Project Gemini stormed through the halls of the AAA Wunder, rifle in hand. He couldn't believe how easy it had been to get onboard. The battle with MP-001 had left a huge hole in the side of the ship, allowing him to slip through with noone the wiser. By the time they caught onto him, the ship was already in the air. A pair of guards stood at the end of the hallway, the guns trained on the him, but Gemini shot them down before they had a chance to pull the trigger.The door remained shut, locked with a code known only to high-ranking personnel. Project Gemini dug his fingers into the gap and slowly forced it open, breaking the locks in the process.

"Intruder alert!" a young woman's voice blared through the speakers, "We are under attack by an unidentified human. Early teens, approximately five feet tall, hair color-" A hail of bullets smashed the speaker to bits, leaving behind a pile of shattered metal and frayed circuits.

"Remember," Gendo said into his earpiece, "Your mission is to retrieve the Third Child. Disregard any secondary objective of the primary goal is placed in jeopardy." Gemini smiled to himself. NERV had given him the unique ability to sense the Shinji Ikari's presence, and he could tell he was getting close.

"Yeah yeah, I know."

"If you happen across the Second or Fourth child, kill them." said the Commander, "But do not harm Colonel Katsuragi. We still have a use for her."

"What about Unit-01?" Gemini asked.

"Leave it for now." Gendo ordered, "It will come to us, in time."

The humanoid shrugged his shoulders. "You're the boss."

Suddenly, the door to his side whooshed open, and a member of WILLE sprung from the darkness, aiming a pistol at his head. "See you in hell!"

He pulled the trigger, but a flash of orange light knocked him off his feet, and the bullet fell harmlessly to the ground. The artifical human shot him a malicious smirk, before he grabbed the young man by the face and drove his head into the steel wall. The soldier cried out in pain as Gemini beat his head against the wall, bashing him again and again until the poor man's head was left a pile of red mush. Project Gemini let the corpse go, staring at the blood on his hand before wiping it off on his sleeve, like he had merely squashed a fly.

Shinji lay on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. He was still trying to process what had happened back at the courthouse.

"I knew you'd get off light." Mari had told him, "Representative Diu's always been a big softie."

Still, after everything that had happened, everything he'd done, he couldn't get over the fact he had gotten off so light. He'd even been aacquitted of causing Third Impact. "I dunno," He'd said, "It kinda feels like I escaped justice..."

"That's one of the dumbest things you've ever said, Bratty Shinji!" Asuka had said, "Are you really such an idiot you don't even know when you've won."

Shinji chuckled as he looked back on it. Perhaps he was that stupid. He was still under indefinite house arrested, and even though he'd been found not guilty in the case of Third Impact, he doubted the crew would see it that way. Then again, he was still amongst friends, instead of locked away in a cold, dark cell in Babylon. Maybe this was a victory.

His victory was short lived, however. He heard a wretched scraping sound ahead of him as the bedroom door was pulled open.

"Found ya~"

A young man crept into the room, a serene smile on his face as he pulled down his hood.

Shinji couldn't believe what he was seeing. The resemblance was uncanny. There were some noticeable differences: his hair was blonde, his eyes were thin and brown, his face was sharper and there was a small but noticeable height difference. But still, it was almost a perfect copy.

Staring back at him, was another Shinji Ikari.

"Hello, brother."


Evangelion

Gemini Rising

By Rollinaround

Episode 6

Another Me


"Who... who are you?" Shinji asked, stepping back in horror as he gazed upon a mirror version of himself.

"So it's true, what the old man said?" The doppelganger seemed vaguely sad as he followed his targets movements. "You really don't remember." He stepped forward, offering Shinji his hand. "I, Shinji, am Akio Ikari, your little brother."

"Brother?" He shrank away from the strange boy. "I don't have a brother." But then again, did he? His memories of his mother had been erased. Could he really have had a long lost brother that had been wiped from his mind? Could he even trust his own memories, when they could be deleted just like that?

Akio smiled at him. "I know it's very hard to understand," he said, "But I promise you it will all make sense, once we get you back home." He wrapped his hand around Shinji's wrist, and the boy immediately began to panic.

"H- home?" he yelped, as his supposed brother dragged him to his feet, "What are you talking about?"

"I have to take you back to father." said Akio, "So we can be a family again, and so we can realize our destiny."

"What?" Shinji said. "Oh no, I'm not going back with you." He pulled himself free of Akio's grip. "I'm never going back there."

"You really want to stay here?" the boy asked him, "Be a prisoner all your life?"

"No." said Shinji, "But it's better than going back to dad. I'm gonna be a prisoner, one way or the other. Here, I have people who care about me at least."

"You're so confused..." Akio said, a tiuch of pity in his voice as he grabbed the boy's arm again. "It's alright. Just come with me and everything will be fine."

Shinji punched the boy in the face.

"I refuse!" Shinji yelled. "Now take a hint, get off this plane, and just leave me alone!"

A small, creepy giggle echoed through thr room as Akio got to his feet. "That's how it's gonna be huh?" he said, "Alright then. You want to play?" He dropped into a shotokan stance with ease, as if he'd been practicing for years. "Let's play."

He sprung at Shinji, throwing a number of solid punches. He fought very aggressively, taking a step forward with every punch, beating his fists against Shinji's A.T Field until it fizzled out. Akio floored the kid with roundhouse kick to the head. "Give up?"

Shinji glared at the blonde as he pulled himself back up. "I've been shot in the leg and still kept fighting." he said, "This is nothing."

Akio grinned as he lunged at the boy, but Shinji ducked under his arm, tackling him to the ground before he could summon his barrier. The boy tried to punch Akio while he was down, but his fists bounced off the lookalike's A.T Field, and Akio rolled backwards, throwing the kid off of him. "You're fun." he said, getting down on one knee and launching himself at Shinji at a speed exceeding what most humans were capable of.

Shinji dropped to the floor, barely avoiding a high straight kick that left a dent in the steel wall. He grabbed the clone's leg, lifting him over his shoulder and slamming Akio against the florr, but again the A.T Field left the clone totally unharmed. Shinji was just about to try again when Akio wrapped his legs around Shinji's arm and neck. The boy choked as his assailant tightened his grip, pulling on Shinji's arm until he felt like it was going to pop out of it's socket. He felt to the ground, writhing in pain as Akio choked the life out of him.

"He is beating you." Zeruel said, dryly.

'I noticed!' he shot back. 'You got anything useful to say?'

"Just do everything you can to force him off you."

Shinji rolled his eyes. 'Thank you, that helps a lot!' he thought, kicking away at the clone's A.T Field to no effect.

"Remember," Zeruel added, "This is a real fight. There are no rules. All that matter is victory, nothing else."

Shinji slapped himself in the head, as if trying to force an idea into his head. 'Come on, think you idiot!' he told himself, 'What... what would Sensei do?'

He thought back to his training in Elysium, under the wise, yet eccentric tutelage of Mr Wilson Clarke. The old Englishman had always told him to be pragmatic in battle; to always try the simplest solution, to know his own weaknesses, and to take advantage of his opponent's. 'What can I do?' he asked, 'What'll make him release the hold? What won't he be expecting?' And then, inspiration struck him like a lightning bolt, and he knew at once what to do.

He bit Akio's leg.

The copy yelped in pain as Shinji sank his teeth into his leg. He let go, and the air rushed into Shinji's lungs as he felt his windpipe open once more.

"You asshole!" Akio growled, kicking the boy away, "That's cheating!"

Shinji flashed him a cocky grin. "This is a fight, 'little brother'" he said, "There's only one rule here: win."

Akio glared at the boy as he watched Shinji get up onto all fours. The kid had actually managed to hurt him, if only a little. In the blink of an eye, Akio's expression changed from one of anger, to one of joy. "Have it you're way." he said, "It's more fun this way." He sprung forth, unleashing a rush of vicious kicks that Shinji barely managed to stop, using his A.T Field to block the ones he couldn't avoid. Akio threw another roundhouse kick, but this time Shinji expected it. He ducked, and the kick missed him by a country mile, leaving Akio's back exposed.

Shinji's moment had come at last. He pressed his hands against the clones back, shoving him away and giving Shinji some space. He charged at Akio, leaping into the air, curling his legs, and letting himself fall backwards. He hit the boy with a shotgun dropkick, putting all his strength into his legs and blasting Akio through the bathroom door. Shinji lay on the floor, chuckling to himself as he sat back up. He'd forgotten what it was like to be in a real fight, the rush of adrenaline that drove him wild when he struck someone.

The bathroom was an absolute mess. Much of the room had been destroyed. The steel sink had a huge dent in it, and the toilet was leaking water everywhere. At the back of the bathroom, buried in the shower amongst a pile of broken glass, sat Akio. Water spilled from the broken water pipe, washing away the blonde hair dye and fake tan to reveal the albino skin and silvery locks beneath. The boys contacts had been knocked out, revealing a bare of deep, red eyes, the same color as the liquid that dripled from his head. Akio took one look at his hand, and the warm blood that spilled from a gash in his palm. He let out a high pitched whine, weeping like a child who'd scraped his knee for the first time.

Feeling a sting of guilt and pity for the boy, Shinji approached him cautiously. "Listen..." he said, "I- I'm really sorry. Please, just leave me by and..."

He was answered with a punch to the face, harder than anything he'd ever felt. The strike sent him hurtling backwards, landing in a pile on the floor as Akio stepped out of the bathroom.

"Fine!" he screamed, marching towards Shinji, his eyes glowing with rage. "Father said to bring you back alive..." Shinji got to his feet, ready for another round, but Akio's barrier collapsed in on itself, forming a ball like shape and blasting the boy across the room, into the wall. "He didn't say anything about being conscious!"

Akio grabbed hold of Shinji's leg, dragging him over to the bed. Once there he lifted the boy onto his shoulders, raised him high into the air, amd powerbombed him through the bed. The thick wooden frame snapped in half like a matchstick, leaving Shinji laying in a pile of splintered wood. The clone had been a tough fight before but now, now that he had stopped holding back, it seemed insurmountable.

Shinji barely had time to catch his breath before Akio leapt into the air, landing on Shinji's gut. The A.T Field may have saved his life, but the force was more than enough to send him through the thin, steel floor. Shinji groaned as he landed in the brig below, his whole body wracked with intense pain. He tried to get up one or tine, but Akio just dragged the teen up by his hair, striking him in the chest with a solid punch that sent him back several feet, and knocked him out cold.

Finally taking a moment to calm down, Akio stared at Shinji's crumpled up body. "Oh!" he said, "Sorry big brother, I guess I got a little carried away." He slung the boy over his shoulder. "Don't worry, I'll take you home, dad will fix you up and then, then we'll be a family again."

And that's when he caught sight of her. A pale skinned young woman, with eyes a red as a polished rub, and hair the color of the ocean. Akio was stunned, so much so that he let the boy fall from his arms. He had never seen this girl before, not once. And yet, there was an inescapable sense of familiarity whenever he looked upon her. "Who... are you?" He asked, stepping closer towards her cell. "My dad never said anything about you."

He got closer, examining her snow white skin, red eyes and cyan hair. "By God, you're like me..."

He winced in pain as something pierced his side, and a deafening bang echoed down the halls. He looked down to see a tiny hole in his side, leaking scarlet fluid. He whipped around just in time to see Colonel Katsuragi aiming a pistol at his head. Misato fired again, but the clones A.T Field stopped the bullets in their tracks. "Step away from the cell!" She ordered him.

Akio was about to lunge at her when he remembered his orders: whatever you do, leave the Colonel alive. "As you wish..." He sneered, before he rammed himself into the next room, blasting a hole in the wall and disappearing out of sight.

"Get after him!" Misato barked as her men gave chase. "Do not let the target escape!" She rushed over to Shinji's motionless body. He was alive, but badly injured. His arm was broken, his ribs had been cracked, and he was bleeding profusely. "This is Captain Katsuragi!" She yelled into her comm device. "I need a medic down in the brig, immediately!"

"Copy that!"

She knelt over Shinji, putting her hand over his chest. There was still a hearbeat, but it was faint.

"Come on Shinji." she whispered, "Stay with me."