See legal disclaimer in part 1

EVANGELION: Avatar
By: OOPART Xephon
--
2: Ways and Means

Scene 4

	"Ow, my head..." The boy slowly opened his eyes, only to be met by 
complete darkness. "First I get kidnapped, then blindfolded, then somebody 
knocks me out, and now here I am in the dark again. What's happening?" 
Ichiro began to slowly grope the area around him. The whole of his 
surroundings was a cool metal. He recalled the room with three doors. "Is this
the same place?"
	He slowly made a mental map of his "room." It was square, maybe three 
meters wide and four meters deep. Three walls were the metal, while one was 
bars, like a jail cell. There was a bed against the far wall, but it wasn't 
exactly comfortable. The rest of the room was empty.
	With nothing else to do, Ichiro tried to fall asleep. However, the 
brief images of his abductor kept running through his imagination. He tried 
to remember more details about her, but it was too blurry for him to make a 
decent picture of her. Where had she taken him? A place called NERV. But what
did that mean? In the few seconds he glimpsed of the NERV place, he saw 
many holographic monitors of carying sizes. It appeared to him that there 
were several levels of people working, and that he had been taken to the 
highest one. Three people were waiting for him and his abductor on that 
highest plane: a very old man, a younger-looking one, and a woman with blue 
hair. The younger man had been the one who spoke to him. He wore glasses, but
the lenses were tinted a dark orange, so Ichiro hadn't been able to see his 
eyes.
	Oddly enough, Ichiro felt as though those people expected him to be 
at that place. Maybe it was them who had been behind his kidnapping. But that 
brought up the question of... why him?
-
Scene 5

	"Lieutenant, you're insubordination today in front of the staff was 
uncalled for. It would be in the best interests of our ideals that you 
present any misgivings you have in private."
	The Lieutenant Soryu Asuka frowned. "If you recall, Commander, I made
my 'misgivings' apparent at the executive meeting two days before the 
operation was carried out." The Commander's face remained a steely blank. 
"Perhaps if you were to listen instead of just bark out orders, I wouldn't
have to argue with you in front of your subordinates."
	A corner of the man's mouth rose a little. "I thought you would have 
been happy to retrieve the boy." Soryu's heart suddenly rose, and she clenched
her fists. "Don't tell me you weren't glad to see him."
	"His first memories of me will be as his abductor, not his guardian. 
How effectively can I watch over him if he thinks me as nothing more than a 
kidnapper?"
	"That is a matter for you and him to work out. Dismissed."
	"Yes, sir."
	"Oh, and Lieutenant?" Soryu halted in her footsteps at the border of
the exit, but did not turn to face her Commander. "Remember that this 
situation is your fault as well as mine. Please remain professional in front 
of the staff. NERV isn't a place for old emotions."
	"... Understood."
	Soryu stormed down the hallways of NERV, her hands still clenched 
tightly. She cursed herself for letting him get to her, even after those 
years had passed away. As per her orders, she was to retrieve the boy named 
Kawano Ichiro from the brig, then take him to her apartment. She was to act 
as his legal guardian until NERV had no more use for him. That's just the 
way things worked around that place.
	She tried to press such things out of her mind as she descended into 
the bowels of Central Dogma. She tried to figure out the best way to approach
her new charge. Sliding her ID card through the final doorway, she entered 
the brig of NERV. As always, it was very sparsely lit. A member of the Section
2 security team stepped forth.
	"Lieutenant Soryu?"
	"Yes. I'm here to pick up the boy."
	"Yes, ma'am." He escorted her to the door, flashlight in hand. 
"Kawano Ichiro!" The man's deep voice echoed in that empty place. The boy, 
who appeared to have been sleeping, quickly popped up.
	"Yes?"
	"You are being released."
	"Um... OK." The man unlocked the door and shined the light on the boy.
He was still wearing the gray pants and white polo shirt that looked like a 
school uniform. His blue eyes shown brightly from behind his hair. He couldn't
see who was there, but he knew there was another person besides the guard. 
He slowly got up and walked toward the light, and a soft hand grabbed his 
wrist. He was quickly pulled away from the cell and into a hallway beyond the
jail.
	Ichiro squinted, as the lighting was more than he had become 
accustomed to during his detainment. When his eyesight returned to normal, he
looked towards the source of the tugging. It was a woman with long, light 
brown hair...
	"You!" He yanked his wrist back but was surprised when he didn't 
break free. Her grip was very strong.
	"What?" She sounded kind of annoyed, yet also kind of sad.
	"You're the one who kidnapped me, aren't you?"
	"Yes, I was." She didn't turn around to look at him. Ichiro noticed 
that her hair was more of an auburn, almost red, and she was a couple inches 
taller than him. Maybe she was foreign?
	The two walked for a while, back towards the surface. When they 
finally reached the exit point, Ichiro finally reconized that he was back on 
the surface. "Hey, isn't this the same building that you made me go to?"
	"It is. You see?" she said as they walked outside. "There's my car."
	"Your car? Then how come I had the keys?" The woman suddenly turned 
to him, a large grin on her face.
	"Because! Don't you realize it was a part of an over-elaborate plan 
by a secret organization to initiate you to our cause?"
	"Um... No, I didn't realize that."
	"I guess it was an OK plan then, huh?"
	"Yea... So, you didn't really kidnap me?" Ichiro asked as they got 
back into the blue car. True enough, it was the same car as before, exactly.
	"Legally, not really. Here." She handed him a folder with many papers
inside as she pulled into traffic. "Those are the papers legalizing your 
transfer into my care. I am now your legal guardian. Your uncle signed all 
the necessary papers."
	"My uncle?... Oh... yea..." Soryu glanced at him out of the corner 
of her eye.
	"Something the matter?"
	"No, I just... Things are kind of hard to remember from anything 
before I took your car earlier."
	"Well, you know what they say."
	"No... What do they say?" Asuka smirked.
	"They say that when a man meets a beautiful woman, all his memories 
prior to their meeting are a blur." Her smile grew when the boy said nothing.
"So, I'll lay it down to you right now, clear cut. I am a lieutenant of the 
special government organization NERV. NERV studies and records data on a 
super tough, secret assault weapon, called Evangelion. Our researchers have 
been looking for a child who could pilot the EVA for a long time, and they 
finally found you."
	"I'm to pilot the secret weapon?"
	"Yes."
	"Why me? Why am I special?"
	"You should be proud of this accomplishment, Kawano-san. The weapon 
can only be piloted by very special people." Although she was trying to 
sound happy, the bitterness in her voice was evident. Ichiro decided not to 
pursue his questioning any further. "I guess I can introduce myself. My name 
is Soryu Asuka. I don't mind if you call me Asuka."
	"OK. Same here."
	"You want to be called 'Asuka' as well?" The boy laughed a little.
	"No, I meant you can call me Ichiro if you want to."
	"Got it. I know you have a lot of questions, Ichiro-san, but you'll 
find the answers in time, OK?" He nodded. "Good. Let's go home now. I'm 
tired from all this bullshitting. But I'm a pretty good actor, aren't I?"
	"Yea, you are. But... I don't know... The whole time I kind of got 
the feeling like you really wouldn't shoot me."
	"Of course not! I could never hurt my boy."
	The two smiled as the car sped down the road.
-
Scene 6

	The Commander sat at his desk, looking out over the orange-lit surface
of the Geofront. The old man and the woman with blue hair stood next to his 
desk. "So, the retrieval was a complete success?" he asked sternly.
	"Yes, there were no errors," the woman with blue hair said.
	"Good. Doctor Ayanami, please make sure that situation remains in 
good condition."
	"Yes, sir." Doctor Ayanami Rei's voice was flat as ever.
	"And the Committee? Have they approved of these circumstances, 
Kaji-san?" The older man nodded, but said nothing. His eyes reflected little 
light, and his graying facial hair remained unshaven as always. "Excellent."
	"We will then proceed with the first plan of action, sir?" Kaji asked 
slowly. "Everything thus far has gone according to our plans."
	"That's not entirely correct."
	"Oh?"
	"Lorenz has shown signs of reemerging from the depths of Hell."
	"Hm, I didn't think that was possible. But then again, around those 
people I suppose I wouldn't be surprised."
	"Yes, I agree. Therefore I believe we should move along with 
contingency plan 126. Ayanami?"
	"That is acceptable."
	"Good. We will move ahead with plan 126 as of today, 18 May 2046."
-
Scene 7

	Soryu parked her car in a parking garage next to her apartment 
complex. After walking over into the complex, the pair continued in silence up
to an elevator. "I've already had all of your belongings moved into my place."
	"OK."
	On the fifth of five floors, the ninth apartment to the right was 
Soryu's apartment and Ichiro's new home. A metal plate on the door had two 
names etched into it. The first, Soryu Asuka, was written in romanji and 
seemed to have been there for a long time. Beneath that was the name Kawano 
Ichiro, in traditional script. The edges were much more crisp than the other 
name's.
	"Have you lived here for a long time?"
	"No. I've owned this place for a few years, but I just moved in here 
about a month ago, so I'm kinda new here, too." She pulled a card out of her 
pocket and slid it through the acceptor next to the door. It slid over into 
the wall to the left. "I'm home." Both took off their shoes and stepped 
inside. "You should also call this home now."
	"I'm... home." Soryu smiled.
	"Good! You hungry?"
	"Yea."
	"Alright, I'll heat up something. Make yourself at home." The first 
thing Kawano noticed was the small size of the apartment. Inside the door 
there was a small patch of tile with a many pairs of womens' shoes next to it.
This was incorporated into the living room, which comprised of a TV setup to 
the left in a corner. A couch and table set across the room from the door. A 
sliding door that led to a patio comprised most of the wall between the 
TV and the couch. To the right of the door was the kitchen, which was little 
more than a few appliances and cabinets. A small bar with two stools was 
opposite the kitchen, and the small floorspace for dining was empty 
otherwise.
	Across from the door was a very short hallway with three doors. 
Ichiro assumed they were a bathroom and two bedrooms. All of the carpet was 
a very deep blue, and looked old. Not that the place looked dirty. In fact it
was very clean, besides the few boxes of unpacked things that still remained.
The boy sat down on the couch. A bit later, Asuka sat down beside him and 
handed him a box of instant ramen.
	Both of them quickly gobbled down the whole of their portions. Soryu 
looked strangely at the boy for a little when they were done. "Let me guess, 
you don't know how to make anything besides instant foods either, right?" she
asked with a goofy smile on her face.
	"No, not really."
	"Hm, well I guess that's a good thing since you won't expect anything
more from me than you're used to. Ya know, they only told me that I would have
a charge when they dropped off your things."
	"Really? Shouldn't your superior have told you in advance?" Asuka's 
smile quickly disappeared, and she flipped on the television without a word. 
"You said that you owned this place for a long time but you just moved in. 
Did you own another place as well?"
	"Kind of. I bought this apartment when I had the money, years ago. 
But I fell on tough times, so I had to move in with a friend for a while. The
economy had been doing very well, and recovery from Second Impact was 
complete, but the bottom fell out after the Moon's Touch Incident. You must 
have been about five at the time."
	"Yea..."
	"Hm? Still having memory problems?"
	"Kind of... It's not a problem, really. It's just annoying."
	"Maybe it will clear up, like temporary amnesia or something. I've 
heard of such things before." They watched TV for almost forty-five minutes 
before Asuka spoke again. "So, you're pretty shy, huh?"
	"What? No, not really. I'm just..."
	"Quiet?"
	"I guess."
	"Well, that's OK, but don't be afraid to talk to me, Kawano-san. I'm 
here for you if you ever need to talk to someone, OK? Don't make me feel 
useless."
	"OK."
	"You should always do what a beautiful woman asks."
	"OK." Asuka laughed, and that caused Ichiro to smile. Her laughter 
was so refreshingly pure. It seemed like perhaps she hadn't laughed in a 
long time, not real laughter. "What's so funny?"
	"You are. You kinda remind me of a girl I knew when I was about 
your age. Except I like you a lot more than I ever liked that girl."
	"Why didn't you like her?" The woman's smile persisted, however the 
look in her eyes had changed to one of hate.
	"She was little more than a doll, controlled by someone else."
	"I never met anyone like that."
	"Be glad. She was so annoyingly perfect in every way. Even after I 
found out why she was that way, I still couldn't changed the feelings I had 
for her. It got to a point where I couldn't stand those people anymore, and I 
had to leave..."
	"You sound sad."
	"Yea, well... That's all in the past, so I should be glad that I have 
someone to live with now and experience daily living with, right?" Ichiro 
nodded with a little more enthusiasm.
	"Right."
	"OK! Now, on to the dirty business of chores! Usually I'm a pretty 
messy girl. The only reason this place is so clean is because I've been 
really busy lately!"
	"At NERV?"
	"Yea... Ya know what, how 'bout you just take care of anything that 
you see that needs to be taken care of, and I'll do the same. Having a set 
schedule of duties isn't the kind of life I like. Just clean up after yourself
and things should stay decent."
	"OK, Asuka-san."
	"No, no, no, that won't do. Just call me Asuka, OK?" She laughed 
again at the puzzled look on the boy's face. "It's alright to call me that. 
I lived in Germany until I was fourteen, so I'm kind of a foreigner. I guess 
I'm still not used to all that extra crap on the end of my name."
	"Oh. That explains your accent, I guess."
	"Eh?!" Soryu was surprised; no one had made mention of her Kobe 
accent in a long, long time. She liked to think she has masked it after all 
these years, but... "Yea, yea.."
	"I'm sorry." Noticing that the boy was staring into his lap, she 
placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked over at his new guardian. "Hm?"
	"Some things never change, Ichiro-kun."
-
Scene 8 

	Back in that cold, dark office, sat Commander Ikari Shinji. His 
Vice stood beside his desk, looking out over the Geofront as usual. Kaji 
looked pensive; Ikari, blank.
	"You finished reviewing the data recordings of Soryu's apartment?" 
Kaji asked lightly. There was no response. "I see. I would advise you to 
take responsibilities for your actions, even those that you have forced from 
your memories. This is the beginning of a critical phase of our plans. You 
should be concentrating on it clearly."
	"I am aware of all these facts."
	"Don't be upset that she has opened her heart. I'm telling you this as
a friend, Shinji, not as your elder or second-in-command. Please listen to 
my advice."
	"Kaji, although I respect your opinion, I am no longer a child. I 
know how the world works now, and I can control my own emotions. Don't 
overstep your boundaries."
	The older man's brow furrowed slightly. "You're a stone-hearted fool, 
Ikari. Just like your father was. You should learn from his mistakes, 
otherwise you will repeat them."
	Ikari remained blank behind those orange glasses.