New chapter for you homies! READ IT!
Before I start answering reviews, let me just say thanks for over 600 reviews you guys have left me. Let's keep the number rising! Also, you guys have got to check out Venom! I loved it from beginning to end!
Oh, and for those of you who didn't know what the movie reference I made was, the part where Kensuke was listing all of Adam Shadowchild's books was a reference to a running gag in Paul, a sci-fi/comedy film starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Seth Rogan.
Review Time!
Dragonmaster4872: Thanks.
StrongGuy159: Continuing right now!
ChimaTigon: No, they will appear later in the story.
NexusPrime42: Info is in the author's note and don't worry, I was only joking about the tables.
DivineBahamutXZ: Yeah, I guess I kinda did. That sounds like a good fic too, shame that it's abandoned now. There will be tones of more Godzilla in the next two chapters! Also, I haven't decided on which final Kaiju I will use but I won't be using Bagan.
I'm glad that you liked the fight but you can imagine whatever roar you'd like. You would also be correct on your assumption of Section 9 and the Angels will have massively different backstories.
I have looked on Evageeks for all those other Angels but I won't be using the ones from Eva R. You can get psyched for Mayumi soon and thanks for the review!
Nightroad816: I want to focus on the canon incarnations of Mecha Godzilla so Nerv-G Shiryu may or may not appear at all.
Mythfan: Much appreciated!
Gunman: Thanks for the review!
Gold1992: It's sort of a little of Column A and Column B.
That could be a possible idea! Maybe based around the GES Bio Rifle from Unreal Tournament…
I know, right?
Trust me, it's for the best and at least she's learning how to cook now. Rei's Security Card expires the very next day.
The reference is from Paul, a really funny movie. Read on to find out if Rei gets a better place to live!
Thanks again!
Quintain Apprentice of Alduin: The second option may be a possibility…
Dx-1118: Probably because he's just an asshole. You'll find out for yourself in the chapter!
Hercules8: Thank you so much!
.1:LOL!
Guest #1: Dude, its fanfiction. It's not supposed to follow the story; you can do whatever the hell you want. If you don't like this story then go read something else.
JuniorVB: Read on find out.
Guest #2: Sort of.
G-Matt: Thanks.
Guest #3: I LOVE that movie!
Ultra X45: It's a much better story than canon and I agree with Tribun that it does have a lot of wasted potential. You won't expect anything like that in this story!
Dcraus: Please leave a review for this story next time.
Jurassic Writer: Somewhere down the line they will and that sounds like a fantastic idea! Mind if I use it?
Beatrider9: FILTH FOR THE FILTH GOD!
OMAC001: Much appreciated!
756usgod: That's something to consider.
Tutymon Ios: I'm using Angels from the anime, rebuild, extracanonicital works and concept art.
Evangelion and Godzilla belong to their respective owners. I do not own either of them.
Chapter 17
New Home, New Foe
"Boy. That escalated quickly. I mean, that got out of hand really fast."
-Ron Burgundy, Anchorman
TOKYO-3 SLUMS
Rei walked down the stairwell as the others followed behind her. The group was unsure of how to approach Rei with a conversation. She seemed so disassociated and uninterested in what they had to say about her apartment despite the obvious health hazard it presented. Shinji decided that it would be best to focus on another subject that she hopefully might be interested in.
"So… I heard your re-activation test is tomorrow. Are you nervous at all?"
"Why?"
"Well, you were hurt pretty badly in the last test so I thought you might have pre-test jitters."
"I do not."
That pretty much ended the conversation. Shinji scratched the back of his head, unable to come up with anything. He looked to his friends behind him and they had the same stumped expression he had.
"Aren't you Commander Ikari's son?" She inquired out of the blue.
"Y-yeah." He replied, caught off guard by the sudden question.
"Don't you have faith in your own father's work?"
Oh boy. This was hard. If her interaction with his father were any indication, she cared a great deal for him and any disparaging comment about him would make Rei angry. Could she get angry? He couldn't lie to her either and would never say anything positive about his father. He would have to tell her what he really thought about him in the nicest way he could muster.
"We don't really see eye to eye with each other. We didn't part on…amicable terms and there's this really big divide between us. So to answer your question, no. It's hard to have any amount of respect for someone who was never there for 10 years of my life."
Rei stopped descending the stairs. She turned her head to look at Shinji, a look of displeasure on her features. "I do. I have faith in him. The only thing in this world I have faith in is the Commander." She stated, her tone firm and resolute. She resumed walking down the stairwell leaving Shinji and the others in silence.
"Ooooookay, what did she mean by that?" Touji asked no one in particular.
"When she said commander, was she talking about your dad?" Kensuke pointed out. Shinji could only manage a confused shrug. They finally followed Rei out of the apartment building where she began to walk down the sidewalk. The others quickly followed her and saw that she was heading towards a run-down convince store, mostly likely the only place in this ghetto where you could get groceries.
"You get your food in that place?" Touji asked incredulously.
"Yes." Rei answered.
Hikari shook her head. She had finally had enough. She ran in front of Rei, blocking her path and tightly gripped the girls' shoulders. "No more, Rei! We can no longer sit by and watch you live in this horrible place anymore!"
Rei tilted her head. "Why?"
"What is this, 20 Questions?" Kensuke quipped.
"Rei. Listen to us." Shinji pleaded. "It's not safe here. This entire area is dangerous for someone like you. We have to go to Misato and tell her about all of this. Hopefully she'll get you relocated to a safer-"
"Well, well, well! Look who we got here!"
"See? See? I told ya she'd have to come out sometime!"
Everyone looked to their left and saw four men approach them with lecherous grins on their faces. They were all dressed in unkempt street clothing and looked to be about four years older than the kids. These guys were obviously high school dropouts. A feeling of danger was present in the air as the kids (sans Rei) gulped.
"When you're right, youre right." One punk grinned. He had slicked back, yellow dyed hair and looked to be the head honcho.
"Hey, there's another one!" One in a messy hoodie jeered as he pointed at Hikari.
"Who are these dorks?" Another one with a do-rag wrapped around his head said.
"Probably her dumb friends, ignore 'em." Another scoffed, showing his ugly braces.
Shinji and his friends were immediately on their guard as the delinquents moved in closer. "What do you want?" Shinji demanded. Touji and Kensuke stood on each side next to him while Hikari placed herself next to Rei.
"We just wanted to see how our new resident was doing in our cozy neighborhood." Slick said with mock cordiality.
"Yeah, it gets a little dangerous and we just wanted to do a little checkup." Braces leered.
"She's perfectly fine." Hikari said sternly, ready to grab Rei and flee with the others.
"Yeah so we're all cool now! We'll just be heading home." Kensuke quickly spouted, trying his best to hide his growing fear.
"Aw c'mon!" Do-rag said, slinging his arm over Kensuke's shoulder. "You can't blame a couple of guys for wanting to look out for someone else, right?" Kensuke didn't believe him one bit.
"So we were probably thinking that she might be safe with us!" Hoodie laughed at he got closer to Rei along with Slick.
"Look, we aren't looking for any trouble. We just want to take our friend-" Shinji started before Slick interrupted him.
"For a little sleepover? I think me and the boys can offer a better one." Slick smiled as he loomed over Rei; there was very little expression on her face. "So what do you say, sweetie? I think you and pigtails would be able to put out more easily for us." He chuckled maliciously as his hand started to inch towards her breast.
"Hey." Shinji suddenly spoke, his voice devoid of any emotion.
Slick rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Are you still here? The hell do you wa-"
KRACK
Before anyone could register his movements, Shinji instantly darted between Do-rag and Braces, right towards their leader as he turned around. He leapt up, grabbed the sides of Slick's head and drove his knee straight into his face, the sound of his nose shattering like glass resounding through the air as he fell to the ground like a sack of bricks.
"WHA-"
As soon as Shinji got to his feet, he spun around and kicked Hoodie right across the face, sending him face first into a stop sign.
"YOU LITTLE D***!" Braces snarled as he shoved Kensuke out of the way and tackled Shinji to the ground. Do-rag made a beeline for Shinji only to have Touji slug him right in the nuts, sending him sprawling to the ground in pain. Braces began punching Shinji across the face as the boy tried to guard against the blows. Kensuke spotted a discarded pipe in a garbage can and grabbed it, rushing over to Shinji and Braces!
"EAT SHIT!" Kensuke hollered as he smashed the pipe across the back of Brace's skull! The thug slumped over to the left, giving Shinji enough space to get up. Seeing that they were in the clear, Hikari quickly grasped Rei by her hand.
"Rei, we have to get out of-AGH!" Hikari yelped as she felt a sharp tug on one of her pigtails. It was Slick, clutching his bleeding nose and looked extremely angry.
"Where do you think you're going you-" Slick was suddenly punched across the face by Touji who then straddled him and began ruthlessly pummeling the leader in a furious rage. Do-rag got up and started to advance towards Touji-
THOP
To everyone's surprise, Hikari rushed forward and performed an open palm strike to Do-rag's jugular! She then launched into a flurry of quick, graceful jabs and kicks before finishing off with another palm strike to the face that sent Do-rag down for the count. Shinji stared wide eyed at that impressive display, as well as Kensuke and Touji who had just stopped pulverizing Slick senseless. Shinji then noticed Hoodie started to get up and pulled out a switchblade from his pocket, his eyes set on Kensuke!
"MOVE!" Shinji yelled as he shoved Kensuke out of the way. Hoodie swung the switchblade at Shinji who sidestepped out of the way though the tip of the blade cut across his arm. Shinji swung his elbow downwards right onto Hoodie's forehead and the hoodlum collapsed to the pavement, howling in agony.
"RUN FOR IT!" Touji shouted as he got off Slick and ran as fast he could. Everyone else followed suit with Hikari dragging Rei along by the hand. The group had finally left the decrepit neighborhood and the thugs behind as they ran through the safer parts of Tokyo-3.
"So does anyone know where we're going?!" Kensuke frantically asked.
"I do." Shinji answered, clutching his bleeding arm.
MISATO'S APARTMENT-SEVERAL MINUTES LATER
Misato yawned as she finished filing out the last of her paperwork for Nerv. Once again it was about concerns of the budget as well as the MSC in general. She remembered that the world's biggest dinosaur had been rather quiet as of late since she heard on the news that there had been no sightings of it since the battle with the 4th Angel.
A part of her wondered where something that big would go. She doubted that there was an island big enough to house him and there was no way it could gain sustenance with all sea life dead thanks to The 2nd Impact tainted waters. But Misato could think about that later. She finished up all of her paperwork all she wanted to do was unwind with fresh can of Yebisu.
As she picked out a cold one from her fridge, she wondered what was taking Shinji so long with Rei. Her address to her residence was on her card so there was no way he could've gotten lost so maybe they were having a friendly chat with each other. Maybe this would be a good chance to tease him about it when he got back!
She heard the sound of her door open which meant that Shinji was home. "You were certainly gone for a bit. Did you have fun over at-SHINJI?!"
Misato dropped her beer can in shock as Shinji stumbled into the kitchen with a bruised face, bloody nose and a bleeding cut across his arm. Other footsteps could be heard as she saw Touji, Kensuke, Rei and another girl she didn't recognize enter the room.
"Shit, that looks real bad!" Touji remarked as he looked at the wound on Shinji's arm. Misato was at Shinji's side in an instantly looking over his wounds. She instantly sprang into action.
"You two sit him down on the couch!" Misato ordered Touji and Kensuke before turning her attention to Rei and Hikari. "Get him some ice for his bruises! There's an ice pack in the freezer!"
Touji guided Shinji over to the couch while Kensuke grabbed some tissues from the counter to mop up the blood on Shinji's nose. Hikari went to the fridge and dug out the aforementioned ice pack. Rei silently watched all of this like a statue. A few seconds later, Misato emerged from her room with a first aid kit in her hands.
Getting out a cotton ball, she lightly dabbed it disinfectant and wiped away the blood on Shinji's arm. It wasn't bleeding profusely so there want much to wipe away. She pressed the cotton against his would to mop up the blood and let the disinfectant do its job.
"Am I going to need stiches?" Shinji asked her as he pressed the pack of ice against his bruised face.
"Thankfully no. It's just flesh wound." Misato assured him as he put a flexible bandage on his cut. She gave him a serious look. "Shinji. What the hell happened?" She demanded.
"Firs off, are you aware that Rei is living on the other side of Tokyo-3 in the worst neighborhood imaginable?" Shinji started.
"Hold on. You mean that really run-down section of the city?" Misato identified, not liking where this was going.
"Yes! She lives in a filthy tenement with no working electricity, mold all over the walls and I'm pretty the building could collapse at any given minuet!" Shinji told her.
Misato turned to Rei in confusion and immediate concern. "Is this true?"
Rei nodded. "It is my currently assigned residence though Pilot Ikari and his classmates are adamant that I relocate."
"And for a good reason! You saw for yourself how dangerous that place can be! Those men were going to kidnap you!" Hikari pointed out.
"Kidnap?!" Misato repeated in horror.
"A buncha thugs came up to us and wanted to take her away! All of us had to fight them off!" Touji revealed.
"One of them pulled a freakin knife on us!" Kensuke added with fright.
Misato stared at them in shock. She couldn't believe that they were actually attacked. Shinji and the others could've been killed and there was also the chilling thought of Rei taken away by rapists. But why hadn't she heard a report from Section 2 yet? Their job was to recon and safeguard the pilots so they surely must have protected them…didn't they?
"But-but Section 2 was there to help you, right?" Misato nervously asked.
"Oh, oh, right! Section 2! WHERE THE METAPHORICAL F*** WERE THEY?!" Shinji angrily hollered, starling everyone except for Rei. Misato's jaw fell open. Section 2 wasn't there?! Why?! Misato's shocked expression shifted to a serious, grim look as she ran into her room. After a minute, she came out wearing her Nerv attire and still had that serious look.
"Take me to where Rei lives. Now."
TOKYO-3 SLUMS- HALF AN HOUR LATER
Misato stared at the horrendous structure before her as Shinji, Rei and the others stood next to her. The Colonel had a mixture of emotions coursing through her veins as she looked at the surrounding area of Rei's apartment. Confusion. Shock. Sympathy. Morbidity. Anger.
"Rei, this is where you really live?" Misato demanded.
"Yes. Nerv assigned me these accommodations months ago." Rei confirmed.
"You were here for months?!" Hikari balked.
Misato shook her head. Why wasn't she informed of this? Why on earth would Nerv let Rei live in such a dump?! One thing was for sure though; she wasn't going to let that poor girl live here anymore. Misato also made a mental note to personally strangle the one who thought it was a good idea to give her such squalid living conditions.
Shinji cautiously looked around before addressing Misato. "Listen, I know a lot is going through your mind but we can't linger here any longer. There's no telling when-"
"THERE THEY ARE!"
Turning their heads around to the source, Shinji and his friends went pale as they saw the four thugs, sporting multiple bruises, across the street from them but now had another member. He was taller than his friends and he didn't look the slightest bit happy. He wore baggy, black-colored pants and a black leather jacket that exposed his bare chest. He had a thin moustache along with a large pompadour but the one thing that had Shinji on edge was the wooden bokken he had firmly gripped in his hand as he tapped it against his shoulder. Judging by the nicks and chips all over it, it had been used multiple times on some unfortunate sap.
"That's them! Those're the ones who beat us up, big bro!" Slick barked as he pointed to the group. A sneer curled across Big Bro's face as he sauntered across the street.
Shinji backed away and protectively stood in front of Rei, as did the others. But Misato stood where she was, her eyes shadowed by her hair.
"Rei, is this them?" Misato asked Rei, her tone of voice one of quiet fury.
"Yes, Colonel Katsuragi. I believe those are my assailants." Rei replied.
Big Bro walked up to the group and eyed them like hungry predator. "So these are the little shits who beat you up?" Big Bro demanded as he looked over his shoulder. Slick nodded while smiling, as did his friends who eagerly awaited their leader to break some skulls in.
Big Bro turned his attention to Misato and got up in her face. "And who're you supposed to be? Their mommy?"
Misato said nothing. Her hair continued to shadow her eyes, making her demeanor unreadable. Big Bro's eye twitched in annoyance. "ARE YOU DEAF AND DUMB?!" He shouted. "I'M TALKIN TO-"
KLSHIK
Misato instantly whipped out her Heckler & Koch USP and shoved it right into Big Bro's mouth! Shinji jaw fell open in shock while his friends gasped. Rei didn't show any reaction at all. The thugs instantly back away in fear, their smug expressions replaced by fear. Big Bro dropped his bokken as he voided his bowels. Misato lifted her head up a little to reveal her eyes radiant with anger that made Big Bro sweat profusely.
Misato the leaned in close to Big Bro and hissed, "F***. Off. Now."
She then booted Big Bro in the stomach and as he toppled backwards, she aimed her gun at the others and thumbed back the hammer, making an audible clicking sound for all to hear. The thugs ran as fast as they could in terror while Big Bro followed them, bawling like a baby.
Everyone stood in silence as Misato holstered her firearm and motioned for them to head back to the Renault with her. The kids followed her back, feeling much safer in this dangerous neighborhood. They made it back to her car and climbed inside, sitting in silence for a few seconds. Misato let out the breath she had been holding in and the stony, dead-serious demeanor she had before melted away into concern for the others.
"I'm so sorry you all had to see that…" She meekly apologized to them. She turned her attention to Rei. "Rei, you are not living there anymore. You deserve better than this and I'm going to fix it."
"But Colonel-"
"No buts." Misato sternly interrupted. "We're heading back to my home, I'm calling Nerv and we're relocating you to a safer neighborhood."
Rei stayed silent after that. Shinji felt proud that Misato was doing this for her, almost anybody else on the planet would've done the same. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw two black sedans pull up along a sidewalk from an intersection ahead of them. Two mean each got out of their respective vehicles, the four of them wearing black suits and pants along with black sunglasses.
"Section 2?" He heard Misato say. Everyone looked ahead to see the one of the agents get out several bags and hand them to each agents. Shinji began to wonder who those men were but when he saw them dig out some takeout from the bags, everything fell into place.
Those men where his and Rei's security detail! These careless idiots actually went and got themselves grub when they should've been looking out for them in case something bad happened! He, Rei and the others could've been killed!
"Unbelievable jackasses!" Shinji denounced, pounding his fist onto his passenger seat's armrest. " How could they just-" His words died in his mouth when he saw Misato staring at them with an frighteningly enraged looked, tightly gripping the steering wheel like she was going to rip it off. She too had deduced that the agents skipped out on their job to get something to eat and she kicked her door open, stomping towards the agents who hadn't noticed her yet as they were too busy eating and cracking jokes with one another.
Shinji gulped and he turned to Hikari behind him. "You might wanna cover your eyes."
NERV-GENDO'S OFFICE
A FEW MINUTES LATER
"Really? I see…very well. Have the 1st and 3rd Child's security fired and replaced. Also, have the 1st moved to a more hospitable location"
Gendo put the phone down onto the receiver. Fuyutsuki, who had been looking out the window, slightly turned his head to Gendo. "You're not going to reprimand Colonel Katsuragi for her 'treatment' towards Section 2?"
"I have no tolerance for imbeciles. I'll let her actions slide for now."
"…This was bound to happen sooner or later, Ikari. That area of Tokyo-3 was unsafe to begin with and Rei could've been kidnapped or worse, killed."
"If she dies, she can be replaced."
Fuyutsuki said nothing and turned his attention back to the window. Gendo never truly cared about Rei, only saw her as a tool in his grand plan. It was another reminder of how much Kozo hated himself for being a part of Gendo's growing madness…
TOKYO-3 OUTSKIRTS-MISATO'S APARTMENT
"Why did Colonel Katsuragi inflict harm upon my security detail?" Rei asked Shinji.
"Probably for a very good reason. They did slack off on their jobs, after all." Shinji pointed out.
"Yes. They were very…negligent of their duties." Rei agreed.
After Misato was done pulverizing the inept agents, she took them back to her apartment where she got on the phone to relay what happened to the pilots and 3 other civilians. This left Shinji, Rei, Touji, Kensuke and Hikari seated in the living room while they waited for the news. After a few minutes, Misato hung up her phone and went back to the kids.
"Good news, Rei. Everything's been sorted out; you got yourself a new place a few blocks from my apartment and new agents have been assigned to your security detail. You're going to have to stay at Nerv for a couple of days while they sort out the living arrangements but you got yourself a new home." Misato informed her.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness you won't have to live in that horrible place anymore." Hikari said.
"Yes. I have determined that my previous habitation was unfit for me." Rei replied.
Kensuke sweatdropped. "You just realized that?" Hikari glared at him, instantly shutting him up.
"I still can't believe Nerv had you living in that dump." Touji said.
"That reminds me, I need you to tell me the name of the agent who assigned you that apartment, Rei. I want to give him a piece of my mind." Misato demanded.
"I'm afraid you cannot do that, Colonel Katsuragi." Rei countered.
"Oh? And why is that?" She questioned.
"Because it was Commander Ikari who arranged my living quarters." Rei revealed.
Everyone stared at Rei in shock, except for Hikari who looked a tad confused.
"My father made you live there?!" Shinji gawked.
"Yes. He deemed my previous habitation suitable." Rei confirmed, earning more confused expressions from everyone present.
"Rei, that place wasn't fit for a girl your age in the slightest!" Misato protested. "What would your mother and father think?!"
"I do not have a mother and father. I was adopted by the Commander." Rei revealed further stunning everyone present. Shinji stared wide eyed at Rei in horror, unable to formulate any words at all. Misato and his classmates could only imagine what was going through his head.
That's when the doorbell rang, knocking everyone out of their thoughts. Misato disappeared into the hallway to see who it was, then came back to the others. "It's Section 2. They want to escort you to your temporary quarters at Nerv."
Rei sat up from the couch and began to walk towards the door, but Shinji sprang up from his mat and called out to her. "Rei, wait!"
The albino turned her head to face him. Shinji tried to think of the best way to talk to her about her problems but was still struggling with the news that his father adopted her. He finally exhaled before straightening himself up.
"Rei, I want you to know that we're here for you. I know you probably don't care or think it's important but we just want you to be safe. We helped you get out of that place and if you're ever in need or just want to talk about something, we can help you."
"…Why?"
Shinji looked behind him at Touji, Kensuke and Hikari. He turned back to Rei. "Because we're your friends."
"You can count me in too." Misato announced, folding her arms. She was not going to let anything bad happen to Rei or Shinji ever again.
Rei looked at everyone with an unreadable expression but she was confused on the inside. No one had ever shown that much concern for her other than the Commander. Was the neighborhood she was staying at truly that bad? Did it distress them that much? Was the Commander…mistaken?
"I see…I will contact you whenever I require assistance." She said as he headed out into the hallway and closed the door.
That left everyone to themselves for a time. They all let the events that happened today sink in. Hikari looked at her friends and Ms. Katsuragi, taking note of their troubled expressions. She never heard about Shinji's father but judging from how they reacted it was obvious that Shinji didn't have a good relationship with him.
"She was adopted by my dad…raised by him." He groaned as he buried his face into his hands.
"Jeez, no wonder she's so messed up." Touji shook his head.
"Now hold on, Rei could have autism for all we know." Misato reasoned.
"Ms. Katsuragi brings up a salient point." Hikari agreed. "Her disassociation from events around her and lack of emotion does point to some form developmental disorder."
"That or abuse." Shinji grumbled.
Hikari gulped. She didn't want to consider that possibility but felt like she would understand better if she asked Shinji about his father. "Shinji, if I may ask, what did your father-"
"He abandoned me at a train station and left me with an uncaring tutor. Hadn't even bothered to contact me for 10 years until only a few months ago."
Hikari was left speechless as she slowly brought a hand up to her mouth. What kind father does that to their own son?!
"So…does this mean that your dad adopted Rei after he ditched you?" Kensuke nervously guessed.
Shinji folded his arms as he sighed. "It's starting to look like it." Nobody said a word, not wanting to make the situation more uncomfortable than it already was.
"But I'm not going to hate her for it." Shinji declared. "Nor do I feel any form of jealousy. My dad threw away any chance he had of being a parent a long time ago and he thinks he can do the same to Rei, he's wrong. I'm going to talk to her more and get her to show some emotion, maybe undo some of the damage my father did."
"Count me in." Hikari said. "I'll try to introduce Rei to my friends, and probably encourage her to enroll in one of our clubs."
"Once she moves in to her new home, I'll stop in every once in a while to check up on her." Misato added, wanting to help Rei as much as the others.
"We'll…uh…provide emotional support?" Touji suggested. Honestly, he and Kensuke couldn't think up of much but that was more than enough for Shinji, Hikari and Misato.
"I think some of us should be getting back to our homes." Kensuke notified as he looked at his watch. "Should we tell our families what happened?"
"No." Misato instantly barked. "Your parents do not need to know that you fended off a bunch of muggers. This is our secret, understand?"
Everyone nodded. "Also, I would like to apologize for the incompetence exhibited by our agents. I promise that this sort of thing will never happen again and I hope you don't have to go through something like that a second time." Misato continued, bowing to them a little.
"Honestly, we took care of ourselves pretty damn well." Touji admitted before he pointed to Kensuke. "Ken here whacked one of em with freakin pipe!"
"Yeah, I…holy crap I actually did that." Kensuke realized. "But you were no slouch yourself; you went to town on that other guy!"
"That dumbass was asking for it." Touji dismissively waved. In reality, he was protecting Hikari.
"Hey, don't forget Hikari, she fought too." Shinji reminded them. Hikari's eyes darted to the floor as she blushed furiously. "I mean, what you did back there was amazing! Do you practice marital arts too?"
"Well, my grandmother used to practice Nam Pai Chuan and she taught me everything she knew. This is actually the first time I've used for self-defense." She explained, though a little bit embarrassed.
The sound of someone's phone vibrating caught their attention. It turned out to be Touji's as he got it out and flipped it open. He sighed. "Little sis just texted, she's getting worried about me. I'll see you guys later." Touji said as he left the room.
"Same here." Kensuke said as he followed Touji. "See ya!"
"I wish you the best of luck with your endeavors, Shinji, Ms. Katsuragi." Hikari bid them farewell, following her classmates. After they had all left, Pen-Pen waddled out of the fridge and over to Misato who sat on a Zaisu mat. The penguin plopped itself on Misato's lap who affectionately petted his head. But then her smile faded as she looked at Shinji. "I really should've gone with you guys."
"Misato, how were any of us supposed to know Rei lived in that dump?" Shinji reasoned.
"I know, I know…I just we could've done more beforehand." Misato moped.
Shinji got up from the couch and sat next to Misato. "We did as much as we could in one day. We protected her, we got her out of there, she's going to get a safer place to live in and we're going to help her as much as we can."
Meanwhile, Rei sat in the back seat of the Sedan as Section 2 drove her back to the Geofront. She felt conflicted about what she told the others, recalling what Commander Ikari told her concerning her "Parents."
"Remember, Rei. If anybody asks who your parents are, you are to tell them that you were adopted by me and nothing else. Do not forget your purpose."
NERV-ACTIVATION TEST CHAMBER
THE NEXT DAY
Rei sat in the seat of her Entry Plug, her hands clutched firmly around the controls.
"Rei? Can you hear me?" Came the voice of Gendo.
"Yes." Rei answered.
"We will now commence the Unit-00 re-activation experiment."
"Understood." Was her reply.
Back in the observation booth, Gendo pushed up his glasses. "Commence first connection."
The technicians immediately worked on their consoles as Maya and Ritsuko looked over the data. Also present in the room were Fuyutsuki, Shinji and Misato; the latter two were wishing Rei the best of luck. Rei displayed no emotion as she heard the technicians make their announcements and diagnostics. Her eyes drifted over to Gendo's broken glasses that sat on the rim of her seat. He first thought was Gendo rescuing her from the plug after the botched test but it was, strangely, replaced with memories of Shinji, his classmates and Misato. She also remembered Shinji's words to her before she left the apartment the day before.
"Because we're your friends."
She began to experience something flowing throughout her being. It felt like…comfort?
Shinji and Misato were admittedly anxious about the test. While the both of them had never seen what happened, they could only guess that it must've been terrifying to witness, given Rei's previous injuries. They just hoped that things would go a lot smoother this time. They turned their gazes over to Gendo and their expressions immediately darkened.
Shinji now had even lower opinion of his father; secretly wishing to see him behind bars for making Rei live in that horrible place. Misato had the same feeling as well. She never really knew much about him, seeing Gendo as a no-nonsense type of guy who was focused on his duty. But after hearing how he abandoned his own son for 10 years and endangered Rei, her opinion him had taken a steep nose-dive.
"Central Nerve Element systems are nominal"
"Re-calculating, no error corrections."
"Checklist is satisfactory up to2590. Approaching the critical mark. 2.5, 1.7…" Maya began to countdown.
Fuyutsuki and Ritsuko tensed up. They did not want to go through the same ordeal again. If this experiment went wrong again then Unit-00 was officially unusable. Ritsuko looked over to Gendo and took note of the worried look he had on his face.
"Borderline cleared!" Maya announced. "Unit-00 has been successfully activated."
Everyone in the room breathed a collective sigh of relief. Shinji silently whispered, "Yes!" while Misato patted him on the back. Gendo smiled, relived that that Rei wasn't going to get seriously injured this time.
Fuyutsuki's cell phone stared to buzz in his pocket. He took it out and he answered it. "This is Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki speaking. What? How?! No, there's no time for CCI to intercept it that quickly. We'll mobilize immediately."
Fuyutsuki turned off his phone. "There's an unidentified object heading towards Tokyo-3. The MAGI have confirmed that it's the 5th Angel." He urgently told Gendo. Everyone heard that and all eyes were on him.
"Stop the test. Go to first stage alert." Gendo ordered immediately.
"You're not going to use Unit-00?" Fuyutsuki questioned.
"She's not ready to fight yet." Gendo replied as he turned his head to Ritsuko. "What's the status of Unit-01?"
"It'll be ready in 380 seconds." Ritsuko confirmed.
"Engage." He ordered before turning back to Unit-00.
"Rei, the re-activation was successfully completed. Return now."
"Yes, Sir."
TOKYO-3 OUTSKIRTS
The woods were scene of still, serene calmness. A mother deer and her calf grazed on a patch of grass in a sunlit clearing. Suddenly, the mother's ears perked up and lifted her head towards the south, as did her calf. When they spotted the…thing floating towards them, they bolted into the forest, along with other woodland creatures and birds.
A massive sapphire octahedron floated above the forest in eerie silence. It was 100 meters in height, seemed to be made of some kind of crystalline material and had smaller, triangular shapes floating over each face of the octahedron. The sun reflected off is gleaming hide as floated towards Tokyo-3.
Ramiel was trying to understand why his last two predecessors failed in their mission. Sachiel he could understand, he had a tendency to be overconfident and maybe the humans got lucky. But Shamshel too? That was concerning. He wasn't sure what happened to those two or how the humans managed to fight back, but he would put an end their little insignificant "victories."
PACIFIC OCEAN-300 MILES OFF THE COAST OF JAPAN
A familiar set of massive dorsal spines jutted out of the crimson sea as it cut through the water like a blade. Suddenly, it stopped, turned around and surged towards the mainland of Japan…
To be continued…
This was a tough chapter to write but one I enjoyed nonetheless. I really wanted to showcase more of Shinji's Muay Tai as well as giving Hikari some cool moves as well, most of which were inspired by Li Xiangfei from King of Fighters. But the real icing on the cake was Misato going full blown momma bear on those thugs!
Rei was a tad difficult to write because she's essentially a blank canvas. I hope I pleased some of you who wanted to see her be treated better and moved to safer living conditions.
But now for some really interesting info for you guys, all centered on Ramiel!
Ramiel is a combination of two different incarnations. He possesses the same abilities as his Rebuild counterpart but the triangular panels he has comes from his concept art version featured in the NGE Proposal art book. He will also feature new abilities I made up just for him!
As a little bonus for you guys, here's some more info on this particular Dark One! During the Kaiju/Dark One War millions of years ago, Dark Ones like Ramiel were similar to the original anime Ramiel and functioned like immobile, 75 meter sentry turrets to guard important areas of interest for the Dark Ones during the war.
I'm also keeping a lid on his Forced Evolution so stayed tuned for the next chapter: Operation Yashima!
Don't forget to review but please don't flame.