Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion or DC Comics. Please don't sue me, I'm poor.
Summary: The loss of her ability to walk devastated Chiyo Suzuhara, the younger sister of Toji. That is, until she came across a discovery of her mother's. One that lifted her up into the clouds.
Chapter Five: Shadow of the Hawk
She didn't take his hand.
It wasn't very polite, but something about this boy unnerved her, despite his politeness. Something about him seemed off, and Chiyo was on her guard.
Fortunately, he didn't seem offended, and his hand eventually dropped back down to his side.
"So you're my tutor then?"
The boy, Kaworu, nodded. "History, mathematics, physics, literature... the many and varied sciences and philosophies that mankind has managed to make in such a wonderfully short period of time."
She raised an eyebrow at his odd choice of words. Most people would've settled for a simple 'yes'.
"I recognize that uniform, do you go to school with my brother?"
"Mm?" he seemed surprised by her question. "Oh, no, not yet. I haven't been assigned there yet."
That didn't make any sense, but she decided not to press the matter. After all, the 'uniform' was largely just shirt and slacks, anyone could have worn it. From what Toji said, Shinji even did so outside of class.
"So where are you from?"
To that, he didn't reply, just continued to smile in that infuriating manner, and turned away as if he hadn't even heard her question.
"I said-"
"I heard you," the pale boy replied smoothly.
"So why didn't you answer? It's very rude not to answer someone when they ask you a question."
"Maybe I can't share the answer with you yet," he said cryptically. His smile widened as a thought seemed to come to him. "Besides, aren't I the tutor? Don't I get to ask you the questions?"
She smirked and folded her arms, feeling up to the challenge. "Go ahead then. Ask me anything."
"Who are you, Chiyo Suzuhara?"
The petite girl paused. It wasn't a question she'd been expecting. And it wasn't so much the question as the inflection he'd used. Like he was asking her for some deep, fundamental truth.
Or he knows...
She shook her head, knowing that was impossible. "What do you mean?"
But Kaworu just smiled. "It's all right if you don't have an answer yet. Most don't know who they truly are when they're only twelve."
She bristled at his comment about her age. "I'm nearly thirteen."
"Of course, my apologies. But allow me to give you your first lesson. Education is about more than learning about the world, it's about learning who you truly are. So when our time together is complete, I'm going to ask you that question again. Think on it a little, if you will. And we'll see what sort of answer you come up with."
He strolled around the room as he spoke, flickering in and out of her sight as she tilted her head and shifted in her chair, trying to keep him in her field of vision. He paused briefly by the piano someone had moved into the day room a while back, his fingers dancing over the keys.
"Hmmm, not bad," he remarked.
"You teach music, too?" Chiyo asked skeptically.
His smile widened at that, like she'd just told some joke. "Not exactly."
Weirder and weirder. That darn Cheshire smile was really starting to unnerve her, and Chiyo did not like the thought of being Alice.
"So do you just play recreationally?" she asked, cutting to the chase.
"You're very direct, Chiyo. You see a single path between you and your objective, and you walk along it as quickly as you can to get there. No pretense or false fronts. It's very refreshing, to be honest."
"I don't like to dilly-dally," she said. "After all, life's short, right?"
He gave a soft laugh at that, amused by her response.
"Well, Chiyo-san... I have places to be and things to do, so forgive me for cutting this introductory lesson short. But I can tell already you're going to be very interesting to teach."
She nodded gently, not sure if he was being sincere or just spouting a common phrase. She leaned over to grab her books, placing them in her lap.
"I'll be seeing you around... Chiyo Suzuhara."
When she looked back up...he was gone. He'd simply vanished in an eye blink.
The door opened half a second later, and in stepped her father, smiling. She might've jumped at his sudden return if not for the fact that she was still wheelchair-bound.
"Sorry about the delay, my laptop's battery died. Everything all right?"
"S-sure," she said, still staring at the spot where Kaworu had disappeared. Then, suddenly feeling guilty and needing to cover it up, she grabbed up the books off the table, settling them onto her lap. "Uh, everything's fine. We can head back now dad."
"So the...tutor came and went already?" he asked.
She nodded. "Yes, he...he did."
"Oh..." was all her father said, puzzled. "So what do you think of him?"
"I...guess he'll do," she replied, noncommittal.
She took a long look at the window as she left the room, wheeled out by her father. Something felt very strange. Very wrong, even.
Strictly speaking, using the secret tunnels to slip into NERV wasn't necessary. But it was fun, and that was one of Copperhead's finer motivations. Plus, Commander Ikari valued discretion in this matter. So he'd disabled the security protocols and his thief had snaked his way through the tunnels and to the office, where he'd plunked down his prize on the table right before the Commander.
"It's damaged," Gendo remarked, running a hand along the crack in the gem. It sparked and crackled. He ignored the scrolls entirely for the moment.
Copperhead shrugged. "The Bird Brat did it," he said, grimacing as the motion re-awakened the dull pain in his left arm. His shoulder still ached from where that mace had hit him.
A single eyebrow raised was the only betrayal of Gendo's inner thoughts. "Hawkgirl?"
"Yeah that'ss the one," the snake replied, sliding into the seat across from Gendo with a casual slither. "Sstill, I got you the trinket, didn't I? Copperhead alwayss deliverss."
He has no idea, Gendo realized. To him it's just some cheap toy a rich man wants in his personal collection but can't purchase legally. He has no idea what's been lost, what information had been destroyed...
His gloved hands tightened, but then relaxed. Copperhead didn't even notice the subtle display.
Still, it wasn't a total loss. The scrolls had most of the information he needed, though it would take far longer to decipher the non-digital data into meaningful facts. He had ultimately obtained what he needed. It was just not in a convenient form.
"It will take some time to have the funds wired to you," Gendo stated, his voice deathly cold. "NERV is suffering some financial setbacks at the moment thanks to the JSSDF. For now, remain in the city. I may have need of your services again."
"Long asss I get my usual fee, I'm good with that," said the snake, wasting no time in scaling his way out of the office the same way he'd come. Gendo watched him go through his reflective lenses, his expression unreadable until he was alone. Only then did he allowed his carefully controlled mask to slip, and he scowled darkly.
Too many unpredictable factors were cropping up in the Scenario. Granted, when you dealt with such wide-reaching machinations, something unexpected was bound to happen, but he'd dedicated his life to understanding, controlling, and stamping out obstacles. Now it seemed like there was a new one in play. Hawkgirl had been beneath his notice as just another silly little girl in a costume, but now she'd gotten in his way and impeded his work.
He needed to know about her so he could pinpoint the proper way to dispose of her.
Chiyo Suzuhara had never been so scared in her life. The time she'd been in the shelter during the Third Angel's attack came close, but even that had been a relatively brief moment of terror sandwiched between general dullness and blacking out. This was a mounting stress that felt like it was growing heavier by the minute.
At first, she'd been overjoyed. But as soon as she passed through the archway of the hospital and down the first long corridor, it had started. Her apprehension only got worse when they got in the first elevator and rode it up to the thirtieth floor, where the surgery was going to be conducted.
Toji pushed on her wheelchair, gliding her along for her (hopefully) last trip in it.
"Sure you're ready for this?" he asked.
She felt her heart climb into her throat, but managed to keep her voice steady as she said, "I was born ready." Then, after a moment, she did add: "I wish Dad was here, though."
"I was lucky to get out of school," he replied. "No way they can spare Dad. You heard him the other day, some big new project to work on."
"Yeah yeah, work for NERV, save the world," she muttered. "Is it selfish of me to still want him here, though?"
He ruffled her hair. "Nah, I wish he was here, too. I mean, now I have to deal with you all by myself."
Chiyo laughed at that, and some of the tension dissipated. Replaced by resolve. It was the same sort of feeling she had whenever she donned her costume and mask and became Hawkgirl.
Helping people made her feel good inside. Strong inside. Even more than flying, it was like nothing could hold her down. And she liked it. So yeah, she kept at it, despite the pain, the bruises, the excuses, and then downright lies to her family. She did it because it felt good to be a hero.
And because deep down, she knew that disaster could happen to someone she cared about. Her father, her brother...they'd both come close once already, and things looked like they were going to get worse before they got better.
So she was going to go right back to it once she was out of the surgery, no matter the outcome.
It was complete bedlam at the International Museum of Tokyo-3. Chaotic didn't even come close to describing it. Per their orders, they'd the police had sealed off the museum and were now combing its interior for evidence. Given the sheer size of the place, they'd estimated it would take at least a week to check everywhere thoroughly, if they had a full complement of officers available. Unfortunately, their numbers were stretched thin; between the brawl in the museum and Light of the Divine raids taking place now in the older part of the city, not much manpower could be spared. Fewer still were watching the perimeter. Almost anyone who was truly inclined could slip right in.
Proving that point, Ryoji Kaji stepped underneath the yellow tape keeping back the horde of curious onlookers and stepped inside the entryway of the museum itself.
"Whoa...they really did a number on this place, didn't they?"
None of the police inspectors paid him the slightest mind as he waltzed in like he owned the place. Most assumed he was another member of the museum staff, and he was prepared to convincingly claim just that, if he was asked. Casually sidestepping over broken artifacts and trinkets he didn't recognize, but which undoubtedly cost a great deal of money, he made his way towards the Egyptian Exhibits. NERV regularly paid to repair the damage after the Evangelions and the Angels fought in the very heart of the city. This would be chump change to them.
Even so, the museum curators and the police were not happy. Both the criminal Copperhead and the vigilante Hawkgirl had escaped, and there was untold damage to the museum's exhibits, many of which were in shambles or irreplaceable. And that barely covered the many injuries amongst the security forces and visiting patrons.
It was only a miracle nobody had been killed.
Eye witness accounts were taken, though they were in short supply, and damage cataloged so those who had been hurt or lost property could be would be compensated. Arrest warrants were issued for the snake-themed super-thief. No one bothered to re-count the number of metal feathers that were claimed as evidence. If they had, they might've noticed three of them were missing.
Kaji hummed a tune as he waltzed out of the museum, hands in his pockets.
After a brief lecture on possible side-effects and some preventative measures, Chiyo was readied for surgery. Her civilian clothes were exchanged for a white hospital gown, and she was told to wait while they finished preparing the operating room.
Toji had excused himself to go to the little boys room, and so Chiyo was left by herself in the largely empty hallway. As the moments ticked by, she felt the apprehension start to slowly creep up on her again. Feeling a need to put her mind on other things, she reached down to the side of her wheelchair and pulled out some reading material. It was the report Aida had given for the Hawkmen, but it would have to do.
She barely got through the first page when a shadow fell over her, and she glanced up.
"Hello Chiyo-san. How are you today?"
She jerked back in surprise at the sight before her. Instead of her big brother or one of the nurses ready to take her into surgery, it was her tutor Kaworu.
"Well well, fancy running into you here," he said, smiling so wide his eyes vanished.
"Uh... yeah..." she said, unsure of what to think. How the heck did he know she'd be here? Was he following her?
"And what do we have here?" he asked, lightly plucking the report from her hand. "Information on the Hawkmen? Oh my, is Chiyo Suzuhara so very interested in learning more about the winged superwoman?"
"... little. It's a report on a Second Impact Phenomenon."
"Hmmm," he remarked, thumbing over the article. "Interesting topic."
"It's a friend's report," Chiyo explained, feeling self-conscious for some reason. "I was...I mean we were both...curious about the past Hawkmen. O-one of them saved my brother's life, after all."
He flipped to the last page as if he hadn't heard her, showing a clip-out from the Tokyo Tattler with an image of the latest Hawkgirl.
"Hmmm, the youngest of the superwomen of Tokyo-3," he remarked, eyeing the image and glancing up at Chiyo, comparing the two.
"Do you know anything about them?" she asked.
He smiled. "I'm a tutor in human history," he replied in an almost smug tone of voice, handing the report back to her. "Of course I know a little of the superhero population of the planet Earth."
"Prove it," she dared, almost challengingly.
He did not hesitate. "Carter Hall was the first modern day Hawkman, an archaeologist and Egyptologist who discovered the wings and mace and protected the original Midway City. He perished in the Second Impact. Many Hawkwomen and Hawkgirls appeared over the ages are sidekicks, partners, and most frequently, wives of the Hawkmen, but the most well known was Sierra Hall, the wife of Carter Hall. No one knows what happened to her."
She gaped, stunned. A quick glance at the report in front of her confirmed everything he'd said as fact. Or at least as common knowledge easily found on the internet. Still, to recite it from memory alone...
"However," Kaworu went on. "It's not the whole story. What few realize is that Carter and Sierra Hall were in fact actually named Katar and Shayera Hol, and were the reincarnated spirits of an Egyptian Pharaoh and his beloved wife. They were slain by a jealous vizier with a special sort of dagger and, as a result, were cursed to be reincarnated again and again, to love and lose one another lifetime after lifetime. An occurrence which, I might add, is rather unique to the human race. Two souls bound together, constantly seeking one another out, but doing so only would result in tragedy..." he trailed off as his story came to an end, making the last part sound almost... wistful?
But Chiyo scarcely paid attention to his tone. It was his story that stunned her, much more than his earlier rhetoric had. Could that be true? Were all of the Hawkmen and Hawkwomen part of some long-lasting legacy? Had her mother been a part of it? Was she, somehow?
"Really?" she asked.
"Maybe," he replied nonchalantly. "It's just a story."
"But is it true?" Chiyo pressed, suddenly hungry for information.
He turned suddenly, his face very close to hers, and Chiyo instinctively flinched away from that crimson gaze. "Why the sudden interest in winged superwomen?" he asked with a knowing smile.
"Uhm, er... no reason," she backpedaled fast. "Just sounded interesting, is all."
He continued to smiled, making a vague 'hrm' sound that conveyed he didn't believe her for one minute.
"Chiyo?" she glanced up as her brother came back around, smiling with instant relief. The sight of him instantly put her at ease again.
"They're ready for you," he explained. A blonde nurse by his side nodded in affirmation.
Chiyo nodded, then glanced back at Kaworu to say good-bye...only to discover he'd vanished. In less than an instant he'd escaped from her sight again.
She blinked. How does he keep doing that?
Distorted voices echoed through the black void, empty save for eight holographic monoliths in the vast darkness. SEELE had called a meeting.
One spot lay empty: the space where Gendo Ikari typically stood as part of the proceedings. This meeting did not concern him. Or rather, it did not include him, for it was about him.
SEELE-01 began, wasting no time once the others had arrived. "Commander Ikari is growing bolder in his defiance of us," he said. "He has deliberately withheld information from us vital to the Scenario. Also, he and Sub Commander Fuyukutsi have recently made a trip to the Moon and discovered the prototype new Eva."
Another of the monoliths spoke up. "We also have information that the Dead Sea Scrolls on display were stolen in the museum battle. They are the only missing objects, though obviously there are extensive damages to sort through."
"Relics are of no consequence," another of the pillars said dismissively. "The Scrolls are the only item of importance."
SEELE-01 cut directly to the heart of the matter.
"This is no coincidence. I believe Commander Ikari hired this Hawkgirl to do his dirty work for him, steal the Scrolls, and bring them back to him. To obtain greater knowledge on the Scenario we have worked our entire lives see come to fruition."
"With such knowledge, he could alter everything. This will upset the Scenario."
"You have proof of this?"
"All the facts would seem to add up. The theft of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the time when Hawkgirl was seen in the vicinity. Now they are missing and so is she. Of course, the Commander of NERV will obviously never admit to having obtained them."
"No, indeed not," intoned SEELE-05. "Ikari is the only one who knows the value of the Scrolls besides those here. He has the resources to hire someone of her caliber."
SEELE-03 seemed intent to argue that point. "He himself suggested Hawkgirl was no threat."
"A ploy to throw us off his scent."
"Not to disagree," interjected SEELE-07, though his tone of voice suggested his meaning was the opposite to his words. "But Commander Ikari and NERV are still needed. We cannot simply eliminate them, or everything we have worked for will be for naught."
"We cannot ignore this! Ikari must answer for his actions!"
"Then it appears our plans have shifted, gentlemen. We must eliminate this variable before it threatens the Scenario further," stated SEELE-01.
"How are we to do that? If Ikari is protecting her..."
"Ikari's reach has limits," replied SEELE-01 coldly. "And we have access to resources he does not."
The monoliths did not move, the room's settings were not adjusted, but it seemed to all of them as if it had become that much darker. Shadows coalesced all around, and though none of them were actually present in the room, they all felt it. An ominous chill running down their spines.
"This agent will find no such obstacle," Keel said coldly.
SEELE's influence was vast, far more so than Gendo Ikari could realize or comprehend. Where he contented himself with hiring mercenaries and supervillains to do his dirty work under the table, using that blonde bimbo of a scientist and the rabid dog Chiron to handle the darker nature of his job, he was woefully inadequate compared to the shadowy cabal that was SEELE. They could topple governments with six words, and more importantly, had access to an element Ikari had virtually no understanding of or love for.
Magic.
A little known fact about Lorenz Keel was that in addition to being kept alive by cybernetic enhancements, he was also a practicing sorcerer. He would be useless in an actual fight, as he mostly knew only ritual magic, but with enough time and research, as well as the undying loyalty of his fellow SEELE followers and their resources, he could do almost anything. It was how they kept the some of their supernatural agents in line. And it was how they had created this instrument of their will.
A being of shadowy substance, able to enter any hidden stronghold, find any terrible secret. Formed of darkness and malicious thoughts. Bound to their will...his will...as closely as his own beating heart.
They called him simply the Shadow.
"Gentlemen, to what do I owe the most delightful pleasure?" intoned the Shadow. It's voice was masculine, slithery as a snake, and almost gleefully eager.
"We have an important mission for you, Shadow. Events are taking place that require intervention before they spiral out of control. The enemies of SEELE, of mankind's future, are moving against us."
"And my mission?" the Shadow asked slickly. If it had facial features, it would doubtlessly be grinning.
The Shadow took a perverse sort of joy in inflicting harm on others. Considering it had been created from the collective wills of SEELE, this had rather unsettling implications regarding their mindset. One that Chairman Keel pointedly ignored. As long as the Shadow did as he was told, his enthusiasm was irrelevant. SEELE did not micro-manage.
"For now, observe this Hawkgirl. Learn about her connection to Ikari, and discover her secret identity if you can. Do not engage her, we will determine her fate when you have brought this information to us."
The shadowy figure dipped into a mockingly polite bow, and stepped backwards, fading into nothingness before their very eyes. It would get things done, one way or another. Of that, there was no doubt.
A beeping sound came from one of the monoliths, the one bearing the emblem of '07'
"What is it?" asked SEELE-01, irritated at the interruption.
"The Eighth Angel has begun its descent. As was ordained."
"Excellent," he replied. "All is happening as scheduled. Gentlemen I believe that will be all, I have other matters to attend to. We will meet again at the usual time."
One by one the monoliths winked out, and only darkness remained.
Elsewhere, at the hospital, Chiyo was deep in surgery. Doctors moved back and forth as they worked to restore her mobility in this extremely delicate, experimental procedure. Though everything seemed to be going well, tensions were high.
And then the alarms started.
"Shut those off!" yelled the head surgeon, already deep in the procedure. He couldn't afford a distraction now. Finally, the blasted sirens were silenced. He didn't look up as he injected the LCL mixture directly into Chiyo's lower spine, stimulating the growth of healthy nerve cells along her vertebrae. One of his assistants mopped his brow, heavy with sweat.
A blonde nurse came in moments later. "Sir? Sir!"
"What is it?!" he growled, keeping his hands steady, not even looking up at her.
"It's an Angel sighting, sir. NERV just gave the order to evacuate."
"We can't evacuate now! She's too deeply immersed, one wrong move at this point and she'll die!"
"Sir, they gave the order for us to evacuate the ENTIRE CITY! We have to go, NOW!"
"No," he replied firmly. "I won't abandon my patient. Keep her heart rate steady," he ordered one of his other assistants, who sent a low-level electric pulse through Chiyo's body, giving her a heart massage. Her readings steadied.
"Can't we...prep her for mobilization?" asked one of the nurses. "There should be VTOLs on the roof for other patients, she can..."
"No," said the head nurse, pointedly ignoring everyone but her patient. "This girl cannot be moved. Her entire body is saturated now. We must finish this procedure here and now, or she'll be worse than permanently crippled. In all likelihood, she'll die. Not on my watch."
The head surgeon, glancing up at his colleagues. "I need one volunteer to stay behind and help me," he said. "Everyone else can evacuate."
The assistants and nurses glances amongst one another, gauging one another's reactions even as they continued to focus on saving the young girl's life. One life against theirs.
Not a single nurse or doctor left the operating room. The Hippocratic Oath won through. The head surgeon smiled behind his mask.
"Good. Start the second phase," he instructed. "Add in the five cc's of adrenaline and prepare for a bio-electric pulse. Keep things within tolerance levels."
"Aye, sir!" they chorused.
Toji had received the order to evacuate, too, but he had flat out refused. There was no way in hell he was leaving his little sister's side. If she was staying, he was too. It was a miracle he hadn't burst into the operating room to remain closer to her. At least he recognized that the surgeons needed to do their work.
So he was left to pace back and forth in the long hallway. He shouldn't be worried, he told himself. Shinji and the other Evangelion pilots had a record of 7-0 against the Angels. No reason to think this would turn out any differently. Even so, he was only getting more nervous the longer this dragged out. When the sky started to darken, he felt his breath catch, and he peered nervously out the window and up into the sky. The alarms were still wailing in the background. Toji bit on his lip as he gazed out the window, watching the glowing Angel descend down upon the city like Death itself.
"Shinji," he whispered, like a prayer.
High up on the rooftop, another watched the otherworldly being falling down towards them with a faint smile. Kaworu Nagisa, looking as though he was enjoying the breeze without a care in the world, watched events unfold from high up atop the hospital. He did not fear the outcome, if anything he would have welcomed the city's destruction. But as it stood, he did not think the falling Angel held a chance. Mankind was well defended.
Red eyes flicked eastwards as a purple behemoth of destruction, Eva-01, tore across the landscape, smashing through smaller buildings and vaulting over larger ones. There he was. Shinji Ikari.
They had yet to meet, and yet Kaworu sensed great things were to come from him. A single, seemingly ordinary lilin with... such incredible depths to his heart and soul. A vast sadness, deep as an ocean and as varied as the colors in a rainbow. Even an indefatigable optimism in the human spirit...in almost everyone but himself, it seemed.
Only one other seemed to hold such depths to their soul, and she lay beneath him in the hospital, deep in surgery.
Kaworu's smile widened, even as he watched the purple Evangelion catch his spiritual sibling right out of the sky.
"Things are about to get very interesting," he murmured to no one in particular.
The battle with the Tenth Angel over, all of NERV breathed a collective sigh of relief. For a little while now they could begin to relax while the pilots were retrieved. The paperwork would come later, along with the massive repairs to city, and the endless politics of it all. It was a perfect time for Ryoji Kaji to slip away unseen for a little while.
He checked his pocket, tugging out the strange metal feathers he'd procured from the museum earlier. He had to admit, they did show damn fine craftsmanship. They almost looked like real bird feathers, even though each was sharp enough and hard enough to cut through stone like butter. He ran his thumb over the edge of one, and it drew blood.
Small surprise then, that there were several parties interested in them.
He had a metal feather for each of the sides he was working for. One found its way into the nest of Ritsuko Akagi, the genius scientist in the payroll of Commander Gendo Ikari.
A second was delivered via courier to SEELE.
The third was for yet a third party, an interested group that was working to actively discover and possibly end the scenarios of the other two.
None of the three knew another had such a trinket, but it wouldn't be long before they did. He doubt it would eventually be traced back to him, but he doubted he would get much flak for it. Not for something this small. No, he'd find something truly monumental before it got him killed.
Chiyo's eyes opened slowly. An unfamiliar ceiling greeted her. She felt a little numb all over, and her legs tingled...
Tingled?!
She sat up in the bed, hoping against hope, and hesitantly commander her right leg to flex, just like it had done a million times before the horrific accident had left her crippled.
Her right leg flexed. So did her left. Her toes curled at her command, then relaxed.
Her mouth opened wide as shock, joy, and myriad other emotions flitted across her brain. Both of her legs felt terribly sore, like she'd run a marathon, but she didn't care. She could feel them, she could move them, she could... walk? There was a pair of straps laying across her ankles and knees holding them down, no doubt also to remind her to not to get off the bed. The doctors had said something about taking it slow, after all.
For now she was awed enough by the joy of wiggling her toes. Who would have guessed something so simple could bring such pleasure?
Unable to hold herself back, she undid the straps binding her to the bed, throwing her legs over the side of it. They felt heavy, and for a moment she hesitated. But then her anxiety gave way, fading to resolve, and she very, very gingerly lowered her feet onto the floor.
Chiyo gasped, it was ice cold. The linoleum felt freezing. But then her gasp gave way to a weak laugh. She could feel the cold. With her feet. And she was standing again! True, her legs felt like rubber and she was leaning heavily against the bed for support, but she was standing again!
The door to the hospital room opened, and in stepped her big brother Toji, followed by their grandfather Hisao, the former carrying a bouquet of flowers. Probably a gift from the school. She felt embarrassed at being caught like this, already trying to stand when she'd clearly been told not to.
"Chiyo, hey, Dad finally made it!"
Their father strolled into the room, breaking out into a wide smile as he took in the sight before him. His crippled daughter was whole again. Unable to rein in her emotions, Chiyo threw herself at her father, crying tears of joy and soaking his jacket, but unable to bring herself to care.
Next Time!
Chiyo's flight took her higher than she usually soared, above the very skyscrapers of Tokyo-3, in an effort to find out where the Angel was coming from. It brought her into a patch of clouds, however, and she momentarily lost sight of the ground. Dipping down lower, she arrived just in time to see the fight stretched out below her.
She spotted the purple Eva easily, and in front of it were a line of tanks, already opening fire. She turned her head and spread out her wings to hover in place a moment, wanting a good look at her target.
Her eyes widened in shock behind the mask of Hawkgirl as she beheld it.
Omake – The Most Common Superpower
The Author burst into the studio, waving his arms like a drunken maniac. "I have it!" he shouted.
Chiyo wrinkled her nose. "Author, are you drunk?"
"Don't interrupt me! I have the answer! I know the secret behind the Superwomen of Eva franchise! I know how to make you a STAR!"
She looked up, interested.
"Fan service!"
Her interest dropped like a stone. "Fan service?"
"Yes! Haven't you read the latest?!" he tossed down copies of Dark Lady of Tokyo-3 and Ultimate Rush. All the Superwomen are BABES! Hot babes! In awkward yet steamy situations with Shinji, their love interest!
Chiyo wasn't convinced. "Well that's fine for them, they're at least teenagers! I haven't developed yet," she whines, gesturing to her still flat chest.
Author grinned. "Oh, I took care of that. Get 'er, boys!"
Faceless agents grabbed Chiyo and threw her into an ominous looking machine.
"With the power of pure science, we will MAKE you sexy! Muwahahahahah!"
Author threw an ominous looking switch, lightning flashed, and science-y things did science-y things in the background. Then the machine opened up. Steam drifted out, as something larger, older, and definitely curvier than the original Chiyo began to emerge from the shadows.
"Now the reviews are mine! MINE! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Author's Notes:
Originally, to facilitate the exposition of the story, the idea was to use Batgirl as Chiyo's ally/mentor whose awesomely cool Bat computer could help explain AT Fields, Angels, and Nth metal. Kaworu was substituted, however, when I figured it would help more closely tie Chiyo to the Eva elements of the story without overwhelming the use of DC elements. Plus, it's been done before with Mana.
Kaworu also presented some unique opportunities as a mentor/ally to the Chiyo Hawkgirl.
Regarding Rebuild 3.0 and the revelations contained therein, I had many an argument with myself over whether or not to proceed, start afresh, make modifications, or what have you. In the end, I'll take what I like and press on with things as they are now. I named her before she became Sakura, and for good reason. Time will tell if this story is ultimately scrapped in favor of something else entirely.