Disclaimer
The series, Neon Genesis Evangelion, from which this work of fiction is based, is owned by GAINAX. Characters presented in this document that come directly from the series are also owned by GAINAX. "Lady Pheaura" owns Madison Timlitt. I own all other original characters.
Evangelion: Primum Revelation
Chapter 10: Test Line
Written by T.S. a.k.a. "Kain Tempest"
German Translations by "Steve Vader"
There was something very agreeable about being in an entry plug again. The movement of LCL through the lungs. The blue haze of the unexercised liquid gave a sense of twilight to the space. The controls were the same and was the distant hum of the motors inside the pilot seat. Shinji looked down at his arm. The darkness of the plug made it difficult for him to see his plug suit. His new suit was a silver colour with white accents to match the paint scheme of his machine. It wasn't surprising, considering it was the production model and onward that the suits followed the same pattern as the Evangelions.
The Evangelion that Shinji was the pilot, Unit-06 as it was called, was different from the ones that had been in Tokyo-3. However, he could fathom a guess that Unit-04 may have had similar stylings as the one he was to be the pilot of. White as snow, Tristan said the technicians liked to call it Purity. The technology of the Evangelion had changed. There were still the limitations of the battery and the umbilical cord, but the armour was reinforced, but was lighter than the original composite used in Unit-01. They had also claimed to have it retain a larger arsenal of equipment, including a second progressive knife and carbon flak launcher in the shoulders. It had taken Shinji some time to understand where the carbon launcher came from, until he discovered that E-NERV had built the prototype into Unit-02.
Ultimately, Tristan claimed that Unit-06 and sister machine Unit-05 were the most optimized Evangelions in the world by NEC standards. Unit-08 would logically be equivalent then or better than the one Shinji was designated to pilot, but it was still being reverse engineered, the newer technology applied, and reconstructed.
Shinji lifted his hand and flexed it, the plug suit and the plug's feedback system quickly sent signals of limited movement, simulating the same sensation in the now much more restricted Evangelion. But then, what was the need for more armour and weaponry for the Evangelions. Although their speed was increased by the lighter polymers, they lost more of their agility. Considering the speed and precision needed for many of the battles against the Angels, the added firepower would be a hindrance rather than a help.
"Pilot Ikari, your synchronization is dropping." Indicated one of the technicians in the monitoring station. Shinji jumped in surprise.
"Ikari, quit daydreaming a focus on what you are doing!" Tristan barked into the microphone. Shinji winced and grabbed the hands again and closed his eyes. The captain was his usual self as promised, a hard ass operations director who had high expectations for Shinji's abilities during the test. The boy began focusing on his synchronization, imagining the phantom limbs of the Evangelion and trying to push his consciousness into every corner of the Evangelion's body. As he did so, Shinji's mind wandered about the surface of Unit-06. Moving from the sturdy legs; the smooth, angled plates on it's torso; over the armour of weapons in the shoulder braces; and to the monstrous head.
Unit-06's appearance seemed to have been drawn from Unit-01, with the long sloping form, and the halo in the lower back of the head. This model however was devoid of that awkward horn and the face had been sunken in to form something like an open face help rather than a mask, with two glassy cerulean eyes staring out.
"That's better." Tristan congratulated in the voice of superior who's demands had been met. Shinji smiled a little to himself, a wash of contentment coming across him from this response of gratification. Shinji's eye and finger twitched for a second, an involuntary tic, but something that was going to hold a lot more meaning for the technicians. Shinji opened his eyes and looked forward, listening intently for a response while he focused the simulated body to move forward. Of course, he felt no movement, the simulation body being nothing but a plug connected to monitoring devices. However, even this dry run helped to limber him up in order to do the real thing.
Shinji had to be prepared this time around, to be able to throw himself fully into being able to fight the Angels. This new Evangelion was going to present new dynamics to his strategy in fighting the monsters. If the Angels were only to get more powerful, they were probably not going to give Shinji any grace when it came to the first battle.
There was no one else aside from Asuka who was experienced in piloting Evangelions and Shinji wasn't certain the German girl was capable of piloting Evangelions. Could it have just been a miracle that had occurred? Tristan had said that it didn't matter whether Asuka was capable or not, Shinji had chosen to become a pilot, he had signed up, and now here he was.
Was Shinji a fool for deciding on this course of action? Shinji thought about it and thought about Rei's reason to pilot. She felt it was her duty to protect the human race. Ritsuko had said that she nothing more than a soulless creation, but that didn't seem right. Rei wasn't a machine. Another twitch, and the flicker of Rei's visage first as the girl who always was looking out the classroom window, to the monstrosity that consumed Unit-01 in his nightmares.
"Shinji, you synch ratio is fluctuating. Focus!" Tristan repeated. Shinji furrowed his brow in deeper concentration. Enough pointless thoughts, Tristan was getting angry.
If frustration beaded on one's forehead like sweat, Tristan would be soaked. The star pilot of Tokyo-3 wasn't even pulling his earliest of test scores and it was starting to make the captain look like a fool. He glanced around the box to find none of the technicians looking at him. He knew the look on their faces though, a streak of disappointment concerning Shinji. They would say something if they could, but Tristan was too high of a rank and among them, he was the most experienced in dealing with synchronizations and plug tests. They ought to have a head technician, but it seemed that no one with enough experience with the Evangelions could be found.
The deficient qualifications of E-NERV's staff made Tristan anxious. Without a properly running hierarchy, the political structure of Tower Four was unstable. It would only require one bullet into one person in order to cause this house of cards to come crashing down. They were vulnerable.
Tristan refocused on Shinji's test scores. He wished that these numbers could have been attributed to Third Impact, but that wasn't correct and he knew very well. The interference was from Shinji's experiences. The analysis of the pilot's psyche prior to Third Impact was getting close to a suicidal depression. Piloting EVA was tearing the kid apart. No doubt a lot of bad memories were now tied to that entry plug. Tristan just wanted to believe that his roommate could pull out of it, a hope that was unlikely at best.
Shinji was a natural pilot so he likely couldn't actually place himself in a state of mind in which he could pilot an Evangelion. Asuka on the other hand, had to be trained to synchronize, something that he and Asuka both had to learn. The program the two German children had been put to involved physical and mental conditioning, something their attitudes and competitiveness helped facilitate. Shinji on the other hand seemed more delicate in both mind and body. But the trade-off was the pilot who not only lacked the drive to pilot, but also one that was too slow in regaining his original synch ratio.
The decision was obvious then, he would have to build Shinji up from scratch.
Tristan leaned over the computer terminal and took hold of the microphone. "You're finished now Shinji. Take a shower and get some lunch, I want to see you in my office at seventeen hundred."
"Yes sir." Shinji's voice was weak on the microphone as his eyes stared blanked at the end of the plug, oblivious to the camera seated just above his head and sending a constant feed of him to the box's main monitor.
Standing up, Tristan glanced around at the technicians. None gave protest to the ending of the test, they were already aware that Shinji wasn't going to get any better today. Tristan picked up his notebook and left the box.
"So how are Shinji's test scores coming along?" A cheery voice chirped not three paces out of the door. Tristan looked over his shoulder to see his shadow, Madison, standing next to the door smiling at him.
"You seem in a good mood." Tristan murmured. He started walking down the corridor, Madison quickly falling into step next to him.
"I got over the end of the world." She responded. It was a common thing for Madison to say. She lost everyone she ever knew and she was the kind of person who required the presence of family in order to get by. Although Tristan couldn't fully understand what she was going through, he knew that she was simply putting a brave face on things. It made he a stronger person, he knew, but he could imagine that she will crack some day.
"Shinji's tests are…" Tristan paused, trying to find the right word.
"Better than you believed?" She suggested. Tristan sighed.
"Less, actually." Madison's energy seemed to ebb upon hearing the statement. "Shinji has become more disheartened. No doubt the number of upheavals he's faced in this year of his life has begun to where him out."
"So he can't be a pilot?"
"If the Angels do come back, he will just be a target, the way he is right now."
"What are you going to do?"
"He wasn't exactly trained to be a pilot, he got by on his natural ability alone. But it seems that talent has escaped him."
"Can Tower Four train pilots?"
"Yes and no. A lot of what we have to do to prepare pilots has already been done. He needs to be able to synchronize again."
"How?" Tristan stopped and glanced at Madison. She looked puzzled for a moment and then it clicked in. She gave a small chuckle. "Go easy on him, he's not a soldier." Tristan nodded. "Is Asuka having a synch test today?"
"Yes. In about two hours I suppose."
"Do you want to go to Bobby Reich's for lunch?"
"That café is still open?" Madison nodded.
"It's under new management but it seems pretty popular."
"Before Third Impact it was almost impossible to get a seat at the jetty." Tristan reflected. The sombre tone in his voice revealed the gravity of it.
"I'm sorry, I didn't-"
"There's nothing to apologize for. It's just old memories."
"Do you still want to go?"
"Sorry, I can't. I still need to make a report and wrap up Shinji test scores and prepare for Asuka's."
"Oh…" Madison sounded disappointed. "Alright, maybe another time. You are still having lunch though, right?"
"I don't think so, it's probably going to take all the time between tests to get it done."
"Okay. I guess I'll see you later?"
"I suppose." Madison disappeared down a side corridor and Tristan continued on his way towards the elevators to go up to his office.
The chime sounded and the door opened. Tristan blinked in surprised to see Asuka standing in the middle of the elevator. The shock quickly subsiding, Tristan stepped in as Asuka stepped to one side and leaned against the wall. The closed and the elevator descended.
"You're here early." Tristan stated, turning from the door and looking out the window at the walls surrounding the tower. Asuka simply shrugged.
"I had nothing better to do."
"And so you're going down to the cage in order to see your new Evangelion?"
"I still have to get used to the fact that it isn't my Unit-02 anymore."
"It never was." Asuka gave a snort of irritation.
"It was just a slip of the tongue, you don't need to be such a wise ass in correcting me."
"I mean it was never your Evangelion to begin with- Unit-02, I mean."
"What? You're saying that it was yours, that I cheated you out of it? Again you are always making it sound like I used foul means to get to become the Second Child, well I'll tell you, Tristan. I am not!"
"I never said anything about you cheating me, you said it yourself. I meant that it is still the property of NERV, no matter who pilots it. You may want to be more careful about what you say, your childish tantrums could cause you trouble in the future." Asuka stood up and balled her fists.
"I'm the child? Here I am talking to someone who thinks that he is some kind of veteran commando, when he has never even seen an Angel up close let alone fight one. And he still can't get over the fact that I had beaten in him in a fair contest that…" The outburst ran out of steam as Asuka again made the assumption that Tristan was still bitter. She could see the muscles around his mouth tighten as he gave a small smile. She was digging herself into a corner.
With a huff, Asuka leaned back against the wall again and crossed her arms. The floor levels ticked away as the car dropped lower and lower into the facility. Every few seconds, Asuka's eyes drifted from the opposite wall to the back of Tristan's head, lingering a few moments before returning to the place it was focusing on before.
"Hey." Tristan responded with a grunt. "Why are you going down to the cages. Shouldn't you be going up to the office like you always do." Tristan was silent for a moment, which was too long for Asuka's patience. "Hey, I asked you a question."
"I… Hit the wrong button." Tristan admitted sheepishly. Asuka began snickering and then it developed into a small laugh. It was a sensation that Asuka hadn't felt for a while.
"Check and mate, Tristan. It seems as though you are still the dumb ass I met all those years ago." As if on cue the elevator finally came to a halt on the floor of the cages. Asuka stepped out. "See you in a little while, dork." She said, looking over her shoulder. Tristan turned to watch the redhead walk down the hall before the elevator doors shut themselves.
Asuka was always a bit of an aggressive person, and often those who endeared to her were people she simply called a particular name by. Tristan's had always been dork. Considering the actual definition of what it was, it made sense for her to call him that, especially if his accusations were unfounded. It had been more that a year since she last call him that, a symbol of their former friendship. Was she actually trying to rebuild the relationship. It was likely, but it didn't seem like what Asuka would do. She didn't like going with the flow.
Tristan keyed the floor of his office and took the long ride up.
Perhaps if Asuka actually saw what her Evangelion looked like, she would likely have not offered her services in the first place. The fact that her plug suit was green wasn't the problem, but it was the entire design of the machine. God it was ugly. After going to the cages, Asuka was ready to just skip out on her test in realizing that she would be piloting Unit-05.
Even though it was announced that Unit-02 would be the official production model, it seemed the rest of the world went with a completely different model based closer to Unit-01. Now it seemed as though the influence had finally reached Europe. Beyond the head, and the alterations to the armour, Asuka could swear the same design as Unit-01 was breathed into the creation. The head itself was same, tall, long shape as Unit-02, but it's four eyes were placed behind the golden protective plating of Shinji's Evangelion and was topped off with a smaller, curving horn. The thing looked monstrous compared to Unit-02, and the bulkier armour didn't help the aesthetics either. Ugly and cumbersome, all it needed was to lose a couple million brain cells and Asuka could say that it suited Touji Suzahara exactly.
Immediately thinking of the boy caused Asuka to shudder. At the time when they first met, she thought he was the biggest creep among the Three Stooges, only outdone by Shinji because she had to live with that monster. After she discovered what he had done, Shinji had managed to transform Asuka's image of the fourth child into a loud, rambunctious kid.
"Focus!" The captain barked.
"Alright! Alright, already! You don't have to yell! It still takes a minute to get used to it after so long." Asuka shot back, looking up in the general direction that the lens would be for the main monitor's feed.
"This coming from the great Langley Sohryu, huh? It sounds like you are already holding yourself back."
"What did you say?" Asuka snarled. Around Tristan in the box, the technicians were looking at him warily. The scientist at the main terminal studied the fluctuations in the synch ration as soon as the argument began. She scratched her cheek.
"It sounds like you want me to take pity on you for what you've gone through in the past year. Suck it up princess, you're a soldier, not a stay-at-home mother!" Asuka winced, the words hitting her hard. She knew Tristan really didn't know the truth about the rape, but it still felt like he was intentionally trying to hurt her. It was obvious he was trying to get her angry enough to work, but it just made her feel more withdrawn.
Asuka, despite the length she had been carrying her child, was still showing no physical signs, beyond her morning sickness, and dodged every doctors exam she could to avoid someone else finding out. Sitting here now in the entry plug, Asuka assumed that her child would be causing thought noise in the plug. The fact that it didn't could either mean the child hadn't developed to a point where they were processing real thought, or that her child was still- Asuka forced that idea out of her head.
"Focus!"
"I am! Shut up and let me concentrate, damn it!" Asuka closed her eyes and lowered her head, trying to place herself in the zone. She felt her mind reach out to every corner of the simulated body. Wrapping her essence into the framework and the tendons that caused the machine to move. To give them the life and the soul that they craved, to grant the spark to the god-like Evangelions.
Something flickered in the corner of her mind, a long dormant memory that was now crying to be freed from it's bonds. Another memory she hadn't come to terms with, the floodgate behind which was the ocean of her past life. The pressure in mental dam had begun to ebb three months ago, and in this entry plug she could feel the strain. But what would Tristan say if she called off the test because she was afraid of her past. He would more likely add it to his 'evidence' against her innocence.
Asuka shoved thoughts of Tristan and the memory into the closet of her mind, trying to cram it in with so many other skeletons so that she could focus on the simulation body. However, the flickering thought only intensified, a persistent little bug. Asuka did her best to ignore it, but it only continued to grow, to become more vibrant, until it seemed to take root into her subconscious. Then, with a shrill cry, it took hold.
"Not again." Asuka murmured disdainfully as the little girl cried beneath the grey October sky. The playground was an ugly place, all mud and iron, something that seemed more appropriate to the battlefields depictions of World War II. The girl wailed like a baby in the lonely place. No one was around and so it seemed okay to let it out when no one was there. Asuka hated to herself in this state of weakness, when the world seemed to have gone and died around her. Her mother was in a mental ward, her father and stepmother were always bickering and from the sound of it, she was going to leave Asuka and her father too.
She was lonely. She was away from her home, now placed in a big city where everyone was more worried about themselves and how they were going live out an existence after Second Impact. She had no friends, no one who would actually be with her. All she had was her stepmother's damn stuffed monkey, and it provided no comfort, there was no affection behind it. It was more of a peace offering, a way in which her stepmother could bribe her way into being accepted by Asuka. There was no love within that grotesque creature, only the substance that a pillow or a cushion had. But it was something she could actually have to cling to. Something that gave some sort of comfort wherever she went. Plus no one who give her strange looks if she seemed to take 'comfort'- No, it wasn't comfort or companionship she felt, it just filled physical space, a way of trying to fill up the void of where her parents should have been.
Asuka's real mother and father ought to be with her, not out bickering with their second wife or working themselves to the point of insanity. But still, that is how it was, Asuka wasn't important to them. They wanted to ignore her, to avoid her. They didn't like her. She was an inconvenience to them. She wasn't wanted, neither by her mother or her father. She had no value. This was before she found EVA, when everything was lost.
"Sei ruhig,du Baby!" Little Asuka immediately stopped and looked around for who ever had ordered to be silent. In sneakers, slacks, and a shirt stood a small, tough-looking kid with a textbook. The boy glared at Little Asuka, seemingly having no patience for her bawling. Sniffling Little Asuka glared right back at him.
Little Asuka protested to being called a baby, which the young boy simply countered with attributes that a baby had. Clinging to a stuffed animal and always crying. This just flustered the young redhead and the two continued to argue back and forth, neither of them wanting to lose face before whatever invisible audience they conjured.
"This was when I first met Tristan." Asuka murmured to herself. "I was easily older than him, but not by much. He was so studious and serious, but none of the boys ever tried to cause trouble for him. He was a scrapper too, something like a pit bull. He never would let go of anything he put himself into."
Meanwhile, the argument between the two children continued until Asuka, having run out of directions with which to attack the boy simply looked away with a snobby sound. The young Tristan gave a chuckle and introduced himself. Asuka immediately told him off before sticking her tongue out at him and walking away. But then she stopped and told him her name. Asuka didn't like how sickenly cute she was back then, even with all the troubles she had, she still seemed like a normal little girl. No one could understand how she felt inside, how the break up of her family was tearing her apart, or how the loneliness rotted out her insides. No one understood her.
"Tristan was the first friend I ever had. Too bad I didn't know how selfish he was on the inside, how much he wanted the recognition of being called an EVA pilot. That he would think it was my fault that he failed to prove himself."
"But isn't that the truth." Asuka's heart skipped a beat as the familiar voice whispered into her ear. She whirled around to face the intruder in her mind and found nothing. The voice, without a visible entity behind it continued. "You'd do anything to be recognized by others. To be praised. To feel loved. You're no better than Misato."
"No! I am not Misato! She was a disgrace as a guardian and commander, she didn't even deserve my respect."
"And yet you try to emulate her. You wear her clothes, the jacket you found in the ocean."
"That's different. A memento, an artefact of her life."
"Thus meaning her life was something to be remembered. And yet you deny she means anything to you. You crave the same kind of reputation, to get what you can from others."
"I was a convenient stepping stone, wasn't I, you stone-cold bitch." Tristan's words dripped venom as he stepped out of the shadows.
"No! I earned the right to be an EVA pilot! I deserved it!"
"Oh please," Tristan scoffed. "when the chips were down, you couldn't compete. You are not an pilot, you're a charlatan!"
"No! I am an Evangelion pilot!" Asuka cried. Tristan gave a malicious toothy grin. The colour of his skin faded as his lips became blood red and his features melded simply into a grotesque mouth at the end of a thick neck. His body began to harden into a carapace until he became a human-sized version of a production model Evangelion. The very foe that was able to defeat Asuka.
The monster idled for nary a moment, gauging up it's opponent, before charging forward. Feeling a burning need for vengeance welling up inside her, Asuka roared at charged at the monstrosity leaving the muddy playground for the exposed geo front and the one Evangelion that slipped past her grasp. Never again would she grant quarter. Never again will she fight for sport. She would be the merciless animal that dwelled within her and her weapon.
"Cut power to the simulation body!" Tristan ordered. The technicians were in a frenzy, collecting data, and diagnosing the source of the error. The reason for the simulation body's wild convulsions and the silence of the entry plug. Tristan glanced back down at the synchronization monitor to see Asuka's synapses explode apart as her control of the EVA was lost and the machine took on a mind of it's own.
"Done." A technician reported. Beyond the glass and the main monitor, in the briny blue fluid, the thrashing of the simulation body stopped with only a couple of twitches as the last neural command finished it's route to the muscles.
"Disconnect the plug from the body. What is the status of the Second Child?"
"Disconnection complete."
"Unknown. Plug is-" The technician paused. "Bio readout has returned normal. Status is at full and running normal. Pilot is regaining consciousness." Immediately the technician opened the channel to the plug. They heard a small groan followed by a grunt of surprise. No doubt the pilot hadn't anticipated the disconnections when she went out.
"What the Hell happened?"
"Feedback error from the simulation body." Tristan lied. "Tower Four's equipment is still outdated and so there can be times when a test could cause negative feedback." Asuka considered this and glared forward.
"That damn well better not happen when I'm actually piloting."
"It won't. This will only cause delays in the test, nothing more. Considering the fact that we have this problem, the lab will have to go under maintenance. The tests is over at this point. Take a shower and get some rest, but I want to speak with you in my office at…" He paused, he was about to say seventeen hundred, but that would mean she would come at the same time Shinji would. That wouldn't be wise. "At eighteen hundred hours." Asuka looked puzzled on the video feed, as if she noticed the hesitation.
"Alright. I suppose I can sit around for an hour." Tristan nodded to himself and glanced around at the technicians. A few were giving him more strange looks, a few more were irritated, namely that his lie would mean needless maintenance on the simulation body, but it was important for Tristan to keep the information on what just occurred from either pilot. He didn't know why, but he felt that information was something to be carefully considered. Tristan leaned over and turned off the transmission to the entry plug.
"I want both pilot's synch ratios spreadsheet, psychograph readings, plus a timeline of the events that occurred sent to my office immediately. It's time to call it a day." Tristan once again left the box and back into the corridor.
Madison was not there to greet him as she had did earlier in the day. Tristan felt a little disappointed in her absence, but then he had turned her down in spending time together. She was rather clingy and it sometimes got on his nerves, but Tristan was aware that the girl from New Zealander had no one else to relate to. Even though she was fluent in German, she had a difficult time in making friends with others, seeming to be a little too outgoing for most of her peers.
The problem was, Tristan pondered as he entered the elevator, was that Tristan was far too busy managing the new pilots of the NEC to hold the girl's hand at this time. Further, the rapid development of identity between UNIT and NEC was causing tension among the members of E-NERV. The Evangelions were a limited resource and UNIT would not understand that with her neighbour harbouring two more pilots, the NEC was at greater risk of an Angel attack. But then, UNIT never received the final transmission from Tokyo-3 and they clung to much upon old ways of thinking. North America was once the economic heart of the world, now it was simply a land of barbarians.
Tristan opened the door to his office. He had already been in the commander and sub-commander's suites, and despite his prestigious position in Tower Four, his workplace lacked the grandeur that his superiors possessed. A desk, laptop, chair, a cabinet, and two chairs for visitors. It looked like something a bank manager would have, not the tactician to the defenders of the Earth. Tristan sat down on his chair and scanned the desktop. Two used and empty coffee mugs, a pen or three, and several small stacks of paper and manual that migrated down to the empty space to one side of his desk, which he conveniently camouflaged with a fake, potted plant.
The papers themselves were the sort that always moved about a bureaucracy. Something that had to be read and signed, but would never be picked up for the rest of civilization's existence. A waste of paper made by the Executive Council. A senate without a nation, that cluster of old men just wanted to blow smoke in the face of E-NERV and the other organizations that were run by the MAGI because they couldn't start a smear campaign against a collection of supercomputers with no thoughts nor feelings. They just wanted to seem useful without doing any meaningful work for the NEC.
"Pitiful rats." Tristan grumbled to himself as he moved the reams of paper off of his desk and into the ever growing pile before pulling out a notepad and booting up the computer. He immediately called up the information he requested from the synch tests and scanning over it, began to take brief notes in cursive. Despite the fact that it was formulated in the heat of the moment, Tristan needed to formalize his plans before offering them to his 'troops'. After several more minutes, Tristan closed down the documents and scanned over his notes, making quick changes in the wording as it would require equal consideration on account of both pilots in order to get them to agree to his terms.
The job was soon completed and Tristan placed the page of writings down onto the desk and rubbed his drying eyes. He glanced at his watch. Quarter after five. Shinji was already late. Tristan considered lecturing the pilot when he finally showed or perhaps at home. But with what was going on, he was probably taking measures in order to avoid Asuka, considering that they both new their synch tests were going to occur on the same day.
The door finally opened and Tristan looked up with a smug expression on his face.
"Ah, M-" Tristan's voice caught in his throat as he just saw his planning hit the first bend, and was ready to careen off the cliff face.
"Hallo, Tristan." Asuka chirped in a cheery voice, stepping inside.
"What are you doing here, Asuka?" The girl shrugged.
"Well I really don't plan on sitting around this damn place for an hour. Besides, I am sure you can finish your report after you've spoken to me."
"That's not-" Something clicked in Tristan and he immediately grabbed the phone. He barely got the receiver to his ear by the time the door opened again and Shinji stepped it. The air seemed to become the viscosity of oil and time ran like molasses, all the characters in this comedy of errors remaining stark still, each with a different form of shock forming on their face. The stillness remained for several minutes, no one spoke. No one spoke. If a technician the cages dropped a wrench, the sound would probably reverberate all the way up to the offices. The silence was deafening.
Tristan made the first move, and hung up the phone and folded his hands and sighed.
"Both of you, please sit down." Shinji and Asuka didn't move, their eyes locked as if gauging each other. However, the will to fight could only be seen in Asuka's body language. Shinji's face read fear. He was aware he was in danger and unless Tristan kept calm, he would probably bolt. "I told you to sit down." Tristan repeated in an insistent yet even tone.
Asuka turned away from Shinji with agonizing slowness and came to rest in one of the seats before the desk, shuffling to one side to keep her distance from the other vacant seat. Tristan turned his gaze to the boy who hesitated several seconds before closing the door and sitting down. Tristan scanned the faces of his pilots and found them, both watching him.
"I didn't intend you two to run into each other this early."
"He is not going to be a pilot, is he?" Asuka asked, not evening glancing at Shinji.
"That's why you're here. I looked at both of your synch ratios." Both pilots leaned in. "They are dismal at best." Asuka's face pinched into a frown and Shinji gave a long sigh. The boy looked away, already believing that he was out of the running. "But I believe both of you can still save yourselves."
"How?" Asuka asked. Shinji watched by said nothing.
"Shinji is undisciplined. Before he could easily synchronize but without practice, he has fallen out of his zone." Tristan looked to Shinji. "You will be going through strict physical and mental preparation. A concentrated version of the training Asuka and I went through to become eligible to become Evangelion pilots. You will have to work hard and follow my instructions exactly, understood?" Shinji nodded, seeming to have become a mute.
"There is no way that creep can complete the training. It was enough of a fluke that he was able to synchronize with an Evangelion at all, let alone go through the training. This coward won't last ten minutes under any military training."
"I have-"
"No! I won't stand for it!" Asuka cried, standing up.
"Sit down Asuka."
"I am not going to allow myself to be walked over by the commanders. I am not going to be placed in the same work environment as a rapist!" Shinji sprang up from his seat.
"That's a lie!" He cried.
"Both of you sit down." Tristan ordered evenly again. In the back of his mind, Tristan was steeling himself for when the two pilot would trade blows. If anything, he wanted to push the button to call security before even a fist was made, but he knew even his reflexes would not be quick enough. He needed to defuse the situation. But how?
"That's exactly what you would say, wouldn't you! That your victim is lying to get attention. You're just afraid of the consequences of your actions you monster!"
"It wasn't me!"
"Like Hell it wasn't! But go on, tell me who really raped me! Who was it? And why didn't you try and help me! 'The Invincible Shinji.' What a joke! You couldn't even help protect one damn girl! Probably because you were too guilty to allow her to live. You wanted me to die out there. I bet your were giggling like a baby when you heard me being eviscerated, you sick pig!"
"Shut up! It isn't like that!"
"Both of you sit down, now." Tristan said, raising his voice.
"Then what is it you goddamn liar?"
"I didn't don't do it. I don't know who did, please-"
"That's garbage."
"Stopp das rumjaulen,du Göre!" Tristan bellowed as he thrust himself out of his chair and leaned against the desk with his arms. Asuka turned slowly, remembering the same demand when she was a child and they first met. He still thought she was a brat? The nerve!
"Well, if you haven't gotten the news yet," Asuka pointed a finger at Shinji while glaring at the captain. "this son of a bitch raped me!"
"That's irrelevant!" Tristan snapped back. All present were surprised by the statement and the clarity at which Tristan spoke those words. "At this time I am scrambling to find something I could care less about. Mostly because the largest thing on my mind is ensuring that the NEC has people who can actually pilot those ugly dolls down in the cages." Asuka glared at Shinji.
"Why don't you send 'it' to UNIT to deal with."
"Are you an idiot, Sohryu? UNIT only has one Evangelion and we already went over the attack patterns of the Angels." Tristan sat back down and folded his hands. "Besides, the culture shock would be too great."
"'Culture shock'? Gott im Heimell, Tristan! This kid has been thought Hell and back and you're giving a damn about culture shock. You're babying that bastard!"
"Funny,I only hear one spoiled brat." Asuka gave a snort.
"Then why don't you send me to UNIT to fight, I know enough English."
"They are unfit to fight any offensive force at this time. Sending you will attract Angels and then we would have a massacre."
"Then make a transfer. Anything so that I can get away from him!" As the argument continued Shinji sat down and looked at his lap as his peer and commanding officer bickered between themselves.
"They will refuse. They don't trust us."
"What? Why?"
"They are taking on a 'turtle strategy' and are rather paranoid. Further, the placement of their current running MAGI causes there to be too much space to be considered. Therefore, the nation is run by the emotions and greed of people rather than the logic of machine." Shinji looked up at this statement. It sounded as though Tristan really valued a society where machines were in control. Plus the coldness in which he regarded people made him see almost mechanical as well.
"But…"
"That's enough. Regardless of your personal wants, Ms. Sohryu, the NEC is the only nation with the means and capability to draw in and eliminate the Angel threat."
"We haven't even found reports that the Angels are still around."
"I am not going to simply stand idle when the possibility of the Angel's return is uncertain."
"You're doing this for yourself, aren't you?" Asuka accused.
"I do it for the love of my country. But you probably wouldn't understand that." He looked away. "Now then, the two of you will be placed in similar training programs with regards to acquiring the skills to be EVA pilots."
"You mean to tell me that I'm going to have to go through training again? That's ridiculous."
"I said similar. Things will be different between the two of your because we need to cultivate different attributes in the two of your in order to allow you to effectively synchronize with your Evangelions."
"When do we start?" Shinji asked, breaking the silence from his section of the room.
"Tomorrow." The captain answered promptly.
"Is that all you wanted to share with us?" Asuka asked sharply.
"There is one more thing. I suggest that both of your kiss your personal vendettas goodbye at the door when you leave. The NEC needs pilots and not a bunch of scrapping children, especially ones who's relationship could lead to homicide. Any act that would harm the other pilot with be considered an act of treason. Actions will be taken thus."
"I hate this." Asuka grumbled.
"Like it or not, you are now a part of NERV once again and your job is to destroy the Angels until one side is destroyed. You are now dismissed." Asuka was more than happy to have Tristan out of her sight. Shinji waited for the angry girl to leave. He then looked to Tristan, who watched him thoughtfully. "You wanted to ask something?" Shinji shook his head. "Speak up! I know you're not a mute."
"Well it's, uh…" Shinji pondered as to what to say next. "When you told Asuka you didn't care about the fact that she had been raped, your reaction was awfully cold."
"Asuka told me that story earlier that you were trying to rape her. I didn't believe it for a second. I really think it's a ploy to get attention. It's really quite sad actually."
"I don't think it was a lie. When a doctor ran a check up on her, she realized she had been raped."
"How long ago was that?"
"More than a month."
"And the presumed rape occurred before Third Impact, am I right?" Shinji nodded and Tristan leaned back to contemplate the matter. "It makes sense I suppose. I suppose we might as well get a second opinion from another doctor."
"N-no. I don't think that's necessary. The doctor was a friend of Asuka's so, she might have just been after an excuse to get rid of me or something."
"Doesn't sound unlike her. Well, that settles that. Anything else you have to say."
"No. I'll see you at home then."
"Maybe later tonight. I've got to finish Asuka's report. Order something in if you get hungry." Shinji nodded and left.
Out in the hall, Shinji leaned against a wall and touched his forehead as a mess of concerns struck him. Tristan didn't know about the pregnancy. And Shinji had just continued to cover it up. What if that cause complications later when Asuka was piloting. For one thing it wasn't his child so he shouldn't worry, but Asuka was also his friend. Was it right for him to just cause a greater risk for her. Shinji's head hurt. Things were getting complicated.
Author's Notes
Been awhile since I put in another chapter. I apologize for the wait. Steve has gotten the translations in, I appreciate the suggestion by "bsdisaster", understand however, I am using a crummy electronic translator that doesn't get the same grammar rules. This is the fifth time I've tried writing the words in German, unfortunately, IE seems to hate complicated fonts.