And on the Third Day…
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Lorenz Kihl is not having a good day. Firstly, he got up on the wrong side of his cryogenic preservation unit, his morning stool had the consistency of soup, and he has this cracking thing whenever he blinks that is driving him nuts. Not bad for the oldest man in the world, yes, but annoying nonetheless.
There are also the nightmares he has been having. He has called to bear lessons taken in zen meditation, but still he sees flame and wings when he sleeps. Some programming checks into his visor/cerebrum linkup are in order.
Even worse is the fact that no one knows where the Hell Ikari is. It's worse enough when Ikari is belligerent and clearly following an agenda other than the one prescribed to him by SEELE, but at least he's on time. He may be an asshole, but he's an asshole who keeps showing up.
The musing/fuming of the cloak-wearing geriatric puppet master is broken by the sound of the intercom chiming.
"Sir," the female voice with a healthy amount of fear, his personal assistant, says, "Commander Ikari from Japan is on line 1."
A predatory grin appears on Kihl's face.
"Put him through."
Kihl folds his hands in front of his face in a mirror image of Ikari's pose. The holographic screen manifests at the front of his desk, blurring into the face of Commander Ikari…
Who has his arms folded, sans his jacket, and his glasses folded neatly in his pocket.
"Good morning, Kihl. Sorry if I had you worried, but I had a rough night. What's up?"
Kihl stammers, one eye twitching behind his visor.
"So…if that's all, the meeting's…right, tomorrow. We'll chat-chat then, aye?"
He points his index fingers at Kihl, clicking his tongue.
"Catch'ya later."
And the screen blinks out. It takes a few moments for Kihl to regain his composure. Thankfully, he had all solid waste extracted earlier so not to soil himself, which he would have. Even still, he's wondering one thing.
"What the hell just happened?"
"That should give him something to think about."
Gendo Ikari shrugs on his jacket, the 6" tall approximation of his wife nodding to him from his dresser. While arguably stupid to play with his taskmaster's mind in such a fashion, it is also unpredictable. At very least, while Kihl reboots his brain, there is more time to implement his own scenarios.
After all, the expression of 'too many cooks in the kitchen' applies not only to cooking, but also to clandestine agendas. The less interference from the old man, the better.
And admittedly, that was fun, Ikari muses with a chuckle, as he dons his glasses…and gets a disapproving glare from 'Yui.' Silently, he takes off his glasses, putting them in his jacket pocket. She nods, beaming.
"And remember," she chirps, "A frown's just a smile turned upside down!"
Slowly, painfully, the edges of Gendo's lips twitch. His lips stretch. Creases appear on the edges of his face, around his eyes. Skin stretches, freshly brushed teeth shining.
And Commander Ikari smiles. The miniscule approximation of his wife happily claps, and Ikari nods.
"Thank you," he says, "I should get going."
She nods, and he walks out. The form shifting back to the beige chameleon, Adam hops off the table and walks to the closet. Turning now immaterial, he passes through and into the small cache of DVDs.
Chirping happily, he begins.
"You know, I don't understand why you felt guilty," Metatron says, walking alongside Shinji as they walk to school, "The building collapsed after Sachiel put an energy bolt through your Evangelion's brain. You weren't even conscious."
"That's not the point. If I knew what I was doing I could have done better."
"I doubt even the highest trained pilot can maneuver when an energy pike has just been shoved through their brain. Really, there were bets the Evangelion wouldn't even get up after that."
Shinji grumbles under his breath, quickening his pace. Metatron simply matches it, deciding soon after that conversation at this point would be futile.
"Well, looks like someone's been busy."
The two turn to find Ariel sitting atop one of the cement columns flanking the gates. Smiling, she pushes off, landing gracefully and hopping over to Shinji.
"Congratulations," she says, patting him on the shoulder.
"On what?"
"On finally exercising the Power. So, what's next? Send away the last couple of Angels? Give your room mate a pleasant personality?"
"You shouldn't talk about Asuka like that…"
"Oh, she's not coming to school today," Ariel says, sighing, "And maybe you should loosen up yourself, to. Too serious."
Shinji simply glares at her, before shaking his head and walking past her.
"In a way I feel sorry for him," the Metatron says, "There's too much stacked upon his shoulders for such a young man."
"Although if not for what he's been forced to do, do you think Heaven would have even noticed him?"
He turns to Ariel, staring at her in a look reminiscent of confusion…and sighing, he nods.
"No," he says, "In some ways, we can be as bad as the Lilim."
School came and went. Knowing full well that the hospital, or at very least the room where his friend resides in is now filled with celebration rather than silence, Shinji decided to delay his first sight of a healed Mari Suzuhara.
Instead, he decided to lighten his mood a bit and satisfy his curiosity. Rei wasn't in school this day, and arriving at her apartment he decides to see why.
"Hello," he asks, walking into the apartment, "Ayanami? Rei? I wanted to see if you were okay."
He walks down the hallway of the apartment's entrance. Idly, he walks into the main room.
"Hello?"
And then the white blur tackles him.
It's three o'clock. I should check in with Rei.
Placing his glasses back on his nose, with no small satisfaction to the number of face faults that alone has caused today, Gendo reaches for his desk phone and dials the number for the First Child's cell phone.
What surprises him is that there's no answer.
Hm…what could she be doing?
Scrambling back, Shinji allows the gears of his mind to turn, relaying to him several facts.
1) Rei is on all fours, crawling towards him.
2) Rei is wearing only a white buttoned shirt.
3) Rei is smiling really widely. Not the small smile he coaxed from her after the Fifth Angel, but a smile that tells him she's looking at him like fresh kill.
"Rei," he says, moving towards the door, "Why are you doing this?"
"It is agreeable," she responds.
And with enough distance to the door cleared, Shinji scrambles to his feet and runs.
To his credit, months of living with Asuka and piloting Eva have given Shinji some running ability. In the brief split second before the First Child reacts, he's already cleared the distance down the hallway and to the door.
Unfortunately, doorknobs need to be opened.
And Rei has been piloting longer than Shinji has.
This comes to Shinji's mind the moment he bolts from the door and the pale hand grabs him firmly by the belt.
And the look of pathetic resignation crosses Shinji's face for only a moment before he's yanked back into the apartment and the door is slammed shut behind him.
Gendo taps his fingers on his desk, dialing Rei's number once again. Growling lowly, he rolls his head back, feelings of worry and slow, simmering anger running through his mind…
And finally, the line is picked up.
"Rei," he demands.
"Ye-es," the voice sing-songs.
Pausing a moment to try to connect the voice on the other end with the unemotional girl he raised, he clears his throat to admonish her on her tardiness.
"I'll be right back. I need to finish with Ikari-Kun first!"
And before she hangs up, he can hear, in the background, a pathetic cry of Shinji asking for his pants back.
Not even waiting for the image to process, he slams down the button on his phone for Section 2.
"Get me the First Child," he growls, "NOW!"
Metatron whistles, standing next to Ariel as they watch the black suited men kick open the door to Rei's apartment…and promptly freeze before the newer of them double over in laughter.
"You do intent to tell him how this happened," Ariel deadpans, "Right?"
"Absolutely. And thankfully they got their just in time, or you'd never have the chance to deflower him yourself."
He fades away, as Ariel turns to him.
"Hey! What does that…"
She mutters to herself, sitting down on the rooftop.
"Bloody running plot gag."
Sitting quietly, Shinji tries not to look directly at his father.
He is sitting in one of two chairs in his father's office, uncomfortable chairs that only make him more aware of how uncomfortable his situation is. Besides his tousled hair and the belt buckle now crushed beyond recognition in Rei's zeal to have her way with him, there is also the small buzzing in the back of his head as, for some reason, his mind begins going through the motions of placing Rei's face to something in his past.
He believes that in addition to Omnipotence, he is now experiencing the first phases of Omniscience. Knowing everything.
Next to him, Rei gives out a small giggle. Gendo glares at her, before turning back to staring at the two evenly. He opens his mouth, to lay down the law as he sees fit…and his phone beeps. He taps the button for the speaker phone.
"Yes?"
"Commander? You're needed in the Dummy Plug room-IMMEDIATELY!"
"What is the situation, Dr. Akagi?"
"I can't explain…it's…they're going nuts!"
Gendo's eyes snap wide. Pushing back his chair, he walks swiftly to the door, breaking into a run as he clears the doorway.
Shinji simply sits as his mind continues its workings, not meeting Rei's gaze as a feeling of profound unease begins creeping up his spine.
And then, Rei's face places itself. A mirror image of the face he now remembers in Unit 01…
His mother.
More knowledge is summoned up, bringing to bear facts, truths, and other things that confirm the dreading guess in the back of Shinji's mind.
I was almost deflowered by my half sister.
And Shinji screams.
Mirrored, ironically, and yet exactly in the girlish, terrified tone, by his father.