5. das Plastikmädchen oder, versteckend von den Fäserchen [the plastic girl, or, hiding from the fuzz]
"you wanted to see me, ikari-shidae?" max asked, bowing slightly. she hated this man.
he, who had treated her like lydecker in the past. she barely consealed her hatred from him.
"yes. you did a superb job today."
"thank you, sir."
"lydecker raised you well."
max glared at him.
"so you think, sir." she muttered softly, "he killed my siblings in the name of science."
"it was war." gendo smiled behind his hands.
"subhuman, superhuman.." she said in the same soft tone, and shrugged, "all the same
to you, right?"
"i'm very grateful that you've come here. my son and rei probably couldn't have defeated the angel
alone, since asuka has been out of commission..."
max bit her tongue. this man held her fate in his gloved palms.
"anyway, i wanted to show you the dummy plug corpses of you and your siblings."
"does the US know about the dummy plug system?" she asked calmly.
"no. since the delivery of unit 03, later destroyed by the angel, the US has been
on freeze. we believe that they delivered us an intentionally infected unit."
"so the corpses will pass muster?"
"NERV was able to get ahold of your x5 genetic makeup. you and your siblings do not
differ all that much. all we did was clone it with the dummy plug DNA materials and grow them.
not to worry. the dummy plugs themselves are soulless containers. so your cloned corpses did not
really have feelings or memories. the dummy plug as it is already serves as the backbone of the
synthetic eva system and extra parts for rei."
"so they really weren't alive." she said softly, and strangely, it was reassuring.
"in the biological sense, they were. but in the mental sense, they were not."
"when are you going to deliver them?"
"krit, syl, jace, and tinga are already on their way. their bodies will be scattered all over the
continental US. via NERV intelligence, lydecker will be notified anonymously.
"thank you." she said quietly, so angry not wanting to speak.
"you are dismissed."
+++
max swam laps in the NERV employee pool. she hated the pool. it brought back such bad memories.
but ritsuko said that it would help her get adjusted to LCL pressures in the entry plug.
so, she did it. just to adjust herself and nothing more.
[the children that are zack, max and jack are under the water in the manticore training pool. they were doing a lung
expanding activity under the water. lydecker carefully timed them above. three minutes thirty seconds and
counting. jack began to struggle. max made little wave motions with her hand, as apart
of their secret sign language. it meant to calm down. jack still struggled. finally, at four minutes five seconds,
lydecker released the chains that bound them to the bottom of the pool. jack shot up and
struggled for breath, max helped him up.
she and zack glared at lydecker...]
max got out, toweling her body and hair off. she then saw ayanami rei looking at her from the corner of the poolside.
"hello, pilot." she said almost mechanically.
"hello, rei. you mind if i call you that?" max tried to smile. but this girl was so cold inside. and familiar..
"no."
"are you here to do LCL pressure too?"
"i am here to finish my physical therapy." she said in her calm quiet voice.
"have fun."
"yes."
but max had the feeling that ayanami rei had no idea what fun was.
+++
max sat up on the roof of misato's apartment house. she always felt better in high places. she
distantly remembered the stories that ben used to tell her and the others in the High Place..where
they worshiped the Blue Lady.
she missed her siblings so much. she brushed tears away in the warm moonlight. ever since second impact,
it had been perpetual summer in japan.
shinji looked up from the balcony.
"max-kun! is that you? why are you up there?"
"come on up." she smiled, dangling her legs down at him.
"it's too far! i'll fall!"
"wuss." she grinned, and winked at the moon.
"why are you up there?" he repeated.
"just thinkin'."
"aren't you scared?"
"i've always felt more comfortable in high places. more so than in low ones. must be
the feline DNA.." she laughed, throwing back her head. "i'll come down. i'm hungry anyway.."
she secured the harness around her hips and leapt down. shinji was terrified as she landed perfectly
on her feet.
"so, you gonna feed me or what?" she asked with a wolfish grin. he blushed and led the way in.
+++
"mm..this is great!" max wolfed down the instant curry with ramen.
"isn't it just?" misato slurred, drinking more beer.
"i don't know how you can eat this.." shinji muttered, staring at his plate. pen pen squawked his
agreement from his bowl.
ritsuko nodded down at her plate. misato had invited her to dinner.
"we have to teach misato how to cook." she whispered to shinji and nodded.
"i heard that!" misato screamed angrily, then burped and passed out.
shinji sweatdropped and laughed nervously.
"that's our misato."
"does she always do this?" max asked with a smile.
"every night.." ritsuko sighed, "when she isn't fucking kaji.."
"oh yes. i've met him. quite a slut." max laughed, drinking her tea.
ritsuko just looked down and blushed, glowering at the table.
"asuka had a crush on him too..." shinji murmured, and silence fell like stone.
"speaking of asuka, i checked up on her today.."
"yes, ritsuko-san?" shinji asked.
"she's still dwindling into depression. she's in complete catatonia now."
"can we visit her?" max asked and felt strange. out of place.
"nope. she's completely locked up."
+++
max sat in school. shinji and rei were there too, as they had to make up a lot of work.
"so, this tragic event in the last year of the 20th century was called second impact.."
the sensei droned on and on and on and on.
[do they really believe this bullshit?] she wondered. max knew what really happened, after all...
DING! a message demanded from her laptop screen. all the students had laptops on their desks.
"HEY MAX DO U HAVE A BOYFRIEND? -KENSUKE" read the message. max looked back at him and he blushed. it had
been a dare to admit his feelings about the new girl to her. she rolled her eyes.
sometimes it was surprisingly easy to be a normal, teenage girl.
