Creation began on 03-25-17
Creation ended on 04-18-17
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Maternal Mortality outweighs Eternity
"…That's odd," went Maya, monitoring the synchronization between the pilots and the Evas. "The Third Child's current sync ratio is lower than yesterday's."
"Is there a glitch in the system?" Misato asked Ritsuko.
"No, everything's operating normally," the faux-blond responded to her. He's just not able to connect with who he was led to believe was his mother for a long time as well as he used to.
Fusei typed in some codes and hoped they would help her son. They didn't have the intended effect, but Shinji's synchronization went up by a few points.
"Well, that's a little better," Misato expressed. "How are you doing in there, Shinji?"
"Fine," he answered her.
"No headaches or anything?" Fusei asked her son.
"Nope."
"You're sure?"
"Yes."
Misato then looked at Fusei, who turned to face her.
"Yes?" Fusei questioned.
"You two look alike," Misato told her.
"If you say so," she responded, turning away to resume monitoring her son.
-x-
As Gendo returned to his office the next day, he sent for Rei to meet him.
"Tell me," he told her as she stood in front of his desk, "has anything happened that I should know about?"
"Pilot Ikari has become…attached to the new employee, Dr. Fusei Hitode…who seems to be attached to him," Rei explained.
"Elaborate."
"Doctor Hitode has…made a claim to being his mother…and he seems to believe her."
Gendo didn't like this. It just made a memory of an old act committed repeat itself in greater clarity. A large room full of the dead, dying and injured masses of Tokyo, either residents or tourists, the scent of blood and decay in the air mixed with sterile solutions, a bandaged, young man falling out of his cot, and absolutely little to no security. It seemed like the perfect opportunity had presented itself in front of them.
"You're dismissed," he told Rei.
"Yes, sir," she responded and turned away.
-x-
"…And Genshi-teki and I dated at least seven times," said Fusei to Shinji as they ate lunch together in the cafeteria, trying out her son's cooking. "Mmm… I think if I ate three more of these, I'd have to call you a connoisseur deity, Shinji. Your dumplings are delicious."
"Thank you," Shinji responded. "It was only seven times?"
"Well, seven is considered to be a magical number, and they were spread over eight months. Seven official dates, to be exact. Any other time we were together, it was either a lunch date or just hanging out. I was twelve when we were introduced to each other by his younger brother, one of my best friends from school."
"How were you able to go out on dates during that whole time? I always thought dates occurred during the night and that there were curfews."
"We lived in a different time before Second Impact…and in a neighborhood in Tokyo where everyone knew each other enough to keep an eye out on others. Genshi-teki always had me home before ten. Usually around eight-thirty, three times at nine-thirty."
"All I ever hear about Tokyo was that it was rendered a wasteland in the aftermath of Second Impact by my school teacher, who just repeats the awful piece of history, over and over again."
"Your teacher must be at least senile in his old age to do that. Tokyo was the biggest city in history. Not just in Japan, but the whole world. Bigger than its successor cities, Tokyos-2 and 3. Oh, the days where you could see miles and miles of buildings lit up at night, the winters where the sky was white and the ground was just as white and made soft by a blanket of snow…or just the mundane hours where everyone is performing the Shibuya Scramble or trying to catch the bullet trains to or from somewhere. Even just looking around the city from Tokyo Tower could make the plainest of days a great one."
"Now, that right there, what you just told me, is many times greater than what my teacher says. Thank you."
As they were conversing, Misato, Asuka, Ritsuko and Kaji were watching them from a distance in the room.
"It's hard to imagine him being able to talk to her like that," said Kaji, who didn't know that the two were related. "I don't think he's ever spoken with anyone like that before."
"Better her than anyone else, right?" Misato asked him, actually happy for Shinji to be building his relationship with his mother after a lifetime apart from her.
"What's going to happen when the commander gets wind of this and decides their relationship is getting in the way?" Asuka questioned; even though she still envied Shinji for having his mother be involved in his life, she didn't want him to lose the one, good thing that just got returned to him. "Or worse than that?"
"Oh, it's not like he could just order them to not talk to each other," said Ritsuko, taking a bite out of her chicken sandwich. "And she's not after my position, as some were led to assume. It would be moot for him to try anything towards the two. He already has other things that he has to answer to the Committee…and he can't ignore them."
"What are you talking about?" Kaji asked her.
"It's better if you don't know," Misato told him. "You'd just run your mouth about it."
"Hey, now, that's not true. I can keep secrets."
"Yeah, bad secrets."
Kaji looked at Fusei, who then turned away from Shinji to look at him, and he quickly turned back to face Misato.
"Okay, it's probably nothing," Fusei said to Shinji as she turned back to face him, "but I need to ask this about Mr. Kaji. Is he trying to hit on me?"
Shinji turned to face Kaji and the others, then back to his mother and responded, "I think he's just trying to make Misato jealous."
"Were these two a couple or something?"
"Yeah."
"If he's trying to get back together with her, why doesn't he just say it to her face and let her decide whether or not to rekindle their relationship?"
"I stay out of their business. You like him?"
"No, I tasered him when he touched me. I threatened to do it again if he tried to hit on me. Genshi-teki was my first and my last. I would never forsake his memory for another man."
"That's devotion."
"Yep. Say, is there anyone in your life that is…fancying you a little?"
Shinji thought about it for a bit, but found that hard to explain.
"Not in those words," he expressed. "It's hard to explain because I never thought of anyone like that before."
Fusei nodded in understanding and took a bite out of another dumpling.
"What's your type of romantic interest?" She asked him.
"I guess I'd prefer someone old-fashioned. Someone that likes me for me."
"Not bad. Not a bad preference at all, Shinji."
Unbeknownst to the pair, Rei, who sat a minor distance from everyone else, watched Shinji and Fusei with cold eyes. Her salad bowl long since eaten, the vegetarian watched the Third Child smile and chuckle in front of Dr. Fusei. It was…sickening for some reason, seeing them together.
-x-
Gendo looked at a copy of the medical report Ritsuko had made of Fusei Hitode and the Third Child, frowning at the DNA test comparisons that proved beyond any doubt that the woman was the boy's mother…and shattering his long-held assumption that the woman had been dead for years. And the worst part of this discovery was that if the boy knew the truth, then keeping him in check was going to be difficult. Still, he had no other alternatives just yet until a successful deployment of the Dummy System was attempted.
He picked up his phone and uttered, "Bring in the Third Child to my office, immediately."
This was a matter that needed to be resolved quickly. Hopefully, ordering the boy to cease his interactions with the woman would put him back in line with his scenario.
Within five minutes, Shinji, who was supposed to be on his way back to Misato's, entered Gendo's office.
"You wanted to see me?" He asked him, slightly irritated by some things about the man.
"Yes," Gendo answered him. "It has been brought to my attention that you've been associating with Dr. Hitode for some time."
"Since she arrived a few days ago."
"You're to cease your conversations with her."
"What? Why should I stop talking to her? Give me one good reason."
"You do not know who she is or what her motives are."
"That's a lame reason to tell me to stop. I like talking to her."
"For all we know, she could be poisoning you against NERV. She could very well be affecting your recent synchronization results with the Eva, hindering you and making you a liability."
"That's not true. She hasn't done anything to me since I've met her."
"You don't know that."
"I know only what I've been told, and she's a trustworthy woman. I could tell her anything and not get looked down by her."
"You listen to me, pilot. I'm the one in charge here, and I order you to cease your association with this woman, immediately."
"You may be in charge here, but you can't order me to stop spending my time with someone I choose to spend my time with, no matter what you say or do."
"You will listen to your father."
Shinji sighed and decided to say, "And who would that be, exactly? Who is my father, really? Is it the guy that has never said anything kind to me since I was little…or is it a guy that I found out has been dead since I was a baby? Lately, I've been inclined to believe in the latter, just as I have been inclined to believe in looking deeper into my past and rethinking a lot of what I had to put up with for years."
"What are you talking about?" Gendo demanded.
"I think you already know what I'm talking about, sir. I think you've known for a long time. Heh-heh…for a while now, I was trying to figure out why it seemed as though you hated me for most periods, and I could never understand why. Couldn't understand why for many things, like why you chose me over countless other kids that were more qualified to pilot a robot that wasn't even guaranteed to work for long? Why you send for me, out of the blue, after so many years of neglect? Why you won't even say something as simple as a kind word…or why you took me from Ms. Hitode to begin with?"
Gendo then looked down at the report again before looking back at Shinji.
"What has she told you?" He demanded again.
"Only what gives what Mr. Fuyutsuki told me a lot of credibility," the boy expressed cryptically. "He said you weren't my father…and Dr. Akagi and Misato backed up what Ms. Hitode revealed to me. It turns out my blood type is AB-Negative, not A-Positive, as I've been led to believe. I didn't understand why I felt so at ease around her until she told me why she was here to begin with. It had nothing to do with the Eva, with her career, with the belief that she was trying to take Dr. Akagi's job, absolutely nothing to do with NERV. She was looking for me. She was looking…for her son that had been taken from her."
"And you really believe that she thinks you're her son? She could be delusional."
"There's no delusion. Just a woman that has spent fourteen years trying to find me, to be part of my life…and I want for her to be part of my life."
Shinji then turned to leave the office.
"Stop right there!" Gendo shouted. "I'm ordering you to cease your association with her!"
Shinji stopped and turned around.
"No!" He yelled at him. "I don't have to listen to that order…and I don't have to listen to you! We're not related, so you have no say in who I can see, who I can talk to or how to think! You stay away! Just stay away!"
Shinji then left the room, feeling relieved to have gotten that off his chest.
Gendo was furious! Not only did the boy know the truth, but knowing jeopardized his position as Unit-01's pilot, and there was no doubt that Dr. Akagi had indeed confirmed everything to the boy about his real mother.
-x-
She knew something had happened the moment he came into the trauma ward looking for her. Fusei could see the stress on Shinji's face when he appeared.
"Are you alright?" She asked him as he saw a nearby chair and sat down in it.
"He wanted to see me," he explained, referring to Gendo. "He wants me to stop associating with you. I told him 'no'. He thinks he can tell me what to do, but I don't want to listen to his order."
She got up from where she sat to restock a cabinet with gauze and bandages, and held onto him.
"We'll get around this predicament, Shinji," she told him; of course, she knew that she had to expect some sort of repercussions that came with finding her son, but right now, this came first. "Do you want to talk about it some more?"
"He thinks you're manipulating me, poisoning me, causing my synchronization with the Eva to drop a bit, but I told him that was impossible. I mean, he never talks about his wife when I thought she was you, and then I find out the woman I was supposed to know about was looking for me for years…and he wants me to cease contact with my mother. How do you fight something like that? How do you go against someone that orders you to stop spending time with a woman that's your mother and wants to be involved in your life?"
Fusei sat beside him on the left and said, "Anata ga taeru koto ga dekireba, anata wa taeshinobudeshou ("If you can endure, you will endure"), Shinji. If he knows he has no say in anything you decide, then he has to accept that he has no say in what you do."
Then, she removed something from around her neck. It was a small series of red thread woven together to form a chain, holding an circular emblem with a bird inside it.
"Are you familiar with the myths about the Phoenix?" She asked him.
"No," he answered.
"It's this bird wreathed in flames that has been known by many, different names throughout history. The Vermillion Bird, Suzaku, even just the Phoenix. It symbolizes fire, passion, life, renewal, etc. Eternity bound by life, living one life after another, but never always the same life…because it's never the same in every reincarnation. Your father gave me this charm on our fifth date and I suggested the use of red thread, based on the belief of the Red String of Fate that binds two people together. For years, this has been one of a few things that has kept me together. Maybe if you have it, it'll be like having your father and I with you."
"Thank you," Shinji accepted and placed it around his neck. "I hope you don't get in trouble because of me."
"Even if I did, Shinji, having found you would be worth the trouble. I love you very much."
Shinji hugged her; he hadn't been able to address her as his mother directly yet, but he was slowly getting to that point.
-x-
"…You may disagree with this revelation, but it's due to her recent involvement that the Dummy System is nearing completion, sir," Ritsuko informed Gendo in his office, showing the chart with the unfinished segments of code that were being used to build up the software for the Dummy System. "Half these codes wouldn't even be in our possession if not for Ms. Hitode."
"Yet, her presence endangers the Third Child's synchronization with Unit-01," he reminded her, disappointed that she didn't disregard the blood type matches and even revealed to the boy his relation to the woman that threatened to undo a part of his scenario. "He continues to connect with her, his synchronization lowers, which will jeopardize our future against the Angels."
Ritsuko couldn't deny this potential danger, which is why she would've suggested relieving the boy of his piloting duties (also, because of his lack of an actual tie to the spirit within Unit-01, which likely had something to do with its short rampage during the compatibility test), but she doubt that Gendo would cut the boy loose, even though it was bound to come out soon that he had no right to exploit him if there was no blood or even a document of adoption between them.
"Sir, you once admitted that you don't even think about the Third Child outside of his usefulness, so why the concern for him associating with his mother?"
"She's not his mother," Gendo retorted.
"I kept rechecking the DNA, and it confirms more than words can say…or rather, what words can't say."
"Irrelevant."
Ritsuko could've said more, but it was pointless with Gendo; no matter how many times what he heard that was the truth, he wouldn't admit to it.
"I suppose talking to her or bribing her to keep away from him is out of the question, as well?" She suggested to him, though she wasn't serious on either suggestion; maybe it was because Fusei seemed to be a completely different representation of who her own mother could've been to her, but Ritsuko didn't have any ill will towards her.
And someone that clearly knew codes that could make one of the MAGI supercomputers work more efficiently than the other two was too invaluable to lose because of a Machiavellian man's unwillingness to admit a truth that not even she knew well enough; all she knew that was the truth was a legally-dead woman married to a man of many disrespects had a child that wasn't even theirs in the biological sense while the real mother was alive and kicking…and trying to be involved in her son's life.
-x-
"…So what happened with you being asked to go to Commander Ikari's office?" Misato asked Shinji during dinner.
"He wanted me to stop talking to Dr. Hitode," he sighed.
"Why'd he want you to do that for?" Asuka asked.
"Because he's a cold man."
"He doesn't think she's your mother, does he?" Misato asked him.
"Whether he does or doesn't really means nothing to him," Shinji responded. "I told him 'no'."
"Right on," Asuka praised him. "Say, when you gonna invite her over for dinner?"
"I haven't asked her yet. I haven't even thought of asking her that."
"You should as soon as you can," Misato encouraged him. "Crazy as it seems right now, you should spend every moment you can with her."
-x-
"This is the finished prototype," said Fusei to Ritsuko, who brought Gendo into the large room where the red-painted Entry Plug hung suspended in the air. Gendo Ikari? He's one of the people that took Shinji from us, Genshi-teki. Ugh.
Gendo noticed Fusei and felt only contempt at her for being here.
"Why is she here, Dr. Akagi?" He asked Ritsuko.
"I asked her to complete the Dummy Plug," she answered him. "All of Rei's synchronization data has been transferred into the plug, however, digitization of the human soul is impossible. In the end, it's nothing more than a machine designed to simulate the conditions of a pilot."
"The Dummy Plug sends out a simulated synchronization signal," said Gendo. "The Eva thinks that it has a pilot inside it and syncs with that artificial connection."
"The system still needs to pass the test of actually working with the Eva before it can be considered a successful trial run," Fusei informed them. "Unfortunately, it can't function with Unit-00 because of the delicacy of its own design."
Put quite simply, Unit-00 was incompatible with the Dummy System because it was a primitive Evangelion, prone to errors and not as effective as its successor models.
"What of Units-01 and 02?" Gendo questioned; it was his intention that the Dummy System work with Unit-01.
"It'll work with them," Fusei answered before Ritsuko could. "They're more advanced than the original design."
"But what Dr. Hitode says about it working successfully is true," Ritsuko told him. "We've yet to get it working with the Eva."
"It won't matter, so long as the Eva moves," Gendo responded and walked away.
But Fusei wasn't as confident about that. If she was going to entrust an autopilot system she felt was meant to completely eliminate the reliability of the actual pilots, it had to work flawlessly. And she had no faith in it ever doing that, which was why she made sure to install a certain series of code that she hoped would at least make the Eva…morally responsible for certain situations.
-x-
Shinji couldn't stop looking at the phoenix charm his mother lent to him. Even as he lay in his futon, the way it glistened in the limited light in the still darkness was a comfort to him. And knowing his late father gave it to his mother on their fifth date was also a comfort, knowing a bit more about these two people that were his parents, shedding some light on a past he didn't know about. It almost felt like the bird could come to life in his room and fly right out the window, leaving a trail of feathers or flame.
He then put it under his pillow and fell to sleep, trying to think positive about the next day.
-x-
"…For the Unit-03 test, we'll be using the Fourth Child," Ritsuko informed Misato the following day in Central Dogma.
"The Fourth Child?" She asked her. "The Marduk Institute finally found the Fourth Child?"
"Yeah, just this morning."
"But I didn't receive a report from them."
"You should get it within the hour."
"Rits…are you hiding something from me?"
"No."
On a computer screen, an image file popped up, revealing a young man.
"You're kidding," Misato uttered, recognizing the individual. "Him?"
-x-
"…You're in a good mood lately, Shinji," said Kensuke to him as they walked into the classroom. "What, you and Soryu set a date or something?"
"No, nothing like that," he responded as he sat down at his desk. "A few days ago, I… Something unbelievable happened, and it changed a bit of things."
"Sounds like something NERV-related."
"No, not related to NERV at all. It's…complicated."
"How is it complicated?"
How could Shinji explain to the otaku that he was slowly developing his relationship with his long-lost mother? Or that his father wasn't really his father? While it might have seemed easy to simply say it and wait for his response, Shinji found it hard to share these facts with others a little. Even if there was a chance of Kensuke or Toji understanding him, Shinji just couldn't explain it all just yet.
"Attention, students," a female voice uttered over the speakers in the building. "Will Kensuke Aida report to the Principal's office? That is all."
"What did you do this time, Kensuke?" Toji asked him as the otaku got up.
"All I did was skip school to videotape a Navy vessel," he confessed, and left the room. "That can't be what they want me at the Principal's office for."
When he left, Toji looked at Shinji and expressed, "Kensuke's right. You do seem to be in a good mood, Shinji. Whatever happened to you lately must be good."
"It's nothing NERV-related, I swear," Shinji defended.
"Well, it must be better than what he told me last night about the Eva they're shipping over here from the USA after the incident in Nevada."
"What incident?"
"Something about an explosion of some sort that took out the entire NERV branch there. You didn't know about it?"
"No."
"Well…if you didn't know, then it was probably not for you to know about it. I didn't even want to know. Kensuke just told me because he can't keep his mouth shut."
Shinji thought about asking his mother (his heart still jumped whenever he thought of Fusei Hitode as his mother), but then figured that there was no guarantee of her knowing if she joined NERV a few days ago (and was likely to have problems with Commander Ikari).
"What's with Rei?" Toji asked, and Shinji turned towards the windows at the albino girl, who wasn't looking out them like she usually did.
Instead, she was looking at him.
"That's complicated," Shinji explained. "Not easy to speak of."
"She seems angry about something."
"It's not even something to be angry about… Mostly."
"You know something?"
-x-
"…You don't like who they picked as the Fourth Child, either, Ms. Katsuragi?" Fusei asked Misato in one of the NERV breakrooms.
"So, you heard, too?" Misato asked her as she lay on one of the cots present.
"How could I not hear about it? This boy, however… He's a friend of Shinji's, isn't he?"
"Um, yes."
"Will he be informed by anyone?"
"To be honest, I don't know if even he will tell Shinji. I've looked at his file and from what was stated, the very prospect of piloting an Eva was…desirable, despite the inherent risks and dangers involved."
"Desirable? Wanting to explore undersea ruins, that's desirable. Taking a girl out on a date to a nice restaurant, that's also desirable. Even just wanting to go on vacation somewhere different than where you've been is desirable. But this? This isn't desirable. This is something we should be trying to use the Dummy System on. Wasn't it meant to ensure that nobody else had to go through with what these three teens already do? I don't like this. Something's off."
"This is the second time I believe you about something as serious as this."
Fusei sighed and sat on one of the sofas present.
"If Shinji doesn't know and I don't have an opportunity to inform him, could you let him know?" She asked Misato. "I don't know about his social life outside of his obligation to NERV, but you're the one that's in charge of making sure he and the young ladies survive these encounters. So you gotta make sure that this young man isn't harmed, as well."
"But didn't they need your help in developing the Dummy System?"
"Yes, but do you really put your faith in something that hasn't been successfully tested yet? I may have graduated at the top of my class when it came to computers and coding, but there are no guarantees…just as there are no absolutes with the Evas."
"Hey, ladies!" They both looked at the entrance to the room and saw Kaji step inside. "Need any help with anything?"
Fusei sighed and reached into her knapsack, pulling out her Taser that she used on him once before, making no hint to him that she was willing to use it on him again if he tried something.
"Unless there's reliable information, go bother someone else, Kaji," went Misato to him.
Since Fusei was on the right side of the room, Kaji moved to the left side, away from both women and to another cot.
"It depends on the type of information you're looking for," he told them.
"Why another young man was selected for the Eva program," Fusei explained, "and why one for whom the prospect of piloting one was desired? What boy in this day and age would want to risk their future better spent trying to be something worth living for…just to operate a skyscraper-sized, man-made behemoth?"
"You can't possibly think I know something like that?" Kaji defended, but he got the feeling that Fusei wasn't easy to mislead.
"And you dated this man before?" Fusei asked Misato.
"The biggest blemish of my life," the commanding officer confessed.
"I couldn't have been worse than anyone you dated, Ms. Hitode," Kaji stated, which earned a glare from the woman. "Or not."
"Let's keep these personal tidbits of ourselves to ourselves, please," she suggested, though the suggestion of anybody she had dated in her past did spark a memory from before Second Impact.
"Have you decided on a name, Fusei-Chan?" Genshi-teki had asked her one night in his bedroom, holding her as they lay in his bed, his left hand caressing her slim abdomen.
"Shinji if it's a boy, after my great-grandfather," she had told him, and then she got on top of him, "and Kannazuki if it's a girl, after your grandmother."
"Shinji. Kannazuki. Good names."
"But for the record," she uttered to Kaji, "the love of my life was the only man I ever dated. After he died, I stayed single. I believe in the Red String of Fate concept."
"Not many people have an understanding of the concept," he responded.
"If love is as true as it is pure, people that were meant to be together, then nothing, not a force in existence, be it one of the kami or one of mortality, can keep them separated. Those that believe in such a belief, anyway."
Kaji sighed and uttered, "Try looking at Code Seven-Zero-Seven."
Fusei looked over at Misato and asked, "Are you familiar with that code?"
"That's the code location…for this city's junior high school," she explained, confused herself.
-x-
Shinji pondered whether or not to call his mother after finding out from Kensuke the reason he was summoned to the principal's office. He was uncomfortable with the mere idea of anyone else he knew piloting the Eva just to face the Angels. Even if his friend was so proud that he had been selected by NERV, he just had an awful feeling about what could happen.
She might know, he considered, dialing her number and waiting for her to pick up.
"Hello, this is Fusei Hitode," he heard her say.
"Hey, it's Shinji."
"Hey, Shinji, how are you?"
"My day in school was so-so. Um…the reason I'm calling is that… I found out from two of my classmates that there was an incident in Nevada of the United States where an Eva and NERV branch were in some kind of an explosion…and one of them was picked to pilot the Eva being sent over here. I was wondering if you knew about this?"
"Just recently today, Shinji. If you didn't know and Ms. Katsuragi didn't inform you, I was going to tell you. I personally find this to be wrong when there are already three of you and we're working on the autopilot system, making the need for a new child pilot unnecessary."
"I worry that this may have something to do with my declining synchronization scores."
"I doubt that, Shinji. I checked your scores, and they haven't declined too much. But…even if it were the case, this is part of the reason the development of the autopilot system was ordered. If it works out properly, without any flaws, you three won't have to pilot the Evas as much as you do right now. You could…you could spend more of your time being teens and thinking about what you want to do with your future."
"Thank you. If you see Misato, could you tell her I asked that she be careful with him?"
"No worries, Shinji. Be safe."
"Yes, ma'am."
He hung up and felt a little better.
-x-
Gendo could've terminated the call between the woman and the Third Child and block each other's future calls, but he wanted to hear what was going on, what Ms. Hitode said to the Third Child when he called her. And it was irritating how much the boy confided in her or how the woman spoke of a potential future where none of the pilots would have to deal with the Evas as much if the Dummy System made a breakthrough. And then, there was the concern for the new pilot, something he could care less about. To him, the pilots were just assets, an expendable resource…and the one that was the most expendable refused to fall in line.
"You two look alike," he heard Major Katsuragi say to Dr. Hitode in a video recording of one of the sync tests, referring to her and the Third Child having a resemblance to each other.
"If you say so," the other woman responded, as if trying to feign ignorance.
If it weren't for the fact that Dr. Akagi accepted this woman's aid and NERV's personnel had been shortened after the Fifth Angel, Gendo would've fired Fusei on the spot just for her connection to the Third Child. And it was only a matter of time before everyone knew the truth.
-x-
"…How'd that otaku get picked to be a pilot?" Asuka asked Shinji, as though he were in the loop on the discovery, whilst they and Rei were on their way to NERV.
"I called Ms. Hitode, but she only found out recently today," Shinji relayed to her. "Misato probably knows more on why."
"Do you honestly expect her to tell us why?"
"Since when has she lied about anything?"
"People can lie."
And of course, it was always something about that was a heavy hitter for Shinji, the fact that people could lie. Lie about many things, including themselves. It reminded him of a cartoon he had read about on the Internet from the States that was pretty popular and that there was an episode from its second season that featured a small segment relating to truths and lies. And it was starting to affect him to a degree whenever he wrote down or typed in his name.
Although he was grateful to know Fusei and as much about his long-lost relatives as possible, the fact that he grew up around the Ikari name was hard to get over because he kept having to erase Hitode whenever he wrote it down when he meant to write Ikari. As much as he wanted to use his biological mother's family's name, he had to put up with the falsehood he grew up believing for the time being.
"What's bothering you?" Asuka decided to ask him.
"Huh? Oh, nothing," he responded to her.
"Honestly, Shinji, I think your mother is better at hiding her emotions than you are. As much as I find it bothersome, I spoke with Hikari, who gave me an explanation to a question I had, so I have to give you the benefit of the doubt for your lack of insight."
"My lack of insight?"
As they continued down an escalator, the redhead explained, "You didn't know who your parents were, you didn't know that the commander wasn't really your father, or that a dead woman you thought was your mother wasn't really. You were harmed by a lifetime of lies and you're just learning about the truth. The people that lied to you will undoubtably be unable to sleep, knowing what they've done because they have to have a guilty conscience. And even when there's a chance for you to have a future with this Dr. Hitode, you're still a victim of some people you were with…and you can't change that."
Shinji realized that she was right about that.
"It'd probably be easier if there was such a thing as time travel," he suggested, only half-serious. "Then, there'd be like a reset to what went wrong in one's life."
"You spend too much time with that otaku," Asuka told him.
Rei, a good distance away, mildly frowned at the Third Child's belief of the Hitode woman. The more he talked about it, the more the Second Child talked about it, the more it disgusted her to hear about it for some reason. She couldn't believe that the new employee was the boy's relative when Commander Ikari's dead wife was.
-x-
Fusei didn't like what she and Ms. Katsuragi had discovered in the least. The code that Mr. Kaji suggested wasn't just the location of a school in the city, but the same school her son went to, and every single one of his classmates was a pilot candidate for the Eva program! This meant that the Marduk Institute was not only a false front for people to hear about, it was an excuse to exploit other children like her son by NERV itself. It also meant that the Aida boy's selection was no coincidence; there were no coincidences at all within NERV, only the inevitabilities from unexpected choices made behind the backs of others.
"Miss Hitode?" Misato asked her, but the woman seemed absent-minded or just too focused on what was found out right now; she guessed that this discovery put a considerable number of thoughts in her mind. "Fusei Hitode?"
Fusei broke out of her thoughts and looked at Misato.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Katsuragi," she apologized to her. "You were saying?"
"Are you feeling alright?"
"I haven't been alright in years. This is just another type of 'awful' in a series of 'awfuls' ever since that day fifteen years ago. How did nobody pick up on this? This isn't just something that happened recently. No wonder they wanted an autopilot system so badly; remove the human element from the equation, and replace it with something you think is more efficient because it doesn't have emotions, no matter what happens."
"I reckon you're going to tell Shinji about this?" She asked her; she couldn't hold it against her if she did, for this was a woman that needed to keep her child informed about everything that went on here because she likely made a conscience-based decision not to keep him in the dark, no matter what.
"I won't lie to him," she responded to her. "I can't lie to him. He asked for his friend to be kept safe…and I don't want to hurt him by not doing my job, which is to do just that."
"Your job as a doctor or your job as a computer expert?"
"All of the above, Ms. Katsuragi, all of the above."
And Misato suspected that when Fusei said that, she really meant her responsibilities as a parent, which included her professions being done to help people like her son.
"The Eva being brought in from the States arrives tomorrow and the NERV testing base at Matsushiro will be used to run the activation test the day after," she told her.
"Matsushiro? Why not just do the test here?" Fusei questioned. "I've looked at the layout of that base, and it's not properly equipped to handle an Eva test, let alone an Eva. It's basically just a makeshift lab miles away from the city. It would be easier to do the test here."
"I agree with you, but the order for the test came from the commander."
"What's your take on this Gendo Ikari?"
"Before you came along? Honestly, it was hard to ever imagine he and Shinji ever being related. The guy's colder than a freezer. Never a kind word or anything to him. Now, it makes perfect sense to why. You?"
"Beyond the job, I want nothing to do with him myself. I'm personally outraged by the kind of person he has been to Shinji for most of his life. I want to save my son from the pit of darkness he's in, no matter what position in his life I fill."
"I can't speak for him, but I'm sure that Shinji's spirits have been lifted by a substantial degree since he met you and learned the truth of his ties. I've never seen him so happy to be able to speak to at least one of his parents."
"It'll still be a while…if not a long time…before we're as close as I had wanted us to be after he was born. Really close."
-x-
Kensuke Aida wasn't seen at school the next day.
"You think he'll be alright, Shinji?" Toji asked.
"I wish I knew for sure," he responded, noticing that he had a bento with him, something he normally didn't have every day. "Where'd you get that, Toji?"
"This? Um, Hikari made it for me."
"The Class Rep.? Since when did you start addressing her by her name?"
Toji then turned away from Shinji, trying to find a reasonable excuse to use.
"Um, that would be telling," he said instead, which Shinji accepted.
"Toji, are you… Are you and she… You two hanging out or something?"
"Again, that would be telling."
Shinji decided to accept what Toji was avoiding to say. If he couldn't explain it just yet, then it was no different from himself not yet talking about his mother.
-x-
"…Okay, Mr. Aida," went Fusei to the young boy sitting on the stool, holding a wooden tongue depressor in her left hand. "Say, 'aah'."
"Aah," Kensuke responded, actually impressed that NERV had another beautiful woman like Misato around.
Fusei noticed his eyes and the way they looked at her; this was typical behavior of teenage boys due to their hormones and how their brains responded to stimuli when in the presence of adult women they saw as being attractive. She decided to beat around the bush a little with him as she removed the depressor from his tongue.
"So, you're a classmate of Shinji's, aren't you?" She asked him, tossing into a bio-hazard bin for later incineration.
"Huh? Shinji Ikari? Why, yes, ma'am. Yes, I am." He answered her.
"Tell me, what kind of person is he outside of NERV?"
"What can I say about him? He's kind of timid, doesn't seem to know how fortunate he is to live with a beautiful woman like Ms. Misato, and he gets to pilot the Eva. He's sort of like a celebrity…only he doesn't revel in his success at all."
"Any hobbies?"
"None that he's shared with me."
She then checked his vision and hearing, which were normal with the only minor exception being his nearsightedness.
"Tell me, do you believe piloting the Eva is…healthy for you?" She tried a trick question, testing his mental and emotional faculties.
"Healthy for me?" He repeated. "Honestly, no, but I was inside it once when I met Shinji, and after that, I wanted to get in it again."
"Sometimes, the first time is…somewhat traumatic. Was there a sense of fear, of pandemonium while inside the Eva when it was faced with an Angel?"
"Yes, ma'am, but doesn't that come with the job of piloting the Eva? It's fight or die."
"True, but the point of this brand of questioning is to understand you better. Emotionally, not intellectually. There's a need for psychological stability, but it's okay to express your real feelings in the matter. And because the Eva links to your nervous system, it's a two-way street between the Eva and the child inside it. Whatever it receives that's registered as an injury is also experienced by the pilot when synced at a high enough degree. If it receives a broken leg, it will feel like your own leg has been broken. When it suffers from some form of internal damage, you will feel the same way. Demonstrate fear, your synchronization falters. The same with anger. Also, there is a need for moral stability while piloting the Eva, which brings me to this question that you must answer honestly, Mr. Aida. What would you feel while piloting the Eva? How would you feel, knowing that you have a responsibility to ensure the protection and survival of everyone within the city and around the world, that you had to be perceptive of your surroundings and consider the possibility of making a mistake that you will have to live with until the end of your days?"
"How would I feel? The possibility of a mistake? Please, elaborate."
"Suppose you, albeit unintentionally, caused collateral damage, even the death of a small child and their parents, what would you feel? How would you react? Just answer honestly."
Kensuke thought about it, never really anticipating that line of questioning from anyone. All he knew was that when he was summoned to the principal's office, the woman there came to him with the offer to become an Evangelion pilot. It was all he really wanted to do, never really thinking about anything beyond that. There was no need to think beyond that.
But now, this woman was asking him. She wanted his honesty. He had to answer truthfully. Lying would get him nowhere.
"I guess…I would feel saddened," he responded to her.
"Why so?" She asked him, making sure she took notes on this conversation.
"If I found out that something like that happened, that I was responsible in some way… Because I ended those lives I was trying to save…and I couldn't save them. There would be guilt…and shame. I wouldn't be able to walk away from the repercussions, probably never sleep peacefully for the rest of my life."
"Are you certain of this? All I'm asking for is your honesty, nothing more."
Kensuke breathed in and out again before answering.
"Yes, ma'am."
Fusei nodded and set her pen down.
"Okay, Mr. Aida, I think I have enough information to set up the rest of your personnel data for future use. Your plugsuit fitting will begin as soon as you leave out to your next appointment. Thank you for your time."
"Yes, ma'am. You're welcome."
As he got up to leave the room, Fusei stopped him a moment longer.
"Just one more thing, Mr. Aida," she went, handing him a piece of paper. "Wearing glasses in the Entry Plug is a safety hazard due to unpredictable impacts. This is your prescription for waterproof contact lenses to correct your nearsightedness while inside the Entry Plug. If that doesn't help, we'll try corrective surgery."
"Um, yes, ma'am. Thank you."
Then, he was gone, leaving Fusei to ponder her next step. While her initial evaluation of the boy was that he clearly had a minor case of delusions of grandeur, his typical behavior was average, not troubled by most of the trauma of his past. But her judgment of him inside an Eva was that if he were in the face of adversity, he would suffer from not being able to see beyond the situation and act accordingly, only the situation and never past it unless he tried real hard. Put quite simply, in her mind, his role as a pilot would be more hurtful than helpful…and the need for a stable pilot was necessary.
Still, he's Shinji's friend, and I have to make sure he's kept out of harm's way, she thought, knowing she needed to make sure that nothing bad happened to the boy, but needing to think about a strategy that would be flawless.
-x-
"…So, I should be back within a day," went Misato to Shinji as she stepped out of the apartment. "You and Asuka behave yourselves, alright?"
"You don't have to tell me twice," he responded. "Just make sure that Kensuke doesn't get hurt out there."
"It's only an activation test… But still, I'll make sure he's fine. Your mother cleared him medically, so there shouldn't be much of a problem."
But Shinji had that look on his face that meant that just because of a medical clearing, it didn't change the fact that he was worried about his friend being an Eva pilot. If something terrible did happen and Kensuke was caught in the crossfire, it wasn't going to help make the situation any better for any of them.
"Okay, okay, the second something goes wrong, we'll cut the activation test and send him home," she told him.
"Thank you," he responded.
"No offense, but I'm starting to see where you get your sense of concern. Even your mother is concerned about his safety. So much so that she prescribed him contacts that were waterproof so as to not hinder his vision. She still insisted on the use of the experimental autopilot system in case we needed it."
Shinji couldn't help but smile at the thought of his mother insisting on the Dummy System in case it was necessary.
"You be careful, too," he told her.
"Yeah," she responded.
-x-
It must've been only under special circumstances that Rei Ayanami was seen in the base at odd hours, but Fusei found the girl's vacant expression to be…almost intimidating for some reason she couldn't explain. And now, here they were, in an elevator on their way to the medical ward for the young lady's physical that Dr. Akagi was supposed to be in charge of doing, but Fusei found herself doing in her place. As they were standing on opposite sides of the elevator, Fusei pondered whether or not to say anything to Rei. What could she say to her that was worth talking about to one such as herself?
Ding! The elevator had reached their floor and the doors opened.
Fusei sighed and stepped out.
"I don't believe that you're Ikari-Kun's mother, Ms. Hitode," she heard the albino girl say to her in the hall.
"Excuse me?" She turned to face her. "What are you talking about?"
"You claim to be his mother," Rei stated, her face slowly contorting into an expression of disgust. "You claim that he is your child, but this cannot be true."
"And where would you hear something like this?" Fusei wanted to know.
"I overheard your conversation with Ikari-Kun…and find it only to be a falsehood belief…and so does Commander Ikari." Rei explained.
"I think there's a lot that you don't have a complete understanding about, Ms. Ayanami. And to just jump to conclusions isn't the best form of judgment one can take."
"Yet, you made a claim to being his mother when his background file states clearly that his mother is deceased."
Fusei sighed, realizing that this girl was clearly not going to be misled by her, and expressed, "But how can you be sure that his mother is deceased? How can you be certain that the woman who died long ago even was his mother?"
"Commander Ikari married a woman by the name of Yui Ikari. Shortly after, they had only one child together before she passed away years later. That child is Ikari-Kun."
"How did they have a child together? There's more than one way for two people to start a family after getting married."
"They…they…" But Rei couldn't finish her response; she only knew that Commander Ikari and his late wife had Ikari-Kun, but not the exact nature as to how so. How did they obtain the boy that is Ikari-Kun?
Fusei had clearly bested the girl in the conversation if she was unable to answer the question.
"What you see for yourself, hear from others or even say to others isn't always as clear as the truth, Ms. Ayanami," she told her. "And sometimes, the truth is harder to face than the light of the day. But I won't tell you what to believe. These are desperate times and desperate days. In times of desperation, people will believe whatever it is they want to believe in. Nobody's exempt from this way of thinking. But if they can prove what they believe in to not be that of desperation, then it becomes nothing but the truth, not a falsehood assumption or what have you. Shall we?"
When she resumed her walk to the room where the young girl's appointment was to be, Rei was left to question what Commander Ikari had instructed of her. While being told to disbelieve the woman that claimed to be the Third Child's mother, she wasn't informed of how the boy was related to the Ikaris if there was no blood between them.
-x-
Evangelion Unit-03, a dark and frightening behemoth of one-hundred meters in height, creeped even Misato as she stood in front of it at the testing facility in Matsushiro.
"Well, Kensuke," she said to the boy as he stood a few feet from her, "Are you ready?"
Sporting s green, camouflage-themed plugsuit, Kensuke, with his new contact lenses installed, looked at Misato and responded, "Yes, ma'am."
-x-
"…They should be beginning within the next half-hour, Shinji," Fusei told her son, finding him on the school rooftop that afternoon, referring to the activation test.
Even with the precautions taken, the boy couldn't stop worrying about his friend.
"How'd you know where to find me?" He asked her, turning away from the fence.
"I looked at your file and the address of the school you attend was in it. I'm hoping that they don't put Mr. Aida in the Eva at all and use the Dummy Plug instead."
"I appreciate all that you've done."
"You're welcome. Can I ask you to do something if something in the test does go wrong?"
"What is it?"
"This is only if they put Mr. Aida in the Eva… Do whatever you feel you have to in order to save your friend, but don't throw your life away in the process. I don't know if I have it in me to go through with losing you, even if I took some precautions to prevent dangerous risks from ever being attempted."
"Yes, ma'am."
Fusei then took out her phone and dialed a number.
"Hello, Ms. Katsuragi," she uttered, surprising Shinji with having her number. "This is Fusei Hitode. I'm with Shinji right now. The reason I'm calling is to see how the activation test is going. What? She did? Did you check to make sure? I'll tell him right now. Don't hang up."
She looked at Shinji with a hopeful expression.
"Doctor Akagi decided at the last minute to substitute Mr. Aida for use of the Dummy Plug," she revealed to him. "He's being sent home for a few days until Unit-03 has been transported back to the Geo-Front for further synchronization testing."
Shinji felt relieved to hear that as he smiled.
"Thank you," he praised. "Thank you."
Suddenly, the sounds coming through Fusei's phone speakers sounded like an alarm and people yelling; something was going down in Matsushiro.
"Miss Katsuragi?" She asked. "Miss Katsuragi?! What's going on?!"
As she was trying to listen, all she heard what was odd to hear: "It's an Angel?" But then the call disconnected and all she got was a dead, dial tone.
Shinji was worried about whatever it was that happened at Matsushiro. He wanted to know if Misato and Kensuke were alright.
"We're going to find out what happened, Shinji," Fusei told him, putting her hands on his shoulders, trying to reassure him. "Try to stay calm."
-x-
"Urgh," groaned Kensuke, coming to as he found himself hanging upside-down in the back seat of the Sedan that the explosion turned over, sporting a small gash on his forehead. "Wha…what happened?"
The driver appeared dead, and the ground shook every three seconds.
Looking outside the damaged window beside him as he tried to get out of his seatbelt, Kensuke saw something large and black walking away from where the Matsushiro testing facility partially stood and looked reduced to a decrepit state. It…it looked like Unit-03, but with longer arms that were limp and just hanging to its sides.
"Ugh," Kensuke groaned as he fell out of the seat and onto the overturned roof of the car.
He crawled out of the broken window on the other side and struggled to stand up. Using the car to lean on, the otaku looked around and found a broken piece of pipe a few feet from the car. With whatever strength he could muster, he staggered over across the road to get to it; he could get around more freely with some piece of piping better than a car with a dead driver, and he needed to go back to the damaged testing facility to look for survivors…and hopefully a phone or radio that still functioned.
"What happened?" He wondered, grabbing the pipe that was longer than himself but sturdy enough to use as a crutch. "What happened?"
-x-
The Matsushiro testing facility was partially damaged in a small explosion caused by a weak AT-Field being used offensively. All the bridge crew of Central Dogma could ascertain from the disconnected phone call that Fusei had with Misato was that it was caused by an Angel that was there, but the question of how it got there without warning had yet to be answered. As a search and rescue team was being dispatched by NERV to look for the survivors, the veteran Evangelion pilots were placed in their Entry Plugs to be sortied against the Angel that was approaching the city.
Shinji was uncomfortable with the idea of Commander Ikari taking control of the situation; he didn't feel that anyone with his behavior should ever dictate how any of them should face an Angel at all.
Fusei was in the same boat as her son. Even as she sat at the console Ms. Ibuki normally sat at, she feared for the worst with Gendo taking charge.
"Target within range now," she heard Shigeru say as the new Angel appeared on the holographic displays. "You've gotta be kidding me."
The Angel, or rather, the Evangelion that was being tested, was slowly walking through the countryside as the sun began to go down for the day.
"This is bad," Fusei sighed. "This is really bad."
She sent the signal to try and force-eject the plug from the Eva.
On the displays, the back of the Eva's casing for the plug blew off, revealing a series of muscle and nerve tissue covering the red Dummy Plug, preventing it from being completely removed.
-x-
"…Okay, this is what we know so far," Shinji and the girls heard Fusei say to them as their Evas were on the surface at the edge of the countryside to intercept the Angel. "The Angel has somehow hijacked Unit-03 like a puppet and is slowly advancing towards the city. Force-ejection of the Dummy Plug used to substitute a standard Entry Plug and Kensuke Aida has proven ineffective due to the Angel keeping the plug onboard through a series of muscle and nerve tissue, which suggests that the Angel needs the plug to stay active."
"An Eva was just taken over by an Angel?" Asuka questioned, having Unit-02 carry a large rocket launcher over its right shoulder.
"Be advised that the plug inside the Eva is an empty vessel," Fusei reiterated to the three. "I repeat, the plug is devoid of anyone, living or dead. It's just an autopilot piece of machinery."
"Noted," Shinji responded; he was grateful to hear this, and because they were in the countryside, the potential collateral damage from dealing with the Angel could be limited to just the environment. "So, it's possible that if we remove the plug, the Eva will stop."
"That's only a possibility…until you try it. If you can't remove the plug, you'll have to take out the Angel entirely."
These were their only options: Remove the Dummy Plug if possible…or destroy the possessed Evangelion if necessary.
"Well, Shinji," went Asuka through the intercom, "your biggest fan knows what to say and her suggestions might work out for this job."
"Thank you, Asuka."
Before she could respond, the redhead saw the black Eva appear beside the hill she was stationed near, and it was looking at her.
"Scheisse!" She cursed in German, quickly turning to face it and blast it away with the rocket launcher. "Eat this, Angel!"
She fired, but the Angel erected its AT-Field to block the rocket attack. Unfortunately for the Angel, its field wasn't as strong as it could've been due to the other Eva being present, and its waist now sported a minor gash that wasn't healing. Then, Asuka took out her Prog. Knife and stabbed the black Eva in the right shoulder, tackling it to the ground.
Crash! The ground shook and small portions of dirt was sent flying.
Asuka saw the red plug and reached for it.
The Angel grabbed her left arm and kicked her away before it could get up.
-x-
The place was a mess, but Kensuke hadn't found anyone yet.
"Hello?" He called out to the ravaged environment, hoping to find someone. "Miss Misato? Anyone? Hello?"
"He… Help," he heard a female voice under a fallen piece of a wall nearby.
He went over and found the boyish woman, Maya Ibuki, pinned.
"Hold on," he told her, hoping that he could remove the wall from off of her. "What happened?"
"Unit-03… It was an Angel. It was infested and taken over by an Angel."
The piece of wall wasn't all that heavy for him to lift up, but Kensuke couldn't toss it aside.
"Can you crawl out from under?" He asked her.
"No. No, I… I can't feel my legs," she told him, worried. "I can't feel my legs."
He looked under the wall as best he could…and saw her leg, but they looked like they had been pummeled by more than just the wall.
"Okay, don't panic," he told her, trying to turn the wall over completely. "I'll try to pull you out."
"Thank you."
Once he turned the wall over, he grabbed the pipe and told her to hold onto it as tight as she could while he tried to pull her out of the rubble.
"Aaaurgh," he grunted, feeling like his insides were on fire as he pulled the pipe.
Maya felt herself slowly moving forward because of the Fourth Child, and was free from the rubble in less than a minute.
Kensuke then turned her over.
"Aah, aah, aah!" She gasped, hurt from the turning.
"Sorry, sorry," he apologized to her. "Okay… I'm going to try and find others. I'll be back as soon as I can."
Maya nodded as she laid there.
-x-
Unit-02 had the Angel pinned to the hillside, but it was impossible to remove the plug, and its umbilical cable had been severed, leaving it with less than three minutes of operational power before it shut down.
"ETA is twenty seconds away," Asuka heard one of the technicians say to her, seeing Units-00 and 01 approaching.
"You two took long enough," she told them, just as her Eva's hold on the Angel was beginning to weaken. "Yank out the damn plug!"
Unit-00 reached for the plug, but Unit-03 suddenly sprouted out a pair of fleshy arms from its shoulder pylons to grab its neck.
"Aah!" Rei gasped, feeling her throat tighten.
Unit-01 quickly grabbed the plug's end and began to extract, but the muscle and nerves surrounding the plug began to fuse with its right hand.
"Aaah!" Shinji gasped, feeling like his own hand was set on fire while being bitten on by something with teeth. "Aaah!"
"The Angel's trying to fuse with Unit-01!" He heard one of the male technicians reveal.
"Detonate the arm," he heard Commander Ikari order. "Sever it off."
"Sir, he's still synced with the Eva," he heard his mother tell him. "We can't sever the arm without harming him."
"Cut it off," the commander repeated, making no hint that he wanted the deed done now.
Shinji tried desperately to remove the Dummy Plug from the Eva before it lost its arm. Using the Eva's left arm to grab the plug tighter, he felt it begin to loosen.
"Graurgh!" The Angel growled, tightening its grip on the blue Eva's neck.
"Aah!" Rei screamed.
Boom! The plug Shinji tried to to remove suddenly smoked up and caught on fire.
"Graurgh!" The Angel groaned as the black Eva went limp, its regular arms no longer struggling against Unit-02 and its fleshy arm falling from Unit-00.
Even the muscle and nerve tissues trying to fuse with Unit-01's arm reversed itself.
"The blue pattern's disappeared," all three pilots heard a female technician say.
"What happened?" Shinji asked.
"The Dummy Plug's internal programming did as it was instructed to do," Fusei's voice spoke up. "In the event that it made the Eva do something to endanger the life of the pilot, even endangering the Entry Plug, it ceases functionality and burns out."
"You made an autopilot system capable of doing an emergency self-destruct if it comes close to endangering lives?" Asuka questioned. "I guess we were fortunate enough that this Angel decided to fight back against removing it. It ended up being the instrument of its own downfall."
"Yeah… Thank you, Dr. Hitode." Shinji praised her.
-x-
"…Hey! Over here!" A male voice shouted. "The kid found another survivor!"
Opening her eyes with a concussion, Misato found herself on a stretcher looking up at the night sky; she felt like she'd been asleep for a long time.
"Hey, kid, that's enough," she heard someone else say. "Lie down and let a doctor look at you."
"Umm… What…happened?" She uttered.
"Hey, Katsuragi," she heard Kaji's voice as he showed up. "Try not to move."
"What happened?"
"Unit-03 turned out to be an Angel…and was quickly taken out," he explained.
"Aida? What happened to Aida?"
"His car was flipped over and crashed in the explosion. The driver was killed instantly. The boy survived, but only barely, and came back to find survivors. He found forty-seven out of the two-hundred staffed here, including Ibuki."
Misato turned her head to her right and saw the boyish-looking woman laying unconscious on another stretcher with her legs bound together by makeshift casts.
"His car gets flipped in the explosion, he gets injured…and he comes back to find survivors?" She questioned, actually impressed by his actions. "If I could, I'd give him a medal for his selflessness, the young man."
"Even though he found at least eight dead, he didn't stop looking. That's how he found you and Ritsuko an hour ago."
To be continued…
A/N: I never expected this chapter to be so long, but it all resulted from the number of votes from the poll I set up for the viewers, and more voted for the third option over the other two.