Evangelion Divergence:
The Sensational She-Hulk
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Neon Genesis Evangelion belongs to Gainax and was Hideaki Anno. She-Hulk is owned by Marvel and was created by Stan Lee and John Buscema
Chapter One: Samsara
There was a blinding light. Eerie and hauntingly beautiful. Yet, when I tried to look inside, I was afraid. There was something there behind the light. Something hidden, shut away behind the Green Door. It saw me. It knew me. It knew the things I had done.
I screamed.
The mangled corpse lay on the table. What was left of the girl was charred beyond recognition. Her only audience were the two responsible for her well-being. Gendo Ikari regarded the body with indifference.
He turned to the doctor standing on the other side of the table. 'Is there anything to recover?'
Gendo spoke again. 'Doctor Akagi.'
Her blonde hair bounced from a jerk of the neck. She was disturbed. It was something the doctor had to get over moving forward. Gendo knew more moments like this awaited them in the future.
'Sorry,' Ritsuko looked over her clipboard and the data on her computer. 'No. There's nothing left. She died instantly.'
Gendo turned back to the corpse in silent contemplation. Akagi had draped a blanket over it.
'Should…should we bury her?' Ritsuko asked quietly.
'Dump the remains, and begin awakening the third.'
'Sir, how are we going to explain her surviving-'
Gendo waved his hand. 'I will handle it.'
He left the doctor to her duties. She was cracking from the pressure. He needed her to stay on board. Perhaps inviting her to dinner, string her along, make her feel needed. Gendo scowled. This courting of the Head Scientist was eating away at his precious time.
The things he had to do to keep things on track.
Misato stepped into Shinji's room. He hadn't bothered to open the curtains at all or put the light on. It felt as if the room itself squashed any glimmer of hope. It's sole occupant felt undeserving.
He was awake but didn't turn. Shinji curled on his side.
She heard him click a button on his SDAT player. The mattress squeaked as she sat down. His dinner was still on his desk, untouched. Another meal wasted.
'Shinji, you can talk to me.'
He stared at the wall vacantly.
'Shinji.' She put a hand on his shoulder.
He trembled under her touch. The pain and sorrow he'd held back with numbness flooded his heart. His voice choked out words.
'She promised she'd protect me. I let her die. She's dead because of me.'
Misato clenched her jaw. She wanted to tell him it wasn't his fault. She had sent them into battle. It was she who coordinated the attack. She chose to have Shinji scout ahead. Rei had insisted on helping when he was in danger. Misato told her to pick up an N2 mine. It was Misato who had her rescue Shinji and use the mine. What happened wasn't part of her plan, but Misato had put them in that position.
If it was anyone's fault, it was hers. She was Operations Director. It was her duty to provide the best tactical plan and keep the pilots safe. And now Rei was dead. She'd never really lived before and the girl would never get the chance. It was her fault.
But neither would accept another's fault.
They'd all watched helplessly as the mine detonated and took Rei from them. Now she was helpless once more. Forced to watch the guilt eat Shinji alive. When it was done, it would move on to her.
Misato needed a drink.
Rei had been born drowning. LCL filled the lungs but kept her blood oxygenated. She faintly recalled the day. The Commander was there of course. She remembered sharing meals with him, getting presents, being told she had a great purpose in the future. He seemed warmer in the time before, but those days were past. He kept his distance. Perhaps to spare himself further pain, perhaps her own.
Her purpose would be costly. It would be cruel for her to enjoy time only to lose it forever. Rei had understood this. She had accepted it. Wants and needs, the girl reminded herself daily. Take only what is necessary and relevant, ignore everything else.
This moment presented a quandary. She was not in LCL but in water. She was drowning. Drowning wasn't new to her. It was familiar. A strange sense of returning to her origins. The closest she had to a mother.
This time was different. This wasn't a moment of being birthed into existence wrapped in warmth. This was a cold, cruel death.
No air.
Rei struggled but she was trapped. She was blind and couldn't move. The water pressed against her, filled her lungs and dared her to scream.
The girl fought against her bindings. Something wound tight, crossing her arms over her chest. A weight strapped to her ankles kept her from surfacing. She was truly alone this time, bathed in darkness. She should have felt at peace. She should just accept the hand of death who waited to whisk her away.
But Rei felt something burn under her skin. It made her heart pulse with feeling she had always shunned to some dark corner of her being. She pushed it deep down, so far that it seemed alien. Now it had surfaced and felt unrecognisable. It filled her every vein and fuelled every cell of her being.
Fury.
Those things she had pushed deep down surfaced. She thought of the few people in her short life that she wanted to see again. That gave her strength she had never known.
The last breath of air escaped her mouth as she roared against the silence. The fury made her thrash and kick and pull and tug. Rei struggled.
She struggled because despite everything she wanted to live.
Her restraints snapped. Rei was free! She clawed her way to the surface, hacking up water and muck. She swam, not caring where it took her as long as it was some place away from the darkness and the wet.
Rei crawled through mud and muck until her hands found grassy dry land. She collapsed halfway up a hill. Sludge came free in a retching cough, and Rei rolled over onto her back. The air had never felt so welcome, so pure.
The moon and the stars watched her. Her only companions in the dark. The only witness to her struggle. It was beautiful.
'I am alive.' Rei whispered.
How strange she found the simple statement. She was happy to be alive. Happy. Her smile withered as she thought deeper of her musings. How did she land up in the lake?
Her memory was as murky as the depths she had escaped. What had she been doing? There was school during the day like every week day…yes, she recalled glancing at Shinji…
He was sitting by his two friends. Seeming cheerful for a moment. Always that moment before the sirens called them to pilot.
Shinji.
The slight boy with the timid smile tickled her sides. She felt drawn to him. A pull that had always been there but never pursued. He was nice when he didn't have to be. Pleasant when it was irrelevant. Brave when it was necessary.
Rei grew uncomfortable with the strange stirrings inside her and tried to focus on other details. She had gone to school but…there where flashes of Unit-00. Images, moments in time without context.
Had there been an Angel battle?
Nothing more came to mind, so Rei stood up and climbed the hill. Tokyo-3 was still intact. If there had been an attack, then they had won. She remembered the night of the fifth Angel's attack.
Her Eva was struck by a high-intensity beam, burning through the shell of a space shuttle she'd used as a shield. Shinji killed the Angel while Rei had put her life in harms way for him.
He didn't need to open her entry plug to check on her. A recovery team could have done so. She could have done it as well. Yet, he had. Not to check if his instrument of grand purpose was alive, but because he was concerned. Truly concerned for her well-being.
Rei hadn't known how to respond to such kindness. Shinji had asked her to smile.
Would he...would it be alright to see him now?
Rei had wondered so deeply that she hadn't noticed the woods. She had walked straight into them. There was some light further ahead. She wondered who could be in the woods at during the dark?
A light blinded her and Rei froze.
A blinding flash of light. Unit-00's plating, its very skin seared off in that same moment. It wasn't the synchronization that hurt her. The heat reached into the plug itself.
'Hello who's-oh good lord girly, where's your clothes?'
Rei shut an eye and peered out the other. A woman stood a few feet away, hunched over in worn clothing. Rei herself was naked. The light was playing tricks. Rei found her skin looking strange in the dim LED glow. Darker than usual.
The homeless woman shuffled away and returned with a ragged blanket. 'Can't be out with nuthin. Someone might take a chance.'
'A chance?'
'A chance.'
Rei wrapped the blanket over herself. It fell hallway down her thighs. The old woman beckoned her to a makeshift hovel. Rei bent down to avoid catching her head on the doorway. A rechargeable lamp was lit above the ceiling. A bag of plastics was stored in the corner.
The woman squinted.'Don't go thinking you'll take off with my recycling money.'
'I would not.'
A paint can was turned upside down and slid over to her. The woman gestured for Rei to take a seat. She did so as the woman did as well.
'Thank you.'
'Not easy for a young lady out here. I figure we'll stick together. Hahaha!'
Rei tilted her head. There was nothing young about the woman. Her face sagged from wrinkles, bony fingers rested on tired, wobbly knees. Rei hugged the blanket closer to her.
The woman glanced at Rei and handed over a half-cup of ramen to eat. It wasn't the best food she had tasted, but it was warm. Comforting. The old lady watched her with an odd expression that made Rei wonder. Was this what it was like to have a grandmother?
'What are you smiling about?'
'Smiling?'
'I'm not completely blind, girly,' said the squinting woman.
'I am glad you found me. I was alone.'
The woman leant forward and put a hand on Rei's knee, 'did someone hurt you?'
'No. I was in the lake.'
The woman pulled back. 'Hah! Skinny dipping! Ho ho, you're a naughty one.'
Rei frowned. 'I am not sure why I was in the lake. It was not on purpose.'
'You should go home. Never know when a monster might come by.'
'If one does, you must get to a shelter.'
'Folks aren't interested in being squashed in one of those sardine cans with me.'
Rei tilted her head, but said nothing more. The young girl found it hard to leave, but she stood up. 'Thank you. I believe it best to head home.'
Rei found a road and followed it to the city. The tall towers of concrete, steel and glass were familiar and comforting. She was in a seedier part of town. A few pubs were open and men in suits stumbled about, chasing screeching women in scanty dresses.
When Rei passed by, everyone, slowly, stopped what they were doing to stare. One man stumbled over to her. He grinned dumbly, his breath stank of beer.
'Sheesh lady, are you green all over?' the man slurred.
Rei ignored him and walked past. He grabbed her arm. 'Hey, I'm talking to you.'
'Let me go.' It was difficult to steady her voice. She wasn't afraid, but angry. She wanted this annoying person to leave her be.
'Then answer my ques-hic-question. Are you green all the way?'
Something about this man made Rei tremble. Her muscles tensed up, hands curling in fists. 'I am not green. Now let go.'
'You should look in a mirror.' He pulled her forward to a window and Rei yanked her arm back. The man stumbled onto his hands and knees, muttering to himself and giggling.
She caught her reflection and dropped the blanket in shock. The drunk was right. She was green. Her entire body was green! Her skin a smooth viridian, her once eerie silver-blue hair turned into long, dark curls. Even her eyes shone like emeralds.
And she was tall. Far too tall for a fourteen year old girl.
Her breathing became shallow and rushed.
No.
No.
This was wrong.
Why did she look like this? What happened!?
Why was she afraid?
Why couldn't she control herself?
Rei snatched the blanket up to cover herself, ignoring the gaze of everyone and the comments they made. She ran round a corner, shaking like a leaf. What was going to happen to her? What would the Commander do to her? Would she be reset? She would have to be! This was a deviation! It would ruin his plans!
She'd wake again in that cold, empty room. She would forget the things she had secretly come to enjoy. She wouldn't remember Captain Katsuragi teasing Shinji until he turned red. She wouldn't remember the meal her and Shinji had shared had after the fifth Angel.
Rei would be alone again. All alone. A mockery of human life. A pathetic imitation. Shinji would try and talk with the one who came after, but he would give up and realise she wasn't worth the time.
Rei's cluttered mind found focus. It was a single person who broke through the terror.
Shinji!
Yes!
She should see him.
No! No, not like this. He couldn't speak if she was naked. She needed clothes.
Rei spun round and came face-to-face with a group of men in suits. Tattoos snaked over their hands and faces. These weren't ordinary men. Even in Post-Impact Japan, the Yakuza are to be avoided.
'Damn. She is green.'
'I told you I wasn't lying.'
'I figure the boss'll like her.'
Rei stepped forward. 'I wish to pass. Please move.'
The men looked at one another. They threw their heads back and howled with laughter. 'Actually you're coming with us.'
One stepped forward, a short man with a thin face and a switchblade in hand. He flipped it open and closed idly. A show of force, an unspoken threat. Rei was not amused.
Why where they being so indignant? It made her fingers curl inward. They were making her mad.
The words were foreign to Rei, but the feeling was quite real. It bubbled beneath the surface and came out as a slap that made the man teeter on his heel, spun him round, and he collapsed onto all fours on the pavement.
'GAH! Oh ma gud. Ith tink ma eeth ish bruck.' He whimpered clutching his bloodied chin.
Rei looked at her green fingers in wonder. She hadn't hit him that hard.
The man sobbed.
A smile threatened to curl her mouth. It felt satisfying though.
'You green bitch.' A bigger man rushed her, grabbing her middle to shove her to the ground.
Rei stayed rooted on the spot. A quick thwack on his back took him out of the fight.
The other two men glanced at each other and then at the naked woman.
Rei strode over to them. Her face twisted in a mix of fury and delight. Their hands went into their jackets as she neared. Rei was close enough catch the fear in his eyes. A knife was jammed into her side, she looked down in dull shock.
There was a snap and then a clink of metal on pavement.
The clean blade lay at their feet. The man looked up in terror.
'Please don't hurt me.'
Rei did not care to oblige.
One smash of a fist later and he crumpled too.
The last one was shaking. His hand still fumbling in his jacket as Rei neared. A gun came free and fired.
The shot rattled her ears and the pain blinded her. She clawed at her wet face as her anger boiled over. Her nose stung! He got her nose! Stupid, puny man!
She blinked away the wetness and glared.
The man stared dumbly. 'No. No I shot you in the face.'
The bullet fell from her palm and hit the pavement with a dull ping.
Rei snatched the gun out of his hand, baring her teeth menacingly. She wanted to crush the stupid metal toy. And the man too.
Something popped and the man turned tail. Rei hurled a now twisted mess of steel. She missed the man by a few inches, but her rage destroyed a street lamp. The frame bent and groaned. The bulb smashed to bits on the street.
She'd been shot in the face but wasn't dead. It just made her eyes water and her nose stung a little.
Rei looked at her hands again. Her body was not only green but lean, athletic. Powerful muscles stretched and contracted beneath bulletproof flesh. She was reminded of those ancient sculptures of powerful athletes who seemed so immense compared to normal men. That was her body now. It was no longer the pale soft body that made people whisper when her back was turned.
Rei flexed her arm and watched her bicep pop solidly.
That gun…she'd crushed it with her bare hands. It had been nothing. She'd done it without trying.
This wasn't normal. She wasn't normal.
Rei had always been different. She was used to that, but she also knew she could be replaced. There were other bodies, pale skinned and red eyed. Waiting with vacant expressions, and dim smiles. Always waiting to replace her. Different but not unique.
Rei's eyes widened.
No. Not any more. She was different. She was unique now too. Powerful. This couldn't be replaced, surely not replicated. Whatever had happened had changed her to such an extent that there was no one on Earth like her. No bodies floating in wait for their turn. Waiting to hold the light of her soul and the frayed memories dumped into a machine at the end of each month.
Rei yawned. She was exhausted. It was time to retire. Her home was nearby, two blocks away, and no one would be watching it. She could rest.
But home was an empty apartment with little inside. It wasn't really a home. No more than that tube deep in Nerv. There wasn't anyone waiting there with a smile, hoping to see her. Her apartment repulsed her, but where else could she go? Nerv headquarters was out for obvious reasons. She wanted some place warm and inviting. A place with a friendly face.
There was one place that might be homely.
A tall woman caught her eye. Rei considered her reflection for a moment. She had never been one for looking in mirrors. It was never necessary. Tonight the green naked woman who met her gaze smiled back.
Before she went anywhere else, she needed to collect a few things.
'Shinji, retreat!'
'I know! I know!'
The Angel coiled thick tendrils around Unit-01's throat. Shinji's own began to choke. He couldn't get away. Power was running out. He tried to force the Eva to move, keep pushing forward.
'Misato…I…can't-'
'Hold on Pilot Ikari.'
Shinji saw Unit-00 approach. The N2 mine was in its hands.
No! No don't! Please! Shinji wanted to scream.
Rei pulled him free. She took his place.
Father gave the order.
All Shinji did was run as a green light flashed brilliantly behind him.
Ayanami's scream echoed over the radio for a split second, followed by silence. But in his dream, the scream went on and on. Forever ingrained in his skull.
Shinji gasped awake. He shook under the sweat soaked covers. Another nightmare. A new one to replace all the others. He curled into himself, hiding his face in his knees.
'I ran away. I let her die.'
Ritsuko stared at screen.
REJECTED.
She furrowed her brow and stamped the last embers of a dead cigarette out. Her eyes fell on the smiling, dim girl in the tube. The memory dump had worked but the activation had failed. The girl was nothing more than a husk.
Why the hell was she not activating? The process here was similar to an Evangelion activation test. The body was meant to synchronise with a soul and harmonise. But it was like there was no soul to sync with.
Which was impossible. The soul was tethered to a body deep in Nerv, deeper than this section. It would always return there when an Ayanami expired.
The second Rei Ayanami had been reduced to a charred corpse. If she had even survived the initial explosion the shock would have killed her. Or the blood loss. The lack of oxygen. The boiling LCL. Hell, the damn radiation if not any of the former. The enormous amounts of gamma radiation would have killed every cell in her body. It was enough to kill Eva Unit-00.
None of that mattered anyway because Ritsuko had confirmed it herself. The girl was dead. The body had been dumped in a lake.
Ritsuko blinked the bleariness from her eyes. 'What's so damn special about you?'
The clone tilted her head in a startling familiar fashion, only smiling vacantly.
Ritsuko lit a new cigarette, took a long drag and leant back in her chair. She must be missing something.
But what?
The balcony to the Katsuragi apartment stood several stories above her. She could take the elevator but that would mean passing by somebody else. She wasn't here to be asked questions she didn't know the answer to. Rei only wanted to speak one person.
And he was just 60 feet away.
Rei took a running stride and kicked off a bus stop bench. To her surprise, she overshot the first balcony and caught the third. Shinji was two more floors up. She looked down at the buckled bench and realised she had underestimated her strength.
Rei sensed she could have reached further.
She grasped the ledge and bunched up, jumping upward. It was easy. The world felt fragile to her green fingers. Rei repeated the action, careful not to overshoot.
Once she made it to the Katsuragi balcony, she slid down against the cool concrete wall. Rei felt a glimmer on the horizon. The sun was beginning to rise.
A wave of exhaustion swept over the strange girl. Not so much physical but mental. The toll of the night had worn her down. She could see Shinji in the morning. There was a wooden lounger with a blanket that looked comfortable. Rei sank down and closed her eyes.
She wondered what the new dawn would bring.
Author Notes: Well, here it is. Chapter One of yet another strange idea I had (at least this one I managed to sit down and write!). I hope someone is curious enough to learn more. Stay safe folks!