I do not own the rights to Neon Genesis Evangelion, or any of the characters, equipment, or locations written in this fanfiction. The purpose of this fanfiction is merely for the non-profit enjoyment of other readers. If requested by Gainax, Hideki Anno, or other parties which represent aforementioned objects in this story, I will remove it promptly.
Chapter VII:
I leaned over the catwalk of the cages and wretched, the impure L.C.L. I swallowed before turning back to it's thick, copper qualities in my stomach after the entry plug's power disengaged. Misato rushed down the platform, but was held back by technicians in orange biohazard suits. One approached from behind, and helped me stand. "You... alright?" the familiar woman's voice asked. It was distorted through the one-way respirator, much like a fast food P.A. system for drive-thru orders, but that gentle, soothing tone could only belong to one technician.
"I hate L.C.L., Ms. Ibuki," I grumbled. Maya ran her gloved hands slowly over my back, trying to comfort me as the air slowly replaced the orange liquid. It felt odd, but I was getting used to the lieutenant's company. I've never been much for human contact, but it didn't hurt, especially on occasions like this. Then she slipped an adapter jack into a port on the back of my plugsuit. "What is that?" I asked.
Maya looked up from the specially sealed handheld computer. "Umm... heartbeat... temperature..." she began, fumbling with the words. Then I nodded my head in understanding. The bulky packs on the plugsuits not only help regulate suit coolant and interface with the various digital displays to give valuable data to the Magi during synchronization, but monitor the vital signs of the pilot for up to an hour on their own internal batteries. This makes diagnosis and treatment while on the way to I.C.U. or emergency surgery far easier for a wounded pilot and the medics. "You are... okay," she smiled faintly, a hint of sadness in her eyes.
"And Asuka?" I asked. The redhead in question was just being pulled forcibly from the plug, her limbs thrusting out, assaulting the technicians. "One day of quarantine, am I right?" Maya nodded. Her reactions to my knowledge of future events was fading. She wanted to know the mechanism, of course, just as I wanted to know the mechanism of my arrival, but for now belief without reason would suffice.
"You bitch!" the Second Child screamed at the top her lungs, the echoes in the cage striking my eardrums with unnecessary force. "What did you do that for? I lost to Wondergirl because of you!"
I must explain for my own defense, while I had never been in a fight before, I had just grown sick of this alternate world. Here in this dimension, while I was disgusted with everyone I met, I wouldn't use force to settle an argument. I believe violence has a time and place for use to claim decisive victory.
It is not wrong to want to crush one's enemies. There will always be people that will take what you need unjustly, and when reason fails, violence must be used as punishment. But regardless of my hawkish views, the world after Second Impact seemed to rely on it, almost feeding on it. Even in Class 2-A, which I later attended, tension, frustration, hate, and helplessness constantly hung in the air. There was suffering everywhere I looked, and regardless of how many resources and space was available for the smaller global population, even the smallest family units were filled with a constant, unending rage.
Thinking back about how many times I had to kill, how many times I had to hurt others, and how many times I had to betray those I had sworn allegiance to, my actions were excessive. I know my use of force was justified against Ritsuko's attackers and against Gendo, but what about Misato? I threatened to kill a woman that, while blaming me as the cause of NERV's true nature rather than her first awareness of it, would not harm a pilot that could ease the burden on Shinji. I decided after the quarantine I would straighten the whole mess out. I was not going to fall to the Post-Impact level of "civility".
But first came the Second Child. "It's not my fault, Asuka," I snapped. "It was an Angel the Evas could not kill easily. Even Rei couldn't kill it without the lance." I walked up to the German girl, immediately receiving an uppercut to my jaw. Confirming my fears, I both heard and felt a popping along my lower gumline. The stitches which had just been sewn into my jaw broke loose, and I felt the teeth rattle in my head. I snarled as viciously as I could, spitting blood as I mumbled incoherently. Eventually, I just resorted to flipping the girl the bird, hoping she had enough international experience to understand that expression.
Maya returned to my side, helping me walk to a temporary stool set up on the catwalk. Soryu and I were going to be stuck there in the makeshift quarantine zone for twenty-four hours, and now that all the repair work on my teeth had been sacrificed, I was certain I wouldn't be able to eat. It was going to be a lousy day.
•••••••••••••
I yawned, dabbing my lips and along my gums with a handkerchief to soak up the blood. Glancing at the white fabric, portions stained brown from the wounds, it appeared the blood flow was slowing. Asuka glared up at me from her chair on the opposite end of the catwalk. She was a good three to four hundred feet away, so her face and figure were nothing but a red blur due to my poor eyesight, though I could still tell she was focused on my eyes. I knew, because I could hear her growling.
I was about to speak to her, but the pain in my jaw reminded me speech was something I could not afford. Glancing down at the chronometer built into the left wrist of my plugsuit, I noted the time. It had been two hours since the quarantine started. Asuka and I had twenty two more hours in the cage, Unit-02 standing next to us. More importantly, I had twenty two more hours before I could shower, get dressed, and get to the orthodontist for immediate surgery.
Maya had been nice enough to leave some bottled water and a bucket, so I might rinse the blood out of my mouth. Though I was getting too tired to stay awake. My jaw hurt, my face hurt, even my arms and legs hurt. I was so exhausted I nearly missed Soryu shouting at me. "Hey, I'm talking to you, Fifth!" she shouted.
"Canth tohk," I mumbled, trying to hold my jaw as still as possible. I heard some clanging and a few sharp, Germanic curses as the redhead stomped toward me. I shook my head in an exhausted stupor. Asuka was closer now, maybe fifty feet from me, her fists clenched. I just closed my eyes, and dabbed at my gums once again with the cloth.
"Answer me!" Asuka screamed. I opened my eyes. The girl was standing in front of me, leaning her head towards mine. I pointed to my mouth, opening my jaw slowly, painfully. I noticed the girl's eyes widen for a split second, the realization striking her that she had inflicted that damage. However, what little conscience the girl seemed to have didn't stay for long. "I said talk, you stupid-"
"I canth tohk behkuzth of yooth!" I replied, my spit and blood splattering the girl's face. For the first time since I met her, I cringed as Asuka drew her fist back, aiming at my face again. "Shtoph!" I yelped, bringing my hands up to protect my face. But the Second Child continued, her fist lunging forward in a reverse punch. Blocking her strike with my forearms, I redirected her fist into the steel railing of the catwalk. I heard a light snap, and suddenly the redhead let out a scream. "You bit-!" she began, but was cut off as I stood, turned my right hip towards her, and drove the edge of my foot into the girl's solar plexus in a perfect side kick.
Taking a moment or two to enjoy the silence as Asuka gasped for air, I slowly stumbled to the locked hatch at the end of the catwalk, and keyed the intercom. Maya immediately answered, her image behind the terminal on the command deck filling the video screen. "Is there... problem?" I stepped aside of the intercom, and pointed to the redhead rolling on the catwalk, grabbing her right hand and stomach.
"Schee athakehd mhee!" I grumbled. I could see Ibuki's startled, confused look. She didn't understand what I was saying, but when she heard Asuka's screams and groans, I think she understood well enough.
"I will... send doctors..." she replied. I smiled, and replied with a distorted "thank you". Leaning my back against the wall near the hatch, I slid down into a sitting position, stuffed the handkerchief in my mouth to absorb the blood, and rested my head into my knees. That was, by far, the most refreshing, uninterrupted nap I had.
•••••••••••••
The jabbing pain between my left ribs wouldn't stop. Reluctantly, I pried my eyelids open and craned my neck to the left. "We're leaving, Fifth!" Asuka snapped impatiently. Standing to my feet, I swayed slightly. Maya was there in the orange biohazard suit again, but the helmet was removed. "Quarantine is over," the redhead continued. I nodded, pulled the handkerchief out of my mouth, which had now been completely stained crimson, and stumbled slowly to the hospital. I wasn't going to wait any longer. If the orthodontists had a problem with the L.C.L. and my body odor from wearing a plugsuit for over a day, they'd have to deal with it.
The surgery was fairly quick, only lasting an hour, but with my recently broken nose and bruises, I had a long way to go before I was presentable again. Maya escorted me back to the showers and locker room, recommending some make-up to conceal the injuries. "Thank you, but no," I answered. "I do not know how to use make-up."
As expected, Asuka had already showered and left the locker rooms, but I had been told by Misato she would escort me back to the apartment. Maya asked if anything was wrong. "Where is Asuka?" I replied.
"She... went home," Ibuki answered.
I sighed, drew my right hand down my face in frustration, and asked "May I have a street map?"
•••••••••••••
It was a long, slow walk to the apartment. The sun began to set, leaving a brilliant orange stain in the sky. Those were the kind of sunsets I love to watch, the kind where the clouds overhead turn purple and dark gray from the contrast in lighting. The clothes Ritsuko and I had just bought were gone now, destroyed with her car, her apartment, and a ten square block area around the city which I vaporized with the positron rifle. Therefore, I was back to my red polo shirt, men's jeans, and black sneakers.
This led me to consider the situation as I glanced down at the map I held out in my hands, folded to a quarter of it's full size. I was stuck living with the now officially deceased Ritsuko Akagi, most likely in Misato's apartment until we could figure out how to create a new identity for the doctor. I was stuck in an alternate dimension based on an anime which leads to the destruction of all human life, and I was hated by the main characters, who, with my knowledge of future events, were the only ones that could prevent Seele's attempted monkeying with human evolution.
Finally, I was, for lack of a better description, an illegitimate child of both Yui's and my genetics, conceived through Unit-01, and my soul trapped in this new body. I had no way to get back home, I couldn't speak the national language, and I pretty much threatened to kill Misato, the only other woman who could help me. The other pilots disliked me, and with Gendo watching my every move, it was unlikely I would be trusted.
It was nearly an hour before I saw the familiar apartment complex only two blocks away. By then the sun was dropping below the mountains rapidly, the shadows enveloping the valley in darkness. Street lamps and building lights flickered slowly to life. The temperature grew cold very quickly, and the surrounding streets went dead silent except for the crickets.
Now, I'm not really afraid of the dark, but there are some places at night I won't go unless I have at least a knife on me. I'm fine driving down busy city streets and walking down sidewalks in fairly quiet neighborhoods at night. However, whenever I'm out in the woods or driving down a very dark, very quiet country road that's far enough from civilization, that's when my hairs stand up on end. It's out in those places, when there's no one you can call for help if something happens to you, be it an assault or just a hiking accident, that makes me think twice about sticking around after dark. Tokyo-3, regardless of being in the middle of a residential sector just at the very moment of sunset, had that effect.
I took slow, deep breaths, and quickened my pace. Every once in a while, I thought I could hear the sound of footsteps. I knew Section Two was following me, but just what orders they were given regarding me, and how much my ability to detect them in the growing darkness was hindered made me wish I hadn't left those Jericho pistols at the apartment.
Crossing the streets, there was no traffic, not even the hint of road noise from distant cars. The complex door was unlocked, thankfully, as I didn't know the passcode for the digital keypad mounted to the right of the doorframe. Then, just as I pulled on the handle to the right-most of the double doors, the sound of footsteps returned. They were close now, maybe twenty feet away and closing. Jerking the door open as quickly as possible, I threw myself into the building, and turned to see a thin, fairly attractive girl with brunette hair in pig tails and dark brown eyes staring at me.
Hikari Horaki, dressed in the sea green uniform jumper of Tokyo-3 Junior High stared back, eyes wide in fear as I lowered my hands from a defensive posture, fists clenched tight.
•••••••••••••
Misato opened the door with a panicked expression. "Where were you?" she asked, her voice trembling. "You were supposed to come home with Asuka!" Nodding towards the class representative, I watched the major switch to the role of warm, comforting family friend. Horaki and Katsuragi exchanged greetings, the major gesturing for the girl to enter. Once I stepped inside and left my shoes near the door, the operations director grabbed my arm, pulling me aside to the kitchen. "I'll ask one more time," she said. "Where were you?"
"Asuka left me to walk home on my own," I grumbled. "You know, I have a pretty good sense of direction, but I can't read Japanese. All these street names look identical to me." I handed the woman the map. "If it weren't for the fact you drove me to headquarters yesterday, I would have never known how to get here."
Misato scowled. "She told me you refused to go along with her."
"Let me guess," I began. "She's headed out with Hikari shopping and such, correct?" Misato nodded slowly. "Well, let her, for now. I'm feeling generous tonight, and I have to figure my way around here sooner or later." In reality, I had gotten a taste of the mental trauma Soryu had suffered during the last sortie. As much as she deserved it, I had promised to square things with the major and the Children. Besides, she would need the class representative's company in the following weeks.
I scanned around the room. "By the way, we should keep Doctor Akagi out of sight while Hikari is here. Does anyone at NERV know she's here?"
Katsuragi guided me to her bedroom, the blonde in question sleeping soundly. "You destroyed her apartment," Misato stated flatly. "Why?"
"The commander would simply keep using her until she was no longer of value to him," I answered. "Once that happened, she would be executed to prevent the truth of Second Impact, NERV, and Eva's purpose from leaking. But now we have the advantage."
"Stop talking in riddles!" the major snapped. "What advantage? What are you talking about?"
"Misato, I destroyed her apartment on purpose. The Section Two agents I silenced, Ritsuko's car, and any evidence she is here has been destroyed. NERV will think she's dead. She has a clean slate now, and can start over." Now Katsuragi had caught on, her eyes wide in shock. "After what happened, she cannot return. It is too dangerous."
"Dangerous?" Misato asked, raising her eyebrow.
"Tell me, Major, what do you know about Terminal Dogma?"
End of Chapter VIII
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Finally another update. This was by far the hardest chapter to write. I kept having the tendency to write some lame fight between Asuka and I (far more than there is present here), but it wouldn't work for the flow of the story.
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