Disclaimer – Don't own Eva or Armored Core, but you know that, don't you.
A/n re-dux chapter 2
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Quote the Raven
Chapter 2
Ravens Nest
After they had arrived at the Tokyo 2 international airport Rose, Arbalest and Rei proceeded directly to the Raven Transport which held Rose and Arbalests AC's. Rei was surprised by the size of the aircraft it could easily have carried an Evangelion and indeed did look like a modified Eva transport. It had 5 sleeping rooms, the briefing room the toilet and the cockpit, and also had the capability of carrying 4 AC's and the equipment necessary to repair them. Indeed a flying workshop. Rei placed her belongings in one of the 2 empty rooms. It was a rather spartan room, just a bed and a desk. She placed her duffle bag at the base of the bed and laid down. The blanked on the bed was much softer than she was use to as was the pillow. She began to drift off to sleep thinking about what she had left behind, what did she regret leaving?
Major Katsuragi, a nice woman but just a commanding officer.
The Commander, not at this point she didn't miss him at all.
Her classmates, yes she would miss them a bit, their antics had always amused her
Pilot Soryu, she had always disliked the red head, so no
Pilot Ikari…Shinji…yes him she would truly miss him. He had shown her nothing but kindness. She did care deeply for him, but not in a romantic way. It felt as though, he were her brother. Which in a way, Rei supposed, he was. 50 present of her DNA belonged to his mother so that would make her his half sister. As she drifted off to sleep she shed a single tear. Yes she would miss Shinji, and she supposed he would miss her. Should she ever return to Tokyo 3 she would tell him the truth about her, hopefully he would accept her and they could truly become siblings.
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Rei awoke sometime later to the sensation of movement. She looked out her window; they were airborne, flying high over the ocean. Some how she had slept through takeoff, she sat back on her bed, picked up her duffle bag and laid her belongings our on the bed.
All she had brought were her 4 school uniforms, 5 if you count the one she was wearing, her undergarments, which were enough to last a few days, and her sanitary items. There was also the issue of the money she had with her, she really didn't need it anymore. She placed everything back into her bag and placed it under the bed. She made her way to the briefing room slash galley where she met up with Rose and Arbalest. Rose, who was facing the door, greeted the younger girl
"Hello there Rei, glad to see you're up and about, would you like something to eat"
Rei nodded and sat at the table with them, Rose went into the kitchen
"So what do you want?"
"Anything would be fine, as long as it does not contain meat"
"You don't eat meat huh"
"No"
Rose gathered the ingredients for a garden salad
"You don't know what your missing Rei, oh I forgot, Nerv accepted your resignation"
Rei sat and thought about it for a moment. If the commander had accepted her resignation, what did that mean for the scenario? Had he found another way, or would he activate one of the clones to do the job.
'What is my ultimate purpose now that I am no longer needed' she thought. She looked around the room and smiled a bit 'perhaps I shall find a new one, perhaps I already have'
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In the Nevada desert, a mining group from Mirage Heavy Industries was loading their daily hall. They had loaded their transports with all forms of alloys and minerals they needed.
Overlooking them on the rim of the canyon in which the mine sat stood an AC. All black with dark grey accents. It was the Wraith.
Head – CR-H98X5-EYE2 (Armor reinforced version of the H97XS, Solid combat performance)
Core – CR-C98E2 (State of the art design based on the C89E core model)
Arms – A09-LEMUR2 (LEMUR successor. Lighter weight and better energy consumption)
Legs – CR-LH9253 (4th generation design with emphasis on overall balance)
Back unit R – WB1 1 M-HYDRA (missile splits into 4 separate warheads after launch)
Back Unit L – CR-WB91 LGL (reduced weight Linear Gun, uses smaller rounds than the WB7LG)
Arm Unit R – CR-WR93RL (high heat attack linear rifle equipped with a new mechanism)
Arm Unit L – WL-MOONLIGHT (highly irregular stat values, but had tremendous attack power)
Option parts – O01-AMINO, CR-O69ES, CR-O6955, CRO71 EC, CR-O7SLA, O03-CODON
The mine itself was lightly guarded, 5 MT's and a few turrets, nothing a Raven couldn't handle. Requiem kicked his AC into Overboost and shot toward the mine, his goal, destroy the mine and the MT guards and capture the ore transports. And it was an objective he planed on accomplishing. Crest Industries would get their ore
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The Raven transport neared the Ravens Nest, a patch of land the size of the state of Delaware along the Canadian pacific cost set aside for the Ravens by the UN. The main housing block was large enough to house all 200 Ravens should they be called in, the 9000 some odd technical and support crews and their family's lived in the civilian housing area which consisted of buildings similar to the major Katsuragi's complex in Tokyo 3. Adjacent to the civilian area sat what the Ravens affectingly called "The Mall" it was a structure that held shops of all varieties such as grocery stores, electronic stores, department stores and clothing stores. The Ravens Nest complex was in essence a small city built specifically to serve as the Ravens HQ. The majority of the rest of the area set aside for them by the UN was used for AC testing and Arena grounds. Not to mention the Airport and AC Garage facility toward which they were heading.
Rei sat in the cockpit of the transport with Rose, Arbalest and the pilots. A few moments later they touched down with out any problems. After the transport had taxied to its designated parking area Rose and Rei disembarked while Arbalest stayed behind with the tech crews to personally offload the AC's to the hangar, he had some modifications he wanted to make to his AC the Gung Ho.
Rei followed Rose into the AC Garage, her duffle bag slung over her shoulder. Rose led the younger girl toward a base model AC still in its original Gun Metal gray color scheme
Head – CR-YHB55R (Crest design sporting may built in features)
Core – CR-69U (first generation model, hangars provided
Arms – CR-A69S (first generation crest design, low end model)
Legs – CR-LH695 (first generation part with average specifications)
Inside - NONE
Extension - NONE
Back unit R – CR-WB69RA (early model radar unit, limited but light weight)
Back Unit L – CR-WB69M (single launch small missile, takes time to lock on)
Arm Unit R – CR-WR73R2 (redesigned WR69R with improved range and ammo storage)
Arm Unit L – CRWL69LB (basic model laser blade meant for close combat)
Option parts - none
Hangar L - none
Hangar R – none
Rose spoke up
"This is your AC Rei, once you complete a few missions and earn some money you can buy new parts and customize it however you want"
"That is an issue I need to discuss with you"
Rose tilted her head
"Alright"
"Before I left Tokyo 3 I withdrew all of the money from my Nerv account, there was quite a bit and I am unsure of what to do with it"
Rose nodded
"Good idea, well there is an account set up here for you, if you want we can deposit it and see what we can do with your AC"
Rei nodded and followed Rose to the accounting desk
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The Wraith stood over the smoldering remains of the last MT. The mine had been destroyed and the Crest transports were loading up their new ore.
"Well that's finally over, wasn't to difficult"
Requiem opened his communications line and contacted HQ
"Nest this is Requiem, Mission Complete, anything else for me"
"Not as of now Requiem, the transport will pick you up at point Charlie. Come on home"
"Roger that Ravens Nest, Requiem proceeding to extraction"
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A few hours later Rose sat and watched as Rei customized her AC. The money she had with her was enough to sell all of her old parts and buy new ones. She chose Zio-Matrix and Emeraude parts for the body due to their availability and that they were rather inexpensive compared to their Crest and Mirage counterparts, not to say they were badly made though, everyone just upgraded, though Rei did use Crest and Mirage weapons and equipment on her AC.
Head – EHD-GN-92 (Heavily Armored defensive type)
Core – ECL-ONE (Mobile battle type. Low Defense)
Arms - EAN-2112 (High shell Defense & high AP)
Legs - ELN-2002-02A (Midweight Biped Leg Unit, Stable Emeraude signature model)
Inside - none
Extension – E07AM-MORAY (missile intercept system with improved ammo stores)
Back unit R – CR-WB72CGL (lightweight chain gun adapted to smaller rounds)
Back Unit L – CR-WB73MP (mid size missile launcher, 4 locks max)
Arm Unit R – WR04M-PIXIE2 (machine gun designed for extended combat operations)
Arm Unit L – WL01 LB-ELF (early model Mirage design with average performance)
Option parts – O01-AMINO, CR-06955, CR-O7SLA, O03-CODON
Rei had her AC's core painted blue while the lower legs, lower arms shoulder plates and head were painted Red. Now it's well known that Rei hated the color Red, but with the changes she had already made to her life she decided to try and see if she could see the color in a different light, all and all not to bad. Rei had also picked a name for her AC.
Lillian
She chose it because it reminder her of where she came from.
Rose just shook her head, Rei hadn't even gone on a mission and her AC could already compete with some of the low level Arena rankers. She looked over the schematics again
"Not to bad Orchid"
"Thank you Rose"
Rose smiled and handed the extra folding palm top computer she had with her to Rei
"You need to carry this at all times, it will notify you when you have a mission request or when some one challenges you in the Arena"
Rei frowned; she had no intention of fighting in the Arena…yet
"Am I allowed to reject challenges?"
"Yeah, but I doubt anyone would challenge you right now, you're a rookie still Orchid"
Rei sighed
"Yes I know"
The doors to the hangar opened, in walked a black AC with gray details. Rei looked at rose
"Who is that?"
Rose just smiled
"Orchid do you remember what I said on the transport about the Raven called Requiem"
Rei nodded
"Well that's his AC, the Wraith"
The AC moved to its dock and locked into its restraints, the back then slid open allowing the pilot to stand and climb out onto the catwalk.
The pilot stood up, he had ear length black hair and hazel color eyes that bordered on gold. He followed one of the techs toward the locker rooms to change out of his flight suit with was nothing more than a modified air force pilot's jumpsuit. Rei couldn't help but notice the confidence he gave off. He reminded her of Asuka in that way.
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Shinji sat back in his seat in class, it had been nearly a week since Rei had quit. He was a bit depressed, she hadn't called him yet, but he didn't mind it. Rei had said she would call and she always kept her word regardless. No one outside of Nerv knew she was gone yet though the news should have been released by the PR Department already. Shinji sat listening to his friends Toji and Kensuke talk about nothing really; they stopped when the class representative, Hikari Horaki walked up to Shinji's desk
"Umm excuse me, Ikari"
Shinji looked up at her
"I haven't seen Ayanami in a week, is she ok?"
Toji just shrugged
"She's probably at Nerv"
Shinji sighed
"She won't be coming back here again, at least not for a while"
Hikari gasped
"Why not, is she alright, was she hurt?"
"No"
Toji leaned forward in his seat
"Come on man tell us"
Shinji just sighed again
"She won't be coming back here because she quit Nerv"
"WHAT"
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Rei sat in the cafeteria, it was a rather large building built to serve the Ravens their meals. Not many of the Ravens ate here, most went to the Civilian Area to one of the many restraints there. She sat in silence for a moment, poking her salad gently with her fork. It was the first time she had felt, well, boredom. In the intervening week since her arrival she had completed her AC pilot training and had been placed onto the available for duty roster. She wished someone would give her an assignment, a mission to go on. Rose said it would usually take a week for everyone to update their records regarding new Ravens. She also said that the first week was one of the toughest weeks to be a Raven. A voice broke her from her thoughts.
"Is this seat taken?"
It was Requiem, the boy who had returned to HQ earlier that week
"Let me guess, first week"
Rei nodded
"God I remember my first week, I hated every moment of it"
"Why"
"The boredom"
Rei smiled, the boy extended his hand
"My name's Requiem"
She accepted and shook his hand
"I am Orchid, formally Rei Ayanami"
Rose had said that Requiem was a bit of a loaner, from what she was seeing she couldn't see why
Requiem thought for a moment 'Ayanami, wait a second'
"Can I ask a question?"
"Of course"
"Were you really an Evangelion Pilot?"
"Yes, I was the first child, designated pilot of Evangelion Unit 00"
"Why did you leave?"
Rei hesitated for a moment
"The pain"
"Pain"
"Yes, an unending dull pain in my heart as though some great piece of me is missing, I informed the commander of this, and he attempted to replace me. I gathered my things and went to the main train station. That is where I met Rose and Arbalest"
He just nodded, he knew the feeling well. He had felt it every moment since his family was killed. Requiem just sighed, and then an idea hit him
"Hay your AC's done right"
"Yes"
"You finished your training right"
"Yes"
"How about we go for a bit of one on one in the Arena, nothing special, just a bout to get you use to AC combat, what do you say"
Rei thought about it for a moment, this would end the relentless boredom and maybe allow her to get noticed for a mission
"Very well, when"
"Meet me in her hangar in two hours, ok"
"Very well"
A/N there's 2 redone