The holographic emitters that were on top of the conference table formed a pair of feet, the feet each growing a leg, those legs merging into a torso, and onwards towards a completed human sized image of Unit 10, which towered over Shinji and Hood, who were sitting at the table looking up at it. Hood then began to speak.
"Of all the Evanglions in Wille's arsenal, it is Unit 10 that is the most unique of all of them." He pushed a few buttons, and a large thin holographic piece of glass appeared that acted as a magnifyier, focused on one of the Eva's claw-like hands.
"You probably noticed that the Eva has some rather interesting appendages on it. Along with being used as a melee weapon, these claws are designed to help deploy large AT Fields. I'm sure you noticed that when you piloted during the battle."
"Yeah, I did," Shinji said.
"And that is not all." With a few more buttons, the magnifyier began highlighting several sections of the Eva's body. "There is also other equipment that is not on any other Eva. This equipment used multimodel reflection sorting to produce a warping effect that not only strengthens AT Fields, but also allows them to be shaped and manipulated in whatever way the pilot wishes. What's interesting about that is no one has been able to do it yet, not even pilots Shikinami and Makinami could do it."
"Really?" Shinji said.
"That's right," Hood replied leaning back in his chair. "Personally, I think you can do it though."
"Why do you think so?" Shinji asked.
"Well, you do know that you're genetically different from the average human being, right?" Shinji nodded yes.
"I believe that difference could very well be the factor that will allow you to do so, but that's my opinion," Hood said.
"I see…" Shinji went silent for a few seconds before speaking again. "Uh…what other differences would there be?"
"What do you mean other differences? I don't understand." Hood turned in his chair to face him.
"What I mean is if there is anything that might be different about me," Shinji said, "like my mind or something like that."
"Well, not really," Hood replied. "All cerebral scans we have performed on you show no abnormalities. Your brain's size is average for someone your physical age. Neural pathways are normal as well. Why do you ask?"
"It's, uh, well, kind of difficult to explain," Shinji said.
"You thought what, that you could move objects with your mind or something like that?"
"No, no, nothing like that," Shinji said with a chuckle. "Can we move on with the lesson please?"
"Sure thing," Hood said. "You should know if you think something is wrong, you can tell me, all right?"
"All right," Shinji said. Eaiser said than done, he then thoought to himself. Since he realized what was happening with his dreams, he had been having trouble talking to anyone he could trust about it. Either they would be too busy through taking part in his training and other duties or he would get too nervous about going through with it. Part of the anxiety was the reaction he would receive from them, but he was more concerned about having them worry about him. He hoped he could find a way around this before he has another dream.
"Good," Hood said. "Personally, I really can't say for sure about you. You're normal now, but who knows what's going to happen ten or twenty years from now."
"Really?" Shinji asked.
"Yeah, but I don't think you need to worry about that for a while," Hood said as he tapped a few keys and removed the hologram from sight.
"Now, let's turn our attention to the Eva's entry plug…"
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Asuka watched the scenes of reconstruction go past her as the train she was on sped towards the center of the city, taking note that while they were making significant progress in rebuilding the city in the two weeks since the battle, she knew it would be months before this city would return to anything close to normal. She then saw in the reflection of her face in the window a finger moving towards her cheek.
"No," she said without turning her head towards the finger's owner. The finger stopped where it was for a few seconds before resuming its course.
"Will you stop that!" Asuka grabbed the finger in a flash and squeezed.
"Ow, ow, okay," Mari said as she tried to pull her finger from Asuka's grip. "I just wanted to see if you were alive. You were zoning out pretty good."
"I was just thinking, that's all," Asuka let go of her partner's finger.
"About what?" Mari asked as she rubbed her finger to get the blood flowing back into it.
"None of you damn business," Asuka replied.
"I'm interpreting that as you're thinking of our dear Shinji right now," Mari said.
"Stuff it," Asuka replied.
"Tell me," Mari prodded. Asuka sighed.
"I was just wondering why the hell did they give him such a high rank," she said. "A Major? You have got be kidding me."
"You have to keep in mind that our forces in cities like New Constantinople use different ranks than we do," Ritsuko, who was sitting next to them looking through paperwork, said. "We use naval ranks while NewCon uses ranks for ground forces. So while it seems that you and Shinji have vastly different ranks, in reality, you two would have the same amount of authority on the battlefield together."
"But aren't divided commands a bad thing?" Asuka then asked.
"As a rule, yes," Ritsuko replied. "But in this hypothetical situation, it would all depend on who is the one in charge of the operation. If it is Colonel Aida, it is likely Shinji who would be the lead pilot. If it is the Captain, then it would be you. And…she already decided that if such a situation were to happen, we would be having him on standby."
"That makes sense," Asuka said. She took a breath, and turned her head to find Mari staring at her.
"You know, I'm not really buying it," she whispered to her. "I think you're worrying about him, and to be honest Princess, I'm worrying too. At the same time though, I'm going to trust him. Maybe you should as well."
"It's not that I don't trust him," Asuka said. "I just don't know if he could trust himself." The two remained silent as the train sped on.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Shinji was sitting on a bench in a lab working on his algebra homework as school had started again three days ago, the classes being held in underground shelters due to the school building got damaged in the battle. He never had to do this in his Nerv days since Misato had always scheduled sync tests and other training in the late afternoon or early evening after school was over for the day, and she still made time for him as well as Asuka and Rei to complete their homework. This time around, he was a lot more involved than he was back in those days, often attending multiple meetings, along with tests and other responsibilities as a result of his piloting. He had to report as soon as he was done with classes for the day to headquarters, often staying until past midnight. He had to get his homework done when he could.
Yet, the most unusual part about this was that he was wearing a…can he even call it a plug suit? He looked down at his hand that was holding the pencil he was using, though the metal extensions that made his hand look more like a claw was making it difficult to hold. He shifted his eyes further up his arms, looking at all the pieces of metal, tubes filled with fluid, wires and circuitry that covered it. What is all this for he wondered as the door slid open and Aida, Hood, and Burke entered.
"Oh, hey guys," Shinji said as he closed his algebra book and stood up.
"Good, I see you're in the suit already," Hood said. Shinji then noticed that Aida was looking at him with some intensity.
"Is-Is something wrong?" Shinji asked him.
"Sorry about that," Aida said. "I just couldn't help but feel like you're in the middle of being assimilated by the Borg." Shinji looked at him in confusion while Burke grimaced and Hood coughed to get everyone's attention.
"The Colonel's geekish leanings notwithstanding, we need to focus on the task at hand," he said. "We're now going to run some tests on the suit."
"Okay," Shinji said as he looked down at his suit. "I've never seen stuff like this on a plug suit before."
"Technically, it's not a plug suit," Hood told him. "It's called a restraint suit or r-suit for short."
"Restraint suit?" Shinji asked, looking closer at the equipment on his arms and legs.
"Because you have the potential to awaken Unit 10, we have to take all steps in order to prevent that. "That suit you're wearing is one component of that," Hood said.
"I suppose that makes sense," Shinji said.
"Glad that you understand," Hood said. "Before we begin, can you tell me if the suit feels comfortable to you? Are there places that are too tight or the equipment feels too heavy? Can you move around normally?"
"Uh, yeah. Everything seems fine," Shinji said.
"Good, good. Tell me if you have any problems later on with it," Hood then said. "Now, we are going to begin diagnostics on all the suit's equipment." For the next twenty minutes, Shinji stood there as the parts on his suit buzzed, chriped, and made other noises from time to time, as well as a few sharp pricks on his arms after Hood gave him a warning they were going to happen.
"Okay, we do need to recalibrate a couple of things, but otherwise, that went well," Hood said, tapping his tablet a couple of times. "Now, we need to check one more device, and we'll be all done." Hood then tapped some more keys. At first, nothing was happening, then Shinji heard a buzzing noise coming from around his neck. He then felt the suit's collar tightening around him. It wasn't enough to keep him from breathing, but it did feel uncomfortable to him. Within seconds of it starting, he put his hand to his throat. He remembered feeling this before.
"Is this…" he began to ask, but didn't finish.
"Unfortunately yes," Hood answered. "A DSS chocker is installed on the suit. There are over a dozen devices, both on the suit as well as on Unit 10 itself dedicated to prevent you from awakening an Eva. I can assure you that deploying this one would be the last option instead of the first."
"You do understand why we have to do this," Aida added. "You said yourself that you know the consequences if things got out of control. This is what the higher ups requested in order to let you pilot."
"I…see your point," Shinji said. "Who…who will-"
"It isn't a single person," Hood said as he fished from his pocket a small key. "There will be three of us with these keys. The Commander, myself, and Colonel Aida. It can't be done without all of us agreeing to it." Shinji turned to Burke.
"You don't have a key?" Shinji asked him.
"No," Burke answered. "It...didn't feel right to me to take one. Lucky for me, the Commander understood."
"Oh, really?" Shinji said.
"You only have to wear it while you're piloting," Aida said. "We trust that you won't do anything."
"I don't blame any of you for this," Shinji said. "I trust you guys too. I won't let you down."
"Good to hear," Hood said. "Now, we need to complete some final tests, and that requires a reading of your sync rate. If you follow me, we'll proceed over there, and you'll be pleased to know there will be some familiar faces joining you."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"How does it look?" Burke asked.
"Excellent sir," Bertain answered. On the main screen in the control room, images of Shinji, Joanna, Asuka, and Mari sitting in the test plugs. "Compared to previous records, all pilots sync scores are within normal parameters."
"And the r-suit?" Hood asked.
"All non-lethal equipment has brought the sync rate down to zero when activated," Bertain replied.
"Can we get the test results back to the Wunder?" Ritsuko asked. "I would like to look at them in my spare time."
"Of course, Ma'am," Bertain said. "I'll send them over there as soon as we're done."
"Okay, we're done here," Hood then said into the mike. "Good job everyone." Burke then turned to Ritsuko.
"I believe this shows the good faith efforts we're putting into this," he said to her.
"For the moment yes," she replied. "I hope we can continue with this in the future."
"I see no reason why not," Burke replied. "We'll let your pilots use our locker room facilities before heading back to the Wunder."
"Thank you," Ritsuko said. "Until next time." She then left the control room.
"That went better than I thought," Hood said.
"Rebuilding trust takes time," Burke replied. "I don't expect us to be one big happy family anytime soon, but as long as they keep in mind we're all the same side, I'm willing to keep working on it."
"We should hope they realize it too," Hood added.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Yeah, I think we could do that," Mari said as the four were walking down the corridor to the locker rooms. "We should have some time to visit the kids."
"Really? That would be great," Shinji said.
"I wouldn't have any trouble with it either," Joanna said.
"Why are you including me in this?" Asuka asked Mari.
"What, are you afraid of going another round with that girl?" Mari grinned at her.
"Humph," was all Asuka said. Joanna turned her head to each person, trying to get some context from what was said.
"She'll come," Mari reassured him. "Don't worry about it."
"Can we hurry the hell up?" Asuka complained. "I want to shower and get back to the ship."
"As you wish your highness," Mari said.
"You would think after all these years we wouldn't have to these damn tests all the time," Asuka said. "I can understand the rookie, but why us?"
"Oh, I suppose they want to compare our sync scores to the newbie," Mari replied.
"Well, whatever," Asuka said as she walked into the women's locker room. Shinji saw Mari was about to enter as well. Several different thoughts cascaded through his mind in a second. She he talk to her or shouldn't he. What would happen if he did? This was the best chance he had, how long was he going to continue on like this. She was a nice person, and never had any serious problems with her. Deciding to trust her, he called out her name.
"Yes," she turned around. There was a smile on her face, but her eyes betrayed confusion.
"Yeah there is something else I wanted to talk to you about," Shinji said.
"You should ask the other two first," she eyed Joanna going past them, "but I personally don't mind if you joined us in the showers." The two heard Joanna let out a high pitched squeak as she rushed inside the locker room. Shinji rolled his eyes at the whole spectacle.
"Okay, okay,' Mari then said. "What do you need?"
"All right. You see, I've…been having these dreams," Shinji began.
"What color lingerie was I wearing?" Mari asked. Shinji let out an irritated groan.
"All right, no more jokes. I promise," she then said. "Now, you said something about weird dreams?" Shinji told her everything while she listened. After he was done, Mari stood there in silence mulling over what she had heard.
"That is quite a story," she then said. "I can talk to the Captain about it when I return to the ship. I'm not sure she'll believe me, but she will listen. You should also talk to some of your people too."
"Sure thing," Shinji said. "Thank you for at least listening to me."
"We should do this more often," Mari said. "We should get cleaned up." A sly smile came upon her face. "You know I could always join you in the men's shower if you want." At this joke, Shinji chuckled.
"No thanks," he said. "I'll see you around okay?" He turned around to walk to the men's locker room when he heard Mari's voice behind him.
"It's good to have you back in the club," she said. "I mean it." He turned his head around to see her wave before she headed into the locker room. After he was cleaned up himself and back in his clothes, he stepped out and sat on a bench waiting for Joanna, for they had one more meeting after that. He had never been as busy nor had been as exhausted doing stuff like this before, but at the same time, he felt like he was part of something rather than a tool. He then realized that the day had taken a lot more out of him than he thought, and soon he was asleep.
Several minutes later, Joanna left the women's shower room finding him asleep on the bench. She went over to him, unsure if she should wake him or let him sleep a little longer. For a minute or so, she watched him sleep, but then noticed that his face was starting to contort, and was turning his head from left to right and back again.
Joanna looked down on both sides of the corridor, hoping she could flag down someone for help, but could find no one. She then grabbed his shoulders, and began to shake him for several seconds, calling his name in order to wake him up. His eyes shot open, and sat up in a rush, knocking Joanna to the floor, letting out a scream as she did so. Shinji sat there for a few seconds breathing hard before noticing Joanna trying to get up off the floor.
"Are you all right?" He reached out his hand, which she grasped.
"I'm fine. It's all right," she said as she got up. "You gave me quite a scare."
"Sorry about that," Shinji said. "I didn't mean to hurt you."
"I know," Joanna said as she sat right next to him. "You know, I could ask you the same question. What happened?"
"Yeah, I had a bad dream. More like a nightmare," Shinji said.
"Really? You have been working hard all this time," Joanna said. "Maybe you're overstressed."
"I…I don't think that's it," Shinji said. The two then saw Asuka walk towards them.
"I thought you and Mari left by now," Shinji said when she got close.
"Not yet," Asuka replied. "I thought I heard screaming over here."
"Y-Yeah, that was me," Joanna said. "I was trying to wake him up and he startled me when he did."
"You were asleep?" Asuka sat on the bench beside them.
"Yeah," Shinji said. "Must have been more tired than I thought."
"He even had a bad dream too." Joanna added.
"A dream…" Asuka said. She then looked straight at him.
"Mari told me about what you two were talking about," she said. Shinji looked surprised while Joanna looked confused. "I'm not sure I believe it, but I know...you believe it. So, tell me what happened?" Shinji took a breath before he answered.
"If I'm right, I think we may be in big trouble here."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
New Constantinople was one of may cities that were created after the Second and Third Impacts. Several of them were located in the middle of the world's oceans. One of these cities was situated in the north central Pacific called New Palmyra. This city was composed of several artificial islands linked by bridges and ferry services. Within several years of its founding, it had a skyline to rival any of the great pre-Impact metropolises, and its population felt no different living there than on any of the planet's continents.
On one of these islands, there was a boardwalk area facing the open Pacific. A woman walked down that boardwalk at a furious pace, her eyes glistening with tears If anyone was passing her, they could see that her eyeliner was all smudged up. She was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she couldn't hear the shouting that was coming from behind her. When she was able to hear and recognize the voice, she wished she could ignore it again.
A man was running at full speed trying to catch up to her. By the time he did he was panting and needed a few minutes to get his breathing in order.
"Hey wait, I want to talk to you," he said as he reached out and grabbed her upper arm, to which she shook it off without missing a stride in her walk.
"I said get the fuck away from me!" she shouted.
"Can't-Can't we work this out?" the man then asked.
"I want you out of my apartment and out of my life," she answered.
"It can't be like this," the man then said. "I wouldn't hurt you like that. You know that's true. Can we just talk it out like civilized people?" The woman then stopped and turned towards him.
"Then who was that woman in the shower?" she demanded.
"Like I was telling you before you went berserk on me, she's my cousin. She came unexpectedly to visit me," he said. The woman bore several holes through his chest with her eyes before she spoke.
"You said it was your sister!" The man could see several people who were nearby stop what they were doing to watch. He even thought he heard someone say as they were being pulled away by someone else that what they were seeing was better than anything on TV right now. The woman turned around and began to walk again.
"Can't we talk about this?" the man asked as he continued his pursuit.
"I'm going to stay at my parents tonight," she said. "By tomorrow morning, I want you, your stuff, and that slut gone. The key-" She could have said more, a lot more, but the ground shaking under them for a few seconds put a stop to that. There was then several seconds of calm where everyone was wondering what was going on before more violent shaking began and it didn't stop. The woman fell to the ground, the man swooping in to catch her. She did not protest. They and everyone else could see the ground explode in the distance and skyscrapers buckle and sink into the ocean.
A large shadow then towered over the two. They looked up and saw a gigantic humanoid figure, the shape of Evangelion Mark 06 rise up from the water. A second one then rose up followed by scores more. The two held each other, their recent troubles forgotten, waiting for their frightening and uncertain end.
