IceBlade28: Well, after leaving it longer than I should've, I brought it back. Behold! The third chapter of Do You Really Know Me?
Maya: You did leave it a long time.
IceBlade28: I had a really bad writers block; but, after thinking about Evangelion for quite a time and reading quality fics, I came up with an appropriate story arc. Let's get it started!
Do You Really Know Me?
Ritsuko typed a command into the MAGI, sifting through her files until she found the previous synch scores of Asuka and Shinji. The two had already suited up despite the usual bickering by Asuka, and were resting in the Evangelions' entry plugs, ready to start the synch test. Misato was standing next to her, watching the enlarged computer screen.
"Wanna place some money on who wins?" she joked. "I've got twelve yen on Shinji." Ritsuko didn't look up.
"I dunno. Asuka's pretty mad about being beaten last time; her anger might push her to victory," the blonde woman countered. Misato grinned.
"C'mon, Ritsuko, put your yen where your mouth is," she said. The scientist finally looked up.
"Fine. Twenty yen on Asuka," Ritsuko said, bored. Misato grabbed her friend's hand and shook it, to have Ritsuko pull it away and type more on the computer. After a command or two she pulled the microphone close to her mouth; it led straight to the radio in the entry plug.
"Everything's ready. Begin the synchronisation tests, but be quick: there's already an Angel advancing." Ritsuko said. Asuka flicked over to Shinji's frequency.
"Ready to lose, baka?" she said. Shinji shrugged, even though Asuka couldn't see it.
"I guess so," he said complacently, knowing it would infuriate his co-pilot more.
"Oh come on Shinji! At least try! Gimme a little competition; it's no fun when I cream you!" Asuka bragged over the radio.
"Less chatter and more synchronising! There's an Angel at our doorsteps, remember?" Misato ordered. Shinji sighed and shook his head, beginning the synchronisation progress.
In the bridge, Misato watched their synch ratios grow, matching their previous scores and surpassing them- just. Asuka's growth was explosive, whereas the Third Child's seemed erratic. He make it in the end, but the ratio was jerky and unreliable on screen.
"Ritsuko, you see that?" Misato asked, not taking her eyes off the screen. Ritsuko barely batted an eyelid.
"It's nothing; you should've seen his first attempt at synching. He's probably got something on his mind, just leave him be," Ritsuko said. Misato sighed.
"Captain Katsuragi!" Hyuga shouted. "The Angel's reached the shore of Tokyo-3, heading straight for the Geofront!" Misato cursed, raising an eyebrow from Ritsuko. The former grabbed the mike, shouting into the Eva's radios.
"We're out of time; the Angel's reached Tokyo-3! Hang on!" she said. Shinji extended a control; Unit 01 reached out and grabbed a rifle while Asuka went for the more medieval style: a spear.
"Eva launch!" Misato bellowed. The two behemoths stood on the elevator's and were shot several kilometres to the surface.
The elevator's popped onto street level, while the Eva's grabbed their respective umbilical cables and plugged themselves in.
"Now, where's this big scary Angel?" Asuka said mockingly. Shinji flicked on his radio.
"Misato said it's just reached the shore, so we might wanna check by the ocean," he suggested.
"Shut up Shinji! I can handle this mission by myself; I don't need some tag-along!" Asuka spat, piloting Unit 02 at a sprinter's pace through the streets. Shinji was hard pressed to keep up, but they'd reached the ocean in a matter of seconds. The Angel was standing amongst a battalion of aircraft, launching missiles and rocket-propelled-grenades and who-knows-what-else-that-goes-'bang' at it. But, as it had happened every time before, the octagonal shield of the AT field came into play and prevented all damage to the Angel.
"Now, sit back and be a good baka while I show you how it's done!" Asuka ordered, taking a flying leap towards the Angel. The blue creature turned it's eye towards the descending Unit 02 with it's spear before Israfel's vision split. Along with the entire Angel.
Asuka dunked her spear in the cove, washing the Angel blood off it.
"That's how it's done," Asuka said. Shinji didn't think it was possible to make a four-hundred-foot biomechanical robot swagger, but Asuka got pretty close.
"So, Third, whadd'ya learn this time?" she said cockily, pulling a length of umbilical cord towards her. Shinji moved his Eva's finger to point at the bleeding Angel.
"That it's never as easy as you think," he mumbled.
"What're you going on about now?" Asuka said impatiently, turning to see what her co-pilot was pointing at. The tainted water was drawing back towards Israfel's corpse, and the sound of snapping bones was loud and a little disturbing.
"What's it doing?" Shinji said. Asuka watched, the tip of the spear resting on the road beneath Unit 02's feet. It didn't take her long to figure out just what was happening.
"It's regenerating, baka! Get moving!" she yelled. Shinji waded into the water and fired a car-sized bullet out of the rifle; it pinged off the AT field, leaving an orange glow but no penetration. Asuka was nearly up to the Eva's waist in water and swinging with the spear.
"Baka, why're you waiting? Shoot!" Asuka ordered. Shinji remained in the shallows, watching Israfel regenerate into a grey and an orange copy of itself.
"Multiple targets," Shinji murmured to himself, bringing the rifle up and ready. Kou motored through the water, it's flipper-like appendages reaching towards Unit 01. Asuka was busy fending off Otsu by keeping her spear between them.
"Shoot you baka! Shoot!" she howled. Shinji came out of his trance and yanked the trigger repeatedly, feeling the vibrations all the way to the cockpit. Bullets shot towards Kou's eye, but the AT field again got in the way.
"I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away," Shinji said to himself, desperation starting to come towards him as the bullets weakened but did not break Kou's shield.
The click of an ammo-less rifle was not the best thing Shinji could've heard at that point. Kou extended a flipper and swung it down; it cut through the water and knocked Unit 01's legs out from under it. With it's second flipper Kou grabbed Shinji and threw him casually over it's 'shoulder', snapping the Eva's umbilical cord and leaving it stuck upside down on a mountain side.
Asuka swung her spear hard into the AT field of Otsu, doing absolutely nothing. Finally, she flung her entire Eva on top of Otsu. It was a desperate move, one she'd look back on and think 'Why on earth did I do that?'
It might actually have worked if Kou hadn't snapped the trailing umbilical cord, grabbed Unit 02 around the waist and tossed her into the ocean, where it's head sunk deep into the mud beneath the water.
-----
Misato groaned as she saw each development; the bickering, the initial strike, and especially the regeneration. Now Shinji's Eva was powerless and upside down, and as good as Asuka claimed to be there was no way she could take on two Angel's at once.
"Ritsuko, you done analysing that thing yet?" Misato snapped. The sound of fingers on a keyboard hadn't ceased since the moment the Angel was spotted.
"Kind of. Why?" Ritsuko said.
"Because we need to stall!" Misato shouted, turning to Vice Commander Fuyutsuki.
"Vice Commander, permission to implement the strategy outlined to you earlier sir!" Misato said, snapping to attention. Fuyutsuki nodded, and Misato sent a hurried command into a walkie-talkie.
-----
A bomber soared overhead Kou and Otsu, who were standing conveniently close after removing Unit 02 from the top of Otsu.
"Eagle Twelve, dropping the package," the pilot spoke into his oxygen mask.
"Roger that, Eagle Twelve. Drop the package, and try to contain both targets," Misato ordered over the radio.
"Roger that Captain. Dropping the package," the pilot responded, swerving overhead the Angel's and pressing a big red button on the top of his joystick.
The clasps under the wing popped open and 'the package' fell towards Kou and Otsu.
"Package dropped," the pilot said.
"We'll need a visual confirmation of the package's effectiveness, Pilot. Fly by once to survey any damage," Misato said.
"Roger that," said the pilot, tilting his joystick and feeling the bomber strafe. He peered out the cockpit window, down where the N2 mine should've done something.
Fortunately for NERV, the N2 mine had blown a crater into the earth, made the water incredibly murky, and what looked like melted the two back together.
"Eagle Twelve to NERV," the pilot murmured. "I think the package has caused the creature to revert to a single target." Eagle Twelve was quickly proven wrong as Kou and Otsu separated with the sound of cracking bones and something wet being squished.
"Or not," he said, humour lilting his reply. "The Angel is injured, and retreating into the ocean to regrow. The package incurred medium to heavy damage to the targets."
"Well done, Eagle Twelve. Return to base," Misato ordered.
"Roger that, Captain," the pilot said, gunning the accelerator and flying back to NERV.
Gendo shook his head at the bridge computer screen and called down to Misato.
"Captain, call your pilot back. I'm sending an air support team out to retrieve Unit's 01 and 02. Your pilot can help." Misato scowled into her walkie-talkie, but she did as Gendo ordered. He was the Commander after all, even if he did hate his son and treat his employees like garbage.
"Eagle Twelve, your orders have been changed. You are to remain above the Eva units until the air support team arrives to retrieve them," Misato barked.
"Roger that, Captain Katsuragi. Over and out," the pilot finished, turning his bomber back towards the battleground. Just when the worst part of his day was over, they had to spring this on him.
-----
"You have your card key with you, I presume?" Rei said, her voice strained. The teenage boy they'd hit was heavier then she'd expected. Maya nodded, retrieving her identification card and swiping it through the clasp; the door opened.
Maya led Rei through a myriad of corridors, unknown to the schoolgirl until they entered the hospital area. Rei's pace slowed to a stagger; her eyes closed and she refused to look at the boy anymore. She couldn't take the sight of his blood, the smell, the red of it, she couldn't stand it anymore.
"No more," Rei droned, before letting her classmate slip from her arms and crash onto the floor. Maya turned back to see what the commotion was.
"Rei! What'd you-"
"He was heavy. While I am capable of piloting both Evangelion Unit 00 and Unit 01, I am afraid my physical strength was not sufficient to carry that load for the necessary period of time," she explained in her emotionless knell. Maya knelt by the cringing boy's side.
"Where am . . . why . . ." he moaned. The lieutenant placed a hand against the boy's cheeks.
"Not good. He's got a fever. Rei, I need you to help me move him!" Maya pleaded. Rei stood where she was, her wet clothing sticking to her.
"I have let the threat of an Angel slide to help this boy from my class. It is almost certain he will die. You are nine years older than I. You posess the strength to move him. Take him to the First Cranial Nerve, if it is what you wish. I have no further business here. Goodbye Lieutenant Ibuki," Rei said coldly, turning and walking down the hallway. Maya was stunned.
"Rei! You'd just let one of your classmates die?" Maya shouted. Rei didn't reply or even confirm that she'd heard Maya's shout. The technician turned back to the whimpering boy.
"I know I'm awake," the victim whispered. "I can hear my voice, I know I am speaking- but I can't see. Oh, please, don't tell me I'm blind! Hello? Anybody! Someone please-"
"I'm here," Maya said urgently. "C'mon, you need medical help . . Doctor Akagi can fix you up, I'm sure of it." The boy turned to where the sound came from; he was looking about a foot to the left of Maya's face but it seemed accurate to him.
"You're not blind, just blindfolded," Maya explained, running down the last stretch of hallway with the boy in her arms. "I had to make sure you couldn't see anything; civilians aren't allowed anywhere near here."
"Then why am I . . here?" the boy asked, starting to lose feeling in his extremities. Maya would've squirmed if she wasn't carrying him.
"I hit you with my car, and I couldn't just let you die!" Maya cried, kicking open the door to the medical wing and alerting all occupants within. Rather, all occupant; singular. Ritsuko placed her coffee on the table and turned to look at Maya, her eyebrows raised.
"Any reason you're kicking the door down lately, Maya?" she asked dryly. It took a surprisingly long time for someone like Ritsuko Akagi to realise that her good friend was holding a bleeding and limp body in her arms.
"Who is this? What happened?" Ritsuko snapped, knocking her coffee off the table in her haste. Maya's legs were shaking; she managed to dump the teenager on the bed before breaking down and crying.
"I hit him with my car," she managed. "I was driving quick . . to get Rei here so she could pilot against the Angel, and I hit him . . . I couldn't just let him die!" Maya wept. Ritsuko shook her head angrily.
"And the blindfold was supposed to do something? This place is top secret for a reason, Maya!" she said. Maya looked at her boss, not quite sure what to say. Ritsuko shook her head and strode to a cabinet.
"There's only one thing I can do, Maya," the Akagi said. The brown-haired lieutenant took it as a bad sign that Ritsuko hadn't even bothered to check the boy's wounds. After rummaging for a short while, Ritsuko stood up straight, her hands hidden in front of her.
The sound of a loaded pistol punched through Maya's stupor of thought.
"Excuse me," the boy rasped from his position on the bed. Ritsuko and Maya both turned to their visitor, who was breathing shallowly.
"I don't blame you for hitting me with the car," the boy said, his blindfold wrinkling. Maya figured out that his eyelids were fluttering; he wouldn't be alive long now.
"I was in the wrong place at the- the wrong time," he whispered. "'Sides, better I die by a car then from an Angel or shot by whoever's got the-"
A gunshot echoed through the room, and Maya screamed. Her scream was matched by that of the boy's; he grunted as the tendons in his neck stood out.
"That- no- it- you won't-!" he strained, pain jumbling his sentences. Ritsuko frowned at the boy, his blood dripping onto the covers. A second gunshot sounded, along with another scream from Maya.
"Please-" the boy wept, curling into a ball on the bed. Impatience was clear on Ritsuko's face as she shot the boy a third time.
"Stop!" he screamed, his hands balling into fists and writhing around. The blindfold came off in the struggle, and the dying child got his first and last look at his killer.
"Dr. Akagi?" he coughed, feeling pain scour his insides as effectively as a steel brush. Ritsuko paused and lowered the gun.
"What? You didn't think I knew how to use a firearm?" she mocked. "Pathetic."
"No," the boy said, well aware that these may well be his last words. "I knew you could use a firearm . . . I'm just surprised Maya's working for an absolute bitc-"
An additional two gunshots cut out his final words, as well as his life. Apart from the steady drip of blood onto the floor, everything was quiet. Maya was reduced to a shaking, sobbing ball against the wall, and Ritsuko put the safety on the pistol back on.
"It had to be done, Maya," Ritsuko said dismissively. "You know NERV's policy." Ritsuko's underling didn't respond; she just hugged her knees and cried.
Ritsuko tossed the gun on the table and left the room, toying with the idea of heading for Misato's apartment to see Misato 'debrief' Asuka and Shinji for performing to such remarkable standards during the Angel counter-attack.
She decided against it.
-----
The Second and Third Children weren't the only ones in the apartment. Their commanding officer, most of their schoolmates (consisting of Hikari, Aida and Toji) and a curious (and typically hungry) Pen Pen resided by a small table. The penguin was quite happy to be bounced up and down in Hikari's hands; Rei was reading her little red book again despite the blood on her clothes, and the two boys were watching Asuka and Shinji make fools of themselves. It was entertaining; not to let either of them know.
"How are the co-ordination drills going?" Hikari chirped, bouncing Pen Pen on her lap.
"Not very well, as you can see," Misato said, gesturing towards the pair of pilots. The group took one look at them before letting out a sigh; Rei still didn't look up from her book.
"Shight!" Asuka yelled, and a pair of headphones skidded across the floor and underneath the table, bumping against Rei's knee. Rei frowned, but did not look up from her book.
"Wark," Pen Pen said, turning to face Asuka and motioning in her general direction with a flipper. If Asuka could understand Penguin, she probably would have smacked him and swore some more regardless.
"Well, this is just a waste of time! There's no chance I could sink to the level of this animated turnip!" she huffed, pointing dramatically at Shinji. The fact that he'd faceplanted into the mat caused snorts from an undisclosed person.
(For the sake of this retelling, I'll not disclose the name of the snorter, lest Asuka perform painful and uncalled-for deeds to said person.)
"If you ask me, the whole idea's impossible!" Asuka continued, glaring in the general direction of the mystery snort.
"Did anyone ask you?" Toji muttered softly- but not softly enough to escape the attention of Asuka. Toji turned and purposefully made eye contact, before looking away and cringing. The look from her was so firey it would've neutered Rambo. Misato drank calmly from a can of Yebisu and closed her eyes, a distinct smile on her face.
"Rei?"
"Yes ma'am?"
"Why don't you try it?"
"Yes ma'am," Rei said, finally putting her book down and retrieving the headphones from against her knee. Asuka walked over and stood by Hikari and Pen Pen, a confident smirk on her face.
"Like Wondergirl's gonna do better than me," she said under her breath. Rei slipped on the headphones and forced herself not to look at Shinji. It was easier than she thought; anybody else would have been worried that the object of their affection was so easily shut out. To Rei, it proved that her duty was still more important than the stimuli she was fed with called 'emotions'.
The music began. Shinji felt none of the hostility normally eminating from his partner: instead, a cold, clear feeling, like a breeze or a glass of water. He could concentrate. He didn't even feel his hands move in time to the beat.
Asuka's eyes widened, and her cocksure grin slipped away from her face. The doll and Shinji were synching with each other! Was there no logic in this world!
"This- this can't be right!" Asuka stammered. "I don't care what it takes! I'm piloting this mission!" Misato raised an eyebrow.
"You're willing to do whatever it takes?" she said. Hikari smiled at her friend and nodded encouragement.
"Yes!" Asuka shouted. "As long as it's me that fights the Angel and not Wondergirl!"
"Don't call her that," Misato said, irked. "And whether you're willing to do anything or not is irrelevant. Rei will be piloting this mission."
"What!"
"You heard me, Asuka. Rei is piloting in your place, since it's clear you can't work with Shinji. 'There's no chance of sinking to the level of an animated turnip', remember?" Misato said. It was clear she was loving this. Asuka just stood there, ignoring the 'beep's of synchronisation from the equipment. She was about to work herself into a good fit when something cold and leathery slapped her bare calf, making her jump.
"Wark wark," Pen Pen said, looking up at her with stern penguin eyes. Pen Pen was still intent on making his point about language clear to the German with a potty-mouth.
He shrank into a ball on Hikari's lap when he saw the look in Asuka's eye, nuzzling closer to Hikari.
"Awww, it's okay!" Hikari cooed, stroking the back of his head. Pen Pen stared at Hikari's brown eyes before letting out a frightened 'Wark!' and burrowing his way inside Hikari's shirt.
"Hey!" Hikari complained, pulling at the fabric. Pen Pen was curled into a ball around Hikari's stomach and had the shirt pulled tight around him and her body.
"Whoooooaaaaa, he's cold!" Hikari giggled. "You gonna come out, Pen Pen?" she asked the ball, prodding it. A muffled 'Wark' came from within her clothes.
"Hey!" Hikari said, starting to lose patience. "Come out!"
"Wark."
"I said out!"
"Wark!"
"Out!"
"Waaaaaaaark!" Pen Pen squealed and wriggled through the gap between two shirt buttons, ripping one out in the process and waddling away fast. Hikari sighed and rebuttoned her shirt.
"He was a cold lil' fella!" she shivered, looking at Toji.
Not a single person had noticed Asuka's absense for the last five minutes.
-----
Asuka sat against the railing of the school balcony, staring out at the bay. Traces of Angel blood could still be seen.
"Not good enough, pah," Asuka spat, pouting. "Stupid Major dummkopf. Like I couldn't out-pilot Wondergirl or Shinji any day of the week."
Asuka continued to mutter and rant under her breath, working herself into a nice, strong pout. It was always fun to get a good bad mood going.
She'd been rejected. Already. Her value to NERV could have fallen by a large amount today. Still, she'd get her revenge. Or rather, she'd have her fun. Rei and Shinji piloting together on this mission could be the perfect opportunity to 'gently nudge' the two together.
Asuka giggled to herself. Shinji and Wondergirl. She still couldn't believe it. The best part was, her bad mood hadn't been spoiled: it had turned into one of those 'evil-plotty' moods. There would be a great many uncomfortable silences in the times to come, and Asuka planned to be there to soak in every one.
IceBlade28: Well, that's chapter III of Do You Really Know Me up. I'm sorry about the wait, and I hope this story arc is appropriate. To those worrying that Asuka's going to take on an 'evil, OOC matchmaker' role, don't. She will do no such thing. Everybody will be as they should, with maybe Pen Pen taking a more active role as comic relief.
Maya: Reviews would be awesome!