Shinji Steel 5
Disclaimer: I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion or Max Steel. Wish I did, though.
After her 'chat' with Ritsuko, Misato looks at Shinji and grins.
"You've got a scary girlfriend."
"Nah. She just worries about me a lot."
"Well, in any case, I'd better do my best to keep your hair on your head in place." Checking her watch, she adds, "If we hurry, we can make it."
"Make what, Misato?" Misato's comment also rouses Berto's curiosity.
"You'll see."
Getting into her car, again, Shinji and Berto are treated to an extremely wild ride. The ride lasts five minutes before they reach an observation overlook facing Tokyo-3. Getting out, Shinji looks around and sees a tall tree over a patch of grass before smiling. Berto then chimes in, a smile evident in his voice.
"This looks like it'd be a good place for a picnic for you and Ritsuko, Shinji. Should she ever go to Tokyo-3, that is."
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Misato's question gets a nod from Shinji before she goes on. "That's not the only thing you're here to see though. Have a look out over the city, Shinji." Shinji does and doesn't see much of anything. Neither does Berto. "Two more minutes."
Sure enough, two minutes later, sirens scream before buildings start rising from the ground. Shinji and Berto both are rendered awed by the sight.
"This is Tokyo-3. The city you're sworn to defend against the Angels, Shinji. It is a fortress city. Mankind's best chance for survival is you." Shinji can't help an eye-roll at Misato's casualness.
'Terrific. No pressure.' As they get back into Misato's car, he notices Misato's gaze on him. "Yeah?"
"What were you doing when you and Ritsuko met, anyway?" At that, Shinji lets off a soft smile before replying.
"I was about to go scuba diving with Kat when she got the bright idea to invite a girl my age to dive with us. She looked around the beach and yelled out after spotting a girl in a blue bikini. The girl turned out to be Ritsuko. Next thing I knew, we were under the waves together. Kat on my left, Ritsuko on my right." Shinji then lets out a chuckle. One that Misato can't help catching.
"What?"
"When we got back to Old Osaka from break, I found out that my best friend Hoshi had been dating a girl on the Kankino High chess team for the past six months."
"How'd that happen?"
"They were sharing a bento when I found out. Hoshi was startled, but Hinata was calmly casual about it. As if she was happy they'd been found out. In order to save some of his shattered dignity, he asked me if I'd gotten over my shyness issues yet. I told him I had somewhat and showed him Ritsuko's picture."
"How'd he take it?" At that question, Shinji starts blushing.
"He asked when the wedding was. Along with how many kids we plan to have."
Misato's giggles join with Berto's laughter as a beet red Shinji sinks down into the seat. Almost wishing Psycho would show his crazy mug. Or even Birdman to show his beak in Tokyo-3. At least then it'd give him something to do other than feel mortified.
Five minutes later, they arrive at the apartment complex. Misato and Shinji both get out of the car and head for the trunk. While they get their haul out, Shinji keeps his ears and eyes working. Not quite sure if he should feel safe or unsafe as he currently is at the time. Misato, however, is still buzzed about having a roommate, prompting Shinji to follow her lead.
When they arrive at her apartment, however…
"It may be a bit messy, Shinji. I haven't had much chance to clean this place up. Besides, I just moved here myself."
"It's okay, Misato. I think I've seen worse before." When the door opens and he gets a look inside, he blinks and adds, "Then again…" Berto's silence indicates his agreement at the state of the apartment.
It is not a 'bit messy'. It is a war zone in the making! All that's needed to complete the look are craters, unexploded ordnance and dead bodies.
'Not even "Smiley" would want to be here! If he was here right now, he'd be so appalled, he'd take up interior design as a hobby! Just to clean this shithole up!' Shaking his head clear of the disturbingly amusing thought of Psycho as an interior designer, Shinji says, "It's a project."
"Huh?" Before Misato can get any answers from Shinji, he goes right to work.
An hour later, Shinji wipes a bead of sweat from his brow before looking at his work. He first started with the bathroom and kitchen, using cleaning chemicals so intense, it requires airing of the fumes. While those rooms aired out, he did the living area and the bedrooms.
'One good thing about messy rooms. They give cleaning chemicals a chance to do their work!' Grimacing at the trash he'd gathered together so far, he mutters, "Makes me glad we have a trash furnace at the Okinawa house."
"You and me both, Shinji."
As Shinji works, Misato can only watch stunned as Shinji makes short work of the accumulated trash. Beginning to feel guilty and like she's taking advantage of him, she joins in.
"Hey, save some for me, will ya?" Without giving him a chance to wave her off, she goes into the bathroom, adding, "Good idea you had, Shinji. Any time I use this stuff, I get nauseous. What's your trick?"
"Simple. I spray and let the fumes air out. Tried and true method."
"Oh. Okay." Misato soon starts humming happily, prompting Shinji to roll his eyes in amusement. Somehow, Shinji can sense Berto's doing the same thing.
"Anyone that can find joy in something like that can't be all bad."
"She's not bad at all, Berto. Just a 'bit messy', is all."
"Don't make me come over there, Shinji. You won't like it if I do."
"Oh, I'm so scared." While he enjoys bantering with Berto like this, Shinji misses bantering with him in-person. "Any chance you guys can come over to Tokyo-3?"
"That bad, huh?"
"Yeah. If I go too long without a familiar face, I think I'll go nuts."
"Can't have that, can we? Worry not, hermano. Josh, Kat and I are working on a CARE package for you."
"You guys. Say, where are Josh and Kat anyway?"
"Board meeting. Kat's acting as his ADC for this one."
"Oh, that's got to be hard on her. Want me to send her a CARE package?"
"Smartass." Shinji and Berto both share a chortle before Berto adds, "We miss you like crazy, Shinji."
"I miss you guys too, Berto. I'll try coming soon if I can get away. But with these Angels coming at us, who knows how soon it'll be?"
"Yeah." Berto's voice can't help but hold remembrance of Shinji's meeting with Fuyutsuki as he goes on. "Who knows indeed? Plus there are those 'other' occasions you may be needed for." Shinji can't help but wryly smirk at Berto's words.
"If a person told you I was an ordinary average teenager, with no non-teen worries in the world, I've got a news flash for you. That person's a fuckin' liar." Berto's laughter joins with Shinji's snickers as he wraps up the clean-up. "And that, as they say, is that."
"Good. Now who's Berto?"
At the sound of Misato's voice, Shinji slowly turns around. Deeply wishing Psycho was there right now. As he faces her, he sees a concerned smile on her face.
"How long were you standing there?"
"Since you asked if you should send Kat a CARE package." Her normally smiling face switching to a frown, she asks, "You wouldn't really leave Tokyo-3 during a war, would you?"
"Not if I can help it, Misato. But I have other considerations before NERV and the Angels."
"What could be bigger than NERV and the Angels?" Before Shinji can answer, her phone rings. "Hold that thought. I'll be right back." Picking up the phone, she says, "Katsuragi speaking."
"Ms Katsuragi, I'm Berto Martinez. I'm a friend of Shinji's and the one he was talking to just now."
"How'd you get this number?" Misato's eyebrows can't help but arch as she whines out, "I don't even have it!" Berto's chuckles raise her hackles slightly and she snarls out, "Start talking or I'll hang up and use Shinji as a communication medium."
"My friends and I have our ways, Ms Katsuragi. While using Shinji as a comm. medium would be a good idea, I still have yet to figure out a way to project voices out of his mouth."
"You make it sound like he's a robot, Berto. I don't think I like that."
"I know that, Ms Katsuragi. Shinji's human still, just with some mechanical augmentation."
"What kind?"
"Nano-probes." Berto's voice has a hint of pleading as it goes on. "Ms Katsuragi, please, you can't tell anyone about this. Not his 'Father', Doctor Akagi or Vice-Commander Fuyutsuki."
"How do you… you've been monitoring him as well?"
"Yeah. Shinji's like a nephew to me. Much like Kat views him a nephew."
"Does his girlfriend know about these 'probes' inside him?"
"No, she doesn't. Shinji wants to live as normal a life as possible."
"Normal as in piloting a bio-mechanical monstrosity for the whims of a man that ditched him as a child?"
"Not quite my definition of normal, but yeah." Misato's face takes on its radiant smile once more.
"I think we're going to get along fine just then, Berto."
"I'd like that, Ms Katsuragi."
"Please, just call me Misato. Calling me 'Ms' makes me feel old." Berto lets out a chuckle before giving his reply.
"You've got it, mi amiga."
Misato lets out a giggle with a sigh. Only Shinji catches it. As does Berto.
"What is it?"
"What is it?" Their tandem query gives her a slight start, but she quickly recovers.
"Just that what happened out there yesterday makes sense. The car being back on its wheels before I could do anything. Shinji catching my fist when no one else ever had. Shinji's quickness in keeping Rei from falling onto the floor. EVA-01's unexplained strength and quickness in killing the Angel. It all makes sense." Glancing over at Shinji, she asks, "What kind of considerations do you have to deal with, anyway, Shinji?"
"People like Psycho, Birdman, Electrix, L'Etranger, Vitriol, Devilwoman, Bio-Con, Hammerhead." At those names, Misato can't help but arch her eyebrow before shaking her head.
"I may be curious, but I don't think I want to know what they're like. Those names you just spouted off are just too outlandish, Shinji."
"Their names may be outlandish, Misato, but they are quite formidable."
"They're that bad, Berto?"
"Yeah. Over the past year, Shinji had to fight one of them at least every other week. Luckily enough, we haven't heard from Psycho in a while. Shinji's hoping it'll stay that way."
"He doesn't like Psycho much, huh?"
"Well, truth be told, he's actually quite torn."
"Huh?"
"Psycho was responsible for me getting the probes in the first place. Even though I was wandering through the house to finish my dinner. On one hand, I want to pulverize him. On the other…"
"You want to thank him as you pulverize him. Right?"
"That about covers it, Misato." Suddenly, a beeping is heard on the phone. "Bad news, hermano. Birdman's on the move in Germany."
"On it, bro. Calling in the Sparrow."
Before Misato can even ask what's going on, she sees Shinji's appearance changing from a Japanese teen to a slightly-older Caucasian teen.
"Whoa."
"You got that right."
The young man then makes for the balcony and jumps. Now worried, Misato races over to where he'd jumped. Expecting to see a body lying on the ground. Only to see nothing on the ground or before her. Weakly, she brings the phone back up to her ear and clears her throat.
"So, what can you tell me about Birdman?"
"Real name, Joseph Jones, an ornithologist. As the name he'd taken implies, he's devoted to birds. So much so, he had surgery done to attach wings to his back."
"Oh great. A man with birds on the brain so bad, he decided to become one?"
"Yep. Pretty much."
(German Airspace entry; twenty minutes later)
"What's the 411, Berto?"
"Birdman took a condor named Gustav from the Berlin Zoo and is on his way to the docks. Gustav is an extremely rare kind of condor, so you can't make a condor soufflé."
"Got it. Anything else I should know?"
"Yeah. Did you know NERV has more than one branch?"
"That came out of nowhere. What's with the subject change?"
"Not exactly a subject change, hermano. There's a NERV facility in Birdman's route. A big one."
"Big enough to house an Evangelion, huh?" Nodding, he asks, "Why bring up NERV at all, though?"
"Birdman's started ranting about NERV as of yesterday following your debut battle. It seems he wasn't exactly keen on you ripping the Third Angel's beak off."
"Yeah, well, I wasn't exactly keen on that freak trying to kill humanity. So I'd say we're about even." Looking down onto the ground as they fly over the NERV facility, he focuses his eyes and quickly sees his foe. Condor on his left arm and blinded by its hood. "Found the birdbrain and falcon. Going in."
"Got it."
Leaping out of the invisible craft onto the ground, he utters, "Stealth mode." Waiting until Birdman strides up to him and making himself visible, he then says, "Hello, birdbrain."
"Max Steel Jr!" Swinging his right arm, the former ornithologist snarls as the young man stops his attack cold. "You dare stop me when I'm on the path to glory?"
"The only path I see is one that leads you back to the birdcage."
"Now that was uncalled for!" Swinging again, he misses hitting him. But not the wall behind him. "YEEOWW!"
Without thinking twice, he swings his left arm. Only for it to be stopped as well. Along with the condor being gently 'plucked' from his arm and perched onto Max's left shoulder.
"Hey, what's with all the shouting out here?"
The door before Birdman opens, revealing a red-haired girl. Clad in a form-fitting plug suit which highly illustrates her figure. Before she can say anything more, the man charges in, with Max giving chase after handing the condor off to her.
"Hold this, please. And be careful, okay?" As Max bolts after the man with wings, the girl sighs in a grunting manner.
"It's going to be one of those nights, isn't it?" Getting a look at the condor, the girl's eyes go wide. "Gustav! What're you doing out of your cage?"
"You'll never stop me, Steel Jr! I'll destroy this monstrosity seeing as I can't get to the one in Tokyo-3!"
"What makes you think I'll let that happen?"
"You claim you fight crimes! Yet what that purple monstrosity did was a crime in itself! It broke a beak right off a face!" Swinging his left fist onward, he spits out, "That I will never forgive!"
'I don't have time for this!' Sending his right fist onward, Max clenches his left fist. Yelling, "Going turbo!" Before striking Birdman's fist. Rendering a massive crunch in Birdman's fist.
"YEEOWW!"
At that point, NERV Security Agents arrive to take the injured man into custody. Along with Max. Only to stop when an unexpected advocate speaks up.
"Not him."
"Pilot Sohryu, this man penetrated security as well."
"True, but he had a good reason to do so. My Unit-02 was at risk. Even though it's totally invincible. Plus, Gustav was a hostage. The man that saved Unit-02 handed Gustav to me for safe-keeping while he dealt with… what the freakin' heck is that man supposed to be anyway?"
"I'm to be the next step in human evolution, murderess-to-be." Birdman's comment gets an eye-roll of annoyance from Max as the Agents take him away. Once he's clear, the girl blinks and shakes her head.
"What a weird night this was." Turning toward Max, she asks, "You are?"
"Max Steel Jr."
"I'm Asuka. Asuka Langley Sohryu. Charmed, huh?"
"Somewhat, but I'm involved at the moment."
"Oh, I see." Closing her eyes, she suddenly bolts them back open yelling, "I wasn't…" When she doesn't see him, she looks around, asking, "Where the Hell did he go?" Upon hearing Gustav cry out, the girl sighs. "Okay, Gustav. Just hang on while I get changed and we'll get you back to the zoo."
(Exiting German Airspace; same time)
As the Sparrow flies out of Germany, Max sighs as he reverts back to Shinji.
"Can you believe her, Berto? Declaring her Evangelion invincible even though it has yet to see combat. She's the epitome of 'ego' personified."
"What I want to know is what she was doing there at this time of night. She should be in bed. Just like you should be, Shinji."
"I know. I know. It's on my list of things to do. Along with take a bath and get ready for the next day."
"Better make the bath quick, then. You've got a long day ahead of you."
"How so?"
"Misato filled me in on the details. You're to be fitted for a plug-suit, given a physical and then begin training for two weeks before starting school."
"Great. Though all things considered, I'd much rather be at Kankino." Slapping his forehead, he groans, "I can't believe I forgot to call Hoshi to let him know we won't be able to jam for a while."
"Ah yes. The stylings of a cello and a saxophone together." Shinji can tell Berto's rolling his eyes as he goes on. "Even though I can't wait to see how that would turn out, I think I'd be safer not knowing."
"Come on! Where's your spirit of adventure, Berto?"
"It's on vacation, hermano. Won't be back for a while." Shinji can only roll his eyes before recalling another detail.
"What all did you and Misato talk about?"
"Well, she's now unofficially an 'N-Tek' observer in conjunction with you. Officially, she's your Commanding Officer for NERV."
"Do Kat and Dad know?"
"You better believe it, bucko."
Josh's voice brings a smile to Shinji's face. The smile goes wider as Kat's voice comes up.
"Nice job with birdbrain, by the way. I'm surprised you didn't try 'plucking' his feathers."
"Nah. That'd be cruel and unusual. Gendo, on the other hand…" All four share a round of laughter just as the Sparrow enters Japanese airspace and makes its way to Tokyo-3. "Here's my stop. Talk to you guys later."
"Later, Shinji."
Their united reply brings a much needed smile onto Shinji's face as he steps out of the cloaked Sparrow and onto the balcony. As he walks in, he sees an awake Misato sitting in wait for him.
"Welcome home away from home, Shinji."
"I'm home away from home." Misato gives Shinji a smile before getting up.
"So, how was Germany?"
"Not too bad. Birdbrain busted his right fist on a wall and I busted his other fist inside the NERV Germany facility there." Misato can't help but blink incredulously at that.
"You were in the Third Branch and allowed to leave?"
"Yeah, though they didn't want to at first."
"What convinced them to let you go?"
"A girl named Asuka." Misato's eyebrows can't help but shoot up in shock.
"Asuka Langley Sohryu?"
"Yeah. You know her or something?"
"Oh yeah. I watched over her for a time when I was at GEHIRN Germany before GEHIRN ultimately became NERV." Smiling widely now, Misato asks, "What'd you think of her?"
"Egomaniacal. If not craven in her worshipping of Unit-02." Misato blinks before nodding.
"Tell me everything that happened." Shinji nods and does so. When he's done, Misato shakes her head sadly. "Unfortunately, Shinji, this is why you can't tell anyone about what you do for NERV. What Birdman had in mind was bad, if not probable, enough."
"Meaning?"
"There are those that think we should be worshipping the Angels. Even though they're not really Angels. That was just a call-sign we hung on them for identification purposes."
"Didn't you try telling them that?"
"Oh yeah. NERV put out a statement stating, 'The beings designated as "Angels" have one objective and one objective alone. The total annihilation of the human race'. Take a guess how well that went."
"Not very well, huh?" At her nod, Shinji sighs and says, "This is going to be an interesting war to say the least." Stretching, he adds, "I'm going to go take a bath before turning in."
"Okay."
As Shinji goes into the bathroom, Misato can only sigh miserably before getting up and going to her beer fridge. Bringing a can of beer, she thinks about all that Berto told her and cracks it open.
"As if he has had it bad enough, the Commander just had to make things more complicated for him." Taking a drink of beer, she suddenly remembers one other detail and spits out her beer. "Oh shit! Shinji…"
"Yaagh!"
"Too late."
Next thing she knows, Shinji comes racing out of the bathroom. Stark naked. Behind him, a penguin exits and makes its way to a second refrigerator. As it goes in, Misato lightly giggles.
"Sorry about that, Shinji. But as you'd expect, things have been so crazy, it slipped my mind."
"You having a penguin that likes to take warm baths? Yeah. I can easily see that. I'm just glad Birdman's not here right now."
"Oh? Why's that?"
"Penguins are aquatic birds, mainly swimming in cold water. He doesn't believe in sciences like genetics or engineering. If he knew about your penguin…"
"He'd try 'rescuing and rehabilitating' Pen-Pen, wouldn't he?"
"Yep, and I'll give you three guesses as to how that'd turn out. But you'll probably only need one." They both share a mutual shudder before Shinji goes back into the bathroom. As he goes back in, he adds, "I'm just glad Ritsuko's not here right now."
"Why's that?"
"She's very aggressive. What do you think she'd do if she saw me like this?"
"I'd say probably beat you to a pulp."
"Wrong kind of aggressive." With that, Shinji closes the door and Misato giggles. The thought of Ritsuko dragging Shinji to bed for sex is just too funny for words.