Chapter 3: Geofront!

Daniel

Well, it's a valid question!

I'm faced with confused stares from both Shinji and Misato. "Oh, right, foreigner..." Misato mumbles. I look out the window, not sure whether to be offended or embarassed. Misato's sports car is driving through a tunnel and into what looks like a parking garage. "Shinji, would you care to explain the Geofronts to the nice hot gentleman?"

Shinji nods at me, before doing a double take when he registers the back end of Misato's sentence. "...Aaanyway." He blushes, Misato giggling beside him. "We all learn this in school, and it's been all over the news in Japan recently: Geofronts are like space colonies built into the ground. Ecological fortresses, in case things deteriorate even further. We're building them under Tokyo-2 and Kyoto-2... but I never realized..."

Shinji turns around and looks out the back of the tunnel. I admit, it's pretty impressive to build something as big as this 'Geofront'. Especially while keeping the nation and the world at large ignorant of what you've dug out. I mean, I've been living under a rock for a while, but Shinji's reaction indicates to me that this here megaproject isn't exactly common knowledge.

"I'm guessing you're keeping this Geofront under wraps?" I ask Misato as she parks her dented car. She glances sidelong at me. "NERV discourages employees from blabbing about our little basement, yeah." We walk toward a futurisic looking metal door, and Misato chuckles darkly, before adding: "It helps that the government and the news don't ever talk about the Tokyo-3 Geofront." A theatrical cough. "Ever."

Alright, alright, hint taken. So the Geofront's hidden through company policy and subtle manipulation of the populace. And the suprising part is that it seems to be working... SEELE really seems to know what they're doing, being able censor the Geofront's existence from... well, everyone. Vlad, you vampiric bastard, you do know how to pick your friends, don't you?

NERV Japan. A mass of labyrinthine tunnels under Tokyo-3. If I didn't know any better I'd start thinking that even our guide, the lovely Captain Katsuragi, has gotten lost. this place almost feels like it was designed to disorient intruders. No colored arrows on the ground, no wall maps, not even any emergency exit signs...

I look down at Shinji, who seems to have picked the exact same moment to glance up at me as well. He visibly shivers when he realizes I'm already looking at him. Poor kid. Nerves are understandable I guess... Oh god, pun not intended, honest!

My pained chuckle seems to distract Shinji enough for him to quietly ask me: "That thing back there, was that you?"

Of course, I know what he means by that. "It wasn't me, and if it wasn't you either it must've been Misato, but don't worry, there's probably a lot of airflow in these tunnels, so you'll stop smelling it in a few seconds."

...Shinji looks confused for a moment, before his face scrunches up in disgust. "That is NOT what I meant!" I chuckle at his adorable reaction, but decide to cut him some slack. "I'm avoiding the question 'cuz I need to get my bearings first, Shinji." He nods, reluctantly, but he nods. I smile at him, thankful. This seems to pick him up a little and he stops staring a the corrugated metal floor.

I glance around, then turn to adress Shinji again. "By the way dude, have you noticed... this is the fourth left turn we've taken in five corridors?"

Unseen by Shinji or myself, Misato frowns at my remark. "I think I still know where I'm going, honest!" she half-shouts at me.

At that exact moment, an elevator door dings open a few meters behind us and a woman steps out. Bleached blond hair and wearing, of all things, a spandex diving suit under a lab coat. Her outfit looks like something my dearly departed mom would wear, but the woman's head tells a different story. My mother was pretty expressive. Hyper, even. This woman looks way too reserved and annoyed with our Captain Misato to summon any warm feelings from me.

Which brings us to..."Ritsuko... ehehe... Come to get me? Thanks, I suppose..." Misato mumbles, flustered. Misato, Shinji and I turn around and file into the elevator. Ritsuko barely acknowledges me. She looks up from her notepad (computer, not actual paper) and measures me up in that clinical, cold way... ack... then dismisses me just as easily.

Her gaze then fixes on Shinji. She bends down to adress him. "You must be the Third Child? I'm sorry about the... circumstances." She spits out the word. "But you need to help us, right now."

Shinji seems nailed to the ground, and I can't blame him. This Ritsuko character is being way too blunt. She's either pushing his buttons on purpose or not very good with kids. Though I guess only people who aren't very good with kids would even try to 'push their buttons'.

And then there's the whole issue of asking a fourteen-year-old to 'help' them. And the pleading tone with which Ritsuko asked that...

I cough loudly. " S'cuse me, but, ehm, what are you expecting the Third Child, Shinji Ikari, to do for you?" I ask, already suspecting a few things.

Didn't expect Ritsuko to glower at me quite that intensely, though. "That's classified." She snaps. Ouch.

But now Misato's the one who coughs loudly. "We have to tell Shinji sometime, unless you want to throw him into the plug without telling him anything?"

Ritsuko's guilty glance sideways and stunned silence confirms both Misato's suspicions and my own. And the words 'throw' 'into' and 'plug' all but confirm Shinji is not just the boss's kid, but a strategic asset of some kind, component of some mad science plan or other.

To my relief, Misato crouches down to a panicked Shinji's eye level. "We... eh... we really do need you to help us, Shinji." She admits, genuine regret in her voice. "There's something only you can do, stupid as it is." She throws a glare at Ritsuko, who seems to ignore the jab. "The monster, the Angel we saw? It's not dead yet. You need to go out there and kill it."

Of course it would be something like this. Why are we teenagers always the ones to bear stupidly huge burdens like this? Lord knows we're not fit for it emotionally, as I know very well from experience. Why does this cliché nonsense never happen to adults?

Oh, because that would actually be sensible, wouldn't it? Wouldn't be any fun. Well too bad, universe. I'm a grown-up now, I've got my foot in the door this time, and when push comes to shove, I'll have Shinji's back. Fuck the consequences to Vlad's plan. I almost pity Shinji's eventual enemies. They won't be expecting to face a veteran.

My dark amusement doesn't really alleviate my apprehension for Shinji, though. Nor does it do anything to quell my rage toward Ritsuko and, to a lesser extent, the rest of NERV. It's just wrong for adults to put a kid into a position like this... The damn cliché only works because it shows the need is so dire. That and because it's a teenage power fantasy.

The elevator is almost at its destination, few more floors. I could press the emergency stop, give Shinji more time to calm down, maybe even give him a chance to bow out of this whole circus.

I decide not to, however. Whatever woes it has caused me, my past has made me stronger in more ways then one, and I'm not gonna deny Shinji the chance to be the hero. Hell, looking at that giant monster... I might just be out of my league here, so young Ikari might just have to savemy ass too.

Yeah.. the last fifteen minutes have shown me enough about Captain Misato Katsuragi to know that when she says 'we need Shinji Ikari to kill that giant monster' she's dead serious. So pressing the emergency stop now would only mean dragging out the situation even more and increasing the carnage in the city above.

...Wait, back up a sec, did she say Angel? "Wait, back up a sec, did you just call that Kaiju an Angel!?" I shout incredulously. "As in, biblical ambassadors of GOD?"

With my mind on the topic, I suddenly spot the cross on Misato's neck. It's not quite the sign of crucifixion. Looks more like a plus sign... Misato seems to notice my eyes on her pendant and huffs at me, apparently more then a little frustrated with my shenanigans.

Fate manages to throw me a bone: the elevator doors open. Risuko leads Shinji out and into another steel-and-concrete hallway. We follow, Misato's swishing, angry stride next to my angry stomping legs. ...Bit of my dad in me after all, I guess.

"Quick theology lesson, new guy." Misato hisses at me as we walk biskly through the corridor. "Angels as discribed in Abrahamic scripture are completely amoral. They serve God and only God. To a biblical Angel, human lives don't matter!"

I seem to have struck a nerve. Once again, no pun intended. "They have no free will, no empathy. They would obliterate entire cities if that was their duty, and in the Old Testament, that's exactly what they did.

I swallow hard. Her rant makes sense, in an internally consistent sort of way.

"And most of all," she continues, "They weren't just bishonen with wings. Angels, as described in everything from ancient Jewish texts to Revelations to Dante looked absolutely montrous. Wheels within wheels, on fire, with eyes where they shouldn't be... Covered in wings so as not to break the mind of the mere mortal looking at them. Where do you think Lovecraft got his inspiration for Cthulhu the other Old Ones?"

"Squid..." I mutter, putting on the yiddish affectation of Futurama's Zoidberg.

This seems to momentarily stun Misato... And then she bursts out laughing. I, however, am frowning, deep in thought. She has a point, I guess, but it's... it's just weird, I suppose. Especially coming from a language where "Angel" is a synonym for kindness.

There's probably a deeper reason behind this naming scheme, but it'll have to wait. For now I just raise an amused eyebrow at Misato, who grins back at me. "Did not expect you to know that series, though I suppose I'm the odd one for watching Fox..." I just shrug and grin while we file through the door behind the scientist and the Child. "Thought we needed some levity..."

Which, of course, is when Shinji cuts in. "Speaking of..." He starts, voice small. "How am I, a young boy, supposed to kill a god, or whatever passes for one? Captain Katsuragi, you're a trained soldier and I'm a confused kid. Why do I have to do this and not... well, you.?"

Ritsuko frowns at Shinji. From what I can tell, she doesn't understand that he has every right to ask these questions, to be upset. This is a young man trying to make sense of absolute nonsense. And all Ritsuko and probably Misato see is a contrarian teenager.

The only reason I didn't react the same way when I was in his shoes fifteen years ago is because my parents were a little crazy, as I've said before, and I've kinda inherited that trait. I wasn't pushed into things by any adults, but I didn't exactly trust them to help me out either So I was on my own, with all the pressure of the world on my should-

Scratch that. I... had friends. And now is the time to remind Shinji he has friends too.

But Misato, despite being a warrior spirit like myself, seems to lack the insight I've got at the moment. I can see her temper rise. Shinji's reluctance doesn't seem to be going over well with her. "You can do this!" she shouts back at him pleadingly. "Trust me, if I could, I'd be the one out there beating the Angel to death, but that pleasure falls to-"

My hand on Misato's shoulder. She stops talking. I whisper into her ear. "Stop. This isn't helping. He doesn't realize what you're asking of him, and you're just piling on the pressure. Let me try and get him to understand."

Misato's passion to kill the bad guy is completely understandable. And as someone who's been in dozens of knock-down drag-out near-death anything goes fights . God knows I love it. Maybe a bit too much.

I've killed a few, er, 'people'. Mostly after the Gomorrah incident. And after a while, you start assuming everyone else shares your zealotry. ...When I made that mistake, I got a slap and then a kiss. That wakeup slap was the worst moment of my life so far, kiss notwithstanding.

I turn Misato toward me. "I share your..." Roll my eyes... "Your passion in this, but Shinji's just a kid. He's never seen... He doesn't get it yet. Soft touch for now, please!"

Silently, Misato nods...

But Ritsuko and Shinji have already walked out through a door marked with a zillion warning symbols. Misato and I sprint after them. A chill goes up my spine and I breathe out a puff of cold air. "Oh no..." I whisper. I can feel something horrible in the next room, something which goes straight into the reptile brain.

Misato and I rush in just after Shinji, just as Ritsuko switches on the lights and Shinji comes face to face with destiny. Misato and I freeze in the doorway. She's seen Unit 01 before, but seeing it appear out of the black as the lights flick on is quite the thing. As for me... The Prototype Evangelion has quite literally taken my breath away.

A lipless grimace of metal teeth and red glowing eyes under yellow plateglass are suddenly illuminated. It's huge. Abso-freaking-lutely huge. The size of... of... the same size as the Angel outside. It has a big metal horn sticking out of its helmet-armor...

And it's purple. Musn't forget the use of bold primary colors. Venomous green and warm yellow accentuate lots of deep purple armor. Yeah, I'm trying to laugh, but it's not really working.

Ritsuko points toward the metal-clad giant. "This is what your father and all of NERV have been working on. The artificial human, Evangelion!" I decide not to comment on the fact that she didn't say robot, but artifical human. I've earned my own scientist stripes, so I do indeed catch the horrifying biotech connotations of those words, especially in relation to my paranormal senses going off.

Looking at the... the Evangelion, Unit 01 apparently, as is stenciled onto its shoulderpad, makes me doubt for a moment whether or not I'm standing around a bunch of bad guys here.

Then the ceiling shakes and an I-beam clangs off the Evangelion's shoulderpad. The Angel is the bigger threat right now, but as soon as it's dead, I am so finding out every last one of this place's creepy secrets.

Speaking of... It bears mentioning that I can sense the Evangelion's unholy power in the air around us. The way the energy radiates from the Evangelion and chokes out the air around it, it's like I'm standing in front of a campfire. A fucking creepy campfire made of icicles and snot. It's not just a big purple robot. It's most definitely alive. Or, well, undead.

Damn, that's exactly it. It's a corporeal undead. This... this is new. I take a step back and try to stay calm.

Misato and Shinji turn to eachother, oblivious to my little psychic crisis. "I can't pilot the Evangelion. You need to do it," she says to him.

Shinji's reply is a stammer. "But why? Wh-"

Ritsuko moves toward Shinji to try and express the urgency of the situation, but she is beaten to the punch by the Angel Sachiel, whose thrashing again shakes the roof of the Geofront, conveniently interrupting her and shocking me out of my reverie.

"Shinji!" I shout before Ritsuko has a chance to. "You need to do this. The good Captain here wouldn't lie to you and we can get our answers later. I know this is weird, kid. Under normal circumstances, I'd drag you out of this madhouse by the scruff of your neck, but..."

I suck my teeth. "We don't really have a choice here, so we might as well go all out Of course, I'm more like Misato, all bloodlust and passion... But for some stupid reason, you are the person, beside maybe me who is in the position to save the day right now! We're in a city filled with-"

A loud whistle rings out from above and I see a man wearing orange-tinted glasses looking down on us from an elevated platform. Misato, Ritsuko, the technicians on the boardwalks inspecting the Evangelion all just... stop. Shinji's gaze turns up toward the man and I see the poor kid's muscles tense up.

The dude on the platform is wearing a robe. A genuine wizard's robe, draped around his shoulders, with a Steve Jobs ensemble underneath. He looks middle-aged, way too much like Shinji to be a coincidence and he has a creepy beard. Yeah, this has to be Gendo Ikari.

A thought flashes through my head and I cringe. This guy reminds me way too much of Vlad. So now there's one for Shinji, and one for me.

...This is going to end badly.

"Shinji." The man drawls, almost casually. "Will you pilot the Evangelion?"

A quick glare down at me manages to suprise me enough to take my voice away.

Shinji doesn't seem to react to the question. He looks at me, at Misato... at Ritsuko... at the giant behemoth's face in front of him. He looks a little scared, but I can't really read anything else from his face. Whatever is going on in his head, my young buddy looks to all the world like he's at peace. "I..." He turns toward his father. He straightens out his back and balls his fist. "Fine!" he spits out.

Gendo Ikari leaves, his heavy presence lifts and people get to work again. Ritsuko lifts her tablet and starts typing, presumably preparing Unit 01 for its pilot. With the tension gone, Shinji's shoulders sag and he sighs deeply.

I feel for the kid.

He turns around toward us. "You, both of you." he says hollowly, indicating Misato and I. "Please promise me that this will make sense tomorrow."

I nod, smiling sadly. "Can't give you a hunred percent on that, but I promise we'll know more tomorrow. I'll get you all the answers you want by next week."

Misato thankfully seems to ignore my flagrant 'I'm gonna be spying on NERV' statement, instead stepping forward and hugging Shinji. "Thank you..." She sighs into his ear.

As she stands up and walks past me, Misato throws me a thankful, but melancholy smile. She follows Ritsuko and a silent Shinji out toward the changing room. I move to follow as well, but the voice of Gendo Ikari suddenly kicks me in the back. "Foreigner. My office, now."

That wasn't a request. Shinji makes a half turn toward me and just stares expressionlessly. ...What a choice. The poor kid is barely able to scrape the courage to take his problems one thing at a time, with me explicitly at his back... And now this.

So this is my choice. Either abandon the poor kid to his first battle or disobey and cause a riot already, most likely keeping Shinji from saving the city. Shit. Well, at least he's got Misato to keep him company. And now that you mention it, Gendo Ikari, I think we have a few things to say to eachother.

I shrug theatrically and say, slightly louder then needed. "See you tomorrow Shinji, I promise!"

I immedeately turn and look up at Gendo, matching his doom glare with my own. Heard that, Commander Ikari? I promise.

Personally, I have no real reason to be afraid of Gendo Ikari. But he reminds me of Valerie, of Vlad. If he's willing to neglect Shinji to the extent I've been party to in the last few hours, then daddy-approval-charm him into risking his life, the man's got icewater in his veins.

And those are exactly the kind of people that will end up being the death of me one day.

I literally can't think the way sociopaths of that stripe think. Even at my darkest, I'm way too impulsive and emotional. Fire rather then ice. In that, Commander Ikari has me beat, I suppose. Thankfully, I'm the only one in this staring contest with supernatural powers.

Or at least I hope so. Hell of a last thought to have as I am marched toward Ikari's office by armed guards while Shinji puts on his plugsuit for the first time.