CHAPTER 13: THE NEW GIRL

Back at NERV HQ Kaji had just dropped off the secure briefcase at Gendo Ikari's desk. "This thing sure is a lot of trouble," Kaji said smiling. "It was certainly an eventful trip, wasn't it?" Gendo then went about opening the case. "I wonder, was this the cause of all that drama?" The case opened with a hiss. "Amazing. It's already restored itself this far," he said stepping around the desk. "Despite being frozen in solid Bakelite it's still alive. This is the key to the Human Instrumentality Project, isn't it?"
"Correct," Gendo smiled. "This is Adam."

"The first human being," Kaji nodded. "Or the angel?"

"It is both," Gendo said. "This is many things to many people."

"Aren't you worried about it being kept here?" Kaji asked.

"No," Gendo said. "We've got all the necessary equipment to keep it under control. And there's nothing the committee can do to interfere."

"Let's just hope so."

After Kaji had left Vice-Commander Fuyutsuki spoke up. "Kaji Ryoji," he said. "He's only been with us for a couple years but he's already proven to be of great use. Too good, sometimes."

"Indeed," Gendo nodded. "We'll leave him be for now. But, we'll keep him under observation." And with that Fuyutsuki left to attend to other duties. When the door was closed, the Commander of NERV picked up the phone and hit speed dial. "It's me. I have a new job for you. It's long term, but well paying…I'll need you to relocate to Tokyo-3 first though. That won't be a problem will it?...Good...Dasvidaniya, Captain."

XXXXX

"She may have been a babe," Toji said when they returned to class the next day. "But she was a real bitch."

"Looks don't exactly compensate for personality," Shinji added. "Hopefully she gets better as you get to know her." He was now sporting a bandage across his nose from where he bashed it during the last battle.

"I wouldn't hold your breath, tough guy. That's one hell of a long shot."

"Well," Kensuke spoke up. "I for one feel sorry for you, Shinji. You've got to work with her. But Toji and I won't ever have to see her again." That's when Shinji got the feeling that Kensuke had spoken too soon.

"Thank God, for that." He looked up as he saw a figure on the other side of the door.

"Don't look now," he said as the door opened. Of course, they looked anyways. When they did Kensuke froze in terror and Toji fell out of his chair. "Told you not to look."

Everyone else in the class was shocked at the sight of the new girl in class. The boys instantly had the hots for her and the girls started to fear the competition. After writing her name on the chalkboard she turned around and introduced herself, "I'm Asuka Langley Soryu. Charmed, ja?"

'School just went from bad to worse,' Shinji decided.

As the day went on Asuka's popularity was quickly cemented. By the end of the week it had a foundation going all the way down to the Geo-Front. However, a handful of intrepid entrepreneurs had decided amongst themselves to secretly capitalize on this turns of events. They turned their misfortune into fortune: they began to sell Asuka photos at 100 yen a snap. Toji and Kensuke were the primary beneficiaries. Toji was the head salesman and Kensuke was the photographer while Shinji was the one who kept their asses clear. Not from the authorities but from something far worse: Asuka.

"Did you see the new hot, foreign exchange student?" One guy said to his buddy as they walked along the school grounds.

"A new student?" He asked in reply. "A foreigner?"

"Yeah. She's so hot. Her name is Asuka Langley Soryu. She's in Class 2-A."

"The same class as Ikari? Damnit!"

"Don't worry. The grapevine says they're not too cozy with each other." They then stopped at Kensuke and Toji's makeshift sale's stand.

"So she doesn't have a boyfriend?"

"Oh, no, no. She just moved here from Germany. So she probably broke up and is here in a foreign land with a heart that can't be mended."

"This girl is so hot," another guy said as he bought ten photos.

"I know," his buddy agreed as he forked over a thousand yen for his copies. "I heard she's from Germany and doesn't have a boyfriend…yet."

"What do you mean 'yet'?" Guy number one asked.

"I left her a note in her locker."

'Good luck, buddy,' Toji said to himself as they left.

"Yeah," yet another guy said as he admired his photos. "You, me and about two dozen other guys." Kensuke had the picture of the notes tumbling out of Asuka's locker to prove it.

"Oh, my God!" Kensuke groaned. "I can't stand all this gossip! Asuka. Asuka. Asuka."

"I know. They're totally clueless," Toji said as another guy picked up his share of pictures.

"Thanks, come again!"

"At least her pictures don't reveal her personality," Toji said as he examined some negatives.

"Wrap it up," a voice startled the duo from behind.

"SON OF A BITCH!" Toji and Kensuke reeled from the surprise.

"Shinji," Toji said after collecting his breath. "How the hell do you always appear out of thin air like that?"

"Actually," Shinji said pointing to the equipment shed behind him. "I just stepped out from behind the shed. But, seriously, pack your shit in. The Red Death is approaching."

"AH!" Kensuke quickly scooped up all the evidence and hid it in his back pack only to sneeze and dump it all out.

"Oh, for shit's sake," Shinji groaned as he marched off. "I don't get paid enough for this." 'Guess I'll have to improvise a way of drawing her off.' He spotted some cute girls up ahead and came up with one. "Ladies," he said slyly as he passed them. He kept his eyes on them for a second then kept on moving.

"OH!" He heard the girls squeal behind him. "He talked to us!"

"I know!" Girl number two said. "And he checked us out, too! Oh, he's so cute!"

"He's just adorable!" The two girls then squealed in delight.

"What's going on?" Hikari asked as she and Asuka walked up to them.

"Shinji just checked us out!"

"He what!" Asuka screeched.

"Oh!" Girl number two said blushing with hearts in her eyes. "He's such a total hunk. I just wish I could sneak off with him to some park."

"I wish he would sneak me off to a closet," her friend said with hearts in her eyes too.

"Really!" Hikari snapped. "That's disgusting Kasumi!" As Hikari continued to chat with the two girls about proper behavior Asuka turned her attention to the cause of the disturbance.

"Looks like Shinji bought us enough time," Kensuke said as he zipped up his bag.

"But you nearly blew our cover, dumbass!" Toji scolded him.

"Hey!" The coke-bottle eyed otaku snapped back. "I have allergies!"

"Hallo!" Shinji heard behind him.

'The one downside to this plan,' he said to himself as he came to the stairs going down to the schoolyard.

"Guten morgen, Shinji," Asuka said walking up to him.

"Howdy," Shinji said turning around. "What did I do to deserve such honor?"

"Why do you have to be so negative?" Asuka asked. "You should be honored. Didn't you hear? I'm the most popular girl in school. You should feel blessed that I'm even talking to you."

"And what if I don't?" Shinji asked putting his hands in his pockets.

"Arschloch," Asuka growled as Toji and Kensuke walked up. "Hey," She changed the subject. "The other one is around here somewhere, too, right?"

"Other one? If you're asking about Rei Ayanami,"Shinji put emphasis on Rei's actually name, "she's down there." He motioned with his head down the stairs. Asuka simply followed his gesture and spotted the blue haired pilot of Unit-00 sitting on a bench reading a book. Toji and Kensuke continued their trek down the stairs as Asuka started off. "You be nice, Asuka," Shinji said to her back.

"Nice?" Asuka stopped and shot him a look. "I was just going to introduce myself to her and make friends. Why are you so worried? Is she your girlfriend?"

"She's my battle buddy," Shinji clarified. "I can read you like a book, Asuka. You like to take even the littlest things personally. So I'm going to give you a little heads up. Whatever Rei says in reply to you, she means no harm. So don't make it personal." He then walked past her. "Consider this your warning."

"Warning?"

"My 'first one for free' policy applies only to me," Shinji said looking over his shoulder. "But when it comes to my friends…I will retaliate. So just keep that in mind."

Rei was reading her book quietly to herself as she spotted Shinji walking past. His bandage was gone now and the injury had healed without scarring. She couldn't help but recall how he injured his hands to save her. She also recalled that he had told her that he rescued her because he valued her as a person, not because she was a fellow pilot. She was his friend, the thought of which never failed to lift Rei's spirits.

Shinji stopped by Toji and Kensuke who had taken a break under a tree on the hillside just within earshot. She went back to reading her book when a shadow crossed the pages. She moved her book but the shadow followed. "Hi!" Rei heard an upbeat voice call out. "You're Rei Ayanami the pilot of the prototype?" Rei didn't respond. "I'm Asuka. Asuka Langley Soryu, I'm the designated pilot of EVA Unit-02."

"I know who you are," Rei replied softly.

"Indeed, you should. Well, on that note let's be good friends!"

"What for?"

"Because it would be convenient!"

"How so?"

"Well, we girls have to stick together," Asuka said placing her hands on her hips. "I'm sure you could use some friendly company what with Shinji being the only other pilot. You know what I mean?"

"I'm afraid that I do not."

"Oh, come on!" Asuka shrugged after she jumped down from the wall. "Surely you should know better than me how obnoxious he is."

"No," Rei replied. "He is not."

"Are you blind? He's a total asshole." At that Rei got upset. She closed her book, stood up and stared into Asuka's eyes.

"He is not. Do not make such disingenuous comments about him." And with that she dismissed herself from the strawberry-blonde's presence.

"Freakazoid," Asuka said to herself as Rei left.

"It takes one to know one," Toji said to his group. The trio had watched and listened to the exchange. Shinji paid careful attention and was ready to intervene if it looked like it got out of hand. Luckily, Rei was a cool customer and hardly ever lost control of herself. "I wonder if only weirdoes are chosen to be EVA pilots," Toji added forgetting that Shinji was right behind him.

"I wouldn't consider Rei a 'weirdo'," Shinji said. "She's just…reserved."

"Very reserved," Toji corrected.

"Yeah, well," Kensuke spoke up. "Asuka certainly isn't in the norm."

XXXXX

Norfolk, Virginia

The SEALs were back in the briefing room. Their Captain was there along with two others they didn't recognize. One was wearing ACUs, the other wore dark blue coveralls with the UK Union Jack on the sleeve and bore a slight resemblance to Grizzly Adams. "Grab a seat," the Skipper instructed. "This briefing is little more than just a meet and greet." He turned to the individual dressed US Army ACUs. "This is Colonel William Marshall, formerly from the 75th Ranger Regiment. He's the new CO of Task Force 141," the Skipper said, continuing with the brief. "You're all being seconded to the 141 with the radio call sign Trident. His radio call sign is Falcon. Colonel," he turned it over to the colonel.

"It's a pleasure to meet y'all," he said with a nod. "I've only recently taken over. In fact, the 141 has only recently been re-activated with what few former members we could find along with new operators. We're a joint Task Force with the bulk of our personnel coming from the US and UK special ops, but we've also got some CIA Special Activities Division and MI6 personnel with us. Now, to give you a little bit of history I'll turn this over to Captain John Price, SAS." He then turned to the resident Brit.

"Right," the gruff looking member of the UK Special Forces spoke up with an equally gruff voice, "our task force was responsible for taking down Makarov's Inner Circle organization. I had the great pleasure of stringing that rat bastard up myself. Right now, we're investigating the benefactors behind Inner Circle. After tracking down a few dead ends and collecting intel we're fairly certain that an organization known only as SEELE is the real mastermind. Now then, there are two sides to our task force, analytical and tactical. For the most part, the analytical side of the house crunches intel for us but they're also digging into SEELE's past. Looking for patterns, behaviors, profiles of members, etc. Tactical is the side of the shop where you lot come in. We've already got a good roster at the moment but we felt it was time to expand. One of our CIA operators, Gator, whom you lot worked with up in Philly spoke highly of you. So we thought it best to out-source to people we knew and know to be reliable."

"I'm feelin' all warm and fuzzy," the team chief chuckled. Marshall chuckled along.

"Anyway," Marshall said taking over once more, turned on the projector. They were rewarded with Gator's face. It was a shot of him in some undisclosed third world nation wearing desert camouflage, a checkered scarf, tactical vest and a beat up AKMS assault rifle slung across his back. "You're already acquainted with Gator. But his record dates back to the Al-Asad Conflict." The next one wore a fleece jacket and British DPM camo pants and boonie hat. "And of course Captain Price, of the British SAS; he's one of our top operators and overall field commander when the Task Force deploys in whole. Next, is his partner in crime, Nikolai Pavelovich. He's former Russian Spetsnaz and a qualified pilot in multiple aircraft."

"He's a Russian?" The El-Tee asked.

"Nikolai was a member of the Loyalist opposition," Price explained. "He's experienced, having seen combat in Afghanistan during the last couple years of the Soviet occupation, the Second Russian Civil War and with the 141."

"Next," Marshall continued, "are Sergeants Woolcroft and Burns," he brought up their pictures as well. "They are also SAS. They're also some of the few SAS survivors of the London gas attack. Now we come to our All-American Varsity members," he clicked the projector again. "All from my alma mater, the US Army Rangers."

"Those guys look familiar," the team Corpsman said as the screen showed a few US Army Rangers.

"They should. You worked with them during Gadsden."

"That's right," the chief said. "That kid there they called 'Tex', and it kept pissing him off."

"We've also got one NCO from Delta joining us," Marshall said clicking the projector, "Derek 'Frost' Westbrook. His team helped force Ivan out of New York and fought in Germany and France. He was wounded in Berlin when his team attempted to rescue the daughter of Russian President Boris Vorshevsky so he was unable to join them in Russia when both were rescued."

"Unfortunately his mates didn't survive that mission," Price added with regret in his voice. "But Frost has already proven himself and he's one of the best. And only the best will do for the 141."

"Sounds like we've got a couple elements chocked full of über-badasses, sir," the El-Tee said.

"I certainly hope so," Marshall said. "SEELE may be in shadows of shadows, but they're ruthless in the most diabolical Illuminati kind of way. And we'll need all the muscle we can get." He turned back to the projector. "Last but not least is another of our agency assets, call sign 'Ronin'. He hasn't been activated yet, but he's highly skilled and capable. You all should be very familiar with him as well." He clicked the projector and, true to the colonel's word, a very familiar face greeted the SEALs.

"Holy Shit!" One of the SEALs swore out loud.

XXXXX

As they were leaving school to head into NERV Shinji and Rei left ahead of the rest of the class. "So," Shinji spoke up. "Was Asuka polite to you?"

"She called you an asshole," was Rei's even toned reply.

"And what do you think?"

"She is wrong." Rei replied as they walked down the steps. "I'm not sure I like her."

"I'm sure she gets better as you get to understand what makes her tick. Or at least easier to deal with."

About twenty paces behind them Asuka was following the pair. "Why are those two so chatty with each other?" Asuka asked herself. "Are they a couple?"

"You haven't been around long enough to know or understand," Toji said as he went his way. "Later, Kensuke!"

"See ya, Toji!" The otaku waved back.

"What's he talking about?"

"It'd take too long to explain," Kensuke shrugged as he too left. "And I'm not in the mood either."

"Fine!" Asuka snapped. "Like I wanted to hear anything you two dorks have to say." At that moment her new best friend Hikari walked up to Asuka. "Say, Hikari," Asuka called out. "Are Cowboy and Wondergirl an item or something?"

"You mean Shinji and Rei?" The pig tailed class-rep of Class 2-A asked. "I don't think so. I mean, I'm pretty sure they're friends. Which is odd because Ayanami never had any friends before Shinji arrived at our school. But, they started hanging out, I guess you'd call it, after I think the last angel attack."

"You mean that big blue one?" Asuka pointed to the carcass as they headed down the steps.

"Yep," Hikari replied. "It's been nearly a month now and the crews are still trying to dispose of it. I don't know anything about the battle other than both of them fought it together."

"Humph," Asuka grunted. "Sounds lame to me. He's probably just trying get into her panties."

'I'm not sure Shinji is that low,' Hikari said to herself.