Again I own nothing, well I own quite a few things but nothing relating to EVA. Otherwise the series would have split off into a second season that fans would be howling for my blood over.
Chapter Six: Preludes
Yui scratched irritably at the spot between her spine and shoulder blade. The one thing she didn't miss was having to get at that little itch, where you had to twist your arm halfway round just to get at it, and then could barely rub it in hopes of relieving some of that ITCHING. She gave up on it and looked over the schematics on the screen. Doctor Akagi was with her, her nose tapped over.
It still hurt like hell.
Yui had dragged her out of her apartment late Monday afternoon, Shinji, and Asuka had been sent back to school, and Rei was under close observation while she carried out a series of harmonics tests. The data in the tests was being thoroughly screened at the Commanders orders, he did not want whatever suicidal tendency had afflicted Rei to be transmitted to the dummies.
Though he had gone onto an interesting train of thought with that. She suspected Gendo was planning something rather evil for one of his enemies.
"So, this is the system you rigged up for Unit-00, seems a bit . . . grotesque." Yui remarked as she looked at the design. Internal feedback through a series of nerve shunts wired directly into the dummies brain providing an even greater number of I/O lines compared to the standard dummy system.
"Well, it was designed back when the system was in its primitive stages. Think of it as a proof of concept taken to the next level."
"So this is how you've managed to get Naoka's soul to co-operate."
Ritsuko stiffened. "How did you know about that!"
Yui shrugged. "Your mother always was good at putting backdoors in her system. I used one and brought up some rather interesting files. You'd be surprised, Gendo didn't really intend for Naoka to suicide." Yui paused, and dropped her head on the consol. 'I did it again', she was still getting the hang of empathy. She had to pay attention and think before she spoke. It was easy with Shinji, Rei, and Asuka, she had experience with them as people. Ritsuko had so far just been Naoka's girl. "I shouldn't have said that, I'm sorry." Yui said, her voice muffled from her head still laying on the console.
"No need for that," Ritsuko shifted uncomfortably. "As for the system, yes it is a bit gruesome but it works and that's what matters."
"True." Yui looked up studying the elaborate tracery of circuit connections.
The control system for Naoka's soul was truly something else. When it had been discovered that Naoka Akagi resided inside the core of Unit-00 Gendo had been a little paranoid. The prophecies had been fairly vague to the First Child's mother and protector. He'd needed someway to control Naoka, who he imagined was rather pissed with him for his manipulations.
Unit-00's core was specially quarantined, Naoka was kept dormant through energy deprivation to key sections of the core. These sections also unfortunately, were responsible for the EVA's motor control and AT field, which were far too complex for any traditional onboard computer to handle.
So Ritsuko had come up with an ingenious system to allow the operation of Unit-00. Rei synchronized with herself. It had taken some time to work out. Fortunately the original Rei had died of asphyxiation and had been put on ice soon afterwards. Revival had taken some time but they'd managed to get everything beating again. Rei's soul had already been transferred to the next body and the brain was badly damaged. Still Rei I had held a soul and so had all of the residual characteristics needed to be used to control the AT field, motor control could simply be shunted through what was left of the original Rei's brain.
"So you think it will work for what we're planning?"
"No clue." Ritsuko replied as she sipped at a cup of coffee. Another thing Yui tried to avoid now, it didn't have any ill affects, but it did make her a bit hyper and she didn't really need it anyway. Not with an S2 core residing in her abdomen.
"It should work assuming that you can keep your focus, though we've never tried it with an EVA in the condition Unit 01 is in. What if you get reabsorbed?" Ritsuko asked, pointing out the biggest risk right off.
"I doubt it, don't forget I have quite a bit more control over my ego border now. So I should be able to synch with the EVA's core for this . . ." Yui trailed off, it would not be pleasant, being back in 'there', again after such a short taste of freedom. " . . . and still get out."
"I'd be more worried about what will happen if Commander Ikari finds out." Ritsuko added. 'Damn it, why am I helping her?' This was far to out of character in Ritsuko's opinion. The more she thought about it though, the more she realized Yui's presence had forced her to think about what she had done. For the last two days her mind had been running continuously trying to work out the reason for this guilt. She found the reasons, PLURAL, to be rather disturbing.
"He'll only find out if you tell him." Yui pointed out."And your in this with me so it probably wouldn't be smart to rat me out."
Ritsuko shook her head. "He knows my mother's codes for the MAGI system, he'll find out."
"Mmmmmhh", Yui grumbled to herself. "No, no he won't, there are backdoors that were set up by your mother. And I know quite a few of them. Probably more than Gendo. Naoka always was a smart one. She always had an ace up her sleeve for EVERY situation."
Ritsuko just blinked a few times. "How would you know about those codes?"
"How do you think we managed to go out drinking every night, even during lockdowns?" Yui replied.
"I see . . ."
Yui looked at her seriously, Ritsuko looked back from behind her glasses. Yui couldn't keep it up, her face cracked and she started laughing.
"What is it?"
"You just . . . you just . . . remind me . . . so much of your mother when you do that look." Yui laughed like a maniac.
'Remember, your doing this to obtain absolution for your sins.' Ritsuko reminded herself as she ground her teeth.
Yui just kept laughing.
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"Class Dismissed." There was a sudden burst of activity as everyone got up to leave. Everyone but the Class representative, Shinji Ikari, and Asuka Langley Soryu. The rest of the class hightailed it for the door and freedom in short order.
Hikari looked over the other two students. Shinji and Asuka had been called to handle class clean up for the next day. And it gave Hikari a chance to ask them something that had been bugging her.
"I saw we're getting a new student tomorrow", she noted idly as they stood up, packing there own school books.
"Really", Asuka asked, mildly surprised but not all that interested. She classified this as Hikari just trying to make small talk and ignored it.
"Yeah, I was wondering if you guys knew about her. I didn't know Ayanami had a twin sister."
Both pilots froze and gave each other a look that could best be summed up as: 'Oh CRAP we're screwed!'
"Uhm, well yeah Rei doesn't have much family", Asuka replied lamely.
"Still a sister and she's never said anything about her." Hikari's voice was filled with disbelief.
"I don't think they've ever been that close, they've spent most of there lives apart." Asuka said, now trying to think of some way to shift the topic.
"Oh, ok then. Still hasn't Rei ever talked about her, certainly to you Shinji?"
"She told me she had a sister once but that's all." Shinji replied quickly, he wasn't a very good liar, but since he sounded nervous half the time anyway he hoped Hikari wouldn't notice.
"Ah, that's a shame." Hikari sighed as she headed out the door to get the cleaning supplies, leaving Asuka and Shinji to their own devices.
"How could she do something like this?" Asuka snarled angrily.
"I-it's probably just part of her cover, that's all." Shinji answered nervously. "I mean why would she want to come to school with us? She'll probably be absent more times than not." He finished quickly as Asuka balled her fist.
She lowered the offending limb and gave him a dark look.
He was compelled to speak. "I thought you liked Yui, Asuka why are you so angry about her going to school with us?"
"It just seems weird. Her butting into our lives like this, and she's only been around for a few days!"
Shinji frowned, his mother did seem over obsessed with becoming part of his life. Was she going through some sort of phase, or was this simply her acentric personality? 'Yeah, she's having a mid life crisis', Shinji thought dryly. For some reason that thought made him laugh. Asuka looked at him like he was some sort of madman.
Shinji tried to think of some sort of explanation and failed miserably. Their was only one possible thing to do, shift the conversation. "Hey, uh, did Hikari find out why Touji was absent today?"
Asuka snorted, "Why should I care where the stooge was, he's your friend." She looked back at the grimy windows of the classroom which she was supposed to clean. "Mein Gott can't you Japanese keep a room clean for just one day?"
Shinji sighed, as Asuka went off on a rant about the stupidity of writing and reading Kanji and the superiority of all that was German.
At least she hadn't stayed on the subject of his mother. 'Maybe it won't be so bad. I mean what's the worst that could happen with my mother here?'
Hickari came back in hauling an empty water bucket and the rest of the cleaning supplies. She handed the bucket off to Shinji and ordered him to go fill it because he was the boy. Never mind that Asuka was physically stronger then him.
He headed out the door with the bucket muttering to himself aloud, but silently thankful inside that he was getting away from Asuka.
After Shinji's footsteps faded Asuka began to speak. "So what happened to Touji today?" she asked absently.
Hikari Shrugged, "I don't know, he told me he was going to be absent last Friday and that's all I heard. Why the sudden interest?" Hikari asked suspicious. Asuka could guess why, though Hikari probably thought she was hiding it quite well, everyone in the class knew she liked Suzuhara. Everyone with the exception of the target of her affection, Touji himself.
"Shinji wanted to know, and I figured if anyone had the answer it would be you." Asuka said lamely.
"Oh, well sorry I don't know anything". Hikari paused. "Hey why did you ask on Shinji's behalf?" Her suspicion was back in full force. Asuka never did anything out of concern for Shinji.
"Well, can't I do something for the baka? He's too idiotic to ask anyone himself!" She huffed slightly as she put her back into the scrubbing the floor boards with a cleaning agent, she's have to wash it off again when Shinji came back with the water.The grime that could accumulate in just one day was phenomenal! 'Why do I have to get stuck with chores, this is stupid'. She thought in despair as she looked over the class room. She had so far barely gone over a fifth of the class, great.
"It's just not like you that's all." Hikari replied.
"So it's bad for me to do something nice?" Asuka asked."
"No not bad," Hikari reassured, "Just different. I mean usually you'd just say he was whining about 'one of the stooges not being there to boost his pitiful ego'", Hikari said in her best immitation of Asuka's voice.
Asuka winced at the bad attempt at a German accent.
"What happened that has you in such a good mood." Hikari asked as she put a pair of gloves on and started pulling gum off from beneath the tables. Making a mental list of which desks belonged to which students. They would all receive strongly worded complaints in the morning.
Asuka thought about it, Hikari would find out soon enough anyways so why not. "I met wondergirl's sister this weekend, she's just as strange as Rei but practically dead opposite."
"Really, how so?" Hikari asked as she pried at a particularly large, dry, piece of gum.
"Well, she's just so cheerful, it's creepy. You see Rei's face with that smile and it throws you off kind of."
"Yeah I guess, so do you get along with her well or something?"
Asuka's had to consider this for several long seconds as she worked on the floor. "Well, she was a little arrogant when I first met her, but she's seems nice underneath that."
'Like you', Hikari thought wearily, Asuka was her friend but she didn't know if she could handle two of her.
"So uh, is she an EVA pilot like you guys then?"
Asuka stuck with half truths. "She's registered as a pilot but I don't think she'll actually see any fighting she's backup in case one of us gets sick or is injured." At least Asuka guessed as much, Ritsuko was supposedly running tests to see if Yui could synch with unit-00 or 02. If she could, they would have four pilots and only two operational EVA's, not a good ratio. 'Though fat chance the commander will send her into a fight until he uses everyone else'. She thought darkly.
"You know you really ask a lot of questions." Asuka muttered.
"Well, it's the class representatives job to help the other students, and here you are already knowing a little bit about her so I can be better prepared." Hikari replied cheerfully as the gum finally broke off as a single piece in the palm of her hand. That had been the last piece she could see.
Almost on cue Shinji came in lugging the water bucket, it was obvious that he was having a hard time with it.
Unfortunately for Shinji Asuka immediately stood up to berate his snails pace leaving the floor slick, still slippery from the cleaning agent sprayed on it.
Shinji's foot slid, the bucket went flying and there was a lot of shouting all around as Asuka was soaked through by a bucket load of cold water. As anyone experienced in the tasteless idiocy of bad summer parties would know, this would have a rather interesting effect on the female anatomy.
Asuka was death incarnate as her entire face turned red. The damp blouse revealing more than it had any right to. Shinji watched in sickening slow motion as her arm pulled back. Time seemed to speed up as the hand came back around. "Shinji you BAKA PERVERT!" Then the world went white.
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Rei sat in the back of Major Katsuragi's car as they headed back to the apartment. They had stopped long enough at Rei's old apartment to retrieve her medication and school clothes. Misato had just been happy to leave that place. She never would have imagined that Rei's home was such a miserable affair.
It filled her with the same determination she had felt for Shinji when he had first come to Tokyo-3. She would help Rei too, this wasn't just her duty, it was something she felt obligated to do after spending four years of never noticing the poor kid.
"Hey Rei, what would you like for dinner tonight?" Misato asked, trying to stir up some conversation as they drove, anything was better then this silence.
"I will eat whatever is convenient, as long as it does not contain any meat." Rei replied as she continued to stare out the back window.
'Gee there's a real conversation for ya.' Misato thought darkly as she set her eyes back on the road. How did anyone get through to that girl? It could be done, that was for sure or she would never have attempted suicide. On that note she would have to remind Shinji to keep a close watch on her.
"I . . . liked the ster fry." Rei said softly.
"Hmmm?" Misato perked up, any attempt at initiating a conversation would be good for Rei right now.
"I liked Shinji's cooking", she said again more firmly. "It tasted better then my normal meals." Rei elaborated, she was trying to think of something more to say. After half a minute of deep thought she finally gave up. She could not honestly think of anything else, conversation was a skill she was lacking in, not the least from her complete lack of interesting knowledge.
Misato seemed happy though that she had said anything at all. It was progress. Well, with Rei under her Guardian ship that meant she had to watch over all of the pilots. Commander Ikari had halved the paperwork going through her office to facilitate her increased responsibility. Seriously how much more trouble could two more girls be? Other than possibly giving Shinji a heart attack.
Misato almost laughed as they continued on, stopping at the store, she pulled Rei out to help her. The girl seemed mildly surprised as Misato grabbed her wrist, pulling her bodily from the back seat of the car, but Misato had know clue in hell how to shop for a vegetarian, at least Rei may have had more of an idea then her.
Then again, considering how Rei ate Misato somehow doubted the girl really had any idea on what constituted a good meal. She may have understood how to eat healthy, but as they continued through the store it became apparent she had rarely eaten well.
Most of the foods Rei picked out were the cheapest brands with the highest caloric yield per unit. Trying to get the most out of each meal, Misato Commented on this.
"How can you eat stuff like this Rei, it just doesn't seem right", Misato said looking at the pile of instant noodles laying in the cart.
Rei turned to face her. "I do not understand your question. The foods I have selected are sufficient for my survival, I will not starve", Rei said simply.
Misato frowned, how was she going to get through to this kid that she should try to be happy?
"Rei you said you liked Shinji's cooking, you can eat what you like. I know you must like something Rei." Misato urged the girl to at least pick something out.
Rei studied the tiled floor of the aisle. "Oranges".
Misato's curiosity piqued at the mumbled word. "What's that Rei?"
Rei's head came back up, she looked, Misato thought, unsure of herself.
"I like oranges", Rei repeated louder.
Misato gave her a cheery smile and pulled her along to the fresh produce aisle. Much to Rei's surprise, she would have to get used to the Major's spontaneous nature now that she was assigned to live with the woman. 'I will have to reassess my interactions with others', the Commander came to mind, 'It appears that I have an insufficient test set to properly understand social interaction', Rei thought as Misato began picking out quite a few interesting looking fruits. Kiwi's, a pineapple. After a short time she had convinced Rei to select a few items to herself. The thoughtful look on the girls face as she chose was touching. Something that held the same kind of detail and care a Norman Rockwell painting had.
The ended up buying enough produce to fill most of the fridge space not already reserved for beer, beer, and more beer.
The rest of the ride home was a more content affair now that Rei had done something in Misato's eyes. What the Major didn't know was that Rei had already done something far more important to her development than learning to choose things she liked.
If someone had bothered to enter Rei's old apartment that night, they would have found it largely the same, the clothes were gone but much of the debris was still there. And . . . lying on a table, a pair of old glasses.
I apologize for the shortness but it sets the pace for the next chapter. Yui, school, Shinji screaming like a little girl, and Kensuke. You knew the stoojes would be involved, didntja.