Tacking Starboard
Chapter 03
He was originally nothing but excited for the news he had received. Now that he was here, however, the mixture of his excitement and nervousness was becoming biased towards the latter. The instructions he was given by the techs were clear enough: He was to simply relax his mind. It didn't have to be clear, but he did have to let thoughts come and go without hanging onto them.
For some reason, his thoughts kept drifting towards the loss of his mother all those years ago. He was so young at the time, and he had so many years to get over it at this point, it shouldn't be bothering him. Yet still it was gnawing at his ears, pestering him about the absence of a loving mother in his life. His father never told him explicit details about his mother's death, and he never really knew her, but now it felt like he was looking through her eyes. He saw steel corridors; he heard the sound of heels meeting steel; he saw a grand chamber filled with machinery and electronics; he heard the hum of high power mains; he saw some doctor or professor looking people; he heard their assurances; he saw a rainbow of colours; he heard the screeching and crunching of metal; then, he saw nothing.
He also didn't hear the alarm sirens blare before the Matsushiro Secondary Experiment Facility was rendered to ash.
01x02
Last night, Shinji slept in the same room as Kaji. A new Evangelion had arrived on the shores of Japan and Misato needed to be present for the activation test at Matsushiro, so Kaji was tasked with supervising Shinji and Asuka in the meantime. Neither kid knew this. With the cicadas asleep, the room was quiet save for the breathing of the two inhabitants.
"Kaji? Are you still awake?" Shinji said, careful not to wake the third inhabitant of the apartment.
Shinji was facing away from Kaji, but he still heard him stir and roll, nonetheless.
Kaji breathed deeply before speaking. "Yeah. What's wrong?"
"Do you know what happened before I lost my memory?"
"I've heard most of it. Why, what do you want to know?"
"I don't know. Everything, I guess? I feel like I lost a bunch more than a week's worth of time."
"A lot can happen in a week, Shinji." Kaji put his hands behind his head. "Is this about Asuka?"
Shinji inhaled sharply and held it for a few seconds before letting it go and finally responding. "Is, is it that obvious?" It took much courage to admit that.
"My job made me good at reading people. You like her, don't you?"
"Yeah."
"Do you know what to do about that?"
"Of course not. I've never done anything like that before."
"Women are incredibly complex creatures, Shinji. The kanji we use for 'she' even means 'a woman far away.' They will always seem like a distant shore. We'll never fully understand them, but luckily we don't have to. All you have to do is take her side and support her. Make her feel important. If she's on your side, it'll work. If not, well…"
Shinji rolled over to look at Kaji. "Well what?"
"Are you good at dealing with rejection?"
"Does anyone like rejection?"
"That's not what I asked."
"I don't want to look stupid in front of her and everyone else, Kaji," Shinji said, remarkably self-aware, pouring his heart out to Kaji.
"Do you trust me, Shinji?" Kaji, still on his back, turned his head to look at Shinji.
"Somewhat…"
"I see. Well, at least believe in me that I'm sure you'll be fine." Kaji winked at Shinji before rolling over, presumably to sleep.
Shinji laid on his back and stared at the ceiling for a while before finally succumbing to sleep. Kaji did the same to the wall.
01x02
The next day, early afternoon, Shinji had just arrived at the arcade as was planned. Toji, Hikari, and Rei were already there. Toji noticed first and waved him over.
"Shinji! Hey, what's up!" he said.
"Hey guys," Shinji said, "how is everyone?"
They all gave him the set of standard replies and polite return questions. Everyone was fine or good like they always were.
"So, where's Kensuke?" Shinji said, looking around.
"I dunno. He said something important came up and that he couldn't come," Toji said. "Sad, it looks like Rei made it. He was really excited for her to be here."
"I was excited to see him, too. I was happy I recovered swiftly enough to come. We made a great team in some of the games last time," Rei said.
Huh, since when was that a thing, Shinji thought.
Before the conversation could continue, red hair that could only belong to one person entered his peripheral vision.
"Asuka…" he said.
"Oi oi, who invited her? What's trouble doing here!" Toji said.
"Shut it, I'm not here to start a fight," Asuka said, glaring at him. "Besides, he invited me here." She pointed at Shinji with her thumb.
The eyes set on him could have melted steel beams. He only looked at her.
She's lying, he never asked her. But why? What's her angle? And what else did she lie about? "It's okay guys," Shinji started, playing along, "I did invite her."
Asuka shot him a smirk. Too apprehensive to comment anything, everyone else simply kept their mouths shut.
"Are we all set to go?" Shinji continued.
A simple nod from the others was all he received and was all he needed. Everyone walked into the arcade together.
01x02
The group played the standard fare of games and even did some bowling.
At some point during the afternoon, Asuka and Hikari went off to do their own thing, whatever it is girls do. Toji took this opportunity to pull Shinji aside and get some answers. After looking around to make sure nobody important would hear him, and with his hand on Shinji's shoulder, Toji began.
"Shinji, man, I'm worried about you. I'm not buyin' that you invited that demon. So spill, did you actually?" Shinji was stiff as a board under his hand.
"Why do you want to know?" Shinji said.
"I'm just surprised, is all. Things seemed real sour there before that last attack."
"Toji, you know that I have some memory loss, right?"
"You do? Man, what? Why didn't you tell us?" Toji shook Shinji as he spoke.
"I dunno, I just felt awkward." Shinji wasn't meeting Toji's eyes.
"C'mon man, I thought we were friends. You know you can tell me things." Toji paused to look around again. "Look, I don't know what happened exactly, but you and Asuka were basically at each other's throats for a whole week, more than usual. Now you both are acting like nothing happened."
"Well I don't know what happened either. I don't know what her deal is, but to me it islike nothing happened."
"Clearly, I mean you even came to her defense, that was weird, man." Toji sighed. "Look I just don't want to see my friend hurt by a demon like her, so just be careful, okay?"
Shinji stared at him blankly for a moment before responding. "Okay, I'll do my best."
01x02
At the same time, in a deeper portion of the arcade, Asuka and Hikari were having a remarkably similar conversation.
The two girls were sat across from one another. Asuka had her hands in her lap, her look pensive. Hikari had her arms crossed and her head bowed.
"He didn't invite you, did he?" Hikari said. She didn't look up.
"How do you figure?" Asuka said.
"You two live together, last I checked; you stopped staying with me after the battle; you didn't arrive together." Hikari opened her eyes and stared at Asuka. "So spill. Lie to others if you want, lie to yourself, but you shouldn't lie to me."
Asuka bowed her head for a moment and sighed before meeting Hikari's gaze once more.
"No. He didn't ask me. He didn't even tell me about it, I overheard you guys talking the other day at school and, well, you know how I feel, what I want," Asuka said.
Hikari just kept staring at her.
"You saw how he responded. He stood up for me. That's nothing like how we were before. You were there, you know."
Hikari took a moment to look around the room.
"Does he know?" she said.
"Does he know what?" Asuka said.
"Does he know what happened. I'd be surprised if he did with the way his personality seemed to change."
Always the observant one, huh, Hikari? "No, he seems to have lost his memory of the last week."
"So what did you tell him." Asuka shifted in her seat.
"So far I, I told him what happened that night," she said.
"That night where you kissed?"
"Yeah. That night."
"I see. Well as before I wish you the best. You better be good to him; you owe it to him." Hikari's commanding tone threatened to allow random passers by easy eavesdropping.
"I know; I am, and I will," Asuka lied.
She wasn't lying about wanting to be good to him and for him and all that, of course. She had already lied to him about the kiss they shared, however, in a hairbrained attempt to endear him to her more. She might have enough plausible deniability to get away with the omission lie she just told Hikari if she's lucky.
Before their conversation could continue or move on to other topics, the girls felt the ground start rumbling. Tokyo wasn't far from a fault line, so earthquakes weren't an abnormal thing. In Tokyo-3, however, with eldritch beings attacking on the regular, there was more cause for concern. Presuming it was the latter, the girls stood up and began making their way to the exit. They overheard a couple debating the source of the rumbling.
"Yosuke, we need to go, that's definitely another attack," the girl said.
"Don't worry, it's just the wind or something," the boy said.
"I see, so when's the last time the wind started shaking a short building?"
The pair of girls were distracted from the exchange by the arrival of the all but inconspicuous Section Two agents.
"Pilot Soryu, come with us," said the bulkier one. "Your friend can't come."
"Obviously," Asuka said as she rolled her eyes. "Duty calls, Hikari, catch you later!" She waved, Hikari waved back.
Asuka left with the pair of agents as Hikari watched. Not a moment later did Toji slip up to her side.
"How'd it go?" he said.
"Better than I expected. We need to talk; you need to tell me what you learned," she said.
01x02
Outside the arcade, a sedan was waiting to transport the children. By the time Asuka had the door opened for her, she found that the other two children were already there. Rei was at the left window and Shinji was in the middle. That left the right window for Asuka.
Looking sidelong at the other two pilots, Asuka could see that Rei was just staring blankly out the window and Shinji was staring at his palms. This made Asuka annoyed for some reason. She didn't really expect Shinji Ikari's entire persona to change just because he lost some of his memory, but she took the risk to lie to him and it's barely paying off. She worries what could happen if he somehow learns the truth. Will he hate her? Will he cast her out? Will he try to understand her and why she did it? Asuka's front was stalwart, but inside her was a chaotic mess of uncertainty.
The car made its way South, towards the Geo-front. The roads were packed with traffic at this time of day, but the Section Two sedan didn't seem in any rush.
Asuka looked out the window, hand on her chin. The mid-afternoon sun felt burning to her skin and eyes, even through the tinted glass of the sedan. It was nothing compared to the heat of her fears, the embarrassment she might face. She thought she knew everything but even she didn't realise how little she thought her actions through. She didn't realise what stochastic effects it will have. Nobody can keep a lie forever when so many others know the truth. Sure, Misato and Kaji might only know the witness account, but maybe she can rely on faulty memory. She was smart enough to know that she needs contingency plans if she wants to survive. It'll have to be enough. She needs to survive.
Despite not rushing, the other cars seemed to give way and space to the sedan. They must have known the importance it carried.
While this was going on, Shinji was feeling similarly nervous. He always felt a little nervous and awkward around Asuka, but it was extra intense now for some reason. He didn't see her turn her head his way, but he did feel like she was looking. Maybe it was him just fooling himself, but he could've sworn. How did he really feel about that girl? She was physically attractive, sure, that was the easy part. He couldn't understand the rest, especially now that he recently learned he apparently had the gumption to kiss her. He'd like to think he had the courage, but he knew himself better than that. Of course, he wanted to be the cool guy, like Kaji, but he's just a stupid kid still. He's definitely not bold enough to ask directly for the information, so he'll just have to hold out and hope to get lucky. Pushing those thoughts aside, he felt nervous. Another angel was attacking, and like with all the others, he had no clue what he was up against.
The sedan neared the car carrier used to descend to the GeoFront.
Rei's thoughts were completely elsewhere. She didn't care about whatever her fellow pilots got up to. She worried for Ikari, of course. He had shown her care and she wanted to show it back. She wanted to see him happy. She did care he and the other pilot, despite her brusque nature, were healthy and all, but she wasn't about to do anything about it. She didn't know what to do anyway. Her thoughts rested on her missing friend. She enjoyed the last time everyone visited the arcade, but her gaming partner wasn't there this time. She worried for him.
Amid all these thoughts, the ride was completely quiet. None of the kids said a word as the car made its way onto the carrier and descended into the GeoFront.
01x02
Hikari and Toji sat next to one another on a bench outside the arcade, each with poses rivalling that of Auguste Rodin's most popular work. The alarms haven't sounded yet, so the shelter down the street wasn't open.
"You should never get a job as any kind of interrogator or investigator anything like that," Hikari said.
Toji huffed. He was never one to dive into the finer details of things nor make grandiose plans surrounding drama. Good enough was plenty good enough for him. If his friend said he'd be careful, what more was he expected to do about it? Why shouldn't he take him at his word?
"Do you at least have some ideas on what we should do about it? Asuka's my friend too but I'm not sure I can take her at her word like you can with Shinji."
"Nah, no clue. Planning the intricacies of social interactions is your thing, Hikari. I'm better off as the muscly straight man."
Hikari blinked at him and sighed before continuing. "Truly? I think you're more capable than you think. Sadly I'm not really sure what to do either. No amount of K-drama watching will prepare you for Evangelion pilots."
"We should just watch and only intervene if it turns to hell again."
"I'll let you know if I have any better ideas."
"Wanna go for a walk?" he said, forgetting the imminent attack.
She smiled. "Sure! I'd like that."
01x02
The three kids were suited up and waiting in the briefing room to receive their instructions. Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki entered. The clack of his wingtips echoed in the room until he reached the front. He turned on the projector and flipped through the slides as he spoke.
"At 1300 hours today, there was an incident at the Matsushiro Experiment Facility. An Evangelion, designated Unit 04, was infected by an angel and is now making its way towards the GeoFront from the north. The Second and Third children are to report to their respective cages forthwith following this meeting."
A slide with a map appeared with a red dot and purple dot in an echelon style position.
"Units 01 and 02 will sortie. Asuka will be in the vanguard position here with Shinji as backup here. Any questions?"
"Where is Misato?" Shinji said.
"Major Katsuragi was overseeing the activation at the testing facility. She's currently unavailable. Commander Ikari will be overseeing this operation. Any further questions?"
Yeah, why. "No sir."
"Then you are dismissed."
Asuka and Shinji began making their way out of the room while Rei stayed.
"Sir, what am I to do?" she said.
"Your unit is still too damaged for proper combat. You will remain here on standby and will only be deployed as a last case scenario."
"Acknowledged."
With that settled, she exited the room.
Fuyutsuki remained. These poor kids, he thought, sent to do the bidding with likely no clue of what it's all even for. The thought of helping them crossed his mind even though he figured that'd be suicide. He had his own agenda, however. Maybe he'd help if he could, but not at any great cost to him.
01x02
Asuka followed Shinji's pace as they walked down the hallway to their cages. She nudged him with her elbow.
"So there's another Evangelion. Who do you think the pilot is, Shinji?" she said.
He didn't turn to her. "How should I know?"
Asuka looked disappointed. "Of course. I was hoping for once you knew more than the bare minimum."
"Sorry to disappoint you again, Asuka."
The two walked quietly as Asuka thought of the next thing to say. Shinji's answers are definitely leaving much to be desired, and he seems to remember all the hate she threw his way. She doesn't really know how to break this ice with him again. She used to always know what to say.
Her opportunity came and went as they went to their individual cages to mount their individual entry plugs. As the entry plug filled with LCL, Asuka thought of her first time in the plug. She thought of the pilot of Unit 04 who experienced the same thing but had it go horribly awry. Allowing the liquid to fill her lungs, she kept thinking about who it could be. She had her suspicions, but they didn't really make any sense to her. Besides, who could possibly match her, Shinji, and to a lesser extent Rei at piloting anyway?
These thoughts stayed strong in both children through the entire startup process and even after the command to launch the Evas was given. Steam hissed as the catapults shot them towards the surface at breakneck speeds.
01x02
A red late afternoon sun greeted the pilots. It looked nearly like a sullied Japanese flag with how clear the red ball stood against the rest of the sky. The Evangelions lumbered towards their designated positions and awaited further instructions. At Asuka's position was a Sonic Glaive and a Handgun. At Shinji's was a Positron Rifle and Pallet Rifle.
The entry-plug's Tac-Com window opened. The ever-statuesque Gendo appeared within.
"Estimated time to contact is two minutes. Pilots, this is a two on one. You are to engage one after another. Do not allow the target time to recover. Do you understand?"
"Roger," said both pilots at once.
Before it could be seen, the enemy's approach could be felt and heard in its march towards Tokyo-3. It rounded the last mountain obscuring it from vision about few kilometres away. The low sun did not impede the pilots' vision as the high dynamic range of their optics compensated for it. In any case, the humanoid silhouette was unmistakable. Evangelion Unit 04 was a glossy grey with black and red accents. The general build of it was standard as far as Evas go, but its helmet was much less featureful than the horned 01 and four-eyed 02. It looked almost human, in a way. Such a feature sent a chill down Shinji's spine.
His mind was still locked on the thought of who the other pilot was. Either way it was a kid just like him. How would he feel if he was trapped in his Eva? How would he feel if he had to be put down by a pair of his allies? He thought he might actually prefer that. He wasn't the biggest fan of life anyway. He already felt empathy for whatever poor kid they shoved into the metal behemoth with likely minimal knowledge just like him. Maybe he could save the poor kid and stop the Eva; he could prove his competence to his father. But maybe it can't be helped; was he truly prepared to have the blood of a kid just like him on his hands? Probably not. He really hoped the other pilot felt the same. He wondered if Asuka thought similarly to him. He didn't think that was likely. He was right.
01x02
The command centre of Nerv was a buzz with activity. It was beginning to settle down after the Evas finished deployment, but calls were still being made left and right. As the rogue Evangelion approached the BLUFOR ones, Gendo commanded the use of every ejection and shutdown command in their arsenal; nothing worked to stop the advance. Most were either denied by the Unit or simply had no response. The plug ejection signal came closest to an actual effect, stopping the march for but few moments before it let out a roar and continued. The plug didn't eject fully; something blocked its escape.
01x02
"Pilots, engage," came the voice over the Tac-Com.
"You better have my back, Shinji, or else." Asuka said. She let out a battle cry as she pushed forward on the control yokes, her Eva leaned forward and charged towards the lumbering target with the glaive held in short serpent stance.
Shinji aimed and fired a few shots from the positron rifle towards the legs of Unit 04 to distract it. It seems he was a bit hesitant to go for a proper body shot. He seemed to be avoiding the risk of a clean penetration through the entry plug. While Shinji seemed to care, Asuka didn't. Asuka didn't even know this person. Asuka just cared about being the best and having those around that she actually gave any whit about.
Shinji had missed but the hits did throw up some dust which Asuka used to cover her attack.
Through training, Asuka knew Evangelion anatomy well. She didn't really want to kill the other child if she could; it would prove her skill and make her a hero if she could save them instead. She knew all the right places to strike in order to incapacitate an Eva. Her first strike with the glaive was aimed to thrust into and disable the right hip. The blow landed but Unit 04 dodged in a way that left little more than a gash in the abdominal armor plates.
Asuka pulled back on the yokes and Unit 02 backed off as more shots rang out from Shinji. One of the shots impacted the knee of Unit 04, taking out a sizeable chunk, leaving behind melted armor and a cauterised wound. This caused the stance of the rogue unit to falter.
Pushing forward on the yokes again, Asuka went in to sweep the legs off the Unit when it began convulsing. She made a clean cut across the leg Shinji shot, severing it clean. The lower leg landed with a resounding thud as it flattened a small house.
Asuka didn't see the bare long arm reaching for the back of her head.
01x02
Shinji watched in horror as Unit 02 was slammed face first into the ground. She didn't quite give up, but she was now grappling with a three-armed Unit 04. It ripped out her power cord, leaving her on borrowed time.
Shinji's dilemma suddenly became much easier to face. Between whoever the pilot of Unit 04 was and Asuka, the choice was obvious. The magazine of the positron rifle drained, he picked up the pallet rifle and opened fire on the enemy. Flashes of orange lit up the shadow of the valley as the shots impacted an AT field. It seems Asuka, struggling under the pin of the rogue Eva, was no longer cancelling out its AT field for him. He needed to think and act fast. Kaji's words about being supportive rang through his head.
"Hurry up and do something, you continually useless idiot!" She sounded less angry and more terrified.
Pushing forward, Unit 01 fired from the hip as it advanced on the pair of grappling Evas. Shots continued to be deflected by the AT field until the last few made it through, damaging the arms and shoulders of Unit 04. The rifle bolt slammed open, ejecting a smoking shell fit for a howitzer, and stayed open, indicating an empty magazine. Pulling on the left stick and then drawing forward with both, Shinji commanded Unit 01 to draw back the rifle to strike with the butt.
At that moment, a fourth arm burst forth from the flank of the rogue unit. It blocked some of the blow and attempted to take the gun away, but the angle was bad and so it was thrown off balance. A follow up kick from Unit 01 echoed through the valley and sent Unit 04 to the ground with additional resonance.
Asuka wasted no time shouting out a battle cry and reengaging the enemy Eva with a full mount. Her Eva growled with her. Leaves were shaking off trees with each thunderous blow. Shinji stared agog and aghast at the sight of Asuka pouring all her fury into the enemy that threatened her victory. Blood began to sputter out from the enemy; its armor, stained with crimson, made it look a sibling to Unit 02. The shaking leaves were now adorned with the thick steaming blood of one of mankind's monstrosities.
"A-Asuka…" was all Shinji could stammer out. Even if he weren't so quiet, it still most definitely fell on deaf ears.
Shortly after, the reserve power of Unit 02 depleted and the Unit slumped over mid swing.
No longer stunned as a standby to the violence, Shinji pushed gently on his yokes and Unit 01 responded. He pulled Asuka's unit off the corpse of the rogue one and set it in a position to make it easier for the recovery teams to get to her. He couldn't help but gaze at the execrable state of the unfortunate unit while he waited.
The face plate and by extension nose and brain case were rendered concave. The jaw was open and hanging off askance. Both pairs of arms were effectively reduced to pulp or were misshapen at odd angles. The upper torso was an unrecognisable mess of blood and bone and sinew. Blood formed a small pond in the impression the body made in the earth. He looked away then, but he will never forget the sight.
Shinji didn't think Asuka was capable of such violence. Sure, she was a tough girl, but some string had to snap to make her lose all abandon so. His concern turned to anxiety which turned to light headedness. Not realising his own fatigue and shock, his world went black. He summarily passed out and his Eva slumped.