Disclaimer- I don't own Evangelion, property of Studio Gainax, Anno-san, plus a bunch of other people and associations.
Chapter 4 Conundrum
"So what have you been doing, Shinji?" Touji asked, taking a bite out of his food.
Shinji glanced up at his friend, not really hungry, but enjoying time spent with a friend. It had been a long time since he had talked, really talked, with anyone.
"After I left town, I did a few odd jobs, mostly to keep myself alive." He said off handedly, smiling slightly. "Some very nice people helped me out, helped me leave the country... I learned English and saw Europe..."
"Wow, you really went everywhere, didn't you?" Touji commented, leaning back into his chair and crossing his arms behind his head. "Kensuke always wondered how you managed to get away from NERV for so long."
The Third Child's smile was sad and small. "There was so much confusion that day... with the Magi cut off, there was no way of them tracking me till after I skipped town. After that, I just... disappeared."
He said no more, and Touji decided not to push him any farther.
"Hey, you gonna eat that?" he asked, eyeing Shinji's food.
Shinji's lips quirked into a tiny hint of a real smile. "No." He said, rolling his eyes.
A red light beeped at the desk of Seele 01. Keel frowned, and punched in the number. It was Seele 03.
The image of the hook nosed man was bathed in yellow light, and he was looking as unpleasant as ever.
"What is it?" Seele 01 demanded briskly.
Seele 03 grinned nastily. "My contacts," he said, his tone oily and slick, "Have reported sightings of the Third Child walking the streets of Tokyo 3. Unguarded."
"What of it?" Keel asked, irritated at being contacted without forewarning.
The man merely grinned wider, unaffected by his tone.. "I am requesting that I dispatch the boy before he may interfere with our plans. The Ikaris have been known to do so."
Seele 01 contemplated this. With their new scenario, Unit 01 could be more of a nuisance than an asset.
And its pilot was a known enemy.
And not just any enemy, but the spawn of Commander Ikari. The boy would suffer for both the sins of his father and himself.
After all, they had restrained their anger for so long.
"Make it so."
Seele 03 bowed his head, and the grin could have split the man's face.
Misato wheeled herself towards the break room, the stifling atmosphere of the command center always bothersome for her.
As she entered the lounge, she found it occupied by a single redhead.
"Hey Asuka," the Sub Commander greeted sunnily.
The Second Child merely grunted in response, a frosty glare in her eyes.
After living with the explosive girl and then working with the woman, Misato was used to the cold shoulder. "You're upset with me, aren't you?" she said calmly, placing a few coins in the vending machine. "For not telling you."
"What do you think," Asuka responded testily, having a sip of her own drink, "Sir." She added as an afterthought.
Sighing, the older woman moved herself next to the captain. "Look... I had to keep this quiet, okay. The Commander ordered me not to tell anyone."
"And since when has orders ever stopped you, Misato?" the Director of Operations snarled, crushing her can with one violent movement. "I thought we were friends. But I guess I was wrong." And with that, she spun, storming off, but the Sub Commander grasped her wrist.
"Look... I didn't even know if Shinji would return. All I had to go on was Commander Fuyutsuki's word. And..." she paused, and sighed deeply. "I didn't want to make things harder for him, if he came back."
For a moment, Asuka stood still, contemplating the words. Then, with her usual arrogance, merely said, "It's not like I care that the dork is back. I just hate being left out, especially since I am technically third in command."
Misato smiled slightly. "I know, I know. I should have known you'd be mature enough to handle this." She said, half meaning the words.
"Yes, you should have." The redhead replied, raising her head high. "Now, could you let go of my wrist? I have work to do, y'know?"
A phone rang.
"Yes?"
"It's me. Keel has given me the green light."
"Understood sir. I will proceed as planned."
"Do not reveal yourself unless you cannot kill the boy any other way. Leave no evidence of my involvement. I don't want any witnesses unless its absolutely necessary. Is that clear?"
"Crystal, sir."
"Good."
Click.
Its well known that a rumor spreads like wildfire. However, Shinji Ikari must never have heard of such a thing.
Despite being the pilot of cutting edge technology, despite being the equivalent of a fourteen year old soldier, Shinji had never been in the limelight before. He despised any sort of attention like that, but never once thought of being any sort of public figure.
This is why that he was completely caught off guard when he stepped outside of the restaurant, and was mobbed.
"Mr. Ikari! A word!"
"Why are you back here in Tokyo 3!"
"Is it true the Evangelion's are being reactivated!"
"Do you have anything to say to the families of the soldiers!"
"Are you here to take over your father's position as Commander of NERV!"
He simply stood there, uncomprehending.
Luckily, Touji happened to keep his head, pushing himself in front of his long absent friend, waving both arms in front of them, shoving the journalists back. "Hey! Piss off!" he snarled.
Of course, the media is never deterred by protests.
"Mr. Ikari, where have you been in the past seven years!"
"Do you regret the brutal massacre that day!"
The demands were unceasing, and brutal on Shinji's already fragile mind. Numbly, he just stood there, taking every question that he dreaded to face.
Misato absentmindedly rubbed her wrist. One of these days, she decided, her wrist was going to fall off from all of this paperwork.
Just as she was about to put the pen back to the paper, her phone rang.
Shaking the cramps out of her wrist, she picked up the phone.
"Commander Katsuragi here."
"This is Section Two. We're getting reports of the Third Child being mobbed by reporters."
"Shit." The Sub Commander's eyes widened. "Get those damn reporters out of there! Now! And tell PR to get their Goddamn asses in gear!"her voice was angry, and she slammed the phone down, hard.
After a moment of quietly sitting there, she roughly grabbed the phone again.
"This is Katsuragi. Get me a car."
On a rooftop, the assassin cursed. It was bad enough that damn Ikari boy had been in a public area. But now the frickin media?
But he had been paid handsomely for the effort. And with that sort of money, whoever was paying him could quite possibly have him taken out as well.
The target was always, always the most important thing in this game.
Any other casualties were merely collateral.
"Major Sohryu."
Asuka swung her head towards a most unwelcome sight. Though her childish enmity had fallen away with time, she still harbored a deep resentment toward the First Child. "What is it First Child?"
Rei bowed her head slightly. "Where is Ikari?"
Scowling, the Operations Director turned away. "How the hell should I know? I'm not his keeper. Besides, he's probably meeting up with his friends by now."
The First Child frowned. "Why do you hate him so?" she asked.
Asuka spun around, eyes blazing. "I am your superior officer. You will address me as such!" she snapped.
Rei nodded her head once. "My apologies. Why do you have him so, sir?"
Her nose flared and Asuka gritted her teeth. "I don't have to answer to you." She responded tersely. "Now get out of my sight."
Unaffected, Rei merely cocked her head to the side. "Is it because you harbor resentment toward him? Because he saved you?" her voice was toneless, but relentless. "Or because he didn't?"
Asuka's eyes widened, and she slapped the First Child. "Shut your mouth bitch!" her fists curled, but she didn't strike. "You don't know a damn thing about me! So shut up!"
Rei didn't even touch her already darkening cheek. "My apologies." She repeated. "I spoke out of turn." And with that, she turned and left, leaving the Second Child with fists curled.
"DAMN IT!" Asuka swore, and punched the metal wall, splitting her knuckles and bruising them. Even as a small trickle of blood began to fall from her fingers, she shakily removed them from the undamaged wall.
She didn't move for a long time.
"What about the rumors you've secretly been hunting down the members of the organization Seele!"
"Or that you had a hand in your estranged father's death!"
After every question, Shinji seemed to sink deeper and deeper into himself.
And then... worse things happened.
"MURDERER!"
As if he had been electrocuted, Shinji's head shot up, and he glanced wildly about, before spotting an angry, red faced woman in the crowd. She was crying.
"You killed my husband!" she yelled furiously, and tried to rush through the crowd at him, but the mob of reporters was too thick.
Soon, others took up verbal arms. And some were much closer.
"You killed my son you bastard!" a middle aged businessman, probably very calm in normal life, roared, and punched the Third Child in the face, knocking him backwards.
Shinji's eyes dulled, as though the fist had struck out at his soul.
"MURDERER!" others shouted.
Before the man could strike again, Touji stepped in.
"Back! Get the hell back!" Touji scowled as he grabbed Shinji's arm, roughly trying to drag him away.
But the reporters and the vengeful grabbed at him, a confusing maelstrom of arms and hands and shouts and screams.
And then...
A shot rang out.
It cut apart the other sounds with effortless ease, and for a moment, everything went silent.
Shinji's eyes widened as the blood soaked his shirt.
Misato scowled as her cell phone rang again. Keeping one hand on the wheel (not much of a detriment of her driving skill), she grabbed the cell. "Katsuragi."
"This is Section Two."
The next words out of the agent's mouth nearly caused several pedestrian's their lives.
"WHAT! GET YOUR ASS DOWN THERE NOW!"
There are moments in time where things stand still.
This was not one of those times.
Everything was a whirlwind of sound and blood and noise, people screaming and running and shouting.
The assassin cursed again, trying to fix his aim, but his number of bullets did not allow any waste. He could not afford to screw up this job.
Luckily for him, failure wasn't an option any more as a Section Two agent put a bullet through his skull.
Shinji felt the blood against his shirt, and hands shakily touched it. The sickly wet liquid seemed to snap some sanity back into him.
"TOUJI!"
He knelt, shaking Touji. "Don't die! Please..." he said desperately. He couldn't take it if another person died.
Dimly, he heard someone clearing the crowd, before a hand grasped his shoulder. Shinji's head turned to see the mirrored glasses of a Section Two agent.
"Are you alright Mister Ikari?"
"Don't worry about me!" Shinji snapped urgently. "Help him!"
Another agent knelt, feeling the wound. "Its bad," he reported, frowning. He opened his cell from an inner pocket in the suit. "We need medical down here now."
The woman who had shouted earlier had made her way through the crowd. "Murderer!" she yelled again.
And this time, Shinji reacted, looking down at the blood on his fingers.
He always hurt those he cared about.
"I'm sorry." He whispered softly, and fled, trying but failing to outrun the pain.
"Ugly bastard, aren't you?" Doctor Roberts commented, glancing at the unholy creature. Construction was finally being finished after seven years, and still that thing didn't look any less horrible.
It shouldn't have taken so long, but with funding limited due to secrecy, plus the lack of adequate personnel, equipment...
Well, the doctor should have been pleased that he managed to finish in seven years at all.
But Seele was impatient, the once seemingly indomitable cabal in a frantic race against time. Seven years of hiding from the U.N., from NERV. In an instant, fortune had turned its back on Seele, and only their extensive resources kept the Throne of Souls alive.
Doctor Roberts' eyes narrowed hatefully. He had been one of Seele's rising stars in the Third Branch. He was no Doctor Akagi, but smart enough to make connections and figure things out. He had been on the fast track.
Then NERV had overthrown the Committee and all Seele connected personnel had been driven underground.
But this was his retribution.
With Eva Unit 14, he and Seele would have revenge on NERV.
In front of him, the ivory Evangelion grinned maniacally, as if sensing that its time was near. Nearby, its crimson weapon gleamed, as if hungry to accomplish its mission.
And in the shadows, a gray haired boy watched with his own, secretive smile.
Author's Notes
Urgh... Vacation, while relaxing, is not good for writing. It took me a while to get myself together, not to mention school starting up again...
Well, enough of my whining. On to actual notes.
Doctor Roberts is an ACC with no real importance to the story, other than to usher in the new Eva. I used the designation 14 because at one point in the series, Misato refers to part of the Eva Series as 05 and 06, leading me to believe that all of them had their own number.