"So, how are you and Asuka getting along?" Hikari asked nonchalantly. The three friends were at her apartment, doing homework. Hikari was coaching Shinji on the material that he had missed while in 'cross synchronization' training with Asuka while Rei skimmed over today's assigned reading (though she still didn't bother taking any notes: She was a weapon. What did a weapon need to know literature for?).
It was a week after the battle against the 7th Angel, and life was back to normal. The fact that this Angel caused no damage to Tokyo 3 made that transition easier.
But not all things were quite normal. Hikari waited anxiously for Shinji to reply. They hadn't really talked much in school during the past week - it had been raining, so they had ended up eating inside, in the classroom. Along with many of the other students: Hikari had felt like the entire class was there, watching them. This was the first chance for a private conversation that they had had (Well, private if you discounted Rei, but she was busy with her manga. And anyways, she was a friend.)
"Oh, we're good." Shinji replied honestly. It didn't bother him that Asuka's personality could be used as sandpaper. "I think she's out shopping for the upcoming school trip."
"Oh, okay." That response wasn't helpful. But at least he didn't SOUND excited about Asuka. Hikari paused for a minute before she realized why Asuka was shopping, "Oh, I should probably get a new swimsuit as well. My old one is a little small." She colored slightly.
"I thought you had one for swim class in school."
Hikari's blush deepened, "Uh, that's a one piece that the school requires. For vacations, I was thinking of getting something more attractive."
"Oh, um," Shinji wanted to say something witty and flattering, but his mind was completely blank. Hanging out with Hikari had been a little awkward after that kiss. He knew that he should do something (ask her out?), but it was easier to just run away and pretend that it had never happened. Except he kept remembering it at the awkwardest times. Like this.
Before Shinji could say anything, Rei interrupted, "Are you still living with Sohryu?" She did not understand the fascination with swimsuits. THIS was the important question.
"I'm not 'living with' Asuka!" Shinji waved his hands in agitated rejection, "She's just staying in Misato's apartment because all her stuff is already there!" He glanced quickly at the two girls to see if his explanation was accepted, to find them both giving him a hard to interpret look. "It's not my idea!" He finished lamely.
"Do you prepare food together?" Rei continued to press.
"No, Asuka hates cooking." Shinji was puzzled by this fascination that Rei had with the minutia of his daily life, but it was an escape from the awkward topic of before, "when we were doing the training, she did a little bit because she had to, but now I am cooking for everybody."
Rei nodded, giving a sigh of relief. Neither teen saw Hikari shake her head in bemusement.
"Well, what do you want to do on the trip?" Hikari paused for a moment before continuing in a rush. "I mean, do you want to plan out some places to go in Okinawa? I downloaded a tourist map of the area where we will be staying, and we can organize some outings. There's a museum, or we can go to a restaurant, or anything else that you want." Hikari's heart was hammering away as she spoke. This was probably the scariest thing she had ever done.
"I hadn't really thought about it," Shinji replied casually, "The thing is, I don't want to get too invested in the trip."
"Why not?"
"I am a Pilot - I doubt I will be able to go."
"Oh" Hikari deflated. That made sense - she should thought of that. Asuka probably would have thought of it immediately. 'I'm so stupid'. Should she skip the school trip and stay with Shinji? She felt her face heat up at the thought. She glanced at the boy scribbling something obliviously. No - that was too forward. Once she got back, she could... Besides, she had been looking forwards to this trip for ages. There would enough time afterwards to... Her mind shied away from that thought again.
"The school pool is adequate, and all the students will be away. We can swim there." Rei volunteered while Hikari was still lost in thought. Maybe cooking was not really an intimate thing that teens did, but it WAS something that was important to Shinji that he had shared with her (and Hikari). So now she could share something that was important to her - swimming - with Shinji.
This is how couples interacted. Or so Rei had gleaned from the manga that Hikari had loaned to her.
/\/\/\Stay/Light/\/\/\
It was evening, and Shinji was again 'taking the long way' home from Hikari's. He glanced at the darkling sky and frowned. He didn't want to be heading out this late, but he hadn't wanted to cut his time with Hikari and Rei short. Hanging out with the two of them was the only time he felt normal. It's not that he was faking who he was the rest of the time. It's just that being Shinji, the Shinji that he had always been, was constricting. The only other time he forgot that he had to 'be' Shinji was when he was cooking. Or piloting.
'Well, I guess it IS right around dinner time.' He hefted the bag of rice balls. He had again made extra and was venturing out to distribute them to the needy.
But first... Shinji went into a corner store, "Hello Mr. Myouji. Did they ever deliver the Oolong tea?"
The elderly man behind the counter looked up with a smile, "Yup. I just put it into refrigerator in back." It was the gentleman that he had helped out back when he had first arrived to Tokyo 3. He made a point of stopping by his shop sometimes. But the last time he had been here, the store had been all out of his favorite tea. Shinji made his way to the back and purchased a bottle. After chatting with Mr. Myouji for a couple of minutes more, he turned to walk out of the shop, only to bump into something soft. He jumped back, steadying Hikari as she almost fell backwards.
"Oh, hello. I didn't know you were there." Shinji stuttered as his heart slowed back down to a moderate gallop.
"Uhm, I was just stepping out to run an errand when I saw you heading off in the opposite direction from your home, so I was curious and I followed after you, but I didn't mean to spy on you!" Hikari stared at her feet as the words came out in a rush. She knew that she had done something wrong.
"It's ok - I was just buying some tea," Shinji paused, before adding, "actually, I am on my way to help some people. You can come with me, if you want." Shinji stepped outside and held the door for the girl before turning down the small street behind the shop. After a couple of surprisingly narrow intersections, it let out onto a main boulevard near the business center of the city. During the day, this was a fairly crowded area, but now there was nobody here except for a man pushing a shopping cart.
Shinji walked over and after a brief exchange, handed him a large rice ball. Hikari watched quietly. At first, she was ashamed of having intruded on Shinji in such a fashion, but then her feeling morphed to a strange mix of pride at what Shinji was doing, and jealousy that she hadn't thought to do something similar. 'It's not fair that he's so thoughtful.' She stepped forward, "Here, let me help carry that. That way you can have both hands free."
As they turned down another small alley, Hikari stayed close to Shinji's side, "Are you certain this is safe?" The empty streets in this part of town were spooky at night.
Shinji shrugged, "It's no different than piloting the Evangelion." At Hikari's puzzled expression, he continued "I risk my life for these people every time I get into the the Evangelion. The people here," he gestured down the street, "Are mostly just regular folks that have no money for a home. We're all human. We have to support one another, whether its against alien monsters or whatever. I'm not as talented as Asuka or Rei, so I do it my way."
Hikari nodded. What Shinji had said wasn't actually reassuring, but the act of acknowledging the potential danger made it less scary, 'If Shinji thinks he can handle the danger, I'm safe here with him.' She stood up straighter, because he was also right – this was something that was worth doing. It was the sort of thing that the heroes in the manga did (her manga, not her sister's).
"And besides, there are usually a couple of Section Two guys somewhere nearby, in case something does happen."
He was just about to hand his last rice ball to a bum sitting against a wall when another man in dirty jeans and an unwashed t-shirt came storming up. "Get away from here with that! I know you put mind control pills in there. You're from the government, trying to reprogram us into mindless drones!" He was frothing at the mouth as he reached for Shinji.
Hikari gave a squeak and threw herself behind Shinji, 'I knew I shouldn't have come. I'm going to die.'
But Shinji turned and glared at the man. "If you don't want the food, don't eat." He handed the rice to the seated man before picking up a broken broomstick that had been discarded against the building. "But you aren't going to interfere."
The schizophrenic man glanced at Shinji, glanced at the stick pointed at him and then back at Shinji. It wasn't clear what he was seeing, but it was enough to make him change his mind. He backed away, muttering.
"Come on, Hikari. I'll walk you home."
Hikari latched onto his arm, shivering, "You said Section Two would keep us safe."
Shinji glanced down at the girl by his side. "I'm sorry for placing you in danger. This sort of thing hasn't happened before." He rubbed her shoulders just for a moment before taking her hand. They walked like that, heading back to the more populous parts of the city. Shinji kept stealing glances at Hikari glued to his side, remembering the 'good luck' kiss, "Uhm, Hikari.. Thank you for coming with me. I am sorry it ended like that. But I liked having you with me."
Hikari nodded. They were only a block from her house now, so she stopped, tugging on Shinji's hand so that he turned to face her. "Please don't apologize - it wasn't your fault. I.. I think what you are doing is very brave and important. I really like that."
Shinji's face lit up "Oh".
Hikari turned and almost ran home.
/\/\/\Stay/Light/\/\/\
"I can't believe that Misato wouldn't let us go on the class trip! What's the point of going to high school if you don't get to go on the trips?" Asuka ranted as they walked towards school. It was a week later, and the rest of the students had left for Okinawa this morning.
Shinji just shrugged,
"And you didn't even try to back me up. You just stood there and smiled, like a spineless wimp!" Asuka was referring to the confrontation at the apartment last night. She had tried to reason with Misato, But she quickly realized that she was actually dealing with Major Katsuragi, their commanding officer, and not the slacker parent-surrogate Misato. And Major Katsuragi wasn't going to compromise.
That had pissed Asuka off, precipitating a two hour screaming match.
"I was expecting it. At least we can use the school pool." And there was no way that he was going to get involved in Asuka's quixotic battle against common sense. She should be glad that he hadn't sided with Misato.
"Oh, That's ..." Asuka stopped, pulling herself together. She plastered a smile on her face. "That's so nice."
Shinji wasn't the slightest bit creeped out by the fake cheerfulness. Nope. Not at all. The two continued down to the high school. Misato had given them the key to the side door, with vehement instruction not to lose it.
The door opened onto a dimly lit corridor - half the lights were turned off. And the building was so quiet that their footsteps echoed in the hallway.
"You know, this is how a lot of horror movies start - a bunch of teens walking around an empty high school," Asuka commented casually. It was strange being in the school building with nobody else there, but she wasn't bothered. Nope. Not the great Asuka Sohryu-Langley. Not at all.
Shinji nodded. "Yeah. And some psycho with a spear stalks them, appearing out of nowhere to stab them through the heart."
Asuka glowered at the boy, "What, you trying to scare me so that I'll grab your hand in a panic?"
"What? No! It's just that wandering through an empty school feels normal? I think?" Shinji left out the part about how the spear man (in blue tights) stabbing him also felt very normal. That was just too weird.
"You think? Is this more memory loss stuff?" Asuka asked as they walked towards their respective changing rooms.
Shinji's acknowledgment was muted by the closing door. Asuka shook her head in exasperation as she went into the women's, to change into her (new) two piece bathing suite. At least she would get to wear it, even if it wasn't going to be on a beach with a ton of guys to impress. 'I need to find out what's the deal with Shinji's brain.' She was relying on him to back her up. If her wingman had an undiagnosed mental problem, she needed to know.
/\/\/\Stay/Light/\/\/\
'This place is way too institutional.' Misato was had stepped out of her office to get a can of coffee, which meant a five minute walk down a blank corridor to the closest vending machine. It was in a small 'break nook': in addition to the coffee there was a snack machine and a single small Formica table with four cheap plastic chairs around it. When she arrived, a rather unpleasant sight greeted her. Her left eyebrow spasmed.
"Kaji, what are you doing?"
The man in question had his foot on a chair as he leaned in to chat with Maya, who was trying not to hunch away as he penetrated her personal space.
"Oh, hi Misato. I was just chatting with one of your young coworkers." Kaji placed a little (unnecessary) emphasis on 'young'.
As Kaji stood up into a more professional pose, Maya quickly grabbed her yogurt and fled back to the lab.
"Really? Is that what you call it? To me it looked more like sexual harassment." Not that anybody would say anything about it - NeRV's policies on that were positively antediluvian. And Ritsuko's 'open secret' certainly wasn't helping the work culture.
Kaji considered saying something flirty like 'You just jealous that I'm not sexually harassing you' , but one look at Misato's face made him reconsider. "So, how is Asuka fitting in here in Japan? I imagine it's a big change from being the princess of NeRV Germany.
"Oh, she's still a princess," Misato rubbed her temples, "We just had a huge blow out because I turned down her request to go on the school trip to Okinawa."
"That makes sense," Kaji nodded. It did. Asuka was a pilot.
"Yeah, right? Even Shinji got it, but Asuka just wouldn't accept it. She started arguing and yelling. After a while, I think she wasn't certain what she was arguing about anymore. She just wanted me to be the first to bow out. It was a pure dominance power game." Misato shrugged, "Don't get me wrong, she's not a bad kid, but she always needs to be in control."
"Yeah, she get like that sometimes, especially when there are boys involved. Which is sad, because she claims that she wants to be treated like a normal girl.
"Well, she's going about it in completely the wrong way. Shinji is about as laid back as they come, and he almost peed himself during that shit storm. There's no way he's going to see her as just a girl."
"You never know. Some guys like that sort of thing."
"Hey, we're talking about 16 year olds here. Lets not go there." Misato waggled a finger in Kaji's face.
"Ok. Ok" He smiled. She was cute when she being all protective. "On a different topic, you want to go get some lunch? It's almost 1pm"
Misato rolled her eyes. "That's not a different topic. And I have WAY too much work." Seeing Kaji droop, she quickly added, "Look, I'll make it up to you sometime. Call me ok?" And she headed back to her office.
"Yeah, right." Kaji sighed and went back to snooping.
/\/\/\Stay/Light/\/\/\
Shinji made himself comfortable at the poolside table, spreading out his homework. What with Pilot training and everything, he knew that he needed to do some catching up (And the report card last week had made it even more abundantly clear, in case had had any doubts). Besides, he had never liked swimming – the only reason he came was because Rei had insisted. Or so he had assumed – she had asked him to come, and she never asked anything unless it was super important to her. But it was hard to figure out Rei - currently, she was swimming like a fish, completely ignoring him.
Rei did another turn, demonstrating her agility in the pool. It was good that Hikari had not come – she had been getting progressively less comfortable with the other girl spending time with Shinji. Now she would have a chance to demonstrate...erg, 'share' her skills in the pool, just like Shinji did his skills in the kitchen.
If only Asuka had stayed home as well.
Rei sped up. Her technique was flawless, and she was flying through the water at an Olympic pace.
It was only a matter of time until Shinji became aware of her exceptionalism.
Shinji continued with his studying, oblivious. He glanced up momentarily as Asuka dived in before turning back to his work.
But a few minutes later, a shadow blocked his light.
"Are you going to sit there looking at your homework the whole time?" Water dripped onto the table. as the redhead leaned into his personal space.
"Um, yeah?" Shinji quickly moved his books out of the way.
"Here I am - I just bought this swimsuit to show off. I can't do it in Okinawa because of stupid Misato, and so you're the only guy that gets to see me in it, and you don't even look up!" Asuka struck a pose. "You should appreciate the privilege!"
The swimsuit was nice, what he could see of it – it was very small. "It looks very pretty." Shinji's face began to heat up and he quickly looked back down.
"Baka. I don't care what IT looks like. I want to know what I look like IN it." Asuka leaned over Shinji again, so that her breast were dangling in his line of sight, "What are you working on, anyways?"
"It's physics. Thermal expansion." Shinji squeaked. Looking around for somebody, anybody to rescue him. The only other person at the pool was Rei, but she was steadily doing laps without any pauses, and was not paying any attention to what was transpiring on land.
"Oh, that's easy. Move over." Asuka slid onto the bench next to Shinji, pressing her wet body against his, as she started an impromptu tutoring session.
"Um, you're pretty good at this." Shinji looked over at the other pilot, impressed. With the way she acted, he sometimes forgot that Asuka was actually a lot smarter than him.
Meanwhile, Rei had stopped swimming and was watching them from the water, a frown on her face.
"I should be. I was created to be a genius."
"What do you mean, created? You mean your parents hired the best tutors for you?"
"No, I mean I was genetically engineered. I told you this already (though you must have forgotten, lacking an eidetic memory). I am faster and stronger than most people, and my IQ is off the charts. I have already finished a college equivalent curriculum."
"Then what are you doing at this school?" The question came from the edge of the pool.
Asuka turned to see Rei holding on to the edge, watching.
"Stupid Misato deemed that I need to learn how to better interact with the hoi polloi. Which, as annoying as it is, does make sense. I will eventually be in a leadership role, so I should know what goes on in the minds of the little people. So I can better manage them."
Shinji quirked an eyebrow, 'Yeah, social skills: F-' "You know, Asuka, You can only lead people if they agree to follow you."
Asuka frowned, "And why wouldn't they?"
"I wouldn't follow you," Rei contributed.
"But your not one of the mindless masses."
Shinji sighed in frustration, "That's what I'm saying – NOBODY thinks of themselves as 'the mindless' masses. Not even Touji. They all think that their opinions are perfectly good."
Asuka just snorted in amusement. "Come on, Baka. Let's finish your homework. It looks like you have math next." Apparently, doing high school level math was a form of light recreation for Asuka. Or maybe it was the showing off.
"Pilot Ikari is here to swim. " Rei interrupted, standing in front of the two seated teens, dripping water like a metronome.
"You know, you don't have to wear that bland thing." Asuka pointed at Rei's school issue swimsuit. "We're here to have fun, not for school swim." She shifted to a pose she had seen a model in a magazine use, to better display herself in her new swimsuit.
Rei frowned, "Your swim wear is not appropriate."
"What, if you got it, flaunt it! A good two piece would help even you," Asuka paused and her face fell, "Unless you're, uh, batting for the other team?" She brought her arms across her chest.
Rei blinked in confusion at the question before continuing, "It is important to intersperse work with relaxation, in order to maintain optimal focus," She carefully looked off to one side. She found that if she avoided looking at Asuka's hair, she was better able to control her temper. "And swimming is relaxing."
"Um, not for me. I am really bad at swimming." Shinji replied, not looking up from his papers
"How bad?" Asuka demanded, letting Rei lack of answer slide. It was the 21st century - being gay wasn't a big deal. She would just wait for the other girl to change first after the plug tests.
"I sink like a rock."
"Baka!" Asuka swept the papers from in front of Shinji into a pile. "Let's go."
"Where?"
"Into the water. I'm going to teach you how to swim." She turned to the other girl, "Rei, you grab the right arm, I'll take the left." They dragged Shinji up out of his seat.
"I don't think this is a good idea..."
For Shinji, the next hour was filled with panic and much arm waving as he repeatedly almost drowned. It was a relief when the PA system came to life, announcing that they had to report to NeRV..
/\/\/\Stay/Light/\/\/\
Rei was displeased. Despite how Shinji had been spending most of his time with Asuka, she found that she had enjoyed herself this afternoon. Now, the three pilots were standing in a conference room in the bowels of the Geofront, looking at several representations of a volcano, ranging from a map of the caldera to a projected cross-section of the magma chamber.
"So let me get this straight. One of us is going to have to dive into Mt. Whatchamacallit"
"Mount Asama" Misato corrected.
"Mount Asthma, " Asuka continued her rant,"right into the magma, to retrieve the baby Angel for the science section to play with."
"Correct. The Evangelion will be in the D-type equipment, which is rated for those temperatures." Misato refused to engage with Asuka, instead sticking to the facts of the matter.
But none of this was why Rei was displeased. Misato had informed Rei that she would be on standby in Tokyo 3, so she had been tuning most of the discussion out. What she had instead been dwelling on was that Asuka had been the one to teach Shinji how to swim. That had been HER goal but the fiery German had taken over, dominating the whole pool experience. Today had been fun, but she had somehow manage to fail at her main goals, and she wasn't certain how it had happened like that.
"We will set up a temporary command center at the science station on the volcano. Unit 02 will be the one to enter the caldera for the retrieval operation, and Unit 01 will remain on the surface to assist if the Angel chrysalis hatches. We are leaving at 19:00 hours, so go get some food from the cafeteria and meet me at the hanger."
Misato glanced over at the remaining Pilot. "Rei, gets some rest – you're going to have to stay on base until we get back."
/\/\/\Stay/Light/\/\/\
"How are you doing, Rei?" Ritsuko asked. She didn't really care, but small talk helped fill the silence. With Rei on stand by they couldn't do a full immersion backup, so Rei was laying on the examination couch with a couple of electrodes on her forehead while Ritsuko took the opportunity to do a medical exam on the hybrid. Ritsuko preferred when Rei was in the tube. Then, she was clearly just a pieces of equipment, and she didn't have to pretend that the little monster was a person.
They were in the exam room down in the bowls of NeRV, adjacent to the labs where Ritsuko worked on all of her top secret 'black' projects (The ones that would get her arrested in most civilized countries). Given that Rei was one of them, that made sense. The exam room lacked any warmth – it was just concrete walls with a bio monitor, a sink for washing up and a small table that currently supported a notepad and a handgun. Ritsuko always had one handy when examining the creature. (She didn't have any illusions about being able to defend herself if it lost control, but at least it gave her a false sense of security. Sometimes, lies were all that you had.)
"I do not think Shinji should be attending school," Rei asked.
"Why on earth not?" Ritsuko's asked, bemused.
"He is not able to both succeed at his school work and concentrate on the sync tests. He should prioritize fighting the angels."
"So what do you suggest." Ruitsuko asked with a smirk, "lock him up in the geofront?" Rei was always so detached from reality that her ideas were only good for their humor values.
"That is correct. He should be restricted to the base. I can guard him, and make sure that he is not distracted by any unwanted influences" Her hands curled into a claws as she said that.
Ritsuko let out a long suffering sigh."You cannot lock up another person and treat them as an object." She took another blood sample from the creature. After a pause, she added, "And just to be clear, you can't murder him either." She shouldn't have to even consider saying that, but with this monster, you never knew WHAT she would take into her head. Ritsuko glanced at the monitor and made a note on Rei's chart.
"May I kill the Second Child, in that case?" Rei asked.
"What?" Ritsuko's head whipped to look at Rei, hoping against hope that the First Child was joking. But of course the creature did not joke. She edged closer to the table. "No! She is a pilot and a valuable company resource!" After a moment, she added, "And she's a person!" After another moment, Ritsuko finally asked, "Why do you want to kill her anyways?"
"Her hair is red."
Ritsuko put her head down and squeezed the bridge of her nose. 'This is why I hate having to deal with this creature.' "Hair color is not an acceptable reason for murdering somebody."
Rei did not respond, so Ritsuko was not certain if she accepted that statement, or if she was just deferring her murderous impulses until later. Ritsuko had told Gendo that the girl was dangerous, but he refused to hear it. All he cared was that she was the spitting image of his dead wife. Ritsuko was convinced that if Rei wasn't a psycho that was liable to rip his throat out with her teeth when she got aroused, he would be porking her as well.
Animal.
/\/\/\Stay/Light/\/\/\
The two Evangelions crouched at the edge of the magma bore as workers made final arrangements.
"Why does the D- equipment have to look like a fat suit?" Asuka demanded. It was a rhetorical demand – she actually understood the physics behind it quite well. That didn't mean she appreciated that her beautiful red Evangelion would look like the Michelin man as it was lowered into the bore.
"Think positive," Shinji recommended, "At least you get to be the hero of the hour."
Asuka to give him an exasperated look. "I am ALWAYS the 'hero of the hour.' But I would like to look good while saving your ass."
Shinji sighed. Asuka had been going non stop for an hour now, and something had to give (and it didn't occur to him to just walk away and let somebody else deal with little miss Prima Dona) "And what about when you save Misato's ass?"
"I don't care what I look like then." Asuka paused as she heard the words coming out of her mouth. "I don't mean that like I care only when you're looking. Don't make it weird." She blushed as she turned away to look at the crew attaching the protective equipment to her Evangelion. After a moment, she glanced over at Shinji standing quietly at her side, "Thanks for sticking with me as I rambled. I do that when I get nervous."
"I know."
Asuka glowered. How dare he.. before giving a half laugh. "Yeah, I guess you would, after the training for the previous angel." Asuka considered for a moment, 'Though you're so quiet, I don't know that much about *you*.' before adding"Just make sure you don't get distracted up here. Remember, you're my back up. I don't want you having any pervy fantasies of 'Eva' when you're up here." Misato insisted that she learn to make friends. Since she was stuck rooming with Shinji, he seemed like a viable candidate for a first attempt.
"Wha? No!" Shinji blushed, "I don't.."
"Who's Eva?" Misato asked as she walked up.
"Nobody, I mean it's not like that – Asuka is just puling my chain."
"Do it later. Right now, I want you both to suit up. Unit 02 is ready to dive, and I am calling the operation for thirty minutes from now.
Shinji got changed in one of the supply trailers. 'This is familiar.' Except the last time he was getting suited up in the back of truck, he was the one engaging the Angel (with the positron cannon) and Rei had been protecting him. It was a strangely nostalgic memory. 'I wonder what she's doing - we haven't really spent much time together since Asuka arrived.' A pang of guilt went through him. He knew Rei didn't have many friends. He needed to take responsibility and make sure to stay in touch more. 'Though she is friends with Hikari, so she has that at least.' But that didn't make him feel any better – Hikari was another person he hadn't spent much time with lately. Especially after Asuka had made her little joke, it had been awkward, at least on his end. 'After she gets back from Okinawa, I'll invite them over for dinner.'
Shinji pressed the activation button on his plug suite and held his breath as it quickly squeezed tight around his body 'I need to wear a jock strap under that.' He slowly released his breath, 'that wouldn't mess up my synchronization that much, would it?'
/\/\/\Stay/Light/\/\/\
"Everybody ready?" As all the stations checked in, Misato paced the length of the command trailer, "Very good. Commence drop."
The crane supporting Unit 02 started up, unspooling the two steel cables that supported the Evangelion as well as the cooling conduits that ran down to the D type equipment.
Unit 02 DID look like it was wearing a fat suit, but it disappeared from sight in a few moments as it was lowered into the magma.
"100 meters"
"200 meter"
Shinji tuned out the count. It should have been him going down there. Intellectually, he knew that Unit 01 wasn't able to use the D-type equipment, and that it had to be Asuka, but it didn't change how he felt. He took a deep breath and visualized 'Eva' readying herself, sword in a guard position, ready to unleash a whirlwind of destruction. Never mind that his European warrior woman visualization was standing in a classical Japanese sword stance, or that swords didn't really release tornado blasts except in manga.
Time passed.
"The Angel has hatched. It's attacking!" Asuka's voice impinged on his meditative state.
This was followed by silence on the com line. Back in the jury rigged control center, the technicians watched the readout from Unit 02 anxiously.
"I lost my Progressive knife!" Asuka's panicked voice drew Shinji's attention back to the real world, but it did not break his trance like state.
"I am dropping you mine." Unit 01 took one of its knives and dropped it down between the two support cables in a single fluid motion.
Shigeru (along with everybody else in the command trailer) had been focusing on Asuka and what Unit 02 was seeing. Hearing Shinji's voice was almost a surprise. He glanced at 01's read outs and swore.
"What's the matter?" Misato demanded.
"Telemetry from unit 01 is messed up - it's reading a sync ratio of 63%". The highest Shinji had ever managed before was a little over 40%, against the the fifth Angel. But then again, that had also been with the Evangelion motionless.
"I'll check it out later," Maya interrupted quickly so that the crew wouldn't get side tracked, "It's probably a false reading due to the lack of stimuli."
Before Misato could reply, Asuka called out "I see it! OK! I have Shinji's knife. Requesting permission to cut the number 2 refrigeration line."
"What? Why?" Misato began, but Maya was already nodding, "Granted."
"Coolant pressure is dropping!" Aoba called out, agitated.
"Why?" Misato demanded again as she rounded on Maya.
"If the Angel is optimized for the magma heat, coolant is a potential weapon." Maya didn't bother looking up from the monitor that she was focused on – she looked remarkably like Ritsuko that way.
Misato frowned, "Ok, but but next time tell me your reasoning. I am still in over all command, and it is my job to make sure that the pilots remain safe."
A moment past, and then there was another burst of activity that made the support cables dance. "I got that bastard!" Asuka caroled, "Get me the hell out of here!"
"Coolant pressure is in the danger zone!" Aoba added as he began the withdrawal. "Temperature is going up. The cable is already at 200C." The coolant not only helped maintain the temperature of the Evangelion, but it also kept the cable from melting.
"Yeah, sorry for freaking you guys out, but it was the only way to kill the Angel." Asuka blurted as she came off of the adrenaline high.
"You can explain how you did it later. Right now drop the knife, close your legs and hold your arms as close to your body as you can to reduce drag. We need to get you up as fast as possible.
800 meters
The two cables slowly spooled out of the magma, special ceramic baffles brushing the the molten rock off before it could drip on the cranes.
600 meters
"The D-type equipment is starting to fail. Temperature in the entry plug is over 30C. The temperature on the cable is over 800C. It can't survive these conditions for long!"
200 meters
"Something shifted!" Asuka called out at the same time as Makoto announced "Left cable is spooling too fast - it's burnt through!"
Shinji watched in horror as the left cable whipped out of the magma, narrowly missing the remaining cooling hose. In another moment the unbalanced load would tear the fatally weakened right-side cable as well.
"Can the right cable handle the strain?"
There was no reply from the command trailer.
"Release!" Shinji visualized his paladin in blue swinging her sword, throwing out a blast of intense air down into the bore of the volcano that pushed aside the magma,.
"Ma'am! The monitors!" Makoto called out in a panic.
Unit 01 was extending its AT field in a cone, pushing the magma back from the badly damage cable, revealing Unit 02 hanging by the damaged strands, just 100 meters below.
"Get her out of there!"
"How's he doing that? It's not possible."
Unit 02 was barely above the magma level when Unit 01 shut down, letting the magma rush back in.