world. "Fine, but it all depends on Pen, if he doesn't take to the dog it's a no go." Shinji blinked up startled by her words, "I'll keep watch, you know until your done with your globetrotting." Shinji looked down at the dog then back to Misato, then he reached down and took the dogs paw in his hand. The animal sneezed seemingly overjoyed at this turn of events, and Misato made a mental note to get dog food of some sort on her next shopping trip. It was as they were joined by Asuka and Rei that an alert blared out, Misato was on her feet immediately. Shinji made no complaints as he was aided into his wheelchair, "Bring Shinji up to command, and the dog…." Baz shrugged and leashed Bella, "the dog needs a bath." Shinji finished for her. Kaplan glanced over before taking the leash from Baz, "I'll handle that, you lot go save the world." Ressler who had arrived with the girls as well restrained a snort of amusement, "what mundane things to think about, dogs bath's and saving the world." Reddington mused aloud as he pushed the wheelchair.

/


It was the sound of an Angel alert that roused her from her drug induced slumber, Hikari could feel the bandages encircling her head holding her dressing in place. Of the pain she had half expected there was little more than a dull throb, she turned her head slowly and felt her lips turn up in a smile. Toji was sat at her bedside his head in a manga comic, Hikari lay there just watching him and almost giggled when he realised he was being watched. The comic hit the floor and he took her hands in his, "your gonna be fine, plus security is heavy as all hell here." Hikari blinked dreamily, as far as she was concerned she had all the security she needed. "Don't blame Ikari." She murmured, her brain slowly starting to wake up fully as she shook off the anaesthetic. Toji gave her a lop-sided smile that told her everything she needed to know, he wouldn't blame Shinji for what had happened to her. "The red devil was ready to raise a demon army, truthfully I wouldn't have minded helping her with that." While his voice was light, Hikari could see the anger burning in his eyes. The injustice of what had happened to her, and the obvious need to correct that wrong. Hikari gently squeezed her boyfriends' hand, "no going vigilante Toji, these people are serious psychotics."

"I would have to second Miss Horaki's advice Mister Suzuhara." Both teens looked up at the man stood in the doorway, "we haven't met yet, Harold Cooper head of section two." Toji bristled immediately, "and just where the hell were your guys?" Hikari didn't try to restrain Toji, she as well wanted to know how this had slipped through the net. The man stepped into the room and closed the door, pulling up a seat he sat down heavily, Hikari thought he looked tired. "Compromised, out of position, and now under the severe scrutiny of commander Ikari." "Ordinarily the buck stops with me, but it seems some of my men received orders from elsewhere, orders I was not privy to." Hikari lowered her head in confusion, and Cooper leaned forward expression serious. "Somebody out there wants to kill your friend Shinji, they used you as a distraction." Hikari felt alarm race through her and Toji spoke, "Is he ok?" Relief flooded her as Cooper nodded his head, "seems they hired an assassin with a conscience, she didn't go through with it." They listened as the man explained the situation, that once the hospital deemed her fit to leave she would be transported to headquarters. The entire of class 2A was being taken into a form of protective custody.

To her left the window suddenly went dark, and Hikari realised the building was being retracted under the surface plating. Sure enough, light reached them again, and Hikari realised they were now above the Geofront. Asuka, Rei and Kensuke would once more be getting ready to do battle with the enemy above. A nurse checked in on her giving her some painkillers, Hikari sat up with help and looked out of the window. As she sat there her fuzzed mind roved over what she had learned, someone out in the world wanted Shinji Ikari dead. A boy who would barely say boo to a goose, a boy who was reluctant to partake in any violence. Hikari felt a tightening in her chest, that was something that might begin to change now. Even the meekest and mildest of people can only be pushed so far, and Shinji had been pushed further than most. Kidnapped and brutalised by a man he didn't even know, losing nearly a full year while in a coma. Hikari felt anger spike through her, anger for what had been inflicted upon her, and anger for Shinji as well. Hikari had not dreamt while under, but she knew that nightmares were coming. Toji seemed to sense her shifting mood, and the tall boy slid an arm around her as he drew her to him.

"Shinji needs her, to keep him on the right path." Toji blinked at her words, then she saw realisation spread across his face. "Heaven help him then." Her boyfriend quipped, normally Hikari would thump the boy on the arm for talking bad of Asuka, but she sensed he was just kidding. "Here's hoping they kill this next one quickly then." Cooper rumbled from where he sat.

/


AN: I know some people may be rolling their eyes about Mari, however her inclusion was required purely for plot purposes and little else. Next chapter is effectively done and just needs a little polishing up.