Chapter 3.
Chapter three is now complete. Very excited about how this is going to play out. Thanks for reading!
I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion, or any of the characters depicted.
"A-Asuka?"
The girl huffed. "Yes, it's me dumbass! Get in the car!"
"O-Okay!" Shinji sputtered, and climbed into the front seat, next to Asuka.
"Why did you choose the front seat!" She said, annoyed. To which he sputtered "Sorry! You flung the door open!" Asuka thought for a moment and replied. "So? Doesn't matter, Baka!"
Rei ignored the developing argument, climbing into the back seat. Asuka glanced behind her to make sure the door was shut, and before either was buckled in, they were off. Asuka slammed the accelerator, and the engine roared to life. The car shot forwards, quickly leaving the station and the monster behind.
Asuka adjusted her mirror to see Shinji and Rei. "Section Two had a car sent for you guys, but I thought I could get you there faster." The girl paused as she drifted around a corner. "There's no cars on the road right now, but I wouldn't be surprised if they waited for a traffic light."
A loud explosion rang out from behind them, and a black van soared through the air and landed with a crash directly to their left. The red vehicle peppered with shrapnel.
"Except that one," Rei noted.
Asuka continued to floor it down the road, ignoring the rare instance of comedy from the first child. Shinji was reminded of the numerous times Misato had offered him a lift. 'Perhaps she's the one who taught Asuka to drive?' he thought to himself.
Fortunately, Shinji didn't have time to ponder where Asuka had gotten her rather reckless driving skills before the car swerved into one of the many Geofront entrance systems. Asuka hadn't stopped to allow the gate to open, instead simply choosing to drive through it. Earning a surprised gasp from the third child.
Drifting into the car-rail system, Asuka slammed the breaks and landed the wheels right into a locking mechanism. Clamping the car down into the machine. Motors whirred, and the system began to operate, lowering the car into the cavern below.
Shinji had remembered entering the Geofront for the first time. It had been from a rail system similar to this one. He had been with his former guardian. Pretty much the exact same turn of events had transpired. He was hastily picked up from the street by a fairly expensive-looking car, getting a good glance at the monster attacking the city, and then lowered downwards into the earth by a rickety machine. At least there had been no N2 mine this time.
The three relaxed for a moment, and Shinji realized that the three of them had been sitting in silence since Asuka had swerved out of the way of the debris of a flying car. It had been two years since the three of them had been in the same building together, let alone sitting in such close proximity. He had to break the tension. He had to say something. Something, anything to her.
"Um… It's nice to see you again, Asuka."
Perhaps he could've said something else.
"Can it, third." Asuka retorted.
Shinji's attempt at speech had been thwarted, 'What should I have expected with an opening like that?' he thought to himself. The car continued to rumble downwards, its occupants shrouded in shared, uneasy silence. Although for Rei it was just silence, which she quickly broke. "I was going to ask the purpose of our summons, however, it seems quite clear to me. Will we be expected to pilot the Evangelions, again?" the pale girl asked.
Asuka sighed. "That's the plan, wondergirl. Eva-02 hasn't been unfrosted yet. Only Eva-01 is available for anything." She grumbled.
Rei pondered for a moment, then replied. "Why was my presence requested then? I have no Eva to pilot."
"Like I just said. Eva-01 is unfrosted. Either of you can pilot."
Shinji stirred. He didn't like that Asuka had seemingly forgotten about him there. Like everybody had when he was fourteen. They all had just assumed he would risk his life for no apparent reason and carried on. "And what makes you think I'll do it?"
Shinji hadn't realized he shouted until the words had come out of his mouth. The car was filled again with unspoken tension. Even Rei was not immune to its effects. Asuka was the first to respond.
"Because you know damn well as I do, that if that thing gets down here, and makes contact with Lillith, we're all fucking doomed."
Two phones beeped. Another warning from the Magi, just like the one Shinji received on the train. Though neither of them seemed to care. Shinji had set down a glove, and Asuka was not one to back down.
"What makes you think I'm going to get into that thing? I'm not the one on the active pilot's list! You are! You're the one who signed up for this. Not me!" Shinji shouted again
Asuka sneered "Did you not hear what I said? If you don't pilot it, then everybody will die! Me, You, Wondergirl over here, Misato! Everyone!"
Shinji flinched when Asuka said the name of his former guardian. Shinji had not left on the best terms with her, to put it simply. The only relationship he upheld from his days there, was that of his sister.
"It doesn't even matter. Last time I checked, Rei was able to get a passable sync with Unit-01. If you want to chicken out, fine. She'll do it." Asuka seethed.
Shinji turned his frozen gaze to the passing lights out the window. And Asuka fiddled with the computer system attached to her car.
Nobody talked for the rest of the way down.
One mile below the children, the command center was in a tumult of alerts and shouting. The only difference from two hours ago, was the thick emergency lights staining the room red, and the loud sirens, indicating an emergency, one mile overhead.
Three First Lieutenants double as Magi-Technicians, and triple as city damage control for the time being. The right-most technician gasps. First Lieutenant Maya Ibuki eyes her screen for a moment. A message inbound from Section Two. She turns her head towards the golden-haired scientist behind her. "Sub-Commander! Visual confirmation that the children have entered the Geo-Front! They've been driven here by the second child!"
Sub-Commander Ritsuko Akagi Wasn't surprised by many things. Not much was really able to get to her after they had been able to finish off the angels. This, however, was rather astonishing. "What!? Asuka? She's not even old enough to drive!" Ritsuko shouted in response.
"Don't worry about it, Ritsuko. I taught her." Misato hadn't had to speak loudly for the room to quiet down from its idle murmuring. "Send an escort for them. Asuka still doesn't know how to make her way around here." Misato added.
"You teaching her to drive doesn't ease my fears one bit, Misato-san," she responded. "And no need for a guide. Rei was raised here. She'll know her way around."
Misato nodded. "Alright then. Continue on damage control! Thawing status for Unit-02!"
An expensive red sports car containing three of the world's most important youth finished its descent. The machine underneath it locks it in place. Four mechanical locks opened with a clunk, releasing the scarlet automobile. As if set free from a cage, the machine hummed violently and shot forwards.
Asuka pulled the car into a parking spot, not bothering to fit the vehicle into the lines. Turning the machine off, she hopped out of the car. Both Shinji and Rei followed suit, Asuka eyed the two of them. The boy refused to return her gaze. Choosing instead to turn his head and walk towards the nearest exit. Rei, however, eyed back. Two pairs of eyes interlocking for a moment. Two completely unfamiliar pairs of eyes.
Asuka pondered the look that Rei gave off. She had never seen the girl so… Expressive. Of course, she still held onto her stoic demeanor and blank stare. However, she could see several noticeable changes in her. A sort of life behind her eyes that she had never seen before. It was strange to her. Wrong to her. She was a doll. No doll could have an expression like that. Asuka knew what she was. A clone. A construct. Created for a purpose she couldn't even fulfill. How could she have an expression so knowing? How could she understand?
Rei was also confused by the look the other emanated. Asuka, a girl Rei once knew as an example of fiery courage and fearlessness, saw instead a girl wracked with worry. Yet a mask was over this face. One Rei had seen many times throughout her life. She remembered this face. That of the last time the two of them had met when the two had shared a rather long elevator ride. Just before Asuka had been tortured at the hands of the fifteenth angel. It was the same mask she had put on when told that her life was so much more than the cold not-so-machine that held her mother's soul.
"Come on!" Shinji shouted at them. He had moved past the group and was now standing at the exit of the small parking garage. Asuka broke off the deep stare, instead shooting an intense glare at the boy's direction. He flinched, whimpering a "Sorry..." in response. Which had only aggravated her even more.
'Had he really not changed in two years? Where was that backbone he had just shown off in the car?' Asuka thought to herself
It wasn't time for her to worry about that now. The three of them had a place to be. People to save and a monster to kill. She pushed past the pale girl and started walking forwards. Rei followed closely behind.
Asuka walked through the exit and pressed the button for the lift. They waited a moment for it to rise until the doors opened with a beep. The three of them boarded an elevator, and Rei clicked the button that would take them to the cages. The lift did not move.
Rei turned her head to the redheaded girl next to her. "Asuka?" she asked. "I require your keycard in order to access this level."
Asuka looked over to her and huffed. "At least I'm good for something in this mission," she eyed Shinji. "Unlike others."
Shinji continued to avoid her glare. However, a dissatisfied expression stained his face. His brow furrowed and his mouth shaped into a frown. Asuka, pleased with the reaction, reached into her pocket and pulled out a NERV ID card, promptly swiping it in the reader, located underneath the buttons.
The lift reader beeped satisfactorily, and the lift began to move. Asuka leaned back into the wall next to Shinji, as Rei continued to stare into the door.
Silence had once again descended upon the three teenagers. Rei had no words she wished to say. However, the other occupants of the lift had many unspoken topics on their minds.
"Why not?" Asuka said, her face turned towards Shinji.
His look of annoyance faltered for a moment. "What?" he asked.
"Why won't you pilot it?" She asked, this time with a more irritated tone.
"It only ever brought me pain," Shinji said. Honesty lacing his voice. "That thing took so much from me."
Asuka's eyebrow twitched. "So? Hasn't Eva taken from us all?" she spat. "You think YOU lost things from it? As far as I remember, she DIED the last time she got in one. I lost my sanity!"
Shinji recoiled as if struck. "I don't want to talk to you."
"You always do this! You always run away whenever the going gets tough! You're awful!" Asuka had shouted. Much louder than she intended, but it didn't bother her. "You're awful," she repeated, much quieter this time.
Shinji didn't respond. Simply glaring downwards at his feet, his hair covering his eyes.
The lift continued downwards, clicking with each passing floor. The meter read 93, and the doors opened. Rei stepped out. Followed by Shinji, then Asuka.
The redhead strode forwards. She didn't want to be near either of them. She pushed past Rei but was stopped by something tugging on her arm. Asuka gasped, expecting the firm icy grip she felt to belong to a much older, stronger person. Instead, she found the cold gaze of Rei Ayanami.
"Do not treat him that way, Sohryu-san." Rei scolded, anger faintly trailing her voice.
"Whatever..." she said, yanking her arm out of the bluenette's grip.
Asuka walked ahead of the group. Rei and Shinji both followed at a slight distance.
The three walked through the hallways. Asuka was fairly confident in her ability to find her way around the facilities of Central Dogma. Unfortunately, blind confidence is not enough when it comes to navigation, and had found herself almost making several wrong turns.
Rei, however, had grown up in this facility. She had spent months walking around these halls, even if it technically wasn't her who had explored this place as a young girl, she still had many memories from those times.
Not long after departing from the elevator, the three stood outside of the cage doors for Unit-01. The familiar green hallway, decorated by pink lines leading into the room. A reinforced steel door, only accessible with a max level clearance security card, stood between the three teenagers and the most powerful weapon in the world.
The three did not hesitate and walked towards the entrance. Asuka swiping her key card and unlocking the metal door. They walked through, into the darkroom. The low lighting reminded Shinji of the first time he had laid his eyes upon it. However this time he knew where he stood. He could feel the metal catwalk underneath his feet and hear the liquid bakelite below him.
The three stepped to the center of the platform. Shinji threw his gaze upwards to the viewing box. Whoever had called him there would be standing there, observing him.
The lights switched on. The three teenagers could see the purple metal giant standing shackled against the wall. Yet that was not what drew Shinji's gaze. His eyes remained on the observation box, several meters above the head of the armored beast. He wasn't interested in the steel metal frame, or the glass separating the two rooms. It was the familiar woman standing on the other side of it.
NERV Supreme Commander, Misato Katsuragi.
Shinji's eyes were locked onto hers. His face flashing a mixture of anger, sadness, and guilt. Hers however was recognizable to Shinji as the same one she always wore when she was in combat.
A fiercely determined look in her eye, and a small scowl laid across her face.
"It's been some time, Shinji."
Shinji didn't break eye contact. He had been in this exact situation before. With his father standing in the place of his former guardian. Shinji was determined to not let it play out the same way that it had then.
He gulped, refusing to break off the intense stare the two of them shared, he spoke. "It certainly has, Commander Katsuragi," he said, determination evident in his tone of voice.
Misato was slightly taken aback by the cold words that came out of his mouth. 'We're not on first name terms then, huh? Pilot Ikari it is.' she thought momentarily.
Asuka had been surprised as well. This wasn't the same Shinji she had seen two years ago. Nor was it the one she had seen in the elevator moments prior. The only person in the room that had not been surprised by the sudden confidence depicted by Shinji was Rei. Her stoic demeanor was simply indifferent to the situation at hand.
The woman did not let herself falter, continuing on with her carefully planned speech. "We need you to pilot Unit-01 again. I'm sure Asuka has told you. The world depends on you, Pilot-Ikari."
Shinji concentrated his fiery glare on his former guardian. "I'm not playing into the hands of adults anymore. I'm tired of it." Shinji rasped. "I won't be fooled by words of praise or ideals of valor," Memories of his father appeared in his mind. "And I'm no pilot," he said, breaking off the intense stare and focusing on the floor next to him. "Not anymore."
Misato stared at him for a moment. She opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by the redheaded girl standing far below her.
"So? It's not like you're the only person who can sync with it. " Asuka shouted. "Last I checked, Rei could make it move just fine."
Shinji looked at her and was about to speak when Misato interrupted him. "Rei cannot Sync with Unit-01. Not anymore." Misato said.
Both Shinji and Asuka looked surprised at Misato, then Rei. Their eyes begging for an explanation. Rei looked at the floor for a moment. "Yui Ikari tasted despair when Bardiel, the 13th angel, was killed by the dummy plug. She never allowed another soul to pilot it again."
"Why didn't you tell us in the car Wondergirl!" Asuka fumed.
Rei turned to her and spoke softly. "You two were engaged in conversation. I felt it was not my business to intrude until it had turned sufficiently hostile."
"At least you learned something from your time away." She grumbled.
Misato spoke again from the loudspeaker attached to the box. "It's true. We tried a cross-synch with Rei before Zeruel came. She rejected her, and the dummy plug." Misato said, the same conviction lacing her voice as before.
Shinji thought for a moment. He looked at Unit-01. His Eva. The machine, no not machine. That monster had taken so much away from him. His mother, his best friend. His first chance at love. That thing had taken so much away from him. How could it possibly have his mother in it? There was no way. He had heard the same thing in the tribunals. Complicated explanations on how Eva's worked. Shinji had never believed them, not for one second. Rage filled him, a feeling he had not felt in two years. It had boiled inside him and erupted with an explosion.
"SHE'S NOT IN THERE!" Shinji yelled "SHE'S GONE, AND SHE'S NEVER GOING TO COME BACK. FATHER TRIED AND HE-"
Shinji was cut off by a booming growl. A bright yellow light emanated from his Unit-01's eyes, and Its jaw locks cracked open, and its red teeth were on display. With sheer strength, it broke the restraints surrounding its head. Unit-01 threw its head back and roared.
The three waited in stunned silence while they waited for it to stop. The beast continued its thundering cry for over thirty seconds before it stopped.
The beast brought its gaze downwards and eyed him directly. Its yellow glowing eyes had no pupils, but Shinji was sure if it did, they would be focused squarely on him.
Technicians burst into the room. Confused as to what had just happened. Shinji stared at his Eva for a moment. A quiet murmur filled the room. He looked down at his hand, at his open palm. He squeezed it tight into a fist. He looked Unit-01 in the eye.
"I'll do it," he said quietly at first. He shot his gaze upwards towards Misato. She took a step back and stabilized herself. He raised his voice as loud as it could go and spoke again. "I'll pilot Evangelion Unit-01!"
END OF CHAPTER 3.
I said last time that my chapters are going to be similar in size to Chapter 2, but I think that I like this length a bit more. It gives me enough space to write meaningful dialogue and to create tension.
The chapters are still going to be pretty bite-sized. Since I'm writing this in my free time, I'd like to set up a schedule from now on. Perhaps one chapter every one or two weeks? I think that would give me enough time to write something meaningful, with enough time to proofread things to ensure a high enough quality.