Today Shinji woke up.
Dr. Akagi requested that I join them for lunch after completion of his reality awareness testing. The dress they had me wear was itchy. I prefer my plugsuit.
Shinji said he was glad to see me. I responded with a colloquial greeting.
I had miso soup and rice. Dr. Akari and Shinji also had sausages. Shinji commented on my refusal to eat meat. I did not know how to reply.
After the meal Shinji said I was acting "weird" and asked if I remembered him. I responded in the negative.
I was returned to my quarters at that time.
Dr. Akagi reprimanded me for not following protocol. I agreed to follow orders from now on.
At 7:45pm I administered my evening medicine and applied clean bandages to points of concern.
It is 10:15pm. I will now retire.
The creak and squeal of worn armor plating announced the coming of the three girls. Pneumatic legs groaning to keep their EON units, mechanical suits standing twelve feet tall and armed to the teeth, upright against the ever-present windstorm. Plumes of crimson dust bursting out of the ground with every step, only to be quickly swept away. And even with a blanket of ash grey clouds covering the sky Asuka knew it was coming.
"Four eyes, goody two-shoes, on me."
Time seemed to slow as the clouds parted. The mechs buckled under an immense wave of pressure hitting them from above. The deep moan of steel nearing its structural limit framing the scene.
A figure of pure white descended through the cloud-break with wings unfurled. Vaguely human yet entirely grotesque. Towering as the buildings that once lined Tokyo-3, Asuka and the others in their man-made contraptions of gears, levers, and gauges were no more than mice. Its lips, painfully red, curled in a sickening smile. Splitting open an elongated, whale-like mouth. The unseen sun glinting off rows of pristine metallic teeth.
Mari howled in excitement.
"About time! I'm gonna wipe that grin off your mouth for good."
Asuka charged forward without a word.
Evangelion Offense and Neutralization, hunting down the last of the mass production units unleashed by SEELE. No waiting around for approval from command. You see it, you kill it. This had been the life of the WILLE officers for the past eight years.
"Mari, force it down. Hikari, flank to high ground. This damn MP's not getting away again."
Five deafening gunshots rang out in quick succession. Asuka tracked the concussive rounds with her good eye. Tearing through the sky, detonating just above the Mass Production Eva. Each shell creeping closer, the final one exploding just above the behemoth's head. It froze mid-air, as if teasing Mari to try again. Then, with a blood-curdling scream, retracted its wings and began to free-fall.
Standing high on a ridge behind the Eva loading her rifle, Hikari paused. Her eyes glued to the shimmering object falling from the sky. Far from her first battle, Hikari had quickly proven her worth after WILLE surrendered its own Eva units to the UN in exchange for the EONs. But even after all this time, watching Asuka charge fearlessly towards the monstrosity nearing the earth, she couldn't help but feel the vastness of the situation and her own insignificance.
"Where's that suppressing fire, goody two-shoes? It's already ground plus thirty."
Asuka's bark pulled Hikari back to the fight. Shouldering the machine gun, she poured a volley of armor-piercing rounds into the Eva's back. Its head whipped around moments before landing and with feet connecting at odd angles the monster collapsed. The earth rattling as the beast crashed down on hands and knees. A wave of dust billowed up, engulfing the area.
Asuka pounced, firing deep-bore anchors into the back of each palm before unsheathing her progressive blade. The clang of cold metal rang out as the behemoth blindly snapped at her through the maelstrom. She paid it no mind. With each successive slash severing muscle from bone Asuka moved one step closer to revenge. Death was a luxury she could not afford.
A second stream of bullets ripped into the back of the Eva's knees, one of the few places not covered with restraints. A wail of pain erupted deep within the beast as its legs slid out from under.
"Mari, now!"
"With pleasure, your highness."
By the time the sound reached Asuka, Mari's harpoon had already burrowed deep into the Eva's neck. An unnaturally viscous mixture of oil and blood raining down. A pungent, ferrous smell saturating the area.
Riding the tow cable like a zip-line, Mari sped towards the action. Even in the heat of battle she made having fun a priority, evidenced by the squeals of joy ringing over her comrade's comm links. In swift and flawless form her EON, coated in bright pink paint carefully re-applied by hand after every mission, slammed the speargun into the ground, activated its gravitational ballast, and set retraction to full speed.
Internal systems calculated the probability of survival as the Eva careened down. It was low. The fail-safe program triggered, but was quickly halted. A second attempt. Halted. A third. Halted. The beast's biological urge to survive continually overriding the self-destruct sequence installed by SEELE.
Hikari approached the giant, now splayed out on its stomach writhing in agony. Fighting to escape. A twinge of guilt struck. For all the artificial enhancements and implants, this was still a living being. It felt the pain they had dealt and shed blood not wholly unlike her own. But as she pulled the compound spear from her EON's storage compartment, Hikari remembered the vows she had made. And unleashing a roar that gave even the Eva pause, drove her spear through the beast's lower lip. With a whirl the titanium shaft violently extended, piercing the Eva's upper lip and forcing its mouth open.
A sickening display of organic tissue lined with wires and tubes, caked in blood and pulsating feverishly. Its grey, serpentine tongue whipped wildly, simultaneously trying to dislodge the spear and deny entry to the barrel of Mari's grenade launcher. But the timed rounds met their mark and disappeared into the vast, mucus-lined abyss.
"Ten second delay. Let's ditch this party, girls!"
"Meat's meat, doesn't matter where it came from."
Her argument left the others unmoved. Hikari countered with an in-depth comparison of the Eva's genetic make-up to their own. Concluding that for all intensive purposes, they were just another expression of humanity. Would she eat another person?
"Depends on how hungry I was."
Hikari growled with a combination of frustration and worry.
"Mari? You...wouldn't eat an Eva, right?"
Reclined on the full-length cushion she had refused to leave behind, Mari couldn't help but laugh at the concern in Hikari's voice. Should she do it? Crack a joke leaving the poor girl to wonder if she was traveling with cannibals?
"You know, sometimes I think about what I'd tell myself if I could go back in time. And you know what's not something I'd tell her to worry about? The moral and ethical ramifications of eating a sentient being created by one clandestine group of people to kill another."
Even through the pale light of the make-shift campfire separating them, Mari could already see Asuka's face turning red.
"But...that's not...that's not even an answer!"
She smirked with pleasure. This was much more fun.
"I like seeing you flustered. Reminds me that even princesses are human."
Asuka leapt to her feet, hands bolted to hips in an all to familiar posture.
"Why you...stupid four-eyes! The nutrient density of Eva flesh is probably magnitudes greater than this crappy gruel WILLE sends us out with. And besides, if I were royalty I'd have had you beheaded a long time ago for comments like that. Now both of you go to sleep, I have first watch and I'm tired of seeing your dumb faces."
Sitting curled with knees to chest, Asuka gazed blankly into the fire as the hours passed by. Watching the neon blue flames as they danced aimlessly, licking the darkness before vanishing forever. Only the heat remained.
Stupid. Everyone's just stupid. Why'd I even have to come on this pointless recon mission?
She tossed another kindling pellet into the coals, designed to burn hot and slow without generating smoke. They were the first project Dr. Suzuhara had acted as lead engineer on.
Little wonder girl. The whole world's gone to hell and she's busy doing experiments and presenting papers to the UN. I bet she's just using this time to get closer to Kaji. Makes me sick. I'm still a decade older than her, even if I am stuck in this body. I've seen more than my fair share. I've killed things. I've seen people die. I've watched whole cities burn. All that work to jump the ranks and he still talks to me like a kid. I've grown up. Why can't he see that?
"I'm a damn adult!"
Her words cracked through the night like thunder.
"Umm, Captain?"
Asuka froze, head buried between her arms. Hiding what she swore she'd never let anyone see.
"New rule, goody two-shoes. As long as we're in the field there's no ranks, no titles, nothing. Just us versus them. Call me princess or whatever you want, but I'm not your captain out here. Got that? And tell four-eyes when she wakes up. Goodnight."
"Good...goodnight, Asuka."