A/N: Thanks everyone for all the reviews/follows/favorites. I honestly (seriously) wasn't expecting so many, but I really appreciate it.
This chapter went through a lot of edits, not just for grammar/spelling, but to make it consistent in tone and language with everything else I've written for this fic (like, for example, Misato went from Captain to Lieutenant-Colonel over the course of writing this chapter and subsequent chapters). I think I've nailed most of the inconsistencies, but there's probably still a couple out there.
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Chapter One
"Homecoming"
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"Events not depicted in the Dead Sea Scrolls can occur."
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AISE, JAPAN
AUGUST 4TH, 2016
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"You packed your underwear, right? Your toothbrush? We might not be able to have to rest of your things sent for until things have settled down here."
Mom possessed many talents, being a world-renowned scientist and the world's top specialist in bioengineering and 'metaphysical biology', whatever that meant. However, Shinji was convinced her primary gift was making sure he was sufficiently embarrassed for the day.
Shinji picked up his cello in a delicate fashion and placed it inside a case; his guitar and violin were in similar cases, leaning against the wall. One ear was plugged into the music application on his phone, the other the speaker of the phone. The gentle beat of the song pounded in Shinji's ears, the soft drums and chords keeping his anxiety from getting too out of check – then, a woman's soaring voice gave life to the song.
His room seemed almost spare now; Grandma and Grandpa would keep said they would keep it pristine, should he choose to come back, but Shinji already felt nostalgic for it. From what Shinji saw, Tokyo-3 could be described in many different ways, but 'quaint' and 'inviting' were not among them.
"And you've got your medicine?"
Shinji took the prescription bottle and tossed it into his briefcase. "I packed it all, Mom. I'm not five-years-old, you know."
Mom sighed, though over the phone it came across as pure static. "Don't be like that. Just making sure you have everything you need. I really think you're going to like it here in Tokyo-3."
It took some self-control for Shinji to bite back a choice reply.
Mom and Father left Shinji around ten years ago, to oversee construction of the mysterious city of Tokyo-3. The city was supposedly a 'bastion of humanity' - echoing the cheesy pamphlet Shinji had received about Tokyo-3 in the mail - and the most advanced city in the world. This coincided with Japan's breakaway from the United States, and subsequent sudden rise as a military superpower. Admittedly, Shinji didn't see what either of those things had to do with Mom and Father.
Mom had an accident, before Shinji was left here in Aise, that no one would talk to him about. All Shinji knew is that she had disappeared, was thought dead, and then came back. She didn't seem any different after she came back – though Shinji was only four or five at the time – but even as a small child Shinji knew Grandma had always been hesitant about letting him return to live with his parents, and over time Shinji had grown accustomed to life here. He liked it here, even.
The decision was hers and Father to have Shinji remain out here in the first place. Shinji was settled in with friends, school, and even a summer job – though Shinji supposed it should be called a perennial job, since Second Impact knocked the world off its axis - and now she wanted to uproot him from his comfortable surroundings.
"If you say so, Mom."
"Tokyo-3 has one of the most prestigious technical schools in Japan, and with all the ex-NERV and government personnel, there's no shortage of teachers."
"Yaaay." Shinji smirked to himself. "Has he said anything yet?"
"Your father," Mom said, in her special 'you know his name' tone. "…he's making preparations for you already."
"He hasn't mentioned me by name at all, has he?"
"Shinji, you know how your father is. He loves you, but he simply has trouble expressing himself."
Right. Gendo Ikari loved his son so much that he left him behind with his Grandma and Grandpa, then didn't bother sending so much as a letter for ten years. A peculiar way to show affection in Shinji's view, but he didn't wish to argue with Mom about the subject.
"I'll take your word for it," Shinji said, grabbing a couple books and tossing them in his travel case. "when's my ride getting here?"
"She's not there yet?" Mom groaned, smacking her lips together in annoyance. "well, Lieutenant-Colonel Katsuragi should be there at some point today. She runs on her own schedule, y'know? And, Shinji, Katsuragi can be a little…eccentric, but she's a good woman. She'll keep you safe."
The 'Lieutenant-Colonel' had texted Shinji a picture of herself ahead of her arrival. It was of a postcard on Shinji's desk depicting a black-haired woman who reminded Shinji of a daytime television actress, wearing a shirt cropped at the midriff and short jeans. A lipstick glass adorned the corner of the photo, and a pointed line encouraged the recipient to pay special attention to area between her breasts – 'cleavage' as she called it.
It was clear that Mom didn't vet this welcome package.
"She's certainly seems…interesting," Shinji said, picking up the photo. "does she handle Public Relations for NERV or something?"
"No, Lieutenant-Colonel Katsuragi is the Chief Tactical Officer and Operations Director of NERV. She makes the battle plans, if those are ever needed, and makes sure everyone is where they need to be." There was loud beep on the other end of the line, and Mom cursed under her breath; Shinji figured the noise was some sort of computer error. "Misato is also my personal bodyguard, mostly for when I have business that takes me outside of Tokyo-3."
There was a palatable pause over the line, as Shinji let the dead air be his response. He couldn't help making a face at his mother's explanation.
Mother responded as if she were in the same room as Shinji. "Hey, you know what they say about judging books by their cover? Lieutenant-Colonel Katsuragi knows what she's doing, she simply has a few quirks."
Shinji heard a sudden siren go off on the other end of the line, following by Mom's startled gaps. "Having a nuclear meltdown over there?"
"No, dear. Something's just come up here. Let me know when you're on the way, alright? Text me every hour."
"Alright."
"And remember, Shinji, you're my entire world. I can't do anything without you."
The line went dead.
As the closing chapter of his preparations, Shinji took a magnetic sticker from his desk and slid it his pocket; his English teacher had given it to him a couple years ago. On the sticker said: 'Never confuse a single defeat for a final defeat.' Shinji's English was good enough to read that much at least.
It took about thirty more minutes for Lieutenant-Colonel Katsuragi to show up; Shinji spent the remaining time finishing his good-byes to his grandparents, then hanging out with his little cousin. After a while, Shinji heard a knock at his door – and the startled gasps of his grandparents.
Lieutenant-Colonel Misato Katsuragi was tall for a woman, with shoulder-length black hair and open-carrying a pistol on her hip; Shinji's deduced the weapon as the reason for his caretakers' momentary fright. In the wake of Second Impact, Japan became a more militarized country by necessity, but the older generation still remembered a time when a man was more likely to get struck by lightning than to stare down the barrel of a gun.
Wearing a jet-black minidress, the Lieutenant-Colonel was oddly dressed more like a fashion model than a person who held military rank. Judging from her special 'welcome text', Shinji was hardly surprised. A pair of opaque sunglasses covered her eyes, and the woman made open and warm gestures as she conversed with Grandma and Grandpa. They were talking about the possibility of another typhoon hitting the storm-ridden wasteland that was southern Japan when Shinji entered the room, luggage in hand.
Shinji noticed an odd necklace around the woman's necklace. It was a silver cross, though the bars were equal size, unlike the typical Christian cross.
"There he is," the woman said, a bright smile across her lips. "Sorry I'm late, I have a hard time finding anything outside of the city. Poor sense of direction, I guess."
The woman's lack of punctuality wasn't a concern to Shinji, as he was half-hoping she didn't show up at all. "It's fine. Gave me time to make sure I had packed everything."
"Before you leave," his grandfather said, holding out a slip of paper and pen. "could I get your autograph? It's not everyday we get to meet a television actress."
A flush of red streaked across the Lieutenant-Colonel's face. It was obvious that the woman didn't know whether Shinji's grandfather was joking or hitting on her. "Oh, I'm not an actress. I mean, I could be a model, don't you think?"
Shinji exhaled as his grandmother slapped the old man on the back of his head. He noticed his little cousin, Makoto, round the corner into the kitchen – his eyes nearly popped out of his head at the sight of the Lieutenant-Colonel. "Miss Katsuragi, when are they sending for my other things?"
"Oh, you can just call me Misato, and I'm sure they'll come for it soon. Things have been a little hectic on base for the past couple of days, so I can't say for sure." The woman noticed Shinji's bag and instrument cases. "You wanna go ahead and put your luggage in my car? I'm late as is, so we should probably get going. Your mom's already given me an earful."
That surprised Shinji. Mom wasn't really the type of person to give someone an 'earful' to his knowledge.
"Next time Yui gives you trouble," Grandfather said. "give me a call. I'll talk some sense into her."
Makoto waved at Lieutenant-Colonel Katsuragi, smiling. "Miss Misato, when they come to pick up Shinji's things, can I come too?"
Lieutenant-Colonel Katsuragi side-stepped Grandpa's request with grace. "I'm afraid it's only Shinji right now, little one. Sorry." Her gaze moved over to Shinji. "Well, shall we get going? The world isn't going to wait for us here, unfortunately."
The boy casted a longing glance towards his family, then walked over towards the door with the Lieutenant-Colonel; his grandmother tugged at the sleeve of his shirt as he walked by, worry and regret plastered across her face.
"Remember what we talked about. If it's ever too much…"
He nodded, hoping his situation never deteriorated to such a degree; the pit in his stomach told Shinji it was not a possibility, but rather a certainty.
As it turned out, in addition to being a Lieutenant-Colonel and Operations Director at NERV, Misato was also a massive gearhead.
" – I mean, this baby can really purr," Misato said, headlong into a diatribe about the Renault Alpine A310. "don't tell your mother or anyone at NERV about this, but the reason I was late is because I was out here pushing this car to its limit. I wanted to see what this car can really do, you know? Can't exactly push the gas down or do donuts within city limits."
Shinji was focused on the pristine countryside. He hadn't ever been this far outside of his hometown, not since he was a child. "You're really high-ranked at NERV though, right? Surely you can get around that."
Misato scoffed. "Yeah, just what I need. A traffic citation landing on Commander Ikari's desk, about how his tactical officer was doing donuts in an abandoned parking lot."
From what Shinji had seen out of Lieutenant-Colonel Katsuragi so far, he didn't doubt stranger things had already happened.
For all the talk about cars, Shinji hadn't gotten a chance to ask the Lieutenant-Colonel what exactly he would be doing at NERV. To say that the boy felt out of his depth would be an understatement. As far as he knew, Shinji was an average school student, and his only regular out-of-the-ordinary excursion was going to a slightly larger town to see his psychiatrist and get a refill of his medicine. If it weren't for his parents, Shinji's life would be as regular as cicadas in summer.
Nevertheless, here Shinji was, riding in a car with who was by far the most interesting person the boy had ever encountered.
"Lieu – err, I mean, Miss Misato," Shinji said, pulling his earbud out of his ear and flipping the music off on his phone. "I had a few questions for you, if you don't mind?"
Misato shrugged. "Shoot. And don't call me Miss, just Misato is fine."
"Why exactly am I an employee of NERV now?" Shinji examined the NERV ID badge in his hand, which he had been staring at as he worked up the nerve to ask his question. "I'm just a school student, I don't exactly have any technical or scientific skills to speak of."
The woman was silent for a time; Shinji assumed there would be no answer until she finally spoke, almost a minute later. "The thing is, Shinji, I technically have clearance to tell you. But if I did, you would probably think I was crazy. It's better if I show you, when we get to NERV HQ. If we show you, your mother and father will be there as well."
Shinji gulped. "Is it bad?"
"Well, no," Misato said, her face contorting as she struggled to describe whatever the implications of Shinji's role at NERV were. "you didn't do anything wrong, Shinji. I wouldn't say it's good or bad, Shinji, it's just that this is a role only you and a select few other people can do."
"Oh." Shinji turned his gaze to the window again, seemingly endless fields rolling by. "You can tell me if you want, I won't think you're crazy."
"You definitely will. Trust me." Misato winked at him. "Just roll with it for now, okay?"
With that question sufficiently unanswered, Shinji moved on. "What's my mom like, when she's angry?"
Misato's whipped her head around for a second. The look on her face screamed: 'You don't know what's she's like?' "Your mother's a sweet woman, Shinji, but she has a bit of temper sometimes."
"Really? I mean, Mom's been stern with me before, but never angry."
"I wouldn't call her angry, most of the time. The only person who really riles her up is Naoko, really."
"Naoko?" Shinji thought back, the name sounded familiar. "She works with Mom, right?"
"Eh, more or less," Misato said. "there's also her daughter, Ritsuko. And your mother's…assistant, Rei Ayanami, who's also one of the first viable human clones. There's quite the body of scientific minds in Tokyo-3, actually."
At first, Shinji nodded along, only receiving Misato's words at face value. It was only after reviewing Misato's explanation a few times in his mind that he managed to zero-in on the bogey.
"W-wait what? A clone?" Shinji's mind brought up examples from his favorite television shows, men and women grown in giant tubes and picked at by mad doctors. "Like in Hyperdrive? You know that show, right?"
"I think it's a little more complicated than that." Misato's tone suggested the subject was a lot more complicated. "But, kind of, yeah. And believe me, Rei's existence is one of the most hotly debated subjects."
Shinji was barely keeping his head above water before Misato's minor clarification of the inner workings of NERV. Now, the boy was drowning – and sinking fast.
"M-Miss – sorry, I mean, Misato." The boy steadied himself, trying to control his breathing to prevent himself from hyperventilating. "I-I can't possibly have any place at NERV. I mean, you guys have clones? I-I think you should just turn around and drop me off."
"Shinji, Shinji, Shinji," Misato said in a calming voice. "remember what I said? Just roll with it for now. No one's asking you a write a thesis paper once you get there. Like I said, what you're doing at NERV is a job only you can do. Just trust me, please?"
Shinji's pocket vibrated. Taking out his flip-phone, the boy noticed the small rectangular display on the front lit up. On the display, in black pixelated characters, was: '1 NEW MESSAGE – IKARI, GENDO'.
It occurred to Shinji, out of nowhere, that he only had his own father's phone number because his mother had given it to him. Shinji often spent whole nights debating whether to call or text his father, deliberating on what he would say to the man, and whether we would be chagrined or conciliatory in the actual message. The message, obviously, had never been sent out – while Shinji felt it was the onus of the father to reach out and see how his own son was doing once in a while, he felt a pang of guilt at never once initiating the conversation himself.
It was now that Shinji realized he never thought his father would reach out himself. But Father had contacted him, and the message carried the weight of an imminent nuclear attack.
'Don't panic.' – the message read.
Misato's phone rang right after, a loud and abrasive rock song ringing out until the woman flipped the device open and put it to her ear. "Lieutenant-Colonel Katsuragi. Who am I speaking to?"
A pause. Shinji heard words rife with static from over the line, but couldn't make any words out himself.
"Jeez, Ritz. I'm on the way. Shinji's right here." Misato looked over to Shinji and cracked a wide smile. "You want to talk to him? I think he's single, but I'm not sure how he feels about older women."
The voice on the other line yelled back, which only made the response harder to parse. Another pause. Shinji heard a woman's sigh, and more speech after. And then Misato's eyes went wide with shock.
"Wait. What do you mean it's coming here?"
More words. Shinji thought he could make out the words 'Rei' and 'Evah', but only because those were unusual.
"No, no, no, no, no. Ritsuko. Rit-su-ko. You are not saying this to me right now." The woman glanced at Shinji again, and smiled; it took on a more fearful quality this time. "How in the absolute hell am I supposed to explain this to him? And how is this supposed to work? What, am I going to do mission control from my car?"
After another exchange, Misato gave a mirthless chuckle. "'It is what it is'. That's what I'm going to say when I shove my high heels up your ass when I get back to HQ! If we get back to HQ."
Misato slammed the phone shut with her thumb and forefinger. The woman stewed for a bit, looking at the road straight ahead, before pulling her car onto the side of the road and shifting the stick into park. Blaring from a distant storm warning siren could be heard, though as far as Shinji knew, the typhoon was only hitting southern Japan. Unless one had suddenly whipped up aside Japan during the last few hours, there was no reason for the siren to be going off.
The boy had questions, like: 'What's going on' and 'What's coming here'. Not wanting to stir the pot further, though, Shinji kept silent. He would have to keep his barrage of panicked questions at bay until Misato managed to compose herself.
Seconds later, Misato yanked her sunglasses off and folded them, throwing them in the back seat on top of Shinji's luggage. The Lieutenant-Colonel placed her elbow on top of the steering wheel and put her forehead into her palm, as if she had a splitting headache, contemplating her situation. Then, the woman's face softened – her head perked up, and she draped her arm over Shinji's seat.
"Shinji," Misato started. "sometimes, in life, unexpected things happen. There's nothing you can do about them, all you can do is make the best out of a very, very bad situation. Sometimes, you're thrown into these situations, seemingly at random."
"Are you referring to me or you?" Shinji asked.
"Uhm." Misato put her finger to her chin. "Both of us, right now."
The ground shook.
If not for the accompanying metallic clang of a very heavy object hitting the ground, Shinji would have thought themselves in the midst of an earthquake. Misato threw her car door open; Shinji followed suit, losing his balance and scrambling into the grass as he exited the vehicle. Now, more than ever, Shinji wanted to be in the safety of his room. No government agents, no strange noises or earthquakes, and no clones. Just normal, safe, pastoral life.
There were two objects of interest in Shinji's view now. The first, and closest, was nothing short of a blue metallic behemoth. It seemed almost cyclopean in nature, human-like in form with a massive red eye helmed in blue staring at Misato and Shinji with impassivity – it made no aggressive movements, simply examining the two people standing on the side of the road. Two giant wings, like the stabilizers of an airplane, rose out of the behemoth's shoulders. Various interlocking metal plates formed the rest of the beast, wrapped around the machine like a suit of armor.
"M-Misato," Shinji said, walking up beside the woman. "is that a giant robot?"
Misato winked at him, her hair and dress blowing in the wind as she shielded her eyes with the ridge of her hand. "I told you. Better if I show you, than tell you."
"Do you guys want me to p-pilot that thing?"
The Lieutenant-Colonel shook her head. "No, not that one. You have your own."
Another quake. This time, Shinji heard metal grinding as Misato's prized car lurched back, flipping over on its side away from Misato and himself. Both Misato and Shinji fell flat on their backs from the impact, the boy's shoulders erupting in pain as it hit asphalt. Luckily, Shinji had enough reflex to keep the back of his head from colliding with the road.
At first, Shinji only saw a purple robotic leg jutting up from the ground. As Shinji looked up towards the sky, the boy saw the full extent of the strange object which had dropped from the sky, discharged from a triangle-shaped carrier place which was doing a wide U-turn in the sky.
The purple-and-green monstrosity in front of them was more bestial in nature than the first machine, its head more resembling the head of a dragon-turtle than a cyclops. The robot was still human in form, and the beast possessed stabilizers like the other one, though more rectangular in form. The rivets on the machine's chest resembled a man's abdomen, or perhaps rips – overall, this robot was sleeker in design than the first, as if the blue beast was a car model from a previous year.
The machine leaned forward, as if trying to touch its toes – steam shot out of its upper back, and a small white canister made a partial ejection from the robot. A hatch on the canister popped open, and some sort of orange liquid fell out.
"Rei!" Misato yelled, forming a makeshift speaker with her hands. "Can you hear me?"
A speaker on the blue robot's came to life, a girl's gentle voice ringing out. "Yes, Lieutenant-Colonel Katsuragi."
"Tell those idiots on the transport plane that they're paying for the repairs on my car!" Misato's face was a picture of lividity, her hands clutching at her car as if it were a new-born child. "And say it exactly like I said it, don't doll it up or make it sound nicer!"
"U-understood, Lieutenant-Colonel Katsuragi." The robot pointed to the west, towards Shinji's hometown. "What are your orders, Lieutenant-Colonel? About the Angel?"
The second object of interest – Shinji had forgotten, somehow, in all the chaos – was a towering silhouette on the horizon. Of all the insanity that had taken place in the past few minutes, Shinji was almost relieved there was still something about the situation which made logical sense –though, he was simultaneously horrified at the direction which it barreled towards.
"Miss Misato," Shinji said, mouth agape as he took in the sight of the beast. "I really am in Hyperdrive, aren't I?"
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CENTRAL DOGMA, TOKYO-3
AUGUST 4TH, 2016
"Well, Shinji's seen it."
Yui Ikari watched her son through the visual feed of Unit-00, the wide-eyed horror and disbelief apparent on the boy's face. She had to stifle a smile as she saw him; even in his current panicked state, it was always good to see him.
Standing beside Yui was her husband, Gendo Ikari, and on the other side of him was Professor Fuyutsuki; Gendo sat behind a metallic desk of sorts, fingers steepled in front of his face, but Yui and the Professor preferred to stand. Her fingers tapped against the steel, watching the scene below as the hive of Central Dogma bustled below, technicians and analyst running back and forth, or running hasty calculations on their monitors. Half of them had scrambled back to NERV HQ after having the day off, when the Angel was visually confirmed and its pattern was analyzed by the MAGI.
"It remains to be seen how the EVA will react," Gendo said; to anyone but Yui and Professor Fuyutsuki, the statement would seem mild and harmless. "or whether it will accept Shinji at all."
Naoko Akagi shrugged, not taking her eyes off her computer monitor. "Rei managed a sync ratio of around twenty-percent with Unit 01. It's not certainly not impossible for a new pilot to gain some measure of control over it."
"Hm." Gendo had perfected the art of appearing as a statue; despite the storm Yui knew was brewing inside him, the man appeared as calm as a cloudless sky. "What's the situation on the ground?"
"The drop team totaled Katsuragi's car," Ritsuko Akagi responded from her station at the command room's lower deck. "they might want to get their passports updated upon returning to base."
"The Angel is about five-point-three-six miles away," Maya Ibuki said. "it will be upon them in about nine minutes."
Yui nodded. None of them had expected the first EVA deployment to take place away from NERV HQ, but they had prepared for the eventuality at least. "Rei, can you hear me?"
"Yes, Doctor Ikari."
"We're going to patch the command deck audio feed through your sensors for a little bit, make necessary preparations. And once Shinji's in the cockpit, we'll need you to help guide him through the process, alright?"
"Of course. I will protect him."
Gendo stared at the live feed with some interest, though whether it was directed at seeing his son for the first time in ten years or the situation itself, Yui could not say for sure. After all, this was practically the maiden voyage for the Evangelion - the first time the Units would see live combat against a capable foe.
This had to work. The scenario wasn't ideal, but who better to take the reins than the person whom Yui trusted most?
Yui wished for more time to bring Shinji up to speed, but again, the current situation was one of many hypothetical situations. And it was a long shot, at that. She wondered how the Angel had sussed out Shinji's location – and, following that line of logic, could they find the others?
The whole of the bridge staff in Central Dogma had watched as the Angel appeared, and completely ignored the walls of tank lines and missile batteries assembled on the hills of Tokyo-3, in favor of bypassing the city entirely. But why? Was it a tactical maneuver? Was it scared? All their research suggested the Angels were, for all intents and purposes, wholly alien. Why had it avoided Tokyo-3 entirely?
Yui cleared her throat. "Let's get started then. Rei, switch us over to speaker comms."
"Yes, ma'am. Switching over now."
"Shinji, Lieutenant-Colonel Katsuragi. Can you hear me?"
"Loud and clear," the Lieutenant-Colonel said. "so, how exactly is this going to work?"
"Shinji," Yui said. "are you there?"
"Y-yes, I'm here."
"The two machines that just dropped down in front of you, they are called Evangelions, and they're my – " She glanced at Gendo, and did a verbal backpedal. "they're our life's work. We need you to pilot Unit-01 – the purple EVA – and help Rei bring down the Angel."
Shinji's voice was weak, and frightened. "I-I don't know how to do that, Mom."
"Yes, you do. Once you're placed in the entry plug, activation of the EVA's basic features will be intuitive."
Gendo stood, adjusting his coat as he rose – even though Shinji couldn't see him. "Shinji, it's been a while."
"Father," Shinji said. His tone was steadier, and more measured now.
"Shinji, you must listen. We've been authorized to use the EVA units by the UN and the government to defend against the Angel, but if we fail, they will deploy a massive N2 strike to attempt to neutralize the target."
Gendo grimaced. Yui didn't know whether it was because of the potential destruction of Yui's hometown, or the possible failure of the Evangelion project. She could hardly chastise him, as she didn't know which outcome would be worse herself.
"That means everything you know – your friends, your grandparents, and your town – will be obliterated. And it might not defeat the Angel. All we need is for you to sit in the EVA, like your mother said. The rest will come naturally, and Rei will be there with you to help."
Shinji's face was a picture of panic. "I-I can't pilot that thing. I've never even seen anything like it before. W-why can't the other pilot take care of it?"
The answer to Shinji's question laid with the inherit unpredictability of the EVAs. Unit-00 was, in a word, temperamental – the wounds on Rei's body were a clear testament to this. The injuries had mostly healed at this point, as any fractured bones and pulled muscles had been set and rehabilitated through accelerated treatment, though the girl still bore abrasions from the last time her EVA went berserk. The damage was entirely self-inflicted by the Evangelion itself, barring any collateral damage to the Research and Collection tank; in the event the EVA lost control, Shinji likely wouldn't be in any danger for it.
As of now, Rei was capable of piloting EVA in a support role, but to place her in a one-on-one battle against the Angel had limited odds – according to Naoko, Ritsuko, and the MAGI computer system. They needed a sword to Rei's shield, in other words, and the only other candidate that could be roped into fighting a gigantic, city-leveling monster was on the other side of the globe. Short of developing teleportation technology, the odds of getting Unit-02 into battle against the Angel before it leveled Aise, Tokyo-3, and the rest of Japan were nil.
Of course, Yui couldn't tell Shinji any of that. The boy would bolt and run.
"We have a better chance of combating the Angel with two EVAs, Shinji," Yui said. "even if you fight at a reduced capacity, two is better than one."
It was a half-truth, which many people would call a lie but Yui preferred to think of as a kindness, especially when telling the whole truth would end the conversation before it began. Lying to Shinji pained her more than anything; however, the Angels needed to be met in battle, and Yui had put her heart and soul into a vessel which belonged to her beloved son. Even if Shinji managed to pick up on the deception – he wouldn't, the boy was fourteen and as naïve as the day was long - Yui was only hurting him now to save him later.
Only Yui could hurt her son, and only when necessary. Not Gendo, SEELE, the Angel, or anyone else.
"Yui," Gendo said. "he's not responding. We should pull Unit-01 from the combat area and redraw our plans around Unit-00 being the sole combatant."
One of the bridge technicians, Makoto Hyuga, turned towards Gendo and Professor Fuyutsuki. "We don't have much time; the Angel will approach in approximately two minutes."
Yui put her hand up, indicting for her husband to stop his line of thought. "Shinji, I need you to listen to me. These creatures represent a cardinal threat to the human race. It will destroy everything if cannot stop it here. Not just Aise, but the whole world."
Misato's voice cut through the feed. "We understand the position we're putting you in, Shinji…but we need you. We need you to step up, now."
"I need you," Yui said. "do this for me. Please."
Shinji looked back towards EVA Unit-01, then towards the direction of the Angel, and finally towards Misato and Rei in Unit-00. His mood had back-slid from outright terror to mere apprehension; Yui knew the boy would accept even before the words left his mouth.
"I'll do it," Shinji said, though the hesitation in his voice was palpable. "I-I'll pilot it, if that's what you need me to do."
Yui smiled, and breathed a silent apology to her son. She wouldn't have to lie to him much longer.
When Shinji heard the plan to manually lift him into the entry plug – whatever that was – the boy nearly ran the other direction.
"Rei's just going to give you a little lift," Misato said. "and then you can climb the rest of the way into the plug. Once you're inside, we'll handle the rest. Easy."
A giant blue robotic hand was already awaiting Shinji on ground level. Shinji didn't have any doubts about Rei's piloting skill, but being in the clasp of a giant was hardly the place he wanted to be.
Misato put her hands on Shinji's quaking shoulders. "Come on. You're a country boy, aren't you? Just think of it like…climbing a tree."
"T-these are a little bigger than any trees I've climbed, Miss Misato."
Reluctantly, and with a heavy sigh, Shinji stepped into the clasp of Unit-00. The boy figured that there were several ways he could die today, all with varying levels of precedence; if Rei happened to drop him on the ground, or if he fell after attempting to climb into the entry plug, he might live from the fall and be unable to pilot the EVA. From what Mom said, though, Shinji supposed his makeshift back-up plan would simply leave him in agonizing pain until the Angel eventually killed him.
Misato gave the blue EVA a thumbs up, and the hand lifted from the ground. The ride was gentle, considering what it was, as the hand rose up the length of the purple EVA almost too fast for Shinji to be frightened by the sudden change in height. As Shinji approached his jumping off point, the spine of the EVA opened up to reveal a circular compartment; a long white canister made a partial ejection from the opening. A release hatch on the canister turned itself, and a human-sized flap in the entry plug opened.
Unit-00's hand stopped at a level height to the entry plug; Shinji, with some trepidation, climbed over towards the entry plug's opening and crawled inside.
The entry plug door closed as Shinji deposited himself into the seat inside, plunging the boy into complete darkness. A liquid pooled at the bottom of the plug; Shinji figured it was some of water discharge from the machine itself, though it was far from an educated guess, with the blackness of this space making it difficult to even see his hand in front of him. The liquid could have been blood, for all he knew – it sure smelled like it.
He felt the plug tilt towards the EVA, a gradual slide into the innards of the machine. A finalized jolt rocked the compartment as the plug locked into place; Shinji waited in the darkness, silent and wondering what sort of control mechanisms the robot employed. There were two levers on each side, but those were hardly enough to control a contraption of this size; after all, a simple airplane had enough knobs, levers, and displays to make a person's head spin. Shinji thought that a sophisticated piece of government hardware would be even more complicated.
"Shinji, are you there?" An unfamiliar voice asked. "My name is Doctor Naoko Akagi. Myself and my daughter, Ritsuko, will be assisting you through the process of piloting EVA."
Shinji took a breath. "I-I'm here. It's nice to meet you both."
"You as well," Naoko said. "we've met before, but you were probably too young to remember."
"Oh, my apologies."
"Don't worry about it, Shin. Now, somewhere in the cockpit should be an Interface Headset. Normally, you would have it on before climbing into the entry plug, but obviously we're working on short notice."
Shinji looked around for the device, finding it on the seat aside him; a curious instrument with two nodes at each end. "I don't think it's sized for me."
"It's not meant to go over your ears, dear. I don't have time to go into specifics, but it will help you synchronize with the EVA."
The device reminded Shinji of the toy cat ears girls often wore; nevertheless, he put the headset on as instructed. "It's on."
"Good," Naoko said. "next, we're going to activate the EVA. Your cabin will fill with a liquid that we call LCL. The EVA will generate an electrical current that will cause the liquid to undergo a phase shift, effectively making it breathable. Just think of it as liquid air, alright?"
"Wha – "
Shinji had forgotten about the liquid pooled around his ankles; he looked down, seeing a watery orange substance filling the bottom of the cockpit. The cabin began flooding with the strange liquid. At first, Shinji followed his body's natural reflex to hold his breath underwater, his cheeks puffing in a futile attempt to prevent himself from drowning. The liquid had an odd lightness to it, as if Shinji were standing outside on an especially humid day.
Another voice filtered into the cockpit; the aforementioned Ritsuko, Shinji assumed. "Shinji, I promise we didn't arrange this whole operation simply to drown you in Unit-01's cockpit. Just breathe."
The boy expelled the built-up air in his mouth, and the LCL rushed in. It was as Naoko and Ritsuko said; the liquid was somehow light enough to simulate air, which managed to break Shinji's brain even more than the giant robots dropping out of the sky and the kaiju barreling towards his hometown already had.
"I'm not getting a readout. No activation signal," Ritsuko said. "is the EVA refusing synchronization?"
Naoko hummed to herself. "I'm not sure. This isn't good, Shinji's a sitting duck like this."
The boy didn't understand. This thing - the Evangelion – it was just supposed to work, right? Why wasn't it turning on? Mother didn't trap him inside of this contraption to die, right?
The Akagis talked between themselves in hasty voices as Shinji sat in silence, trying to will the machine to work. Miss Misato said he had been chosen for this, that he was one of the only people who could pilot this thing; worry that he would die alone, in the dark, mounted in his mind. Did the boy do something wrong?
"I-I…" Shinji hardly knew what to say, but he couldn't let Mom down. He had to do something. "Activate? Turn on? Go go?"
The Evangelion did not respond.
"My name is Shinji Ikari, I'm just a normal school student." He felt idiotic, especially since the Akagis could clearly hear him. It was a machine; it couldn't hear him, but he pressed on regardless. "I don't know how to use you, or even what you are, but they told me that piloting you was something only I could do."
No response.
"Please, I just want to protect my family. My hometown." Shinji slammed his hands against the sides of the plug. "I just want to do the right thing. Please, help me."
Nothing happened. For a short moment, Shinji resigned himself to die. Then, Shinji felt…something reaching out to him, talking to him, though in a language he could not comprehend; images from his life flashed before his eyes, almost as if the Evangelion was taking stock of him as a person.
The Evangelion activated, and the inside of the entry plug turned into a veritable kaleidoscope.
The cockpit shifted through an array of different colors; voices filtered into Shinji's head soon after, the boy had the full chatter of an entire control room fill his cabin all at once. Readouts of graphs and charts, vital signs, mental state; the boy was receiving more information than he knew what to do with. Then, as if someone had turned a knob, the chatter slowly died out until only a couple voices were left.
On its own, the Evangelion lifted itself from a crouching to standing position. Shinji marveled at the distance at which he could see from the cockpit. His heart sank when he locked onto the creature known as the 'Angel'.
The Angel was a gigantic, grey figure in a vaguely humanoid shape; its unusually long arms and the fact that its head appeared to pop out of its chest gave the creature an unsettling look, like the sort of monster a child imagined hiding in their closet. The Angel's face, if it could be called that, resembled the skull of a bird; there were bony carapaces on the shoulders of the Angel and around where the ribcage would be on a proper human. A curious red sphere was embedded in the center of its chest.
"I don't know what you did," Naoko Akagi said, the relief clear in her voice. "but the Evangelion is fully operational now."
Ritsuko Akagi laughed to herself. "Banging on the equipment actually works sometimes, I suppose."
"Alright, you're currently synchronizing with the EVA." Naoko was tapping something on her end, perhaps a pen or her fingernails. "Ritsuko, is that readout correct? It seems too high."
"It's as correct as we're going to get right now," Ritsuko said. "unless you want the boy to climb out of the EVA and start the whole process again. We only need the EVA to move for now, we'll worry about calibrations later."
Naoko made an impressed hum; in the distance, Shinji heard a sigh of relief which sounded like Mom's, though he couldn't be sure.
"It appears you're a natural, Shinji," Naoko Akagi said. "your sync ratio currently sits at 52.48%.
"That's good, I guess." Shinji hadn't the slightest idea what a 'sync ratio' meant or what the value represented. He was just happy that the EVA was working now. "I don't feel particularly synchronized."
"The sync ratio," Ritsuko said, catching onto his ignorance. "is basically a measure of how in-tune you are with the EVA. In fact, synchronization is what allows control of the EVA in the first place, as it allows a direct neural connection to the pilot and vise-versa. A higher sync ratio means greater precision, accuracy, and dexterity when giving the EVA mental commands."
Naoko continued from where her daughter left off. "It's a bit of a double-edged sword, however, as – "
Shinji heard someone in the control room clear their throat.
" – on second thought, as Ritsuko said earlier, we have little time for explanations. Rei and Misato, I think we're about ready for a direct engagement with the target."
Shinji heard Rei's over the comms; the tone and cadence were as gentle as drizzling rains. A small video feed popped up in the corner of Shinji's vision, showing a pale, blue-haired girl with red eyes. Shinji absently wondered if NERV could clone a person, could they also determine their appearance?
"Ikari, can you hear me?"
"Yeah," Shinji said. "loud and clear."
Rei nodded in approval. "We will be engaging the Angel within one minute. Before that time, we need to be certain you can move, at the very least."
The prospect of facing the monster made Shinji's heart leap into his chest; he gulped, almost certain that he wouldn't be leaving the engagement alive.
"Alright, how do I move this thing?"
"Imagine yourself walking." The girl noticed Shinji's eyebrow raise, and decided to clarify. "As the Doctors Akagi said, the Evangelion responds to neural commands. Wish it, and the EVA will make it so – within its limitations."
With a heavy sigh, Shinji made a mental picture of himself walking. He felt the Evangelion shudder, and walk forward.
"It's moving," Shinji said. "I'm doing it."
"Good. Now, next – "
There was a bright flash in the distance, like the sun reflecting off a pair of glasses; the whole world shook as an explosion ripped the ground apart in front of them. Searing heat burned Shinji's body. The Evangelion lost its balance, from a combination of the ground quaking beneath and the sheer force of the explosion, and was thrown back. The EVA landed flat on its back.
Shinji groaned. He was protected by a meter of steel and insulation, as far as he could tell, so why was he feeling the aftereffects of the explosion as if his physical body was right outside the blast range?
The chatter of the control room grew frenzied. Shinji's mind had blocked out most of it as meaningless background noise, but the sheer volume of the collective voices was getting hard to ignore. Terms like 'input sectors' and 'wave barriers' only served to contribute to his growing headache.
Two voices in particular stood out to Shinji, however.
"Ikari, are you alright?"
"Shinji, you need to get up, okay?"
Ritsuko's voice came over the comms soon after. "The Angel is closing distance. Misato, you need to get clear of the combat area, immediately."
"I'm working on it," Misato said. The pained sounds of a car engine failing to start were heard in the background. "Come on. Don't do this now, after all the time and effort I've put into you? Don't betray me now."
Shinji imagined himself spinning to his feet like a dancer; he was promptly disappointed when the EVA did a poor emulation of the maneuver only to fall on its back again.
"Keep it simple, Shinji" Naoko said. "and hurry."
The boy tried again. This time, Shinji instructed the EVA to get up the same way he would if he had fallen on his arse, and the machine responded in kind. Shinji felt the heavy footfalls of the Angel as his EVA rose to its feet; when Shinji looked forward, the Angel was already upon him.
A colossal, grey hand grabbed the face of his Evangelion, lifting the machine off the ground with brute strength alone. Shinji's whole vision went black; he willed the EVA's hands to grab the wrist of the creature and pull its hand away from him, to no avail. Lifted into the air, the Evangelion had little in the way of leverage to use against the Angel's brawn.
Something impacted the EVA's face plating. Blunt pain radiated from Shinji's eye, as if he were being hit in the face with the butt of a baton. It repeated, again and again, until Shinji could not help but to cry out in agony. Fatigue and weariness set in; the boy saw the cockpit distort and spin. He could hear the control room chatter: Shinji was in danger of collapse, Rei stabbed the angel with something called a 'prog knife' but was being held at bay, Misato's orders which were hard to decipher between the pain and nausea. Shinji ordered the EVA to pull and kick at the Angel's chest, but nothing seemed to deter its assault.
When a final spike of pain shot through Shinji's eye, and left through the back of his skull, the boy thought he would die. He knew his death was at hand. Shinji felt the EVA fly, thrown back for what seemed an eternity before landing in a heap of metal and blood.
With his last breath, Shinji called out to his mother.
.
.
.
AISE, JAPAN
AUGUST 3rd, 2016,
.
The night was silent, which worried Shinji.
In Japan's interior, a lack of chirping cicadas and a stillness in the air often preceded some sort of trouble - an earthquake, typhoon, perhaps one of Japan's dormant volcanos would come to life. Nature was simply connected in a way humans were not, and it could tell when trouble was on the horizon. Were they trying to warn the unattuned humans of impeding danger, or did the welfare and safety of our species simply escape their notice?
The air outside was sticky and hot, a consequence of the eternal summer Japan was locked into; Second Impact had erased the concept of seasons. Grandmother didn't like to run the AC needlessly, so they only ran the air in the middle of the day, when the humidity would be truly unbearable. In the small hours of the night, the breeze was poor substitute, though better than nothing.
Shinji sat on the small porch, the grass kissing his bare feet, staring at the alien blackness of space and twinkling pinpricks of light in-between; his one inserted earbud played a gentle, melodic tune which calmed his frayed nerves.
Aside him, there were math texts and a notebook with half-finished homework which Shinji had long given up on. The boy couldn't focus. Between the oppressive heat – which, in hindsight, Shinji figured should have been used to by now – and the fact that tomorrow, he would be officially an employee of NERV for reasons unknown to him, finishing his homework rapidly dropped in his list of priorities.
Mom wanted Shinji in Tokyo-3. And, to a lesser extent, his Father probably did too. It was practically their magnum opus – the most advanced city in the world, built for reasons the rest of the world could scarcely figure out. But the city was finished, and influential people from all over the world flocked there to marvel at the long work's completion. Mom would tell him about one facet of the city or another that she was excited about: the mass transit system; the super-bullet trains, which made travel as easy as lacing one's shoes; and most of all, the Geo-Front, which was some kind of Vernian world within the Earth, an inner world brimming with verdant groves where most of NERV's internal operations took place.
Shinji wondered the resources which went into the construction of such a place; it was mind-boggling to even think about.
Over the years, Mom had made the occasional trip to Aise, to see Shinji and the whole family. And she called every other day, as well; but Shinji hadn't ever lived with her, not since he was a child. Had she changed at all? And what would Father be like, who Shinji hadn't seen since he dropped the boy off at his grandparent's doorstep. This was one of many issues which plagued the young boy's mind, and kept his focus abated and his sleep infrequent.
Through the crack of the house door, Shinji heard the distant voice and blue flashes of a television set. Makoto should have settled in for the night, so his grandparents were likely watching some sort of evening drama. Around half of these shows were about two lovers reuniting after Second Impact, dealing with the fallout together, before eventually settling down and starting a future in the epilogue. Shinji didn't care for those shows, as he thought they were all pretty much the same, but they brought his grandparents a sense of hope and comfort in troubled times.
Shinji's grandmother said something inaudible in the other room; afterwards, the boy heard light footfalls growing ever louder as they approached his door. He sat up, turning his music off.
"Grandma?" Shinji asked. "Everything alright?"
"Just wanted to talk to you, before you leave tomorrow."
The door slid open. His grandparents still owned a house built in the traditional Japanese style; privacy was defined by the few centimeters of wood cordoning off each room.
Grandmother was a woman short in stature, her back crooked by her advanced years, though she still held a certain grace which would only leave her upon death. Her hair was a grey mop, her clothing loose and traditional – she was almost a relic from a time far before Second Impact, Shinji thought. It was a comforting thought to the boy; even staring down the end of the world, certain comforting aspects of life would always be there.
"It's a big opportunity you've got ahead of you," Grandma said, sitting beside Shinji on the porch. "lots of changes."
Shinji nodded. "I know. I still don't know what I'm doing working with Mom, though. If they wanted to transfer me to a different school, I would understand. But this doesn't make any sense to me."
Grandma rested her arms on her knees, looking up at the stars with some wonder. "I wanted to talk about something with you."
"Oh, what's that?"
"Well," Grandma said. "your room, it used to be Yui's. She was raised here in this very house, and your Grandpa and I raised her right. Just like we tried to do with you."
Shinji feigned offense. "Tried to?"
"You know what I mean. You're a good boy, Shinji, but going out into the world…it can change people. Usually for the worse." A grimace crossed Grandma's face, her hand resting on top of Shinji's. "I tried telling Yui and that pea-brained brute who calls himself your father that perhaps you would be happier out here, or perhaps even at a nice university eventually. With your musicianship and your parent's connections, I'm sure a scholarship wouldn't be a difficult thing to obtain."
"Father called you?" Shinji asked.
"He was on the line. You know how that man is."
Honestly, Shinji really didn't know how Father was. But it seemed a poor time to voice the complaint. "They just want what's best for me, Grandma."
Grandma gave a resigned shrug, as if the situation was out of her hands. "It's a consequence of being too smart, I suppose. You start thinking you know everything." She smiled. "Just don't lose yourself, is all I'm trying to say. You're brave, even though you might not think it, and you're smart enough to know when to shut up and listen."
"I'm glad you think so," Shinji said, not entirely accepting the compliment.
"You are. You need to believe in yourself." Grandma leaned back, resting on her palms for support. "I tried to keep you out of your parent's…line of work for as long as I could, Shinji. If I had a say in the matter, you wouldn't go to that wretched city at all, but if your parents want you with them, then I can't stand in their way. It isn't fair to you, but I want you know I've done all I can for you."
It wasn't like his grandmother to talk in such a way; the fact that his grandmother disliked his father was hardly a secret, and it wasn't a grudge Shinji could slight his grandmother for, considering his own thoughts on the matter. She rarely ever disagreed with Mom, however, and the sudden hesitation only made Shinji more apprehensive about his upcoming departure. Grandmother talked as if Shinji were about to be inducted into the ranks of the yakuza, or worse.
"Grandmother," Shinji said. "do you know why they want me to move all of a sudden?"
The older woman was silent for a moment; she exhaled, as if shrugging the weight of the world off of her shoulders. "You aren't going to Tokyo-3 solely for school, Shinji. What you're going to do…I couldn't explain it if I tried, and Yui wants to keep it a secret until you reach Tokyo-3. She thinks she can explain it better in person."
"Well," Shinji said. "that puts me at ease."
"All I can say is, if it ever gets to be too much for you…" Grandmother laid her hand on Shinji's shoulder, a sad smile on her lips. "it's not like we'll be going anywhere. You'll always have a place here, with us. Alright?"
Shinji intertwined his fingers with Grandma's, not having the fortitude to look her in the face. Anxiety weighed him down, made his heart skip beats.
"You promise?"
.
.
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AISE, JAPAN
AUGUST 4TH, 2016
.
Shinji awoke to pounding alarms, excruciating pain, and…music.
A cacophony of voices echoed throughout the cockpit: readings, damage reports, and hurried chattering of genuine concern. The boy's head ached, stabbing pains radiating throughout his chest; his right arm felt like as if wasn't there at all, and his head was pounding. Life support warnings and proximity alerts coalesced into a white noise which Shinji's mind could do nothing other than drown out. Against all odds, Shinji was still alive, but his body felt as if it were inches from death's door.
The music was from his phone; it was the same gentle tone Shinji had been listening to last night, but as far as he knew, they didn't exactly install auxiliary cords into multi-billion-dollar pieces of military hardware. For the first time since Shinji was lifted into the EVA, the boy felt a sense of calm. His wounds, while psychosomatic according to whomever was talking to him from wherever, didn't ache as much anymore. Shinji felt as if he were home, as insane as it sounded, with the cool breeze flowing through his hair and the soft grass crunching under his feet.
All of a sudden, piloting the EVA felt good. It felt right - getting up, fighting the Angel, protecting his town and loved ones. It felt like Shinji was born for this specific task.
Mentally, Shinji cut down the audio feeds from twenty to three. He didn't know how. "Miss Misato, Mom, Rei? Are you there? Did you get away from the area, Misato?"
"I'm fine, Shinji," Misato said, panicked. "Are you alright? Can you get up?"
Mom was next; she sounded more frenzied than Misato. "Shinji, we're going to desync your EVA, just don't strain yourself – "
"No, Mom." Shinji's breath calmed, it was less ragged and more controlled now. "I-I think I feel alright."
"That isn't what your vitals are saying."
Ignoring his mother's words, Shinji willed the EVA to its feet. The movement was effortless this time, like the EVA was an extension of himself. If Shinji willed his arm to move, so did the EVA's. For all the complicated mechanisms and sensors of the EVA itself, for all Shinji knew, the machine might as well have been a giant rendition of himself. Getting the EVA to its feet was almost trivial; the sudden fluidity of the robot made Shinji feel like a dunce for ever having trouble with the maneuver.
In the background, Shinji could hear voices. Panicked, ecstatic, trembling.
"The EVA is refusing our eject commands."
"Synchronization levels are going up. I've never seen anything like this."
"Pilot vital signs stabilizing. Graphs climbing from yellow to green."
Once on his feet, Shinji could see Rei tussling with the Angel right next to him; he didn't know whether Angels had a will similar to humans or not, but the creature seemed to regard the other pilot as an annoyance and distraction rather than a threat. Not to say Rei wasn't having an effect on the creature, with all the damage the girl did with her progressive knife and the blood oozing out of his body. Nevertheless, the Angel kept the red sphere jutting from its center – the engine, they called it – guarded with its arms as it barreled towards Shinji, with no regard towards the other pilot or even its own life.
Why did the Angel want him? Shinji certainly didn't have anything to warrant this level of attention; the creature attacked as if Shinji's destruction were more important than its continued survival.
"Rei," Shinji said, somewhat pained. His sudden change of fate hadn't taken all of his wounds away. "the knife? How do I retrieve it?"
"Imagine it in your hand." Rei grabbed both of the Angel's arms and attempted to wrench them away from the core; as a reflex, the Angel generated some sort of hexagonal forcefield – Shinji definitely hadn't known they could do that. "the EVA will release the blade from a compartment on your right side."
The boy did so. A knife larger than himself was discharged from the right shoulder pylon, as Rei had said. Shinji went to catch the blade, nearly fumbling it as a phantom reflex told him that the blade might cut him. He supposed being one with the machine had its drawbacks.
"Shinji, Rei," Misato said. "neutralize the Angel's AT field. It's protecting its core pretty well, so Rei, you might have to restrain it while Shinji goes for the core. You don't have much time left, so hurry."
Shinji looked over to the power readout –fifty-eight seconds remained; fifty-seven seconds now until the Angel killed Shinji, Rei, and everyone else he cared about.
"H-how do I do that?" Shinji asked.
The blue EVA placed its hands on the forcefield as if it were a solid wall; the AT Field glowed orange, the Angel behind it maintaining a purely defensive posture. "Here. Help me."
Shinji followed suit. He placed his EVA's hands on the AT Field, though nothing seemed to happen.
"Rei, how do I break through?" Shinji asked.
"You need to feel for it."
The answer wasn't exactly what Shinji was hoping for, but the only reason he was piloting the EVA in the first place is because he had coaxed it into turning on. Shinji decided to give Rei the benefit of the doubt, imagining himself breaking through the AT Field, reaching through the barrier to grab the Angel.
Thirty-eight seconds.
The AT Field shattered. Rei grabbed one of the Angel's arms as the creature screeched; she went around its backside, securing its wrist before its hand reached Shinji to initiate another hydraulic barrage on his face.
Fifteen seconds.
Misato's yell pierced Shinji's sudden lack of focus. "Shinji, now!"
Shinji stabbed the knife into the creature's red core; the blade cut unlike into a human, more like a wielder with a cutting torch. The Angel spasmed and wriggled. Hyper-focused, Shinji pushed further the blade into the Angel's beating heart, until the hilt itself was near kissing the creature's core.
With a final screech, the Angel wrenched free of Rei and jumped onto Unit-01. A bright glow like the sun itself emanated from its core.
"Shinji! Rei!"
The world went white.
"What have they been talking about?"
Shinji stood in front of a pane of glass, watching two women converse in a room before him. He was still in the clothes he left home in, wrinkled and starting to stink of the day's sweat. The location was sterile, metal floors and hot lights from the ceiling. He couldn't smell anything, nor feel anything, though his hands were pressed against the glass. There was a lingering pain in his head which was subsiding, slowly, and he felt a calm which he hadn't experienced since he was a child.
Where was he? What had happened? Shinji remembered that he had parents, and grandparents, and that he lived in a small, sequestered town where he didn't really bother anyone. And then there was a white light, and excruciating pain. Was he dead?
A warm feeling permeated the walls here, made him giddy with excitement and longing for more. Was it love? He had never felt an emotion this intense before; the boy was like to drown if he stayed here much longer.
Beside him stood two men in white lab coats, one with a cup of coffee in his hands. The man with grey hair combed back was a person Shinji thought he recognized, but couldn't put a name to. He took a sip of his coffee, focused only on the scene ahead of him. And the other man was…
…Father?
He was younger, with less bags under his eyes than Shinji remembered, but it was him. His bottom lip quivered as he monitored the two women talking in the room below, like he was worried about the outcome of their conversation.
"Father, where are we?" Shinji asked. "What is this place?"
Gendo Ikari said nothing to him, not even acknowledging Shinji's presence.
"They've been talking about theorem," Gendo said. "it's not really my area of expertise, but I can loosely follow along."
"Anything odd?"
"Aside from the fact that I'm monitoring my own wife? Not really."
"Well, she asked for this, Ikari. I wouldn't beat yourself up too much."
Shinji looked down at the room, seeing it fully for the first time. Mom was down there, leaning back in a chair with her arms crossed, in deep conversation with the other occupant of the room. He hadn't ever seen the other woman before, and this time Shinji was certain of it. Long, blonde hair cascaded down to her shoulders, and a pair of red-rimmed glasses rested on her face. She wasn't fully Japanese, but Shinji couldn't tell what the other nationality was.
"Ikari," the older man said. "have you ever been consciously aware that you're living in a turning point of human history? Like, at the epicenter? Right now?"
Father looked at the older man as if he were simple.
"I know that, but…I've got three doctorates, a full-time professorship, and I'm generally acknowledged as one of the more learned men in Japan. But right now? I feel like a complete neanderthal."
"Now you know how I feel all the time."
"I'm serious." The older man seemed almost breathless. "I mean, this is like Solvay. Like Darwin and Wallace. This is history, right here."
"You taught her, didn't you? Shouldn't you be aware of her capabilities?"
"I thought I was, but…" The older man took another drink of coffee. "this is being recorded, I trust?"
"Of course. Both Yui and Kyoko wanted it to be."
Both men locked eyes, then turned away.
"I haven't heard anything from the old men," Father said. "which means they're either busy or upset. Neither bodes well for us."
"Perhaps they forgot about us."
Father chuckled at that. "The men of SEELE have long memories. I would not presume to be so optimistic."
The older man's lip curled; he touched the tips of his fingers against the glass, watching Mom and the blonde-haired woman with wonder. The man seemed enraptured with Mom, as if he were in love; judging by the wary look in Father's eyes, he had come to the same conclusion. A thin sheet of glass separated this man from all he wanted, all he ever needed, but would never have.
"What drives them, Ikari? Why do this? They could make all the money in the world, be anything they want to be. Why?"
A satisfied smile crossed Father's lips.
"For them. Everything for them."
Shinji stumbled. He fell forward through the glass.
The time between falling from the upper balcony and hitting the floor seemed an eternity. Words, concepts, emotions filtered through his mind – they weren't his. No one noticed him. Father and his associate kept watching, Mom and the blonde-haired woman kept conversing, and Shinji kept falling…
…falling.
…falling.
He hit the floor, pain spiking from his back; his eyes opened, and a tiled ceiling greeted him.
Shinji was in a different room, now, the soft cushion of a mattress beneath him and bed covers on top of him. The boy's head was pounding, and his body was sore all over. Father was gone, and so was Mom; it had only been a dream, Shinji realized, but he swore it felt like reality.
"Welcome back, you."
Mom sat right beside him, though Shinji couldn't see her yet. Agony shot through his body when Shinji tried to lift himself up to actually look at the woman. She placed her delicate hand on his chest.
"Don't move. Rest. It's going to take at least a week for you to fully recover."
"W-what?" His voice was hoarse and weak. "What happened?"
Before answering, Mom grabbed a tumbler of water by his bedside and lifted it to his lips. The cool liquid soothed his throat.
"First of all, what do you remember?" Mom asked, concern evident on her face. "What's the last thing you can recall?"
"I…" He recalled a blinding light, and pain. "I was fighting something. I think it exploded, and then I thought I died."
Mom looked off to the side, towards someone. Shinji's vision hadn't entirely come back, so he couldn't see who exactly.
"I was in a robot," Shinji said. "no, that sounds stupid."
"No, that's right. It's a little more than a robot, but – "
"Wait…" It all came back to Shinji at once. "Misato? Rei? What about Aise? Are they alright?"
"They're fine. The Angel self-destructed as a last attempt to take down Unit-01, but Rei managed to activate her AT Field and contain the blast right before her EVA ran out of power." Mom sighed; her hand moved up to embrace Shinji's face. "It was a near thing, Shinji, but you did well."
"Central Dogma told me that your sync ratio was at ninety-seven percent for about thirty seconds there." The sound of Father's voice startled Shinji, he hadn't expected the man to be there at all. "A jump of more than forty percent in one battle."
Shinji was certain there was a context where that sentence made sense; to him, in his current state, it was absolute gibberish. "Is…is that good?"
"Considering this was your first time in an EVA, it's quite impressive."
"Oh." The boy managed a smile. "I feel like it was more the EVA than anything I did, but thanks."
Father gave a short grunt of approval, and then Shinji heard the sound of hard soles hitting the floor. "Yui, I need to go oversee the clean-up of the Angel. Section 2 and the JSSDF are securing the town; nothing will get in or out for now."
A sigh escaped Mom's lips. "I'll call back home and let everyone know Shinji's alright. Just stay clear of my mother, please? If she heard the whole story, she'd break you down and sell you for parts."
"I'm the Commander of NERV, Yui."
"And my mother is my mother. The only place you're safe from her is inside an EVA." Mom placed her hand on top of Shinji's. "I'll stay here, make sure he recovers."
"He'll be fine. There are other matters which require your attention."
There was a silence. After a time, Shinji heard his Father exhale, seeming exasperated with the situation. Shinji didn't need to see Mom's face to know that she had just browbeat Father into submission with merely a look. It was a special talent only Mom seemed to have.
"Alright," Father said. "I will clear your schedule for the next two days. Ritsuko and Naoko will take on what they can."
A lightness returned to Mom's voice. "Thank you, husband."
Father's footsteps echoed as he left the room; Shinji heard him stop for a moment.
"Shinji."
The boy blinked, and responded as loud as his fatigued voice would allow. "Yes, Father?"
"Good work."
The door slid closed, and a comfortable silence took over the room. Shinji's head was still pounding, fatigue and malaise kept him rooted to his bed; he wasn't sure how long his EVA piloting career would be if he kept accruing injuries like this. The fact that Shinji had been changed into a pale blue hospital gown while he was unconscious disturbed him a bit, though perhaps it was simply unfamiliarity which tugged at him, as he hadn't seen the inside of a hospital in years.
Shinji didn't quite know what to make of Father's words. Being praised by the man should have fulfilled him, but instead his words bounced off Shinji like hailstones against a windshield.
"Was Father here the whole time?" Shinji asked.
"No, he's been in-and-out. Your father's been trying to manage this three-way mess with NERV, the UN, and the JSSDF over the aftermath of this Angel." Mom's hand gripped Shinji's tighter; even after all these years, they were still pillow soft. "We didn't pick the battlefield, unfortunately, but perhaps it was for the best. If we had given the JSSDF and UN time to mobilize before we deployed the EVAs, Aise might have been leveled by stray missiles by now."
All the talk of politics only served to make Shinji's headache worse. "Sounds…complicated."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Mom said, her voice softening. "I spend half my day talking to scientists, engineers, and maintenance teams; and the other half trying to make sure the UN and the government don't pull our funding on a whim. Forgive me, Shinji."
"It's fine, I just…I'm not well-versed in those types of things." Shinji tried to sit up again, and his body rebuffed him with a spike of pain. "So, Grandma and Grandpa are alright? And the town?"
"No casualties or injuries, as far as NERV is aware of. I'm sure they didn't appreciate the shower of blood the Angel produced, though." Mom placed the tumbler of water at Shinji's lips, again. "Here. You need to keep your fluids up."
It seemed the sweetest liquid Shinji had ever tasted; he was certainly dehydrated, though, the boy supposed even dirty tap water would be nectar to him. "Mom, where are we?"
"Tokyo-3," Mom said. "NERV Medical Ward, to be specific. We had you air-lifted to NERV HQ after your fight with the Angel. The effects of the EVA on the pilot are still considered unknown waters, unfortunately, so I didn't want to take any risks with your health."
"So, we're inside the Geo-Front right now?"
Mom nodded. "It's a shame you were unconscious for your maiden voyage into the Geo-Front, I know you've always wanted to see it. Once you're up and moving again, you'll see so much of it that you'll probably be sick of the place, to be honest."
Somehow, Shinji doubted he'd tire of a geological formation which would be a wonder of the world if the public knew about it. "Is Rei here too?"
"The next room over," Mom said. "Rei had pre-existing injuries from…an accident a couple weeks ago. It's why we needed you. Like I said yesterday, we wanted your introduction to the EVA series to go a little differently, but we don't choose the timetable, unfortunately."
"Are these 'accidents' common?"
Mom smiled at that. "Not with Unit-01, it's been stable so far. Rei's Unit-00 was the prototype EVA, and Unit-01 is the test model – its like a 'demo' version. If Unit-00 didn't cost the yearly GDP of Japan to build, we would have shuttered it, but it's not an option for us."
The sheer number of resources brought to bare in the making of Tokyo-3 and what Shinji now knew as the EVA series never ceased to astound him. Who could command such wealth and talent, and why did the weight of them pin Shinji to his bed? He wondered how such machines could be entrusted to children; like the 'prog knife', as they called it. How many families went starving, thirsty, and cold to make even one of these? And piecing together Mom's words with the random chatter he had heard, they had more than enough of these devices to spare.
"Shinji," Mom said, placing her soft hand over his. He hadn't known how much he had missed Mom's touch until now. "I want you to know how much this means to me, that you stood up and defended us, and with such short notice. I don't think you fully realized the gravity of what you did yesterday, but you and Rei saved countless lives, and perhaps even the whole of Japan from destruction."
Shinji hadn't considered anything other than surprise that he was still breathing, and the sore, dull pain which permeated through his body; accolades and admiration for piloting the EVA were the furthest things from his mind. His mind was such a kaleidoscope of thought that he was still trying to piece out his emotions and feelings towards the situation, and sort them into their right place.
The boy coughed, a reflex from the soreness in his chest catapulting him up in his bed. Mom laid her hand on his chest to lower him back down, raising the water bottle to Shinji's lips again; he drank the liquid eagerly.
He tried to regain his composure before speaking. "I-I'm not brave or anything, Mom. If you had told me half of this before I left, I probably would have barricaded myself inside of my room."
A mischievous smile crossed Mom's lips.
"You think I didn't know that?"
"It seems the operation was a success." In a black void, a featureless tablet with the inscription SEELE-01 materialized from the ether. There were two other tablets on both sides of it – SEELE-02, SEELE-03, SEELE-04, and SEELE-05. "Though, it appears the angel pulled a fast one on us. I hope we did not fund mankind's largest construction project for nothing, Commander Ikari."
Gendo Ikari, sitting at a desk in the center of the void, steepled the tips of his fingers. His face was expressionless – though, if he allowed any emotion to show, it would be light annoyance. EVA passed its first test with flying colors - in a different venue than planned, no less – and the old men had the gall to complain?
"If you did, would it make any difference?" Commander Ikari asked. "When the alternative is extinction, no price is too high. Still being a member of the species currently on the chopping block, so to speak, I would think you of a mind to agree."
The tablet reading SEELE-03 rose up. "A fair point. But while the mission seems to have succeeded, how will fare the aftermath? This is rather more exposure than we had planned."
Gendo took a deep breath. "The UN, the Japanese government, and NERV Japan will establish a joint committee to determine that outcome. But I'm sure everyone present here now was apprised of this information. If your intention here is purely to pose questions which you already know the answer to, I will recuse myself from this meeting, as I have more pressing matters to attend to."
"There is no more pressing matter than the whims of this council." SEELE-05 roared to life, his voice stern but aggressive. "We hold all the purse-strings and the men with guns, Ikari. Never forget that."
"Very well." They were flexing, Gendo knew, but it was better to stay silent and take the insults for now. "In any case, the Human Instrumentality Project is well on its way. If you have questions, I am more than happy to answer them, but otherwise I see no reason not to proceed as planned."
"Indeed," SEELE-03 said. "the pilots were not injured too badly in the sortie, I trust? I know this was your son's maiden voyage."
Gendo scowled. The old men did not care one bit about Shinji's welfare, as long as he could still pilot; he was not certain of this question's purpose. "Rei had injuries from the accident before. Shinji has minor wounds, a concussion, and a minor fracture on his left arm. I have been assured that he will be in shape to pilot within one-to-two weeks."
"Assured by your wife?"
The scowl on Gendo's face deepened. "Yes. And the rest of the medical and trauma team at NERV."
"Which is under your wife's purview?" SEELE-01 asked.
"I do not see the purpose of this line of thought. The fact that the pilot of Unit-01 is my son is not interfering with my wife's judgement, if that is what you are inferring. She was the one who talked him into piloting, after all."
SEELE-01 gave a grunt of disapproval. "This is not the first time your wife has acted irrationally in defense of her son. I would be careful trusting her impartiality in these matters. A mother will always look after her own, after all."
"Yui will do what needs done. You need no further explanation than that."
"The fact of the matter," SEELE-04 said. "is that Yui Ikari should not be alive after the stunt she pulled. However, certain members of this council seem to have other plans for her – "
"Enough." SEELE-01's tablet lifted itself up, hovering its whole length above the others. "I have already passed judgement on this matter, and I will hear no more of it."
SEELE-04 tsked. "As you wish, Chairman."
"We are done here, I believe. I would talk to the Commander alone, if you all don't mind."
One by one, the tablet whisked from existence, returning to the void from which they were borne. SEELE-04 stayed behind for the span of a few seconds; if it were a human's form, Gendo was certain it would be staring directly into his eyes, a silent warning. Then, it disappeared as well.
"Commander Ikari, see that the Human Instrumentality Project does not fall behind. No matter what, the plan must not fail. Do you understand what I am saying to you?"
"I heard it said that plans are useless, Chairman, but planning is indispensable. We will arrive at the promised land you seek, but you give NERV the necessary autonomy to do so. If I have to endure constant questions about my methods and my subordinates, this will be a very long and ultimately fruitless battle."
SEELE-01 grunted in approval. "As long as you continue to produce results, and are honest in your intentions, we see no reason to stand in your way. But there is no turning back now, Ikari. The messengers of God will assail us until we stand ready to re-enter the gates of Eden, or they have cast us down in the pit."
"I understand. However, certain events foretold in the Scrolls are in flux even now. I can't guarantee it will be pretty, but we will be ready.
"Good," SEELE-01 said. "do not fail us, Ikari. We will be watching."
SEELE-01 blinked out of existence, leaving Gendo Ikari in a featureless void. Heels clicked on the ground behind him, coming steadily closer, until he felt two slender hands on his shoulders. A familiar aroma surrounded him, like walking outside after summer rains. Gendo couldn't bring himself to look at her right now, almost as if he didn't deserve to; after all, she was always there to forgive him, time and time again.
"It has begun," Gendo said. "the old men have finally given us their blessing."
Her voice was laced with amusement. "Us?"
"Well, more or less." Gendo smirked to himself. "There is no turning back now. No matter what, we must see this through to the end."
"I understand."
"Together, this time."
A momentary silence, and then she laughed. Gendo loved that laugh.
"Of course," She said. "With this, we'll build our better world."
Though Gendo couldn't see her, with the tone and cadence of her words, that impish smile was certainly on her lips.
"And we'll build it, together."