Creation began on 09-17-20
Creation ended on 10-19-22
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Potential Paradise: My Sanctuary
Misato was against this revelation right from the start, but she had no authority to do anything about it. What the military had been ordered to do by the UN was an act of sheer arrogance and inhumanity: They were going to launch every missile they had against the space station and hope that it would reduce it and the people living on it to nothing more than a memory. This would not only create an issue for Shinji, but it would have repercussions for those that were still on Earth. She was starting to reconsider that Shinji's father was not just a madman that hated the fact that his only son received something as spectacular as a giant space station from a distant relative, but was a complete nutter willing to do anything to hurt his son…simply for leaving at a bad time and later offering a lot of people that hadn't done any wrongs the privilege of living on it.
"What?!" She heard Asuka's voice as she turned a corner and saw the Second Child speaking with Kaji in the hallway of NERV HQ. "So, they're just gonna bomb the whole thing out in space?! But…Hikari is on the space station. Her family, those stooges… Who in Hölle signed off on this move?! This isn't even an attack strategy!"
"The United Nations made the decision that Shinji's actions in relocating a large number of people from around the planet onto his inherited property…makes him a human trafficker of the highest sort," Kaji explained the immoral reasoning behind the choice to attack the space station, "and they can't risk that he'll do something else to tarnish their reputation as a world power. Only half the leaders of the global governing body is onboard with this choice."
"But…he's not a trafficker. He's not even a criminal. He's just a…a loser from a horrible family that got lucky with getting a space station like some weird lottery."
Misato could see the agreement that Kaji had on his face, but there was nothing he or anyone else could do to stop this order from being carried out. In half an hour, every country across the planet with access to missiles would be firing them into the air to cause as much damage to the space station as possible; the theory being that no matter how massive the place was due to being built from a former planet that was like their own, it couldn't deal with extensive damage. She wanted to call Shinji, to warn him and the others about what the UN was going to do, but she was under orders not to by Gendo.
This isn't right, she thought, looking down at her phone. All he's done is give the chosen people a new choice, and there are those that can't accept that he's now making his own decisions that threaten their own decisions for everyone else that left to live on his domain.
Ding. Her phone beeped and a text popped up on the screen: "Look up towards the camera."
Raising her head to the ceiling, Misato saw a camera, and then looked back at her phone as another text appeared.
"If my father and the UN want to launch missiles at my home, then let them waste their weapons on a move that will fail."
Shinji? Misato thought as she realized that Shinji was watching and listening through the security and surveillance systems. He must have a lot of faith in that place being able to withstand a barrage of missiles.
Suddenly, she saw Asuka take out her phone and look at its screen.
"No way," she uttered. "That idiot just sent a text saying that he's aware of the strike, and that it's not going to prosper."
"How can he know about the missile strike?" Kaji questioned.
Misato decided not to say anything; the less anyone knew, the better.
-x-
Shinji could've locked himself up in his ancestress' mansion, ordered the people to stay in their homes and wait for the inevitable attack that would come, demand that they pay taxes or even evacuate them to safety on the moon, but he didn't do any of that. Instead, he did the complete opposite of those things. He got a scooter and invited Rei to come riding with him down the street; there was a difference between knowing what was going to happen, deluding oneself with pastimes…and letting an ancient system designed by his ancestress, complete with her DNA and consciousness, doing the hard work of keeping the space station and its inhabitants protected while he tried to have a life beyond what it had been before he was drafted into the life of an expendable soldier. As he rode down the street with Rei, he looked up at the blue sky.
It was really beautiful. Not once before had he ever looked at it, but after he inherited this place, he found himself able to look up at that big, blue curtain that was just…beautiful.
"Is everything alright?" Rei asked him as she came over.
"Yeah, just…looking at the sky," he told her; it was nothing she needed to worry about, even if it was something he knew about. "I never really bothered to care about it until after I got this place, but it's actually very…pretty."
Rei looked up at the sky herself…and did think that it was pretty. Actually, for the first time in her life, she really looked up at the sky and saw it for what it was. It was…free. Nobody alive today could ever own the sky, just as there was nobody that could truly own the ocean, or the air, or fire…or the people. For the first time in her life after thinking about it, and for the first time after leaving the planet with Shinji, walking away from the Eva that she believed to be her link to people, Rei felt unbound, like she could do anything she wanted now.
"Yes," she uttered in agreement with him, "it is pretty."
-x-
All around the world, everyone was getting ready to launch missiles at the space station. Everything from conventional missiles to nuclear missiles, nothing was exempt. And as this was happening down to the last minute, Gendo sat in his office and awaited the inevitable demise of his son and all of those people he endangered. This would be on Shinji, each and every one of those deaths. He would make sure of it.
He checked his watch, seeing that there was only thirty seconds left before the launch began.
This is all your fault, he thought as he made a plan to have Rei back once the damage done to the space station was assessed. All you had to do was exactly what you were told, no more, no less, but you can't listen to anything ordered to you. You had to question authority and go against NERV. And now…now, you will pay for your arrogance.
Ten seconds to go. Nine…eight…seven…six…
Gendo crossed his fingers together and waited for an update.
Two…one.
Ring-ring! His phone rang, and he picked up.
"Ikari," he uttered, and then his eyes widened. "What do you mean, they won't launch?"
"Someone hacked into the systems and rewrote the codes down to the last number," his contact informed him. "We're trying to get back into the systems, but whoever locked us out knew exactly what to do and how to do it, saying that we're still a few generations behind them."
It has to be the Third Child, Gendo suspected. He has supercomputers or robots up there capable of accessing any network on the planet that he wants to break into. He'd do anything to protect that ill-gotten place.
"The hacker gave their identity as Senkensa Ikari," his contact informed him, "and that they were helping to protect the people aboard the space station with your son."
Gendo was confused by how someone he didn't know, but was probably from his wife's side of the family, that was able to infiltrate every defense network in the world and override every layer of code necessary to fire nukes like it was child's play. People were smart, but not too smart, and to hack into every system without any effort thrown in…had to be able to think and act as though they had one mind and goal.
"…And they left you a message, too," his contact stated. "They said to back off, that you can't have what you desire just because you feel entitled to it or want to take it from someone else that got it."
This made Gendo frown at the very thought of being told to leave Shinji alone. He didn't deserve that space station, or anything else he got from this dead person that chose to leave it all to him. Hanging up his phone, he got up from his desk and vacated his office.
-x-
People were just minding their own business. There was no need to upset any of them because of a dispute that caused unrest on Earth with the people that were left there. Even if the governments attempted something just as worse as what had already been attempted, it was a losing struggle against something far massive and owned by someone that just wanted to go about his days without further conflict. As Shinji and Rei followed the elderly people in the park practicing Tai Chi or seeing some families enjoy their lunchtime on the grass, watching from a hidden camera, the AI program based off Senkensha Ikari observed her descendant and smiled at his efforts to enjoy the day.
Nobody on Earth that has issues with his decisions is making anything easier for him, she thought as she looked away at one of the families playing by a playground, but he still finds joy in the peace and company of those that embrace benevolence. Why fight when you can talk? Why hate when it's better to love? Why destroy a sanctuary…when creating one is much more simpler? Why, why, why?
-x-
The use of nukes was rendered moot because of the failed attempt to attack the space station, and any further attempts to do so were impossible because of a deep-seated program installed in every computer with access to them prohibiting the space station from being attacked. Along with using the MAGI to hack the computers of the location being impossible, everyone from NERV, the JSSDF to the UN…were at an impasse that made the sanctuary left to Shinji Ikari something to despise incapable of being targeted by them out of contempt.
"…We should just give up on trying to do anything to that space station," Misato heard one of the technicians say as she walked down the hallway in the Geo-Front. "It's not really bothering anyone except the people that want it but can't have it because it's already owned by someone it was left to. This is nothing more than a fuss over something that is impossible to dispute over."
"Yeah, if it was left to the kid, then it's his to do with as he sees fit," another technician stated in agreement. "Plus, the governments should really be thanking the boy; he has more or less thinned their problems with people immigrating from other places by giving them a place to call home. But rather than be impressed by what he's done for the people that need a place to call their home, they're upset by what he's done and want to rectify what they see as a transgression. But Second Impact made things difficult to rectify…and even without the Angels, the actions the world governments took made things worse with war and infighting over land and limited resources and authority. Why hate someone that offers a different solution when you stop to think about it…if you need a solution that proves beneficial?"
"Simple. Because they had the solution first, something you wish you had first. If someone has an idea, and it gets them some sense of recognition, jealousy and desire drive others to do crazy things. Crazy things."
And Misato understood that was what people like Gendo was doing. They were trying to do crazy things…simply because Shinji had a solution, one with results…and they were angry about it because he had it first instead of them, causing some unrest in other parts of the world. It had already been a week since the failed launching of nukes against the space station, and the world governments were still trying to cause some sort of backlash against Shinji for trying to make things better for the people in need of change. As much as she wanted to do something to make them stop and take a step back, she was just another cog in the machine; she didn't set the rules…and she still had orders to follow.
Beep. Her phone went off and she took it out, seeing a new text message…from Shinji.
"What is it that you hope for?" He had asked her.
She leaned against the wall and texted back, "An end to the disorder. Yourself?"
Beep. A second text popped up from him: "A future long after. Without strife. Without hate. Without people like my father."
Misato couldn't fault him for desiring that. It seemed that even when he wasn't doing anything of any major significance, he was trying to get out of the trouble he found himself in for doing what he could to give other people an out to the difficult lives they had on the planet before relocating to his space station. But like anyone else before him, there was only so much he could do when faced with adversity.
Beep. She had received another text from Shinji.
"Ayanami quoted something she heard recently," he told her. "'The flower that blooms in adversity is the rarest and most beautiful of all'. Heh. That was really the first time I ever heard her say something like that without it sounding so…off."
"Does she speak more often now up there?" She texted back.
"She does. Not a whole lot, but…yes, she does more often."
"Then being around you is a good thing for her."
-x-
Even if the government authorities took a few days to mellow out over their disgust with Shinji, it still didn't set in that they could've taken the time to deal with other concerns they were responsible for that didn't include what the people on the space station did with their time. Even without a vast number of people on the streets, there were still reasons to have the police watching for the criminals and keeping order. But rather than do things like that, like catching criminals for breaking and entering, grand theft auto or some sort of assault and prosecuting them to the fullest extent of the current law, the men and women in charge were fussing over what a fourteen-year-old boy did that wasn't even much of an offense. How many people across the world go and decide they want to hold someone accountable with charges of human trafficking or kidnapping when all they did was contact people and give them a choice that they could change their minds on whenever they wanted?
No, even as several police officers were surveying the streets in search of criminal activity, lawyers and prosecutors were looking for reasons to go after people that were trying to do better than they had. Not that any of it even mattered when the criminals had their own issues with the current state of things; the reduction in population meant a reduction in which to move or distribute their products, which also meant that their enterprises had been compromised. Regular customers were stale and they had too much product and not enough finances to build or rebuild their own power structure. If criminals were to progress their businesses, they needed new customers and lackeys, which were fewer now, and nobody wanted anything to do with drug dealers or dirty cops.
"…Business is bad," said a cop on the take to a drug dealer on the streets of what remained of Los Angeles.
"Not bad," the dealer stated. "Worse. All we have are repeat customers and most of them overdose on the product. This is a nightmare. If we had some of our own on that space station, we could probably get connections to new customers."
"No, no, that kid that owns the place would spot dealers before the dealers could spot new customers. The place is meant to be a sanctuary, free of crime and the like. Who wouldn't want a place like that? No drugs, no gang violence, no hookers."
"Only the simple-minded folk."
-x-
Contrary to what most thought, the streets of Tokyo-3 were quieter with fewer people around, and with less cars on the road, it was easier for Misato to drive to where she needed to go. But it was the lack of activity that became the very thing that bothered most left behind. Even with the skeleton crew of NERV left to wander around, it still felt like the city was empty. Japan, China, Russia, Germany, practically most countries were almost empty of their populations, and it was settling in that the people that left were up in space, not even looking down upon them. In their own slice of Heaven, living it up.
"I think I should've asked him to take Pen-Pen up there," she uttered after coming to a red light on the road; the day had ended, and she was on her way home.
"…And the UN is still upset about the space station that covers up most of the sky, day and night," a woman on her car radio uttered; she decided to listen to it on the way back to her apartment. "But what really upsets me is why the bigwigs are putting so much dislike on a kid that inherited the thing and decided to let the good people live there. He can let people like famous movie stars and former presidents live and exclude other people whenever he wants, and we have to accept his choices. Why are the people at the UN making such a fuss over the fact that most of their own wasn't invited. I mean, there are some republicans that weren't invited, and most have criminal records. If it's due to him needing to be the guy in charge, I'm sure most can accept that. What do you think, caller eighteen?"
"Well, I think for people that choose the way of the republican," a man's voice expressed as Misato reached the parking lot of her apartment building, "it's pretty moot to question the motives of a young man that is no longer bound by the laws of the planet; since he's on his own domain, his authority is the only one that really matters to himself, but he cares about the good people that have to deal with the trouble that happened after Second Impact, the troubles that were never solved, just ignored or stalled with temporary solutions instead of actual results. From what we can hear from the people that still access their social media accounts, the space station can experience whatever weather situations that occur on the planet due to once being a planet. They have everything up there that we have down here…or had down here. It's a sanctuary…and it already belongs to someone that had nothing in the way of family because he was left alone by his father after the death of his mother. That's a pain that's going to follow the kid for the rest of his life, and his old man isn't helping to mend fences by being an asshole to him just because he can't have what his son has gained. Most should feel proud of what he did, even if he made a bunch of suits upset in the process. The only ones that can't accept his achievements are the ones that won't measure up to him. Ever."
Misato sighs as she shuts her car off and vacates for the duration of the night. It did seem like there were more likes than dislikes regarding Shinji and his space station and his reducing the global population of the planet to just the handful of good people and the majority that were less than decent. But from a different perspective, it was a good thing; there were fewer people forced to live on the street, crime was reduced and most hospitals and clinics were less crowded. In a way, the only problem that existed in this manner, besides the threat of the Angels, was the lack of people present, like Earth had been abandoned, despite its vast majority being just above the planet on a large one that no longer resembled the great spheres that floated in the vast ocean of darkness, stars and debris.
But the people that left are happy, she thought as she went up the elevator. Shinji gave them a better place to live. Their lives don't have to be spent in fear of the Angels or the end of the world, which pretty much ended fifteen years ago and people were just trying to delude themselves that everything was fine.
Then, she found herself thinking of the NERV logo. That is, what was written under its logo: "God's in his Heaven. All's right with the world."
That's bull, she accepted.
Ding! The elevator reached her floor and she got off.
There is nothing right with the world. It's been one situation after another, and we end up paying for them because of either the Angels or the Evas.
Then, she took out her cell phone and sent Shinji a text, hoping he was still awake to respond. It read, "Are you free to do one thing for me?"
Beep. A response was received: "I have nothing but time now, Misato."
"The next time an Angel shows up…can I count on you to help?"
"Sure. I don't need to pilot the Eva, anymore to continue helping."
"Thank you."
Putting her phone away, she went inside her apartment to retire for the rest of the night.
-x-
Shinji sighs as he buries his head into his left palm at his desk. It was true, he had nothing but time on his hands, but he was feeling the tension of trying to keep the people on his space station safe from the people that weren't invited to let on it. He was taking every precaution possible to ensure their safety; keeping up surveillance, recording anything spoken in the presence of any listening devices, whether they were phones, tablets, computers, etc., and just making sure the legion of drones at his disposal kept the peace with the people here. If there was a problem, understanding it would help to resolve it.
"Ikari-Kun," he heard Rei say to him, and he looked up, seeing her in an oversized blue shirt.
"Ayanami?" He responded, shaking his head and getting up from his desk. "I didn't hear you come in."
"You're exhausted. You need to sleep."
"Yeah."
If Rei could've expressed anything else about Shinji right now, it would've been how he seemed to be running himself ragged in his attempts to protect the people here. But she didn't know how to say any of that. She wasn't sure how to express any of that. She was here with him…but she knew nothing of how to aid him.
"How are you feeling, Ayanami?" Shinji asked her.
"I am…worried about you," she responded.
"You're worried?"
"You're trying to do everything to ensure the safety of the people…but you're wearing yourself out when you should be relaxing. You stopped piloting the Eva, so you should be able to enjoy what you have here, not feeling like you have to protect everyone like before."
As much as Shinji wanted to, and he really wanted to, it felt like he had to be on alert in case something went wrong and the space station was attacked. He'd be fortunate if he could sleep for eight hours.
"This is…your sanctuary," Rei told him. "You should relax in it."
He sighs and thanks her for her concerns.
"I am tired," he admits. "I should sleep for a few hours."
As he walked away, the albino girl followed him, just to make sure he made it to his room.
-x-
"…What do you mean, all further attempts on the space station are suspended indefinitely?" Gendo questioned the Committee the next day when they informed him that any future actions against his son's new home were moot.
"The UN is being painted in a negative light," SEELE 03 explained. "The leaders of countries with their populations reduced by this thinning of the herd by your son have received complaints from what remains of the public that they should be focusing on restructuring the order leftover from the reduction of people, not trying to spark a war with some kid with a space station larger than the planet."
"All attempts to use missiles to attack the space station are useless," added SEELE 08. "The launch codes and targeting systems keep getting rewritten to ensure the space station is not targeted, and the MAGI supercomputers can't hack whatever computers are up there because they have more firewalls than there are people. Not to mention failsafe after failsafe. Even the firewalls have firewalls."
"And NERV has been reduced to just one pilot while its two other pilots, as well as the pilot candidates have all relocated," SEELE 01 expressed. "For now, we'll be sending to NERV our own pilot to replace the First and Third Children. The Second Child cannot be relied upon to face the remaining Angels on their own."
Gendo was going to speak up against this, that he could still deal with the rebelling Third Child and reclaim the First Child, but the Committee shut him down.
"Our scenario is not to be compromised any further by this turn of events caused by your wayward son and his…inheritance that has dealt a major blow to our cause," SEELE 11 told Gendo. "As of now, any and all attempts to contact, coerce or even attack the Third Child are prohibited…and whatever connection to NERV is terminated."
Now, Gendo was being ordered to leave his son alone. Just because none of them were able to do anything to persuade him to do what they wanted of him to do, the boy was deemed off limits. Oh, how he resented Shinji for making decisions that made NERV and every other agency and organization in current look like a bunch of incompetent nitwits.
"And what should happen if he continues to relocate people that he permits onto his space station?" He asks them.
"That won't happen," SEELE 09 declared. "Anyone else that tries to relocate to that space station just for a better life will be apprehended and locked up. Nobody gets into that sanctuary in the sky."
-x-
In the vastness of space, even when the space station was far from the Earth and moon to allow for an impressive view of both in the sky, they all still felt close enough to be touching. The people on the space station were either asleep at night or out and about in the day. But in the still and quiet darkness, a light manifested. An…unwelcoming light, aimed at the blue, green and brown sphere.
Despite the space station being closer and having more people exposed, this light seemed to focus more on the Earth than it. With an intense interest that bordered on obsession.
To be continued…
A/N: Uh-oh. What will happen next?
