Chapter 14: Rebellious
Question 253: A driver's behaviour has upset you. It may help if you:
A: Stop and take a break.
B: Shout abusive language
C: Gesture to them with your hand
D: Follow their car flashing the headlights.
Tick one answer.
Asuka: B. C and D. Not A. Definitely not A. C should preferably be done with the middle finger and only the middle finger.
Question 671: You are at the scene of an accident. You should:
A: Drag all casualties from their vehicles
B: Go to those casualties who are screaming
C: Leave as soon as another motorist arrives
D: Offer Casualties a cigarette to calm them down.
E: Try to get casualties to drink something.
F: Promptly call the emergency services.
Tick one answer
Misato: Every answer except F. E should be a strong alcoholic drink so that the casualty stops being such a wingy cry baby.
-Excerpt from Misato Katsuragi and Asuka Langley Soryu's driving theory exams. Both were graded F minus and forbidden from ever taking another retest again.
Shinji POV
Rebels. Rebellion. Rebellious...
Three words that on most normal days to most normal people not universally loathed by all society, wouldn't sound particularly great.
Thinking on them most likely conjures up horrifying images of masked men in menacing trench coats doing everything in their power to make life hell for anyone who doesn't submit before them in their relentless attempts to cause chaos and destroy order.
You most likely imagine extremists wreaking havoc in the streets, publicly lynching completely helpless victims who haven't done a single thing to deserve such unfairness.
Those masked terrorists you see on the news and are told under all circumstances to avoid because they kill you if they find you.
Come to think of it, not unlike what my father wants to do to me and Rei right now if Mari's discovery of part of his plans hold any grain of truth. From what I know of Mari and how Rei who usually never trusts anyone trusts her with every fibre of her body it's a no brainer.
Coming face to face with this ragtag group of rebels, listening to their brown-haired leader's poor but still perfectly understandable Japanese as he hailed me for making it this far and praised my myriad of world saving accomplishments to high heavens.
Of how amazed and awed they each were to meet in their own words "the legend himself" in person.
"The legend".
By far the nicest nickname anyone had given me.
Years of being called "The stupid brat" and "the useless idiot" while I practically took food out of my own mouth slaving away for the two ingrates who thought that a slap in the face was a perfectly good way to reward such diligence.
The emotional scrapes of a lifetime of misunderstandings and ingratitude seemed to melt away at the utterance of my glorious new title.
I could tell that none of Angelo's rebels were native Japanese speakers.
It would have been easy just to have Mari who was a skilled English speaker perfectly capable of understanding them to act as a translator between our two groups but these four children who looked at least a year younger than my friends and I had gone out of their way to learn my language.
Their accents were not the best and at times they were forced to stutter and slur as they fumbled for the next word, but in spite of the clear difficulty they were perfectly capable of making themselves understood.
I didn't remember the last time anyone, absolutely anyone had gone out of their way so much just for my sake. Until Mari and Rei had revealed their better half of themselves today, I had thought that I truly was not worth anyone's valuable time and energy and been perfectly content to live out the rest of my existence as Asuka's punching bag and my father's neglected workhorse.
"I wanted for us to be able to communicate as equals" Angelo explained when I gratefully wondered out loud why he would go to such lengths to study so intently when there was Mari who could have just translated word by word everything he said in his native American English.
"I wanted to show my hero he mattered." he added causing the first drips of water to form in my tear ducts.
"We all did" The rest of his team chimed in. "It is a great honour to be given the grand duty of escorting the legendary heroes Shinji and Rei who've saved our godforsaken planet countless times with their selflessness to safety."
And then the newcomers with scant knowledge of the great Japanese Empire, dropped themselves lower than I thought possible for any human being to take two long and excruciating bows, one time for me and once for the love of my life who had promised me and received from me the promise that death would do us part.
"The honour is all ours..." my darling Rei kindly said for me after I had tried and failed to find my voice at the gratitude of being given so much respect in one day.
"Please come with us to our base now so you can rest up after your narrow escape with death and we can brief you in onto the plan we have carefully constructed to get you three out of this country safetly and efficiently". Angelo's dark-skinned friend Sherwood gently instructed as he led the way forward nervously, his eyes deftly primed for any sign that we'd been followed.
Thankfully he relaxed as the sight of what looked to be an abandoned storehouse belonging to no other than my old man's mighty enterprise came into view.
We had gotten out of Tokyo 3 and put a good distance between ourselves and NERV's Headquarters but the worst was yet to come.
Freedom. Wasn't free. But I already knew that from the moment me and Rei agreed to go along with Mari.
Maya POV
"Hello operator. Get me the navy" I plead holding the payphone to my mouth so that there was no chance my terrified whisper wouldn't carry through to the other end.
NERV was so cheap they charged money even for a telephone call even in an emergency.
At least this made the telephone room very rarely visited and allowed me to conduct my call in peace after squandering the last of my meagre wages into greedily gaping coin slot and shakily dialing the Navy.
The reason for not calling the police but the navy instead was that Tokyo 3 was a coastal city and that the police in this corrupt country were too incompetent to do anything more than eat donuts.
Or rather rice cakes since this was the glorious Japanese empire and not the US. Or at least it was glorious once.
My heart was in my mouth as I awaited a reply.
When I did, I put my hand to my chest as I screeched silently in intense agony.
"Hello. You've reached the navy's automated phone service" The supposed operator uncaringly replied causing my chest to suffer an intense bout of angina.
Automated meant run by non-humans.
Non-human meant robotic.
And even supposing that this was just the operator and that the rest of the navy was in fact normal, that did not make them more trustworthy.
One flash of the terrifying Admiral Garp as he gave his infant son Luffy beating after beating before leaving the not yet corrupted boy to die in a remote village where no one would remember him, reminded me of that.
Of course, the Navy wasn't going to help.
If they helped, Shinji wouldn't be trapped in Misato's apartment being beaten to a pulp and Rei wouldn't be being brainwashed into believing it was necessary to destroy the world for Gendo's own twisted desires.
I drop the phone without bothering to put it back as I run from the room needing all my willpower to prevent from screaming.
If the childhood horror movie that introduced me to the concept of robots had any bearing of truth to it, robots were drawn to fear.
I almost trip several times as I dash madly through the corridors least travelled, nearly bang my head on the bannister up the stairs and by complete luck manage to leap over a banana peel some inconsiderate litterbug had dropped in the narrow passageway that led to the cafeteria where I knew Ritsuko and the other NERV staff and children we could trust were bound to be.
Ritsuko had hopefully warned them all of the danger and was only waiting for me to deliver the news of how the call to the now overrun Navy went.
Standing behind her in almost single file were the remaining members of NERV we were certain to be "incorruptible".
The least well-known child Toji Suzuhara and Maya's two fellow junior officers, Makoto Hyuga and Shigeru Aoba.
Just three people me and my dear Ritsuko could trust. Much like how there were just three "good" EVA pilots.
I knew it would scare them beyond their wits to hear but it was the only way.
"Ritsuko. The robots are running the navy!" I cry.
Ritsuko stares at me long and hard as if praying for me to correct my statement. I return her stare with my own, apologetic sad stare truly sorry for the fact that I could not.
The navy was useless. Robots or not.
And so was the police.
The army. The government.
They were all useless.
NERV and SEELE were the government now and neither of them wanted us to live.
"Not the navy" Ritsuko tries to softly but angrily deny. "No..."
"What's this all about anyway?" Toji pipes up, inconsiderate as he usually is. It's not surprising Shinji in spite of his shyness publicly declared him off his friend list some time not too long ago.
"There's no time to explain" Ritsuko manages to reply in a barely holding together struggle in which every breath needs to be forced from her clearly ailing lungs.
"But everyone. Run for your lives. Robots have taken over the world."
I almost hear the sounds of cricket chirps as our three trusted colleagues sit there stiff eyed about to fall asleep.
"OUR WORLD!" Ritsuko emphatically shouts, dropping all pretence of sanity at the appaling lack of concern to her earlier statement.
It's then and only then that the two soldiers and Toji practically scream their heads off as they almost stumble over one another in their rush for the door.
Like headless chickens.
I can only pray that the guards outside only assume they're in a hurry to head out for a quick breath of fresh air and don't catch onto how insanely they're acting.
Unlikely since the screech they gave out as they left the two of us here with no consideration whatsoever for our welfare which shattered the sole window into the dimly lit room and forced us to cover our ears lest our eardrums be pierced too.
Glass shards were still tumbling in neat cascades as the footsteps of the three kindred human spirits with any kind of meaning to either me or Ritsuko died away.
"What do we do now?" I quaveringly manage to pipe up.
I was never much of a planner in spite of everything. It was why I never reached the much contested rank of Major to overthrow Misato.
"We need to get out of this city" my blonde haired scientifically inclined companion immediately summarizes in spite of her apparent disorder of thought.
"How do we do that?" I ask almost before she finishes her sentence, one question after another with the fully acknowledgement that she was just as clueless right now as I was.
"Every exit in Tokyo 3 is firmly patrolled by NERV personnel and we'll be shot before we set one foot outside."
It was true. NERV firmly abided by the adage that the watchmen had to be watched even closer than those they guarded and imposed strict travel restrictions on almost all its staff aside of course from its commander.
Our passports were confiscated long ago to be used only when it was necessary for official duty.
It was why this idea never crossed our minds till now when we knew we had absolutely no chance for survival if we didn't at least try to make an escape.
But more importantly, that Shinji was outside Tokyo 3 and that I would be a crap and unloving half-sister (From Gendo's line of his family) to him if I just left him to suffer alone.
"I have a plan" She managed to matter of factly state. My amazing senpai always had a plan.
"We'll head back to my place and I'll tell you the rest there"
We proceeded to make our way with as much decorum as possible to the elevator which took us back down to the ground floor where we excused ourselves politely from our workplace on pretence of severe diarrhoea which if left untreated could prove both contagious and fatal.
"I've got diarrhoea" I sobbed as convincingly as I could as I clutched my tummy trying to look in pain.
NERV's declining quality in the poorly prepared meals it saw fit to serve its employees made this a surprisingly common occurrence and we were easily let out without so much as the bat of an eyelid in spite of my tenseness in every step of the way.
Rei POV
I didn't know to say in response to the seemingly unending bombardment of hospitality that the foreign rebels Mari trusted in showered upon us as we entered the "Rec center" of the now disused NERV storage building expecting some sort of straight and serious briefing sure to bore us to yawns.
Big bursts of confetti flew everywhere as "Angelo" opened the door and clumsily extended his hand for us to enter. It was clear that gentlemanly etiquette was not his strong suit but he was determined to make our meeting respectful any way he could.
The American rebel leader who looked even younger than Shinji with the same tone of brown in his slightly spiked hair, would have given Jack the Ripper a run for his money on the day of the infamous serial murderer's most deadly killing spree.
He looked more criminal than criminal but when powers as selfish as my creator ruled what remained of this ruined planet, I could not help but find this charming rather than off putting.
This world needed more lawbreakers and vagabonds until its survivors could get it through their thick skulls that my creator was a crazed psychopath who didn't even appreciate his own.
His own girlfriend and apparent second in command, "Lola" raised a noisemaker to her lips and blew with such force that I felt at several points she might die of asphyxiation as her face went blue and she nearly fainted.
The resulting noise of celebration nearly blew us all off our feet, and filled our hearts with a warm and homely sensation of ease in spite of its crudeness.
The other girl in their group, the blonde haired ponytail "Candy" who reminded me a little too much of my benevolent co-creator let out an equally excited squeal as she drew a well hidden pistol from one of her sleeves causing me to briefly fear for my life.
It was after she had the three of us, I, Shinji and even Mari cowering on our knees with our hands in front of our faces knowing a thin layer of skin and bone wouldn't stop a bullet that she good naturedly smiled in reassurance.
She then gave her weapon several shots over our heads.
The greeting of a victorious army when it returned triumphant to its home country that would forever immortalize its victory and to be the subject of such a suave greeting, gave me the courage to stand straighter and tall than I ever did in all my years of being chewed out for error after error despite having never truly lost a battle in my EVa aside from the one time Shinji had to save me and even that was a near miss that could have happened to anyone no matter how skilled.
Hearing the might and fury in each gunshot as it hit the worn concrete high ceiling, it filled me with the determination to stand as the eternal protector to my husband Shinji forever as I held him tightly.
I half expected him to shy away with how forcefully I was springing myself onto him but he instead grinned in acknowledgement as he silently returned my embrace to the romantic din of gunshots.
I knew we were in good hands and that we had chosen completely correctly to gamble our fates with these gorgeously alluring lowlifes.
We knew that whatever plan these despised and wretched rogues devised for us, it would be bulletproof without a single weakness in its elaborate workings.
Perfect from every angle and every perspective.
This ragtag gang, put the one piece crew to shame with their despicable crime against the fashion polices and their flagrant disregard for law and order, at least from the NERV side of things.
This was going to be one heck of a revolution to go down as the end of all revolutions.
And me and my dear love Shinji were going to be the tip of its spear.
The battles with the Angels, even the most deadly ones weren't the most dangerous missions we had ever been sent on.
This was. And this was not even an Angel battle.
Humanity itself was its greatest enemy. A harsh truth that had been denied too long for humanity's own good.
Which reminded me.
I absolutely loathed my title the commander had given me. The first child?
Seriously. What kind of asinine and flat name was that for the literal artificial war machine created solely for the purpose of being the sole EVA pilot to give Shinji himself a true challenge of his skills.
It didn't sound grand. It didn't sound strong.
It sounded like the commander deliberately wished to spite me with this poor excuse of a name as if to imply that he hated me even more than everyone else.
I was going to tell everyone else at the first suitable opportunity to stop referring to me by this derogatory insult and to do the same for Shinji and Mari.
Our countless sacrifices for mankind's survival deserved more than this humbling namesake.
I had decided some time ago that the most defining aspect of my success was my overwhelming coldness. My ability to stand firm and guard against any diverting emotion and to be single minded in my given purpose of being one of the Evangelion.
Hard and icy like the arctic circle that not even the resilient Angels dared venture into. And number one chronologically to be assigned this life risking duty despite eventually being surpassed by Shinji who clearly took pointers from me of which I was delighted and which provided the first bonding points in our relationship.
There could be only one honorific suitable for the great achievements I had pioneered in and been first if not best to.
I preferred to be called "Articuno" Uno being a long obsolete dialect for the ultimate number 1.
I could not have become as strong as I was now without the backing of my fiery and passionately affection sweetheart Shinji and my electrically energetic comedy relief Mari who always kept a giggle in my soul in my darkest moments.
I always thought of Mari as the true second child as the second child's main purpose at least according to the thick and weighty tome of NERV's foundation that no one ever bothered to read was to act as a stable intermediary between the first and third child and to be especially supportive of the first child who was the commander's personal favourite.
It should have come as little surprise therefore for me to state that the new much better titles I latter assigned to them. Moltres for Shinji (Tres meaning three) and Zapdos for Mari (Dos obviously being two).
The first, third and true second children of NERV and commander Ikari no longer existed as off this day.
And Articuno along with her two chosen elites Zapdos and Moltres especially Moltres was not going to go down without a long and difficult battle.
I've been suffering a severe case of writer's block lately and I've only just started to ease up, mostly due to a mixture of anxiety, depression and Exam Stress.
Thanks once again to all my reviewers for reviewing, in particular fictionelement777, bandiras, ThehiddenLettuce, Neo-Warkid4 and an Enemy of the state as well as all the countless unnamed guests who also left their kind reviews bringing me to tears of sheer joy.
Thank you all and keep being awesome. I will see you next time.
