Alright, next chapter's here. I've been getting somewhat positive reaction to this fic, thanks.

CHAPTER 03
SCHOOL/DAY

For nearly half a second, she was in complete darkness. The almost suffocating pressure coming from every direction dulled her sense of touch until she couldn't determine which way was up or down. Then her vision was filled by several frames filled with scrolling code as she felt the machine around her come to life. – "First phase boot sequence complete, POST reports no abnormalities." – she heard through the intercom from the control room. – "Bringing low-level systems online. Pilot, please verify cockpit telemetry data link positive function."

"Confirmed. Data links active." – Shinji replied automatically, monotonously going through the same procedures over and over again.

"Good morning, Shinji. How are things?" – asked Ritsuko through the intercom.

"As usual." – the girl replied curtly. – "Why are we having yet another test?"

"Call it insurance in case we need to call upon your help. Have you memorized everything I told you to?"

"No idea."

"Then let's review it, shall we? As you know, Evangelions were designed to be highly adaptable to any environment. The biometal outer hull is photovoltaic and functions like a giant solar cell, continuously generating power as long as you operate in an at least moderately bright environment; even a clouded day will suffice. This is what we call the primary circuit. Whenever you perform maneuvers the primary circuit's power output can't support, the required energy is provided by the secondary circuit composed of an internal battery that continuously recharges using excess primary circuit power. The secondary circuit is NOT a long-term power source which means if you find yourself in a situation where you can't rely on the primary circuit, we advise you to retreat. In emergency situations, we can equip Evangelions with a tertiary circuit which is a backpack-mounted radioisotope thermoelectric generator. You already saw it in action during Unit-00's armed intervention."

"Yes, I know."

"This is also a temporary solution as the slightest damage to the reactor core might result in radiological contamination of the surrounding area. In addition, the generator requires constant cooling which means the Evangelion's infrared signature becomes very high."

"Uh... can I have a question?" – asked Shinji.

"What is it?"

"What happens if it's too dark to use the primary but also too hot to cool the tertiary?"

She expected the scientist to be puzzled at an unexpected situation, only to be proven wrong when a chuckle came through. – "Good question. In such a scenario, we can convert the primary circuit into a thermophotovoltaic cell which uses infrared radiation instead of light. If you paid attention in physics class, you'll know that the common name of infrared radiation is heat, even though that is a major oversimplification. I could go on all day explaining the actual mechanics involved but I doubt you understand nuclear physics. Therefore, let's continue with the test."

Shinji rolled her eyes at the scientist's attitude but said nothing about it. – "I'm ready."

"Understood. Log event, 0835 hours. Initiating VR simulation No. 126." – The code frames disappeared and were replaced by a computer-generated wireframe landscape that was quickly populated by colorless blocks rising from the ground to simulate buildings.

Shinji felt the pressure around her being released as the armor lockdown released. Of course, she knew it was only the simulation but was told it feels the same way the real deal does. As her recent training kicked in, she immediately dashed to the nearest building and took cover. She already took this training scenario a few times and knew what to expect: two hostiles armed with RPG-32s utilizing bounding overwatch to advance on her position. Her objective was neutralizing both without taking any damage, a task she found quite difficult at first until she realized her father ordered the crew to let her find everything on her own. Shinji was quite pissed when she heard about it.

Her topographical radar let out two short beeps as two red squares appeared on the edge of her detection radius. Apparently such technology was standard-issue in ISDF ground vehicles. She set the pulse frequency higher and watched as one of the dots came closer then stopped. Then the other moved past the first and stopped and so on, the two leapfrogging each other.

Shinji waited patiently until one target came out onto the street then extended one hand towards the corner she was hiding behind. A small compartment on her wrist opened and extended a thin fiber-optic cable she angled in such a way to see the hostile through a picture-in-picture display of her HUD. It wasn't anything special, merely a low-res stick figure colored red. On the other hand, she knew from experiencing it the hard way that their appearance didn't make their weapons any less dangerous.

She marked the target which caused a red arrow to appear on the edge of her vision, captioned with HOSTILE – 112M. She was told that Evangelions have a squad-level networked targeting system that allows unprecedented squad-level coordination and situation awareness by sharing tactical information such as enemy positions and individual targeting data with teammates, somewhat similar to what the US army planned to introduce shortly after Second Impact. Shinji wasn't a soldier but even she understood what Misato meant when she said 'good battlefield intelligence is a force multiplier of its own'.

Seeing an opening as her target stopped to guard the other's movement, Shinji bounded around the corner hand-first. 'Target center of mass' she recited in her head as her crosshair affixed onto the target's torso. 'Open fire.' She fired her wrist-mounted autocannon which blew the target into pieces with its high-caliber rounds. The other immediately stopped and fired a rocket-propelled grenade at her position but Shinji leapt away from her further hiding place which turned into rubble not a second later. She landed with a crash that would've cracked the pavement were the engagement to happen in the real world. She noticed the secondary power gauge falling to 98% but returning to full after a few moments. – "Weapon." – she spoke into her microphone and the voice-recognition software activated, changing the caption in the lower right corner of her HUD from MINIGUN to MDM MORTAR. – "Magshield." – came the next command and she heard a low hum starting up around her. The next grenade flew straight towards her... then changed direction mid-air and flew to the side as the active shield repelled it. She was told it wasn't a perfect defense as non-magnetic munitions and some high-velocity rounds are completely unaffected by it – specifically, anti-material rifles.

Which her second target happened to have as well.

"Shield." – she said casually and held out her Evangelion's left forearm in front of herself. Several pore-like structures opened on the appendage and a wall of hexagons materialized in front of her like a giant honeycomb, a large-caliber bullet sandwiching itself against it. This was the Evangelion's passive defense system, a reverse-engineered version of a Scion stasis shield. From the corner of her eye Shinji saw the internal power gauge taking a massive dip and draining steadily. She didn't have much time so she aimed the Evangelion's right forearm onto the small red dot she saw above her attacker and fired again.

This time, the tube on the underside of the weapon arm fired, spitting a smoking projectile into the air. She followed it with her eye while also monitoring her power gauge; it was already below 30%. When it bas barely three meters above her target and falling fast, she depressed the fire trigger again. The mortar shell airburst, pounding her target into the ground with a shower of shrapnel just as the shield shut down.

A few seconds later, her HUD displayed SIMULATION COMPLETE and the artificial landscape vanished. – "Nice work."

"Thanks. I was wondering, though..."

"Yes?"

"With all these tests we did here, how come I never ran out of ammo? I mean, is it just the simulation?"

"No. Evangelions use the standard-issue nano-ammo system developed shortly before the First Biometal War. Instead of ammunition, the Evangelion is loaded with a canister of biometal granules used by the weapon's autoloader to manufacture the ammunition on-demand. This way, all weapons can use the same ammunition supply so there's no need to load up with dead weight you will most likely not use. Anyway, enough chatter. We're loading the next simulation."

"Alright." – answered Shinji and braced herself for the next task.

In the control room, Ritsuko and her apprentice Maya Ibuki were supervising the process. After a while, Maya turned to the older woman. – "I'm still surprised she agreed to this. Everyone can see that she and the Commander don't get along."

"The post-Impact world is a harsh place." – Ritsuko replied.

"Pardon me for asking, but is it true that the Commander sent her away at a young age?"

"He had no choice. Expecting a newly widowed man to raise two small children on his own is foolish. If Shinji were to be in her father's position, I'm sure she would've done the same."

"That's harsh." – quipped Misato from the back of the room.

"It's true. And besides, just look at how Rei ended up. Could you imagine two of her?" – Ritsuko involuntarily shuddered at the thought.

Most of the test proceeded without conversation, the three women watching as Shinji went from one training scenario to another. Finally, Misato broke the silence. – "How long are you going to make her do this?"

"We're not forcing her." – answered Ritsuko emotionlessly. – "She agreed to it herself and can leave at any time. If I remember correctly, you were the one who convinced her to do it so why are you even asking?"

Misato looked away. – "That doesn't mean I haven't been feeling like crap about it..." – she murmured to herself.

Tōji Suzuhara was not having a good day.

His life wasn't what one would call ideal: losing his mother at an early age, he was left with a father who spent more time at work than at home as well as a sister still in elementary school. The two weren't exactly warm to each other; after all, it is a big brother's unsaid obligation to be mean to his younger siblings, right?

What made him have a bad mood was that the brat wandered outside the shelters during the alert (what was that about, anyway?) and got caught under some rubble. Now she was in hospital with the doctors giving her legs a 50/50 chance between full recovery and lifelong lameness. He was, of course, worried sick but his pride demanded he hide it. Like hell was he going to make himself the subject of laughter for that brat!

This inner conflict was tearing him up and making him more irritable than usual. He saw it better to keep out of school for over a week; this way he wouldn't "accidentally" beat someone up to channel his pent-up tension. He wasn't exactly the sharpest mind in the world but everyday tricks like that weren't far from him.

These thoughts were temporarily driven from his mind when he entered the classroom and noticed the amount of classmates to be significantly lower than usual. Looking around, he noted one good and one bad news. Good news: his best buddy Kensuke was still present. Bad news: so was his arch-nemesis, the class representative. He didn't know what crawled up her ass and died but she was always keeping an eye on him.

Kensuke on the other hand was his friend since elementary. The two met when Tōji scared off some bullies that targeted the smaller boy. Kensuke was different from the others just enough to be noticed: while the other boys spent their pocket money on shōnen manga and their time on various sports, he sat at home and read the works of Shirō Masamune. His obsession with modern militaries was also on a somewhat unhealthy level; Tōji teased him numerous times that if he keeps going like this, he'll marry a tank instead of a girl. It certainly didn't help that Kensuke had a fully functional remote-controlled model of a Merkava Mk.V he held in great regards.

As he walked towards his desk in front of Kensuke, he saw Hikari approaching it too and heard her voice. – "Aida, did you deliver the printouts to Suzuhara?"

The boy visibly started sweating. – "Uh... there wasn't anyone at his place so I couldn't."

A bead of sweat ran down Tōji's forehead too. 'Shit, I was at the hospital...'

Hikari didn't take that answer well. – "You're his friend, right?"

Seeing Kensuke's predicament, Tōji decided to intervene. – "Give 'im a break, inchō. I'm here anyway so it doesn't matter." – he said, announcing his presence to the two.

While Kensuke was relieved, Hikari jumped a little at his sudden appearance before turning around. – "Suzuhara, where were you?" – she demanded.

"None of yer business." – he replied offhanded, drawing an irritated glare from the girl before she left.

"Thanks for getting her off my back, aniki." – whispered Kensuke as soon as Hikari was out of earshot.

"No problem, man." – He looked around the classroom. – "What's up, did we went extinct?"

"Nah, most of the class transferred out. The recent attack on the city seems to have spooked them." – explained Kensuke. – "Well, except for the transferee."

"What transferee?"

"That one." – Kensuke pointed at the sole figure of Shinji who was currently sulking with earplugs in, all desks in a substantial radius around her empty of occupants. – "Class rep told us about it yesterday."

"So the guy's a pretty new arrival, huh?" – murmured Tōji. From behind, the person wasn't anything special.

"Well, that's the catch. That 'guy' is actually a girl."

Tōji snorted. – "Like hell. Look at that uniform." – He was referring to the standard white shirt and black pants that was the male dress code for students. While Tōji himself had a tracksuit, he had a good excuse we shall not go into.

"I don't really understand either but she's a she alright. I even heard her talk with the class rep. Anyway, there's something fishy here."

"What?"

"The city gets attacked by something, the military keeps it all hush-hush so we don't know what. Most of the class transfers out except this girl who transfers in. She also keeps to herself. I'm telling you, something's not right here." – insisted Kensuke.

"You're just paranoid."

At the front of the room, Shinji sighed. Those earplugs weren't just for show: she really was listening to music but she kept it at a low volume so that she can hear what's going on around her. It was easier to collect information via eavesdropping if your target thinks you're not listening. She already pulled that trick out with Misato and Ritsuko several times without getting caught. It wasn't her choice to come to school in the first place but she had no say in it; she insisted in vain that there's no point in arranging a transfer since her stay is only temporary but her real concern was something else: if she starts going to a local school, there would be no reason for her to leave the city.

Besides, the choice of which school to go to wasn't hers either. Someone in the higher-ups decided for her to go to the same class as her sister, citing 'easier surveillance'.

She still remembered her first time of seeing her sister. Ritsuko explained to her that Rei has a hormonal disorder that causes her body to mature roughly 40% faster than normal. While it had positive effects such as an unusually dense muscle and bone structure, the accelerated growth also causes several abnormalities such as her inability to produce melanin. This is what caused her apparent albinism.

Her first impression was that she was staring at a life-sized doll. Blue hair which she was told were neither wig nor dye job provided stark contrast with the white bandages around her forehead but her body was astonishingly mature for a ten year old: her height was about the same as Shinji's but neither the hospital gown nor the sling could've hid the generous chest. Rei Ikari could've passed for a sixteen year old without any effort.

Something kept Shinji from entering the room so she just kept staring through the ward's window. Rei wasn't doing anything one would've expected a child to do but just sat there motionlessly as if asleep. Yet her upright sitting pose was definitely one of someone fully awake. This was decisively reinforced when the bandaged head which was previously staring outside slowly turned in Shinji's direction. One eye was bandaged but the other revealed a crimson iris Shinji found disturbingly familiar until she placed it: it was the same eyes that assaulted her mind after her arrival into the city.

And the current situation wasn't any different: the gaze lacked any warmth or familiarity. All she could see was cold hostility mixed with clear killing intent from a beast that lurked beneath the surface.

She still didn't know what made her run away from the building. Maybe a primal part of her brain firing a fight-or-flight reflex, who knows. All she knew was that she couldn't bear that gaze any longer. Shinji wasn't a squeamish girl yet that eye frightened her more than anything in her life.

What Ritsuko told her afterwards justified her reaction: Rei was an anomaly. Since they haven't found a cure for her condition, her father decided to have her receive private tutoring until recently. This led to the pediatricians studying her to discover Rei has near-inhuman cognitive abilities as well as what initially appeared to be a low attention span but eventually turned out to be simple boredom at insufficiently challenging tasks; she never played with toys and disliked children's books as 'meaningless'. But what really alerted them to her abnormality was the fact that she reacts very badly to attempted punishment, frequently lapsing into violent temper tantrums. The first time her supervisor tried restraining her, it didn't end well: the woman had to be carried away on a stretcher half an hour later with what looked like a heavy concussion. Examination however revealed signs of a severe beating including multiple bones which were literally pulverized by blunt force trauma. After that incident, all personnel handling her had a standing order to stay away from her during temper tantrums and remove any potential weapons from the area until she calms down. The higher-ups were seemingly unconcerned with the scattered, confused and unverified reports of paranormal activity around the girl whenever she's particularly agitated.

That last part really blew Shinji's mind, although she didn't show it. An actual nōryokusha, so close to her? Simply unbelievable.

There wasn't any need for Ritsuko's warning for her about not telling anyone; no one would've believed the existence of an esper anyway.

And now that very same girl was staring out of the window just a few meters away from her. They haven't shared a single word; in fact, Rei didn't even acknowledge Shinji's existence. Shinji in response let her be. There's no reason to piss off a walking timebomb by attempting to force her into conversation; Shinji valued her own life, thank you very much.

The rest of the time before class passed calmly until the teacher came in and the class representative ordered the whole class to bow. Shinji for her part considered it ludicrous; one can have respect for someone else without visibly humbling oneself, right? This is the 21st century, not the feudal ages! She just went with it anyway to avoid drawing attention to herself.

Until the roll call came, that is.

"Ikari, Rei."

"Present."

The teacher paused and narrowed his eyes before continuing. – "Ikari, Shinji."

"Present." – announced Shinji. At once, the entire class turned towards her as the teacher looked up.

"Any relation between the two of you?"

Shinji opened her mouth to answer but Rei beaten her to it. – "No, sir. There is nothing."

That... wasn't what Shinji expected. A calm denial might've convinced someone but not the teacher; Shinji suspected that the same entry in the 'father's name' field would be a dead giveaway. He still dropped the matter though and continued the roll call. That didn't remove everyone else's attention, though. Shinji felt increasingly nervous and irritated from all the aside glances and whispers.

The class was, to put it mildly, boring as hell. Just a few minutes was enough to utterly convince the girl that nothing important will be said. The rest of the classmates appeared to have similar thoughts: many started low-volume chatter, many others enjoyed a quick desktop nap.

Somewhere during the class, Shinji noticed everyone seemingly focusing on something shortly before her desk's integrated netbook released an almost inaudible chirping. Checking that no one who mattered was watching (the teacher was monologuing to himself while the class rep was the only one who even tried paying attention), she turned up the screen. It was the intranet instant messaging program, signaling an incoming message. She decided to humor whoever sent it and opened it.

IS IT TRUE WHAT REI SAID?

Shinji sighed and wrote back SORT OF.

MEANING?

NO BUT I WISH IT WAS

Once again everyone looked at her, alarming Shinji that the chatroom was a classroom-wide open broadcast. 'Oops...'

WHAT DO YOU MEAN? came the quick demand.

LONG STORY wrote Shinji carefully.

Apparently, that wasn't enough for her interrogators. SHORT VERSION?

Shinji spent nearly a whole minute thinking about what to write then finally decided on a simple statement. MY FATHER IS AN ASSHOLE

A wave of chuckling swept through the room, prompting the class rep to turn around with a warning scowl directed at everyone in general. Shinji meanwhile felt an icy feeling in her head that radiated somewhere from the windows. Turning in the general direction, she realized Rei was giving her a very nasty death glare. A quick glance at the other girl's desk however confused Shinji. 'Her machine's not even on; what's her deal?' As soon as that thought formed, she had the answer. 'Right, ESP. Looks like those reports weren't complete bullshit after all...'

Shortly before the end of class, she received another message. DO YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE ATTACK TWO WEEKS AGO?

'Oh, boy. Here we go...' NOT MUCH

ARE YOU THE PILOT OF THAT ROBOT?

Shinji recoiled at the piercing question. 'Direct, aren't we?' DEPENDS

ON WHAT?

She grinned evilly. 'This should mess him up real good.' DEPENDS ON WHICH ONE YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT

An instant later, the entire classroom erupted into a single roar. – "EEEEEEEEEEH?"

Shinji let out a deep sigh as she finally managed to shake the last of her new fans. They kept her pestering with questions she constantly averted with 'can't tell, classified'. Many of them weren't satisfied with that question but too bad because that's all they're going to get out of her. She wasn't stupid enough to go spouting information that can get her into jail, if not worse.

Her musing was interrupted when a shadow crept onto her feet. Looking up at the source, she saw the jock in her class staring at her none-too-pleased. – "What is it? If you've come to pester me about details, piss off."

That only seemed to infuriate the jock further. – "I don't give a damn about that. Is what you said true? Are you the pilot of that thing?"

"One of them, yes." – she replied carefully.

"...if ya weren't a girl, I'd punch yer living daylights out."

Shinji narrowed her eyes. – "First, I'm not sexist so if you want to hit me, go ahead and I won't tell a soul. Second, would you mind explaining?"

The jock looked around before answering. – "Because you fucked up, that's why! When you fought in that thing, did you even consider for a second that someone might be nearby?" – he snarled.

"Fought in it? Wait a sec, I never said that!"

"Bullshit! You just said you're the pilot!"

"I said I'm one of the pilots, not which one! I haven't even seen that thing outside simulations!" – explained Shinji defensively.

"Then who was it? WHO WAS THE FUCK WHO CRASHED INTO THAT BUILDING AND ALMOST KILLED MY SISTER?" – he yelled in fury as he violently yanked the girl upwards by the neck of her shirt, absently noticing a white bra strap that finally proved his target's gender.

"Sore wa watakushi desu. [That is me.]" – came the quiet answer. He immediately turned around and came face to face with Rei who was staring at him impassively.

"What the hell do you want, Ikari? Are you trying to protect her?"

"I have no such intention. If you wish to harm that person, proceed at your discretion." – Rei replied while looking into Shinji's eyes with an almost mocking expression. – "In either case, be advised that I am the person you are looking for."

"You expect me to believe that? You're barely standing, how could you do something like that?" – Tōji demanded skeptically.

"My injuries were caused by a minor system malfunction. The target has been neutralized; further consequences are insignificant." – added Rei in an almost bored tone.

"INSIGNIFICANT? YOU DAMNED BITCH!" – hollered Tōji as he charged at the bandaged girl. Shinji had an urge to stop the fighting because of her injuries but it quickly proved unnecessary as Rei merely sidestepped then brutally elbowed the boy in the kidney.

As Tōji tripped with a pained yelp, Rei's hand snaked onto his throat and to the astonishment of Shinji, the smaller girl lifted the much bigger boy high enough that his legs no longer touched the ground. – "I am not concerned with collateral damage." – she stated with a whisper. – "Your sister is the one responsible for her own injuries as she did not follow civil defense protocols. Attempting to shift perceived blame onto others is foolish and cowardly. I advise you to desist, for I will not be so indulgent in the future." – With that, she drew him closer then suddenly lobbed him into the wall twenty meters behind him with such a force that his impact removed some plaster. After gazing at the coughing boy for a few seconds, Rei walked off without even looking at Shinji.

For her part, Shinji eventually got up from where she was dropped by Tōji and went over to the still coughing boy. – "You okay?"

"Yeah... I'm good." – he wheezed as he got up with the girl's assistance. – "That little-"

"Hey, there's no point to it now. Just get up and walk it off."

"Right... okay. Thanks." – He sent a long, probing look at her. – "You're all right, girl."

Shinji scowled. – "I have a name."

"Oh, yeah... Shinji, was it?" – She nodded. – "Mine's Suzuhara. How 'bout some explanations?"

"About?"

"Like, your name. Everyone's been wondering."

"Like I said, I'd wish it wasn't the case." – She sighed. – "Alright. I don't know why she doesn't like the fact but we're sisters."

"Really?" – he asked, surprised.

"Yup. I only moved into the city recently so I haven't really seen her. Hell, I didn't even know she existed!"

Tōji winced. – "That sucks."

"Way to state the obvious... but you know what? I'd have left long ago if I wanted to."

"Then why didn't you?"

"Look at her. If there's another attack, do you think she can fight like that?" – Shinji saw Tōji was about to interrupt so she held her hand up. – "I know, she's not a nice person. But I'm not a killer, got it? I'm better than that bastard father of ours who'd send us both to our deaths without a second thought."

"How 'bout your mother?"

"Died long ago and that bastard threw me out right afterwards without a word."

A long silence ensued. – "You know what? I thought my life was bad but compared to yours? I think I'll shut up." – remarked Tōji. – "One more thing: you said you and Ikari are sisters? Are you gals twins?

"Nah, I'm older."

"How does that work?"

"...like I said, it's a long story and I'm not even supposed to tell. Anyway..." – she got up. – "Mind giving me a tour or something?"

"Sure."