Rebirth of the Evangelion
Character Stats: Shinji Ikari
2300 hours
Shinji sat inside his Entry-plug with his muscles tensing at regular intervals.
He surveyed the land before him. The dark green forests and mountains around him seemed natural enough and with the heavy downpour it looked almost picturesque. With his allies stationed in mobile suits and tanks around him, behind the mountain, the operation was fully ready. Now all the was necessary was the target itself.
As he waited, he took some time to reflect on certain events. Having nothing to do, he went over the mission briefing once more.
FLASHBACK
"Is that all sir?"
Shinji was just leaving the hangar when the sub-commander stopped him. "There is one more thing that you must understand."
Shinji turned around to face the commander. They were inside a fairly big tent rigged up over about ten mobile suits and Evangelion Unit-01. The Leos were already activating, since it was almost the scheduled time to stage the attack. "Yes?"
"Shinji," the middle-aged male sighed and focused more intently on the teenager, "I can't help but feel that you are against everything we've been saying. Though you are constantly acknowledging our orders, it is obvious that you are somehow unsatisfied with the answer's we're giving you."
Shinji remained silent, but he turned his head away, somewhat embarrassed that he could be read so easily. The sub-commander waited for a few moments before continuing. "This is a very important strike. I demand that you focus on this mission. I know you may not trust me, but I don't entirely trust you either."
"And why is that?" Shinji suddenly looked back at him. "What do you know about what I've been through?"
"It's true that I don't know anything. But I'd rather save time right now, so I'll make you this promise." Shinji listened. "We have unconfirmed reports that the enemy is using mobile-doll technology. This means that the enemy units are controlled remotely. This is both unfair and truly devastating to us. It defeats the purpose of war-…"
"Which is to kill people!"
"…you miss my point. You will even these odds, you will destroy these robot units and you shouldn't have any trouble with that since you're not killing humans. Or am I wrong?"
Shinji stood silently for a moment, trying to come up with a good retort. "It doesn't matter, war only brings destruction, and I'm adding to it."
"Yes, but by destroying man-made creations meant for the destruction of other living beings, you're doing something undoubtedly right. Am I correct?"
Shinji remained silent, but he nodded.
The Sub-Commander left without another word, disappearing through the hangar doors.
END OF FLASHBACK
Shinji calmed down a bit. Though he didn't exactly have a very good relationship with his higher officer, it was true that the deaths of people was what he couldn't stand. Since he was told the enemy he was going to be fighting was composed of remote control dolls, he almost looked forward to the fact of getting some action once more.
"Motion detected, 3:00. Confirmation people."
Shinji's head snapped up as he was brought back to consciousness. "Huh? Repeat!"
"Stop snoozing Elite. You see them?"
Shinji didn't exactly like his code-name, but nevertheless he also thought it kinda of suited him as well. He tried to see through the heavy rain, the Evangelion moved slightly to compensate for the muddy surfaces it was resting on.
Shinji couldn't see much more than a few hundred feet in front of him, so he switched to the thermal visor, which was a part of the Eva he hadn't known had existed until he stumbled upon it earlier. A patch of dark red in a rectangular shape seemed to be getting larger. He judged the distance. "I have a lock Echo 1."
"Roger that, wait for further orders."
"Roger that."
"Hey," started another pilot, "you going to take 'em all by yourself kid?"
Shinji almost smirked. "Lead by example right?"
"Ha! You're funny kid."
Shinji got used to be called kid, since it was true that most of the soldiers he had met were in their thirties. It felt uncomfortable sometimes, being the youngest person by many years while still intermingling with other people on a regular basis.
"They're rounding the corridor. Elite, you will be the primary wing, strafe them from the side and provide cover for units 01 through 06. Operation starts on my mark."
Shinji forgot to acknowledge as he stiffened and pulled the controls tighter around him. The Evangelion itself drew back into a crouching position and it took a few quick steps to adjust to the right angle. Shinji made a mental note to compensate for the slippery terrain, and hoped that although B-Type equipment didn't work underwater, rain wouldn't make it malfunction as well.
"MARK!"
Shinji was caught off guard by the sudden command. He saw the first eight mobile suits take off in front of him, making lines through the rain to the target position. He quickly lifted the control sticks and followed their lead. HE pushed off the ground and flung himself into the air while Shinji was pushed back into his seat by the tremendous momentum.
He passed by the mobile suits, almost colliding with one as he fell towards the other side of the mountain. He registered the vessels in front of him even before he touched the ground.
"Don't forget people, remember not to touch the heavy cargo carrier. It could contain the vital weapon we're looking for."
Shinji simply said "yes," and was already on his way towards the enemy. He quickly found out that this was not just a regular convoy. As he approached, he found within a few seconds that about a hundred mobile suits were already stationed in a V-formation at the front while artillery and other units were right behind them.
Right after that though, they opened fire immediately, since Unit-01 was not exactly the easiest thing to hide. Shinji noted that he was at the head of the group, then flicked his arm out in front of him. Almost automatically, the A-T Field's orange octagonal pattern appeared in front of him and the missiles exploded harmlessly on the other side.
Without thinking, he dodged to the left and then pushed the Eva forward, propelling it past the debris and running right through the first line of Oz defenses. Shinji was actually surprised by how easily the tanks and mobile suits imploded underneath him, he wasn't used to such weak forces.
Shinji immediately felt more than heard the alarm of incoming projectiles from his Eva's sensors, he dashed forward again, into the heart of the long convoy. He spread the Eva's hands out and made like a wedge, smashing the vehicles aside like a plow. He only kept this up for a few seconds before even more ballistic ammo was heading his way.
By now, he noticed, according to his sensors, he was just about in the middle of the convoy's forces. Leaving reason behind, he left his reflexes to battle with the enemies.
He was always used to carrying some sort of weapon into combat whenever he used the Evangelion, but now he faces hundreds of targets unarmed. The other problem was that now that the enemy found him to be his primary target, they were trying hard to stay out of reach. Shinji quickly found the maneuverability of the mobile suits to be annoying, as he could only easily destroy the tanks and artillery (by stepping on them).
Shinji caught another Leo and using his Eva's fists, brought it down right through the mech. It exploded outwards with an explosion Shinji almost didn't feel. He ripped his arm around and took off the head of another unlucky mobile suit with one clean swipe. It was then he noticed the weapon it was holding: it seemed to be some sort of shoulder mounted projectile launcher.
Not really thinking, he picked it up and tried it on: it was small and his fingers barely fit into it. Nevertheless, he pressed the trigger a few times and was rewarded with some explosions in the distance. Satisfied, he turned the cannon (about the size of a pistol to the Eva) and began configuring the weapon to the Eva's targeting systems. In about 2 seconds he had target markers showing up on the screen and began firing into the sky. He watched as fighters and mobile suits dropped like flies from the skies above him, explosions covering the surrounding area.
It was almost like a fluid dance. The Colony forces moved in, surrounding the convoy while Shinji forced Oz forces outwards.
As Shinji fought, he had almost forgot about the Evangelion. As he thought and told his nerves what his next actions were, the Eva was beginning to mimic these actions so fast it was almost as if they had become one.
100 hours
Breathing hard, Shinji tried to ignore the twitches in his muscles. The adrenaline was still pumping madly through him while he could feel his heartbeat in his ears. He looked around him to see a sea of carnage. Smoke, wreckage and small sparks of fire lit the surrounding area. The rain had become no more than a weak shower, and a slight mist had formed over the terrain.
Shinji tried to control his breathing again as he looked in another direction, just to see more carnage. Colony mobile suits were walking along the destroyed war vessels, while the pilots were probably exchanging comments. Shinji had shut off his comm. A long while ago.
It was only then, when he was finally conscious again, that he looked down. Exhausted, he let his arms fall to his sides, making the Evangelion involuntarily fall to the ground on its hands and knees. He sat there, for a few moments, his mind black, just relaxing after the battle, before a movement above him maid him raise his eyes.
Outside, right underneath him, lay the wreckage of an Aries mobile suit with the Oz emblem on it's shoulder. It was torn in half at the torso and a small electrical fire was spewing out from the bottom. It was then that he noticed something was moving around the chest area.
His eyes widened as he say the open cockpit door to the mobile suit. His eyes traced downwards to the bottom of the door where a dark figure now lay.
A dark haired man, matted hair and young looking turned to stare back up at him. Shinji watched in fear as the man's face contorted to the same expression as Shinji's.
The man looked at him and screamed. Shinji drew the Eva back and suddenly clasped his face with his hands.
Though the rain was rinsing it way, the patches of dark red liquid were all suddenly becoming visible around the destroyed vehicles around him. The dark haired man began to run, stripping off his Oz pilot suit as he ran.
500 hours
"Has he been like this the entire time?"
"Yes sir." The doctor looked up from his notepad at the individual in the other room, separated by reinforced glass. The sub-commander stood beside him, in the dark room.
Shinji Ikari sat in a chair in an empty white room. Two doctors and the sub-commander stood watching him, inside the gloom of a one-way mirror.
"When did this begin?" The sub-commander looked down to dig in his pocket for something.
The doctor took some quick looks at his notes and nodded to the one standing beside him. Receiving an affirmative nod he turned towards the male officer to his right. "Pilot Shinji Ikari of Elite forces division. Diagnostics: upon arriving at home facility, evidence was found supporting head trauma, severe nerve spasms and psychologically deformed attitude. He won't speak, he won't move, it's as his brain has stopped functioning. Through tests though, we found that there is indeed brain activity, higher levels than found in an ordinary individual though."
"Ah," sighed the officer, pulling out a cigarette, "I see."
"Excuse me sir, but this is a hospital. No Smoking."
The Sub-commander looked at the doctor faintly amused. "Really?" He paused, "I own this facility. I'm the one who gives the orders." He looked away and flicked his lighter, the small spark of fire lit the silver cigarette and went out as the top was closed. "Now, is there anymore information that I might need to know about this subject?"
The doctor's eyebrow twitched, yet he didn't retort. "Nothing, sir."
"Very well. Report him to me when he is stable."
Without another word, the figure disappeared out into the light flowing in from the outside hallway. The two doctors remained in the darkness well after he was gone. The second doctor hesitated before asking a question.
"About the subject sir?"
The older doctor sighed and turned away from the door. "What is it?"
"Well, is there anyway we can treat him? I thought this was work for psycologi-…"
"Yes and no. It does not matter anyways, since it doesn't matter to our superior officer." The doctor ended that phrase like a curse. He too left the room, leaving the younger doctor inside, staring at the motionless individual in the quarantine.