Chapter 5
Susano-o: Hey so did you know that parents exist in Evangelion? And they can not be pricks? Crazy right?
Sekhmet: Mary's dad looks like Dick Gumshoe without his trench coat. Boom send tweet.
Susano-o: *Saitama face* Ok.
Sekhmet: Let's go then.
Chapter 5: Honey, Our Kids are Pilots!
Mary woke up, practically peeling her head off the pillow. It wasn't anywhere time to get ready for school yet, hell the sun was just starting to come up. She decided to take a shower and see if that would help her back to sleep.
One shower later and she wasn't any sleepier. Maybe some music would help. Mary slipped on her headphones and rewound her tape, selecting 'Mr. Blue Sky".
Good morning. Today's forecast calls for blue skies.
As the song wound up, Mary slipped into a daydream where she was inside a music video for the song. As the beat dropped, she flew up from her laying down position, ready to start her day.
Sun is shinin' in the sky
There ain't a cloud in sight
It's stopped rainin' everybody's in a play
And don't you know
It's a beautiful new day, hey hey
Mary jumped out of bed and started cleaning up the remaining moving in clutter, unboxing a few things and arranging them and dancing to the music.
Runnin' down the avenue
See how the sun shines brightly in the city
On the streets where once was pity
Mister blue sky is living here today, hey hey
Mary danced around a bit, and then started to clean up any mess that she left behind from her shower.
Mister blue sky please tell us why
You had to hide away for so long (so long)
Where did we go wrong?
Mister blue sky please tell us why
You had to hide away for so long (so long)
Where did we go wrong?
As Mary looked around and found nothing else to do, she set about making breakfast, and consequently a new mess in time with the music with what little food that was in the house.
Hey you with the pretty face
Welcome to the human race
A celebration, mister blue sky's up there waitin'
And today is the day we've waited for
As she was cutting up some of the peaches her parents had packed up with her, she fielded a strangely early call, a telemarketer she thought. After she hung up, she went back to the food.
Oh mister blue sky please tell us why
You had to hide away for so long (so long)
Where did we go wrong?
Hey there mister blue
We're so pleased to be with you
Look around see what you do
Everybody smiles at you
Hey there mister blue
We're so pleased to be with you
Look around see what you do
Everybody smiles at you
Soon the apartment was full of the scent of breakfast, which looked so well made she surprised herself. She turned around to grab and butter two slices of toast and threw some bacon in a frying pan.
Mister blue sky, mister blue sky
Mister blue sky
Mister blue, you did it right
But soon comes mister night creepin' over
Now his hand is on your shoulder
Never mind I'll remember you this
I'll remember you this way
Mary was impressed with how this day was going already. She may not have gotten much sleep but this breakfast success was more than making up for it.
Mister blue sky please tell us why
You had to hide away for so long (so long)
Where did we go wrong?
Hey there mister blue
We're so pleased to be with you
Look around see what you do
Everybody smiles at you
As she sang the final lines of the song and reached an emotional high, she twirled around and saw Isabelle staring in disbelief at what she saw. All at once, the daydream collapsed, literally. Her surroundings turned to ash. She had never left her room. In one hand was a mangled peach, juice from several karate chops dribbling down her arm. In the other was the phone, a disconnected tone ringing from it.
[Mary] Isabelle groaned from the living room. [Why are you singing at 4 in the morning?]
Mary was aghast at the realization of what she had been doing. [I honestly don't know.] was all she could manage.
[Go back to bed] Isabelle whined, followed shortly after by a small thump and some snores. Mary settled back into bed, too embarrassed to go back to sleep.
….
Mary awoke to the sound of Soul Bass Nova playing from the kitchen. Peeling her face off the pillow again, she walked out and saw Isabelle nude cooking breakfast for the two of them. Mary immediately turned around and went back to her room without a trace of hesitation.
[Where are you going?] Isabelle yelled back. [Breakfast is ready!]
[Put some clothes on first.] Mary yelled back, fully prepared to eat the mangled up peach on her desk for breakfast instead of facing Isabelle.
[We have the same parts!] Isabelle answered.
[Doesn't matter, still weird.] Mary argued.
[Well I'm always nude in the mornings so get use to it] Isabelle said back. [Come one I made an Australian breakfast!]
Mary reluctantly came back out, holding up a sideways peace sign close to her eyes to censor Isabelle.
[Finally] Isabelle sighed setting the two fully loaded plates down. [Now sit down and eat already, thought this would be a good break from a Japanese breakfast.]
[Where the hell did you find all of this?] Mary asked.
[I have my ways] Isabelle said cryptically. [Now here we have fried ostrich eggs, emu sausage, smoked bacon, grilled tomatoes and mushrooms, hash browns, and baked beans] She explained before setting down another plate between them. [And this here is vegemite toast, your slices are on the right.]
[Aren't emus endangered?] Mary asked.
[Emus are evil.] Was Isabelle's response. [And no they aren't.]
[Oh come on. They're birds, they can't be that bad. They look cute.] Mary suggested.
[They are a right menace to crops, it's a bushman tradition to kill one when you get your first real hunting rifle, and then to kill as many as possible during their migration, it's like what you american's did to the bison,] Isabelle said cheekily.
[Oh we were just fucking over other human beings at that point. We didn't declare and then lose a war on the species itself.] Mary retorted.
Isabelle slapped the table. [We do not speak of the Emu wars] she said darkly. Mary laughed evilly. [At least we killed them up close and didn't shoot them from trains.]
[Eh, sports and all that. It was forever ago, I can't change the past.] Mary said, and sighed. [I suppose you want an explanation for last night.]
[Huh?] Isabelle asked chowing down on some bacon.
[4 AM last night.] Mary clarified. [I was up making a ruckus.]
[I don't remember that,] Isabelle said shrugging.
[Ok well I was. Do you want an explanation or not?] Mary asked.
[If you want too,] Isabelle said shrugging again. [I don't want to pry into your personal life.]
[If you don't wanna hear about it I won't burden you then.] Mary said, clammed up and started eating.
[It's not that it's a burden] Isabelle insisted setting a hand on Mary's shoulder. [I just don't want to pry into your personal life if you don't want to share it.]
[Well it's not really gonna be too important unless it starts affecting my fighting. But really, what are the chances of that?] Mary shrugged. [Eggs are great by the way.]
[Thanks] Isabelle said smiling. [And don't worry, we've all got something to deal with.]
Mary nodded, and continued eating in silence.
….
"Ok," Isabelle said as she watched Toji and Kensuke bow to her and Mary. "This is new."
"So I take it you don't wanna sock us anymore?" Mary asked, somewhat suspicious at the sudden turnaround.
Toji bit his lip before being elbowed by Kensuke. "Yeah!' He said quickly. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize how hard it was for you to pilot them," He explained. "So I'm really really sorry about what I said, you guys didn't hurt my sister."
"It's fine, it's fine. And if we're to be friends now," Mary said, fishing two peaches out of her bag. "Here you go. Family tradition."
Kensuke smiled and grabbed it, munching happily. Toji looked at it confused before taking a bite, spraying juice all over himself making everyone chuckle.
"Yeah they do that sometimes." Mary said. "Hesperian peaches, the juiciest peaches on the other side of the Pacific." She added proudly.
"It's so juicy," Toji said noisily slurping up the juice. "And really plump."
"That's stone fruits for ya. Those peaches are about 65 percent juice by volume." Mary said.
"Wow," Kensuke said eating his as fast as possible. "Their amazing!"
"Thanks. I used to work on the farm with dad growing them, but since we're both here we've had to leave it to family friends. I'll bet anything that the next crop won't taste nearly as good as these ones though, there won't be any love in them." Mary started to ramble.
"So you play basketball?" Isabelle asked Toji with a smile.
"Uh yeah," Toji said smirking. "Why you wanna play little girl?" he asked.
Isabelle smiled widely. "Yeah it's been a long time since I had someone to play with," She explained. "How about a little 3 on 3?" She asked looking at Mary and Kensuke.
"I'm down." Mary said.
"Sure," Kensuke said nervously. "-But don't you mean a game of 2 on 2?" He asked.
"Nope," Isabelle said before going off to find her fellow pilots.
…
"Shinji! Rei!" Isabelle yelled into the classroom, disrupting Shinji's attempts at talking to the blue hair pilot. "Come play basketball with us!"
"W-what?" Shinji stuttered. "Umm I don't really know how to play," He said nervously.
A long pause went by before Rei responded. "...How many others are playing?" She asked in a very quiet voice.
"3 on 3, boys vs girls," Isabelle explained.
Another long pause. "...Ok." She said.
"Awesome!" Isabelle said smiling as she grabbed their hands, despite Shinji's protest. Rei resisted being led by hand, but she followed well enough. Back out on the court, Mary had reconfigured her hair from two buns to one ponytail, revealing that her hair was quite long when unraveled.
"Alright!" Isabelle smirked. "Let's get ready to rumble!"
….
"Why is Toji crying?" Hikari asked after she came out to tell them lunch was over.
"Cause he just got dunked on!" Isabelle laughed as she danced around the court. "Rei that was amazing!"
"...I did what I had to score the points." Rei said without much trace of emotion.
Kensuke looked at her like she was mad. "You jumped like five feet in the air!"
"I'm very strong," Was Rei's response.
"Cool, we can be strong buddies!" Mary said excitedly, and then remembered something. "Oh, by the way, since we're gonna be working together a lot, here." She said, pulling a peach out of her bag.
Rei looked down at the fruit, then back at Mary without a word.
"Take it. It's a family tradition." Mary said. Still no response from Rei. With an awkward laugh, Mary put it back in her bag. "Oh well. She must just not like peaches then."
"Alright then!" Isabelle said grabbing Shinji by his shoulders. "Let's go out for dinner tonight!"
"Umm we have a synch test today," Shinji reminded.
"Fuck, I forgot." Mary said thoughtfully.
"Oh damn it," Isabelle sighed, but then blinked. "Oh wait! That means we're also doing the reactivation of Unit 00!" She remembered.
"Oh yeah, that's today, isn't it?" Mary asked.
"Yes." Rei replied simply.
"Aren't you nervous?" Shinji asked. "I mean, I heard what happened the last time."
"No, not at all." Rei said.
"Well then," Isabelle said clapping her hands. "Let's go then!" She said walking towards NERV.
"Pilot Watanabe NERV is that way," Rei said pointing in the opposite direction.
"How do you keep getting this wrong?" Mary asked. Isabelle just blushed.
….
"She can't be piloting that thing, she's got Schizophrenia!" A very tall, scruffy looking, sun tanned man who was clearly uncomfortable in his casual dress wear said.
"Regardless of how you feel about this Mr. Jones, Mary was chosen for the role. There's almost no one else who can do it." Misato replied.
"It's not Schizophrenia dad, I know what's going on all the time." Mary said.
"I've seen you drift off all the time back at the farm! It's how you fell out of the tree and got that scar!"
"Dad!" Mary whined. "I slipped out of that tree!"
"Because you were hallucinating!" He argued. Mary looked down at the ground, hoping it would swallow her.
"I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do. She's been chosen to pilot and there's no way around it." Misato said.
"We understand her condition," Ritsuko said from beside Misato. "-But at this point we need her too much, the Angels are humanity's biggest threat right now and she is one of the very few people that can pilot the EVA's," She said firmly before placing a document in front of him. "In any case, you gave us permission for her to pilot when you signed your transfer papers, there's nothing you can do now."
Mary's dad sighed. "I know. I'm sorry for snapping, I'm just worried for her."
"We're taking every precaution we can. She's in safe hands." Misato said.
"I'm gonna be fine dad." Mary said, tugging on his sleeve. "The injuries I get fighting the Angels aren't even reflected on me, see?" She pointed to the arm that had been stabbed in the fight against the last Angel she faced. It seemed to convince him for the time being, and he slinked away, embarrassed that he had put up such a fuss.
"Yeah we'll keep her safe!" Isabelle said from behind Mary.
"I'm sorry you had to see that. Dad loves me, but he can get emotional easily." Mary said, still a bit red in the face.
"No worries," Isabelle said as she walked over to meet Mr. Jones. "G'Day mate, names Isabelle!" She said happily.
He looked a bit confused at the gesture, but nodded. "Hello Isabelle." He said curtly.
"Don't worry," Isabelle said ignoring his tone. "We all watch out for each other out there."
"I appreciate the gesture." He said.
Isabelle smiled broadly and stuck out her hand to shake. He gave a quizzical look, but shook her hand anyway.
"If this is all over now," Ritsuko said putting her hands in her pockets. "We should begin the activation of Unit-00, you three will be on standby in case something goes wrong."
"Yes ma'am." Mary said with Shinji and Isabelle nodding as well.
"Well get going then," Ritsuko said turning around to continue ignoring Mary's father who was still grumbling behind her.
….
"Well here we go again with the fetish suits," Isabelle chuckled slipping into her plug suit.
"It's not so bad, I'm telling you." Mary said, slinging the material over her shoulders.
"It's skin tight with plastic and rubber covering the goods," Isabelle insisted. "They might as well make the entire stomach area translucent while they're at it."
"Again, could be worse, and again, we can't all be Roger Smith." Mary said, vacuum sealing herself in.
"Blah," Isabelle said sealing hers as well. "I just feel sorry for poor Shinji, boys trusting his meat and two veg to a plastic cup and some thick latex, he's got nerves of steel."
"I'm gonna pretend I didn't understand that slang." Mary said, and went on with her prep.
"It's his junk," She explained. "You know, the bits and pieces, twig and berries, the wedding tackle."
"I said I was pretending not to understand." Mary said.
"And I'm pretending you really didn't," Isabelle quipped with a smile as she walked out of the locker room. "Rei hurry up in there!" Isabelle shouted into the showers. "Everyone is waiting for us!"
Rei didn't reply, but finished up quickly.
….
"Well then," Isabelle said as she lounged in Unit-06's plug. "It's almost start time."
"Why do I have this unfounded, uneasy feeling?" Mary asked. "Everything's gonna be ok, so it's not like I have a reason to be nervous."
"Maybe Unit-00 will evolve through the power of willpower and become Genesis Unit-00," Isabelle said shrugging.
"I mean that's...oddly specific but ok." Mary replied.
Isabelle just shrugged again before looking around the room. "Hey who's that talking to Rei?" She asked.
Mary looked around the room until she found Rei. An older, scruffy looking man in glasses was talking to her on the catwalk. "Huh. Not sure." She said. "Maybe it's her dad?"
"Hmm hey Shinji," Isabelle said into the radio. "Who's the bloke down there talking to Rei?"
The line went dead for a few moments before a soft. "That's my father," was his reply.
"Oh, what does he do around here?" Isabelle asked.
"Umm he's the Commander of NERV," Was Shinji's answer.
"That's nice." Mary said. "So he's our boss' boss then." She thought.
"He seems ...intense," Isabelle said. "Why is this the first time we're seeing him though?"
"It's probably just a matter of working in different departments." Mary offered.
"He's not really around," Shinji answered. "Misato is normally the one who does everything."
"Huh, neat," Isabelle said before zooming in a little on the two. "Hey, am I going around the bend or is Rei smiling?"
Mary zoomed in as well. "Nope, you're not seeing things. Man, she's really pretty when she smiles."
Shinji said nothing in response.
…
"We're commencing Unit Zero's reactivation experiment now," Gendo said. "Start the first connection."
"Connect the main power supply," Ritsuko said.
"Voltage has exceeded the critical point," Maya said reading over the screen.
"Roger. Move the format to Phase II."
Shigeru piped up. "Connect the pilot with Unit Zero."
"Open the circuits," Maya ordered. "The conditions of the pulses and harmonics are good."
"There are no problems with synchronization. All nerve links are completed. Nerve center devices are operational," Shigeru read off.
"Recalculation shows no error modifications," Makota said happily.
"Checked. Up to 2590 on the list satisfied. Until the absolute critical line, 2.5, 1.7, 1.2, 1.0, 0.8, 0.6, 0.5, 0.4, 0.3, 0.2, 0.1, and rising! Borderline cleared!" Maya yelled. "Unit Zero has activated."
"Roger. Beginning interlock test." Rei said.
"Everything seems pretty standard so far. I was worried for nothing." Mary thought. "Congrats on reactivation!" Mary said over comms. Rei didn't acknowledge her and proceeded with the final tests.
"Ma'am we're detecting a blue pattern!" Makota yelled loudly.
"Right now?! Abort the test and ready the EVA Units for launch!" Misato ordered.
"Nice now with four of us we can really stick it to those bloody no-hopers!"
"There it is." Mary sighed.
"What?" Isabelle asked.
"My unfounded sense of dread." Mary replied.
"You worry too much," Isabelle said grabbing a sniper from the Eva weapon's rack. "And now that we've come to an understanding that they won't put us up right in front of the bloody bogans," Isabelle said into the comm while looking over at Misato and the rest of the bridge crew. "You won't get you skin flayed off."
"I can only hope." Mary said, grabbing a standard pallet gun.
"Umm yeah," Shinji said nervously grabbing one as well.
The three stepped onto the launch pads, and braces themselves.
"Launch EVAs 01, 05, and 06!" Misato ordered. The pads flew up towards the surface, and a brand new foe awaited.