Chapter 8 – The Doctor's Motive

"HA!"

Toji ducked and rolled out of the way as the blur that was his opponent rocketed past with a strong punch. He shot out his right, mechanical arm, extending the whip hidden in the back of the palm. His opponent ducked himself, but Toji was ready. His right arm came out, launching the leather whip, which caught one of the man's legs, and he tugged hard, sending his opponent sprawling.

His enjoyment was short lived, however, as the man was up in the next moment, charging him. Toji started flicking his whips, starting with the mechanical one, but his opponent dodged. Toji frowned and tried to think faster. This was a situation he knew well. If I can just anticipate which direction he's going to attack from…

He saw the man go left, and knew it was a fake. He spun right and behind, following the movements perfectly, coming to face his opponent with a grin on his face…

Only to find he wasn't there.

"HA!"

Toji looked up, and in his shocked surprise, seeing only a blue ball of energy raining down from above hit him full in the face, sending him back. He swore under his breath and accepted the hand up, knowing he'd lost this round. He held his head in one hand as he stood.

"Man Shinji, you have to use the damned chi bolt? It's only training, you know? It's why I use the leather whips, not the ones with the metal edges."

Shinji smiled a little, and paused by the door, waiting as Toji placed his practice whip back and changed the cartridge whip in his right arm.

Toji paused to examine his friend. Caught by some unknown fancy, Shinji was letting his hair grow, forming a pony tail in back, a single thick strand hanging down in front. His training was paying off, and he developed a lean, muscular frame. It wasn't honestly a lot up bulk up, unless you'd seen him beforehand, in which case it was very noticeable.

They wandered into the mess hall, only to find their third friend, Kensuke, sitting at a table alone, repeatedly banging his head against it. His back was to them, and they could easily see the yellow outline of an elaborate cross embroidered into the duster. Toji used his mechanical hand to stop Kensuke from beating his head against the table any more. Shinji took a seat next to him. "Alright, what happened? You fail or something?"

Kensuke snorted as Toji slid into the other seat. "I wish that was all that had happened. I also made a fool of myself in front of our newest member."

Toji grinned. "Yeah, I heard someone else was coming aboard to pilot the big tub. I also heard it was a she. So, she a fox? Is that why you're beating yourself up over this?"

Kensuke blushed. He glanced at Shinji a moment, unsure of how to answer this one. "Well, I, uh…"

Fortunately, he was saved by the intercom. "Lieutenant Ikari, please report to the Kislev gear dock. Repeat…"

Shinji was up in a flash, giving a quick goodbye in leaving, presumably moving as ordered, towards the Kislev's gear dock. When he got there, he glanced around, looking for someone who could tell him why he was here. He spotted Rico and Doc and a third person he couldn't make out over the in distance by the 'big tub' as Toji had termed it, the Seibzehn.

He started walking over, moving quickly through the crowd of mechanics, making his way to the Doc. He saw the third person move away from them, and then he lost her in the crowd he was in.

Until she slammed right into him, sending them both to the ground. His eyes widened. It'd been almost a year since he'd seen her. "M-Mana!"

The girl above him looked down, then started grinning broadly. "Shinji!"

They got to their feet, smiling at each other. "So you're the new pilot Mana?"

She nodded. "Yeah. And piloting the big lug is going to be interesting. According to General Uzuki, its control system is fundamentally different from the other gears. You tell it what to do, instead of it just moving it with your thoughts."

"Ikari! Get over here!"

Shinji nodded to Rico. "Sorry Mana, duty calls. Talk to you later."

She nodded and he sprinted through mechanics, jumping toolboxes as he made his way over. Mana giggled a little, then proceeded out of the dock.

---

Shinji sighed and placed his brush down. Kaworu looked up from where he was reading on a nearby couch. "You seem upset Shinji. Is there something I can do?"

Every pilot had a two-room suite. One was a bedroom, and the other was for personal use. While Kensuke was busy filling his with every ballistic weapon known to man, and Toji's was the ultimate bachelor pad, Shinji had turned his into an art studio. Kaworu was resting on the couch that Shinji had placed on the off chance he'd ever have a model, the two boys just enjoying each other's company.

Kaworu was a comfort to Shinji in a way that Toji and Kensuke couldn't be. Kaworu seemed eternally calm, and didn't judge or put pressure on him, allowing him someone to vent on when he needed it, without taking offense. He collapsed back on the couch next to him, and sighed again. "It's Mana."

Kaworu closed his book and nodded. He'd expected as much. "Has she been pressing you?"

Shinji shook his head. "No, it's just, there's this tension between us. I'm not sure what to do about it. She's been here a week now, and I still stammer and look away when she talks to me. Hell, Kensuke's better with her than I am, and he nearly killed her when she first came onboard."

Kaworu tapped the cover of the book gently as he thought. "Hmm. Well, given your relationship at the time you were last together, the source of such tension is obvious. Less obvious is the solution."

Shinji nodded. What Kaworu said had been obvious in and of itself, but sometimes stating the problem helped with the solution. The gears turned slowly in Shinji's head, and he finally came up with a feasible solution. "Well, I suppose the only thing I can do at this point is be a man about it, and ask her out. It's going to be really hard though."

Kaworu nodded, and glanced around. He'd seen a second reason for Shinji's awkwardness with Mana, but thought it best to keep it to himself.

Scattered around the room, in between landscapes and other portraits, were, in various sizes, and in various stages of completion (though none were completely finished), about thirty portraits.

All of them portraits of Asuka.

---

Mana shrugged at Rico's questioning. Since her gear would do it's own targeting and she'd only be giving commands, she was left with her choice of weaponry.

"Hmm. Just a small side-arm I guess. I doubt that any weapon I choose would be of much use against an Eva if Seibzehn couldn't handle it."

Rico nodded. "Great. I'll mark you down for Berretta-92F. You want a modification on it?"

Mana shook her head. "No. I doubt I'll be using it much."

Rico nodded, then filled out a slip. "Take that to the quartermaster and he'll grab one for you. He should have at least one in there. Talk to Kensuke. Tell him that given the circumstances of your intrusion, he passed the test, and he's now to spend his time making sure you can aim your weapon properly, and stop wasting mine. We clear?"

Mana nodded. "Crystal, sir."

Rico growled lightly. "That's Rico to you miss."

She blushed and nodded, and hurried out the door.

---

To you, Yui, whom Gendo and I fight our eternal war over.

"Doc?"

Citan Uzuki looked up to see Shinji in the doorway, now looking the spitting image of his predecessor, if a bit paler. Some shore leave should clear that up though.

"Doc?"

Citan blushed. "Sorry Shinji, I was just thinking something."

Shinji nodded, and shuffled nervously. "Um, I was wondering… what are your thoughts on…"

Citan smiled slightly, leaning back in his chair. "Mana, you mean?"

Shinji looked down at his feet. "Yes, um, well…"

Citan sighed. This is not going how I anticipated, but of course little ever does. "I know about your relationship with her prior to your coming here Shinji. And there are no standing policies about relationships between coworkers, as long as it doesn't get in the way of your duties."

Shinji heaved a minor sigh of relief. One concern down, one to go… He glanced around the room a little, and his eyes widened upon falling on a photograph.

Of the Doc and Shinji's mother, Yui.

"Uh…"

Citan followed his gaze, then sighed. "Sit down Shinji." Shinji sat, and the older man poured himself a drink before speaking. "When I was a much younger man, my name was Hyuga Ricdeau. It wasn't Citan until just before I started the Jet Alone project."

Shinji frowned. "Started the project? I thought you were just head of the Yggdrasil."

Citan nodded, still staring at the frame. "I started the project, and was the head of it all then, but I've since demoted myself to where I am now. With the influence of my former position, I'm able to waive all sorts of rules and things, enabling me to select my own pilots from pretty much anywhere, and most of the people above me are people who trust me pretty much completely.

"But this has nothing to do with my change of name." Citan's eyes glistened slightly with tears and filled his glass again as he continued. "When I was young, still an aspiring student at the university, I met your mother. Of course your father was there too Shinji, and he and I were rivals. We were rivals in just about everything. You name the subject and we each strove to outdo the other, coming up with radically advanced ideas. But our most fierce competition was your mother.

"I'm certain you understand this already, Shinji, but your father was, and is, a very manipulative man." Citan glanced over, and saw Shinji smile slightly. "But he was also an obsessive man. He didn't let it hinder him, and instead used it to strengthen himself, to hone the cunning edge of his mind into manipulating things so that he always got what he wanted.

"And he wanted your mother."

Citan paused here, thinking back, a sarcastic grin on his face. "I was home one weekend, and this was where your father found his chance to strike. A bomb."

Shinji's eyes widened. "What!"

Citan nodded, tossing back the rest of his third glass. "Oh, he didn't do it himself, but a few quiet prods and bribes to a small terrorist faction and suddenly there's a bomb in my parent's mailbox. I'd come to suspect he'd try something by this time… but this went beyond what I'd thought him capable of.

"I don't remember a lot of what happened after that, but my next truly coherent memory was several years later, waking up in a hospital bed. As best I can figure out, I managed to wander away from the scene a complete amnesiac until I passed out a few towns over and was kept in a coma ward for several years.

"When I woke up, I still didn't remember a whole lot, but that's when I met Emeralda, and she named me Citan Uzuki. I was confused then, but I know why now. Hyuga Ricdeau was no more, died in the blast, and Citan Uzuki was taking his place. By the time I did remember your mother, you were just being born.

Shinji grimaced. "Father…"

Citan nodded. "It was about this time, the time that I remembered, started looking for, and found, the evidence that pointed to Gendo being behind the blast. It's not anything that would stand up in court, but it fits too well to be anything else."

Shinji, having seen his father's manipulative side far too often for his liking himself, nodded slowly. Citan took a drink and continued. "I couldn't exactly go accusing your father, but with the reclaimed Ricdeau family fortune at my back I was able to found Jet Alone as a rival to your father's Evangelion project.

"One thing I don't fault your father on is his love for Yui. That was honest, perhaps the only honest thing about him. I don't honestly believe that he meant for it to happen, but your mother was killed in an accident in Evangelion 01's construction. I'm not sure what he was thinking even letting her in there during the construction, but it happened and she died. And now…"

Shinji, morbidly interested, and more than a little sickened by this, motioned for Citan, who was by this time a little drunk, to continue.

"Do you know Shinji? Do you know the sick and twisted truth behind the Evangelions? Our gears have little boxes in them that identify brainwaves, and only certain brainwaves will run each machine, it's why you were selected for it. The Evangelions have a similar pilot selection process, but with one key difference. The Evangelion is organic. The pilot is not compatible with some brain-wave translation box, the pilot is compatible with the soul trapped within the beast. Most often the soul of one of the pilot's relatives…"

Shinji's eyes widened. …Mother…

Citan, drunk and crying, continued, the words flowing. "And he still wants her, Shinji. He still wants her. He wants instrumentality, so that he can be with her again. He wants it. He's willing to kill every living thing on earth to have her back."

Citan looked up at Shinji then, eyes red, but surprisingly coherent. "And we, Shinji, we, will stop him. When the moment is right, when the pieces are all in place, we will stop him. He is willing to kill for her, Shinji, he is, willing to kill the world. Be we, my old friend, shall go once more into the breach, and preserve all life in her name."

---

Shinji sat quietly in his room, with the lights off, only the soft glow from the cracks in the door illuminating the room. What Doc said was disturbing, but still, it's not all that far fetched. My father, no, Gendo, is a manipulative bastard.

He sighed, and leaned back, resting against the wall. He stared at the bed, but didn't go to it. His dreams had been rather… odd of late. There was a knock at the door. He paused for a moment, hesitating.

"Shinji, are you in here?"

It was Mana.

"Come in."

Mana entered, surprised to find him next to the door. "Shinji, what are you doing down there?"

"Thinking…"

Mana closed the door and crossed over, sitting down next to him. "Okay Shinji, what's wrong?"

He snorted. "What isn't wrong?"

Mana smiled. "It can't be that bad. Tell me about it."

"My father is attempting to drown the world in blood because for some insane reason he believes it will bring my mother back."

There was an awkward silence as Mana contemplated that little pearl of wisdom.

"Shinji? Hon? Please tell me that was a joke."

Shinji let out a short, harsh, sarcastic laugh that sounded more like a bark than anything else. "Nope. Afraid not."

Mana gulped. "Well, maybe you heard wrong. Who told you this?"

"The Doc."

Mana's eyes slid closed. "Um, okay… well, since we know, we can stop him right?"

"That's what the Doc said, but he was pretty damn drunk at the time."

Mana opened her eyes and looked over at him. "He got drunk while you were talking about this?"

Shinji shook his head. "No, he got drunk when telling me that my father tried to murder him to get my mom to like him, whose soul was trapped in Unit 01 when it was destroyed."

Mana tried to find a bright side. She really did. She tried to start a thousand sentences to cheer him up, but all that happened was her mouth opening and closing a lot.

"Yeah, that was about my reaction. I left a little afterwards."

Mana smiled weakly. "Um, it could be worse, I suppose…"

"How?"

"Well, we might not be here, together again…"

Shinji smiled at her. "Yeah…"

Mana smiled and wrapped her arm over his shoulder. And they sat there for a long, long, time; the silence comfortable.

---

Shinji knocked quietly on the door to the Doc's office.

"Enter."

Citan looked up and smiled as Shinji entered. "Ah, right on time. Sit down."

Shinji looked around a little nervously. "May I ask what this is about, sir?"

"Ah yes. Give me your Second Lieutenant's pin Shinji, you no longer deserve it."

Shinji choked, but handed it over, eyes wide. While no standard uniform was required, everyone was required to wear their badge of rank clearly on their clothing. Citan smiled, and then placed the pin in a drawer, from which he fished a small box. He tossed it to Shinji. "Your skill far exceeds the requirements. Congratulations First Lieutenant."

Shinji gaped, and looked in the box. Where he had once worn a single bar of gold, he now wore one of silver, the insignia of First Lieutenant. Citan smiled at the speechless boy.

"Now, on to your new responsibilities. As First Lieutenant, you are our second highest field officer, right under Rico."

"Others have been with you longer sir."

Citan nodded. "I'm aware, but Emeralda lacks leadership abilities, much less easily understandable speech, Toji lacks the proper maturity, not that he has much time on you in any event, and Kaworu… well, let's just say that Kaworu will understand."

Shinji nodded, and Citan continued. "As First Lieutenant, you are being given command of two other pilots. Toji and Kensuke. Now that we have Miss Kirismia here, we can finally get up to where we're supposed to be. Rico's group will target installations for the most part, with Stier and Seibzehn as the wrecking crew and Heimdal and Crescens running interference.

"Your team is a strike force. Your primary focus on most missions will be units already in place on battlefields."

Citan looked him straight in the eye. "This will not be easy. Rico will often have the element of surprise. You will not. You will be launched directly into the hot zones.

"Your training is over. Schooling will persist, but you are all now fully trained pilots. Good luck, Lieutenant."

Shinji nodded. "Yes, sir." He almost left, but then remembered something. "Doc?"

Citan looked up again. "Yes?"

Shinji blushed. "Um, when is the next time for shore leave, and…"

Citan nodded and picked up the thought. "Who's with you? All of our forces are going on shore leave in five days, but keep in mind locations are limited so that we can launch with little to no warning."

Shinji smiled. "Thanks."

Citan smiled, and there was a slightly haunted note to it. "I was young once too Shinji."

---

Neverwhere: Chaos Mode - Okay. Well, I think my computer might be in its final death throes at the moment, which supremely sucks, as I don't have the money for a new one, or to replace even the hard drive. Oh well, glad I took the hint when the monitor died and moved all this stuff onto my jump drive and palm pilot. So with only a palm pilot, don't expect much writing from me... but Classic's supposed to do the next chapter, and we've still got three already written ones.

And remember, when Classic gets off his ass and writes the next chapter, then I can move these to once a week instead of once every two. Bye now.