The Zeroth Child's Saga
Chapter 3: Charge of the (Not So) Light Brigade
1. I in no way what-so-ever lay any claim to Neon Genesis Evangelion or it's contents. All I lay claim to is the characters and plot that I develop for this fic that isn't part of the manga or series.
2. This is my first attempt at a fic, so PLEASE minimize flames, although any useful criticism is gratefully accepted. ~_~"
3. I will mutate parts of the story line to suit my purposes (such as Major Katsuragi already being the Director of Operations and the presence of all three Children and EVA's during the 3rd Angel's attack) But I will do my best to stay in character, with occasional, unavoidable, and plot serving 'transgressions'. (A clue-in concerning a lot of my flames)
4. ~things appearing like this represent things the characters see, smell, touch, hear, or taste that can't be slid easily into the story any other way.~
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...the first time he heard of his transfer
to Japan; since hearing of the other countries' EVA pilots; since meeting...
her...
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Apartment #627 Tokyo-3, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan ^5:12AM^
Huh?> Alex slowly came back to the conscious world. He sat up in his bed, only to feel a wave of exaustion wash over him. Didn't sleep a wink. Not peacefully, anyway.> He tried to blink back his headache and waited for his eyes to focus. This accomplished, the young man got up and wandered down to his now well stocked kitchen, pulled out a Pepsi and chugged it down in short order while pulling out a small pan, a pack of eggs, a loaf of bread, and a jar of mayonaise. He proceeded to cook himself a pair of egg sandwiches (his parents hadn't left him without any urban survival skills), and then went back to his room to wash up and get dressed. He returned to his living room wearing what appeared to be the same clothes as the day before, but upon further examination, were in fact an identical set (of which he had ten complete ones hanging in his closet).
After making sure all was right, both in his home and in his attire, he walked out the Door of Doom, looking both ways to ensure that the previous day's events wouldn't repeat themselves. Finding the way clear, he stepped out and walked down to the apartment with Misato's nameplate on it and stepped to the side, out of sight, and leaned against the wall there. Following the sound of a couple of crashes, the front door opened, and Asuka launched out, quickly followed by Shinji. As they reached the elevator, they looked back, wondering why they hadn't seen or had to dodge anyone. Finally, Shinji spotted the face in the darkness, "Alex! What are you doing over there?"
"Waiting in a safe area, watching, learning, and analyzing." He cryptically stated as he paced down to join them in front of the elevators, "Finding out if I need to be ready to dodge her everyday or just on occaision."
"You don't have to be a jerk about it," Asuka began haughtly, but her tone softened slightly, "You got the best part of that deal anyway."
"An irrelevant point..., but a point none the less." Alex fell into his 'quoting some book out there' tone, "And you know, you seem a lot... nicer this morning. Any reason why, or just pot luck?'
"~embarrased giggle~ Something about a sunrise just...
refreshes me most of the time... in a way nothing else can. It's just...
such a peaceful scene... like a treasure that can never be taken away."
Asuka's face took on a dreamy air for a moment, but instantly she
snapped back to reality as the elevator doors opened and the three children
boarded the lift and descended to the ground floor, from which they carried
out the standard dead rush to school...
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Tokyo-3 Central High School: Room 4-A ^5:57 AM^
One right after the other, the three EVA pilots rushed into class, each collapsing in their respective desks: Asuka first and with some amount of dignity; Shinji next, panting slightly, and finally a very spent Alex. Rei looked up slightly as Alex sat down, her penetrating red eyes taking in every detail of the classroom behind him as well as the rather tired foreground. Quickly losing interest, she returned to her book on Calculus (her class work, as she doesn't need to know anymore about Second Impact).
"What's the matter?" Asuka asked cheerfully, "A little winded?"
"I *pant* don't *pant* run *weeze* worth *huff* a damn. *puff* I swim. *weeze* *pant* I *pant* don't chase things, *puff* I drop 'em *puff* at a hundred yards." Alex gave Asuka a now patented 'Death Glare'. At the same time, however, the teacher arrived. As he walked in, Hikari stood up and performed the expected, "Stand, bow, sit down." routine.
"Let's see..." he mumbled to himself, then in a much louder voice, "Ayanami? Rei Ayanami?"
"Hai," was Rei's only response; she didn't even look up from her book.
The teacher had a look on his face akin to terror
upon hearing a response to THAT name. He rushed through the rest of the
list, luckly saved any more suprises. "Open your laptops and prepare to
take notes on today's lecture on Second Impact. (it is important to note
that the class would have groaned in agony at the thought of another lecture
on Second Impact, but after a few months, you learn to tune out such unwanted
[non] news.) There will be a test at the end of the month on this material."
Since everyone had already begun whatever it was they were going to do
that day, few people acctually heard anything about a test.
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Tokyo-3 Central High School: Rooftop ^12:03 PM^
After many boring hours of hacking into the school data net and 'exploring' a little, Alex quickly grew bored of finding out who was gleefully checking out porn on their terminals, ignorant of peering electronic eyes watching them from within, and sending anonymous 'suggestions' to Kensuke concerning his illegal access of the U.S. Missile Defense System. Thankfully, before he could get into any trouble of his own, the long awaited lunch bell rang.
Having remembered to pack a lunch, the young man proceeded up to the top of the school building, which was rumored to have an excellent view of the city. Once getting up there and taking a look around, Alex concluded that the rumors were true. He sat down with his legs hanging off the side of the building, admiring said view, as he withdrew one half of the two sandwiches he'd packed and began to munch on it absent-mindedly. In relative no time, Sterling noticed three shadows approaching from behind. He finished the half a sandwich he was eating and turned around to greet the owners of said shadows, finding them to belong to a group commonly referred to on campus as 'The Three Stooges'.
As they approached, Shinji in the point position, with Kensuke and Touji on either side of him, Touji opened up, "Like, are all you EVA pilots a bunch of weaklings?" He sneered slightly.
"In an effort to stick to my new 'public acceptability' policy, I will refrain from comment." Alex once again used his patented 'Death Glare', but to no avail.
"Attitude problems seem to be common in all EVA pilots, too." Touji half-heartedly laughed to himself. In the meantime, Shinji just sank into a bit of a depression as he listened to his friend insult not only Alex but Shinji himself as well.
"That was kinda' cold, Touji. You could be a little nicer." Shinji commented.
"Why should I? My sister got hurt really badly in that battle, and it was by HIS fucking robot. If anything, I should be beating the shit outta' him right now, not trying to be his friend!" Touji bellowed in a raging fury.
Alex got up from his position and came to stand directly in front of Touji, "I can understand how you feel. Justice, or your version of it, must be done if there is to be any peace between you and I. I give you something I've never given anyone before. One free shot, anywhere but the groin." He straightened up to his full height and put his hands behind his back.
"..." Touji simply started cracking his knuckles and advancing slightly towards Alex.
"May I recommend the stomach," the exposed Sterling said in his usual cheerful voice, "It's the least protected of the 'high pain zones' and risks the least collateral damage." Touji finally came within his punching range.
Alex stumbled slightly from pretty much the most powerful gut punch he'd felt in a long time. Although all it really did was provide a minor fluttering feeling, he faked much greater pain by dropping to one knee and wheezing the next breath. When he tried to slowly get up, however, he received a high power fist across his temple, bringing him to the ground and disorienting him for a split second before he leapt up, dodging a kick aimed at his previously laying form. As soon as he recentered himself, he faked a little stumbling to his right, as though he had momentarily lost his balance. "I said one free hit, not two and a missed one." he wheezed out, glaring unsteadily at the aggressor.
The only response his got was an echoing battle cry and a sneakered foot upside the head. Actually losing his balance this time, Alex fell to the water resistant coating on the roof. Shinji, realizing that this was going too far, tried to step in in his own, 'special' way. As soon as his hand touched Touji's arm, a roundhouse punch knocked Shinji back a good ten feet, falling and staying down; a large red spot swelling on his face where he had near acquired a broken jaw. On impact, he rolled and came up in an defensive stance. As Touji attempted another head kick, Alex rotated out of it's path and to the side. As Touji tried to recover, his opponent grabbed his leg and twisted at the foot. To save himself from a broken leg, Touji was forced to roll with it, falling to the ground. Alex fell back to his previous defensive position as Touji got back up, more pissed than ever at his humiliation.
"DIE YOU BASTARD!!!!!" Touji bellowed at the universe in general as he rushed his torturer, his highly athletic build providing excellent speed, easily closing the distance between the two combatants. Upon arrival, He dealt out another of his gut punches, this one, however, was blocked with ease. This block also opened Alex to a new move Touji had learned but told not to use outside of 'life or death' situations. Bringing his hand back into a palm heel, Touji threw it forward with all of his considerable strength towards Alex's nose, to finish this once and for all.
As soon as he saw the hand drop back, the only speech-based thought that ran through Alex's mind was Holy shit! This fucker's tryin' to kill my ass!>. He immediately took a step back to widen and hopefully throw off Touji's aim. No such luck. In the last possible moment, in an attempt to save his life, Alex tilted his head down as much as possible, which left him with a badly broken nose instead of having said nose firmly mounted in his brain. As he fell to the ground from the lightning-white flash of pain, Touji side kicked him in the head, finishing the fall Alex had in progress. Finally and with great flourish, Touji kicked Alex over on to his back, kneeled down, and slammed his right hand's set of knuckles down as hard as he could into Alex's ribcage, all but guaranteeing internal injuries.
Alex's vision lost focus as his chest seemed to erupt into unbelievable new realms of pain. Knowing that he was in no condition to fight back, Sterling quickly curled himself into a ball and rolled onto his side, instantly struck by a coughing fit; a coughing fit that left his hands and the ground around him coated in blood. When he had finally recovered enough willpower to force the pain out of his mind, he was left with the image of Touji staring in complete horror at the sight before him, the bleeding and finally broken opponent, looking up from his feet, all but voicing his surrender. Touji couldn't bring himself to bear the sight anymore, so to avoid further 'difficulties' (not to mention disciplinary action, for the moment), he turned on his heel and half jogged, half ran away, picking up Kensuke on his way to the access ladder. Apparently, the fight had been loud enough for people on the ground to hear, for the two rather shaken schoolboys had hardly cleared the last rung before they saw the Class Rep. coming forward, with Asuka and, of all people, the teacher in tow. Knowing how this would all play out..., and how this school tolerates fights, the two newest members of the Endangered Species List quickly hid out in a conveniently unlocked classroom until the entourage had passed, and proceeded to sneak out behind it as Hikari's group continued up the ladder to discover the cause of all the commotion.
At this clearing of the battlefield, Shinji comes back into play, rushing over to find out how badly Alex was hurt. At the sight of the rather large puddle of blood, Shinji panicked and turned to run, but found a trio coming towards him already. Trying to make the most of the situation, Shinji turns back around to see what he can do, only to find the fallen child raising his hand up, asking Shinji to help him up. This surprised him considerably. Admittedly, Shinji didn't know much about medicine or injuries, but he saw the beating Sterling had taken and didn't think he should even be conscious right now, much less eager to move. He was spared further contemplation, however, by the three new arrivals' intervention.
"Oh, my God! Are you all right?" Hikari was the first to construct a coherent sentence after witnessing the scene before them, "Who did this?" She sees the only other occupant of the roof at the time of their arrival, "SHINJI?!?!"
"He hasn't got the spine to stand up for himself, much less fight somebody, do you, O Wimpy One?" Asuka less then politely acquitted the accused.
"Then who did, Mister Sterling?" The teacher asked the now standing, though unstable, victim.
"Not *weeze* in the mood *weeze* to talk *weeze* right now." was Alex's only reply to him as the injured young man started stumbling past the onlookers and towards the ladder.
"Let me help you. Please" Shinji slid an arm around his right (uninjured) side and supported him as they moved onward, the other visitors came up behind and paced them as they went along. When they finally arrived, Hikari asked, "How are we going to get you down? With injuries like yours, we shouldn't even have moved you period. You definitely can't... climb.... down..... a...... ladder." her sentence died out as Sterling cautiously threw a leg over, found a rung and started down, closely followed by Shinji and the others.
Shinji returned to his support position as Alex waved off the others, "I will, *weeze* unfortunately, *weeze* live, *weeze* so you can go do *weeze* whatever you need to do *weeze* to make your rules and regs *weeze* about this happy. *weeze* Shinji here can *weeze* help me limp *weeze* to the hopefully awaiting *weeze* ambulance." The ladies took this as their cue to bail, Asuka to return to lunch (she had no responsibilities for this sort of thing) and Hikari to the Principals Office (she DID have responsibilities for this sort of thing, as people from her class are involved), but the master of room 4-A remained for a moment.
"Are you sure you're in good enough condition for this? You could just wait here for the EMTs." he asked with concern.
"Like I said, *weeze* I'll live, *weeze* unfortunately."
"Alright. I'll have your classwork for the rest of the week sent to you. Be careful." At this, the instructor left to parts unknown.
As soon as the teacher had made the first corner, Alex slid out from Shinji's grip and stretched up, quickly having to cough up more blood.
"Alex! What are you doing?!" Shinji exclaimed as Alex started walking off on his own.
"I'm about one-forth as hurt as I wanted Touji to think I was. Yes, the nose is real and the headache is DEFINITELY real, but the most internal damage I suffered would be a bruised rib. and a bit tongue." He added as he winced slightly.
"But... but... all the blood."
"Get... auhda... ma... mout..." Alex stumbled out as his tongue was too busy with something in his mouth to talk. What it was doing was discovered as Alex spat up a little more blood into his hand, then removed something out of the puddle.
It was a small piece of chewed plastic, clear with specks of red on it. "Blood tabs. Looks like blood, feels like blood, tastes nothing like blood, costs about a buck for twenty at any grocery and department store around Halloween. Very effective in making people think you're in worse condition than you are. Only about one eighth of this is actually my blood." he said with a smile, "I want Touji to think I'm in a condition similar to his sister's. It will make his 'macho man' ego about his sister feel better that his sibling and her attacker are in the same boat. There's a method to my madness." A wink followed his last statement.
Shinji, not entirely understanding why someone would want to look hurt, fell back on his S.O.P. (Standard Operating Procedures), "Sorry." he mumbled as he fell into 'submissive mode'.
"About what? I tried damn hard to do the most realistic fake out ever. Hell, for a second or two, I fooled myself." Sterling admitted, "So what do you have to be sorry about? Be sorry for things you fuck up or things that you have control over that fuck themselves up. Don't be sorry for things beyond your control. Like me." Alex released one of his irresistible smiles, that lopsided type of smile that will instantly win over anyone on Earth, as he wrapped an arm around Shinji's shoulder, successfully hiding the partial shift in weight onto him as a friendly embrace.
Shinji just shrugged, "I guess it's like a reflex. Sorry..." he tried to say as finally he, too, received a 'Death Glare'
"What, pray tell, did I JUST say to you, hm?" Alex struggled out.
"Oh, yeah... ~fearful laugh~ Sorry. Oops..." Shinji backed away slightly at the less than nice look he was getting from his classmate.
"You have a death wish, don't you, young Ikari? Once injured, I, like a goodly portion of the remaining population of the planet, have a low tolerance for much of anything. I may have faked severe injuries, but I am injured none the less." A rather bloodthirsty grin found his lips, "Get the picture? And if I hear anything that sounds remotely like 'sorry', I will rip your head off and beat you to death with your spinal column."
"Um, if you rip my head off, I'll already be dead." Shinji came back fearfully.
"It's descriptive imagery. Helps to get the point across. I assume it succeeded?"
"Yes." Shinji nodded very vigorously.
"Good. Now, where's my ambulance?" Alex questioned
as he sat down in front of the Administrative Building in the Quad.
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NERV Hospital: Room 104 ^1:07 PM^
"Well, nothing appears to be broken except for the nose, which is something of a surprise, considering what you and your friend there said about this fight. Any reason behind it, or just luck?" The doctor asked as he returned to the bed his young patient had been assigned.
"In the immortal words of an animated Third Grader," Alex began in a normal voice, but shifted to a more childish, nasal tone, "'I'm not fat. I'm big boned.'"
"That does appear to be the case. However, that rib
is very badly bruised, and I'm not sure there isn't a hairline fracture.
So, I'm going to have a brace put on it and give you a shot for the pain,
if you need it. The brace will partially immobilize you: you won't be able
to bend forward or backward, okay?" The doctor left for a moment and returned
with a black support brace and a hypodermic needle with a bottle of some
liquid. The former was wrapped around Alex's chest and formed a viciously
uncomfortable fit, but was just tight enough. The latter turned out to
be the Holy Grail of painkillers: Morphine. As soon as the clear drug was
released into his vein, he felt NO pain.
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NERV Hospital: Room 104 ^6:45 PM^
Due to the lack of the two most effective non chemical anti sleep conditions, pain and important things to do, Alex slipped out of consciousness and slept through most of his morphine trip. He woke to the sound of voices around him, but the rush of pain in his chest attracted most of his attention. He did however make out what was happening.
"What happened?" A firm and slightly loud female voice was heard asking on his left.
"He and Touji got into a fight. I tried to do something, but Touji just knocked me away." A quiet and rather weak voice was heard from a boy on the opposite side
"If nothing else, he's a good runner. Why didn't he just escape and run away? He could take lessons from you, ya' know." A more childish and feminine voice followed from the right side as well.
"..." no response was heard from that side, but the other answered, "Asuka, he is a military officer. He must have some hand to hand combat training. He could have fought back. He didn't. Why?"
"He... he said something about making peace with Touji because of what happened in the last battle and his sister getting hurt."
"What? So Touji was exacting revenge, and Alex just let him?"
"Precisely, my dear Ms. Watson" the thought to be asleep occupant of the bed answered as he opened his eyes and made the grave error of adjusting his position in said bed, sparking a series of painful shots back and forth across his chest.
Misato looked down at him, "Dare I ask how long you've been eavesdropping?"
"Hey: don't want me eavesdropping, don't have conversations in my hospital room. To answer your question, most of this little chat." he put his hands behind his head in a position of supreme comfort and ease.
"Any explanation of what happened on that rooftop? And why didn't Section Two intervene?"
"Peacekeeping mission. To answer the other half, let's just say that the Agents and I came to an agreement (*)."
"How is getting your ass kicked by someone a 'peacekeeping mission'?"
"Misato, sometimes you have to swallow your pride and spit some blood to keep things from falling apart and to pick up potential allies. Note that I refuse to believe that a healthy, good looking woman such as yourself is unfamiliar with the basics of swallowing and spitting, when the need demands." Alex chuckled slightly as he watched Misato go into 'ballistic, highly flustered' mode.
"What gives you the right to speak to me like that, hm? I'm your elder AND your immediate superior!"
"God, don't Code Blue on me. Listen, every time I meet someone for the first time, they start at a neutral zone, and their actions raise or lower them on a set of 'value' scales. While you are overall in the upper levels on my personality ratings, you have the off duty mentality of a grown up teenager. Hence, off duty, I treat you like one." the 'blatantly obvious fact' tone of voice strikes again. Luckily, Misato went back to normal operating levels.
"Try to show a little more respect, okay? Normally, I would have slapped you half to death and sent waves of Section Two Agents after you."
"So it is spoken and so shall it be done."
Misato just stared at him for a moment, then, "How do you do that?" she asked.
"How do I do what?"
"One minute I want to kill you, and the next I want to hug you. You go back and forth from my worst enemy to my best friend in a split second."
"Yeah," Asuka began, "The first time I met you, I wanted you castrated, and after one intelligent conversation, I find myself almost ready to tolerate you."
"Well, that's what two semesters of Psychology at Nevada State University does for you. Makes it really easy to mess with people's minds."
"So, " Misato quickly tried to change the subject, "when do you get out of here?"
"When the doctor releases me later tonight, or as soon as I get bored. Whichever comes first." the 'Irresistible Smile' was once again put into use.
"No respect for hospitals either?"
"They serve their purposes. The problem is that their purposes and my purposes rarely coincide. And so, I go my way as soon as I need to, whether they like it or not." Alex fell back into a more serious tone, "You can bail, if you want. Unfortunately for you all, I'm in no great danger of dying. In fact, if you'll have me, stop by your house for dinner."
"No problem." Misato signaled to Shinji and Asuka and started towards the door. Along the way, Asuka stopped by the doorway and called back into the room, "Oh, and for your peace of mind, Shinji's cooking tonight."
"Oh, thank God! I had doubts on my abilities to properly
eat curry 'sludge' two nights in a row."
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Apartment #627 Tokyo-3, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan ^8:45PM^
"Well," Alex started as he replaced his cup of tea on the table, "the good doctor was kind enough to give me some heavy duty pain pills and threatened to have me duct taped into submission if I don't wear the brace. Which, I might add, is the most uncomfortable thing ever know to the whole of Mankind." He rambled to a close.
"Sounds pretty rough." Misato commented as she took another bite of rice, "So, you'll be going back to school tomorrow, right? I mean nothing important was messed up."
"I wanted to talk to you about that. If you can, I would like to have me put out of commission for the next couple of weeks. Since part of this whole charade was that I was semi seriously injured, too injured to come back to school the very next day. I was hoping you could call it in to the hospital to just assign me a bed number and pretend I'm there, and have Ritsu pull me from the active combat roster for the same period. If something happens, I'm there in a flash, but everything appears real on the surface."
"..." Misato stared him down (or tried to) for a moment, then responded, "I'll see about doing what I can."
"Then I owe ya one."
A cat-like grin spread across her face, "In return for this minor misuse of my position and influence, you'll have to be my slave for a day of my choosing." the grin on her face spread as she watched the words sink in on the young man.
"Hm," Alex's face took on an almost concerned look, "I take it the word 'pedophile' and its' definition never really sunk in with you, did it?"
"NO! That's disgusting!" Misato sap up the sip of beer in her mouth. Once she had marginally recovered from the shock, she continued, "I just wanted you to be on call to baby-sit these two. You may not be any older than they are, but beyond your perverted smart ass nature, you appear to be trustworthy."
After witnessing her reaction to his comment, it took Alex a full minute to stop rolling on the floor laughing and restore his composure enough to respond, "True. I'm the most trustworthy perverted smart ass in this room. ~laughs~ The fact that I'm the ONLY perverted smart ass in this room is of no great consequence. ~more laughing~" Another composure-restoring moment is taken, "Really, though, no prob. I think I can keep those two off each other, one way or the other, and I don't find threeways overly interesting. I can hold down the proverbial fort; the question is whether THEY will survive my tactics." A single raise of the eyebrows hinted that he was joking, although all other characteristics were completely serious.
"Uh-huh.... well, that's good. What's your number, so I can call you?"
"Misato, did my earlier comment concerning your knowledge of the word 'pedophile' escape you?" Misato took on a look so evil that Shinji and Asuka backed away from the table in fear of being hit by debris or, far worse, falling prey to her wraith. Thankfully, the look weakened to a dark glare by the time Alex finished the other half of his statement, "Nah, just kiddin'. Relax, I know you're smarter than that. It's 587-2304. That's the cell number to the phone NERV gave me.
"Well, anyway, I better get back to that hospital. School might send the Class Rep. or worse after me tomorrow. 'Night to all and see ya' tomorrow"
"I'll talk to Ritsuko in the morning. Goodnight." Misato, with a slight smile, called towards the retreating figure.
"See you tomarrow!" Shinji called in his almost inaudible 'nervous' voice.
~humf~"Whatever, newbie." Asuka mumbled in the general
direction of the door as she got up and went to her room.
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Tokyo-3 Central High School: Room 4-A ^5:48 AM^ (three
weeks later)
The ruse had gone over well. As far as anyone outside of the primary bridge crew was concerned, Alex had spent the last three weeks in the hospital with broken ribs and a collapsed lung. As expected, Hikari did stop by his room late the next day to see how he was doing and deliver his laptop and the lesson plans for the week. She tried to inquire as to who the responsible party was, but she turned out to be very easy to lead astray of the original point.
Shortly after she had left, the young pilot hopped up out of his bed and began the short walk to NERV HQ, intentionally avoiding the direct route and staying on the path less taken as much as possible. Once he arrived there, everything was business as usual. Sync test, report, dinner at Katsuragi's, and the long walk back to that hospital bed. That's the way it was for three long weeks. Pretend to be badly hurt all day, take a brief rest for four or five hours, then back to pretending.
Finally, there was no way to justify his continued stay, and so that Monday, Alex once again joined Shinji and Asuka in their dead rush to school. However, they met at the half way point. Alex had left earlier than usual to ensure he wouldn't break a sweat getting there. He wasn't supposed to be breathing very well, after all. Arriving about three minutes after the Second and Third, Alex slowly moved to his seat and sat down. As soon as his butt hit the above stated seat, two of the Three Stooges came over and sat on two unoccupied desks in front of him.
"Come on, Touji. You said you would." Kensuke called at the black haired boy still firmly implanted in his seat.
"... Right..." Touji slowly got up from his desk and moved back to stand directly in front of his former victim. "It goes something like this: I'm not sorry for beating the shit outta' ya'. In fact, I'm damn proud of the fact. ~a pride filled smile spreads across his lips, but quickly faded as he went on~ What I am sorry about is beating your ass as bad as I did. I meant to bust you up, but not to put you in the hospital. I just kind of... lost control, ya' know?" A somewhat goofy smirk appeared and his features softened slightly, "Let's call it even, okay? What happened to you for what happened to my sis. Deal?" he held his hand out.
"Allow me to assure you," Alex reached out and shook the other boy's powerful arm, "that there is more than one person in America who can attest to the fact that I have, at times... 'lost control' myself. It's nice to know there's no hard feelings on your part."
"What do you mean, 'on my part'?" Touji asked, subconsciously breaking the handshake and backing up a step.
"Relax, God..." a smart ass half a smile found on Alex's features, "If I wanted to hit you, you'd be on the floor wondering what day it was. There's none here to begin with. Now, to keep the Class Rep. from tagging this whole little 'disturbance' on you, may I recommend you bail for your seat." Alex quickly sank into his seat, making it look like he was in a fair bit of discomfort, just in time for Hikari to come through the door and head towards her own place next to Asuka.
In short order, the instructor arrived and S.O.P.
took over. Everyone fell into their own routines. The teacher went to 'boring
lecture' mode, most of the students went to 'lecture? What lecture?' mode,
with the obvious exceptions. Touji was busily hunting down a Escaflowne
video clip on the internet (He'd never openly admit to watching such an
'unmasculine' series, but the plot was just soooo good!), when an instant
message popped up on his screen:
=====================================================================================
Mr. T;
You owe me one for this morning, and now you owe me another. http://www.eternalanimeonline.com/clips/esca-j.htm (+)
Enjoy,
The Admiral
=====================================================================================
Touji smiled as he pasted the link into his browser.
As the page was loading, he responded:
=====================================================================================
Alex;
Thanks, but how did you know?
=====================================================================================
=====================================================================================
I wander around, monitoring
most of the class. You wouldn't believe some of the stuff people in this
room are doing. 0_0"
I have an... appreciation
for that particular series as well. So I figured I would share the wealth.
=====================================================================================
The first part of the response caught him by surprise.
Touji started to write a reply when an unexpected and unwanted arrival
took place on both their screens:
=====================================================================================
Cut this out and pay attention
to the teacher, you two!!!!!
Class Representative
P.S. What happened this morning?!?!
Answer me!
=====================================================================================
Unfortunately, Hikari's message was not the (thought
to be) private communication that Alex's and Touji's were, so it popped
up of every screen in the class. A mass of barely controlled laughter was
heard, almost felt, when a response came up in the same fashion.
=====================================================================================
But, O great and almighty
Class Representative Hikori, has not thou decreed, nye, commanded, thy
silence? How shalt thy answer thee with closed lips and halted hands?
The Admiral
=====================================================================================
Mr. Suzuhara concluded there is nothing quite as
frightening as seeing both Hikari and Asuka fire simultaneous and equally
powerful death glares at someone. Especially someone who was silently laughing
his ass off. He tried to think of something really hilarious to post, but
was halted when, almost like 'smart ass radar' based targeting systems,
the both of them turned and glared at him. He very quickly realized that
his video had loaded and didn't even touch his keyboard for the rest of
the day.
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Tokyo-3 Central High School: Track Field ^1:15 PM^
Today ended up being Alex's first day of Phys. Ed. class outside of the U.S., having been spared by either it being his first day or being laid up in the hospital from the previous ones. Considering the rather lax expectations of the States, Alex was almost excused from this day due to a massive coronary right on the track field when he heard the coach say, "six kilometers, GO!" ~BLEEP sound from whistle~
"WHAT?!?! Are you insane?!" Alex cried in pain that he knew was coming.
"No, I'm not. What's the problem?"
"I... don't.... run.... Period. I can't run worth shit and I guarantee I'm not going to improve much, if at all."
"You want an excuse to not have to run, eh? Let's see..." An almost evil grin found it's way into the coach's complexion as he saw most of the class run by about start their second lap, "Suzuhara! Come here!"
Touji broke off from his run and jogged over to the two of them, "Yeah, Coach?"
"A challenge. Both of you; line up right here," he pushed both of them up to a permanent line, "hundred meter dash. Ready?"
"Hey, Touji, go for it. Don't hold back on my account."
"If you like losing..."
"GO!" ~another BLEEP sound~
Alex broke from the line a fraction of a second before Touji, and despite his longer legs and wider gait, he couldn't match Touji's sheer speed, even in perfect condition. At the end of the dash, Touji won by a good three-fourths of a second.
Upon arrival, Alex found himself a nice semi clean spot to collapse, panting, against the fence. His mood had obviously darkened considerably by the time the Coach got around to jogging up to them.
"Very good! That was a damn good run, son. Touji, when's the last time anybody beat you? Or even come as close as he had?"
Touji took a deep breath before answering, "A year, maybe two. And you're complaining about this little jog?" He flashed a wily smile.
"I am *deep breath* a sprinter. *deep breath* Fifty
yards *deep breath* no problem. Fifty *smaller deep breath* yards and an
inch *breath* I fall over dead.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tokyo-3 Central High School: Boy's Locker Room ^2:17 PM^
"I think I'm going to die. I KNOW I'm going to die." Alex whines as he changes back into his 'black as night' wardrobe with Touji four lockers to the right.
"Relax, you'll be fine. I have to ask, though; does America even have a Phys. Ed. class?"
"Ha, ha. Very funny. Yes, technically, they do, but I assure you, it isn't much in comparison. I am going to go throw up, then I'm going home. Tell the teach that I pulled something or something and that I went home. Adios, amigo."
"Huh?"
"It's Spanish, means something like 'Good bye, my
friend'. See ya'" And so he walked right out the main door from the locker
rooms and walked right out the main gate of the school on his way home.
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Tokyo-3: Main Street ^2:39 PM^
As Alex walked home, he could be heard mumbling to himself about all kinds of things, including but not limited to the demanding P.E. classes.
"Goddamn bullshit... Sent to the Ninth Ring of couchpatato
Hell... Fucking Olympic training facility... Just to deal with some God
forsaken... things that we call Angels!!!!!" Alex says aloud as thoughts
bounce around in his head. Suddenly, an unexpected but not overly surprising
sound is heard. An air raid siren, "Well, speak of the Devil! Here comes
one now!" Quickly, he jogs back to the NERV Passenger/Car Train station
he had just passed and swiped his temporary ID through the card reader,
triggering the train to move on despite being 44 seconds ahead of schedule.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NERV 6th Division Headquarters: Central Dogma ^2:39 PM^
"Data was transmitted to us from the Roosevelt battlegroup, performing war games in international waters. Pattern Blue confirmed from recorded data. Target is 210 kilometers from shore." Hyuga called out as Ritsuko, Commander Ikari, and Vice Commander Fuyutski arrived, "Initial engagement will appear to be against the Amagataki Defense Line."
"EVA status?" Dr. Akagi asked.
"All Units ready to deploy upon arrival of their pilots." Maya called over her shoulder as she set up a satellite picture of the lower half of Japan and the southern coastal waters, with a red dot indicating the Angel.
At this point, the NERV Restricted phone rang, the partially scrambled hotline to Central Dogma whose number was known to but a few.
"What?" Ritsuko answers it.
*It's me, Alex. I'm hauling ass through the Geofront now. Is my rifle ready to use?* the voice to shallow, as though the person on the other side has more important uses for his breath.
"Yes, It's loaded in a storage tower on the surface and the necessary arrangements for it have been made." She confirmed her statement as she made it via her laptop, which displayed a series of green lights next to all the status indicators.
*Good. Start it charging now, as initial charge takes a good two minutes and the thing has to be stored dry for safety reasons.* his voice suddenly sounded relieved, due to a combination of what the head of R.&D. Section One had just said and his arrival outside the pyramid that was NERV 6th. Division HQ. *I'm here. See ya' in a flash. ~click noise~*
After a few taps on said laptop, his request was
in the process of being taken care of. Ritsuko returned her attention to
making battle plans and analyses as the Zeroth Child hauled ass to the
locker rooms and got changed from black clothes to a black plug suit.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NERV 6th. Division Headquarters: Cage 14 ^2:41 PM^
*Unit-07 Entry Plug inserted. Beginning activation.* Sterling called accross the comm net.
"Sync ratio: 84%. Unit-07 restraints releaseing. Ready for launch in thiry seconds." Maya read off her screens as the MAGI began analyzing and transferring available data on the Angel.
"Status on the other pilots?" Misato questioned.
"The've just been picked up from school, ma'am,"
Lt. Aoba called back, "ETA: seven minutes to launch for
Units-00, -01, and -02."
"EVA-07 ready for launch." Lt. Ibuki broke in.
"LAUNCH EVA!" Major Katsuragi ordered.
As the Eva began the long climb up, Sterling activated his onboard computer menu and selected the 'music' option. "Genre: Anime...., Series: Gundam Wing...., Title:... Just Communication. That should be good." he spoke aloud as he selected the corresponding holographic buttons. After a few seconds delay, the Tokyo-3 Public Address System once again came on, playing the song programmed into it by the EVA. As the first vocal kicked in, the gargantuine black figure reached the surface. *Okay, final safety locks released. Beginning sortie.* Alex stated for the record, then in a much less secure tone, *Um, where's my big gun?*
*The Ion/Plasma rifle was stored in surface weapons cache 5-B. It's about two kilometers to your immediate right.We're extending it now for connection.* Dr. Akagi filled in.
*I'm on it.* Sterling headed out in the prescribed direction, reaching the outstreched weapon and positioned his EVA to receive it. Due to the rather increadible recoil of the Rifle, it anchors to the user at as many points as possible, maximizing control and minimizing the 'slamming' effect against it. The Evangelion's right arm was completely immobilized, locked in by achor lugbolts using the same lock points as the EVA restraints. A pylon extending at a distinct angle from the Rifle locked onto special holes on the right breastplate, stabalizing the massive gun and increasing it's accuracy. As the Eva returned to a standing position, it had one direction of fire: directly ahead and anything within an expanding 20° cone of dead center.
Following a quick check of his radar, Sterling headed out in search of his prey. He found it much sooner than it found him. Bracing Unit-07 against a building, Alex took aim and pulled the firing trigger the first time, beginning the thirty second arming sequence. Constantly adjusting his sight, he waited as the whine from the weapon growed in pitch, volume, and intensity. Soon, a bright light began to filter out of the barrel and chamber.
Finally, the on-screen counter ran to zero. *Unit-07....
FIRE!!!!* he cried as he pulled the trigger the second time. For a oddly
noticable fraction of a second, nothing happened, then the most earsplitting
BOOOOOOOOM
ever known to man was heard, accompanied by a burning, pulsing white light
and, almost as an afterthought, an extreamly loud *FFFUUUCCCKKK!!!!!!!*
could have been heard on the comm waves, if anyone at Central Dogma gave
a damn at that particular moment.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NERV 6th. Division Headquarters: Central Dogma ^2:44 PM^
"Massive ElectroMagnetic Pulse! EM buffers coming online." Lt. Ibuki cried as the MAGI went berserk, "Estimated buffer efficiency: 78%. Severe systems damage will result! Recommend emergency shut down and restart."
"No time." Ritsuko countermanded, "The buffers would be the first thing to shut down. The whole system would crash!"
"Hold on a second." Lt. Hyuga said, "The armor plates are negating its' strength. It will be down to safe levels before it clears the 17th. armor layer."
"Thank God." Katsuragi began, "Okay, back on the combat clock. Status reports on EVA and Angel."
"Surface EM radiation is too thick for our sensors
to break through; Angel status unknown." Lt. Aoba said, "I can confirm
activation of Unit-07, and the pilot appears to be alright. The EVA itself
has suffered moderate damage. Looks like a dislocated shoulder. Auto-repair
systems are resetting it. No reason to discontinue combat. Transmission
incoming..."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tokyo-3: Active Combat Zone ^2:44 PM^
*I say, God DAMN what a rush... shit, this hurts.* Sterling bitched as he got up out of the wreckage of the two buildings his EVA had flown through from the recoil. After giving himself a moment to stabilize, Unit-07 looked over at the smoke cloud that blocked the 4th. Angel from view, *Well, Mr. Angel, as the old saying goes: Fuck with the best, die like the rest!* he taunted with added flair at the end.
*Alex, listen. Can you give us anything on the Angel's status from up there?* Katsuragi questioned in a surprisingly calm voice.
*Nope, nothing. But if it suffered just double that recoil, I can assure you, it will have no interest in trying this again.* Alex answered quickly, then asked, *...And when, if ever, do I get backup?*
Maya broke into the airwaves, *Two minutes, more or less... WAIT! EM field clearing. Sensor data coming in... 4th. Angel is still active!*
Alex returned his attention to the battlefield to find the smoke cloud mostly cleared. A huge crater could be seen just above the creature's S2 Organ, and the thing had taken out a few buildings of its' own.
*Well, well, well... I guess you believe in the theory of 'take two, they're small'? ~sharp liquidity clicking sound~ Guess we're just ALL havin' a bad day with decisions, aren't we?* Alex pointed the Rifle at the pot mark on the Angel's tissue and began the firing sequence again.
The Angel, however, had no intention of standing for this (no pun intended) and after attempting to regenerate its' injuries, moved off, bent on returning the favor for the massive pain it had suffered.
Gonna' be close....> Sterling thought as the Angel started towards him, Distance... 900 yards, 800. Time to fire... 15 seconds... Too close.> Constantly running the math in his head, the free time between completion of arming and arrival of Angel grew shorter and shorter. "Audible countdown at ten." he ordered the tac com.
A near human voice replied, "10... 500>, 9... 400>, 8... 350>, 7... 300>, 6... 250>, 5... 200>, 4... 150>, 3... 100>, 2... 100>, 1... 50>, 0. 0>"
Just as Alex pulled the trigger, the Angel whipped
up alongside Unit-07, slashing down with both AT-beams it used as arms,
blasting right through the priming chamber. OH, SSSHHHIIITTT!!!!!!>
An
unholy wail echoed through the towers and monoliths of Tokyo-3; a light
so powerful it negated the sun's own was seen for miles; the blast shattering
windows; the EM pulse frying every electronic device within a three mile
sphere of ground zero.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NERV 6th. Division Headquarters: Central Dogma ^2:46 PM^
"Get those monitors back up, NOW!" Katsuragi yelled as every screen in the room went to static.
"The EMP overloaded the buffers. It'll take a few minutes to get the less protected systems back online." Maya informed as she rapidly tapped command after command into the system to comply with her orders.
"Pilot status update!"
"Asuka, Shinji, and Rei are changing as we speak. Unit-07 is still transmitting realistic data, so I believe the EVA itself is still functional." Hyuga supplied, "I can't get anything on pilot life signs, but that wasn't high on the priorities list when the EM resisters were installed. I do have a damage report coming in, though... This is NOT good." he ended with multiple worry lines around his face.
"WHAT is not good?" Misato was about ready to kill someone for not being able to provide ALL the information.
"Chest armor breached; it would appear that that support brace is now most of the way through the EVA. The right arm is completely missing at the shoulder, but the pylon is still attached. The first layer of armor across the right side appears to be partially fused. Cranial damage suffered, extent unknown." Shirugu read the screen aloud with increasing pain in his voice with each sentence, "Unit-07 cannot continue combat. The nueral buffers are at their limits to prevent nervous system damage."
"SHIT! Can something just go RIGHT for a change!!!!" Katsuragi took a seat and rested her face in her hands and, from that position, said, "Unit-07's recovery is now a Level 2 priority. The only excuse I'll accept for its' loss is that it was a choice between Unit-07 and the 4th Angel."
"Ma'am," Lt. Ibuki called, "all other EVAs are ready to launch. The pilots are requesting updates and orders."
"Right..." Misato murmured, then stood up and instructed,
"Alright, this is it: Shinji, you and Asuka will engage the Angel. Try
to draw it away from Unit-07 if at all possible. Rei, use Unit-00 to assist
Unit-07 to the nearest recovery lift, then join up against the Target.
Got it?" After a series of 'Yes, Ma'am!'s came in, "LAUNCH EVAS!"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tokyo-3: Active Combat Zone ^2:46 PM^
"Mother fucker..." If it weren't for bad luck, I wouldn't have any. Joyful, just joyful> Sterling thought as he gained enough of a foothold against the pain to open his eyes and figure out what was going on. He was met with half of his video screens displaying nothing but static. He tried to reset the cameras, but his hand didn't budge. "What the Hell is this?!" He tried merely to make his arm move. Nothing. "Okay...., we can deal with this. I hope."
Just then, the status screen, which had been displaying both a text based and visual, wire frame demonstration of damage suffered, suddenly started flashing 'ANGEL APPROACHING'. "Where, Goddamn it, WHERE?" Alex turned Unit-07 as fast as it would until he got a visual sighting of the enemy, burned to a crisp but already regenerating.
"Jesus H. Christ!!! Does this thing ever give up?!?!" He reached up and took in hand the Progressive Knife stored in the intact left pylon, providing a reversed combat grip. Sterling attempted a quick jab, but all he got for it was an example of how undamaged the Angel's AT-blades were as they dug through the damaged armor, slicing off the remainder of the right arm and taking the warped and twisted pylon as well. "OUCH! You little bitch!" Unit-07 fell into a defensive combat stance, exposing for attack his severely damaged right side.
With each slash the Angel made against it, the wounded bio-mechanical monster parried with its' puny blade, doing little more than delay what was to be the inevitable. That is, until a steady line of machine gun fire went flying past Unit-07 to impact on the enemy AT-Field, blinding it for a moment. Sterling capitalized on this to try and escape, but as he turned to run, his EVA simply turned and fell flat on its' face. "What the fuck is it NOW?!" He screamed at the HUD.
The main EVA computer, by some miracle, actually figured out what he wanted to know, and displayed it on the main screen. As the status report had said earlier, the outermost armor layer had finally fused, turning the right side of Unit-07 into a one continuous, solid piece of metal. Alex was preparing to use every offending, insulting, and downright evil word to describe the situation at hand when a huge blue hand passed over the camera's pickup as Unit-00 grasped hold of his Eva and lifted it back to a standing position. "Pilot Sterling, are you alright?" Rei's emotionless face and voice seemed strained, and not from the light effort of having her EVA lift up another.
"I thought they told you, Ayanami. All of us American pilots are the same: death proof, pain proof, rust resistant." Alex, despite his pain, forced a sincere looking smile. "Just give me a second to get this armor off, and then we'll be off. Note to all:" Sterling said as he boosted his radio output to max, "If you are offended by EVA nudity, please close your eyes and look the other way." He then entered a few commands into the status monitor, and all the screens in the Entry Plug flashed 'SELECTIVE ARMOR PURGE INITIATING' three times before the explosive bolts armed and detonated, blowing away the damaged plates, leaving Unit-07 mobile again but defenseless on the right side. "Let's go!" He signaled to Rei before the both of them set off for recovery lift 5-A, Unit-07 in the lead, with Unit-00 staying slightly behind with a firm grip on the other EVA's shoulders.
Just before their arrival, the blast doors on the
lift opened up, allowing the war scared android to gently load itself inside,
the safety locks anchoring into the undamaged left pylon and jacking into
thin air on the right. As the lift started down, Sterling transmitted one
last message on the tactical frequency, "Rei, kick that piece of shit's
ass for me by proxy, 'k?"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NERV 6th. Division Headquarters: Debriefing Room ^3:40
PM^
"... And is now balancing against Unit-01 by the impact point of its' Progressive Knife." Major Katsuragi concluded the eight minute recitation of the day's events to the Commanders of NERV 6th Division.
"Very well. Dr. Akagi; your report?" Gendo rotated his eyes from the purple haired Director of Operations to the blonde scientist.
"Unit-01 appears to have suffered cosmetic damage only. It shouldn't need more than a few cans of paint. Units-00 and -02 suffered moderate damage each. Regeneration is under way, and due to the presence of all limbs, will be completed within 36 hours. Unit-07 is the problem child of the bunch, no insult to you, Alex," Ritsuko quickly turned and looked at the mildly unhappy ebony clad pilot behind her, amongst the more brightly colored ones, "It lost an arm, all of the armor plates on the right side torso, and suffered head and brain damage. We've been forced to run full systems tests on each neural pathway individually. That alone will take two weeks. The reconstruction of the head and arm will take 72 hours, and Unit-07 will be fully operational six hours after that."
"And Unit-07 was the first to engage the Angel? What is the pilot's analysis of the battle?" Gendo once again changed the focus of his calm stealing look.
Sterling, with great care, stood up and faced his superior officer, "My analysis is simple: I was wrong. I calculated distance to target, rate of closing, and the end product was a negative once I subtracted the time to firing. I knew it was over with and I tried anyway. Today, luck was against me." the speaker redirected his eyes from directly ahead to lock gazes with Commander Ikari, "However, if given the opportunity, I would do it all over again. This battle gave me a painful reminder that even the most powerful and advanced technology and abilities are useless without the basics to support it. A lesson that should be taken to heart." With this, the pilot once again sat down with equal care.
"Dismissed." was Gendo's only response as the seats he and Fuyutski were sitting in descended to parts unknown. The meeting began to break up, everyone returning to their other duties. As some of the more important people reached the door, a request was heard, "Misato, Ritsuko, my fellow pilots, could you hang back a minute? There's something I want to tell you."
Puzzled, the people named sat back down in the chairs
they had just abandoned. Alex turned his around and, after a drawn out,
audible sigh, began, "Okay, this is... rather uncomfortable for me, so
just bear with me, okay?" A couple of nods were seen, so he continued,
"What I'm about to say to you all is..., well, is something I haven't said
with any heart felt sincerity in almost five years. ~looks directly into
Misato's eyes~ I give you my sincerest apologies for my behavior over the
past month. My actions and speech were out of line and inappropriate regardless
of culture or organization. While I consider it beneath me to beg, save
true life or death circumstances, ~looks at each of the rooms occupants,
one by one~ I do ask that you forgive me. I can't promise to not do it
again, but I can promise to minimize it as much as I can. Okay? Okay! I'm
gone!" and so, he started to make good his statement. He had reached the
door before he heard an, "I forgive you, Pilot Sterling..." come out of
an outwardly uncaring young girl.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter Four Due: 1st. of May.
Post Story Author's Notes:
(*)- See a separate story entitled "Section Two- Mission: Immpossible", to be posted within one week of this chapter.
(+) To minimize confusion, the web adress is, to my knowledge, totally
ficticious. My deepest apologies if this address actually exists.