CHAPTER15: TEAMWORK IS THE KEY
When Shinji came to he found himself back in the infirmary. His head hurt like hell and his left shoulder and flank, too. "Ugh," he groaned as he sat up, holding his ribs.
"Be still," Rei's voice spoke up from his right side. She helped him sit upright with less pain.
"What's the damage?" He asked his battle buddy.
"You suffered a mild concussion, a cut on your right forehead above the eyebrow which required four stitches."
"Ouch," Shinji muttered as he gently felt around said stitches. "I hate stitches."
"You also suffered a pulled shoulder joint and a fractured left rib, probably from the impact of your plug on the beach," Rei explained. "Dr. Akagi says it's just a hairline fracture, nothing serious. But they want you to stay the night for observation. You'll be discharged in the morning."
"I hate hospitals more than I hate stitches," Shinji said. "How's the firebrand?"
"Pilot Soryu?" She asked. "She was not as injured as you are. Minor bruises. However, I think she might have been burned."
"Burned? How'd that happen?"
"Major Katsuragi mentioned something about her getting the 'third degree'."
"Heh," Shinji chuckled. "Rei, that means she got a royal ass chewing. Somebody scolded her big time."
"I see."
After a few minutes of peaceful quiet the door opened to reveal one pissed off Asuka. "Aw, shit," Shinji groaned. "Here we go."
"This is all your fault!" Asuka screamed as she set foot inside the room, obviously not caring about the rule hospitals have in regards to letting patients rest peacefully. "You totally screwed up my debut battle!"
"I screwed up?" Shinji looked at her. "I screwed up!? What are you talking about? You're the one who charged in head first, like an idiot!"
"'Idiot'!? How dare you call me that, you pathetic excuse for a combat pilot! You're just a jerk!"
"Have you looked in a mirror, lately, bitch?" Shinji snapped at her. "You're so full of yourself thinking only about grabbing personal glory that you've forgotten that we're fighting for the survival of the entire human race! How dare you be so fucking-AGH!" He doubled over and shuddered in pain as he exerted himself too much and his rib began screaming at him.
"Shinji?" Rei asked in a hushed tone.
"I'm alright," he groaned. "I just got a little too animated."
"Serves you right, Third Child," Asuka inserted a snide remark. Shinji could almost feel Rei's anger skyrocket. "Tried to be the stereotypical, adolescent, American cowboy and you got your just deserts for your heroics." Rei stood up at that. "Shame you didn't die." SMACK! Asuka was sent to the floor by a powerful slap from Rei. Asuka looked up at her attacker with both shock and anger in her eyes.
"Don't you dare say something like that to Shinji, Pilot Soryu," Rei growled.
"Kleine hünden!" Asuka growled shooting to her feet. Shinji was about to launch into action himself, fractured rib or not, to protect his friend. But before anything could happen a voice stopped the incident before it got ugly.
"Asuka!" Misato barked. All three teens looked over at the doorway and saw Misato standing there, fists clenched, glaring at the German pilot. "Outside," she growled through clenched teeth. "Now."
Asuka lowered her fists and pushed past Rei, throwing her shoulder into the First Child as she did so. Rei took a step after her but was halted by the Major's hand. "Stay here, Rei," Misato said. "And keep an eye on Shinji for me, please?"
"Yes, Major," Rei nodded as the door closed and Shinji sat back in the bed, rubbing his sore rib.
When Asuka turned around she received a second though far less powerful slap from Misato. "How can you even say something like that, Asuka?" Misato snapped at her. "Especially to Shinji?"
"What are you talking about, Misato?"
"Don't play stupid with me. I heard the whole thing!" Misato stared into her eyes. "Do you even realize that Shinji saved your life today?"
"And I'm supposed to be grateful to that pervert? That I'm supposed to owe him one?"
"You could try saying 'thanks'," Misato said crossing her arms. "That might be a good start. And don't ever let me catch you saying he should've died ever again. Shinji's nearly died at least once before!"
"Oh yeah!?"Asuka snapped. "When!?"
"I'm not going to go into detail about it," she said looking off to the side. "It's…too difficult. All you need to know is that Shinji has gone through hell since he got here. Hell, he's even gone through that and more before he came to Tokyo-3. And he's suffered more than his fair share of injuries." She then grabbed Asuka by the collar of her plug suit. "And don't you ever say something like that again or a slap to the face will be the least of your worries." And with that she released Asuka and stepped inside Shinji's room.
Asuka said nothing. She just looked at the door for a moment in thought before quietly leaving the hospital. "Humph."
XXXXX
The next day Shinji was released from the hospital. Misato was busy at work and Rei was at school so he just walked himself home. As he neared the apartment he noticed the DHL moving truck driving off in the opposite direction. When the elevator reached his floor he felt a creepy foreboding feeling wash over him. 'Oh, no,' he thought to himself. 'Please God no…'
Sure enough, the moment he set foot inside the apartment he knew Asuka was already there. He looked down the hall and saw the absurd amount of moving boxes lining the hallways. He also heard movement in the bathroom. 'Fuck.' At that moment Pen-Pen ran up to him and began squawking in panic.
"Wark! Wark! Wark!" He was also pointing towards the bathroom where the 'intruder' was currently at. "Wark! Waaark!" It was as if he were trying to say, "Intruder alert! Intruder alert! Defend the homestead! Repel boarders!"
"What?" He asked as he picked up Pen-Pen. "Is Asuka being mean to you?"
"Waaark," Pen-Pen warbled lowly.
"Don't let her get to you. Looks like she'll be living with us from now on," he patted the waterfowl on the head and set him on the floor. At that moment Asuka exited the bathroom.
"ACK!" She screamed covering herself up with a towel. "What are you doing!? You pervert!"
"What?" Shinji snapped. "I just so happen to live here, you know. Besides, didn't your parents teach you not to leave the bathroom naked? Or is household nudity customary in Germany?"
"Don't be so rude!" Asuka snapped back. "Besides what are you doing here anyways? You don't live here anymore."
"Nobody told me shit about that," Shinji replied with a flat glare. "I think you're lying."
"Nope," she said marching into his room. "Misato will be living with me! And not with some perverted sixteen-year-old boy! It's a much more realistic arrangement anyways considering my superior piloting skills." Shinji just rolled his eyes at her rant.
'That's debatable,' Shinji said to himself as he rolled his eyes.
"Although, honestly I'd much rather be living with Kaji."
"Gross." Shinji said folding his arms. "Well, unless I see something in writing I ain't moving shit out of my room."
"It won't be yours for long, cowboy!" Asuka said. "I'm only in here trying to decide how I'll redecorate it once I've gotten rid of all your crap." Over the past few months Shinji had expanded on his personal belongings. He already had a battle worn and soot stained US flag that he had brought with him from Philadelphia. He had also got himself a collection of books, magazines and even his own Alienware laptop adorned with various stickers.
But, the female stürmtruppe didn't care about any of that. She looked over at the American flag he had hanging on the wall. "Starting with this dirty flag." Shinji appeared in the doorway.
"Touch that flag and you die," he growled.
"Hi guys!" Misato said, cheerfully announcing her presence as she entered the apartment.
"Misato," Shinji said leaning against the doorway. "Please tell me Lady Bitchalot here is wrong about me moving out."
"Don't worry, Shinji," Misato smiled at him. "I'm not kicking you out of your lovely little suite."
"What was that, Misato!" Asuka shouted. "He's still going to be living here?"
"I told you that you were going to be moving in with me, Asuka," Misato clarified. "I didn't say you were taking Shinji's place as my roommate."
"This is going to be just grand," Shinji groaned shaking his head.
"Don't worry, Shinji," Misato giggled. "Rei's going to be moving into the single apartment on the next floor." She then pinched his cheek. "So you can go see her anytime you want."
"Misato!" Shinji smacked her hand away. "Will you stop doing that?"
"No way!" Asuka yelled. "A boy and a girl should never live under the same roof after the age of seven!"
'Where the fuck did she come up with that statistic?' Shinji asked himself.
"Well get over it. Anyways," Misato said moving into the living room. "You two better get in here. We've got some training to do."
"I got a feeling I'm not going to like this," Shinji grumbled.
"Probably not," Misato agreed.
XXXXX
Two days later…
"Hey," Toji said looking to the side after he and Kensuke exited the elevator, "It's the class rep." The two of them were worried about Shinji since he hadn't been at school for the past few days.
"Two of the three stooges," Hikari said back.
"So," Toji said as they walked down the hall. "What are you doing here?"
"To see how Miss Soryu is doing," Hikari responded. "What about you?"
"We're here to check on Shinji," Kensuke replied. When all three stopped at the same door they were a little confused.
"WHY DID YOU STOP HERE?" They asked in perfect unison before ringing the doorbell. The sight that greeted them when the door open was enough to throw the trio into a mental flat spin.
"You…you've…betrayed us," Toji mumbled as a vein appeared on Hikari's forehead.
"Ugh," Kensuke groaned. "You're dressing alike, too! Uuugh…I can't believe this!"
"NEITHER CAN WE," Shinji and Asuka said in unison. "IT'S ALL MISATO'S FAULT. WE HAVE TO EAT, BREATHE AND SLEEP TOGETHER."
"You're living in SIN!" Hikari screamed. "That's awful!"
"NO! IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!" From off to the side, Misato was grinning happily and inwardly laughing at the sight. Rei just remained her quiet self. Though she was confused as to why the three visitors were so disturbed by the sight.
"Hi everybody!" Misato said cheerfully to the trio.
"Okay," Toji spoke up first. He pointed behind him as the other two pilots gave Misato the death glare. "Would you like to explain all of this to us?"
"Let's go inside," Misato said walking past the look-a-like pilots.
After a brief explanation Toji, Kensuke and Hikari got a good chuckle out of Shinji and Asuka's training regimen. "Gee, Shinji," Toji smiled. "You should've said that in the first place." Across the table Hikari was happily holding Pen-Pen in her lap. "That's classic!"
"Fuck...you." Shinji said as he continued to focus on the drill at hand.
"So," Hikari spoke up as she held Pen-Pen in her lap. "How are the coordination drills coming along, Miss Misato?"
"Not so well," Misato replied. At that moment Asuka jacked up the pattern and missed a spot resulting in a loud 'err'. "As you can see."
"Scheist!" She swore in German. "There's no way I can lower myself to the level this…animated turnip lives at!" Asuka reeled on Shinji. "This whole idea is impossible!"
"So?" Misato smiled. "You're just going to give up?"
"Well. You don't have anyone else, do you?"
'In her own little world,' Shinji rolled his eyes at that. Two days of constantly being in Asuka's presence was starting to wear down on Shinji. 'I'm not sure how much more of this bitch I can take before I go postal.' And he had a good idea who his first victim would be. Here's a hint: she had red hair.
"Rei?" Misato asked with her eyes closed. "Why don't you give it a try?"
"Understood, Major," the albino girl got up and took Asuka's place on the mats without further instruction.
Rei and Shinji went to the starting position and from the start worked in perfect teamwork, hitting their respective points on the mats like clockwork synchronicity. "Looks like I should rewrite the battle plan to pair Shinji and Rei," Misato said only to get Asuka's blood boiling.
"What?" The red head looked over as if her dog had just died. "No. NO! I can't stand this!" And with that she stormed out of the apartment. "I can't take it anymore!"
"Asuka!" Hikari shouted after her.
"So even the devil can cry," Toji muttered under his breath.
"Shinji! GO!" The pig tailed girl shouted.
"You say something?" Shinji removed his headphones.
"Go apologize!"
"For what?" Shinji grunted in response.
"You made her cry you jerk! Go find her and tell her you're sorry!"
"Yeah," Shinji chuckled dryly. "Fuck that. I didn't do shit. She's the one who's taking it personally." He then stood up. "I say let her sulk for a few minutes. She expects everyone to just worship the ground she walks on. Well, I'm not her goddamn bitch. However," he walked towards the kitchen. "I am a little thirsty and I think this is a good time to take five. God knows I need it." Misato just sighed. Obviously, their teamwork skills were still something to be desired. The question was: how to fix it?
Later that evening Shinji was relaxing on the porch listening to R.O.C.K. in the USA on his I-Pod when Asuka returned. He was also fiddling with the shark tooth necklace around his neck. "So," he said pausing the song. "Have you calmed down and grown up, yet?"
"Shut up, Third Child," Asuka snapped.
"Will you stop calling me that?" He groaned. "We all have names, you know. It wouldn't kill you to use them."
"Don't talk to me!" She pulled out an orange soda and a rice ball. "I'll keep going. No matter what, I'll put Rei and Misato to shame!"
"Say what?" Shinji asked. "You know, you're taking this way too personally. It's only going to make things harder. Not just on you but everyone else."
"You're being too simplistic, even for a male! I must avenge myself! My pride is at stake here!"
"Oh my God," Shinji groaned. "You're acting like a spoiled child, Asuka. You're sixteen fucking years old, for crying out loud."
"Don't you talk down to me!" Asuka snapped as she whirled around and pointed an accusatory finger at him. "And I'll prove to you who the best pilot is before this is all done."
"All right," Shinji snapped. "That's it!" He got right in her face. "I have had it with your fucking high and mighty, elitist bullshit!" He grabbed her by the collar.
"Take your hands-!"
"Shut up!" Shinji yelled. "You think you're so great and everyone else is vermin by comparison. And you think that when someone does better than you, even if it's by the slimmest of margins, you take it as a personal attack. What the fuck is your problem!?"
"My problem!?" Asuka shrieked as she shoved him away. "You're my problem! You're nothing but a goddamn cowboy looking for an adrenaline fix! I don't know how you were selected as a pilot or how you managed to stay alive for so long!"
"Combination of luck and determination," Shinji replied. "And don't you even think you know shit about me. You don't."
"Oh, here we go!" Asuka shouted. "Here comes the 'you don't know where I've been or what I've seen' overly dramatic, emo crap. Well, here's a news flash, cowboy: I don't care. You were probably sheltered your whole life."
"I wish," Shinji growled. "You think I got this scar in a goddamn car accident?" He pointed to the scar that ran along his temple. "Like I said: you don't know me. I looked up your record. Your past residence was in Freiburg, adjacent to the Black Forest EVA facility. Well removed from all the fighting in northern Germany. If anything you're the one who's been sheltered. You try watching everything you knew and loved get blown to pieces, set on fire and taken away from you in a tidal wave of blood and violence."
"What does this have to do with me?"
"What about you?" Shinji replied. "It has absolutely nothing to do with you. And here's a news flash for you: the world does not revolve around you, me or anyone else. But all of humanity is counting on us to beat the angels. If we fail the human race will cease to exist. This is not a fight about you, Rei, Misato, or me. It's not a fight over land or wealth or power. It's a fight for survival. And we're the only one's standing between the angels and the extinction of the human race." With that he turned to go back into the apartment. "If we fail there won't be anyone around to praise or criticize you. If we don't pull our shit together, we're fucked." And with that Shinji turned and went back into the apartment, leaving Asuka outside by herself.
XXXXX
Meanwhile, in a semi-secluded office in Central Dogma Kaji was working at a computer terminal. If anyone happened to stop by in this little used wing of headquarters they wouldn't think anything of it. To the casual observer he was just catching up on some work.
In reality, he was sifting through some low level documents trying to piece together a puzzle in regards to Commander Ikari's schedule. He had a great deal of meetings both video-teleconference, as well as meetings outside of Japan. He was currently somewhere in Europe, Kaji could tell. But, where he didn't know. He didn't check into the Munich Branch despite having flown into Berlin and then Freiburg to visit the facility there. He then went about reserving a room at a local hotel. But, if Kaji's source was right, he never physically checked in.
Instead, he headed for the Austrian border in a non-descript sedan. But, his passport wasn't registered as having crossed international borders after entering Germany. That meant he had another passport, probably fake. "What could the commander be doing that would involve him using an undisclosed passport?" Kaji asked himself as he snubbed out his current cigarette. "He probably doesn't want SEELE to know his every move. But, why? What is he up to that he has to keep secret from his SEELE masters?"
He knew he wouldn't get any answers from this batch of files. And he wasn't going to get them tonight. Besides, he couldn't work too hard at this without drawing attention. The spy game was dangerous. One wrong step and it would mean not only death for him and whoever may be helping him but also far worse consequences. "I can't be in two places at once, either," Kaji said looking at the print-out of Marduk Institute member corporations that he had found. "I hate to do it, but I may have to tap Ronin to pick up some of the slack." He sighed heavily and turned off the computer. He then left headquarters.