Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.
Chapter Fourteen
Weeks of relative calm passed after the Eleventh Angel was defeated by NERV, marred only by the disastrous cross-compatibility experiment that caused Unit Zero to go berserk. However, this was something Hikari only heard about after the fact and with the knowledge that Shinji had emerged from the ordeal quite fine. Indeed, when things did begin moving again, she didn't immediately realize it, thinking the lull had not quite ended yet.
"Hey, Hikari-chan, can I ask you something?" Kodama asked, approaching her one evening after Nozomi had gone to bed. "A favor?"
Hikari's eyes narrowed as she instantly recognized the look on Kodama's face. It was the kind of guilty, sheepish look that Nozomi usually wore before confessing to some minor offence after being caught. It was rare for the eldest Horaki sister to wear that expression, but when she did, it was rarely followed by anything good.
"Of course, nee-chan," Hikari replied.
"Okay, listen, I've sort of been…seeing this med student at college," Kodama began.
"You have a boyfriend?" Hikari asked, surprised. "Why haven't you said anything yet? How long have you been seeing this guy?"
"You misunderstand," Kodama said, waving her hands in front of her and looking more embarrassed than ever. "He's not my boyfriend, and I'm not interested in the guy. I just sort of…flirted with him a little bit, because I wanted access to the medical labs at the college."
"What? Why?" Hikari asked, frowning. "Nee-chan, you shouldn't play with a boy's heart like that."
Kodama crossed her arms and scowled. "I did it for you, I'll have you know," she said defensively. "I was hoping that it might be possible for me to do a little research on your…transformation, without running the risk of exposing you."
Hikari was interested despite herself. "Did you manage to discover something?"
"Did I ever ask you for blood or hair samples?" Kodama asked crossly. "That place is never empty, from when it opens to when it closes. I never knew there were so many med students at my school. Besides, I'm not sure that I could run any tests without the college's computer recording the data, and we both know what that could result in."
Hikari had a sudden vision of herself sitting on a giant dissection table as Spirit, with Dr. Akagi hovering over her with an extremely sharp scalpel. She shuddered slightly.
"Okay, so you've given up on this endeavor," Hikari said. "I can understand that. But what do you need from me?"
"Well, you see, the thing is, I can't get rid of the guy," Kodama said, sighing in exasperation. "I might be the only woman that's shown any interest in him since…ever, and he's sticking to me like glue! The guy just won't take a hint that I don't want to see him anymore!"
"I still don't understand where I come in," Hikari said.
"Uh, the thing is, as interested as he is in me, he's even more interested in EVA…and redheads," Kodama said, looking sheepish again.
Hikari squeezed her eyes shut and pinched the bridge of her nose, instantly realizing what her sister was getting at. "You want me to set him up with Asuka so he'll forget about you, don't you?" she asked.
"Hai," Kodama answered.
"Nee-chan, I can't set my friend up with some creepy older guy," Hikari said firmly. "Who knows what he might do to her?"
"He's not dangerous. I wouldn't suggest getting him near Asuka if he was," Kodama protested. "He's just…really, really awkward and clingy. Please, Hikari-chan, I'm begging you! I'll never be rid of this guy if you don't help me!"
Hikari sighed as she watched Kodama literally get on her knees before her and fold her hands together in a prayer-like gesture. Kodama had gotten herself into this fix trying to help her, after all. Besides, it wasn't as if Asuka would have trouble telling this guy exactly how she felt about him.
"All right, I'll ask her," Hikari said.
"Arigato!" Kodama exclaimed, springing to her feet and hugging Hikari tightly in what seemed like an absurd show of gratitude.
Wow, either this guy is really annoying, or she just really wants me to know she appreciates this, Hikari thought before giving a mental shrug and hugging Kodama back.
"GET OFF ME YOU PERVERT!" Asuka shouted into her cell phone. "NO! HELP ME KAJI!"
She then pushed the "end" button on her phone. "There," Asuka said in satisfaction. "That ought to do it."
"What's all the noise about?" Hikari asked, emerging from the classroom with a broom in hand.
"Tomorrow's Sunday," Asuka said. "I want Kaji to take me out, but his phone's been off for the last few days."
"So you're free tomorrow?" Hikari asked eagerly.
Several days later, while Asuka was contemplating on whether or not to ditch the most socially awkward student of medicine in Tokyo-3, Shinji was visiting a certain memorial with his father for the first time in years.
The cemetery had always looked strange to Shinji. The rows and rows of little monoliths of black stone, all identical save for the inscriptions carved upon them, and the dusty ground, bare of vegetation, made the place feel downright alien at times to the son of Yui Ikari.
Like night's plutonian shore, he thought, recalling a snippet of poetry by a Western writer he'd had to read once for school.
The presence of his father behind him didn't exactly help make the cemetery feel more welcoming.
"It's been three years since we were last here together," Gendo commented as Shinji kneeled before the tombstone and placed a small bouquet of white flowers before it.
"I ran away then, and I haven't been back since," Shinji said softly. "It just hasn't sunk in that mother is resting here. I don't remember her face."
"Man survives by forgetting his memories, but there are some things a man should never forget. Yui taught me about the irreplaceable things. I come here to confirm that," Gendo said.
Shinji, unused to his father's tendency to become philosophical when not giving orders, was taken aback for a moment. He had expected something more along the lines of a wistful "She was very beautiful" or "Her eyes were just like yours."
"You don't have any pictures of her," Shinji said.
"No," Gendo said. "There are none left. The grave is just a decoration, too. There is no body here."
"I would have liked to have known what my mother looked like," Shinji said, a trace of accusation creeping into his voice despite himself. "Why didn't you save just one photograph?"
"I keep everything in my heart, that is enough for now," Gendo said.
Shinji's eyes narrowed slightly, the Third Child noticing the dodge for what it was. "But why did you destroy the pictures?" he asked. He paused for a brief moment, then added, "Did looking at them bring you pain?"
Gendo was silent for long, long time, and Shinji grew certain that he wouldn't answer.
"Yes," Gendo admitted at last, surprising Shinji.
"So," Shinji swallowed, "does looking at me bring you pain, too? Because you can see some of her in me? Is that why you left me?"
"That was…part of the reason." Gendo confessed.
The words hit Shinji like a punch to the gut. Is that all I am to you, Father? A painful reminder of mother? Nothing more?
He felt hot tears sting his eyes, but he refused to let them fall like he had ten years ago on the train platform. He wondered why he had asked the question, knowing as he did that he might not like the answer and that his father would not bother to lie to him to spare his feelings.
"I see," Shinji said, his voice tight.
He was suddenly hit by a blast of wind as a VTOL neared the ground, its engines nearly deafening him. Shinji didn't move an inch.
"It's time," Gendo said. "I'm leaving now."
Shinji just nodded. Gendo boarded the aircraft without another word, and there was another blast of wind and noise, signaling his departure. Shinji waited motionlessly until he was absolutely sure that his father was long gone.
Then he wiped his damp eyes and silently walked off.
Sleeping only four hours a night is the worst 'power' ever, Hikari thought sullenly as she quietly picked her way down the stairs, wincing at every creak of the floorboards beneath her.
She couldn't stay in her room studying or doing any of her other silent activities any longer; she was just too bored with it. So, despite the risk of rousing her family, Hikari crept downstairs looking for something to keep her occupied for at least a while.
The class rep was surprised to see that a light on downstairs. Heading into the kitchen, she found Kodama seated at the table. The eldest Horaki girl was in her pajamas and holding a steaming mug of tea.
"Nee-chan?" Hikari spoke.
Kodama looked up at her, seeming vaguely surprised to see her for a moment before an expression of realization set in. "Oh, Hikari-chan, I keep forgetting that you don't sleep very much anymore."
"Lucky you," Hikari said. "I wish I could forget about that."
Kodama gave her a small smile. "It must make keeping up with your schoolwork a breeze."
"Yeah," Hikari admitted, "it does. But it's not like I was having such a hard time of it before."
"Wait till you reach college," Kodama advised. "Then you'll be glad of that little talent, especially if you decide to study science. Would you like some tea, by the way?"
"Arigato," Hikari said and Kodama poured her a mug.
Hikari took a tiny taste of her drink, not forgetting that Kodama could sometimes make Misato Katsuragi look like an Iron Chef. Fortunately, the tea was fine, and if Kodama noticed how careful her first sip was, she didn't take offense.
"So, what are you doing up so late? I know it's not exam season," Hikari said, knowing that the pressure of the tests tended to give Kodama terrible insomnia.
"Oh, I have a paper that's due soon that's stressing me out," Kodama answered with a dismissive shrug.
Hikari resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Kodama always made top grades, but still always managed to make herself almost sick with worry when something like this popped up.
"So," Kodama said after several moments of silence had passed between the two, "how's the superheroing going?"
Hikari frowned. "Is 'superheroing' even a word?" she asked.
"Probably not, but don't use a science major's bad grammar as an excuse to dodge the question," Kodama said mildly.
Hikari's eyes narrowed slightly. "Nee-chan, you're not about to try and make me stop again, are you?"
Kodama shook her head. "I gave up on that a while ago, though it still scares the hell out of me whenever you go out to fight an Angel," she said. "But you still haven't answered my question."
Hikari sighed. "It's…not as fun as it used to be."
It seemed like so long ago now that she had blown Toji a kiss from behind the safety of Spirit's mask, blissfully unaware that the leadership of NERV wanted her captured or dead. What had happened to the days before she'd had to worry about that strange Angel which seemed to draw her to it, the one which she now knew lurked somewhere inside of NERV itself?
Never mind the time when Hikari Horaki had been just an average teenage girl, remarkable only for being one of the strictest class representatives in Tokyo-3 Municipal Junior High. Those days were practically ancient history, or felt like it anyway.
Kodama didn't say anything in reply, instead favoring Hikari with a look that the class rep could read rather easily.
"I'm not going to stop," Hikari said, her voice calm but firm. "I have the power to save lives. I have to use it."
Kodama smiled ruefully. "You always were such a good girl."
Coming from just about anyone else, this would have offended Hikari, even though it was more or less true. However, the complete absence of malice from Kodama served to prevent any ire she might have felt. "Oh, like you should talk," Hikari teased. "You're not exactly Miss Rebelliousness yourself, nee-chan."
Kodama chuckled and took a sip of her tea. "I guess you've got me there," she conceded. "Hikari-chan, I'd like you to know that, despite how hard I've tried to get you to stop, I really am proud of you for what you've done with these crazy powers. I think most girls your age would just goof off with them, maybe go for a little 'super-power shopping' or something, but you try and save people's lives with them. That really says something about you."
Hikari swallowed, feeling a lump building in her throat. "Arigato, nee-chan."
"Dad would be proud of you, too," Kodama said, then smirked. "If he knew and could get past the panic induced by knowing one of his little girls routinely goes to the front lines in the war against the Angels."
Hikari chuckled, though she felt tears forming in her eyes at the same time. "Arigato, nee-chan," she said.
Kodama smiled. "Well, I'm going up to try and catch some sleep. Good night, Hikari-chan."
The eldest Horaki sister patted Hikari on the back and then headed for the stairs, actually feeling like the eldest for the first time in a long time.
It was said that war is long periods of boredom that is occasionally broken by brief periods of absolute carnage.
If the battles of the Evangelions against the Angels were the brief periods of carnage in the war that humanity found itself currently in, then the synchronization tests were the long periods of boredom. The Children had to sit inside the test plugs for hours to get a good baseline reading of their current abilities to sync with their Evangelions, and the technicians had to monitor it the entire time for anomalies which almost never occurred.
Misato, for her part, was just glad that she didn't need to be present for the entire thing, though she did make a point of being there for the start and finish of the tests.
"You look bone tired, Major," Makoto commented. "Are you all right?"
The Ops Director couldn't help but grin. "There's a reason that I'm tired."
"Kaji's bone?" Ritsuko asked with a smirk.
"Shut your face!" Misato barked, causing everyone but Ritsuko to recoil in surprise and not a little fright.
They didn't like the Major when she was angry…well, Makoto did, but he was the exception.
"So, how's the Third Child doing?" Misato asked, calming down instantly.
Maya smiled. "Take a look."
Misato leaned over the technician's shoulder and gazed at the graph that was displayed on her screen, grinning as she read it. "Hopefully this should give him some confidence," she said.
The Major reached over and opened up a communications channel between the control room and the Unit One test plug. "Hey, Shinji-kun," she said cheerfully.
"Misato," Shinji said, opening his eyes and smiling up at her. "How were my test scores?"
The purple haired woman gave him a thumbs up. "You're number one!"
From that moment on until the end of the day, Shinji was on an emotional high the likes of which he'd never experienced before. The brief words of congratulations he received from the various technicians he often dealt with only served to elevate that high, as did overhearing someone say it was like he was "born to pilot EVA."
For the first time since the anniversary of his mother's death, he didn't care that his father saw him as a painful reminder of what he'd lost. Nor did Asuka's obvious displays of displeasure back at the apartment phase him. He was the best, he was pleased with himself, and he was utterly unaware of what form the next Angel would take.
It's not the battle so much as the waiting, Hikari thought, trying not to show her anxiety as she kept her sixth sense trained on the approaching Angel. Really, the fighting's actually kind of fun, but the waiting…
"Hey, are you listening?" Asuka asked suddenly.
"Gomen, Asuka," Hikari said. "My mind was wandering."
Asuka just heaved a tired sigh in way of response, causing Hikari to frown slightly. The German had been in a sour mood for over a week now, thanks to the fact that "her" Kaji had gotten back together with Misato. Now Shinji's recent accomplishment with EVA wasn't helping her disposition in the least.
"Well, never mind," Asuka said, her mood abruptly shifting, as it was wont to do at times. "So, have any plans for the weekend?"
"None so far, why?" Hikari asked.
"I was thinking we could do the mall, maybe drag Rei along with us. I heard that they're playing My Sassy Girl at the movie theater there, and I think the First could do with a little culture," Asuka's grin then turned wicked. "Maybe we could drag the Third along, too."
Hikari giggled at the thought of making Shinji endure the long romantic comedy, briefly forgetting about the approaching Angel. The idea was made even funnier by the fact that Hikari knew that the female lead in the film constantly beat up on and bossed around the male lead. The class rep was quite certain that Shinji got more than enough of that in real life.
"I don't think even Shinji would agree to that," Hikari said with a grin. "I'm up for the mall, but are you sure you want to do the movie? It's spoken in Korean and the subtitles will be in Japanese…"
Asuka waved a dismissive hand. "I've gotten better at reading the kanji," she bragged. "Besides, I've seen that movie so many times with English subtitles that I really don't need to be able to read the dialogue to know what's happening."
"All right," Hikari said with a smile. "In that case—"
The class rep was interrupted by the electronic ring of Asuka's cell phone going off. The Second Child answered it and said only, "I'll be right there," before snapping the phone shut.
"Angel?" Hikari asked, already knowing the answer.
"Yeah," Asuka said. "The alarms should go off—"
The redhead was interrupted by the sound of the sirens sounding all over the city.
"—any second now," Asuka finished. "Gotta go."
As the pilots quickly rushed off toward a waiting Section Two car, Hikari immediately leapt to the task of rounding up class 2-A so she could herd them down to the shelter.
The job took less time than she'd expected, largely thanks to some unexpected help from Yuki. Hikari smiled as she got the class heading for the entrance to the heavily armored bunker behind the school. If Sensei ever did ask her to check his grade book, she really would have to make sure the other girl passed everything with flying colors.
"Everyone is present and accounted for, Sensei," Hikari told their teacher a few minutes later. "Except for Ayanami, Ikari, and Soryu, of course."
"Very good," the Sensei said. "Arigato, Horaki-san."
Hikari gave their gray haired teacher a quick bow before turning and heading to the bathrooms, thankfully not encountering Yuki on the way. Her luck held out as she went into the girls' bathroom, finding it vacant, and she quickly changed into her costume.
"I have wings," she whispered to herself.
The feathery appendages emerged from her back as usual, and Spirit rushed toward the surface.
"All right," Misato addressed the pilots from her place on the command bridge. "We've sent you all the data on the current Angel. It's literally all we have. I want you all to close in on the target and attack with caution. We don't know what it's capable of yet. Asuka, I want you to take point. Shinji and Rei will back you up."
"Wait a minute, Misato! I think Shinji should take the point position!" Asuka spoke up.
For a moment, the command center of NERV was dead silent, save for the omnipresent humming of the MAGI supercomputers. Misato briefly considered asking Makoto to check their radar and see if a squadron of pigs was flying into Tokyo-3. Ritsuko wished that Misato hadn't trashed the lava diving probe at Mount Asuma on a previous mission, reasoning that they could have used it to see if hell had indeed frozen over.
"Wha-what?" Shinji elegantly broke the silence.
"Well, isn't the point position most suited for the bravest pilot with the highest sync ratio?" Asuka asked. "Unless, of course, you're scared…"
"I am not scared!" Shinji retorted hotly. "I'll do it! In fact, I'll show you how it ought to be done!"
"Hey, wait a minute…" Misato said, her shock at Shinji's behavior momentarily robbing her of her ability to project authority.
"Misato, you did say that I'm number one, didn't you?" Shinji reminded her.
"Well, yes, but…" the Major trailed off, finding herself caught between hoping to put the brakes on Shinji's abrupt show of aggression and not wanting to crush her ward's newfound self-esteem.
"Don't worry, Misato, I can handle this," Shinji said. "After all, this is a job for the pilot with the highest sync ratio, and that's me!"
He had considered saying that combat was a "man's job" but even in his current state, he couldn't be that chauvinistic. At least, not when he knew there was a girl out there who could kill Angels with just her bare hands and the deadly blasts of energy she could fire from her hands.
"Grr!" Asuka growled as his comm. window winked out. "That idiot. Unit Two will back up Unit One."
"Unit Zero will back up as well," Rei added.
The remaining windows vanished, and the main screen in the NERV command center was replaced with a view of the Angel. Misato sighed.
"Well, Shinji certainly seems to be getting more confident," Ritsuko commented cattily.
Misato shook her head. "I'm going to have to chew him out when he gets back."
"Major," Makoto spoke up. "The MAGI have detected a red/blue pattern. Spirit's coming."
"Understood," Misato said.
I guess it was lucky after all that the commanders are out of town again, she thought, silently hoping that the winged girl wouldn't just add to whatever chaos her disobedient pilots might create.
"Well, this is new," Spirit mused as she flew toward the huge sphere with the zebra stripes as it floated lazily through Tokyo-3.
The sphere wasn't exactly the most frightening looking thing that she'd ever seen, and Spirit had no idea how it could possibly attack her or anyone else without limbs of any kind.
But then again, she'd had similar thoughts about the Fifth Angel, shortly before it had half-cooked her, she reminded herself. The Angels always seemed to have nasty surprises in store.
"Unfortunately, the only way to get them to reveal those secrets is to attack them first," Spirit muttered, flying toward the Angel.
Unlike the Evangelions, which had to move along the roads as if they were normal pedestrians, the flying girl was able to take a straight route to her target. Add in the fact that the EVA Units had to occasionally stop to change umbilical cables, and that they were trying to be stealthy despite their massive size, and Spirit was able to get into range well before they drew near.
Well, it hasn't done anything yet, she thought as white light appeared in her palm. That's a good sign, right?
Hoping it was, Spirit fired a cross blast straight at the Angel, the white bolt of energy streaking right for it and then straight into it.
She blinked in confusion as the Angel simply winked out of existence when the energy attack hit it, then reappeared unscathed once the blast had dissipated. "What the hell?"
Spirit hovered in place for a few seconds, looking up at the sphere and wondering what was to be done about the passive but seemingly indestructible Angel. Then, from the corner of her eye, she noticed that several of the buildings were moving.
What?! Why in the world would they transform the city back before the Angel's dead? She wondered before she looked about and realized that NERV wasn't switching Tokyo-3 back to its peacetime formation.
Spirit gasped. The skycrapers—all of them really enormous weapons blocks or giant containers which held Evangelion scale weaponry—were slowly sinking into the inky black shadow of the Twelfth Angel!
That's the real Angel, she realized, even as part of her dimly took note of the Evangelions as they rapidly fled to safety. The sphere's just a decoy…or something.
She wasn't entirely sure why she was so certain that the shadow was her true target, but she decided it didn't really matter. Spirit fired a cross blast straight down into the pitch dark vortex below her, only to watch it be swallowed as easily as the Angel was consuming the buildings in its range.
"So, you can shrug off that, huh?" she grumbled, cracking her knuckles. "Let's see what happens when I kick it up a notch…"
She brought her hands together and summonsed all the power she could, white light flaring up between her palms.
"Take this!" Spirit shouted as she sent a Halo Wave flying straight down at the paper thin Angel.
The Twelfth Angel easily swallowed the energy blast which had utterly vaporized more than half of the Ninth Angel's body.
"No way," Spirit whispered in disbelief, panting slightly with exertion. "What am I supposed to do?"
She suddenly noticed a quick flash of red in her peripheral vision. Irrationally fearing that it was Unit Two for a moment, Spirit quickly turned to see that men had appeared on the roofs of several of the buildings in ones and twos, all of them dressed in off-white uniforms and with bright scarlet berets on their heads.
Her eyes widened. I thought those things were remote controlled!
Immediately springing into action, Spirit flew toward one of the buildings that was starting to tilt to the side as it sank into the sea of ebony below it, looking more and more like a structure that would envy the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The two soldiers on top of it were sliding down the roof despite their best efforts, finding nothing they could grab on the mostly smooth surface. There wasn't even a safety railing of any kind for them to grasp onto.
Spirit caught the pair just before they went tumbling off the edge. "Need a lift?" she asked cheerfully.
If this was all she could do in this battle, then so be it, she decided. The silver haired girl quickly flew outside the danger zone and landed atop a different weapons block, gently setting the two men down.
"You guys okay?" she asked.
"Um, yeah, thanks," one of them responded slowly, still looking shaken from his near death experience. "But, uh, we're kind of supposed to capture you if we see you…"
Spirit rolled her eyes as the man pointed his submachine gun at her with trembling hands, noting the NERV patchs the two wore on their uniforms for the first time. The girl deftly snatched the weapon from the soldier, ripped out the clip, then easily bent the gun until it was roughly U-shaped.
"Good luck with that," she said sweetly as she handed him back his now ruined firearm.
The man blanched. "Uh, never mind! Carry on!"
The other soldier just nodded earnestly in agreement with his comrade, obviously not looking for a fight either. Not after that display.
"Sayonara!" Spirit smirked before flying off again.
She set a straight course for another one of the dangerously leaning buildings, planning on rescuing the soldiers from those before going for the ones that were still standing up straight, even as they appeared to grow shorter with each passing second.
So determined and focused on her goal of rescuing as many of the stranded soldiers as she could, Spirit did notice the man until it was too late.
A soldier stood at the very edge of one of the more stable buildings, waiting for his opportunity. He was willing to gamble that with the Angel unable to attack her, the winged girl wasn't bothering to keep her AT field up at the moment.
He was right.
The man leapt off the side of the building as she glided past, managing to land on her back and grab onto her white wings. Spirit screamed, flailing about frantically as the two of them began to hurdle downwards, her mind not yet comprehending what had just happening.
The soldier would have caused them both to fall into the abyss, if not for the 30 millimeter cannon shaft that they passed on their way down. Spirit somehow managed to grab the barrel and gripped it with both hands, abruptly halting their descent.
"Ahh!" she screamed in pain as inertia and the soldier's weight wrenched her wings, making it feel like he was nearly tearing them right out. "Let go of my wings!"
"No!" the soldier roared.
"Baka!" Spirit snapped. "You'll kill us both! I can save us, but only if you stop pulling my wings!"
"I'm dead already!" the man replied. "At least if I take you with me, my family will be rewarded for my final act!"
"You don't know the commander very well, do you?" Spirit asked.
The soldier didn't reply, instead pulling harder on her wings, trying to make himself as heavy as possible. Spirit cried out again and began to writhe about, trying to shake the man off.
The building they were on started to tilt, and Spirit began to slide down the barrel of the enormous gun. She desperately tried to halt her slow descent, gripping more tightly. The metal beneath her fingers bent under the pressure, but that failed to make her sweaty hands stop sliding.
It looked as if the only way she could save herself would be to spread her AT field, flinging the man off of her. But that would be signing the soldier's death warrant, and though he wasn't exactly her favorite person at the moment, she loathed the idea of killing anyone, even in this kind of situation.
The soldier suddenly lost his hold on her as several large white feathers that he'd caught between his fingers were finally ripped out of Spirit's wings. The man screamed as he began to tumble toward the shadow.
Only to abruptly fall silent as Spirit grabbed his wrist. His eyes bugged out in pure shock as he looked up at the teenage girl he had tried to kill.
"Just be glad I value what ability to sleep I have left enough not to let you drop," she growled at him.
Her wings healed after a few seconds, and Spirit again flew away from the Angel's shadow, depositing the solider on top of another rooftop. She turned to look back out at the area caught by the Angel, seeing that the many "fake" skyscrapers with in had almost all fallen over and were now nearly all gone into the black pool below them.
"I hope you're happy," she spat, spinning around to face the man. "If not for you I would have been able to save more of your fellow soldiers!"
The man blanched. Spirit flew off, looking for more trapped soldiers, but she found none; the Twelfth Angel had gotten them all. With a heavy sigh, Spirit flew back toward the entrance to the shelter, knowing she could do no more.
"Well, baka, I guess that being the best on some test doesn't always mean you'll be the best in real life, nicht?" Asuka taunted in a syrupy sweet tone of voice.
Shinji didn't say anything. He only looked up and nodded briefly before directing his gaze back down to his feet. The Third Child had spent the last several hours just sitting silently and feeling vaguely nauseous as he contemplated what could have happened to him if Spirit hadn't sprung the trap before he could.
I might have been eaten by the Angel, he thought. God, I was so stupid!
"Asuka, that's enough," Misato said sternly, approaching the pilots. "It's not your place to scold him."
"No, it's yours, but you're not exactly doing your job," Asuka snapped back, recalling the extremely brief lecture that the Operations Director had given him upon their return.
Misato crossed her arms. "Does he look like he needs getting yelled at more to learn his lesson and feel sorry about going off all half-cocked?"
Asuka glanced at the obviously miserable boy and found she couldn't exactly debate that particular point. Despite this, however, it infuriated her how everyone always seemed to use the kid gloves when it came to the Third Child.
Why does everyone always pamper him? She wondered.
"It's almost time for the bomb drop," Misato said. "The three of you get to your EVA's."
The three pilots nodded and headed off for their waiting Evangelions. Misato let out a sigh once they were out of sight and headed for the mobile command center nearby.
"Status report?" Misato asked as she walked in.
"We're T-minus ten minutes away from the drop," Makoto answered. "The pilots are boarding their EVA Units now. Everything's on schedule."
Misato nodded and turned to Ritsuko. "I hope this works."
The bottle blonde just nodded in response. Me too, she thought.
Time ticked by as slowly as it always did when one was waiting and anxious. Finally, the time to commence the operation began, and a buzzer sounded inside the mobile command center.
"The EVA Units are spreading their AT fields," Makoto reported. "The bombers are getting into position."
Lines of exhaust from hundreds of bombers streaked across the orange sky, creating an unnatural tic-tac-toe pattern. As they flew over the shadow of the Twelfth Angel, they opened their bomb bay doors, and nearly 1,000 N2 warheads plummeted toward it, soon landing in the ebony darkness, which easily swallowed them up.
"The warheads are set to detonate in exactly ten seconds," Makoto said.
The ten seconds passed, and were followed by several incredibly long, tense moments. Misato began to fear that the Angel had digested the entirety of Tokyo-3's stockpile of N2 bombs as easily as it had the buildings it had already consumed.
Then the ground began to shake beneath them.
"What's happening?!" Misato demanded.
"Energy readings are going off the scale!" Makoto reported. "The MAGI aren't sure what it means yet!"
"Look!" Ritsuko exclaimed, pointing at the main screen.
The zebra-striped sphere that was supposedly just the real Angel's shadow was starting to crack. Crimson blood was spurting from the fissures, and the sphere itself was trembling.
Then the world turned white as the sphere exploded, nuclear fire erupting outward. The force of the blast, far more than enough to level the fortress city of Tokyo-3, slammed into the orange barriers generated by the trio of Evangelions, sending the destructive energy upwards and sparing the city any more needless destruction.
"Status report!" Misato barked, blinking away spots caused by the flash.
"The blue pattern's disappeared," Makoto answered. "The target has been completely destroyed. All three Evangelions are undamaged."
Misato breathed a sigh of relief. "Downgrade alert status to yellow," she ordered. "Retrieve the EVA's and begin clean up and repairs. This operation's over."
"The Angels are starting to get weird," Nozomi commented quietly as she and Hikari walked to school.
"Tell me about it," Hikari sighed, "Actually, don't. We're almost there, and I don't need anyone overhearing us."
Nozomi nodded and was about to change the subject when she realized that Hikari had stopped. Frowning in confusion, she looked up at her sister, noticing that there was a dreamy look in Hikari's eyes. Following the class rep's line of sight, Nozomi almost laughed aloud when she saw a guy in a black track suit accompanied by a girl about her age.
"Nee-chan!" Nozomi said loudly, jolting Hikari out of her reverie.
"What?" Hikari asked, trying to pretend like nothing had happened.
"You like him, don't you?" Nozomi asked, barely suppressed laughter clear in her voice.
"N-no!" Hikari stammered.
"Uh-huh, suuuuure," Nozomi drawled with a broad grin. "Well, don't worry, nee-chan! I'll help you get your dream guy!"
Hikari paled. "What?! No! Nozomi!"
But the youngest Horaki sister was already running toward her side of the school, giggling almost hysterically the whole way. Hikari sighed, knowing she'd just make a complete fool of herself if she chased her now.
I'll have to keep an eye on Toji and intercept Nozomi if she tries to talk to him today, she thought. I'll give her a talking to after school.
Satisfied that she could avert the disaster that would undoubtedly result from Nozomi trying to play matchmaker, Hikari headed to her own classroom. She was unsurprised to see no one else besides Rei present; besides herself, only the First Child ever bothered to enter the classroom more than a few minutes before class began.
"Ohayo, Rei," Hikari greeted with a small smile. "How are you?"
"Ohayo, Hikari," Rei responded politely. "To answer your question, I find that I am…upset by Asuka's actions during the previous Angel engagement."
Hikari frowned. "What do you mean?"
Rei told Hikari of the exchange that had occurred between Shinji and Asuka before they went off to engage the latest Angel. The First Child recited their conversation word-for-word, further strengthening Hikari's suspicions that Rei had an eidetic memory.
By the time she was finished, Hikari was scowling darkly. "I'll talk to her, Rei," she pledged.
"Arigato," Rei said with a small bow. "You are better able to relate to her than I."
Hikari just nodded and sat down at her desk to wait for the other pilots. She was surprised that Shinji would so quickly jump straight from his usual, self-demeaning attitude to arrogance, but on reflection she guessed it wasn't that shocking. Really, how surprising was it that he'd gotten drunk of self confidence, being so unused to it and thus having so little tolerance for the stuff?
Several minutes later, Shinji and Asuka entered, the latter looking cheerful while the former seemed to be living under a dark cloud.
Hikari said good morning to them and then turned to Asuka. "Can I talk to you for a moment?" she asked.
"Sure," Asuka said with a grin.
The two stepped out into the hallway, not that there was much need for it, considering that Shinji immediately plopped down at his desk and started listening to his SDAT.
"The baka really showed why I'm the real top pilot yesterday," Asuka began, obviously very eager to share the events of yesterday with her friend.
"You goaded him," Hikari said flatly.
The Second Child blinked and recoiled slightly, caught entirely by surprise. "What?"
"Rei told me how you got him to take point in the battle," Hikari said, crossing her arms and fully entering class rep mode. "Asuka, I'm surprised you'd stoop to such a thing."
"Oh come on! I wasn't trying to make him charge in there like an idiot!" Asuka protested defensively. "I was hoping he'd back down. It's not like he's totally innocent! He acted like an arrogant jerk!"
"Yeah, he did," Hikari agreed, "but he obviously feels bad about it. I've never seen him so miserable, and that's really saying something, believe me. But how could you not realize that could happen? He's a guy, Asuka! If you box him into a corner like that and threaten his pride, he'll do something macho and stupid! That's just the way guys work!"
Asuka realized she couldn't really argue that particular point, thinking back to how she'd gotten Shinji to agree to her little proposal on the anniversary of his mother's death.
"It's easy to forget," Asuka grumbled instead.
"What? That guys will react that way?" Hikari asked.
"That Shinji's a guy," Asuka replied.
"Asuka," Hikari said, narrowing her eyes. "I agree that Shinji needed to be taken down a peg, but you could have gotten him killed. Go apologize to him."
"What?!" Asuka screeched. "No way!"
The two girls glared at each other for several seconds, and didn't break the silent battle of wills until students began to file into the classroom in earnest and the warning bell rang.
"Fine," Hikari said with an annoyed sigh, realizing that the Second Child wasn't going to budge.
Well, at least that trip to the mall was already shot, Hikari thought as she walked back into the classroom, recalling that the Twelfth Angel had consumed the shopping center, one of the buildings which couldn't retract into the Geofront.
While her sister was confronting the Second Child, Nozomi Horaki was wandering the schoolyard in search of a girl that was in her year but had never had been in her class.
She finally spotted her quarry sitting at a bench. Nozomi smiled, noticing that the other girl had a keychain that had a chibi Spirit doll on the end.
Perfect, she thought, approaching her.
"Hi," Nozomi said. "So, you're a fan of Spirit, too?"
"Yeah," the girl answered with a smile. "You're…Nozomi Horaki, right?"
Nozomi nodded.
"I'm Mariko Suzuhara, but everyone calls me Mari," the girl replied. "And I've been a fan of Spirit's since before most people even knew about her. She saved me and my older brother during the first Angel battle!"
"Really?" Nozomi asked with wide eyes, pretending to be impressed.
"Yeah. The Angel exploded and she protected us with a shield of light," Mari said. "We even got to talk to her before she flew away. She seemed to like my brother."
Nozomi had to bite her lower lip to keep from laughing. Fortunately, Mari had gotten too into her retelling to notice.
"So," Nozomi said, "tell me about your brother…"
Author's Notes: All right, now we're getting to the real big bads among the Angels. And, of course, the naming of the Fourth Child. This is going to be interesting, I can promise you that. :)
Now, I'm aware that some of you didn't like the appearances of Ghost Rider and the Silver Surfer in the last chapter. Let me just reassure you that it won't be repeated. Even if I wanted to, I don't really have the mostly empty chunks of time in the plot for it any longer. The whole thing was just meant to be a fun little interlude anyway. So, if you really hated it, you can just pretend it never happened or something, as it that chapter had virtually zero impact on the overall plot of the story.
NefCanuck, Rei didn't really say that to Hikari. She just sort of whispered it to herself as she watch her leave. I probably should have been more clear on that point.
Konous the grey, maybe calling them love polygons doesn't do them justice, but it's been a damn long time since I took a geometry course! Anyway, on the issue of the other SOE stories, I had briefly kicked around the idea of doing Ritsuko's story, but then orionpax said he nearly had the first chapter for it ready. The series was his brainchild, so I had no desire to try and snatch one of the women from him. I probably wouldn't have done this one if he wasn't having trouble picking Hikari's power for a while. But he writes at a very fast clip, so I wouldn't worry too much.
Until next time, thanks to all my readers and reviewers.
Omakes
Litmus Test
"So what did you think of the movie, Rei?" Hikari asked as the trio of girls left the theater after having seen My Sassy Girl.
"The acting and directing were both well done," Rei replied in an almost clinical tone. "However, I found the character Gyeon-woo to be unrealistically submissive in the way he unfailingly gave into the female lead's demands."
"Ah, there's nothing unrealistic about him, First," Asuka replied dismissively.
"I beg to differ," Rei said mildly.
"All right, then, Rei, how about we settle this with a bet?" Asuka suggested. "A thousand yen says he's realistic!"
"I believe the appropriate phrase is 'you're on, Soryu,'" Rei replied with a trace of a grin.
"Wait," Hikari spoke up, "I don't understand. How in the world do you intend to settle this?"
The two EVA pilots shared a look.
"Oh, come on!" Shinji shouted up at the movie screen in exasperation.
Fortunately, the theater was nearly empty, and the only patrons besides their little group were too busy necking to care about the Third Child's yelling.
"Are you really going to just keep taking that?!" Shinji continued to rant at Gyeon-woo. "Tell her to stop! Yell at her! Leave her! Do something!"
With a small smile on her face, Rei held her hand out to Asuka, palm upwards. Scowling angrily, the redhead pulled out several bills and gave them to the silently smug First Child.
Something Strange is Going on Here…
It was an ordinary, calm day for the Superwomen of Eva, and two of the members of the most exclusive girls only club in Tokyo-3 were relaxing in the group's secret headquarters.
Admittedly, their secret headquarters was just a vacant apartment in the same condemned apartment building that Rei Ayanami lived in, but it was the best they could do with their limited financial resources. They liked it, however, and despite the inherently decrepit state of the place, they were still constantly debating whether to call it the Bone Yard, the Spider's Web, the Silver Pad, the Beer Babes' Lair (guess who), the Iron Fortress, Level Four (even though it was on the third floor), or the Spirit Sanctum.
But that was neither here nor there. What was important was the conversation between the two women present.
"Dr. Akagi?" Hikari asked. "There's something I've been wondering about our transformations…"
"Okay, fine, I got lazy that day, all right?" Ritsuko grumbled, scowling. "I had no idea that dumping all that stuff into the lake would—"
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Hikari asked.
"…Nothing," Ritsuko said innocently. "So, what did you want to ask me?"
"Well," Hikari began, "I was wondering why our…assets got, uh, enhanced."
"Complaining?" Ritsuko asked with a smirk.
"Well, no," Hikari confessed, blushing slightly in embarrassment. "It's nice not to feel inadequate next to Asuka and Rei."
"Tell me about it," Ritsuko said. "It was so good to be able to shut Misato up for once."
"But I don't get why it happened," Hikari said. "I mean, it makes no sense at all when you think about it. We got our powers from Angelic DNA, and, in your case, spider DNA. But none of the Angels have breasts, not even Lilith. The Evangelions don't have breasts, either. And spiders also don't have breasts. So where did the genes for that come from?"
Ritsuko frowned. "You know, you have a point. It doesn't make any sense. It's almost as if…almost as if some person—or perhaps even persons—with some kind of god-like power over us, just happened to like the occasional bit of fan service…"
On the other side of the fourth wall, two fan fiction writers abruptly sneezed.
Hikari and Ritsuko exchanged a look.
"Naaah!" they decided simultaneously.