Chapter 20: Maya-chan. You have been noticed by Senpai.
Maya Ibuki was trying very hard not to faint. On her way back to her apartment from the bus stop (she had to get up at the crack of dawn to catch the bus to NERV and not be tardy because of her low budget) she had seen the first child, Rei on a television screen in a shop window.
The glass obstructed her view slightly, but she could still hear and see perfectly well what Rei had been saying. It had confirmed her worst fears that Shinji had indeed been a victim of horrific abuse all these years.
This alone would have upset an already upset shell-shocked veteran but the sight across the street of Kaji being lifted out of his apartment on a stretcher and thrown straight into a waiting ambulance, nearly broke her.
She knew from their few interactions during the years that Kaji was a man of great character in spite of his eccentricities. And if the evening news had been enough to make her hit her own forehead a few times over her own involvement, small as it was over worsening Shinji's plight, then it must have elicited the same reaction from sweet and wonderful Kaji in the same way but in a far more serious manner.
Oh Kaji. You didn't need to do all this to prove you cared as well.
The reaction on her face as the ambulance drove quickly away would have given Lovecraft's outer gods a run for their money. She did not scream. She did not cry. She was in a catatonic state of shock as she put her hands to her face.
It was only her concern for Shinji that snapped her out of her trance to prevent her being wheeled away in the same ambulance.
She was on her own now that Kaji was gone and Yui was dead.
But she couldn't do this on her own. Maya's one rank below Misato meant that their training had been completely different, both in the way they battled and the way they led their lives.
Misato was trained to shout the orders. Maya to obey them.
Misato to come up with the (usually unsuccessful) battle plans. Maya to follow them to the letter.
She needed help and fast. But who could help her now? She had been fired, no she had quit NERV and for obvious reasons, Misato couldn't be trusted.
She briefly opened her mouth to scream but relented as the clouds of the night sky seemed to come together like magic to conjure up the image of a grinning young woman with short but very pretty hair and a lab coat in the same style as the one worn by Yui and then Naoko.
The image of a Senpai. Her Senpai. Who just like Shinji, managed to keep well clear of the mistakes made by her own abusive parent, who even in death was continuing to aid Gendo in his blatantly evil plans.
It didn't take long to reach Ritsuko's apartment. Unlike Misato, Maya's alcohol clear body and relative youth made her the very image of health in spite of her below average weight and her sprint fuelled by panic induced adrenaline was very swift.
A quick press on Ritsuko's apartment number buzzer and a desperate shriek of "help me Senpai. Please open up." and the door was quickly opened with no need for even a reply.
Maya reached Ritsuko's floor to find the door already opened and an incredibly anxious Ritsuko standing in the doorway quickly beckoning the barely conscious former officer inside.
"Shh. It's okay. It's okay" Ritsuko soothed in a unsarcastically coaxing voice not typical for a purveyor of science and objectivism as she welcomed the now sobbing Maya into her open arms, holding her and gently patting her back as her uncaring mother Naoko had never done for her even in their better days.
"I'm not like you mother. I'm nothing like you" Ritsuko whispered disapprovingly under her breath as she rocked the brown-haired woman in her arms back and forth as she uncontrollably cried the words "Senpai. Senpai" repeatedly. It was as if Maya could melt into a puddle of jelly at any moment with how broken she was acting.
"There, there. Senpai is here for you. Don't cry anymore Maya. You are safe." The scientist managed to gather up the courage to say as Maya's tantrum was beginning to die down just a little.
"Senpai has noticed you." She added when Maya still did not stop crying completely. "And Senpai loves you as well. It's okay. I'm here for you Maya."
It was this final soothing line which made Maya finally stop crying long enough to dab at her face with her hand and take a few deep breaths, as Ritsuko patiently instructed her to breath in and out till the last of her tantrum finally died away.
"Feeling better?" the chief scientist asked.
"mm. Mhmm"
"Good. I take it you saw the news too."
"Y, yes. And, and…"
"And what?"
"K,K" The name of a wonderful man who was essentially the opposite to chief Gendo snagged on Maya's tongue several times before she eventually managed to get it out.
"Kaji. He's been taken away."
"WHAT?" asked Ritsuko, uncontrollably raising her voice.
"Kaji. He took it too hard. He took it all out on himself and now he's in hospital. I heard the paramedics say that his prognosis is less than ten percent and that he might never wake up again."
"That bastard" Ritsuko yelled causing Maya to reel back in great fear. Kaji's reaction may not have been ideal but it was certainly justified. Surely Ritsuko knew that.
"Not Kaji, Maya" Ritsuko assured. "Misato. She did this. If she had just done the gosh darn responsible thing and punished Asuka for her bad behaviour, this wouldn't have happened. And she calls herself a major. Hah. Major my ass."
"We did this too." Maya piped, relieved that Ritsuko was being far more reasonable in the blame game. "We should have seen the signs. We should have asked Shinji what was wrong and if he had a problem or not. We're just as much to blame as well, she is…"
"If only stupid Gendo had given me custody of Shinji instead of that drunk…"
"It's too late for that now, Ritsu Senpai. We need to do something. It's no use playing this useless blame game. That's what got us into this mess in the first place. We need a plan. And I know you have a plan, Ritsuko. You always have a plan. You're the woman with a plan."
"But what can we do?" Sighed Ritsuko angrily. "Gendo clearly doesn't give a damn about his son and he clearly doesn't care what we think either. So what really can we even do? You got any ideas? The police certainly don't care either."
"There has to be something" Maya thoughtfully replied, pressing a finger to her noggin hard. There was a first time for everything and right now, it was her first time devising a fool proof battle strategy. Without her senior officers to boss her around and with even Senpai, the woman with a plan flummoxed by this entire ordeal, the planning fell to the Junior officers, the most senior of them in this moment being her, the first lieutenant even if she had parted ways with NERV.
It was time to take the lead.
"If we can't get Shinji away from Misato, maybe we can just deal with Misato in some way." Maya mused, inciting a look of utter jubilation upon her Senpai which Maya mistook as confusion.
And then she got an idea. An awful idea. Ritsu-senpai got a wonderful, awful idea.
"I was just making a suggestion" Maya started only to be cut off quickly by a now very proud Ritsuko Akagi.
"That's it." She barked in reply.
"That's what?"
"That's how we're going to do it, Maya. You're a genius. We'll make it so that Gendo can't send Shinji back to Misato. We'll make it so that he has no choice but to send Shinji somewhere else, at least for the time being."
"And how do we do that, Ritsu-Senpai. It's not as if we can just go to the police spouting about how we apparently believe bad things about two of the most respected members of NERV."
"Not the police Maya. Screw the police. We don't need the police. We'll do this ourselves."
"You mean. Vigilante Justice?"
"It worked pretty well in the movies didn't it?" commented Ritsuko. "No superhero ever needed a police force to stop the bad guy, did they?"
"No… But what does this have to do with anything?"
"It means that this is what we're going to do now." Ritsuko replied. "We go to Misato and Shinji's apartment, and we do what's right. We capture Misato and Asuka too if she's there and we keep them held up so that Gendo will have no choice but to send Shinji to live somewhere else since he obviously doesn't want Shinji around him."
"And how do we do that?" asked Maya, more curious than afraid despite the terrible way she begun to see this plan going.
"Well that. It's a good thing I'm the chief Scientist. We use one of my toys." Explained Ritsuko reaching into one of her cupboards as she spoke.
Why wasn't Maya surprised when her senpai turned around to reveal it was a tranquilizer gun, armed and loaded with a syringe full of blue tranquilizer liquid?
"And don't ask me where I got it from or why I have it."
"I won't Senpai. But what's the plan?"
"Simply put. We'll go over to Shinji's apartment right now. I know where it is because Misato told me. Then when we get there, I'll knock on the door and try to get Misato and Asuka's attention. You hold the tranquilizer, and when you see an opening, shoot. You did tell me you had basic training as an officer so surely you can do that?"
"Well about that Senpai. I lied. I wasn't just given basic training. I was given advanced training as well when I was promoted. The only reason I don't shoot well is because sometimes I get scared and because I don't like shooting at other humans. It's cruel and as corny as it sounds, I don't like doing cruel things."
"Perfectly understandable reaction Maya. It's one of the reasons I'm glad I met you."
"But I think I should be up for this one. Asuka and Misato have done so much harm to Shinji with so little care. To me, they're not human anymore."
"And we're not going to do anything overly cruel to them Maya. We're not like them. We'll just keep them here. This room has soundproof walls, and (with the exception of you, my one good friend) no one comes here. We're just doing this to help Shinji."
Maya smiled. "A very simple plan, Senpai."
Ritsuko returned her smile. "The best ones often are. Let's go. And if anyone asks why we're dragging an unconscious woman and a pilot, we'll just say that Misato drunk again and that Asuka's injured herself and urgently needs medical assistance (NERV pilots did get private treatment in a NERV clinic, despite NERV's cruelty since they were difficult to replace)"
"Got it. Let's go." Maya said with more eagerness than she intended as she picked up the tranquilizer and the set of loaded syringes Ritsuko passed to her.
If she couldn't use her advanced combat skills as a lieutenant in NERV, she would use them as a trained assassin who had gone rogue.
As the two women headed out of the apartment and into Ritsuko's cheap white car, both of them cracked a different expression each, that would have made any onlooker quiver in cold fright.
Maya wore a slasher smile, the one used by serial killers as their hapless cornered victim turned to realize too late that they were doomed.
Ritsuko, a maniacal grin that would have made the demented minds at SEELE seem halfway presentable.
…
Rei breathed heavily as she stopped briefly to catch her breath. Artificial humans had better stamina than normal ones but still needed to rest every now and again. She peered back around the corner to see that she had still not lost her pursuers who fortunately were not armed with firearms out of fear of hurting the commander's favourite doll.
Just as she begun to think all hope was lost, a blue SUV pulled up around the corner.
She had barely time to register her surprise at seeing that the passenger and driver were the two people in the world she had any sympathy for at this point, before a relieved but very panicked Shinji shouted "Get on Rei. Get on. They're gaining on us."
She had not even had the time to close the back door she had entered the car through before a hysterical Shinji yelled "Step on it, Mari. Get us out of here."
The car sped away at a breakneck speed as Rei finally managed to close the door and put her hands over her mouth. Her stomach was still queasy from her earlier sighting of the trash dump that Shinji had been forced to live in for so many years.
"Thank you for saving me, Shinji-kun and Nami brown." Rei managed to say when she had stabilized herself a little and managed to get her seatbelt on as well.
"I'm very grateful."
"Anytime, Nami blue." Mari replied back as she slowed down to a more reasonable speed now that the security guards chasing Rei were far behind them.
"You were so brave up there. I'm very proud of you for what you've done."
"The world needed to know the truth behind how badly Shinji was being treated" Rei bluntly stated.
"And now that they do, hopefully things will be better for him."
"Oh Rei" Shinji remarked quietly but gratefully. "You didn't have to do all that for me. Now NERV will be after you."
"And that's why she's not going back tonight." Mari pitched in. "We'll take her back to my house where she can stay with us until we figure out what to do next."
The others grunted in reply as the rest of the ride continued in silence for a while.
It was the usually quiet and introverted Rei who broke the silence.
"Shinji. There's something I need to tell you."
"What is it Rei?"
"I'm really sorry. Really sorry for everything I've done to you."
"What do you mean Rei. You were the first person to ever show me any sort of kindness? You don't need to be sorry for that."
"No. Shinji. You don't understand. I was originally built by your father to be a honey trap. To keep you obedient to him and NERV so that you would continue piloting against your will. He was trying to use me against you Shinji. To pretend that I cared a bit about you, but always keep myself distant so that you would keep trying to get closer to me to no avail. This is the truth Shinji, and I can't not confess this to you. You have a right to not forgive me Shinji. But for what it's worth, I'm sincerely regretful over my part in this entire scheme. I'm sorry."
Rei could not bring herself to move a muscle as she awaited her Shinji-kun's judgement with bated breath. She wondered if this was where Mari stopped the car and tossed her out onto the street where she would soon be hit by another passing car.
It would be fitting punishment for all the atrocities she had unknowingly committed during the years to both Shinji, Mari and everyone else in the world.
Props to all my reviewers for reviewing. This chapter was inspired by the End of Evangelion where Maya and (fake) Ritsuko share one last embrace where she yells "Senpai, Senpai" before Maya explodes and SEELE takes over the world.
At least that girl died with her humanity intact and happy unlike the other meaner NERV members.
I respect her decision not to open fire even as her life was in danger. She wanted to out with her dignity unlike Gendo. I like to think she was one of the first to come back from the human instrumentality program.
